Saturday, January 31, 2009

James Bidgood returns in the new issue of OUT




I was in Barnes & Noble today, looking at the magazines, when what do I find but a Pierre et Gilles photo on the cover of the current OUT magazine. P&G are favorites of mine, so I picked it up and flipped through it to find something even nicer -- in a spread of guys in speedos, a brand new photo by James Bidgood!

Bidgood is known today as the uncredited auteur behind the 1971 gay film classic "Pink Narcissus." His photographic work in the 60s was featured in such magazines as "Muscleboy," "Demi-Gods" and "The Young Physique." Due to the limited publication of his work (I don't think much, if any, appeared outside of these three magazines) he was nearly forgotten until Bruce Benderson re-discovered him and published a beautiful compendium of his work through Taschen in 1999 (I bought it when it came out and adore it!). That out-of-print book, simply titled "Bidgood," is due to be reprinted at the end of March.

Doing a little Googling I find that other blogs have already picked up on Bidgood's return to the camera -- I don't go shopping too often! -- so please forgive this late jump onto the bandwagon. Many thanks to Hunk du Jour for the second photo -- I don't know where they found it as it is not in the magazine and I couldn't find it at OUT.com.

Jim Stryker by ...?



Something for J. ...

While Champion is the artist most connected to Jim Stryker, at least two other names have been attached to his career, Vulcan (Tony Guyther) and Jay Weissberg.

Here are two "Young Physique" covers featuring Jim, obviously from the same shoot (though published 6 months/3 issues apart) -- unfortunately I can't tell you who took the photos. I have no other examples of the Roman motif in my files. Perhaps someone has a copy of either mag and it might give the photographers' credit inside?

At any rate, the first shot is one I just found this evening and wanted to get it out right away!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

real hunky sailors


...because I can never get enough of real sailors!

Good night, fellas!

1909 basketball team


The following text came with this image when it appeared on eBay in 2003 --

Seven handsome members of the Warren County Athletic Club basketball team of 1908-09 pose with their coach in this wonderful vintage male athlete card-mounted photograph. The athletes' names are hand-inscribed on the reverse:

Warren County
1908 1909 Basketball Team
Ray Carling
Dr. Larrue
Johnson Morgon
Charles Brown
William Gordon
Frank Robertson
Wilbur Opdyke
Leon Cowoll

Bob Heppe by HRM


From the magazine "Scene '69" -- Bob is one of those "in-between" models who posed for the fledgling nude magazines but wasn't (as far as I know) the usual street trade that appeared in so many of the magazines that flooded the market when the ban on nudity was struck down...

(Scan by Paul)

another rough 'n tough customer...



...in the same setting as the previous post!

rough 'n ready duo


The guy on the left punches all the right buttons for me! :-)

The following text accompanied this photo when it appeared on eBay 5 1/2 years ago -- make of it what you will...

VINTAGE 1950s MALE NUDE PHOTOGRAPH 8X10

PHOTO WAS CONFISCATED IN A POLICE RAID IN NEW ORLEANS IN 1958. IT HAS BEEN BEEN STORED IN POLICE PROPERTY ROOM EVER SINCE. PHOTO IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. HIGH QUALITY PRINT ON FIBER PAPER, UNSTAMPED, UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER BUT PERHAPS BY METECUE OF YPSILANTI MICHIGAN.

some naughty uniformed fun


I've been shying away from photos with erections -- not that there's anything wrong with them (in fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with an erection!) -- but I've been keeping on the "respectable" side of things, if you will. Would you like to see more of these kind of "secret" photos of the 50's/60's here from time to time?

unknown in bondage


The jockstrap-on-a-string pouch on this stud looks like an AMG job to me.

unknown by Bruce of LA


Let's continue with a few more unknown models...

What a cutie!








One of the frustrating things about this hobby is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of models whose names are lost to history. Here's a series of a cute young man of which I have no information whatsoever. On the flipside, there are so many people who are into this field that may be able to identify him, or at least the photographer. In any case, I hope you like him!

(not only) Blue magazines for sale at eBay






Hi guys,

This is an FYI for those also interested in modern physique photography that I have 10 issues of the now-defunct Australian magazine "(not only) Blue" on auction over on eBay. The direct link to my auction page is here.

The hard times that so many of us are going through has led me to sell a lot of my porn collection over last summer and fall, and now that Christmas has come and gone, it's time for me to continue. I won't make a habit of interrupting the regular postings for auction updates, but if you are a fellow eBayer, I hope you'll check out my auctions from time to time -- I'll be having more magazines and videos and other stuff (not necessarily porn) up fairly regularly.

(And as far as the vintage stuff goes, #60 has a 7-page gallery of Tom of Finland drawings [as well as 9 pages devoted to a personal favorite, modern-day New York photographer Michael Alago],

#54 has 7 pages of photos from the book "At Ease: Navy Men of World War II,"

#53 has 7 pages devoted to Champion/Walter Kundzciz on the occasion of the publication of his book "Champion,"

#39 has 9 pages of Tony Sansone photos by Edwin Townsend,

and #38 has 9 pages of Al Urban photos taken from "American Photography of the Nude Male, 1940 - 1970, Vol. 6" [and an amazing 11-page spread of Pierre et Gilles photos!].)

Please excuse the commercial interruption -- more photos will be on the way soon!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Clive Poster by Lon of London


Seeing as how it's winter... from the mid-50s... attributed to Lon of London (Will Dominic aka Domenique) though it could be by the original Lon (Hanagan) as well...

Arthur McKenna by Pete Dobing


We haven't had some British Beef for a while...

cute 60s sailor


I love vintage photos of real sailors, so please bear with me if I post some from time to time. I'd love to give this guy a cuddle -- what about you, Maciste? ;-)

Kris Catalogs 1 through 4





Sorry for the rough images, but these are so rare I thought them worth showcasing. Here are the first four mail-order catalogs published by Kris Studio of Chicago. The man behind the camera for Kris was Chuck Renslow, who would later found the annual International Mr. Leather contest and the Leather Archives and Museum. The lack of prices on the cover makes me 99.44% certain that these were available by mail-order only, probably advertised in the pages of Kris' newsstand magazine "Mars." The jumbo, 68-page "Kris 7" appears every now and then on eBay (I have one myself, and it cost me dearly), but this is the first time I have seen any of the earlier editions. The eBay dealer who recently offered these sold them as a set, with the final auction price reaching $403.00.

Bill Barker and Johnny Travis by Russ Warner



Two large beautiful scans, courtesy of "Daddy."

Christian Ferrand by Jean Ferrero





Happy New Year Everybody!

Let's get a post in on the first day, with the first request of the year -- for T., here's a few glimpses at the wonder of Christian Ferrand courtesy of Jean Ferrero...