Ted Gutteridge

Our last picture of the day is Ted Gutteridge by Royale Studio of London.

 

Royale

Basil Clavering of Royale Studio in London took this one in 1950.

 

Earl Maynard

I recently came across this doubly rare (Black model and frontally nude) photo of Earl Maynard by Royale.  Disclosure:  I removed yellowing and increased contrast to make it more viewable.

 

Tibor and Brian

I love it when they tell you right on the picture who's in it and who took it.

For the nearsighted, it's Tibor Urgay and Brian Lamprill by Royale.

 

Royale

Leon Coppola and a wagon wheel were photographed by Royale,

making the back cover of Man Alive magazine.

 

British Beef Week, Day 4 - Hussar . . . or is it Royale?

Basil Clavering and John Parkhurst combined their resources and talents to form Royale Studio in the mid-1950s.  For Clavering it was as much a hobby as anything, as he was the owner of a successful cinema chain, Gala-Royale.  Parkhurst's creative energy produced a succession of racy, but legal photos of military men, athletes, and bodybuilders, often with authentic uniforms and props under the Royale brand.  Some works were marketed with the Hussar marque, with chroniclers of the genre saying that Hussar was for military and Royale for the rest.  My experience is that there is a whole lot of crossover, at least in the modern resale market.  Today we look at works labeled Hussar, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to tag them all as Royale. 

 

Douglas

We start the Hussar photo show with a very well lighted Douglas Potter.  His body 

has that chiseled look, and the posing strap doesn't fully hide the goods.  Nice.

 

Ward Room

I think this is supposed to be a scene from a barracks ward room.

Does "gash can" mean what I think it means?

 

Frog Man and Friend

Here we have a frog man and a guy who really fills out that posing strap well.  I suppose they might have been trying to combine a military and rubber fetish, but everyone is probably looking at the almost naked man.  And those flippers would get snickers at any beach here in Hawaii.  Strange.

 

Cops or Military?

I've seen this one listed as both by Royale and by Hussar, and I can't figure out 

if those are cops or military.  The blue outfits don't look RAF to me, fwiw.

 

Helmut

Was there anybody in the male nude photo business of the 1960s who didn't use 

Helmut Riedmeyer as a model?  A reputable resale website says Hussar did this one.

 

Tangle

These Hussar wrestlers are all in a tangle, but I'm sure they got things sorted out.

 

Peter

The original publication listed this as by Hussar, so we can be certain about the marque.  Peter George, the model, is described as an RAF Physical Instructor.  I bet he could teach a lot of things.

 

And finally, the Royal Navy

At least one of these guys (left) is supposed to be a sailor.  Do British Marines wear berets?

If so, that might account for the man in the middle.

 

Peter

Peter George looks great in this photo by Royale,

an outfit that will get its own day later in the week.

 

This picture of Peter George was left out of a recent series on Royale Studio,

but I'm including it here to show how skilled that English operation could be.

I find the use of shadow here to be particularly effective.

 

Royale Studio of London, aka Hussar

Basil S. Clavering (1910-1973) founded Royale Studio in London in the early 1950s.  Scrupulously adhering to the restrictive British censorship laws of the time, he produced provocative, but covered homoerotic photos of mainly military types until liberalization in the late 60s allowed more nudity.  As you will see, early Royale work featured skin tight pants, underwear, and uniforms.  Clavering was joined in his business by John C. Parkhurst (1927-2000) as a junior partner, but significant creative contributor.  After Clavering's death, Parkhurst took a different direction with his own photographic work, but diligently conserved the archive of Royale which we can enjoy today.  Our first photo from about 1970 features two men whom we only know to be soldiers thanks to their footwear.  

Somebody (not me!) made an interesting GIF out of three Royale photos.  In a puzzling mix of thematic elements, we have a soldier in army boots disrobing an athletic type.  They even threw in a jockstrap.

In an interesting marketing ploy, Clavering and Parkhurst marketed some of their work under the name "Hussar," a type of light cavalry original to Hungary, but used in several European militaries.

 

This photo is from a series called "Guys in Uniform," and I suppose sports qualifies for the category, but I was expecting all military types.  That doesn't mean the model wasn't a soldier, however.

 

This photo is called "In the Gymnasium - Household Cavalry, 1960," and it was prominently featured in a 2019 exhibition of Royale/Hussar work at the Colville Gallery in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Royale used actual servicemen, and not professional models, for most of their photos.