New Issues of the PHYSIQUE PICTORIAL Magazine, Starting in August, 2017

Physique Pictorial, Volume 42

As if I needed something new and exciting to throw more fuel on my obsession for vintage beefcake (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't know me at all and you need right now to jump to my vintage beefcake blog.), the Bob Mizer Foundation has announced it is relaunching Bob Mizer's groundbreaking magazine, Physique Pictorial, which Mizer published for nearly forty years up to 1990.

"Now, nearly 30 years later, we want to expose a new generation to Physique Pictorial," said Dennis Bell in a press release. "We have volunteers from across the country who are assisting in this endeavor, from design work to writing."

Volume 42 of Physique Pictorial will be published in August, 2017, and includes features both new and familiar to fans of the Athletic Model Guild. Each quarterly issue will feature a spread of a popular Mizer model, with accompanying biographical information. Bell also said the magazine will display profiles and portfolios from up-and-coming, modern-day photographers who have a focus on the male physique. Physique Pictorial will also run regular feature stories that explore other elements of the male physique photography genre. Volume 42 includes the first installment in a series on the history of the building at 920 Larkin Street in downtown San Francisco, California. That building currently houses a magazine and ephemera store called The Magazine, and will be the new home to the Foundation in the coming months.

920 Larkin Street, where I volunteer.

Seattle art director Frederick Woodruff has been tapped to create the magazine’s look. A former creative director for CBS TV, Woodruff created in the late 1990's two popular websites for gay men, Nightcharm and Lurid Digs. "When Den approached me, I was ready to step back into print,” Woodruff said in the press release. “Creating something tangible that people could hold in their hands, put on their coffee table or take to bed with them–that excited me!"

Each issue of Physique Pictorial costs $20. The Foundation’s site will take pre-orders in the coming weeks. Back issues of Physique Pictorial are also available on the Foundation’s site. Everything you purchase there directly benefits the Foundation.

Sorting Denny Denfield's negatives.

I currently volunteer at the Foundation sorting and archiving Denny Denfield's negatives. I've definitely found more than a few interesting images. In August, you'll have the chance to see one of them.

Me and Denny Denfield at the Bob Mizer Foundation

At the Foundation before the doors open.

While The Magazine store continues to be fully operational in this building, it is a delight to see the Bob Mizer Foundation steadily moving into its new, permanent home near the corner of Larkin and Geary streets in San Francisco, California.

I happily accepted Dennis Bell's recent offer that I help archive Denny Denfield's collection of negatives, which the San Francisco-based photographer bequeathed to The Magazine, which, in turn, has given it to the Foundation.

Last weekend, I worked through a binder of Denfield's negatives and photographs, identifying models, then sorting by photo shoots.

Sorting photos of Harold Martin

I was surprised to learn from Bell that Denfield and Mizer were not only friends in the 1940's, but accompanied one another on photo shoots. That became readily apparent, when I examined Denfield's photographs of Harold Martin shot in the desert: Mizer took photographs of the same model in that locale.

Sorting photos of Howard Martin on the beach.

Most astonishing of all, however, was the discovery that, in the 1940's, Denfield was at the Athletic Model Guild, when Mizer took this photograph of Gene Eberle battling Don Silvas. I reviewed several behind-the-scenes photographs that Denfield took on set: they show the models posing on a raised platform lit by two kleig lights and a lamp shined through a glass bowl to create the light effect on the wall.

I've never seen another photographer's work shot at the Athletic Model Guild.

Bob Mizer's photo of Gene Eberle and Don Silvas.

Over the coming weeks, I look forward to more discoveries as I archive Denfield's work, which greatly deserves to be preserved and made available to those interested in fine physique photography.

AMG: 1000 Model Directory

Last Thursday evening at The Magazine store in San Francisco, California, I was thrilled to attend the book premiere party for Taschen’s AMG: 1000 Model Directory, which is a large, two-volume box set that features photographs of 1,000 models taken in the mid-1940′s to the mid-1960′s by Bob Mizer at the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) in Los Angeles, California.

AMG 1000 Model Directory.

If you’re a fan of vintage beefcake, you likely know Bob Mizer nearly all by himself invented in the 1940′s the concept of male model. It was shocking in that era to celebrate men purely for their physical beauty. In fact, for the crime of taking photographs of men posing in bathing suits, Mizer spent several months in prison.

The Magazine store on Larkin Street, San Franciso, California.

Book premiere party at The Magazine on November 3, 2016.

Luckily for us, Mizer persisted, believing he and his fellow photographers had the artistic right in the United States to photograph adults any way they chose.

He passed away in 1992, having run continuously AMG for nearly 50 years. His estate was on the verge of being broken up and sold off, when photographer Dennis Bell purchased everything in 2003.

A few years later, Bell set up the non-profit Bob Mizer Foundation, with the purpose of archiving and preserving Mizer’s work along with that of other photographers for future generations.

Dennis Bell signing my copy of the book.

With Dian Hanson, who spent 3 years selecting the photographs.

In October, 2016, Trent Dunphy and Robert Mainardi, the owners of The Magazine, gifted their four-story building in downtown San Francisco to the Foundation, ensuring with their legacy a permanent home for the Foundation as well as for the two men’s massive collection of vintage beefcake photographs and magazines.

Robert Mainardi, Dennis Bell and Trent Dunphy.

Each purchase of a new copy of the AMG: 1000 Model Directory will directly benefit the Foundation.

Not only are these two volumes big, beautiful books featuring exquisite photographs of some of AMG's most popular and handsome models, they are also an astounding resource for fans of vintage beefcake, such as myself, to identify models and for studying the various settings, props and locations Mizer employed in creating his photographs.

Dennis Bell and Dian Hanson signed my copy.

Bob Mizer's 700,000 35mm Transparencies Need You

If you love male models in the fashion and advertising world, now's your chance to help preserve the archives of the man who nearly all by himself invented the concept of male model in 1940's Los Angeles, California.

As you can read in this interview on the blog, Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild was a prolific photographer and filmmaker. In his lifetime, he produced over 1,000,000 negatives, slides, prints and films.
 

Original slide during the sorting process.

Dennis Bell, the current owner of the Athletic Model Guild and founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation (a 501(c)3 non-profit), is cataloging and archiving every single image and will eventually make the entire collection available for viewing by the general public.

His current Kickstarter campaign is to help finance the proper storage of Mizer's 700,000 35mm transparencies. Yes, you read that right: 700,000.

This is a small portion of Bob Mizer's estate, prior to its rescue.

Money raised by the Foundation pays only for supplies, such as the archival sleeves for negatives and transparencies. Volunteers and interns provide the necessary labor.

Some of Mizer's estate now in protective storage.

If you're a fan of vintage physique photography and/or classic Americana, now's your chance to give what you can to help preserve this precious historical treasure. Because the Bob Mizer Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, your donation is tax-deductible.

Each transparency is sorted, inserted into sleeves cataloged, photographed and placed into protected storage.

For more information about Bob Mizer, please see the Foundation's website.

Production still from "Why the Wooden Indian Wouldn't." Eddie Scott & Phil Morrison. Los Angeles, 1969.

You can help support the Bob Mizer Foundation by donating directly at its Kickstarter campaign and website. There you will find more information on Bob Mizer, the Athletic Model Guild and the Foundation, including its mailing address for your donations and updates on gallery shows, screenings and lectures.

Mild to Wild: First Annual Bob Mizer Emerging Photographer Competition

The Bob Mizer Foundation has announced its First Annual Bob Mizer Emerging Photographer Competition. It is the Foundation’s 4th anniversary and the 70th anniversary of the beginning of Bob Mizer’s amazing career.

Entries will be evaluated by a panel of internationally recognized professionals, including photography critic Vince Aletti, working artist John Sonsini, and editor Dian Hanson of Taschen Publishing.

Gene Eberle

Winners will receive cash and original, unpublished Bob Mizer photographs.

While Mizer’s best-known work was erotic or semi-erotic in nature, his experimental work often was not. This competition is open to all subject matter—from mild to wild.

Jimmy Lewis

If you're a fan of this blog and of the photographs at my vintage beefcake blog, you know Mizer nearly all by himself invented the concept "male model" in the 1940's in Los Angeles, California. When you jump to this post on the blog, you can read about Mizer in my interview with Dennis Bell, the current owner of the Athletic Model Guild and founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation.

Jack Conant and his wife

With this competition, Dennis Bell’s primary focus is to encourage emerging, unknown photographers to publicly share their vision.  Professional photographers are welcome to submit experimental work that has not been commercially sold or publicly exhibited.  Images should focus on experimental photographic methods—whether historic or modern—and may be shot digitally.  (There's a separate category for analog photography.)  Entry categories are: Figurative, Portraiture, Erotic; "Retro," Any Subject, and Analog Camera (i.e. traditional film).

John Winship

Entries must be received by the end of the day on November 30th, 2014.  Applications are available on the Foundation's website.

Winners of the 1st Annual Bob Mizer Foundation Emerging Photographer Competition will be announced December 30, 2014.

Hank Evans

For further details about the 2014 Bob Mizer Emerging Photographer Competition, including the list of awards, award judges, and their credentials, please go here.

Email the Foundation for all submission and media inquiries.

You can help support the Bob Mizer Foundation by donating directly at its website. There you will find more information on Bob Mizer, the Athletic Model Guild and the Bob Mizer Foundation, including its mailing address for your donations and updates on gallery shows, screenings and lectures.

LOOKING on HBO

As a gay man living in San Francisco, I've been interested in HBO's upcoming show, Looking - about gay men living in The City - ever since Dennis Bell at the Bob Mizer Foundation told me the production team had contacted him to obtain the rights to use Mizer's photographs in the television series.

Today I was invited to the show's premiere at the Castro Theatre on January 14, 2014. The cast, producers and writers will be attending.

I'll definitely be there. (Click here to jump to that post on the blog about the premiere.)





Creator/Co-Executive Producer Michael Lannan says Looking is about "looking for authentic ways of being in the world."

The Bob Mizer Foundation + Anzevino

I received an anonymous text featuring this photograph of a poster now plastered all over New York.

It's an image of William Sexton aka Blue Max Hensley taken in the 1970's by the Athletic Model Guild. The poster announces the collaboration of the Bob Mizer Foundation with designer Anzevino, which has thus far resulted in a line of tee shirts and sweatshirts currently available at Opening Ceremony.


My favorite is the tee shirt featuring snakes on a nude model's lap, but I think I would wear every day the tee shirt with Blue Max Hensley's handsome mug on it.

As soon as I received the text, I congratulated Dennis Bell, the current owner of the Athletic Model Guild and founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation. I think it's great to see Bob Mizer's work appearing in new and exciting ways in this century.

Bell assured me there's much more to come.

You can help support the Bob Mizer Foundation by donating directly at its website. There you will find more information on Bob Mizer, the Athletic Model Guild and the Bob Mizer Foundation, including its mailing address for your donations and updates on gallery shows, screenings and lectures.

360 Magazine, Bob Mizer and the Athletic Model Guild

Even a casual reader of my blogs surely notices my passion for the photographers and studios producing in the 1930's through the 1960's what we today call vintage beefcake photographs.

When you jump to this post on the blog, you can read my interview with Dennis Bell, the current owner of the Athletic Model Guild and founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation. I was pleased when Bell's recent Kickstarter campaign raised nearly $13,000, enabling the Foundation to purchase storage fixtures and materials to properly archive Mizer's massive collection of photographs, negatives, prints, slides, films and other ephemera.

To promote the Foundation and its Kickstrater campaign, I pitched to the publishers of the LGBTQ newspaper, Bay Times, articles featuring Bell, Mizer and the Athletic Model Guild.

I co-wrote with Bell the article appearing on page 26 of the paper's Gay Pride issue, which came out the Thursday before 1,000,000 people descended on San Francisco to celebrate Gay Pride Weekend and watch its Gay Pride Parade:

http://issuu.com/sanfranciscobaytimes/docs/2012-06-21

I was pleased one of Mizer's early, rarely seen photographs appeared on the cover of this issue, whose centerfold article I co-wrote with Bell:

http://issuu.com/sanfranciscobaytimes/docs/2012-07-12

And today I was thrilled to see three of Mizer's photographs and an excerpt of my interview with Bell appear in Volume 8 of 360 Magazine:

http://www.the360mag.com/issue.html (Flipbook version)

http://yakinworks.com/360AnE2012PDFdl.pdf (pdf version)

The two pager starts on page 188, but I suggest you take the time to thumb through this gorgeous magazine dedicated to fashion, art and entertainment.

It is gratifying to see a mainstream magazine acknowledge the trailblazing work Mizer and his contemporary physique photographers did in the commercialization of male beauty - before them, there was no such thing as a "male model."

"It Was Almost Lost Forever:" Interview with Dennis Bell of the Athletic Model Guild and Bob Mizer Foundation

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