Magazine Week, Day 3 - Superman

We've done the Germans and the French, so now we move to the British in the 1930s.  Superman was a physical culture monthly published between 1930 and 1941.  Like others of its era and type, there were not frontals, but there were some fine derrieres and good posing strap teases, as on the January 1939 cover above.  And you could have it for just six pence.

 

Jockstrap?

Is that a jockstrap, a loincloth, or something else?

 

Average?

Are you an average man?  We'll never quite know about

this model because the key goods are covered.

 

Art Supplement

Like several of today's other photos, this tree pusher

was from a Superman Art Supplement section.

 

Bill Hillgardner

I kept thinking this model from the January 1939 issue looked familiar, and then I read the insert.

It's Brooklyn's Bill Hillgardner, a deservedly popular bodybuilder in another art supplement.

 

Eric Magor

In a third image from the January, 1939 edition of Superman we see Eric Magor.

 

Frank Parker

Here we see Frank Parker.  I've never understood what modesty

was preserved by a derierre view posing strap.

 

Cover II

Despite apparent water damage and fig leaves,

this 1931 Superman cover looks pretty good.

 

Reader Submissions

This twofer is supposed to be from a viewer submission feature.

Not at all bad for amateurs, eh?

 

1935 Art

Closing out the Superman series with another item from one of their art supplements.  This one is called "Strength in Subjection," and the model was Leo Saxone of London.  Suddenly I'm thinking of Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company at Monterrey Pop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1zFnyEe3nE

Having seen Janis in person, I can only say she was a tortured soul and a genius.

 

Magazine Week, Day 2- La Culture Physique

Jointly founded by Professor Edmond Desbonnet and author/publisher Albert Surier, La Culture Physique was published from 1904 to 1967.  Today we will look at some photos and pages from the first five  years of its history, beginning with a cover featuring the great Eugen Sandow.  We will see Mr. Sandow again later in today's set.  LCP never showed full frontal nudity, but they did show derriere shots regularly.  Their latter years were not nearly as open as the early in terms of nudity.

 

Octave Paquit

Although the image quality isn't the best, I really like this photo

of Octave Paquit, amateur wrestling champion of France.

 

Louis Haider

Here we have Louis Haider and his Kaiser Bill mustache.

I'm sure he lost it after 1914.

 

Montmartre

Where's the beef?  Montmartre, that's where.

These beautiful burlies are the men of the Montmartre Athletic Society.

Their motto should have been "We're sexy, and we know it."

 

Eugen Sandow II

As promised, here is a different and very special view of Eugen Sandow.

 

Launceston Elliot

Scottish champion strongman Lanceston Elliott appeared in both front and rear views.

 

Art

La Culture Physique didn't often feature art work, but when they did, it was interesting.

Perhaps surprisingly, most early issues included tourism infomation.

 

A. Lutz

I wish I could find more photos of A. Lutz.

 

Auguste Pernet

Well known athlete Auguste Pernet shows off his well built glutes here.

Oh, and his back is also worth mentioning.

 

Hans Schwarz

Classical scuptural references were common in the early years of La Culture Physique.

Although the caption and text don't mention it, we can see an Atlas influence 

in this photo of Hans Schwarz, a strong man with a big following.

This magazine is the only place I've ever seen this picture.

 

Richard Andrieu

Mr. Richard Andrieu won a medal for his hard work and physical development.

His pride shines through in this beautiful photograph, and I can't think 

of a better way to conclude our La Culture Physique series.

 

Magazine Week

For the next seven days I will be posting a sampling of magazines which were either created for gays or adopted by them for lack of any other options.  Some of these will by necessity have no frontal nudity, but I will try to keep things interesting.  There will also be at least one full issue of a physique magazine.  Some of your favorites will no doubt be left out, but hopefully I will do more posting like these in the future.  Scroll down for day one.

Magazine Week, Day 1 - Der Eigene

The world's first known gay publication was Der Eigene, a German magazine that appeared (off and on, at times) between 1896 and 1932.  It was the brainchild of Adolf Brand, shown above in a 1930 portrait by Jaro von Tucholka.  Despite occasional run-ins with the Kaiser and Weimar regimes' authorities, only the rise of nazism put an end to it.  Herr Brand was an anarchist who published articles, poems, music, art, and photographs of a nature sympathetic to homosexuals.  In some texts, he described homosexual love as a pure form of masculinity, his presentation of images of naked underage boys led to the above mentioned legal issues.  Adolf Brand eventually married a woman, and ironically, his demise came from a British bomb in early 1945 and not from the nazis.

The cover or issue number three is below:

 

1897

The earliest editions of Der Eigene had very little in the way of graphics,

and what there was tended to be drawings, as above from 1897.

 

1903

In it's early days of photographic display, Der Eigene mainly used photos of nude statues.  

Here are two examples from 1903, both by Danish sculptor Wilhelm Bissen.  Above 

we have Shepherd Youth, and below is Achilles, which may look familiar 

because I posted one of my own photos of it earlier this year.

 

1906

This is far and away the best photo I could find from 1906.

 

1910

I have previously posted this photo from a 1910 issue of Der Eigene, but I only 

recently learned that this copy is from an original print, and not a scan 

of a magazine page.  The quality should have been a giveaway.

 

1919 and 1926

Der Eigene did not appear during World War I, partly because Adolf Brand served in the German army and partly because of wartime economic restrictions.  The photo above appeared in the first postwar issue in November of 1919.  The version below was used in 1926, and is evidence of some 

moderate improvements in magazine print technology in the intervening years.

 

1920

Sometimes the art work in Der Eigene was better than 

the photos, and this item from 1920 is an example.

 

1921

Both the pose and the lighting is very good in this Adolf Brand photo that ran in 1921.

 

1924

Our entry from 1924 could easily have come from the work of George Platt Lynes or some 

of the more artistic classic era physique photographers.  Adolf Brand was ahead of his time.

 

1929

Yet another photo by Herr Brand himself is among the best of 1929.

 

1930

Although Der Eigene continued publication until 1932, I have not been able to find any archived issues after 1930.  This remarkable photo by Max Miede is from that year.  The reason for the lack of later issues will be evident when you scroll down to the last post in this series.

 

6 May 1933 - Why we have so few issues of Der Eigene

This was taken in the offices of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a Jewish researcher and sexologist, 

on May 6, 1933.  Alarmed by the rise of nazism, Dr. Hirschfeld had left Germany 

in 1930 on a speaking tour, and he never returned.  Unfortunately, he did not 

remove his archives, and many of the items selected by the vandals 

for burning  shown above were back issues of Der Eigene.

Make no mistake.  There are people in power in the USA today who would love to do something similar.  Libraries around the country are under assault for circulating books and magazines that take an honest and open minded approach to sexuality. Vigilance, militance and resistance are required.  We can resist in many ways, but one of the most effective 

is reaching out to people close to us who may be wavering or silent

 in the face of the assault.  Do whatever you can.