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Sunday, September 27, 2020


In one of several surprise appearances in the most popular posts,
this little number from the oddities category just made No. 10.

 

13 comments:

  1. Having sat on those moquette seats in shorts getting a bit of an itchy bottom I wonder how it would feel with a bare behind...and how did they shoot this? Love it..

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    1. Yeah, I'd like to know how they did it, too. Maybe on some lonely stretch of line at an off-peak hour . . . or perhaps and out of service train?

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  2. When I posted another picture from this series on my blog, a viewer wrote in with this comment: "this is by Mike Arlen of Wetherby studios in London. He did a lot of this sort of thing in the 70s,on buses, tube trains etc. Lovely wank material"

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    1. I knew I had seen that photo's origin and story described somewhere, and now I know where. Thanks! Also, thanks for the Joe Tiffenbach movie clip I used last week as a postscript for the series. - Jerry

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  3. I couldn't help thinking the woman looks like Italian movie star Anna Magnani and what it would be like if it was her scene in a movie - lol (check out "The Rose Tatoo" for a look at Ms. Magnani's acting chops) and yep, I think I've definitely been stuck at home too long!!!

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    1. LOL, well at least you've found out some interesting things while sequestered.

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  4. Madonna did something similar to this to promote one of her albums. I believe she did the photo shoot in London, too. I vaguely remember seeing a few of these photos back in HS and college, usually with nude women. I'm going with the posed theory on this one because of the overreaction of the woman with the half exposed breasts.

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    1. Yes, and the other photo I have from this shoot looks even more staged. Is there anything Madonna wouldn't try for publicity? Not much, I'd say.

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  5. Lmao about Madonna, but I remember these nude photos (especially of men) were supposed to be humorous and make a statement at the same time. Back in the 70's, when these were done, they had a whole different meaning than today.

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    1. Yes, I actually knew a feminist writer who praised Madonna for those photos in private conversations. I suppose objectification is in the eye of the beholder.

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  6. The map on the wall has always been too fuzzy for me to see on which line of the London Underground this was taken - something more fascinating to me than the glam rocker model - there's a limit to how much ABBA a man can take. The tubes in the grunge 1970s had no security cameras and so it would have been easy to stage this shoot on a quiet day. Mike Arlen was no stranger to London urban transport. He used to target likely looking lads on stations and attempt to talk them into posing for him. A couple of my friends were approached in this way, both of whom turned down the offer. In the early 1980s the Northern Line from Finchley Central to Charing Cross at about 11pm became the Heaven Express. I remember one trip with two guys making out in the corner of one bone-shaking carriage to an appreciative audience as a trannie dressed as a cinema usherette went from carriage to carriage with a tray of poppers and packets of tissues. Life's been awfully dull since.

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    1. Ah, the good old days. Reminds me of when a guy got stabbed on a train in Midtown Atlanta for calling a drag queen's dress and makeup tacky. That led to an all out brawl. Fortunately everyone survived. Yes, that actually happened in the 80s.

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  7. I can believe it. You didn't want to mess with a drag queen - they were as tough as old trench boots. The usherette wore a John Lewis (department store) name tag marked "Rosemary". Ira Levin got more than he bargained for. I knew one who managed to get through an entire Saturday morning service sitting in the women's gallery of a synagogue without being discovered. Now, that really is talent.

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