Early 20th Century

Making another visit to the early 20th Century today, beginning with this 

photo I found on a French website with no information.

 

More, please!

I'd really like to see more of these two guys.

 

Set or Natural?

I'm not sure if this was made in a natural area or a very well done set.

 

Tree Hugger

This fellow seems to be taking a different approach to tree hugging.

 

A Feast for the Bum Brigade

I call this on A Feast for the Bum Brigade.  We seem to have five different men in similar poses.

 

Albert Brunin

French gymnastics champion Albert Brunin appeared in this photo

from the the French Sports Federation Review.

 

Lurich

This rather unusually posed strong man shot is of Estonian Georg Lurich.

 

Handsome Ad Man

Here we see a handsome man whose job it was to carry a sign strapped to his back around Paris in 1912.  He was promoting a play called "The Man Who Saw the Devil."  Had I been in town,

I would have gawked at the man and totally missed the ad's message.

 

This one makes me think of Paul Richer's work, but it only came with a year, 1906.

As is so typical these days with frontal nudes, Google Images search was useless.

 

Proportional

Is it just me, or does this guy's derriere look out of proportion to the rest of him?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Some of you probably like it.

 

The Barber's Manual

We see a dapper gentleman with a Van Dyke in this illustration from The Barber's Manual 

by A.B. Moler.  Try as I might, I can only find a very few other drawings from the book.

 

Textbook?

This closing photo looks like something from an anatomical textbook, but I could find no 

information on it.  There's a watermark of some sort at lower left, but I can't make it out.

 

Colt in Color Day

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Nick Chase

There's a cropped version of this picture of Nick Chase making the rounds,

but I'm pretty sure Jim French intended it to be seen this way.

 

Ken Orsino

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Steve Kelso

Steve Kelso and his tan lines really shine here.

 

Mike West

Those of you who enjoy underwear peekaboos will enjoy this photo of Mike West.

 

Mike Forge

I find the geometry and composition of this shot of Mike Forge to be quite excellent.

 

Larry Lara

This handsome man was Larry Lara, the lover of San Francisco photographer Crawford Barton.  Both of them tragically died of AIDS, but Jim French of Colt left us an incredible group of photos of Larry.

 

Buck Hayes

Jim French took this photo of Buck Hayes is some sort of water feature.

 

Manfred Speer

Those of you who like men in armchairs will no doubt find this shot of Manfred Speer pleasant.

 

Pierce Bell, but is it Colt?

My source says this last photo is a "possible Colt" picture of Pierce Bell.  Despite numerous searches, haven't been able to find out either way.  Anybody know?  I'd love to see more of this guy.

 

Easter Bunnies

We'll get around to our regular posting in a moment,

but first let's look at some Easter Bunnies gone wrong.

I hope these kids weren't permanently traumatized.

 

Angry bunny

"I told you to leave the plaid eggs alone!"

 

Over it

Our last Easter Bunny is just sooooo over it.

And now we return to our regular programming.

 

Bruce of LA Day

It's Bruce of Los Angeles day, and we begin with Charlie Ram

in a spot outside Bruce's shower that you'll see again later in the set.

 

Sam Pierre

Bruce posed Sam Pierre against a roughly mortared cinder block garden wall.

 

David Zurborg

In photo made at a garden gate, we get a good view of David Zuborg's backside.

 

Glen Porter

Although not the sort of shadow a certain viewer prefers,

Glen Porter's adds something to this photo.

 

Henry Jones

This is Henry Jones drying off outside Bruce's shower.  Although not as famous (or should 

I say infamous) as Bob Mizer's shower, Bruce put his own to good use.

 

John Clark

For some reason Bruce posed John Clark reclining on a 

huge piece of paper wearing just his shoes and socks.

 

Paul Strand

Here we see Paul Strand on Bruce's famous tuffett.

 

Mike Norlan

This shower shot by Bruce is one of the better photos I've seen of Mike Norlan,

but we should remember that he also worked for Pat Rocco and even did a film or two.

 

Harlan Lutz

Harlan Lutz looks mighty good with one of Bruce's ball props.

 

Robert Deckard

And last, but certainly not least, we have Robert Deckard.