Mike Sill Day

I'm finally delivering on an old promise for another Mike Sill series.

We start with an unattributed shot by a stone wall.

 

Blonde by Bruce

In several photos of Mike Sill by Bruce of LA, his hair looks bleached.

I wonder if that was the model's idea or the photographers?

 

With Walt

That's fellow Salt Lake City native Walt Needham holding hands

 with Mike Sill in a photo probably by Dave Martin.

 

Oh, yeah

OK, so this is one of the more demure shots Dave Martin took of Mike Sill.

Why does it go off the scale for me on the sexy quotient?

 

Whack job with a staple

Whoever did the page layout for this centerfold should have been fired.

Really?  You put his ass where the staple would be?

 

Another by Bruce

Mike sill is up to his ankles in water in this picture by Bruce of LA.

 

Serious

Mike Sill seemed to just naturally smile in most of his photos.

I'm guessing Dave Martin told him to look serious in this one.

 

1957 Vim

Mike made the cover of Vim in 1957.  As it says, "Photo by Martin."

 

Happy

Our last Mike Sill photo shows the smiling model toweling of in a Dave Martin photo.

 

Mike

In the first of two appearances today, we see Mike Sill by Bruce of LA.

 

Mike again

Here's another shot of Mike Sill from his well known and well done photo shoot with Bruce of LA.

 

Archery Day, Part 2 - Non-nudes

Part two of our archery double feature kicks off with Mike Sill in his "Blonde by Bruce" phase.

 

Mike

Despite having done several series featuring Mike Sill in one way or another,

I haven't managed to post this excellent Dave Martin photo until now.

 

First Place

 And the winner is . . .(total lack of surprise) . . . Mike Sill

This is Mike Sill's 1957 University of Utah class photo.  Somewhat surprisingly, he doesn't appear on any of the athletic pages of the yearbook.  Neither did he in his high school annual, despite having been described both during and after his lifetime as a track and field star.

Dave Martin called Mike Sill "my biggest discovery," and that's an amazing compliment considering how many outstanding models he photographed.  Both the seaside rock setting and the pose are classic Martin.  The tan lines provide added interest, as if we needed any.

The above vignette shows that Mike Sill was well connected in the world of bodybuilders, 

having helped his friend Steve Reeves find a high end horse after he appeared in Hercules.

We get a blonde version of Mike Sill in this 1957 cover shot for The Male Figure.  I don't know if Bruce of LA, the photographer, got him to bleach his hair or if he spent a lot of time in the sun.  

Mr. Sill appeared on no less than 12 magazine covers, most of them of the bodybuilding type.

And I'm bringing this somewhat unwieldy series to an end with the ultimate (literally) 

money shot.  Fellow bodybuilder turned photographer Bob Delmonteque described to a

 friend how he talked Mike Sill into posing frontally nude for this session "despite his 

deep religious convictions because of the pride in his amazing body."

Whatever Happened to Mike Sill

A while back, some interest was generated when I posted some photos of Mike Sill, 1934-1994.  Mike was a devout Mormon who became a champion bodybuilder and nude model.  Mike's story proved interesting enough that I have decided to do a "Whatever happened to . . . " series in his honor.  I'll start with a Dave Martin photo from 1956-57.

 

High School

This is John Michael "Mike" Sill at age 17 in his Salt Lake City East High School yearbook photo.

This was taken a year after he won a Jowett Body building trophy, but he doesn't appear on any of the yearbook athletic pages despite being described by some as a track star.

 

First Modeling Job

In 1953 Cecil B. DeMille commissioned Salt Lake City based Mormon artist Arnold Friberg to paint some preproduction thematic works for The Ten Commandments.  These were used to inspire everything from set decoration to costumes for the movie.  Friberg hired a just out of high school Mike Sill to pose for some of these.  Of all the renditions of these paintings I was able to find on line, this one looks to be one Mike would appear in.  I don't know which guy (or guys) might be Mike. 

 

Classic Dave Martin

Dave Martin is generally credited with having "discovered" Mike Sill as a physique model.  He is quoted as saying, "Mike Sill was my greatest success."  It's no surprise then that Mr. Martin photo graphed Mike at his most iconic and favorite rocky seaside location in the mid-1950's.

 

Under the Pier

Walt Needham (left) joins Mike Sill for this undated Dave Martin photo.  It was quite unlike 

Martin to leave his own shadow in a picture.  Maybe he never got around to cropping it out.

 

Checking out that muscle

I know neither the locale nor the photographer for this shot of Mike Sill in a stream.

The tan lines combing with the posing strap for an interesting visual effect.