Vintage Military - Part 105

Australians in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was fought by the U.S. and its allies against the invasion of South Vietnam by North Vietnam and its allies Russia and China from about 1964 to 1973.

One of the U.S. allies was Australia.  In this post, we see some soldiers from 9 RAR (9th Battlion, Royal Australian Regiment). bathing in a stream in Vietnam.

The Australians sent a total of about 60,000 troops to fight in Vietnam, compared to 3.1 million American troops who served in Vietnam, but we seem to have more photos of naked Australians in Vietnam than naked Americans.

Another photo of the 9 RAR men bathing.  

And another.  These photos were taken in Bien Hoa province on Oct. 31, 1969.

We end with one of the men putting on his boots while still in the stream, perhaps to avoid getting mud all over his feet.

Australia pulled out of Vietnam in 1971, and all U.S. troops were withdrawn in 1973, after which North Vietnam took over South Vietnam and all of Vietnam became communist.  So, from the U.S. viewpoint, the entire Vietnam War was a failure and a waste.  The cost of this wasted war was 58,000 American troops killed and an estimated 970,000 to 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed on both sides.

Bodybuilders - Part 42

John Grimek

John Grimek (1910-1998) was a classic American bodybuilder.  He won the Mr. America contest in 1940 and 1941, and the Mr. Universe contest in 1948.  Above, posing after winning Mr. Universe.

In almost all of his photos, he is wearing shorts or at least a posing pouch, like the photo above.

In this photo c. 1934, the string around his waist indicates he's wearing a pouch.

But there are a couple of nude photos out there.  This photo, c. 1928, appears to give us the slimmest side view of the goods.

And this photo would have shown a nice rear view, but Grimek signed it, which no doubt increased the value of the photo, but it spoiled the view.

Luckily, Vintage Muscle Men provided an unsigned copy of the photo.  Thanks, Jerry!

Olympics - Part 24

 Joe Thornton & Brent Burns

Joe Thornton (at left), is a Canadian hockey player born in 1979.  He played for Canada in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, at which the Canadian hockey team won gold.

ESPN featured him and Brent Burns (at right), another Canadian hockey player, born in 1985, in their 2017 Body Issue.  Burns did not play in the Olympics.

Here they are again, but how did their beards get so long?

Groomers from ESPN brushed over 70 feet of synthetic hair in six different colors to make the fake beards for the Thornton and Burns photo shoot.

And this was the result.

Here's a nice rear view without the fake beards.  Burns is on the left and Thornton on the right.

And a bit of horseplay ensued.

Performers - Part 90

Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was an athlete, actor, singer and political rights activist in the first half of the 20th century.  In 1915 he won a scholarship to Rutgers University, the third black student to ever attend Rutgers.  He played on the Rutgers football team (above) and was named All American in 1917 and 1918.

He then went on to law school at Columbia, playing professional football while earning his law degree.  After graduation, he became an actor in the Harlem Renaissance movement, performing in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings.

While all this was going on, he found time to pose for Nikolas Muray in 1926 for a series of photos called Nude Studies.  Robeson had no problem showing off his athletic body.

Another from Nude Studies.

And another.

In 1925 he posed for a statue by Antonio Salemme called Negro Spiritual.  This is a plaster cast of the statue.  The original was shipped to France to be cast in bronze but was destroyed in World War II.

In 1936 he sang "Ol' Man River" in the movie Show Boat, in which he starred, above.

His liberal political activism led to persecution in the McCarthy era after World War II.  Today he is honored for his views on civil rights as well as his artistic accomplishments.

Photographers - Part 90

Danny Fitzgerald

Danny Fitzgerald (1921-2000) was a Brooklyn-based photographer whose work was ahead of his time.  In the 1940s and 1950s he started by photographing scenes of everyday life, with some shirtless subjects,  but no nudes.

Then, in 1958, Richard Bennett (above) moved to New York to become an actor/model.  He sent his portfolio to Danny, who invited him to do a photo shoot.  The two became lovers and stayed together until Danny's death in 2000.

Richard also became Danny's business partner.  They called their photography studio "Les Demi Dieux", which means "The Demigods" in French, and Danny started photographing nude men.  Above, Richard Bennett.

They published photos in many of the gay physique magazines of the time.  Above, Richard Bennett.

Danny's photography took a more artistic approach to male physique photography than most other physique photographers.  He also used outdoor locations for many of his photos.  Above, Richard Bennett.

Richard Bennett was not the only model he photographed.  Above, Tommy, 1964.

Orest Daszo, Smoking, 1960.

Swim Hole, New York, 1964.

We end with an unnamed model sporting angel wings in a cemetery.

Les Demi Dieux was active only from 1958 to 1968, and after that Danny Fitzgerald stopped taking nude male photographs.  The reason is unknown, but perhaps after the courts legalized full frontal male nudity in the late 1960s, Danny may have thought that his carefully composed works wouldn't sell in the flood of cheaply produced gay porn that followed.

Danny Fitzgerald died in 2000 without ever having exhibited his works in a gallery.

Calendars - Part 91

Ripped & Stripped 2015

Many British nude calendars are put out by university sports teams, but there are also private calendars, such as the Ripped and Stripped calendars by photographer Nick Baker.   

As usual for these British calendars, part of the proceeds went to charity.  20% of the proceeds of this 2015 calendar went to three charities ...

the Albert Kennedy Trust, which supports young homeless LGBT people ...

Ballboys Testicular Cancer ...

and Macmillan Cancer Support.

So people who buy the calendars can feel good while ogling the photos.

The 2015 calendar features eight athletic guys ...

on the beach.

Frontal views are concealed ...

if only just barely ...

but not rear views ...

so we can use our imagination ..

or not.

Protests - Part 90

G20 Protest, Toronto 2010

The G20 is a group of 19 major countries plus the European Union and The African Union.  They focus on maintaining world financial stability and other issues related to the global economy.

In 2010, when the G20 met in Toronto, Canada on June 26-27, major protests and demonstrations were held in the streets outside the meeting by people protesting poverty and capitalism.

One of the protesters was naked. 

A rear view of him.

Here he is being interviewed.

In front of a line of police.

Some of the protests turned to rioting and vandalism.  Police arrested over 1000 people, making it the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.  Above, our naked protester gets arrested ...

and led away.

There was another naked protester called "Naked Jesus".

Naked Jesus also confronts the police.

If the police reaction (over 1000 arrests) seems excessive, they were reacting to things like this police car being set ablaze.  However, the police were criticized for brutality during the mass arrests, and later, those arrested won a class action suit against the police for $16.5 million.