Beefcake Behind Bars: Physique Mags and the Law, 1940s-1967

[@propman3523]

What heros. I knew Chuck persoanlly and knew Dom intimately. They both were beloved. Thank you for this great recap of early gay history. These early materials saved our sanity as young men in the 50's and 60's. God bless!

[@wdgbirmingham2]

I enjoyed this very much. I'm 53. I remember going to the bookstore in the mall when I was around 18, they had gay porn mags. You'd have to summon all your courage to ask for one and feel your heart pounding and your cheeks burning until you'd paid and could rush to the safety of your car.. Now with the Internet it's all just a click away... On a side note one story of gay history that shook me was about a bar in New Orleans. In the 1990s and 2000s I had so much fun going to gay bars there. I found a KZbin about an undercover gay bar there in the late 60's or very early 70's. It was still too early to have an out and out actual gay bar. There was a rough trade guy that one of the bar regulars made a snide comment to. The rough trade guy went and got oily rags and set them on fire and threw them into the upstairs bar to get back at them for the snide comments. The fire spread fast. All these closeted gay men burned to death 😑 it's just so disturbing. One more side note, Showtime just did a masterpiece of a show called "Fellow Travelers." It was about being in the CIA during McCarthyism. You had to be infallibly in the closet. One wrong chess move and your career would be over.

[@troyp9485]

A New Orleans resident showed me where that bars was. It had a coffee shop on the first floor but that was in 1998.

[@hughhagius725]

i knew someone who lost his job because he got busted for cruising and his name was in the newpaper.

[@fredphilippi8388]

Yes, I was a 12-year-old in the 1950s who bought those "muscle magazines," 25 cents per issue. I savored them at home, in secret of course. A suggestion of a future life, to be sure. But who could figure it out in those days? It was the thing that dare not speak its name.

[@crabtonia]

This piece reminded me so much of my days in London (England) between 1963 - 1971...these Magazines opened Windows to so many Gay men prior to 1967...the Persecution, the only appropriate term, of these Photographers mirrored the Official treatment by Lawmakers at the time...we must never forget that...thank you for posting this, especially in these days of 'Wokeness' when so many people seem to WANT to be offended...dgp/uk

[@normandiebryant6989]

...except "woke" people are "awake-up to discrimination and injustice" so are usually on the side of us minorities who were persecuted. I'm proudly "woke".

[@DonAlan007]

"Beefcake" is one of my favorite films.

[@james-dd5hh]

You are a major important historian. Thank you for shining a light on American history, which may otherwise be relegated to darkness.

[@DK-yq5nx]

This level of zealous persecution is why the gay rights movement was essential and inevitable. And this is exactly why we must preserve gay history at all costs. Thank you for an essential service.

[@14ariel77]

But today’s LGBT+ has nothing to do with this glorious past

[@DK-yq5nx]

@@14ariel77 you’re right. It doesn’t. That’s why I said ‘gay rights movement’. I also used the past tense: ‘was’. Not queer or LGBTQIA+. Whatever the movement has become in the hands of contemporary ‘gender queer’ people, it is disconnected from the hard reality of acquiring equal rights for homosexuals. The contemporary movement is academic and removed from reality. I feel no affinity for it whatsoever.

[@hughhagius725]

yes, it was more fun in the old days, always breaking the rules, while the gender queer folks often sound self-righteous. but of course we must all unite when facing a common foe

[@paulbuerton8143]

Nice doco. Young folk today dont realize that these artists risked so much of their lives to make sure we could be proud today. In 1960s Detroit I remember the "fruity" gym near me. Cerment discuss throwers over the door and really busy😂. These artists were from small towns. And they never showed fear being themselves. Thanks

[@lancelessard2491]

We've come a long way in less than a century. There are still many who would gladly have us go back to that old way of doing things.

[@14ariel77]

Now it’s gone too far

[@fortromuloalmendras2444]

Big thnx man very informative and articulate information loved it here in the Philippines..👍💪🤝🙏🏼😋💖💋🇵🇭

[@Jimmyboica]

Awesome short history of Physique mags during the posing strap era. Your comment at 0:12 about the risk of being seen browsing the muscle mags back then is so true. These guys were pioneers in an oppressive era.

[@vitameatavegamin4236]

Several decades ago I visited the Studio of Bob Mizer. There were always interesting Photographers and Models there.

[@hughhagius725]

interesting! mizer died in 1992--was your visit while he was still alive? was the studio a bustling place?

[@charlesrae3793]

The video Beefcake is an invaluable record of Bob Mizer and this era.

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

As a 77-year-old gay man who has been out since 1967, I remember how I finally began to figure why I was different when I saw these types of magazines at the Greyhound station near the high school I attended when I was 15. Later in my life, I was very active in Chicago gay politics and was a good friend of Chuck Renslow who at that point was the most powerful gay person in Chicago.

[@jamesengler6994]

At that time, you could find bars catering to gay men within 4 sq blocks of almost any greyhound bus station

[@hifrommike2120]

@@jamesengler6994 Bob Mizer went to the bus station in LA & asked young men getting off the bus, "You need a place to stay?" That's how the AMG compound got its new blood.

[@samkabatt]

Wonderful remember this great mags. Well. ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊

[@RonnieHayes-t5u]

I grew up in 1963,never had any problem. I use to go to a coffee house called 8727 Melrose in west Hollywood. At that time there were gy restaurants in l.a. an the valley. As for myself I never had a problem. Maybe I was lucky, i don't know. I miss the sixty and he seventy. I'm 77, will be 78 in may. He only thing is missing alot of my friends that past away. I guess I'm lucky to still be alive.

[@hughhagius725]

yes, i lost half my friends in the '80s and '90s. you and i are survivors

[@PhilAlumb]

What the Pride Community WAS ..and what it is Today HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON.

[@polemeros]

Like every so-called oppressed group, what starts out as a plea for tolerance and being left alone turns into a vengeful and tyrannical attack on anyone who fails to worship it.

[@swordscot]

Very interesting subject. Thanks for putting that together.

[@Jaggerbush]

Wow it's wild to think postal inspectors would bother with this... Then again I'm old enough to remember the whisper that someone was gay could be a career killer and I'm Gen X

[@hifrommike2120]

The Postmaster General was tasked w/ censorship of the mail system. That included these small-press muscle mags (what we would now call 'zines). Supreme Court appeals that determined they were not obscene, along w/ the California court decision that Howl (Allen Ginsberg) was not obscene, & the Grove Press decision that Lady Chatterley's Lover (D. H. Lawrence) could be published uncut in the U.S., changed the legal definition of obscenity & created the sexual revolution (in print, at least).

[@hifrommike2120]

The Postmaster General was the moral guardian of the US mail system, exposing LGBTQ citizens who communicated w/ their 'zines, organizational publications, & shared photos deemed obscene (many of which today are no more explicit than a Calvin Klein ad). I'm reading "The Scarlet Professor" right now, about Newton Arvin's arrest & loss of his job as a distinguished academic because he had beefcake mags, & photos he shared w/ friends, which was illegal to do in Massachusetts. Amazing story.

[@Jaggerbush]

@@hifrommike2120 nowadays they are busy harassing people for other reasons... A friend of mine just had his place raided bc he bought 24 Steeler Jerseys from China that they deemed counterfeits and felt it reasonable to secure a search warrant .... Aren't people ordering fentenayl from China?

[@tjittekamminga5170]

what terrible hypocrasy! all my love for these pioneers of gay rights and of course those beautiful musclemen.

[@Polyphemus47]

One of my most vivid memories is finding a copy of a magazine called 'Demi-Gods' in our local drug store rack. There, in full glory, was a beautifully built man, stark naked, from behind. I bought it, of course. When I got home, my mom was sitting in the living room with one of the church ladies. She took the bag from me, opened the magazine, and all Hell broke loose. She had to make a scene for the church lady, and commanded me to take it right back to the store. I did, and the man at the counter paged through it, glimpsed the naked man, and told me to pick out some comics in exchange for the price of the mag. I wrote a piece on the whole incident, which was published in "James White Review" in the mid-80s, as "The Butt."

[@hughhagius725]

good story! i'm glad the man at the drugstore let you exchange it!

[@hifrommike2120]

When Playgirl was first issued, I found a copy of it on the magazine stand in Walgreen's. It was generally available on newsstands through the '70s. Although it was intended for women readers, its primary readership was gay & bi men.

[@SMWBraden]

THank you for this great video. What an interesting topic. I would love to know more about this and the involvement of the US Postal Inspectors into all of this. Great video.

[@hughhagius725]

Great suggestion!

[@tribequest9]

Would love a biography on the behind the scenes golds gym. The guy who owned it and did all those Colt videos is now married with kids and Ric Drasin recently passed away.

[@elkwhistle141]

Yes!Thank you for this LGBTQIAPK History. I hope that you have shared this with the Gay History Project? This was really well done. Much Appreciated! 🔥🔥🔥🙏

[@hughhagius725]

hi elkwhistle! i'm glad you like it. i don't know anything about the Gay History Project. How do i share with them?

[@alancutler6453]

Collected all of those magazines in the 50s and 60s. My parents found them and simply told me to get rid of them. Nothing more was ever said.

[@hughhagius725]

you had wise, loving parents

[@akrenwinkle]

@@hughhagius725 Of course I'm just guessing but if the magazines had been Playboy, the parents would have quietly let out a sigh of relief and said, "These are naughty; don't buy any more." But not insisted on getting rid of them.

[@GummyBearWA]

I owned and operated a tavern catering to the "Bears" in the mid 90s. One of my customers came in with a stack of photos of wrestlers and muscle men. He found them in his grandfathers' attic after he died. He asked me what I thought, and I just said, "You're lucky to br here."

[@paulfletcher-yi2ji]

I,m 70 and live in Aus and seen many of these mags. And post for a gay magazine called Golden Boys in Sydney Wounderf Days loved it ❤❤❤

[@RichardBarnett-hs1qy]

Thanks for your research and commentary.

[@DAsrada]

I was just browsing a book store at the airport, a conservative, withdrawn youth. Then I saw a bodybuilding magazine and discovered a thing that just felt so right. Now I'm a buff bisexual bodybuilder.

[@gulliverplus8912]

So great to learn about these stories and to see these historical images😍🥰❤❤❤❤❤

[@MannyEspinola-q4t]

Thank you for this video

[@VintageVaughnVehiclces]

Oh the tens of thousands of young men with go to the room lock the door and find their muscle magazine and toss off to it. Oh how sweet pages are sticking together. Today they have internet p*** on their phone and they get to see it all moving and in color.

[@grantwsullivan9852]

Thanks very much for creating & posting this!! 💜💜

[@LeeDaleness]

I find it interesting that the bodybuilders brought in the more street looking fellas.

[@pedrodaniel8897]

E cresci nos anos 80/90 cercado de homens nus em vestiários , algumas coisas que aconteceram eu não deixo de esquecer . Tempos magicos .

[@absysalem5224]

هل يمكن أن تروي لنا المزيد ؟❤

[@friends-xu3fq]

Interesting. Thank you

[@janvanaardt3773]

Thank God we are not any more so narrow minded

[@DaninVa-gt9nj]

I know. False morality as it was focused on a few subjects the enforcers disapproved of.

[@LearnAboutFlow]

While we've made progress, Florida for a while in the past year passed a law that meant a public school teacher could be fired and even jailed for simply wearing a rainbow sticker. Finally that was overturned, but the fact it was even allowed to become law is scary indeed.

[@alexdm4868]

what is it about organists - the organ is the gayest instrument out there

[@barryobrien7935]

Thinking of George Wright who was the organist on General Hospital at ABC Television Center, 4151 Prospect Ave. LA 90027. The Lot was very gay and some employees spent their lunch hour at nearby Griffith Park (in the bushes!)

[@rbsmith3365]

These guys who flex their muscles. That’s not obscene. It’s an advice about muscles.

[@stuartwilliams8887]

Awesome vid I love these magazines,I'm over in the UK so only ever heard of bob mizer but none of the rest, really interesting and so sexy, you should do more vid about these Mags 👍❤️❤️❤️❤️ , love from UK gay boy 🇬🇧🏳️‍🌈👍👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@njkauto2394]

This is an excellent video. Thank you for this amazing information and a glimpse at such beautiful photographs.

[@zas365]

Bella ricerca.❤

[@wallacewithoutgromit]

I was born in 1937. This video on the old beefcake muscle magazines brings back a lot of memories. Some of the images would give me such an uncontrollable erection I had to seek relief through self stimulation as soon as possible which I was able probably able to do about 16,000 times over many decades until the slowness of extreme old age took over. In hindsight this turned out to be a safe outlet for a powerful drive that I have seen bring troubles to many others from unwanted pregnancies to debilitating and sometimes fatal diseases.

[@hughhagius725]

congratulations, 16,000 congratulations! set your sight on 20,000!

[@wallacewithoutgromit]

Hugh; Appreciate your reply. That was quick. I have so far been unusually lucky. Most people don't make to my age and not all that many are still working on a blacksmith's shop most days, but, however: old age does its thing which means it takes more time for me to do everything. You just have to give in to this as too much effort fighting it just leaves one that much more stressed out. Our lives follow a certain God given trajectory and that goes for our masturbatory history as well. This is probably similar for most of us men gay and otherwise. From the first ejaculation at age 13 years 6 months it is every morning and afternoon for the next 4 or 5 years at which point the frequency drops to once a day until age 48 or '9 at which age I start missing more and more days down to a time or two a month if that in old age. I still have a nice "peak" on my left biceps that I can control one head at a time (see video) that I enjoy watching as it moves around enhancing the pleasure of my masturbatory experience. Unfortunately I can hardly expect to live long enough to enjoy this another 4,000 times and at this time and stage of life it is perhaps more important to pay more attention to things like prostate specific antigen.

[@wallacewithoutgromit]

P. S. The sight of manly muscle on other men as well as myself has always been my biggest most stimulating turn on giving me the fastest best hard ons ready for action. Enjoy your own too.

[@wallacewithoutgromit]

Few people seem to realize that the reason homosexuality is found in all populations is because it has an important role in nature. We have a very large reserve procreative ability. Most any healthy woman is capable of having a dozen or more kids, but if very many actually did this we would all soon starve. Homosexuality is one of nature's ways of diverting the powerful sex drive we all share away from procreation. It is the fact that some of us rely on this form of birth control while others do not understand it that gives rise to all the stigma.

[@mfredcourtney5876]

Fascinating. I'm 67 and remember seeing some of these magazines. Its interesting that in the history of art the male physique was always revered but in photography it was considered lewd. And full frontal nudity just made them crazy. Many thanks to countless millions who suffered under this stupidity.

[@GeorgeDaymondLush]

I am 81 in a month's time. Working all my life in Shell Oil London where there was never any anti-gay feeling. For moment in the 70s and 80s there were times in LA when you could do anything thinking of 8709 Bath house here). Then the US became very "closed" and London opened up. But before all that and when I was 16 my father took me to London and around Paddington Station I used all my pocket money for Physique Pictorial mags. Life was a lot more fun then.

[@MatteBlack2024]

At the end, a big win for lovers of trade.😂

[@michaelmcgee8543]

Today it's still hardcore porn that is under siege since it is not nationally legal to distribute under stupid community standards.

[@LaurenceDay-d2p]

I remember buying TOMORROW'S MAN mags for 35 cents in the late 1950s. I hid them because I was embarrassed to be seen reading them.

[@MichaelYoder1961]

When I was a very young gay man, all I had to "fantasize" over were the bodybuilding mags at the local pharmacy, until I found my mother's stash of Playgirl.

[@jwc56]

Excellent narration and storytelling.

[@orangecat5036]

Honey, yes! Puertorican Body builder's.

[@hughhagius725]

they're the best!

[@MrMigueldelaO]

i found it!!!

[@hughhagius725]

Enjoy it! it's really classic

[@josephyoung6749]

love how a gay subculture resulted in a republican governor of California... (in case you forgot that alrnold was one of the most powerful people in the US at one point)

[@AtoMicEyeScream]

How bizarre the absurd censorship with the nude body. This is not past either. I recently had an ETSY store offering nude male art; not explicitly sexual, just full frontal nude art. Etsy gave me a very hard time and eventually shut down my store with zero explanation of how I supposedly broke their rules. The supposed acceptance is just politics. True healthy relationships with our bodies are still somehow taboo.

[@hughhagius725]

A lot of people are just afraid of sex

[@josephcollins6033]

Thank you. I subscribed. What you do is important! I want to help with your voice; it is my area of expertise. When you speak try to think of/make your voice come from the nose. I know that sounds odd, and I will be happy to explain scientifically if you like. But, for now, just think of the sound coming from the nose. It will take pressure off the vocal folds, and that will help. I want your voice to last!! Thanks, again for this.

[@hughhagius725]

thanks, joseph! i'll give it a try

[@paulmoore6175]

I like that this one has a happy ending😂❤😊🎉

[@MrMigueldelaO]

I couldn't find bud misner foundation on youtube

[@barrymoore4470]

Check the spelling..."Bob Mizer" not "bud misner".

[@LaurenceDay-d2p]

In a way censorship was good, because it forced studios to hire the best and most handsome models. Many bodybuilders stopped posing when frontal nudes became legal. Today, the mags that sold for 35 cents are going for $5 or more. I should have saved my collection!

[@jamesredd7416]

An adult with an adult should not have any complaints I personally think it is not up to anyone but that person

[@Norfolk250]

Odd, considering the YMCA had a clause that stated all males had to swim naked - in the usa.

[@mr.eugene7523]

Thank you very much for your excellent documentary. Could you please do a video about Phineas Stuart "Pinky" Rosenberg Jr. (1931-2007) Pinky was a Jewish college student in the early 1950s who was into nude male physique photography. He was the founder of the Troy Saxon Studio. Pinky discovered (picked up) actor Gary Conway at a health club. Gary did nude modeling for him which helped open some doors in Hollywood. Gary is best remembered for the TV shows "Burkes Law" and "Land of the Giants". Please let me know what the best email address is to contact you at.

[@hughhagius725]

hello, mr. eugene. i would like to learn more about Pinky Rosenberg--I was a reporter at the Kansas City Star in the 1960s, when Pinky was active there--in Johnson County, I believe--but I heard nothing about him at the time. you can contact me at [e-mail]

[@mr.eugene7523]

@@hughhagius725 Thank you. I will send you an email.

[@selwynlawton7939]

[@pedrodaniel8897]

Me parece que homens americanos naqueles tempos eram mais bonitos , livres de comida industrializadas de de hoje .

[@hughhagius725]

ah, mas eu acho que os homens latinos são os mais bonitos do mundo

[@leifharmsen]

Less like body builders, and more like.... me.

[@echospaw899]

I remember sneaking into a local book/magazine store from the age of ten and on, in the mid-70s. I hit puberty a little early. I managed to sneak (steal) several mags over those first few years... hidden in my socks under my pants legs. The rest played out as you'd expect. I eventually started coming out after enlisting in the Air Force in '83, and here I am today, 60y.o., and living a regular, uneventful gay life... an old gay man with a ton of memories. 😏

[@hughhagius725]

a regular, uneventful gay life is a success story!

[@pedrodaniel8897]

Sou fascinado por historias de gays mais velhos , sua infância, juventude .

[@LaurenceDay-d2p]

It is ironic to note that most health clubs in those days were all-male, and nude swimming was common and legal. Likewise nude saunas and steam rooms. I remember guys working out in jock straps or nude in the hot summers, and nothing was said. "Straight" magazines like YOUR PHYSIQUE and STRENGTH AND HEALTH routinely showed nude males from the rear, or men in jock straps, or retouched fig leaves, and were never harassed. S&H often showed pix by Lon with retouched posing straps, and nothing was said. Likewise the physique mags of MacFadden and other health publications. Evidently male nudes were OK, so long as they were pix of supposedly straight athletes, with no frontals. Yet straight guys paraded nude all around the health clubs.

[@hughhagius725]

S&H was ostensibly straight, and never showed full frontal. but the postal inspectors were not dummies and they put Lon out of business

[@LaurenceDay-d2p]

@@hughhagius725 Fortunately, Lon saved a lot of his negatives. Some years back a book of his pix was published, which is now a collector's item.

[@pedrodaniel8897]

Eu queria viver naquele tempo .

[@charlesjackson4162]

I am 86. Still have many of thess mags. Went to NYC at 19. Called a few of names in one of Lon mags..a mother of one of them have me his phone number. Ca!!ed him,went to his apartment .h.

[@hughhagius725]

awesome! i hope you had a nice time

[@rogerio.2835]

🙏🙏🙏🇧🇷!!!

[@edouardpool323]

Very informative but I’m afraid to say that I found the narrators. voice really really annoying. Sorry.

[@hughhagius725]

i know, it's a distraction. what you could do is mute your speaker and turn on closed captions

[@dennisthomas6782]

I remember back in the mid 70s I'd go to the book store downtown and buy hustler because they showed men frontal .. The good old days !

[@hughhagius725]

look what's available now just with a click of the mouse...what a change!

[@SceptiGus]

Same