Bodybuilders - Part 40

Canada Day
Billy Hill

Today is Canada Day, and to celebrate it, we present Mr. Canada 1954, Billy Hill (1928-1978).  Above, a clip from a 1950s silent gay beefcake posing film that was introduced as "The Young Physique presents Billy Hill and Friends in Duals".  Billy was gay, and his appeal to gay men in the pre-Stonewall era was mostly through magazine spreads and black-and-white glossies.

Billy was from Montreal, and he won the Mr. Montreal title before he became Mr. Canada.  He was a favorite model for Montreal photographer Alan B. Stone, who took all of the remaining photos.  I got several of these from Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

These photos are notable for the industrial setting.

Billy shows his winning smile.

Photographer Alan Stone was physically disabled with rheumatoid arthritis, and Billy actually carried Mr. Stone to some difficult-to-reach photography sites.

We end with a rear view of Billy Hill.  To all our Canadian viewers, happy Canada Day!

Olympics - Part 22

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Performers - Part 88

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a comedy team in the early 1950s, featuring singer Dean Martin and nutty comic Jerry Lewis.  They started as a nightclub act but then did some TV appearances and made a number of movies together.

Some nude photos have surfaced of them at the Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs in 1952.  Above, Dean (at left) and Jerry (next to him) in a sauna or steam room.  The man at right is Mack Gray, Dean's assistant and close friend.

The rest of the photos were taken in a shower room.  Here are Jerry and Dean, semi-modest.

Here they are with Dean not modest at all, aside from someone's inept attempt to censor the photo.

Finally, Dean and Jerry, with Dean again totally exposed.  Although it looks like Jerry is jerking off, he's probably holding his hand like that as a joke.

Photographers - Part 88

Pat Milo

Pat Milo (1911-1969) was one of the most prolific photographers of the nude male.  Born James Patrick, he worked under the pseudonym Milo of Los Angeles.

I got this self-portrait of Pat Milo from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!  Vintage Muscle Men has posted over 300 Pat Milo photos.

Today I will feature some photos from an ad for a book of photos by Pat Milo, above.  I do not have the book, so I'm using photos from the ad.

The ad had photos of the partially-opened book, like the one above.  I was able to use Photoshop to straighten the images.  The left-hand pages were the worst, being more curved and some of them having colored reflections that I had to remove.  The right-hand pages just required minor adjustment.

Above is the result of my straightening an image of Don Hawksley from the ad (left) and the same photo that I found on Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Here's another photo of Don Hawksley from the ad.

Robert Rex.  This is from the left-hand (curved) page of the photo of the book shown earlier.

Robert Rex from the right-hand page of the photo of the book.

Roger Conte.

Another photo of Roger Conte.

Mike Dunn (thanks to my reader vintage fan 1952 for the identification).

Roger Conte again, wearing a sailor's hat.  That looks like a doughnut, but it isn't.

Roger Conte.

Roger Conte with the doughnut-like object.

Jerry Bayless reading a magazine.

A black model, rare for Pat Milo.

John Manning.

Another photo of John Manning.

And here's the back cover of the book.

My thanks to Jerry at Vintage Muscle Men for helping identify several of the models in these photos.

Calendars - Part 89

SHU Rugby 2025

Every year, the rugby team at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) in England puts out a nude calendar.  Today we look at their 2025 calendar.  Like most British nude calendars, profits from the calendar go to charity.  In 2025, the profits from this calendar went to the Remarkable Ronnie campaign, supporting Ronnie, a child with severe disabilities including cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness.

The calendar features SHU rugby team players.  Here's Mr. March.

Messrs. April.

Messrs. June.

Mr. August.

Messrs. September.

There is also a "making of the calendar" series of photos that are not so carefully posed ...

like this "cover up" shot that doesn't quite cover up.

Protests - Part 88

 St. Peter's 2023

In June, 2023, a Polish man approached the high altar of St. Peter's at the Vatican, undressed, and jumped up onto the altar.

A close-up shot.  On his back is written his protest message "Save children in Ukraine."

I could only find censored frontal views of him.

The Vatican police apprehended him and handed him over to the Italian police, who issued an expulsion order requiring him to leave Italy.

Catholics condemned this incident as sacrilege.  The Vatican considered it a desecration of the high altar, and Cardinal Gambetti conducted a purification rite for the altar.

All I can say is, really?  Having a naked man on the altar desecrates it?  The Vatican is full of statues and paintings of naked men.  Above, this Vatican statue of the boxer Creugas isn't even an ancient statue.  It was made c. 1800.

And of course, the most famous Vatican naked artwork: Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel of God creating Adam.

So paintings and sculptures of naked males are fine, but an actual naked male is a sacrilege?  Let me propose a toast to Vatican hypocrisy (above).