longtime lurker

Kerwin Mathews (1926-2007) is best remembered for playing the title heroes in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) and Jack and the Giant Killer (1962). Here, at age 32 (1958) as Sinbad ...
 
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTczOTk3NDU3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTYzNDQyNA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg
 
In 1978, Mathews retired from acting, moved to San Francisco, and ran a clothing and antiques shop. He died in his sleep at 81, survived by his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll.
http://clickautographs.com/photos/kerwin_matthews_8_x_10.jpg
 
 
George Nader (1921-2002) appeared in a variety of film and television roles from 1950 through 1974. Discreetly gay during his film career, he and his partner of 55 years, Mark Miller, were among Rock Hudson's closest friends and inherited the interest from Hudson's estate after his death in 1985. Shortly thereafter, Nader acknowledged his sexual orientation. When an eye injury forced him to retire from acting, he turned to writing; his 1978 science fiction novel Chrome deals with a forbidden romance between a man and an android (also male).

Here, with Hudson ...

Much of the fuss concerns how your bits compare to everybody else's bits. Some of us are showers and some of us are growers. Yet those who may be tiny can still be mighty. Think of it like comparing whale sharks and macko sharks.

You see plenty of young guys in both bath houses and beaches, but I do agree that there is lot more focus on "apps" and phones when you are younger than older and, yes, a lot of time is wasted.
 
Again, I tend to view the bath house experience much like a nudist beach experience, with all of the bodies on display and everybody is pretty much equal. The key difference with the latter is that everybody is on their best behavior. There are parts of a beach where mostly men hang out and some activity goes on, usually in dune areas or in tents/large umbrellas. Yet there is always plenty of caution, just like a restroom or public park. Nobody wants to get into trouble for public indecency. The bath house and the "club" are safe areas where you won't be judged for doing anything... or nothing. If you spend the extra amount on a room instead of a locker, you and your buddy won't have a potential audience even though whatever you do has probably been seen there before. Many, many times before. Probably the most common thing guys do is fondle themselves rather than each other. One advantage over the online stuff is that you have to talk to people regardless or at least make facial expressions.
 
I have to laugh when I entered the sauna at a bath house and one guy was getting "orally" serviced. He was so nice. "Care to join me? This guy is very talented at what he does." I didn't because I was too gosh-darn-shy, but I started talking with him anyway. Everything seemed so... well... natural. Obviously something you won't see happening at the grocery in front of the produce, but still...

I always chuckle when younger guys 'ewwww' at a bathhouse discussion. As if them being on Grindr for 4 hours a night is any better or different.
 
At least in a bath, you can directly see what you want, skip (some) of the bullshit and just have some fun.

There have been countless times when my jaw has dropped by the "type" of person" that has cruised and pursued" me.... Often I would think "he's outta my league. ill never get that", and bingo, he's the guy going after me. There's no rationale for someones taste, and ya never know. How many times have you seen 2 guys together and said "what is he doing with HIM"? But at least "its a bird in the hand" situation.... you SEE what you are getting and can do your own "vetting" from there , if you are so inclined. Just remember, too much vetting can kill the deal. Save the vetting for AFTER you've done the deed.

Not to play devils advocate, but many of the clientele I've encountered at the NYC clubs are HOTTER than many of the escorts that appear in Daddy's Reviews that have been hired. As far as safety, it's should always be YOUR OWN responsibility for safety, whether you go to a club, or HIRE an escort. We are all adults and know how to protect ourselves, so safety really isnt an issue for club partyers. Any person you will meet OR hire will have a sexual history you have no knowledge of, so playing "safe" is encouraged. And as for the hit or miss thing, unless you are truly "selective", with a crowd of anywhere from 50-200 guys, I am certain you can find at least 1 prospect to fit your bill ? But if you are a devotee of hiring and comfortable with the practice and expense, by all means DO IT....

Mine didn't. The only thing I remember them telling me as a boy was to sleep with my arms and hands outside the bed covers. I had no idea why. I do now! ;-)))

Not yet.
 
(and they have both since passed away)

Lew Christensen (1909-1984), viewed by many as the first great homegrown American male dancer, was also a choreographer, director and teacher. Here he is at age 28 (1937) in the role of Apollo. The photograph is by George Platt Lynes.
http://68.media.tumblr.com/1c48b6e6d0150e0d9fc03132226c76ea/tumblr_o9s0dyo1Fq1vwig2ro1_1280.jpg
 
George Mallory (1886-1924), possibly the first mountaineer to make it to the summit of Mt. Everest, died during the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. His body was found in 1999. He is pictured here at age 26 (1912) in a photograph by Duncan Grant.
http://68.media.tumblr.com/e0592afd06115585b3b00c03d34abb07/tumblr_ofygaaCGj91vwq0fao1_1280.jpg
 
Duncan Grant (1885-1978) was a British painter; a designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes; and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. He is shown here at age 27 in 1912, the same year he took the photograph of George Mallory shown above.

106
Dear Uncle Frank: A Photographer's Exploration of Gay Myths and Family Truths
by Pacifico Silano, time.com, November 26, 2013
 
http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/frank.jpg?w=275
 
My uncle Frank Silano died from complications of AIDS in December 1989. My family rarely spoke of him. He was a mystery to me. The few things I did know were generalities: he was gay, lived in New York and died young. I always wanted to know more, but no one could tell me anything else. It took me a quarter-century to begin unraveling who he was.
 
It started with a Polaroid I received when my parents separated. It was the first photograph I had ever seen of my uncle; I had never seen his face before. In the picture he seemed so serious, wearing a coat and tie with the camera's flash reflected in a nearby mirror. It looked like one of those snapshots a family member might take when you're on your way out the door after a holiday dinner or gathering. I studied that Polaroid thinking it might be a clue to who my uncle was. I figured if I could know him, I might have a better sense of myself. Around this time I had a major falling out with my father over being gay. The experience made me feel closer to this outsider that the family forgot.
 
My attempts to find more photographs and stories of my uncle yielded no results. It was incredibly frustrating and in many ways I felt defeated. I had intended to make a project about him, but with virtually no source material or support I had to put my focus elsewhere. If I couldn't make a portrait of Frank Silano I decided I would make one about other gay men who died as a result of the AIDS epidemic.
 
I took that Polaroid of my uncle and I hung it up on my studio wall. It would serve as motivation and a constant reminder of Frank and of how lucky I am to be gay and alive today.
 
In 2010 I began to research the history of the LGBTQ community. I started reading about the Stonewall Riots and the gay rights movement. Fascinated with the sexual liberation and visibility of gay men after 1969, I watched probably every documentary I could about the AIDS epidemic. I collected ephemera and vintage pornography. I found myself drawn to depictions of hyper-masculinity that seemed at odds with the conventional views of gay men.
 
I began re-contextualizing images from old magazines, found photographs and negatives, in part as a way of breathing life into the past. When I couldn't find an image that represented my own vision, I would stage a photograph. These ideas became the basis for my project, a series highlighting the innocence and naivety of these men as well as foreshadowing what came later.
 
In the summer of 2012 I received an Aaron Siskind Fellowship for this body of work and used the funds to pursue similar ideas. I specifically focused on creating a photo installation titled "Pages of a Blueboy Magazine." Consisting of one hundred cropped headshots of male centerfolds, I chose models from issues that ranged between the years 1974 and 1983 (the year Blueboy published their first article on AIDS). Each man's gaze is meant to draw the viewer in and contemplate the mortality of not only the model but also the men who originally consumed the imagery. The work had its debut at the Bronx Museum of the Art's 2nd AIM Biennial in June 2013.
 
My most recent project, Male Fantasy Icon, furthers the themes I've explored in the past. By creating imagery with Al Parker, one of the most famous gay porn stars of the 1970s, I've produced photographs that memorialize and draw attention to a lost generation of gay men. The process of making these new pictures and reworking images from the past has allowed me to catalog and emphasize a neglected history, one that is imbued with my own fantasies of a place and time I feel I know, but that I never lived through.
 
In creating all of these photographs, I have gained a better understanding of what life might have been like for my uncle. I'll never hear his stories first-hand, but something has nevertheless been passed on. Sometimes I like to think that he's guiding me through my own work. When I'm lost for an idea in the studio, I'll look up at that old Polaroid and I'll remember how my journey began.

Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray
 
http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc2gs1nG391qcl8ymo1_1280.jpg
Self-portrait, 1848
 
Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (1820 - 1884) has been called "the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century" because of his technical innovations in the still new medium, his role as the teacher of other noted photographers and the imagination he brought to picture-making. Originally trained as a painter, he crossed over to photography in the early years of its development, making his first daguerreotypes in 1847. As a portrait photographer, he captured figures such as Napoleon III and Edward VII, and also became famous for his seascapes.
 
Despite artistic success, his photography business was a poorly-managed financial failure. Ultimately, he closed the studio he had opened in 1855, abandoned his wife and children and fled the country to escape his creditors. He spent 20 years in Cairo, earning a modest living as a professor of drawing while maintaining a small photography shop. From this late period, only about 50 images are known.
 
Images by Gustave Le Gray ...


 
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fh2aCkgfh6Q/TMPsBret4LI/AAAAAAAABIU/JJzvye5TBmA/s1600/7.+Large+Wave,+Mediterranean+Sea.jpg
 
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65ICZEC4Ce4/VgM0xL-DTCI/AAAAAAABRgo/IReENcaN0Zw/s1600/Le-Gray-Gustave-Cavalry-Maneuvers-Camp-de-Ch%25C3%25A2lons-1857-Met.jpg
Cavalry Maneuvers at Camp de Châlons, 1857
 

The Beech Tree, 1856
 
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jGcbCmHnHIo/VgM0j8sGpWI/AAAAAAABRgA/xgjO16DW3MY/s1600/Le-Gray-Gustave-Rampart-at-Carcassonne-1851-Met.jpg
Ramparts at Carcassonne, 1851
 
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2AJnoEHFR8/VgM01QNb4kI/AAAAAAABRg4/PK8SQjHLwM8/s1600/Le-Gray-Gustave-Temple-of-Edfu-Egypt-1867-Met.jpg
Temple of Edfu, 1867

At the 20:25 mark

Harry Belafonte, age 27 (1954)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEtTabdjqjc/VEA1ktVOInI/AAAAAAAAEUE/hknoBT5Ve24/s1600/Carl%2Bvan%2BVechten.Harry%2BBelafonte%2B%2B1954%2B2.jpg
 
Serge Lifar, age 29 (1934) ...
http://68.media.tumblr.com/e36b4a153783e2d0f542551e8dace3ce/tumblr_opspoy9Eml1r9bdhro1_400.jpg
 
... and, earlier, on the beach with Josephine Baker, ca. 1930
http://bust.com/images/articles/35930/jb4.jpg
 
Jean Cocteau, age 20 (1909), Paris ... reminds me of a young Dustin Hoffman (lower right) ...
http://68.media.tumblr.com/c056f71f4bf8b85901a89e076349aa84/tumblr_ops3abuTXG1s8mqb2o1_1280.jpg http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7e/58/61/7e5861ba1735dc5a3e76616634460e93.jpg
 
And more Robert Conrad
http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/beefcake/robertconrad/robertconrad36.jpg
 
http://pdxretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/robert-conrad-yng.jpg http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/beefcake/robertconrad/robertconrad33.jpg http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/beefcake/robertconrad/robertconrad2.jpg
 
Here, about to take a whippin' on The Wild, Wild West ...
http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/RConradShirtless.jpg
 
... and from that episode in which, during a fight, his pants split open, revealing that (what!?) men wore briefs in the 1870s! (Who knew?)

Not for nothing, it's been said that, in it's time (1965-69), If you were gay, that show was the best soft porn to be found on commercial television.

Leonard Whiting, age 18 (1968) in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet
http://i2.listal.com/image/2619348/936full-leonard-whiting.jpg
"He has a magnificent face, gentle melancholy, sweet, the kind of idealistic young man Romeo ought to be," said Zeffirelli.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2ysEN5A9L2I/U7LGQVpJfGI/AAAAAAABHjI/5UmCTwUFKz0/s1600/Leonard+Whiting+1.mkv1749.jpg
Here, Whiting with Olivia Hussey as Juliet ...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--wKG8u3fJOg/U7LGIs73FjI/AAAAAAABHhM/q7GhKmcELIA/s1600/Leonard+Whiting+1.mkv0430.jpg
 
Brad Davis, age 27 (1976) was Sally Field's love interest in Sybil ...

 
...and then, age 29 (1978) was Billy Hayes in Midnight Express
http://greginhollywood.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/midnight-express-brad-davis-1978-01.png
 

 
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pDjuquMHTZ8/UUxWl-gKkzI/AAAAAAAAqDA/8Ieuv7OSC4A/s1600/Midnight+Express%255B%2528018070%252923-40-18%255D.JPG
Diagnosed with HIV in 1985, he kept his condition secret to continue working. In 1991, at 41, he died from an intentional drug overdose.

Oh I took that quiz too (or one similar to it) and was also 100% heterosexual. The whole joke involves whether or not you see naked ladies in images. You are a closeted gay if you make sure they are found at all times, just to "prove" you find them attractive. Either that or they disturb you enough to stick out. Lol!
 
As for this article line: "The data also identified certain trends, including that gay men had narrower jaws, longer noses and larger foreheads than straight men..." Sounds suspiciously like the way Jews were classified in old Nazi propaganda. On the plus side, a larger forehead may equal a bigger brain.

Oh I took that quiz too (or one similar to it) and was also 100% heterosexual. The whole joke involves whether or not you see naked ladies in images. You are a closeted gay if you make sure they are found at all times, just to "prove" you find them attractive. Either that or they disturb you enough to stick out. Lol!
 
As for this article line: "The data also identified certain trends, including that gay men had narrower jaws, longer noses and larger foreheads than straight men..." Sounds suspiciously like the way Jews were classified in old Nazi propaganda. On the plus side, a larger forehead may equal a bigger brain.

What about the horn in our forehead?

If THIS doesn't get you horny & in the mood for love, you're dead inside:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-351PY5tLB8

My Junior High School Make Out favorite!

Well... we can overlook the little detail of him singing about Brother Rat instead of his lover. Fittingly "Ben Hur" introduces Little Michael here. That was cruel of Heston to suggest "he shouldn't be up this late".
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1dAQN5QcZU
 
Here's a breakup-and-still-can't-get-over-him song. "Other boys have called, but I just can't picture touching anybody else..."
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBSUz0XFLEo
 
The ultimate in possessiveness... Frankie singing with Harry's Orchestra back in '39
 

Original Broadway Cast--Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza
 
"South Pacific"

Really, too many to list
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_2oexUx25IIMO, R&H wrote the best love songs to be performed by men. I keep hoping to see some variety or award show cover this with two men
 
Gayer than laughter: