Coming Attractions

I thought I'd revive something I used to do on my old tumblr and post a "Coming Attractions" page.  The following sets will start appearing in about a week:

When I posted this AMG hunk during the "With a Little Help From My Friends" series, more 

than a few of you swooned over him.  And I begged for more.  A kind donor whose name 

will be revealed in the posts obliged, and we will get not one, but two sets out of the deal.

Those body type photos from World War II just keep showing up on line.

I now have quite a few "new" ones to share with y'all.

And last, but very far from least, I have an entire week of British Beef on tap.  

That's right folks, seven successive days of succulent British meat!

Oh, and there are more in the next few days I didn't list here.

Stay tuned!

 

Mustaches Galore!

Today we will look at some men with mustaches from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

There will be three types:  nudes, athletes, and formal portraits.  We start with a nude "painter" 

whom I suspect was a model for a photographer/painter with a sense of humor.

 

Fernand

This is Fernand Sabes, a champion French wrestler.

 

Happy Guy

Our first formal portrait features a guy who just exudes happiness.

 

French

Our Bum Brigade special of the day is a Frenchman.

 

Two Turks

These two Turks are kitted out for traditional oil wrestling,

but the requisite oil has yet to be applies.

 

Extra long

The handlebars on this one are extra long.

 

Igout?

Igout was the attribution from the reputable resale website where I found this.

It does not, however, look very much like his work.

 

Eberle

 

I couldn't decide which of these two views of John Eberle to use, so I made 

a composite and posted them both.  Mr. Eberle was the German wrestling 

champion, but went the the Anglicized version of his given name, John.

All I can say is, "What a feast of beef!"

Roguish

My friend Arnold would call this roguish looking guy "dangerously" handsome.

 

Italy

I think this guy on a pebble beach is by von Gloeden,

but I'm not at all positive about it.

 

William

The fancy pants don't seem to go with the chest hair in this New York made photo 

of Australian William Miller.  Mr. Miller was a champion all around athlete, 

having won titles in wrestling, boxing, fencing, and weightlifting.  

 

Serious

The little curls at the tips of the mustache add a bit of fun to a serious looking gentleman.

 

Soldier

The mustache on this French soldier isn't grand, but he does have one.

 

Ivan

Ukrainian Cossack Ivan Padoubny was a successful strong man and wrestler during 

a span of time that included fame in both the Russian Empire and the USSR.

 

Italian

Why am I thinking this Baltimore gentleman just had to be Italian?

 

Glenn Bishop Day

I've recently been corresponding with a Viking from Phoenix who requested more photos of Glenn Bishop.  I'm more than happy to oblige, and we start with one in the woods by Clifford Oettinger.

 

Legal at the time

Derriere shots were legal at the time this was made

as long as they weren't too provocative.

 

Tan Lines

Mr. Bishop looks alluring in this photo on a driftwood log.  The tan lines are noteworthy,

and I hope he didn't get any splinters from being in that position.

 

Bearded Ad

In the first of two ads in today's series, we see Glenn Bishop promoting bearded photos of himself.  

He paid his way through chiropractic college selling mail order photos and odd men's swimwear.

 

Autumn

This unattributed photo of Glenn Bishop looks like it was made in the Fall.

 

With Richard Alan

Glenn Bishop's business associate Richard Alan appears with him here.  Glenn is wearing a men's bathing suit he designed which was said to have been inspired by Dorothy Lamour's sarong.

The photographer here was Clifford Oettinger.

 

Dead tree

A very large dead tree was the setting for this shot,

and I wonder if it was on the Lake Michigan shore.

 

Trim Magazine featured Glenn Bishop on the cover 

and included instructions on how to water ski.

 

Odd pose

While a lot of Mr. Bishop's poses are natural,

I really just don't get this one.

 

So 50s!

Playing the bongos on a beach was classic 50s,

and Glenn looks really good doing it.

 

In the woods again

This woodland and stream photo resembles one earlier in today's 

series by Clifford Oettinger, but I have no attribution for it.

 

Glenn Bishop's other mail order business was selling men's bikinis that he is said to have designed himself.  I wonder if his chiropractic and mail order customer bases overlapped.

Thanks to that Viking in Phoenix for suggesting today's series.

 

That other 70s male nude photographer named Roy . . .

 . . . this time Blakey

A couple of weeks ago, I did a series on the work of Roy Dean, an exceptional 

1970s photographer.  Today it's the lesser known Roy Blakey's turn.  Mr. Blakey 

took up male nude photography after his career as a touring ice review skater was over, 

but it is never mentioned in his biographies.  I got this photo of Roy with some 

of his models from my buddy and fellow Hawaii resident Boz.  Thanks, Boz!

Looks familiar

This Roy Blakey model looks familiar, but I don't have a name for him.

 

Sublime

"I'm sublime, and I know it."

 

Suspicious?

I may be totally misinterpreting the facial expression here,

but this guy seems to have a suspicious or skeptical look.

 

Coffee Table Book

This happy model looks like he might have been a handful.  The picture is 

from a coffee table book called "Roy Blakey and His Naked Men."

 

John

I don't know if he's pretending to be a cat or pretending to do a pullup, but 

John Tattos is definitely in playful mode here.  The hair is a bit over the top.

 

Tinted?

Playgirl was know for the use of a similar orange glow in a lot of its 1970s photos.  This Roy Blakey photo, however, doesn't have the usual sumptuous Playgirl props and setting.

 

Interesting

Roy Blakey wasn't known for edgy photos, but I'd 

put this artistically lighted shot in that category.

 

George at the Baths

This photo of George Payne at a New York bathhouse is generally credited to Roy Blakey.  

Mr. Payne was also featured in some Roy Blakey magazine spreads in the late 1970s.

 

Upward

Our last photo in the Roy Blakey series is an unknown 

(to me, anyway) model looking up into the light.

 

Lyle Frisby 1929-1958

There are only a few stories in the annals of physique photography sadder than that of Lyle Frisby.  

The business partner (and possibly life partner) of Pat Milo was jailed for a year in 1957 for obscenity.  While incarcerated, his health failed due to harsh treatment and lack of adequate medical care.  Prior to Lyle's imprisonment, he did the photography, and Pat did the bookkeeping and daily business grind.  Pat took photography courses at UCLA while Lyle was away and became the great photographer we all know.  Lyle Frisby died within months of his release from jail, leaving the business to Pat.  The high school yearbook photo above is the only known photo of Lyle Frisby.  May he rest in peace.

Our freedom of expression came at a high price.  Please don't forget that.

 

Avent

Avent Smith here worked for Lyle Frisby and Russ Warner.  This shot is firmly attributed to Lyle, 

and there some uncredited photos that look a lot like his work.

 

 

Don

Many of you will instantly recognize Don Deckman.  When I gave him his own series a while back, several of you positively swooned.  Even in a posing strap, he is quite amazing.  Some of Mr. Deckman's work was done with Lyle Frisby's associate (and possible lover) Pat Milo, so there is sometimes more than one photographer attribution for the same photo.  Adding to the confusion is the fact that Mr. Milo published some of Mr. Frisby's work after his untimely death.  I do have confidence, however, that this one is by Lyle.

 

Jim and John

Two of the three Manning Brothers (Jim, left, and John) appear in this Lyle Frisby photo.  The third brother, Joe, also did physique photo work, but did not pose frontally nude to my knowledge.  There's an old story about a photographer (Bob Mizer?) saying that the reason there were no pictures of the three brothers together was that they were never all out of jail at the same time.

 

Hank

Outdoor photos by Lyle Frisby are quite rare.  In fact, this image 

of Hank Evans is the only one in my collection.

 

Ed

Ed Haley appears here on some sort of draped furniture.  Lyle Frisby paired him with Hank Evans from the preceding photo in some duo shots.  I'll put one of those in my next Lyle Frisby series.

 

Norman

The column is probably not real stone in this photo of Norman Robbins by Lyle Frisby,

but perhaps we can forgive the lack of authenticity.  It is easy on the eyes after all.

 

Bert

I know at least one viewer out there who will find the fur trail on this Lyle Frisby photo 

of Bert Bauman to be irresistible . . . and there are probably more lurking.

Disclosure:  I used a digital contrast enhancer to deal with some fading.

 

Ted

Like the outdoor semi-nude of Hank Evans we saw earlier in today's series, this shot 

of Ted Fuller doesn't fit the usual studio format used by Lyle Frisby.  Was this one of the 

last photos Lyle Frisby took?  Was he moving toward a more informal style?  We'll 

never really know, but what we do know is that Mr. Frisby was imprisoned for his art 

and died an early death as a result.  Please don't ever forget that.  It's important.