When They Were Young

[Whitman]

In Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953), it's Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" that's become iconic, but Jane Russell's "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?" is hard to forget. She sings and dances in the midst of "the Men's Olympic Team," while the guys--barefoot, in little flesh-colored shorts--do their workout around her. One of the men is JOHN WEIDEMANN, and just before Russell starts singing, she stops to admire his bicep.

 

http://www.cornel1801.com/videosong/Gentlemen-Prefer-Blondes-Anyone-Here-for-Love/4.jpg

 

Weidemann is uncredited in the film, and his acting career never took off. He had better luck as a physique model. Some images of him that sold at auction years later had information on the back that gave his age at 22 in 1957--which would have made him 18 at the time of Gentleman Prefer Blondes. (Really? Is that what 18 looked like in 1953?)

 

Here a few more shots of him from the 1950s:

 

 

 

[+ WilliamM]

NICK CLOONEY (b. 1934), American broadcaster and television host, brother of Rosemary, father of George, one-time Congressional candidate, is seen here as a DJ for the Armed Forces Network on January 17, 1956, four days after his 22nd birthday:

 

 

In 2014, age 80, he appeared in The Monuments Men, directed by his son, who also played one of the leading characters. Nick Clooney played George Clooney's character in older age, visiting Belgium to see the Madonna, one of the treasures rescued by the Monuments Men during WWII.

 

Several members here know Rosemary Clooney's children and Rosemary also.

[Whitman]

VICTOR HUGO (no, not that one) was born in Venezuela in 1942. He was an artist, a window dresser who did the displays for the designer Halston's Madison Avenue store, and Halston's lover on and off for over a decade. He was also an assistant to and model for Andy Warhol. He died in 1993.

 

Two images of Victor Hugo by Warhol:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d3/39/7c/d3397ce502023c19ef13ad9a35aa1970--victor-hugo-andy-warhol.jpg

 

Jimmy DeSana photograph of Andy Warhol photographing Victor Hugo, 1977:

http://lenscratch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Andy-Warhol-and-Victor-Hugo_1.jpg

 

Andy Warhol, Untitled (Halston “Drag Party” Invitation–model Victor Hugo), 1970s, Silk screen on paper:

http://gayletter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17_Warhol_Andy_GAYLETTER.jpg

 

Cocktails in a jockstrap (with Warhol):

 

On the left (with Halston, Liza, Steve Rubell, Bianca Jagger and Warhol):

[Whitman]

 

ALEXANDER JENSEN YOW (b. 1925), was a painter, a model for George Platt Lynes and Paul Cadmus and, later (1950s-70s), a conservator at the Morgan Library in New York. He was, for a time, the lover of Lincoln Kirstein who, although married to the sister of Paul Cadmus for 50 years, liked guys enough to have both long-term affairs (as with Jensen Yow) and plenty of casual encounters with students, sailors, street boys and men he met in the showers at the 63rd Street YMCA.

 

George Platt Lynes took the following photographs of Jensen Yow--the first in 1948, the next two in 1950:

 

http://www.elisarolle.com/romance/images/Jensen_Yow_1948.jpg

 

 

[+ Charlie]

 

ALEXANDER JENSEN YOW (b. 1925), was a painter, a model for George Platt Lynes and Paul Cadmus and, later (1950s-70s), a conservator at the Morgan Library in New York. He was, for a time, the lover of Lincoln Kirstein who, although married to the sister of Paul Cadmus for 50 years, liked guys enough to have both long-term affairs (as with Jensen Yow) and plenty of casual encounters with students, sailors, street boys and men he met in the showers at the 63rd Street YMCA.

 

George Platt Lynes took the following photographs of Jensen Yow--the first in 1948, the next two in 1950:

 

http://www.elisarolle.com/romance/images/Jensen_Yow_1948.jpg

 

 

I was one of those young men with whom Lincoln Kirstein had a casual encounter in the showers at the 63rd Street YMCA. He was still an attractive man in his late 50s.

[Whitman]

I was one of those young men with whom Lincoln Kirstein had a casual encounter in the showers at the 63rd Street YMCA. He was still an attractive man in his late 50s.

According to Kirstein's Wikipedia page, he kept a diary for about 20 years (1919 until the late 1930s), so you were too late to be included in that, @Charlie. The question is, did you include Kirstein in your daily journals and/or the autobiography you have mentioned?

 

Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) in 1930, at 23, by Jay Leyda:

 

And in 1948, at 41, by George Platt Lynes:

[+ Charlie]

According to Kirstein's Wikipedia page, he kept a diary for about 20 years (1919 until the late 1930s), so you were too late to be included in that, @Charlie. The question is, did you include Kirstein in your daily journals and/or the autobiography you have mentioned?

 

Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) in 1930, at 23, by Jay Leyda:

 

And in 1948, at 41, by George Platt Lynes:

Unfortunately, I did not start my journals until I was 30, when I was past the stage of having sex in the showers at the 63rd Street Y. I did not include that incident in my autobiography; if I had mentioned everyone I had sex with by the time I was 25, the index would have been too long.

[Whitman]

Here's a nice picture of vintage cars parked next to bodybuilder REG LEWIS (b. 1936). I can't find the date of the image (1960s maybe?) and information about Reg Lewis varies. (Some sources say he was born in California, others say Colorado.) Also, he was not Mr. Universe 1957 as his wife claimed when she and Reg appeared on the November 12, 1959 episode of You Bet Your Life. (Groucho Marx invited 23-year-old Reg to take his shirt off and flex. He did.) A few years later he starred in an Italian film, Colossus of the Stone Age (1962). He subsequently had some bit parts in other films, and was one of the muscle men in Mae West's nightclub act.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OdURV6r7lDQ/T5oUwyvHNqI/AAAAAAAAEcY/WOdwgagpRuY/s1600/reglewis.jpg

 

Here's the You Bet Your Life episode with Reg and June Lewis … they come up first:

 

[+ Charlie]

Here's a nice picture of vintage cars parked next to bodybuilder REG LEWIS (b. 1936). I can't find the date of the image (1960s maybe?) and information about Reg Lewis varies. (Some sources say he was born in California, others say Colorado.) Also, he was not Mr. Universe 1957 as his wife claimed when she and Reg appeared on the November 12, 1959 episode of You Bet Your Life. (Groucho Marx invited 23-year-old Reg to take his shirt off and flex. He did.) A few years later he starred in an Italian film, Colossus of the Stone Age (1962). He subsequently had some bit parts in other films, and was one of the muscle men in Mae West's nightclub act.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OdURV6r7lDQ/T5oUwyvHNqI/AAAAAAAAEcY/WOdwgagpRuY/s1600/reglewis.jpg

 

Here's the You Bet Your Life episode with Reg and June Lewis … they come up first:

 

The cars are 1957 Cadillacs, but he looks older than 21 in the photo.

[Whitman]

MICHAEL ONTKEAN (b. 1946) and HARRY HAMLIN (b. 1951) in Making Love, 1982

 

[Whitman]

More than 40 years after he made his Broadway stage debut (as a teenager, in 1943) and his film debut (in an uncredited part in The Lost Weekend, 1945), EARLE HYMAN (1926-2017) scored an Emmy nomination for playing the father of Bill Cosby's character on The Cosby Show.

 

He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre from its first season (he played Othello in the 1957 season), and a life member of The Actors Studio. In addition to stage appearances in New York and London, he performed throughout his career in Norway, having learned the language from his partner, a sailor named Rolf Sirnes (1926-2004). In 1988, he was awarded the St. Olav's Medal for his work in Norwegian theater.

 

Here, at 27, on March 10, 1953, in a photograph by Carl Van Vechten, he is in costume as the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice:

[Whitman]

Before the album of Jesus Christ Superstar was completed, the song Superstar, performed by actor/singer MURRAY HEAD (b. 1946, now 73) was released as a single in 1969.

 

Two years later, at 25, Head appeared in what's probably his best known film role, as Bob Elkin, a bisexual sculptor in 1971's Sunday Bloody Sunday. He is having relationships with both Peter Finch (a gay Jewish doctor) and Glenda Jackson (a divorced businesswoman), each of whom is aware, and tolerant, of the other relationship.

 

 

Ian Bannen had Finch's role when filming began, but had such anxiety about what kissing another actor on screen might do to his career that he was fired early on and replaced by Finch, who didn't seem to mind kissing Murray Head. The director, John Schlesinger said, "Both Peter and Murray were totally involved in their parts and they were certainly less shocked by the kiss than some of the technicians."

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fAiOBFhs8As/maxresdefault.jpg

 

Peter Finch earned an Academy Award nomination for the movie. (Five years later, he won posthumously for his performance in Network.)

 

Ian Bannen later said that losing the role set back his career. He regretted it until his death.

 

Daniel Day-Lewis made his film debut in an uncredited role as a vandal. Fame and glory followed.

[TruHart1]

Speaking of Daniel Day Lewis (previous post) he was simply amazing in "My Beautiful Launderette" in 1985, at age 28, playing a street punk who was in love with a 2nd generation Pakistani boy, played by Gordon Warnecke in his screen debut. This was conceived as a pilot for a series for the BBC but never picked up as a series, then released in theaters, earning an Oscar nomination for best screenplay!

Daniel Day Lewis in My Beautiful Launderette:

 

With co-star Gordon Warnecke

http://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2015/12/mybeautiful-powders.jpg

 

 

TruHart1

[TruthBTold]

Speaking of Daniel Day Lewis (previous post) he was simply amazing in "My Beautiful Launderette" in 1985, at age 28, playing a street punk who was in love with a 2nd generation Pakistani boy, played by Gordon Warnecke in his screen debut. This was conceived as a pilot for a series for the BBC but never picked up as a series, then released in theaters, earning an Oscar nomination for best screenplay!

Daniel Day Lewis in My Beautiful Launderette:

 

With co-star Gordon Warnecke

http://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2015/12/mybeautiful-powders.jpg

 

 

TruHart1

 

This was one of the first films that made me really feel great about being gay.

[Whitman]

FORRESTER MILLARD (real name: Forrester Wayne Dorlac), 1929-2011, was the first model for Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild (AMG). Forrester was straight, but, while still a teenager in the late 1940s, liked the attention he got from guys when he worked out at Muscle Beach on the south side of the Santa Monica Pier. Mizer met him there, and invited Forrester back to his mother's house in downtown L.A. to be photographed. Together they did 15 photo shoots over the next 14 years until Forrester retired from modeling and left Los Angeles. He eventually settled in Washington state, where he married and had a family. In 2009, Dennis Bell, head of the Bob Mizer Foundation, located Forrester, who was surprised to be remembered. He gave an on-camera interview to AMG archivists two years before he died at age 81.

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Whitman

[+ oldNbusted]

My Beautiful Launderette

 

This was directed by Stephen Frears, with his next film being Prick Up Your Ears, an early film for Gary Oldman.

[marylander1940]

Bill Cable (born William Laurence Cumpanas) 1946-1998

 

[Whitman]

Erté was the pseudonym of the Russian-born French artist Romain de Tirtoff (1892-1990), shown here in his 20s.

 

 

An artist and designer in an array of fields, as his career unfolded, Erté and Art Deco became virtually synonymous.

 

The son of an admiral in the Imperial Fleet, he took the pseudonym Erté while working as a fashion designer/illustrator in Paris so as not to disgrace the family that had expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps as a military officer.

 

In 1925, MGM studios brought Erté and his partner, Russian Prince Nicolas Ouroussoff, from Paris to Hollywood, picking up the expenses for both. They disembarked their ocean liner in New York with fifteen steamer trunks and three assistants. Arriving in California, Erté was treated like a star, installed in a hilltop house in Hollywood, provided with a chauffeured limousine and two bilingual secretaries.

 

MGM head Louis B. Mayer, often intolerant of homosexuals, invited the couple to his house for dinner, and expressed regret when Erté asked to be let out of his contract after designing costumes for just six films.

 

Erté and Ouroussoff lived together for nearly twenty years until the Prince's premature death in 1933.

 

In his 1975 autobiography, Things I Remember, Erté catalogued his homosexual encounters from age 13 onward, his openness about his sexuality in marked contrast to others of his era.

[TruthBTold]

Erté was the pseudonym of the Russian-born French artist Romain de Tirtoff (1892-1990), shown here in his 20s.

 

 

An artist and designer in an array of fields, as his career unfolded, Erté and Art Deco became virtually synonymous.

 

The son of an admiral in the Imperial Fleet, he took the pseudonym Erté while working as a fashion designer/illustrator in Paris so as not to disgrace the family that had expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps as a military officer.

 

In 1925, MGM studios brought Erté and his partner, Russian Prince Nicolas Ouroussoff, from Paris to Hollywood, picking up the expenses for both. They disembarked their ocean liner in New York with fifteen steamer trunks and three assistants. Arriving in California, Erté was treated like a star, installed in a hilltop house in Hollywood, provided with a chauffeured limousine and two bilingual secretaries.

 

MGM head Louis B. Mayer, often intolerant of homosexuals, invited the couple to his house for dinner, and expressed regret when Erté asked to be let out of his contract after designing costumes for just six films.

 

Erté and Ouroussoff lived together for nearly twenty years until the Prince's premature death in 1933.

 

In his 1975 autobiography, Things I Remember, Erté catalogued his homosexual encounters from age 13 onward, his openness about his sexuality in marked contrast to others of his era.

 

Sounds like he lived a fairly fun (sometimes sad) and fulfilled life. Good for him.

The Nile - by Erte

 

[Whitman]

JOHN TRISTRAM (1935-1985) was a British-born bodybuilding champion and physique model. He emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s, modeled for AMG and appeared in many 1950s and 1960s fitness magazines, including Physique Pictorial, Health and Strength, and Muscle Builder. He later taught French at UCLA.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nihaynhxoU4/ThX-srT1MrI/AAAAAAAAHB8/6l7WRd2or6U/s1600/John%20Tristram%20008.jpg

 

"Of the models whom I have researched, I know the least about Tristram, the British-born bodybuilder who began his modeling career as John Trenton in posing-strap magazines and ended up as a Mr. America contestant … In many ways, what remains of Tristram is typical of what remains of most physique models: a history comprised of unsubstantiated rumors and anecdotes with very few facts to support them. Nonetheless, Tristram was hardly a typical physique model. In addition to being a leading contestant in a variety of big-name professional competitions, he was one of the few bodybuilders of his time who admitted his homosexuality. Although a muscle-bound “hunk,” Tristram made his living in the uncharacteristically cerebral world of academia, as a professor of French … "

 

-- KENNETH KRAUSS, from his book Male Beauty: Postwar Masculinity in Theater, Film and Physique Magazines

 

 

http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgo54yvFQY1qfvv6oo1_1280.jpg

 

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14500000/John-Tristram-vintage-beefcake-14543880-1002-1511.jpg

[TruthBTold]

JOHN TRISTRAM (1935-1985) was a British-born bodybuilding champion and physique model. He emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s, modeled for AMG and appeared in many 1950s and 1960s fitness magazines, including Physique Pictorial, Health and Strength, and Muscle Builder. He later taught French at UCLA.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nihaynhxoU4/ThX-srT1MrI/AAAAAAAAHB8/6l7WRd2or6U/s1600/John%20Tristram%20008.jpg

 

"Of the models whom I have researched, I know the least about Tristram, the British-born bodybuilder who began his modeling career as John Trenton in posing-strap magazines and ended up as a Mr. America contestant … In many ways, what remains of Tristram is typical of what remains of most physique models: a history comprised of unsubstantiated rumors and anecdotes with very few facts to support them. Nonetheless, Tristram was hardly a typical physique model. In addition to being a leading contestant in a variety of big-name professional competitions, he was one of the few bodybuilders of his time who admitted his homosexuality. Although a muscle-bound “hunk,” Tristram made his living in the uncharacteristically cerebral world of academia, as a professor of French … "

 

-- KENNETH KRAUSS, from his book Male Beauty: Postwar Masculinity in Theater, Film and Physique Magazines

 

 

http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgo54yvFQY1qfvv6oo1_1280.jpg

 

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14500000/John-Tristram-vintage-beefcake-14543880-1002-1511.jpg

 

That is interesting. Taught French at UCLA.

[TruthBTold]

Maybe when we were young . . .

 

[+ azdr0710]

just watched Johnny Guitar co-starring Sterling Hayden, dubbed the "Beautiful Blond Viking God" by the studio's publicity department.....this is an addendum to my post #191 in this thread...... https://m4m-forum.org/threads/when-they-were-young.108498/page-10#post-1430674

 

 

 

 

[+ azdr0710]

John Dillinger (best-looking ones I could find)

 

 

[RealAvalon]

JOHN TRISTRAM (1935-1985) was a British-born bodybuilding champion and physique model. He emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s, modeled for AMG and appeared in many 1950s and 1960s fitness magazines, including Physique Pictorial, Health and Strength, and Muscle Builder. He later taught French at UCLA.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nihaynhxoU4/ThX-srT1MrI/AAAAAAAAHB8/6l7WRd2or6U/s1600/John%20Tristram%20008.jpg

 

"Of the models whom I have researched, I know the least about Tristram, the British-born bodybuilder who began his modeling career as John Trenton in posing-strap magazines and ended up as a Mr. America contestant … In many ways, what remains of Tristram is typical of what remains of most physique models: a history comprised of unsubstantiated rumors and anecdotes with very few facts to support them. Nonetheless, Tristram was hardly a typical physique model. In addition to being a leading contestant in a variety of big-name professional competitions, he was one of the few bodybuilders of his time who admitted his homosexuality. Although a muscle-bound “hunk,” Tristram made his living in the uncharacteristically cerebral world of academia, as a professor of French … "

 

-- KENNETH KRAUSS, from his book Male Beauty: Postwar Masculinity in Theater, Film and Physique Magazines

 

 

http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgo54yvFQY1qfvv6oo1_1280.jpg

 

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14500000/John-Tristram-vintage-beefcake-14543880-1002-1511.jpg

merci pour la leçon d’histoire