I was going through my files the other day looking for a model who deserved his own series when I came across a group of photos of Charles Zumwalt. A U.S. Marine, he first appeared in Bruce of LA's publication The Male Figure in 1963 shown below:
Although the photo isn't very clear, we can see that he started his modeling career with a hairy chest which he seems to have lost later. Too bad, that. In any case, he looks great, with or without fur. So today we'll enjoy Mr. Zumwalt in a variety of poses and styles.
Was he still a Marine when he posed naked? My, my, he's worth drooling over.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly less scandalous then, if only because no one could out you without outing himself.
DeleteIn '63, that magazine was all posing strap or semi-nude, so no laws were broken. It was, however, well known to its readers as being pitched to gays. Did the USMC know that? Did they even know Mr. Zumwalt appeared in it?
DeleteI always wondered if he was a relative of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. Not a common name.
ReplyDeleteI actually looked into that, and couldn't find any connection.
DeleteI was not familiar with Charles Zumwalt and when I first saw the face, for an instant, I thought Jerry had done the impossible because he does indeed have a passing resemblance to Neil Armstrong and visions of him and Buzz Aldrin frolicking in posing straps on the Sea of Tranquility swam before my eyes!
ReplyDeleteNow there's an interesting fantasy!
DeleteGoodness, what a physique.
ReplyDeleteAs Mae West once said "Goodness had nothing to do with it."
DeleteI have the whole set of the Male Figure and most of the Physique Pictorial magazines that I purchased through the mail from Bob Mizer himself back in 1987/88 (he sold them to me in sets). He even called me(my phone number was printed on my checks at that time) to let me know he had a fire at his compound and some of his materials were damaged/destoyed. (as Bob explained to me, not so much by the fire but from the water used to put it out). Thats why I don't have a complete set of Physique Pictorial.
ReplyDeleteThankfully some people were smart enough to save Bob Mizer's materials and have set up a vast archive and foundation.
Jerry, do you know if anyone has saved any of Bruce Bellas' materials ?
Or are they lost ?
-Rj in the IE
When Bruce Bellas died, he left his estate, including all the images, to model and companion Scotty Cunningham. There are various reports of how Scotty dealt with it all, but to my knowledge there is no central repository such as we have with the Bob Mizer. Scotty sold a lot of material under the Kensington Road brand for a while, but I'm not sure what he did with all the original works.
DeleteThere was an auction site that sold a drum, roman column and a half round posing bench that were actually used by Bruce Bellas along with
Deletea bunch of photos, all of it from a collector in Florida.
It's a shame no one kept the original negatvies of all of Bruce's images.
-Rj in the IE