Hutch's Mustache
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| See also | Blair's Hair, Spock's Beard, Long-Haired Spock, Long-Haired Kirk |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
The fourth season of Starsky & Hutch portrayed a Hutch who'd undergone some physical changes. The character was somewhat heavier, had longer hair, and had grown a mustache. This season also portrayed a Hutch and Starsky who were often snappish with each other, lacked some of the easy-going buddy-ness of the show, and the episodes were darker.
Hutch's mustache, one of the most obvious changes, was one that sparked much fannish discussion. Some fans loved it, citing a general love for mustaches. Others felt it made him look more mature. Some fans hated it, claiming it made Hutch look sloppy, haggard, and beaten down. Other fans felt it symbolized the slash possibilities of this last season.
Some fans referred to the mustache as a "cookie duster" and as a "caterpillar."
Examples of Fannish Opinion
In 1980, a fan wants to know what "must have happened between the trim, tan, yellow-blond, charming guy we left in ‘Deckwatch’ and the character that returned to us in ‘Discomania.’ Also, what would ever have possessed him to grow the mustache? Several authors have dealt/are dealing with the when’s and why’s of his shaving it off, but I haven’t seen any reasons why he ever gave the poor thing a home in the first place." [1]
In 1980, a fan asserts that mustaches are grown to assert masculinity, and Hutch grew it when he felt that this masculinity was being threatened. This comment focused on many fans' belief that the tensions in fourth season of Starsky & Hutch were because of sexual tensions between the two characters.[2]
In 1980 a fan reviews Forever Autumn and alludes that "Hutch is both underweight and sans caterpillar mustache." [3]
In 1982, fans answered a poll regarding Hutch's mustache—the results: six fans like it, eleven hate it, and five can't decide [4]
1998: "Agggghhhhhhhhhhhh . . . Hutch's mustache. I do know there are people who prefer the longer-haired, mustachioed Hutch, but give me the short haired, buff, clean-shaven Hutch any day. It's almost like night and day, the way I feel about him with or without the extra hair. The one thing that drove me crazy about Lynna Bright's *wonderful* S/H novel, "Murder on San Carmelitas," was that Hutch was long haired and wearing a mustache. And Suzan Lovett's otherwise beautiful pictures showed it, too. Thank goodness Lynna had him shave it off in the final chapter of the story. ;-)" [5]
1998: "Now I'm trying to think of other hair idiocies... Oh yeah -- Hutch's mustache. Sure it's been 10+ years, but I still haven't forgiven him for that. Ick!" [6]
2000s: "The original characters [in Total Eclipse of the Heart] are great...really, the only thing I think I would change about this fic is that I'd have Hutch lose the mustache in the first few lines!" [7]
Fan Art
interior art for Leave a Light On for Me, by Jean Kluge
interior page that includes both an illo and a mustache-poem from No Pants, No Badge, No Gun, artist is TACS
interior art from Dance with the Devil, artist: Ruth Kurz
inside art by Cheryl Newsome from S and H #13
interior art from Gunther's Revenge, artist: Jean C.
back cover of Who You Know, What You Know, & How You Know It..., artist: Ruth Kurz
inside art by Greg Franklin from S and H #10
from Distant Shores, artist is J. Jones (1991)
from Distant Shores, artist is J. Jones (1991)
Mustache Fiction
- a list of some mustache-centric fiction at Tagging Bay City
Meta
- The Mysterious Case of Sgt. Hutchinson’s Mustache, Archived version (September 12, 2016)