Recently I've been perusing some of the online auction sites featuring physique magazines from back then. From what I can tell, in the 1960s the publishers mostly gave up on the pretense of being health and fitness guides (so common in the 1950s) to being more of a magazine focused on handsome, fit men wearing revealing outfits. Instead of wasting page space telling the readers about a particular diet or exercise routine, the focus was on the photos. Lots of color photos!
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First up we have the cover of Young Adonis from March, 1963. The word "color" appears seven times on the cover and we have four color photos of guys wearing skimpy attire. Like any magazine, they wanted to grab your attention. I would say they succeeded.
Young Adonis cover man is Mike Patterson by Parr of Arizona,
ReplyDeletemodels in the right column are from top to bottom - Bob Delmonteque, Art Byman and Vince Gironda. Young Adonis was edited by Bob Mizer, and he generously allowed other physique photographers work from the USA and abroad to appear in the mag as he did with Physique Pictorial.
-Rj
Cool! I didn't know Mizer was involved. As for Parr, I've seen many of their fashion ads with handsome guys wearing their swimwear. Mike Patterson fits the bill nicely!
DeleteNice collection of physique magazines.
ReplyDeleteLarry Davis is hot, much like Arnie Payne, Hank Evans, Glenn Bishop and Steve Wengryn. Everyone has that male relative who passes away and low and behold the uptight members of the family discover his stash of nekkid men magazines and phots ! Sadly, all thrown away and that nice male relative is also 'thrown away' and spoken of no more :(....:)
I need to find more photos of Larry. Thanks!
DeleteI was five months old in March 1963 and almost three years old in Summer 1965. My interest in physique magazines developed much later, thanks to a friend, now sadly departed, to whom I will be forever grateful.
ReplyDeleteI discovered my sexuality with my father’s large collection of hetero magazines in the 1970s. The men in those magazines were “handsome and fit”, but they weren’t “wearing revealing outfits” or “a small tuft of pubic hair peaking out”. They were naked in all their beautiful, natural, and hairy 1970s glory and as a teenager I was smitten.
My father passed away in August 2020. I had to empty his house and found that he was still buying “girlie” magazines even in his 80s!