It Pays to Advertise!, Part 2 - The Posing Strap Era

And now we check out some ads from the days when male frontal nudity would land you in jail.

This page from an unnamed magazine has ads for Bruce of LA, Troy Saxon, and Lon-Olympia.

I'm pretty sure that's Lon of New York who had legal problems under some of his trade names.

Troy Saxon ads show up again and again in the historical record, and his efforts generally seem to be effective.  This full page ad makes particularly good use of a variety of models and poses.

Falcon and Pat Milo were both well known names in the business.

I really need to research a Falcon series soon.  Anyone want to share photos?

Two of the four ads on this page feature guys promoting photos of themselves. Troy Saxon and Glenn Bishop.  Both have other interests, however, with Troy (aka Stuart "Pinky" Rosenberg) being a photographer himself with a stable of models and Glenn being a model for several photographers.  We also have ads here for Champion (Walter Kundzicz) and Kris (Chuck Renslow.)

Full page ads could be an expensive proposition, but one does find them 

as we see with this Bruce of LA effort.  Of course, he had his own magazine, 

The Male Figure, so he could have given himself a discount.

It Pays to Advertise!, Part 1 - After the Liberation

Any good retail businessman knows that advertising can be an important key to success, and physique photographers were no exception.  The Sunday double feature will showcase both nude and posing strap era ads for beefcake.  The full frontal ads in Part 1 are almost certainly post-1968, the year the courts issued a number of liberating judgements.  We start with page 62 from an unknown magazine which has a Jim French Colt ad from when he was still in New York, one from Troy Saxon of KC, Missouri, and something from Eagle of Chicago.  Could that last one have a link to Kris?

BTW, the photo quality won't be that great all day, probably because of low res scans.

Mel Roberts and HRM stand out as relatively well known names in the business on this page from an unknown magazine.  The other two, not so much.  Sven Erik was a Swedish outfit, and I have seen references to a Sven at Foto Grafo of Sweden, so there may be a connection.  Jean Paul David uses a London address that sounds familiar, but I can't find any other references to it.

Three major studios/photographers appear on this single ad page from Body Magazine.

We have AMG/Bob Mizer, Bruce of LA (dba Kensington Road), and Western Photography Guild/Don Whitman.  I'll comment on WPG's cluttered ad style in a later post.

There was obviously a facing page for this Bruce of LA ad

which features all outdoor shots of four great models.

This ad page from Ciao! Magazine is interesting on several levels.  Given the presence of full frontal nudity and the dildo ads, we can say it was probably well into the 1970's.  It also shows a striking contrast in the advertising styles of two giants of the physique photo business, Western Photography Guild and AMG/Bob Mizer.  Don Whitman of WPG was a real artist when it came to photography, but his ads, including this one, tended to be cluttered with too many pictures which lessens their impact on the casual viewer.  Mizer, on the other hand, went for fewer and bolder images.

Models in the Studio

Saturday's theme is a bit of a holdover from yesterday's art series in that it's about models, although that's where the similarity ends.  I have another photo of these three models in the same studio which is attributed to Thomas Eakins.  This one, however, came with a note that mentioned Thomas Anschutz, who was also from Philadelphia.  Well, for once, I wasn't lazy and looked it up.  Anschutz is apparently one of the models, as he was a student of Eakins who became a prominent artist.

So this is quite probably an Eakins photo of three of his handsome students.

I've always found this photo of a sculptor's model with his foot on an apparently cast off unfinished sculpture to be puzzling.  Was there an oblique message of some sort there?  Or was it just a convenient, if unconventional, place to prop up his foot?

If you look closely, you can see that the model is wearing some sort of jock or posing strap.

Even so, his appearance before female students would have been risque' at the time.  

The photo came to me captioned:  "Artistic Anatomy Class, 1900."

Herbert List took this photo of Greek artist Yannis Tsarouchis and his model in 1949.  The artist appears to have more than just a professional appreciation of the model's body.  Just look at his eyes.

This rather technical arrangement shows the presumed artist checking out the model.

I can't tell if he's examining the derriere or just making sure the gear is properly arranged.

Military Madness from Chicago, Part 2 - Art by Etienne

Etienne was a talented artist whose work often featured fetish themes, and the military angle of that will be our art series for Friday.  Seems like Sarge wants some company in this one.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Unfortunately, most of Etienne's sailor themed work is too graphically pornographic for this blog.

This anchor bondage number will have to do for now.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

This one looks like laundry day in the jungle.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

This is part of a set, but unfortunately I don't have them all.

If I did, you know I would post them.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The gear is just perfect in Etienne's version of paratroopers.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Military Madness from Chicago, Part 1 - Kris Studio Nudes

Our Friday series are both military themed and originated in Chicago.  They start off with some nude photos by Chuck Renslow, and later we'll move on to fellow Chicagoan and onetime lover Etienne.

This is Kurt Inmann, said by legend to have been an actual military man who was approached and asked to model by Renslow while on a layover in Chicago in the middle of a deployment trip.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Chuck Renslow's caption on this photo of Larry Roznos vaguely implies that he was a real sailor.

The lighting and great physique of the model make this a fine photo regardless.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Here we have Doug Mann, a sailor cap, a cigarette, and black socks.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The props in this one are just a bit off.  The helmet seems too small, and he's cleaning his fingernails with an antique sword.  The boots and leggings (spats) are early WWII, and he's sitting on a log.

The model, however, manages to look just fine and is John Parrish.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

I don't know if Bob Jackson was a real sailor or not, 

but the uniform seems to fit him, and he seems to fit the part.

Used by kind permission of the copyright holder, 

Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Hitting the Showers

Today's theme is showering, and we start with these three young athletes.

This setting looks industrial, but I have no information on the photo.

Herbert List took this photo of German industrial workers in the immediate post-World War II era.

These two Bum Brigade specials seem to be checking each other out, don't they?

And when did they invent those wall mounted soap dispensers?  This might not be so vintage.

This system for showering apparently involved someone else climbing the ladder and filling the bucket with water.  I say someone else because there's no way the guy showering could do that and get underneath the bucket before most of the water  had run out.

Swedes, Part 2 - Summer Fun

Sweden does have a summer, and they do enjoy being by the water.  Part 2 of our double feature shows some fellows having fun in the sun.  We start with some sort of 1940's ball game.

Apparently Swedish competitive swimmers were still wearing onesies in 1936.

I really like the Tarzan look at right, but most of you are probably noticing the guy in the middle.

This 1910 group of Swedes looks like it might have been a water polo team.  Go, team, go!

One of the little devils strong man Karl Alberts is hoisting seems to be taking down his bathing suit.  I wonder if he pulled it off and would like to see it if he did. 

They gave this winning Swedish swimmer a plate instead of a trophy in 1941.

Swedish Intermission - Water Polo

As a transition from our nude Swedes to not-so-nudes, I thought I'd post this photo of the Swedish national water polo team in Athens, said to be from 1906.  That was not an Olympic year, and I can't figure out if the date is wrong or if they were just looking for a warm place to practice.
Edited to add:  See Tom's comment for info on the 1906 games.

Swedes, Part 1 - Nude Models

Today is Sweden Day, and it's a double feature, starting with this photo

of Jul Sesarus by the Foto Grafo Swedish studio.

Bo Larsson poses here with the tried and true Classical staff in a photo by Foto Grafo of Sweden.

Jac Jackson doesn't sound like a Swedish name, but he is often listed among Swedish nude models of the 1960's.  I even have some photos attributed to a photographer called "Swede" whom I suspect might have been Sven of Foto Grafo.  In any case, I think this is a really good photo.

Joergen Hermansson strikes a classic pose in this unattributed photo.

This is Per Taboldy sporting a Coca Cola and teenie bit of a sailor's uniform.

This looks like the work of Foto Grafo, but my source listed no photographer.

Edited to add:  Viewer 2fourneausm confirms in the comments that this it by Foto Grafo.

World War I According (mostly) to Larry K.

Today will be a mix of three movies and two stills from World War I, all but one of which were provided by the always helpful and diligent researcher Larry K.  We start with this film from the CBS archive labeled "GIs taking showers."  Well, Larry and I both know that they were called Doughboys at that time, but somebody at CBS apparently didn't.  Oh, well, it's still a fun clip.

Larry provided this U.S. Army Signal Corps photo of a World War I mobile shower in France.

The man at right is giving the camera man a look, possibly a dirty one.

Getting a break from the daily grind of military life, whether at the front or in training, was a real treat.  Here we have some British soldiers running into the sea for a swimming session.  A very few have bathing suits, and a few others have small towels that they use to cover strategic parts, so this is mostly a feast for the Bum Brigade.  I love the guy chasing a dog across the scene in the last half.

This is the only post in today's series that wasn't provided by Larry K.  I got it as 

a viewer submission with no info, but the uniforms and the mark at lower left 

make me think it is U.S. Army Signal Corps material from WWI.  The naked soldier 

at right seems to be getting an intimate exam just outside the shower area.

This very short 1918film clip shows an American soldier of Company B of the 1st Engineers taking a "French" bath at Catigny, Picardy, France.  He seems quite happy to be making a movie nude.

Many thanks again to Larry K. for providing this and the other movies in today's series.

Massed Physique Models from the late 60's era

Today's series is comprised of bevies of nude physique models from the wide open era of the late 60's.  Of course, by that time the models were not necessarily bodybuilders.

We start with seven young men in the hills with a football.
Edited to add:  Always helpful, the_cham_cham tells us in the comments that Mr. Center's name is Joe Petricelli, while third from left is Jack Renio, and rightmost is Jim Horn.  Thanks, as always!  

Several of these guys are doing their best "muscle man" act, but the fellow at center can't quite pull it off.  Also, the man at right is wearing his loafers.  Must have had tender feet.

Edited to add:  We learn from the_cham_cham in the comments that Mr. "Tender Feet" is likely Tommy Evans, while Bob Jackson is to his left, and Enrique Nieves is the middle of the squatters. 

There are ten, count them, ten men on this hot rock.

Wyngate and Bevins production?

I think this may be yet another shot from the AMG movie "Eight Athletes."

But I could be wrong.  I've been wrong before.

I hope that flimsy looking footbridge can hold all seven of these characters.

Minor White Day, Part 2

Part 2 of Minor White day features some nearly nude men, again compliments of Larry K.

This photo of Earle Curtis was made near La Grande, Oregon in the summer of 1941.

I featured an unidentified photo of Earle last year, but now know his name thanks to Larry.

This is American artist Rene Ricard.