Peter Gordon

This is Peter Gordon as photographed by Spartan.

 

Spartan of Hollywood Day

The son of Greek immigrants who settled in New York, Constantine Hassalevris became a professional dancer in his 20s.  He was injured in a Colorado auto accident that ended his dancing career, but a colleague gifted him with a box camera while he was recovering.  That led to his second career as a physique photographer.  The photo of an unknown above was published under the early Constantine marque, but he is better known as Spartan of Hollywood.

Editors note:  Several of the photos in today's set are not of the best quality.  I don't know 

if that is due to the original work or poor quality scans and/or conservation.  

Also, some are from pulp magazines which do not reproduce well.

 

Bob Rome

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Unknown II

The placement of the spear shaft vis-a-vis the posing strap is interesting in this one.

The model, who looks like a finely sculpted statue, is unknown, to me anyway.

 

Bodybuilders Promo

The pictures on this promotional piece are the worst quality in my Spartan collection, but I'm posting it because it demonstrates that Constantine Hassalevris was in demand in the late 1940s and early 50s for "legitimate" bodybuilder photos.  All of these were known quantities at the time, but Steve Reeves, Rex Ravelle, Eric Pederson, Bob Laurent, and Alex Aronis were top performers.  All those I mention except Steve Reeves posed nude, albeit under pseudonyms at times. And just so you know that Mr. Hassalevris was capable of high quality work, here's a studio shot of Steve Reeves.

 

Promo I - George

I cropped this from a post-liberalization ad for Spartan that featured half a dozen frontally nude models.  This one is only listed as George, but his front and center presentation caught my eye.  I'd love to know what happened to the other five photos of this guy.  They don't seem to appear in any of the online archives, resale sites, or blogs that I have been combing for hours.

 

Bob and Bob

These two are Bob John and Bob Rome, and Spartan did at least five more

photos during this session, most with the same dramatic lighting.

 

Hugh Pendleton

Spartan made quite a few photos of Hugh Pendleton,

and this is one of my favorites.  Love the impish grin.

 

Unknown III

The image is grainy, and it's even fogged at the bottom,

but the handsome model shines through anyway.

 

Promo II - Shawn Zee

Try as I might, I have been unable to find any of the photos 

of Shawn Zee advertised here anywhere online.

 

Jack Harris

Closing the set with Jack Harris and a little Spartan logo at lower right.

 

Andrew Salvador

This is Andrew Salvador by Spartan Studio.

 

Spartan

Eric Pederson is probably the most prolific Spartan model

in terms of photos to be seen online.

 

Spartan

This is a Spartan Studio ad for photo sets, an 8mm color 

movie, and color slides of model Danny Boy

 

Keith Stephan by Spartan

Our last photo is by a lesser known studio, Spartan, but the model is the amazing Keith Stephan.

 

Bill Cunny, thank you MFBT

I'm beginning and ending the Spartan photos with images I borrowed from James at Men From Back Then.  This is Bill Cunny, and there will be a link to James' fine blog at the end.

 

Constantine . . . by him, not of him.

I found this photo on a vintage resale website attributed to simply Constantine, most likely due to the signature.  I'm pretty sure this is the same guy as Spartan and find the picture quite good.

 

Jack Harris

I made this composite to show both sides of Jack Harris.

I find his smile to be charming.

 

Chris Gordon

I don't know whether to call this Spartan picture 

of Chris Gordon artistic, edgy, or just kitschy. 

 

Billy Hitchcock

The modern bench in this photo of Billy Hitchcock makes 

me think it was made late in Constantine's career.