Halloween 2024

It's Halloween, and we start the show with a guy who almost didn't have a thing to wear.

 

AMG

I stole this one from James over at Men From Back Then .  It's from the AMG movie The Witch and the Hoods featuring Jim Higgins, Jackie Baker, Larry Beier, and Andy Chavez.  Thanks James!

 

Musketeers

These Musketeers attended a Castro Street Halloween event in the late 1970s.

 

Horror or Bondage?

This looks like a scene from either a bad bondage move or a bad horror movie.

 

T-shirt

The only thing vintage about this is the shirt design,

but once I saw that model . . . 

 

Pageant

This bit of cultural appropriation is from a nudist pageant of some sort,

probably not a Halloween party.

 

AMG II

This looks like a scene from an AMG movie, but I don't know which one.

Perhaps someone will inform us shortly.

 

Little Devil

The Devil made him do it.

 

Men in Uniform

This is another 1970s San Francisco Halloween celebration.

A Boy Scout and a sailor have fallen in lust.

 

Halloween 2019

Our last photo is a repeat from five Halloweens ago.

 

Professor Desbonnet Day

Professor Edmond Desbonnet (1867-1953) was a French academic and photographer who popularized physical culture in late 19th and early 20th C. France.  He helped found one of the worlds first fitness magazines, La Culture Physique, and pioneered the concept of gym workouts for health.  His methods were so popular that he founded the first known chain of membership gyms.  Today we will look at some of his photos, as well as some that others did on his behalf.  

As you can see above, the Professor practiced what he preached.

 

Built

This Desbonnet student's abs are remarkable.

 

Edmond Desbonnet did not do all the photography for his published exercise guides, and this one was done by Walery.  As  you'll see later in today's set, there are other possible and probable examples.

 

Book Revival

David Chapman is someone all of us who admire vintage physical culture photos should be thankful for.  He has not only curated and preserved some major physique photographers' work, but he has also written, co-written, and translate books on the subject.  Above we see the the cover of his translated reissue of Prof. Desbonnet's The Kings of Strength.

 

Sandow Ad

Eugen Sandow appeared in a remarkable ad for Prof. Desbonnet's gym.

 

Rear

The well formed glutes are the main attraction here.

 

Celebrity Wrestlers

This photo is from Desbonnet's book The Kings of Wrestling.  While I'm not certain that he had his own stable of wrestlers, we can assume that he helped with the training of this group.

 

Contrast

Professor Desbonnet gives us two very contrasting models here.

 

Outlier

This photo appeared in the important magazine La Culture Physique as an example 

of Prof. Desbonnet's results.  I'm not sure if G. Rasso was the model or the photographer.  

FWIW, the style doesn't match my Desbonnet collection very well.

 

Back view

Although the model's derriere is quite nice,

his back muscles first drew my attention.

 

Everyman

Although he's built well enough, I get an "everyman" vibe from this one.

 

Overhang

Something tells me that someone was holding the model's legs for this photo.

Having said that, I still find it impressive.

 

WWII Australian Troops Getting a Bath

Our theme for the day is World War II Australian troops getting their bath.

We start with some fellow happy to help out their friend.

 

New Guinea I

The location for the mass bath was Nadzab Air Strip in New Guinea, 1943.

If you look closely there's a money shot in the left background.

 

Helping hand

Here we have two Australians using half an oil drum as a bathtub.

 

At sea

I didn't know they had bathtubs on WWII ships, but the Australian War Museum

says that this photo was made at sea in 1945.

 

New Guinea II

These men are having a washup in Madang, New Guinea in 1944.

 

Stop action

Not a lot of skin on display here, but the stop action photography is excellent.

 

1944

I don't have a location for this one, but the year was 1944.

 

Malaya 1941

These Australian troops are heading down a river bank to have a bath in Malaya in 1941.

Within a few months, most of them would be prisoners of the Japanese following a 

disastrously ill conceived and executed British defense of the peninsula.

 

Puppy Love

This Australian soldier and his dog are gettting their bath together.

 

New Guinea III

In our third photo from New Guinea, two men are getting a bath in a shallow pond.