Military Day

It's military day, and I have no location for this item from the LIFE archive.

As usual, Google Images search came up empty.

 

Unknown

I found this on a military website, but they gave no information on it.

 

Signal Corps I

This is the first of two World War I photos from the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

 

New Zealanders

Henry Armytage Sanders took this photo on July 7, 1917 of the last moments 

of a New Zealand Army water sports day event in France.  I especially 

like the obvious enjoyment of the men below sitting on the fence.

 

Christmas Island 1958

Larry K. over at The Unashamed Male sent this movie clip for Operation Grapple,

a British series of nuclear tests on Christmas Island in 1958.  Thanks, Larry!

 

New Guinea

These men are Americans on New Guinea in World War II.

 

Poland Ca. 1930

This photo is by the historically important Interwar era Polish photographer Narcyz Witczak-Witacayrisk.  These soldiers are having a relaxing swim.  Enlargements belowl

 

World War II

This looks like a World War II photo, and if I had to guess the nationality, I'd say German.

 

Vietnam

All I know about this one is that it is from Vietnam.

 

Signal Corps II

Our closing military photo is another U.S. Army Signal Corps 

gang shower scene from World War I.

 

Gym Shorts Day

It's gym shorts day, and no, our first photo is not the 1978 bar backs from the Marlin Beach Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.  They are rugby players Billy Smith, Graeme Langlands, and Henry Tatana.  

 

Hunk

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing this hunk did the shot put 

for a college that started with the letter C.

 

Estonians?

My source says these are 1922 Estonian athletes, but the names sound Russian and German.  Then I recalled that over the centuries a sprinkling of Germans, Russians, and Swedes had settled there.

 

Clone Prototype?

For a brief moment I thought I'd found the prototype for the 1970s gay clone look,

but then I noticed he lacked the obligatory gym socks with color bands at the top.

Still, I think he would have been a hit in the clubs.

 

Football Team

These football players seem to be a very friendly lot.

 

Frank Muck

I think Frank Muck was the captain of the University of Wisconsin track team in 1929.

I'm more certain that he got a lot of ribbing because of his name.

 

Trio II

Our second trio of the day was labeled simply "Football."

Google Images search was no help at all.

 

Here we see the 1947 Chicago Bears with coach George Halas at left and center 

Fred Davis at (where else?) center.  I could find no names for the other men.

 

Coach?

This guy looks like he might be a coach watching his team at work.

He could coach me any day, and would you look at that hair pattern?

 

Symbolism

Freud would have had a field day (pun intended) 

with our last photo of men in gym shorts.

 

Mandate Magazine Day

In the 1970s a number of well known male nude models and porn stars, both current and future, appeared in Mandate magazine.  Some of the work of the best and most artistic photographers 

of male nudes also appeared there.  The publication's reputation for intellectual content 

faded over the years, and it eventually became mainly a purveyor of racy images.  

The issue from October of 1977 above is an example from its best days 

with the cover promoting pieces on Von Gloeden, Andy Warhol, 

and Vincent Price as Oscar Wilde.  The handsome, hairy cover

 man is Shon Dudas, and today is Mandate day.

 

Jordon Hunter

This off center photo of Jordon Hunder was in Mandate in 1978.

 

Tony Crater

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ben Chapin

It was October of 1977 when Ben Chapin did a photo spread in Mandate.

 

Richard Locke

The bearard only had a few touches of gray, and the daddy look he became famous for was still nascent, but that is unmistakably Richard Locke on the cover of Mandate in October, 1979.  He did a photo spread on erotic massage that apparently did not show him frontally nude  We all know Mr. Locke best from watching him on VHS tape in the 80s, but this early appearance is interesting.

The photos were credited to Roy Blakey.

 

Gordon Grant

Colt provided quite a few photos for Mandate.  

This one of Gordon Grant appeared in June of 1976

 

Al Parker

This centerfold photo of Al Parker was taken by Jim French of Colt,

and I believe it is from Mandate's May, 1979 issue.

 

Club Baths

This ad for the NYC Club Baths ran in Mandate's September 1975 issue,

and more than likely appeared in other publications as well.

 

August 1978

  

Mandate's cover men were sure to get newstand browsers (at least the gay male ones) to want to take a look inside.  This is a prime example, but I can't find a name for the cover man.  Anyone?

 

Billy Mars

Initially, the only name I could find for this 1979 Mandate model 

was "Billy," but some searches revealed the surname Mars.

 

Chuck Gatlin

Chuck Gatling and a cat licking himself appeared in the November, 1977 issue of Mandate.