Bob McCune

Although the bondage kitsch might be a bit hokey,

nothing can take away Bob McCune's stage presence.

 

Bob McCune by Bruce of Los Angeles

Put Bruce of LA and Bob McCune together, and what do you get?

Something approaching perfection, that's what you get.

 

Bob

While technically a derriere shot, this photo of Bob McCune 

is mostly about those amazing back and shoulder muscles.

 

Bob McCune

Russ Warner didn't take all that many posing strap shots, 

but I found this nice one of Bob McCune.

 

Bob McCune

Bruce of LA started out taking photos of Muscle Beach bodybuilders for "legitimate" magazines.  

It wasn't long before he debuted his own journal called The Male Figure around 1950.  The first edition featured Bob McCune, a great model who has had his own feature series here on the blog.

 

Whatever happened to . . . Bob McCune

Not too long ago, I posted a photo of Bob McCune (1921-2002), and somebody asked for more.  Well, watch out what you wish for, because here is what is probably the most extensive "whatever happened to" series I've ever done.  Be sure to read all the captions, folks, because this man led a fascinating life.  When I got done with all the research for this one, all I could say was, "What a hell of a  man!"  I'm starting with my personal favorite photo by an unknown photographer.

 

School track team

Bob McCune's athletic abilities were first discovered at St. Mary's elementary school in 
Amsterdam, NY, where he was the only member of the school track team.  They sent him to an interscholastic meet where he won four ribbons against much larger schools.  This photo is from the 1939 edition of Amsterdam's Lynch High school.  Bob is on the end second row from the top, and appropriately, at least for our purposes, shirtless and showing some early chest development.

 

Wartime

In the winter of 1941-42 several interesting events occurred in Bob McCune's young life.  Most obviously, the USA went to war, and all young men had to register for the draft with this image being Bob's registration card.  It tells us that he was working at General Electric, a critical war industry that might have provided him with a couple of years draft deferment.  At the same time, he was spotted playing hockey in Schenectady and offered a spot on the New York Rangers pro team.  So what job did he choose?  Neither.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he remained until May, 1946.  The Draft Board evidently kept tabs on him and duly recorded his discharge date at the top of the card.

 

Competitor

After he got out of the Navy in 1946, Bob McCune moved to the West Coast, first to the Bay Area where he studied a few semesters at Stanford U. on the GI Bill.  He was "discovered" in a San Francisco gym by some unknown advisor and told he should move to LA where the Muscle Beach scene was developing.  That let to competitive bodybuilding and his winning national titles in '47, '48, and '49, the latter being Mr. America.  This photo was made at Muscle Beach by an unknown.

This photo from an unknown competition shows Bob McCune at right 

and a guy named Steve Reeves at left.  I don't know who won.

 

Pinup pose

The pose is borrowed from World War II pinup girls and a bit cliched,

but Bob Mizer of AMG did a great job on this shot of Bob.

 

Lighting can be everything

When I first saw this Russ Warner photo of Mr. McCune, I thought, "Oh no, this is one of those that somehow darkened over time."  Then I slowed myself down and took a good long look, finally 

coming to the conclusion that not only was it meant to be this way, but it's quite beautiful.

FWIW, Warner appears to have been the only photographer to get Bob to pose frontally nude.

Perhaps the fact that both were competitive bodybuilders had something to do with it.

 

By Bruce on the Beach

Bruce of LA attached (quite proudly, I'm sure) his trademark

to this stunning photograph of Bob McCune on the beach.

 

Not by Warner

You're to be forgiven if you mistake this heavily oiled AMG photo for yet another of that sort by Russ Warner.  The projected cut glass punchbowl patterns in the background are the giveaway. 

 

Autographed AMG

This autographed photo of Bob McCune was offered 

at a hefty price on eBay and attributed to Bob Mizer/AMG.

 

Seated

As you've probably noticed by now, Bob McCune was photographed in a wide range 

of positions and  from different angles, and he looked good in all of them.

This seated version is by Russ Warner and seems a bit less oiled than others.

 

Lawn

I wish I knew who took this amazing photo of Bob McCune reclining on a lawn.

The way he posed him is pretty near perfection to show off his muscles.

 

Weighty matter

I suspect that this Russ Warner photo of Bob McCune is a "cutout" since a few details seem poorly cut.  I think that's a detached barbell weight disc he's holding, and it just occurred to me that Warner may have cut out the background to avoid having the location of his nude photo shoot identified . . . especially if that happened to be a well known Los Angeles area gym.

 

Wrestling movie clip

Like quite a few competitive bodybuilders, Bob McCune became a professional wrestler.  He had a successful career between 1950 and 1958.  Oddly, I couldn't find any still photos of him during this period of his life.  We do, however, have this interesting Australian newsreel clip.

 

Career moves

Rather than kick back at the beach after his pro wrestling career ended in 1958, Bob McCune briefly took up used car sales in Los Angeles.  Tiring of that, he became a salesman for the Encyclopedia Britannica, and won top national sales awards through the 60's into the 70's.

 

Sports Betting Expert

After his post-wrestling jobs as a used car and encyclopedia salesman, Bob McCune moved to Las Vegas and successfully took up the relatively new profession of legal sports betting.  As best as I can figure, this was around 1980.  I made this composite showing Mr. McCune in his office about 1996 (Atlanta Olympics shirt gave that away) and the rather plain cover of his "how to" book.