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The American-English phrase to put a zipper on somebody’s mouth, and its variants, mean: to make somebody stop talking, or to prevent somebody from talking—especially so that they do not divulge information.
Similarly, the phrase to put a zipper on one’s mouth, and its variants, mean: to keep one’s mouth closed—especially so as not to divulge information.
A variant of this phrase occurs, for example, in a text by Paul Gallico about “the problem of handling the husband’s favorite anecdotes, experiences, jokes and comic stories”, published in the North Bay Daily Nugget (North Bay, Ontario, Canada) of Saturday 8th January 1949 [page 6, column 7]:
I cannot remember jokes very well. I have about six shaggy dog stories that I have rehearsed. The Missus can tell just from the look on my face which one is coming.
It is no use telling us to keep from stripping the zippers on our bazzoos every time we feel an old chestnut coming on. A man takes on social lustre by fitting an apt or amusing anecdote into a conversation. The fact that you heard him tell it the night before at the Blithers’ party and the week before that at the Blathers’ doesn’t alter the fact that he might score a ten-strike with it at the Blothers’ gathering next week, or keep him from trying.
In the phrase to put a zipper on somebody’s mouth (also on one’s mouth), the noun zipper designates a fastening device for clothes, bags and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of metal or plastic which can be closed or opened by pulling a sliding tag along them.
—Cf. also ‘zip-lipped’: meanings and origin, and ‘zipper problem’: meaning and origin.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the phrase to put a zipper on somebody’s mouth (also on one’s mouth) and variants that I have found:
1-: From The Hero of Yesterday is the Pest of Today, a comic strip by the U.S. cartoonist Rube Goldberg (1883-1970), published in several U.S. newspapers on Monday 15th September 1930—for example in the Lancaster New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA) [page 16, column 2]:
Let’s duck—here comes that pest who talks stocks
If he mentions the stock market I’ll scream
They ought to put a zipper on his mouth
2-: From Gunman, by the U.S. crime writer Charles Francis Coe (1890-1956), published in the Sunday Sun (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England) of Sunday 25th January 1931 [page 10, column 5]:
“Climb on to that barkin’ bicycle of yours and get back to town. No matter what comes off, keep a zipper on your lip.”
3-: From Jack Holt in The Last Parade. Novelization by arrangement with Columbia Pictures, published in The Latrobe Bulletin (Latrobe, Pennsylvania, USA) of Thursday 19th February 1931 [chapter 3, page 8, column 2]—produced by Columbia Pictures, The Last Parade (1931) is a U.S. crime film starring Jack Holt (1888-1951):
Splashed all over the front page of next morning’s Herald was an expose of the underworld methods used by Marino in carrying on his alcohol racket. Larry’s “by line” was flaunted from the top of the story. Marino raged in the office of his “packing plant.” […]
[…]
The swarthy racketeer sat at his desk. Cookie walked in […] and then […] said, “Nice break you got in the Herald this morning. Front page stuff, too . . . well, they say it pays to advertise.”
Marino was in a snarling mood. “Not in my business,” he responded. “I tried to tell your reporter friend, but I guess he’s hard of hearing.”
“I told you the kid doesn’t know what it’s all about. I’ll put a zipper on his mouth.”
Marino’s eyes flashed venom. “Don’t bother,” he said. “I’ll handle him in my own way.”
4-: From Contact, by the U.S. crime writer Charles Francis Coe (1890-1956), published in Photoplay: The World’s Leading Motion Picture Publication (Chicago, Illinois, USA) of July 1931 [page 134, column 2]:
“Just keep a zipper on your kisser, that’s all, Hector. Say nothin’ to nobody.”
5-: From Ella Cinders—Questions and No Answers, a comic strip by the U.S. author Bill Conselman (1896-1940) and the U.S. cartoonist Charlie Plumb (1899-1982), published in The Norfolk Daily News (Norfolk, Nebraska, USA) of Saturday 21st November 1931 [page 7, column 4]:
Every night he rushes away, Oscar! You’re his pal and you must know where he goes!
If he wanted you to know, lady, he’d tell you hisself! He’s my buddy, you know—and as far as his business is concerned, I got a zipper on my mouth!
6-: From Two-Timer, a crime story by the U.S. journalist and author Jack Lait (1883-1954), published in the Hamilton Evening Journal (Hamilton, Ohio, USA) of Saturday 30th April 1932 [Editorial-Pictorial and Magazine Section, page 14, column 2]:
The inquest identified the man who was killed in that hoist as Tony Perella [sic], and Tony Parella was a cousin of “Poison” Pisano. […]
The Pisano mob gave Tony a handsome send-off, and the word went out over the grapevine that “Poison,” with true Latin spirit, had sworn to croak the killer who croaked his kinsman—if he ever found out.
Bill went white when he learned whom he had plugged. He cautioned Connie to keep the zipper on her kisser if she valued his life—and hers.
7-: From an account of a C. C. C. (Church Conviviality Corps) camp at Baker’s Acres, Brookfield, consisting of “a group of boys from the Episcopal church of Barre, tenting under the direction of their own shepherd, Rev. Albert C. Baker”—account published in The Barre Daily Times (Barre, Vermont, USA) of Tuesday 25th July 1933 [page 3, column 2]:
Lights and noise go out at 9:30 o’clock and remain off until 5:30 a. m. Unless, of course, the wild cats scream. One night the boys all heard one, but in the morning someone voiced his sentiments in the phrase: “I thought it was Shailer.”
“Well, at least I don’t snore loud enough to wake myself up,” Shailer rebutted. Evidently he poked a guilty conscience somewhere, for across the firelight came the retort: “Pull that zipper over your mouth, will you?”
8-: From Axtell High School Eagle, published in The Axtell Standard (Axtell, Kansas, USA) of Thursday 14th September 1933 [page 7, column 3]:
It has been rumored that several of the high school teachers have threatened to either gag a certain student, or put a zipper on his mouth in order to limit his flow of speech. We wonder who it is?
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