Braces on 1939 Life Cover

Here's a braces sighting dating back to 1939, on a photo on the cover of an issue of Life magazine from that year.

The cover featured a young braces-clad footballer. Inside the front cover, a brief blurb notes that "The braces on his teeth were put on last May to straighten his new front uppers."

Here's a closeup of the '30s era metalmouth.

Bad Luck Brian's Braces

"Bad Luck Brian" has become one of the most well-known internet memes: a nerdy-looking teenager in a school photo sporting a geeky sweater and a goofy braces-clad smile.  The pic has been accompanied by slogans describing the nerdy kid's frequent bad luck: "Takes Driving Test . . .Gets First DUI," or "Trip to Grand Canyon . . . Falls In."  

The kid in the photo, Kyle Craven, was a high-school prankster who intentionally made his appearance extra-nerdy for the photo, getting a thrift-store sweater and rubbing his face to make it look red. His braces are the real deal though.

In honor of the famous metalmouth, I came up with my own version of the Bad Luck Brian meme.

Brian Posehn, uber-nerd

Actor and comedian Brian Posehn, in his bio Forever Nerdy, described being a nerdy kid in the '70s and '80s.  He had gotten glasses early, and later, as you can see by his picture, braces. As he wrote: "I had gotten gawkier looking with braces and a retainer. And some days even headgear."  

Posehn described himself as an uber-nerd, and that "when I was around ten years old, I was the lethal combo of super tall and super skinny with dorky, black-framed glasses, pimples and braces."

Unfortunate School Pic

The perils of having a mouthful of metal on school picture day.

Braces on '80s Cereal Promotion

Following up on my last post about '80s braces, here's another artifact from that decade featuring braces:  an '80's era promotion on a cereal box.

Another '80s orthodontic patient holding an '80s handheld video game. 

'80s Braces

While on the topic of '80s braces, here are some real metal-mouthed celebrities of that period.  Above is that classic eighties Brat Pack tingrin, Anthony Michael Hall.

Drew Barrymore also had braces.

Alexander Polinsky, from the TV sitcom Charles in Charge.

An early Seth Green with braces.

Wacky '80s Braces Scene

Here's a previously posted scene from the '80s TV show Police Squad! I love those wacky braces!