Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 50

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 nine more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.  For privacy reasons, I redact the names of men who might still be alive.  Two of these men may still be alive, so their names are redacted.

This is Yale freshman Frederick J. Coulter on Oct. 13, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman R. C. on Oct. 13, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Philip B. Cowles on Oct. 16, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Marvin Rountree Cox on Oct. 14, 1953.

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 Robert Crafts, Jr. on Oct. 13, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman D. E. on Oct. 16, 1947.

Photos taken before 1952 show only a side view.

This is Yale freshman Harold Forster Van Dine Jr. in 1947.

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

This is Yale freshman Burton Richard Wakefield on Oct. 15, 1947.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos, and the photos were not published for other students to see.

This is Yale freshman Robert Jay Engleman on Jan. 31, 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.

Ads - Part 69

 FitMit AOK

This was a 2016 German commercial for a mobile app that lets you collect points for activity and apply those points to fitness gear, charity or cash.

Bodybuilders - Part 22

 Melvin Wells

Melvin Wells (1919-1994) was born in Alabama, but his family moved to Buffalo, NY when he was 8.  He served in the Army Air Force in World War II.  After the war, he got into bodybuilding.  Not having proper equipment or coaches, he was self-trained.  He started entering competitions and began to be noticed, earning the nickname "the Buffalo Hercules."  Above, he made the cover of Strength & Health in January 1949.  Strength & Health columnist Charles A. Smith said Wells had the biggest biceps he had ever seen (they measured 18.5 inches).

He won the Mr. New York State competition in 1949, which automatically qualified him for the 1949 Mr. America contest, in which he won Most Muscular and 2nd place overall.  In 1950 he again competed for Mr. America, and again he won Most Muscular and 2nd place overall (above).  First place went to John Farbotnik, and Wells was bitter, because he thought he was clearly superior, but he was denied the win because Farbotnik was white and Wells was black.  Many agreed with him.  There was not a black Mr. America winner until 1970.

In 1955, Melvin Wells posed nude for Lon of NY.  The remaining photos are from that session.

Posing by a column.

This photo was not attributed to Lon of NY, but it looks like the column from the previous photo, so presumably from the same session.

I don't know what happened to the color in this photo ...

and this one.

Finally, this photo was only dated "mid-1950s", but was presumably from that same 1955 photo session.

Melvin's interest in bodybuilding competitions waned after his 1950 Mr. America loss, and he stopped competing after 1951.  However, he was not forgotten.  He was inducted into the Mr. America Hall of Fame in 1985.  He died in 1994 at age 74.

4th of July 2025

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  And enjoy some fireworks tonight (if you know what I mean)!

Hiking - Part 70

Bluff Knoll, Western Australia

Bluff Knoll is the highest mountain in the Stirling Range in Western Australia at 3593 feet.  There's a 3.9 mile long trail to the top that climbs 2093 feet.  The hike takes an estimated 3-4 hours round trip.

There's a nice view from the top, but Bluff Knoll has become known for something else – hikers stripping naked at the top, taking a photo of themselves, and posting it on social media.  The photo above is from 2016.

This practice became so widespread that it became known as "buff on the bluff."

Hikers got buff on the bluff in the spring, summer, fall ...

and winter.

In 2017, an indigenous Australian in the area protested that the practice was disrespectful to Native Australian culture.  However, he was against people climbing the mountain at all, while other local indigenous people had never considered that to be a problem.

Meanwhile, hikers continued to take "buff on the bluff" photos, like this one of Jason Byrne.  Click on it for a larger image.

All of the "buff on the bluff" photos that I could find were rear views, except this guy, who preserved his modesty behind a box of Coolabah white wine.

But there are unashamed males in Australia.  Here is Nudist Jeff (at right) and his boyfriend Jason atop Bluff Knoll on March 8, 2024.  Wait a minute.  Did Jeff, the Australian guy who has published hundreds of naked photos of himself, not get buff on the bluff?  Apparently not.

But not to worry.  Here's Jeff atop Mt. Toolbrunup, the second highest peak in the Sterling Range.

Not the Same Old Song - Part 62

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off was written by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance.  The song is famous for the line "You like tomato and I like to-mah-to."  This version is from a 1957 recording by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

Weighing In - Part 71

Nick Heynen

Nick Heynen, nicknamed "The Hangman", is a Canadian MMA fighter born in 1983.  Above, he weighs in at the Aggression MMA 9 event in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 11, 2012.  He had to weigh in naked, but unfortunately for us, he was concealed behind a cloth.

However, after the weigh-in, Nick calmly proceeded to put his pants back on in the background with no cloth to block our view of him, above.

Nick fought in the lightweight class.  In this event, he fought Stephen Beaumont and lost.  His overall fight record was 4 wins and 3 losses.