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Sunday, February 9, 2025

Performers - Part 63

John Weidemann

John Weidemann was another bodybuilder/actor who had a bit part as one of the Olympic athletes in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.  Above, Jane Russell stares at Weidemann's muscles at the beginning of her song Ain't There Anyone Here for Love.

Here's the entire song Ain't There Anyone Here for Love.  It's over 3 minutes long, but I love it and it's definitely worth watching.  The plot is that Jane and Marilyn are on a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic, and so is the U.S. Olympic team.  Marilyn is pursuing a rich man for his money, and later she sings Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.  Jane is looking for a more physical relationship, but the coaches keep the Olympic team members busy exercising, so they have no time for Jane.

This routine was choreographed by Jack Cole, who was gay, and several commentators have remarked on how gay the result is.  Jane Russell was Hollywood's leading sex symbol at the time.  Earlier, Jane's film The Outlaw had been banned because she showed so much cleavage.  Her measurements were 38-24-36, and Bob Hope once introduced her as "the two and only Jane Russell."

Anyway, in this song, all these young, virile-looking athletes, who would normally be all over sexy Jane, totally ignore her and keep exercising, as if they're all gay.  "Don't anyone know about birds and bees?" she sings.

The athletes' costumes are pretty gay, too.  Above, a screen grab from the film.  He's not naked; the athletes are wearing flesh-colored shorts that are so tight their their ass cracks are visible, though the shorts do conceal their fronts.

By the way, when Jane falls into the pool at the end of the song, it was actually an accident, not in the script, but director Howard Hawkes loved it and left it in the movie.

John Weidemann's acting career was not stellar.  In addition to his uncredited bit part in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, he played a palace guard in the Broadway musical Kismet in 1953-1954.  His friend Steve Reeves, above, who won the Mr. America contest in 1947, also played a palace guard in Kismet.

Although we only get to see John Weidemann's biceps in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, he modeled nude for physique photographer Bruce of L.A. who took all of the remaining photos of John, including the one above.

John had a motorcycle.  While he and Steve Reeves were working in Kismet, John said he would teach Steve how to drive it.

They set out on the bike driving down a country road with John sitting behind Steve.

Spotting a country store, John shouted "Turn here" in Steve's ear.  Steve turned too fast and the bike skidded on gravel.  John jumped off, but the bike tipped on its side, and Steve and the bike slid into a tree.

Steve dislocated his shoulder and fractured some ribs.  And that's how one muscleman/actor/nude model put another one in the hospital.  Steve was not permanently injured, but he had to take some time off from Kismet.

Meanwhile, John survived with no serious injury.  We end with this color photo of him by Bruce of L.A.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Events - Part 66

Folsom East 2011

Folsom East in New York City was the counterpart of the more famous Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.  For several years, one of the events at Folsom East was a cream pie eating contest.  Here are the pies ready to be prepared.  They're not really cream pies, just pie crusts filled with whipped cream.

What distinguished this contest was the placement of the pies.  Here are the contestants in 2011, ready with the pies, which then got smushed onto their partners' asses.

And the pie eating began.

They're determined to get to the bottom of this.

And to do so lickety-split.

The cat that got the cream.

And here they are, licked clean except for a few stray dabs.  How does the old expression go?  They take a licking and keep on fricking?

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Calendars - Part 64

 Red Hot 2025

British photographer Thomas Knights has produced a series of Red Hot calendars to fight the British prejudice against gingers by presenting redheaded men as positive and desirable.  Today we see his Red Hot calendar for 2025.

A model called Chance is Mr. January.

February features Michael and Noah.

Most British charity nude calendars show rear views but hide frontal views.  Not this calendar.

Finn is Mr. March.

April features Macauley, Chance and Emanuel.

May shows Charles and Finn, who seem to enjoy licking something.

June has Finn lying down with Macaulay, Emmanuel and Chance in the background.

July shows Chris and Stevie in the locker room shower.

August sun worshippers are Emmanuel, Charles, Rich, Taylor, Ricky and Macauley.

Charles is Mr. September.

Macaulay is Mr. October.

Emmanuel is Mr. November.

And the whole group is there to wish us a happy December: Emmanuel, Charles, Chance, Rich, Taylor, Ricky, Will, Finn and Macaulay.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Protests - Part 64

Nude Parade, San Francisco 2019

An event was held on June 23, 2019 in San Francisco called Nude Parade and Rally to Legalize Psychedelic Medicine.  The protesters met at Jane Warner Plaza (above) and then marched to Haight and Ashbury and back again.  Public nudity was illegal in San Francisco except for events with a permit, but this event had a permit and was legal.

Above, a protester's sign says "Psychedelic Liberation: Medicine not Medication."  The purpose of the protest was to decriminalize the use of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin for medical use in San Francisco.  Psilocybin had just been decriminalized in Oakland.  Some wounded Army veterans testified that psilocybin helped quell their physical pain and suicidal thoughts.

However, this sign is confusing, since medicine and medication are virtually synonymous.  Did he mean "Medicine not Recreation"?  Perhaps he had taken too many psychedelic drugs before making the sign.

The reason it was a nude protest was to attract attention and press coverage, but some of the protesters were also protesting San Francisco's ban on public nudity.

"Cognitive Liberty" on this sign refers to the right of an individual to control his own mental processes, including the right to alter his consciousness with drugs.  Legally, this is not a recognized human right, though this guy thinks it should be.

Here are some more protesters.  This guy had headphones.

This guy was playing a guitar in the first photo.

A San Francisco Giants fan.

Thumbs up from a well-hung guy.

It looks like his headscarf is covering a baseball cap.

A guy with a drum.  Musicians had been encouraged to join the protest, again to attract more attention.

A pale-skinned guy protesting the nudity ban.

Another guy who didn't get out in the sun much.

A trio of protesters.  There were quite a few photos of the hunky-looking guy on the right ...

including this one of him holding the classic nude photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which tells me he was protesting the nudity ban.

We'll end with two more views of him, a closeup from the front ...

and a view from the rear showing his tan lines.

This 2019 protest did not have any immediate result, but in 2022 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors decriminalized the use of psychotropic plant substances like psilocybin.  However, except for the states of Oregon and Colorado and scattered cities in other states, psilocybin is still illegal in most of the U.S.