Was the painting of men's nails a rare practice in the mid-20th century?
Upvote:6
Having grown up in NYC, "crossroads of the world", and lived through the mid 20th Century, I consider myself a "primary source" on such a matter. :-) :
As far as that period is concerned, at least in the Western World, the answer is a resounding No - it was not less exclusively limited to women - on the contrary. A man with painted fingernails? Few things could have been more bizarre. (Obviously I'm talking about public, 'mainstream society', not the sub-cultures of h*m*sexuals, etc, where I imagine things might have been different)
By way of analogy, consider hair styles: When the Beatles became big in 1962-3 (I was a teenager at that time) they were notorious internationally for their "long hair". Yet when you look back on their early photos, by today's standards you see nothing unusual whatsoever about their hair styles. The contemporary world has become far more open-minded about "male plumage" compared to the relatively puritanical and dour mid 20th century.
I also found this (I have not yet vetted the source) @ http://redroom.com/member/frank-sanello/writing/hermann-goring-nazi-war-criminal-drug-addict-transvestite. From this source it seems quite obvious that Göring's behavior was by no means the norm:
World War II in Drag
Göring engaged in other aberrant behavior that apparently the Gestapo didn’t think of using to blackmail him. Visiting generals at Göring's palatial hunting lodge in suburban Berlin were shocked by their host's appearance.
The second most powerful man in the Third Reich greeted guests wearing a kimono, rouge, lipstick, pancake makeup, lacquered fingernail polish, and women’s jewelry while padding about in pink, fur-lined bunny slippers.
A Report on the Banality of Evil, the subtitle of Hannah Arendt's book about Adolf Eichmann's trial in Israel in 1961, comes to mind when Göring's concept of casual dress is described.
Although many Nazis were gay, especially the purged Storm Troopers, Göring was a heterosexual transvestite who married twice, fathered a daughter, and had numerous extramarital affairs ‒ with women.
Göring’s custom of painting his finger nails continued in prison during his post-war trial at Nuremberg until the martinet American warden ordered his prisoner to remove the polish..
Prior to Germany’s defeat, Göring’s decadent lifestyle and incapacitating drug use were noted by his ally, SS chief Heinrich Himmler. When Speer tried to enlist Göring’s support in a power struggle against Hitler’s private secretary, Martin Bormann, Himmler told Speer not to waste his time. “I think it would very unwise of you to try to activate the Reichsmarschall again!”
Be that as it may, all the sources, (there are a many references to Göring's affectation, which became quite public when he was tried after the war) including the one kmlawson based the question on, single out Göring - I think that itself answers the question: It was a peculiar habit of Göring - not the norm among Nazi officers or anyone else.
In addition, Sanello's account: "wearing a kimono, rouge, lipstick, pancake makeup, lacquered fingernail polish, and women’s jewelry while padding about in pink, fur-lined bunny slippers" indicates that regarding Göring, the issue was not just painted nails, which appears to have been indeed been a custom among warrior and aristocratic classes during certain periods of history, as cited by kmlawson in his erudite answer: Göring's behavior appears to have been out and out cross dressing.
Still, one could surmise that Göring had adopted the customs of earlier societies and decided that expanding on such habits behooved him, considering his very prominent position in the Third Reich.
Upvote:7
This kind of "is X rare" is clearly difficult, since it is usually hard to quantify things like this across space and time.
@Histophile's own memories from the period and the fact that Göring's habit was singled out in a contemporary American account are suggestive that at least in US of time, this might have stood out. It doesn't tell us much about elites elsewhere, for example.
The following is left not as an answer so much as notes for anyone who wants to take this up. Now nail polish for women has become so associated with a marker of sexuality, transvestitism, or Goth culture, but I posed the question to see if anyone knew if it may not have necessarily invoked this connection in the not so distant past.
The very few number of references in books 1900-1950 on google books in variations of "he/his" "nail polish" "lacquered nails" "nail enamel" etc. suggest, as @Histophile argues, that it wasn't too common or remarked upon in English language at least. Just two examples of only a dozen or two that describe a man with colored nails:
"Here is a youth of fifty, with long grey hair, and a grey-suited man with scarlet lacquered fingernails, leading a small grimy dog." p113 Kings Cross Calling 1941
"Count Maurice tugged irritatedly at his short beard and perfumed oil from it came off onto his painted fingernails." Silver Leopard 1955 p140
Transparent nail enamel or "powder polish" seems more common:
"Men go in for powder polish and buffing or for clear, colorless liquid polish" 1946 Chain Store Age - Volume 22, Issues 1-6 - Page 337
"Customers are pleased with the lasting gloss of powder polish...Business men will appreciate the cut in manicuring time" 1934 Commercial America - Volume 31 - Page 19
Website on history of nail polish shows a 1909 advertis*m*nt of men getting nail enamel (but in this case clear - and no hint here of whether men might have wanted colored nail enamel) applied but all subsequent mentions from 1930s on are of women:
Perhaps it becomes more exclusively for women with the marketing in the first few decades of 1900s with Vogue, shift to use of a new kind of nail lacquer (invented by a woman - Michell M-something) and marketing to women by Revlon in 1930s on.
Life magazine Feb, 1941 shows, unlike the 1909 ad, the emphasis on targeting women in the marketing. Other ads from 1930s show the same - at least in United States, again.
None of this speaks much to what is going on outside English speaking world of mid-20th century or practices among European or non-Europeans for example.
Of course, in much earlier times it seems to have been done by Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese and early Roman men of warriors or aristocratic classes which was one reason I wondered if it leaked into behavior of elites much later on.
Google books links on earlier practices:
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