Vintage Muscle Men

Monday, October 13, 2025

Ritter Brothers Day

I wish I had more photos of (and by) the Ritter Brothers to post, but there has never been much

to glean from the internet. Fred and William began selling physique photos as early as 1934,

and they did a substantial amount of nude work. We start today's set with

one of those photos I sometimes call "the best of both worlds."

Bill Hillgardner

The Ritter Brothers photographed Bill Hillgardner, a competitive

bodybuilder who also posed nude for Lou Melancon.

Unnamed

This brother was unnamed by my source, but he looks like William to me.

Wrestling

Here we see the brothers wrestling in a wooded area.

Scrapbook

This scrapbook owned by a Ritter Brothers collector was for sale on line. The photos came

out in 1934, and I'm not sure if the posingstraps were real or drawn on.

They look like they may have been for ads.

Best of Both Worlds II

The mirror produces something of an art deco effect.

William

Based purely on my observation, it would seem that Fred took far more photos

of William than vice versa. Was Fred the better photographer?

Lynes

George Platt Lynes took this picture of Fred Ritter and Bobby Evans drying off.

Possible?

My source says this photo is a "possible Ritter Brothers," but it sure looks like them to me.

Perhaps they were uncertain as to whether it was by them or of them.

William Again

Closing out the set with William Ritter as photographed by his brother Fred.

Sunday, October 12, 2025

Anthropology Day, Part 1 - Mixed Types

Today we will look at a range of tribal types in a two part set. We start with a photo made

by Prince Roland Bonapart of France. The prince was a well educated man who did valuable ethnographic work which was not considered exploitative by subsequent commentators.

Melville Islanders

These two men are from the Melville Islands just off the coast of Northern Australia.

German Chinese Concession - 1898

Germany tried to get in on the colonialism trend in the late 19th Century, and one place they ventured was a "concession" in coastal China. That basically meant that they strongarmed their way in at gunpoint and forced the Chinese government to concede control of Tianjin to them. The photo above is from a group showing ethnic men from various German colonies.

Panara

This tall fellow is Sokriti, a Parana tribesman from the border of Brazil and Colombia.

Exceptionally tall for the indigenous of that region, they continue exist as a distinct tribe,

and they have regained some lands formerly lost to ranchers. The photo is from 1973.

New Zealand

I don't have a date for this shot of a Maori tattoo session in New Zealand.

I can imagine someone asking, "Does this tattoo make my ass look big?"

Anthropology Day, Part 2 - Ainu Men

Part two of Anthropology Day focuses on men of the Ainu, an indigenous group from Japan's nothernmost island of Hokkaido. Early Western ethnologists thought they were an isolated group of Caucasians because many of them have light skin, heavy beards, and light eyes. Later, DNA tests showed them not to be Caucasian. The man above is could have fooled me.