The Tim T. Collection - Butch Magazine, Issue No. 4

By 1966 when DSI published the fourth edition of Butch, the legal status of male nude photography was in a state of flux across the USA.  As early as 1962 that great pioneer of expressive freedom and gay rights, Chuck Renslow of Kris Studio, had won a court case based on the fact that a nude photo he published had pretty much the same content as a Chicago museum piece.  That opened doors, but only in the parts of the country where the Chicago Circuit Court of Appeals had jurisdiction.  There was a confusing patchwork of legality when DSI put out the magazine that I am posting in it's entirety today.  There is full frontal nudity, but there are also posing strap photos, semi-nudes, and quite a bit of text justifying freedom of expression.  I consider this publication to be a pivotal moment in both Gay History and the history of freedom of expression.  I would not have this material were it not for the exceptional generosity of Tim T. who donated it to me.  Thanks a million, Tim!

 

Pgs. 2-5 - Opening Credits, etc.

The inside of the cover (page two) featured an ad for a leather bound collectors' book called 

The Greyhuff Review.  (I'm sure it left at least some of the viewers huffing.)  Page three was a 

sort of generic cover page.  When we get to page four we get the obligatory "Adults Only" bit 

along with some copyright (since expired) info and the name of the cover model, David, and 

the source, AMG.  The preliminaries end with some bareboned contents and a lofty creed.

 

Pgs. 6-9 - Editorial

The main body of the issue opens with this editorial followed by an ad for Tiger, a new DSI magazine that eventually was part of a deluge of such in the late 60s as nationwide reform took hold.  Notice that they were still calling it a "male nudist magazine" just in case the censors moved in.

 

Pgs. 10-11

DSI did not list the names of the models in this issue.  Perhaps it was too soon, given the legal complexities of the time.  They did, however, list the studios which produced the photos along with information on how to order specific models.  Oddly, even with the address information, I was not able to find any information on several of the photographers.  At right, we have a photo by Rod Crowther which I featured some time ago in a series with men on logs.

 

Pgs. 12-13

The guy at left by Plato reminds me of one of the models in the recent British Beef 

extravaganza, but Plato had a New York address. Lon?  I like the guy and the dog at right, too.

 

Pgs. 14-15

Galaxy was one of the marques used by John Barrington, and sure enough, DSI 

gave a London address for them.  I have never heard of Maclane Studios.

 

Pgs. 16-17

Rod Crowther provided Butch with the furry fellow at left.  He is in my Crowther collection, 

but I have no name for him.  DSI cropped out a posing strap for this magazine version.

 

Pgs. 18-19

The photo at right is by Manli.  Anybody know anything about them.

 

Pgs. 20-21

Big smile and a piece of driftwood.  I like them both.

 

Pgs. 22-23

Pat Milo puts in an appearance here with an unknown model.  I don't know who 

Lucky Pratt was, but those chains look more like a swag lamp than real bondage.

 

Pgs. 24-25 - Centerfold

Our centerfold isn't identified as to either model or photographer.

 

Pgs. 26-27

I'm left wondering if Arts Unlimited was an in-house marque of DSI because I can't 

seem to find them in the usual photographer databases.  Anyone know?  On the facing

 page is another mystery outfit called Times Square Models which, although mentioned 

by name in one database, has no photographer info available.

 

Pgs. 28-29

The right hand image is attributed to Kris, which is technically

 the studio involved, but the art work was done by the great Etienne.

 

Pgs. 30-31

Rod Crowther makes an appearance on the left,

and the right side is by Arts Unlimited.

 

Pgs. 32-33

These rather demure images were produced by the well known Mel Roberts (left) 

and Don Wight (right) who was also a talented artist who did erotic drawings.

 

Pgs. 34-35

Arts Unlimited provided a lot of the photos for this edition of Butch, 

and our right hand photo is theirs.  Model of the Month Club was, I think, 

a feature of a pre-liberalization magazine, hence the posing strap. 

 

Pgs. 38-39

These facing pages have a longtime legal work by Kris Studio on the left 

and a previously forbidden frontal nude by Arts Unlimited on the right.

It's worth repeating that the frontal was only legal in parts of the USA at the time.

 

Pgs. 40-47 - A Timely Essay

 

While some observers might say that including this essay was self-serving insofar as it provided legal "cover" for the nude photos, I think it was a sincere commentary on the cultural environment of the time.  The unattributed author covers everything from Kinsey to the Puritans and even the Bible.  My favorite line is the last, "Blessed is the rebel - without him there would be no progress."

Pgs. 48-49

While there wasn't some sort of ad on almost every page like we've seen with 

Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial, DSI put a lot of self promotion in Butch.  Here 

we have facing pages with DSI's very diverse catalog, Vagabond, on the right and 

a book version of Butch with all frontal nudes on the right.  DSI was undoubtedly 

the first broad spectrum gay oriented merchandise outlet.  Besides the predictable

 books, photos, and magazines, they also sold records, towels, clothing, 

underwear, and even kitchen gadgets.

 

Back Cover

I can't seem to find any info on the back cover, and that's a shame because the models and the lighting are both excellent.  I hope you've taken the time to read the text passages in this edition of Butch, because they give us a window into an exciting and transitional time in the both the world of male nude photography and the wider world of gay life in America.  And once again, my sincerest thanks go to Tim T. for his amazing generosity in donating the hard copies of so many publications.

 

Warrior Sculptures Day

I had a request for some male nude sculpture from Jack D. in Birmingham, Alabama,

so today we'll view some warriors in stone and bronze.  We start with 

Basil (Vasilios) Phalereus' 1955 statue of Leonidas.

 

Achilles

A lot of sculptors have done a take on Achilles.  This one is by the 

very appropriately named Charles Alphonse Achille Gumery.

 

Bellerophon

Here we have Bellerophon Fighting the Chimaera from the Austrian Belvedere Gallery as sculpted by Johann Schaller, 1821.  Mr. Schaller went really Classical on the package for this one.

 

Jason

Jason and the Golden Fleece by Thorvaldsen is from 1803.

 

Samson

This is Samson Slaying a Phillistine by 16th C. Flemish Sculptor Jean Boulogne, 

aka Giambologna, who worked for the Medici family in Italy.  From the V&A in London.

 

Greeks

These are the Riace Warriors, two 5th Century B.C.E. bronzes found 

in the Mediterranean in 1972 off the coast of Riace Marina, Italy.

 

1959

Going modern for this spearman from 1959 by Paul Manship.

 

Viking

John Borjesson created Captive Viking in 1878, 

and I believe it can be found in a park in Stockholm.

 

Othryades

Othryades the Dying Spartan was made by Johan Tobias Sergel in 1778.

 

Spartacus

This is Spartacus in the Tuileries Garden by Charles Negre, 19th C.

 

Models with magazines of a certain type

Today we take a look at some models who posed with girlie magazines.  The classic era 

physique photographers often kept those on hand to, uh, entertain the models.  We start with 

a guy named Chuck Hall photographed in a sailor uniform by Pat Milo.  Oh, and I'm tagging 

all these "reading" despite the fact that none of the models were likely to have had 

any interest in the articles, such as they may have been.

 

Marilyn

Although LIFE was by no means a girlie magazine,

the Marilyn Monroe cover qualifies for the series.

It seems to have affected the model somewhat.

 

Amateur?

This one looks amateur.

 

Bill

Bill Wright gives us our only rear view of the day in this photo by Milo.

 

Richard

 

I think I detect a female form on the magazine 

Richard Sorkorum is looking at in this photo by Domenique.

Jack

I can't make out the magazine that Jack Virgil is reading, but Pat Milo, the photographer, 

was known to have kept a good supply of "men's" magazines.

 

Playboy

Our model here has the quintessential Playboy to enjoy.

 

Helmut

Here we have the ever popular Helmut Riedmeyer with 

what is likely a European cheesecake magazine.

 

Film Figure

This guy has his girlie mag and a hand towel at the ready.

Something tells me that wasn't a classic journal of the cinema.

 

Smug

Our last model with a girlie magazine is a smug looking 

young man who's dressed everywhere except where it matters most.

 

Fig Leaf Popup

Today I'm doing a quick popup series on muscular early 20th C. men in fig leaves.  

We start with F.W. Guerin who was a student of Prof. B.A ;McFadden.

 

Drama

We get some dramatic posing from this well muscled unknown model.

 

Unknown hailing a cab

The fig leaf on this unknown model looks like it was added after the fact,

leaving me thinking there was a full frontal nude at some point.

 

Bobby Pandur (sometimes Pandour) was quite a phenomenon in his day.  He was actually a Polish gymnast named Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk who moved to England just as interest in theatrical gymnastics was waning.  So he shifted to being a strongman and took up publishing training aids.  

His greatest financial success was on the American Vaudeville circuit. 

Yuganson

Finishing our fig leaf popup with a 1912 

Russian photo of a model named Yuganson.