Jack Mitchell Day

It's Jack Mitchell day, and we start the set with Robert La Tourneaux from 1970.

He played Cowboy in Boys in the Band, and sadly, he died of AIDS in 1986.

 

Mikel Peters

Although his hair is longer and lighter than in other photos,

this is model Mikel Peters from 1971.

 

Luis Rivera

Dancer Luis Rivera posed for Jack Mitchell in this undated photo.

 

Giancarlo Giannini

Although the focus of this blog is his male nudes, Jack Mitchell did some fine portrait work.

This sultry 1976 photo of Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini is a good example.

 

Curly Top

This one came with no info whatsoever, other than being by Jack Mitchell.

It might, however, be a rear view of Robert Lz Tourneaux.

 

Brahm

This handsome model is sometimes shown as Brahm and other times as Braham.

I'm sure he had more of a name than that, but I haven't been able to find it.

 

Unidentified

Incongruously, I found this 1970 Jack Mitchell photo of an unidentified model in an online sale of Warhol works.  It was clearly labeled as Mr. Mitchell's, however, and some searches verified that.

 

Kirk Peterson

Although my source didn't say so, I get the feeling that 

Kirk Peterson was a dancer.  The photo is from 1974.

 

Christian Holder

This is Joffrey Ballet dancer Christian Holder in a picture used in a 1970 edition of After Dark.

 

Unknown

Our last image in the Jack Mitchell set is an unknown from 1971.

 

Physical Men 1880-1920

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, an early wave of physical culture swept the world.  Today we will look at some wrestlers, boxers, and strong men from that era.  Our first image is the only unknown in today's series, and it's the April 1907 cover of Physical Culture.

 

Jenkins

Tom Jenkins was a three time American wrestling champion who lost his title to Frank Gotch 

who appears in the next post in this series.  Mr. Jenkins also lost to Georg Hackenschmidt 

when he went after the world title.  Despite this, his career was considered very successful, 

and he went on to become a revered coach, mentor, and teacher.

 

Gotch

The first American to win the freestyle wrestling world championship, he defeated Georg Hackenschmidt (shown later in today's series) in 1908. The Hackenschmidt match was widely described has having been stolen by Gotch via fouls ignored by the referee.  He died at age 40 in 1917, allegedly of syphillis, athough the coroner said it was uremic poisoning.

 

Jeffries

Jim Jeffries won the world heavyweight boxing championship in 1899.

The photo above is from 1910 when he lost to Jack Johnson.

 

Aberg and Lurich

Alexander Aberg (above) and Georg Lurich were Baltic Germans who were well known in pre-World War I wrestling circles, touring the world together.  Caught up in the chaos of the Russian Revolution, they died of disease within weeks of each other in Southern Russia while trying to get to the West.

The townspeople buried them together in the same grave in a German cemetery.

 

Kop

When I do this sort of series, I often do a few searches to see if anything new has shown up online.  This time, I discovered Petar Kop, a Serbian wrestler who worked mainly in the Balkans.

 

Kryloff

Although he did occasionally wrestle, Russian Piotr Kryloff was best known as a stong man 

performer who broke chains, juggled 100 pound kettle bells, and pulled apart horseshoes.

 

Hackenschmidt

Here we see Georg Hackenschmidt in early middle age.  He continued 

to wrestle, operate a gym, and maintain his physique well into his 50s.

 

Jankowski

Ursus "Bear" Piotr Jankowski was an early 20th C. Polish wrestler who won 

championships in his native land, Russia, Turkestan, and the Caucasus.  

Whoever took the photo at right spelled his name wrong.

 

Muldoon

Our last post of the day is William Muldoon, the 1880 World Champion of Graeco-Roman style wrestling.  This photo was said to have been made at the peak of his physical development.

 

Dads from Brian E

Quite some time ago, frequent commentator and contributor Brian E sent me a group of photos called "Dads and Chubbies."  Today we will look at dad types, starting with a leaper on a beach.  

We've all heard of beach volleyball, but apparently they also have beach badminton.

Many thanks to Brian for today's series!

 

Half and half

The clothed man looks like a farmer.  Maybe he was delivering produce to a nudist camp.

 

Flat top?

I can't see his hair very clearly, but I think this gentleman has a flattop.

He also has a nicely shaped posterior.

 

Paddleball

This handsome fellow appears to have been playing paddleball.

 

French campers

These guys are French campers of the naturist sort.

 

Sleeper

This photo of a sleeping man is by far the most interesting of the day.

 

Nazi era?

The title attached to the download file implied that this was Nazi era, but a Polish website said it was from a 1962 anthropology text.  Hard to imagine anyone in Poland with a mustach like that in 1962.

 

Tennis

We get an younger/older pair in this nude tennis phot.

 

Rustic shower

I always enjoy rustic outdoor shower scences, and this is a good one.

 

Horseshoes

I've posted several photos of nudists pitching horseshoes, but our last picture in today's series is by far the best.  We get a nice looking middle aged man with some interesting lighting along with two great vintage cars.  Thanks again to Brian E for this and all the other images in today's set.