Protests - Part 81

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Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 60

Ivy League Posture Photos

Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  The Yale program predates Sheldon, and, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos were never connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are posture photos of ten more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.

This is Yale freshman John M. Kohler, Jr. on October 16, 1953.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.

This is Yale freshman Ogden R. Conkey on October 16, 1953.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.

This is Yale freshman P. C. on October 16, 1953.

The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

This is Yale freshman Charles Bailey Davidson on December 11, 1951.

Photos taken before 1952 show only a side view.

This is Yale freshman David Bernath McBrayer on January 13, 1951.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.

This is Yale freshman Edward L. Chainski on February 1, 1951.

If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

This is Yale freshman John Garrett Kolakowski on January 12, 1951.

The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

This is Yale freshman Robert George Kleckner, Jr. on March 5, 1951.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos.

This is Yale freshman Roger Clinton Evans on March 5, 1951.

The photos were not published for other students to see.

This is Yale freshman William Rockefeller McAlpin, Jr. on February 1, 1951.

The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned.  However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.

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Note: some of my followers consider these photos an invasion of privacy for the students.  To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive.  I only publish the names of students who have died.  Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses and relatives of the deceased person.

I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time.  Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known.  In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene.  These photos are not obscene.  They should be celebrated, not hidden away.

Bodybuilders - Part 33b

Deriaz Brothers, part 2

Yesterday we looked at Adrien Deriaz.  Today we look at his six brothers who were all born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and then moved to France to become strongmen and wrestlers.

Maurice Deriaz (1885-1974) was one of the most famous of the brothers.  Above, he does the one-armed "clean and jerk" with a 228 pound weight, setting a new record.  He was also a wrestler, beating 44 opponents in a row to win a Greco-Roman wrestling tournament.

Above, Maurice in a photo by Deruchin.  I got the photo from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Maurice was a favorite model for Gustave Courtois, as I reported in an earlier post about that artist, and the strongman and artist may have been lovers.  Above, Maurice was the model for Paradise Lost by Courtois.

The other famous Deriaz brother was the oldest brother, Emile (1879-1939), above.  He could perform a standing broad jump of more than 10 feet.

Emile set a record of 193 pounds in the one hand swing weightlifting event.

Photos of the other brothers are scarce.  Above, Jules Deriaz.  The photo was labeled "Jules Deriaz, leveur de poids" (weightlifter).

Octave Deriaz.  The caption means "champion of light weights."

Above, brothers Ulysse (at left) and Maurice (at right) with Ulysse's son Samson.  I got this from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

There was a seventh brother, Florian.  I was unable to find any photos or information about him.

We end with some photos that Paul Richer took of Adrien Deriaz (at right) and two of his brothers.  The brothers were not identified, but the one at left looks like Octave, and the one in the center looks like Maurice.

And here is Paul Richer's rear view of the three Deriaz brothers.  Photo from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Bodybuilders - Part 33a

Deriaz Brothers, part 1

The Deriaz brothers were a family of seven brothers born in Switzerland in the late 1800s who moved to France and made names for themselves as strongmen and wrestlers.

Adrien Deriaz, seen above on the cover of La Culture Physique magazine, 1906, was not the most famous of the brothers, but he seems to have posed for the most nude photos.

Here he is in a 1905 issue of the same magazine.

Adrien won the Wrestling Championship of France in 1906.  In the one-armed clean and jerk (a weightlifting event) he could lift 223 pounds.

I don't know who took this photo of Adrien in 1899, but the result is very pleasing.

Adrien Deriaz in a photo by Joseph Rosmond, Paris, c. 1915.

The photographer here is identified only as M.F., Paris.

Paul Richer, who took the photos in my series of athletes in the 1900 Olympics, also took several photos of Adrien Deriaz.  This one is called "Adrian Deriaz as the Barberini Faun", with Adrien copying the languid pose of that ancient sculpture.

Richer also took some photos of Adrien, at right above, with his brothers.  The brother at left was not named, but it might be Maurice.

More photos of Maurice and the other Deriaz brothers tomorrow.

Ads - Part 79

Danish Skin Care

This 2002 skin care commercial was put out by Apotekerne Danmark, the Danish Pharmaceutical Association.  Apparently set in a locker room, a good-looking blond guy is applying some kind of cream or lotion to his skin.  He sees a little nerdy guy strip naked – we get to see his butt.  I didn't understand the blond guy's reaction – I thought he was gay – until a reader pointed out that the nerdy guy is apparently very well-endowed (the blond guy looks at him and then looks down at himself).  After this, the narrator tells us that the body's largest organ is the skin, and apparently "largest organ" is a sly reference to the nerdy guy's large organ.  A bit of humor from the maker of the commercial.

Hiking - Part 80

Black Combe, Cumbria, England

Above is A.J. in the hilly Lake District in Cumbria, northwestern England.  He decided to hike naked up to the top of Black Combe, for a distance of 2.6 miles and an elevation gain of 1880 feet.

Starting the hike.

Continuing up the hill.

Climbing up.

Near the top.  A.J.'s photos make the trail look worse than it is.  There is a trail all the way to the top.  The trail is not well marked in places, but it does not require climbing over rocks.

At the trig at the summit.  A trig is a triangulation station that was used for surveying before GPS became available.

The view from the top.  That's the Irish Sea to the west.

Events - Part 81

Elimination of the Penny

The U.S. government announced that it will no longer produce pennies.  The last pennies were minted in November, 2025.

Above, Remi Chester using pennies in an unconventional way.

It is expected that businesses will round prices to the nearest nickel.

Above, a sculpture made out of thousands of pennies.

Eventually, the only people possessing pennies will be coin collectors, like the guy above.

What next?  Will we reach the point where the dollar bill will also become obsolete?  Not any time soon, but my theory is that at some point in the future, neither coins nor paper money will be used, because all monetary transactions will be electronic.

We might not even use credit cards – perhaps people will poke their finger into a receptacle that reads their fingerprint and pays the bill.  OK, probably not that receptacle.

People will look back at us as primitive for using coins and cash.

But for now, some of us will remember the penny with nostalgia.

Weighing In - Part 81

Andrew Cancio

Andrew Cancio is an American boxer born in 1988.  On Sept. 17, 2016, he fought against Joseph Diaz in Arlington, Texas for the WBC featherweight title.  While he was weighing in, a slight mishap occurred with the modesty cloth (above).

A slowed-down replay, above, shows us that Cancio actually caused the incident when, after raising his fist in triumph after weighing under the limit, he brought down his arm and accidentally hit the edge of the cloth.  Well, that's what makes things interesting.

Cancio lost this fight, but later won the WBA super featherweight title in 2019.  His overall record is 21 wins and 5 losses.

Poem of the Day - Part 81

When I Heard at the Close of the Day
by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet most famous for his poetry collection Leaves of Grass and the poems he wrote after Lincoln was assassinated: O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.

Whitman was almost certainly gay.  Leaves of Grass was criticized for wording that implies homosexuality in some of the poems.  Some contemporary critics called the work obscene, but others, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, praised it.

This poem, published in Leaves of Grass (1860), is about how becoming famous didn't make him happy, but his male lover coming and sleeping with him did.  If that's not gay, I don't know what is.

When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d, 

And else when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy, 

(Note: this sketch depicts Walt Whitman in 1854, slightly before Leaves of Grass.)

But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh’d, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn, 

When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light, 

When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing bathed, laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise, 

And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way coming, O then I was happy, 

O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food nourish’d me more, and the beautiful day pass’d well, 

And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening came my friend,

And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly continually up the shores, 

I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me whispering to congratulate me, 

For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night, 

In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me, 

And his arm lay lightly around my breast – and that night I was happy.

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The photographs above, taken by Thomas Eakins c. 1883, are titled Naked Series: Old Man.  The name of the man was not given, but some people think the model was Walt Whitman, based on the striking resemblance to other photos of Whitman's face in old age.