Vintage Muscle Men

Saturday, December 6, 2025

Polaroid Day

It's Polaroid Day, and we start with a guy trying to impress us by lifting a small piece

of furniture with one hand. He looks like a guy everyone would call "Chip."

Proportional

Everything's nice and proportional in this photo.

Surly

This fellow looks a bit surly, but that's what you get

when you pull your models in off the street.

When things went wrong

This is what happened when things went wrong with the balky early Polaroid developing system. It's a shame, too, because I would really like a better look at the two guys in bed in the background.

Pretending

I'm not sure, but I think this one is pretending to sleep.

Favorite

This guy shows up twice in today's set and multiple times in my Polaroid collection.

I think he must have been a favorite of the photographer. I like him, too.

Thighs up

The photographer here only captured the subject from the thighs up.

I guess he felt like he got in the important parts, such as they are.

45 degrees

The exact 45 degree angle tells me this was probably done on the diagonal intentionally.

Magazine Perusal

One sees a lot of guys in these photos looking at what are usually cheesy magazines, sometimes featuring men, sometimes women. This may have been to get them aroused,

but it doesn't seem to have worked that often based on what I've seen.

Good for the type

I have other Polaroids of this guy where the technical limitations (streaks and blotches) of the hand application of the finishing fluid are very prominent. This was quite good for the type.

Friday, December 5, 2025

The son of Greek immigrants who settled in New York, Constantine Hassalevris became a professional dancer in his 20s. He was injured in a Colorado auto accident that ended his dancing career, but a colleague gifted him with a box camera while he was recovering. That led to his second career as a physique photographer. The photo of an unknown above was published under the early Constantine marque, but he is better known as Spartan of Hollywood.

Editors note: Several of the photos in today's set are not of the best quality. I don't know

if that is due to the original work or poor quality scans and/or conservation.

Also, some are from pulp magazines which do not reproduce well.

Bob Rome

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Unknown II

The placement of the spear shaft vis-a-vis the posing strap is interesting in this one.

The model, who looks like a finely sculpted statue, is unknown, to me anyway.

Bodybuilders Promo

The pictures on this promotional piece are the worst quality in my Spartan collection, but I'm posting it because it demonstrates that Constantine Hassalevris was in demand in the late 1940s and early 50s for "legitimate" bodybuilder photos. All of these were known quantities at the time, but Steve Reeves, Rex Ravelle, Eric Pederson, Bob Laurent, and Alex Aronis were top performers. All those I mention except Steve Reeves posed nude, albeit under pseudonyms at times. And just so you know that Mr. Hassalevris was capable of high quality work, here's a studio shot of Steve Reeves.

Promo I - George

I cropped this from a post-liberalization ad for Spartan that featured half a dozen frontally nude models. This one is only listed as George, but his front and center presentation caught my eye. I'd love to know what happened to the other five photos of this guy. They don't seem to appear in any of the online archives, resale sites, or blogs that I have been combing for hours.