Followers

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Jockstrap Day


Starting off a jockstrap series with this early 20th C. character in gladiator sandals, leather wristbands, and an odd looking garment.  Calorman's expertise should be useful here.

 

8 comments:

  1. It almost looks like he has two jocks on, one over the other. Weird. He has a nice body, though, you gotta admit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if it was a specially designed performance costume. He's clearly posing for the picture.

      Delete
  2. From the date of the sandals, I think what we are looking at here is a publicity photograph in the strongman tradition - so, yes, there would be a "performance" element, given that most of the strongmen would work the music halls and circuses. There is a logo at the bottom left of the photograph's border of a "W" surrounded by stars and which seems to be replicated on the top centre of the belt and some gymnasia did this when they sponsored a particularly popular muscleman or strongman performer. This is most definitely a jockstrap - naked buttocks were not, in the Victorian period taboo in male photography of this genre, as in the music halls or travelling circuses - many strongmen in Central and Eastern Europe wore the equivalent of what we would call a dance belt at the time, exposing most of the buttocks. The straps are much lower under the glutes and attach to the side of the pouch, a variation that is still around today and has recently come back into fashion, but mostly as a fashion rather than a sports item. The one problem I have is to date this photograph. Men's hair became shorter in the 1890s but the style here is more 1920s. The other problem is the extremely clear resolution and quality of the photograph which indicates a later date in camera quality - or it may be a more recently developed copy from the original plate. Some early jockstraps had very wide leg straps and so I would hesitantly guess the 1910s and a Central European origin rather than North American or British. That said, we'll probably discover he was a milliner from Duluth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Julian. I was guessing that this was a 1910-ish photo myself.

      Delete
  3. I found a copy of this photo at WorthPoint.com. There is actually also a 2nd photo of the guy from the side accentuating his buttocks. I'm not sure how credible the description is, but it makes several points. (1) The photographer is "believed to be Florence Dasie Kesler," (2) at Stagg Photo Services in Los Angeles, (3) and WorthPoint's "record" (doesn't say what record) gives a date of 1919. The jock brand is specifically named Bike. I think some of this is speculation on the part of the seller of these photos. The model is not identified.

    I would have loved to date this guy, but alas, I'm over a century too late (story of my life).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe I have the other photo, too. Worthpoint is usually rated "fair" in the accuracy of their descriptions. Certainly more likely to be true than not. Thanks for the details!

      Delete
    2. I agree wholeheartedly that these details are highly speculative as well as simply wrong. As to the photographer, most strongman photographs named the model and the studio. By 1919, sandals such as those would rarely have been worn. However, Bike never, ever had a logo such as the one he is sporting and they never, ever produced a strap with leg straps such as these. Unfortunately, the resolution is so poor I cannot read the logo, but the only manufacturer I can think of that used a "W" was Wilson. "WorthPoint" proves to be an online antiques and memorabilia market and they might well have their details wrong - many antique dealers do. That might bee the answer the photographs "W" mount, but does not answer the question of the logo. That the Bike company was ubiquitous and cornered the market is probably the reason why the jockstrap has been assumed to have been made by them. In fact, so ubiquitous was the Bike strap, that it became the perfect example of what is called "semantic shift" - as the word "jock" itself - which is when, largely through use, a word changes its meaning. Athletes would thus call their jockstraps "a Bike". I have heard this in changing rooms myself: "Where's my Bike got to?" as the athlete rummaged in his sports bag. If the photograph dates from 1919, I would imagine that it was taken in a very provincial part of the world that remained behind the times.

      Delete
    3. Those sandals would indeed have been way out of date by 1919. Like I said, Worthpoint can be hit or miss, and they are only as good as what info is provided.

      Delete