Today I am posting in its entirety Catalogue One from Kensington Road, the successor to Bruce of LA's trademark after his death. The physical book was sent to me by Bill D. of California, for which I am eternally grateful. I will post these in page order with only a few captions. KR was set up and run by Bruce Bellas' protoge', model, and likely lover, Scotty Cunningham, aka Scotty Buono when he worked for Bob Mizer of AMG. Rather than repeat all that I know about KR, which isn't as much as we might wish, here's a link to a previous piece I did on the subject:
http://www.vintagemusclemen.com/search?q=kensington
Kensington Road lasted only a few years, and no one seems to know what happened to Scotty thereafter. One of our most knowledgeable contributors, Cambria, has researched this with diligence, as have I, and neither of us has come up with anything. If any of you know, please comment.
FROM BOB MIZER’S 1000 MODEL DIRECTORY VOL. 2 (2016)
ReplyDeleteSTEVE BUONO (SCOTTY CUNNINGHAM) BIOGRAPHY –
HE MODELED UNDER HIS REAL NAME. STEVE BUONO FOR BOB AND AS “SCOTTY CUNNINGHAM” FOR OTHERS, AND WAS LARGELY THE POSSESSION OF BRUCE BELLAS, WORKING IN HIS HOME AND DARKROOM. STEVE/SCOTTY WAS A BIG BOY, SIX FEET TWO, 200 STRAPPING POUNDS, AND REPORTEDLY A HUSTLER. BOB CLAIMED HE WAS “ACTIVE IN ALL SPORTS, ESPECIALLY AIKAIDO.” AND THAT HE HAD A STRONG MALE LIBIDO, MAKING HIS APPEAL TO BELLAS OBVIOUS. WHEN BRUCE DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES WHILE ON VACATION IN CANADA IN 1974 SCOTTY WAS WITH HIM. AN INFORMED SOUCE TELLS US THAT SCOTTY LEFT BRUCE’S BODY IN THE HOTEL ROOM AND RUSHED BACK TO LOS ANGELES TO RANSACK THEIR SHARED HOME, PICKING UP HIS GIRLFRIEND ON THE WAY. HE FOUND LITTLE HE COUND EASLIY CONVERT TO CASH, BUT SOON LEARNED THAT BRUCE HAD NAMED HIM SOLE HEIR OF HIS ESTATE. STEVE HAD LITTLE USE FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND QUICKLY SOLD THE ARCHIVE AND HOME TO BRUCE’S CLOSE FRIEND KENT SCHLESSELMANN, AND RETURNED TO HIS PRE-BRUCE CAREER AS A MASSEUR AND MALE COMPANION. THERE IS MENTION ONLINE THAT SCOTTY HAS RECENTLY DIED, BUT NOTHING CONCLUSIVE.
[I BELIEVE KENT SCHLESSELMANN IS KURT DIETRICH, HE TOOK OVER as guardian of bruce's archive. but all photography that came out of Kensington Road (named for where bruce's house was) are by Kent/Kurt, not Bruce.]