I was watching an old Bugs Bunny cartoon recently and he did that bragging pose - the one where the thumbs are under your armpits with palms facing out. Sort of like this.
I thought this was kind of universal. So I started wondering what the origin might be. I googled around and surprisingly could find very little online. In fact, that one pic I linked to is all I could find.
Does anyone else know what I’m talking about and what might be it’s beginning?
Is it a “thumbs in suspenders” thing?
I remember that pose mostly as the punchline to a groaner of a joke:
Q: Why do farmer’s thumbs smell so bad?
A: [farmer in denim bib overalls holding pose] Come over here yar an’ I’ll tell ya’.
Maybe that’s the origin. I just remember seeing as someone doing it when boasting, for instance. Bugs was. Maybe it’s and older thing? Vaudeville?
Not so much boasting but authoritative like a lawyer or lecturer. Like scratching your chin.
Considering that a lot of the old Merry Melodies/Loony Tunes tropes were old-time theatre and film tropes, it fits with the notion of it being an old “standard” stage gesture with someone hooking their thumbs in the suspenders or under their lapels to signify to folks in the back of the room they were being authoritative (or smug) Bugs, of course, being usually naked, does the armpit thing.
I’m thinking it originated with the specific trope of the country lawyer who projected an air of simple friendly folksiness while being devastating in the courtroom. I believe the stance was originally meant to be more of a laid-back, relaxed pose that a simple country gentleman would take, rather than a ‘boastful’ pose. I’m guessing the real-world example of the ‘country lawyer with thumbs in suspenders pose’ trope originated with Clarence Darrow.
Yeah, I can picture what you’re talking about, but it’s surprisingly hard to find examples online.
Are you sure that pose originated with actual country lawyers or just how we think it did because of Inherit the Wind (1960]?
The fictional country lawyer in that movie was based on Clarence Darrow. It was a fictionalized portrayal of the Scopes Monkey Trial, in which Clarence Darrow was the lawyer for the defense.
I now surrender the floor back to you, good suh.
I think Fred Ziffel and Mr. Haney on Green Acres always held that pose too.
Right; I do not know about boastful, but, if you think about it, if your suspenders or braces are visible then you must be partially undressed, and it presents a certain attitude to start taking one’s clothes off in a formal setting like a courtroom.
I know that. But how much is Darrow and how much is Spencer Tracy? When I picture Darrow in my head, I see Tracy; not Darrow.
I think of this as the “Honest Jim’s Used Cars” pose.
May I present to the court exhibit A:
…finally, with the thumb of [Darrow’s] left hand hooked in the armpit of his vest, his right hand clenching the stand before him and his right shoulder hunched far forward, he settled into his address…
If I may be further indulged by the good citizens of the jury, Exhibit B:
His coat off, Darrow hooked his thumbs in his suspenders and took over the court room.
And if it not displease the court too awfully much, exhibit C:
Darrow fired the first shot. In the trial’s third day, he hooked his thumbs in his suspenders and proceeded to call the Butler Act “foolish, mischievous, and wicked.”
I rest my case, your honor.
