Followers

Monday, December 5, 2022

Jack Lalanne


When he landed his first TV contract, Jack Lalanne (1914-2011) famously went around to the handful of photographers who had taken nude shots of him and insisted that they hand over their negatives to be destroyed.  Russ Warner just as famously refused to give them up.  This apparently didn't hurt 
Mr. Lalanne's career because he stayed on TV for the phenomenal stretch of 34 years.

 

8 comments:

  1. In that other series, where Jack poses with another male named Jack, his foreskin is retracted in several shots. Here, it is not. Are there other photos from this "wagon wheel" series?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are shots with different props that could possibly have been made in the same session, but this is the only one I have with the wheel.

      Delete
  2. I can't help but think how much healthier, both mentally and physically, society would be if he and others were allowed to do their pubic programming naked.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was the public at large even aware of Lalanne's nude photos during the run of his popular television show? I have the feeling if the pictures had surfaced, he would have lost a large portion of his viewership.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AFAIK, the story never got out until society was past the point that it mattered any more. Even then, I don't think it was widely known. Even though he refused to destroy them, Russ Warner may have held back on distributing the photos back in the day.

      Delete
  4. Talk about man at the wheel.
    Jack started out with an excersize radio show in San Francisco, that he then parlayed into a local television show. In 1952 when Jack started making money from his tv contract, my uncle sold him a used 1950 Cadillac convertible. Jack showed up at their house wearing all black, turtleneck sweater, tight fitting pants, loafers and a V-shaped torso. Jack was the most enthusiatic person you could have met. He liked the Caddy because of its colors, black with a white top and red leather interior and had to have it. A few years later and Jack's tv show went from local to national and that San Francisco "health nut" became world famous. -Rj/IE

    ReplyDelete