Tex Murdock Day

All Tex . . . all color . . . all beef . . .

                          . . . and not a speck of cereal.

Tex Murdock gets another day today, and this time it's all color.

 

Leather

The full beard seems to work really well with the leather here.

 

Nice pose

I really like both the pose and the setting here.  Also, while I usually prefer 

Mr. Murdock with facial hair, I have no problem with its absence this time.

 

Youthful

Tex looks younger than most of his photos in this one.

 

Nice Smile

We get a nice smile in this one.

 

Western

This is from a group of western themed photos of Tex Murdock that I found on line.  

Despite his nickname, he admitted to never having been south of Connecticut before 

he began modeling.  We'll see him with his horse from this photo shoot later today.

 

Serious

I don't know what he's doing here, but he looks serious.

 

Bath house

I read somewhere that this picture was from a photo shoot at the Club Baths in Miami.

 

Equine rump

Our hero is brushing his horse's rump in this G-rated shot.

 

in the water

Closing out the Tex Murdock set with our star model up to his gorgeous thighs in water.

 

Ted and Chuck at Fire Island, Part 1 - Outdoors

Over the years I have posted several photos of Ted Starkowski and Chuck Howard together.  Today I am posting my entire collection in three parts.  The photos are said by some to have all been made in 1951, while others say they were made over the course of their tumultuous love affair from 1951 to 1953.  Whichever is correct, they are truly remarkable.  When they began their relationship, Ted had been modeling for George Platt Lynes and others for several years.  Chuck had initially been Bernard Perlin's lover, but when Mr. Perlin got a fellowship to study to Paris in 1950, he literally handed Chuck off to Mr. Lynes.  When they broke up in 1951, Chuck moved on to Ted.  Mr. Howard had an interesting life before and after Ted, and he will get his own series in the future.  Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these truly remarkable photos, even though several are repeats.  All are by PaJaMa.

 

Composition

I find this one to be beautifully composed.

 

A personal favorite

I have definitely posted this one before, and it's probably my favoriter of the whole group.

They both look as though they know their relationship is doomed, but they're hanging on.

  "We both know we're never gonna make it,

          But when we touch, we never have to fake it."

                                        Donnie Iris

 

Ted and Chuck, Part 2 - In the Bedroom

Our second grouping of photos of Ted Starkowski and Chuck Howard shows them in the bedroom at Fire Island.  I have arranged these from cool to hot, using the usual gay scale.

They start out looking at each other fully clothed.

 

Touching

Still fully clothed, Ted and Chuck are at least touching in this picture.

 

Warming up

The two lovers are out of their clothes and warming up.

 

Less tentative

This one is less tentative than the preceding,

and Ted is looking straight at us.

 

The kiss

Even something as benign as this could never have been published in 1951-53,

and that leaves me wondering who, if anybody, got to see these.

 

Hot and heavy

The photo which follows this one is a bit more risque',

but neither approaches anything we'd call pornography today.

 

Racy

Our final bedroom photo is about as racy as any of these photos get.

 

Ted and Chuck, Part 3 - The Stairwell

Most observers believe that all the photos of Ted Starkowski and Chuck Howard were made on Fire Island.  There are three shots made in a stairwell, however, that made me question that.  We usually think of Fire Island as a place of beach bungalows and cabins rather than two storey houses. 

Google is our friend, though, and there indeed were and are such houses on the beach.

 

Embrace

I have to be honest and say this shot looks a bit contrived.

 

Still interesting today

While their love affair didn't last, the social significance of these photos remains important.

Even in 1951, gay men were brave enought to have relationships

and to be beautifully photographed doing it.

 

Mighty Mustache Men Triple Feature, Part 1 - Full Length Photos

Today we have a rare triple feature of Mighty Mustache Men from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  We start with some mostly full length photos, and this is Oscar Samuelson.

 

Poddubnyi

Ivan Poddubnyi was a famous Ukrainian strong man whose career extended from the Russian Empire well into Soviet times.  The photo above was made in the 1900s, and the one below when he was middle aged.  He is something of a hero in Ukraine and has a museum there in his memory.

 

Postcard

Two things stand out about this postcard, the prodigious mustache 

and the stamp, which seems to be on the wrong side.

 

Kettle Bells

The dress shoes somehow don't fit with this picture of an unknown

with kettle bells that look like the kerosene cans we used on the ranch.

 

Sandow

Eugen Sandow had a mustache throughout most of his career, but it doesn't show up well in many of his photos.  This one shows it along with a lot of fine muscles in middle age, no less.

 

Mighty Mustache Men, Part 2 - Stables

Part two of our Mighty Mustache Men triple feature is compromised of "stables" of athletes, all of whom have mustaches.  This is a wrestling troupe that participated in a 1902 competition at the Folies Bergere.  Who knew?  I'm sure half the gays in Paris showed up clamoring for front row seats.

 

1913

These men are part of the Maurice-Louis Branger weight lifting team of France.

I hope they somehow survived the cataclysm of 1914-1918.

 

India

India produced some amazing wrestlers in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  According to an Indian website, at center is Gama Pahelwani, aka the Greate Gama, with his team from1925.

 

Aimable de la Calmette

Our last stable of mustachioed beauties is Le Troupe Aimable de la Calmette, a French

 wrestling team who posed for a Berlin newspaper photographer in 1904.  Enlarge this one

 if you can.  I'd give anything to have been the fluffer for that gang.

 

 

Mighty Mustache Men, Part 3 - Photos from the Waist Up

Part three of Mighty Mustache Men features photos from the waist up.  We start with Jake Kilrain, a championship boxer who did barroom strong man feats before and after his boxing career.

 

Stanislaus Zbyszko

Stanislaus Zbyszko was a Polish strong man and wrestler who rose to worldwide fame in the early 20th Century.  Also an intellectual, he had degrees in law and philosophy.  As you can see below, he cleaned up quite nicely and looked great in a tux.  I can't stop looking at his eyes.

 

 

Henry Holtgrewe

Cincinnati's Henry Holtgrewe was such a legend as a strong man 

that his home town put up a mural to recognize him, show below.

 

Tom Jenkins

Tom Jenkins was a three time American wrestling champion

who went on to coach wresters at the U.S. Military Academy.

 

Emile Vervet

Our last waist-up shot is a repeat from three years ago of Emile Vervet and his bedroom eyes. 

 I've always imagined him saying, "I know what you want, and I just might give it to you."

 

10 X 10

Today we'll look at ten different physique models by ten different photographers.

Our first is by Pat MIlo and the only unknown in the series.  Anyone?

 

Andy by Denny Denfield

Somehow, I have managed not to post this Denny Denfield photo of Andrew Kozak until now.

The natural setting and the impressive model are quite pleasing together.

 

Tom by Kovert

Kovert of Hollywood produced this photo of Tom Matthews.

 

Marc by Western

Don Whitman of Western PhotographyGuild took this impressive photo of Marc Arno.

 

Ben by Dave Martin

Ben Cantor appears to be floating in the air in this Dave Martin picture.

Mr. Cantor was a Stanford Univcrsity baseball player in 1955 when this was made.

 

Jerry and Friend by Lon

Lon of New York took this interesting photo of Jerry Rocco (left) and an unknown.

There's something quite intriguing about their expressions.

 

David by Kris

I get the feeling that this Kris Studio shot of David Selhime was not posed.

If it was posed, it is amazingly natural and at ease.

 

Jules by Al

This photo of Jules Bacon is a cut above the usual technical quality one expects from Al Urban.

 

Drew by Bruce

Bruce of LA chose an excellent outdoor location for this picture of Drew Burton.

 

Keith Stephan by Spartan

Our last photo is by a lesser known studio, Spartan, but the model is the amazing Keith Stephan.