When They Were Young

[TruthBTold]

Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, he was the first human to fly in outer space (April 12, 1961, when his spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth in 108 minutes).

Short (only 5-foot-2), Gagarin earned a reputation as an adept public personality. An instant celebrity after his space flight, he was described as having a smile "that lit up the Cold War."

He died at 34 in the crash of a routine training flight. His ashes are interred in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square. . . .

 

 

Definitely looks like someone you would want to kiss.

[Moondance]

Gene Tunney (1897-1978) was a professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He was a thinking fighter, always moving, boxing behind an excellent left jab, studying his opponents from the first bell. He treated a boxing match like a game of chess. Tunney was the World Heavyweight Champion from 1926 to 1928, the year he retired. In the formal portrait below, he is in his late 20s, circa 1925:

 

 

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/images/tunney-gene-47.jpg http://www.trbimg.com/img-1382482412/turbine/chi-boxing-gene-a-20131017/599

 

[+ Pensant]

Poor Charles was always goofy-looking.

[TruHart1]

Poor Charles was always goofy-looking.

It's those Windsor genes at work! However, I find that goofy-/dorky- look can be quite sexy in certain men, Prince Charles included!

 

TruHart1

[marylander1940]

Poor Charles was always goofy-looking.

 

At least now that he's old he looks so much better.

 

[+ Pensant]

He’s also a superb dresser.

[TruthBTold]

He’s also a superb dresser.

 

For a Brit.

[Moondance]

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918. He was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria and was related to many monarchs and princes of Europe. After acceding to the throne, he dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers (sound familiar?). An ineffective war-time leader (his generals dictated policy during WWI), he abdicated in November 1918, fleeing into exile in the Netherlands. He is shown here, probably in the mid-1880s, at about age 25:

 

 

Historians have stressed the role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. The German historian Thomas Nipperdey wrote that he was "... gifted, with a quick understanding, sometimes brilliant, with a taste for the modern—technology, industry, science—but at the same time superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any deeper level of seriousness, without any desire for hard work or drive to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety, for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success—as Bismarck said early on in his life, he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers' mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, [and] pathological in his hatred against his English mother, [Queen Victoria's eldest daughter]."

Edited January 14, 2018 by Moondance

[Moondance]

Wallace Augustus Rayfield (1874-1941) is believed to be the second formally-educated practicing African-American architect in the United States. He worked as an apprentice in an architectural firm while attending Howard University, then completed a graduate certificate from Pratt Institute before earning his bachelor's degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1899. Upon his graduation, he was recruited by Booker T. Washington to be the Director of the Architectural and Mechanical Drawing Department at Tuskegee Institute. In 1907, Rayfield opened a professional office in Tuskegee from which he sold mail-order plans nationwide. He left Tuskegee Institute and moved to Birmingham in 1908 to focus on his young practice.

 

 

Rayfield designed hundreds of structures throughout the South prior to the Great Depression, among them theaters, schools, residences for prominent black professionals, one of the country’s first black-owned banks, and many, many churches. His buildings were later backdrops for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; a few became synonymous with the struggle.

 

The most famous Rayfield building still stands. Completed in 1911, the 16th Street Baptist Church was the site of a 1963 bomb blast that killed four black teenage girls. Today, 16th Street Baptist is a popular destination for tourists, and is part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.

 

But Rayfield's name, and his contributions to the growth of Birmingham and other cities has been largely forgotten. After falling into bankruptcy during the Great Depression, he died in obscurity during the Second World War.

 

http://www.uapress.ua.edu//images/temp/212-4922-Product_LargeToMediumImage.jpeg

 

In the early 1990s, while cleaning out the barn on his property in Bessemer, Alabama, Allen Durough discovered remnants of the lifework of Wallace Rayfield, including several hundred drawings, floor plans, business advertisements, family portraits and graphic art pieces. This book (published by The University of Alabama Press) gathers that material legacy into a cohesive whole, reproducing 159 illustrations that document Rayfield’s life and work on two continents.

[+ WilliamM]

 

Another Larry Hagman photo but with his mom, Mary Martin and the Queen Mother. Larry was in the original London cast of "South Pacific" with Mary who repeated her role on Broadway.

Edited January 30, 2018 by WilliamM

[TruthBTold]

Wallace Augustus Rayfield (1874-1941) is believed to be the second formally-educated practicing African-American architect in the United States. He worked as an apprentice in an architectural firm while attending Howard University, then completed a graduate certificate from Pratt Institute before earning his bachelor's degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1899. Upon his graduation, he was recruited by Booker T. Washington to be the Director of the Architectural and Mechanical Drawing Department at Tuskegee Institute. In 1907, Rayfield opened a professional office in Tuskegee from which he sold mail-order plans nationwide. He left Tuskegee Institute and moved to Birmingham in 1908 to focus on his young practice.

 

 

Rayfield designed hundreds of structures throughout the South prior to the Great Depression, among them theaters, schools, residences for prominent black professionals, one of the country’s first black-owned banks, and many, many churches. His buildings were later backdrops for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; a few became synonymous with the struggle. . . .

 

Talk about an overachiever. And a fucking good looking one at that.

[TruHart1]

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918. He was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria and was related to many monarchs and princes of Europe. After acceding to the throne, he dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers (sound familiar?). An ineffective war-time leader (his generals dictated policy during WWI), he abdicated in November 1918, fleeing into exile in the Netherlands. He is shown here, probably in the mid-1880s, at about age 25:

 

 

Historians have stressed the role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. The German historian Thomas Nipperdey wrote that he was "... gifted, with a quick understanding, sometimes brilliant, with a taste for the modern—technology, industry, science—but at the same time superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any deeper level of seriousness, without any desire for hard work or drive to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety, for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success—as Bismarck said early on in his life, he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers' mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, [and] pathological in his hatred against his English mother, [Queen Victoria's eldest daughter]."

This posting of Wilhelm made me think of his grandfather, Prince Albert, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who married Queen Victoria (his second cousin) in 1840 at the age of 20 (Victoria was also 20) and became her Prince Consort. Here is a formal portrait by the painter John Partridge, painted in 1840 (just after Albert had turned 21) commissioned by Albert for, and presented to his wife, Queen Victoria on her 22nd birthday, May 24, 1841:

 

BTW, "The Young Victoria", a series about the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, begins its second season tonight on PBS!

 

TruHart1

Edited January 15, 2020 by TruHart1

[+ Charlie]

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918. He was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria and was related to many monarchs and princes of Europe. After acceding to the throne, he dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers (sound familiar?). An ineffective war-time leader (his generals dictated policy during WWI), he abdicated in November 1918, fleeing into exile in the Netherlands. He is shown here, probably in the mid-1880s, at about age 25:

 

 

Historians have stressed the role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. The German historian Thomas Nipperdey wrote that he was "... gifted, with a quick understanding, sometimes brilliant, with a taste for the modern—technology, industry, science—but at the same time superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any deeper level of seriousness, without any desire for hard work or drive to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety, for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success—as Bismarck said early on in his life, he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers' mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, [and] pathological in his hatred against his English mother, [Queen Victoria's eldest daughter]."

In the photo his hand is carefully hidden, as usual, because it was disabled as a result of an injury incurred during birth.

[Moondance]

Leone Jacovacci (1902 - 1983) was a boxing champion born to an Italian father and a Congolese mother. In reaction to the racism he encountered, he tried posing as an Indian from Calcutta, an American named “Jack Walker” and became a British subject under the name “John Douglas Walker.” Although once the premier boxer in the Italy, he was of never accepted by Mussolini's fascist government.

 

Injuries put an end to his boxing career and after the war, he worked for the newly formed UN, assisting refugees in Italy. He later did some acting, but ended his days as a janitor, dying of heart disease in Milan in 1983. In the photo on the left, below, he is age 24 (1926).

 

http://78.media.tumblr.com/e3cc9fc7b5b0a29ef55faba5566042c2/tumblr_oopjdu5oH11qeu6ilo1_500.jpg http://griotmag.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/griot-mag-the-duces-boxer-the-unsong-story-of-leone-jacovacci-and-his-struggle-against-fascism-and-racism.jpeg

 

Below, in the ring, fighting Mario Bosisio

http://griotmag.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/griot-mag-the-duces-boxer-the-unsong-story-of-leone-jacovacci-and-his-struggle-against-fascism-and-racism-4.jpeg

 

IL PUGILE DEL DUCE (The Duce’s Boxer) a documentary film by Tony Saccucci released in 2017, tells the story of a career buried in the archives for decades and only recently brought to light. Agile, intelligent, a powerhouse boxer with a perfect technique, Jacovacci spoke four languages fluently, five if you count the Roman dialect. Adored by fans around the world, he had just one problem: the color of his skin.

 

On the night of June 24, 1928, at the National Stadium in Rome, with nearly 40,000 boxing fans in the bleachers and a live radio broadcast airing in cities up and down Italy, Jacovacci won the European middleweight championship, beating Mario Bosisio, a white Italian boxer supported by the country’s fascist leaders. But after the fight, an outraged Mussolini ordered Jacovacci and his achievement erased from Italy’s history books.

[Moondance]

Paul Cadmus (1904-1999) was an American artist known for his paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many drawings of nude male figures.

 

http://www.daddyshere.com/gayartists/cadmus/cadmus-paul_1904-1999_photo_001.jpg

 

 

In 1934, at age 29, Cadmus painted The Fleet's In! while working for the Public Works of Art Project of the WPA. The painting featured carousing sailors and women and an erotic exaggeration of clinging pants seats and bulging crotches. It was the subject of a public outcry led by Admiral Hugh Rodman, who protested to Secretary of the Navy, writing, "It represents a most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, drunken brawl." The painting was removed from exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery.

 

The publicity helped launch his career, and Cadmus said at the time, "I had no intention of offending the Navy. Sailors are no worse than anybody else. In my picture I merely commented on them – I didn't criticize." Kept from public view for half a century, The Fleet's In! hung over a mantel at the Alibi Club, viewed by the Washington elite--including presidents, senators and diplomats--who were members of the private gentleman's club.

 

In 1981, it was temporarily displayed at a museum in Miami, and eventually found a home at the Naval Historical Center.

 

The Fleet's In!

[Moondance]

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific English writer and son of the Archbishop of Canterbury Edward White Benson. Best known for his Mapp and Lucia series of comic novels, he also wrote ghost stories that some regard as among the best in the English language.

 

[+ Awwshuck]

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) was a prolific English writer and son of the Archbishop of Canterbury Edward White Benson. Best known for his Mapp and Lucia series of comic novels, he also wrote ghost stories that some regard as among the best in the English language.

 

 

Quite handsome

[bigvalboy]

BTW, "The Young Victoria", a series about the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, begins its second season tonight on PBS!

 

Yes... and thoroughly enjoying it.

[Moondance]

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016). The Greatest.

 

1960 Summer Olympics, Rome. Cassius Clay, age 18, wins the light-heavyweight gold metal.

 

Being photographed by Thomas Hoepker, Chicago, 1966

 

Chicago, 1966. Again by Hoepker.

 

http://78.media.tumblr.com/a952a55dd0db50fd55a9d8a94328e6db/tumblr_ochntgCsYx1sec196o1_1280.jpg

Weighing in.

 

London, 1966

 

 

 

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/espnapi_dm_160604_boxing_rafael_youngboxers_inspiration872_wmain.jpg

[Nvr2thick4me]

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016). The Greatest.

 

1960 Summer Olympics, Rome. Cassius Clay, age 18, wins the light-heavyweight gold metal.

 

Being photographed by Thomas Hoepker, Chicago, 1966

 

Chicago, 1966. Again by Hoepker.

 

http://78.media.tumblr.com/a952a55dd0db50fd55a9d8a94328e6db/tumblr_ochntgCsYx1sec196o1_1280.jpg

Weighing in.

 

London, 1966

 

 

 

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/espnapi_dm_160604_boxing_rafael_youngboxers_inspiration872_wmain.jpg

Wow, didn’t know there were nude pics of him. Do many boxers “weigh-in” nude?

[+ poolboy48220]

Matthew Modine playing a wrestler in "Vision Quest" did. :-)

[Moondance]

Bill Cable (1946-1998), born William Cumpanas, known as "Stoner," "Cable," and "Bigg John," was a model, actor and film stuntman. He appeared in adult films (gay and straight)--his first being Wakefield Poole's Bijou (1972)--and in mainstream movies--including Basic Instinct (1992), as Johnny Boz, the retired rock star found tied to his bed with a silk scarf, fatally stabbed with an ice pick.

 

Photographed by Bob Mizer for the Athletic Model Guild, Jim French for COLT Studio Group, Kenn Duncan, Jeff Dunas and many others, he appeared in Playgirl, Playboy, OUI, the Ah Men Clothing Catalog, After Dark, Honcho, Drummer, Mandate and numerous other publications.

 

In October 1996, he was involved in a motorcycle accident in Laurel Canyon that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He died of injuries from that crash in March 1998 at age 51.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P2I4FGeTgC0/UflrXmne6FI/AAAAAAABcW0/7bVbaa37HUA/s1600/Face190bill+cable+(%22stoner,%22+Colt,+1972).jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iCNMfV7JGpA/VAze2eILrxI/AAAAAAACzqc/2JUxVgVm2tk/s1600/Stoner-Bill_Cable-Colt-03.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pJDJiEi7KgU/UjRUNz83a_I/AAAAAAAAZwM/wmZhZA868Ds/s1600/brutos13157_BillCable.jpg

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dvmBIAOn7HI/U3jtqsHqqOI/AAAAAAACHQ4/gk3syQHy2mc/s1600/brutos0546_BillCable_Stoner.jpg

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J1bhv5Cp6VA/TmuaScJ9s1I/AAAAAAAACEM/h7YVXMLxm40/s1600/tumblr_logm1hhQpb1qaak3fo1_500.jpg

 

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q2aRfnkK8Ic/Uj6oY0mZq-I/AAAAAAABFu8/eHiK38CS1MQ/s1600/Portfolio-PG0577-BillCable-02.jpg

[Moondance]

George Hackenschmidt (1877-1968) was an early 20th-century Baltic German strongman and professional wrestler recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion. Nicknamed The Russian Lion, he lived most of his life in London. Known for his impressive strength, fitness and flexibility, in later life he wrote several books on physical culture, training and philosophy.

 

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fv5JmhgILmM/UNttH3xEpwI/AAAAAAAAP40/g-cUFX5CqEQ/s1600/George+Hackenschmidt+003.jpg

 

[TruthBTold]

Bill Cable (1946-1998), born William Cumpanas, known as "Stoner," "Cable," and "Bigg John," was a model, actor and film stuntman. He appeared in adult films (gay and straight)--his first being Wakefield Poole's Bijou (1972)--and in mainstream movies--including Basic Instinct (1992), as Johnny Boz, the retired rock star found tied to his bed with a silk scarf, fatally stabbed with an ice pick.

Photographed by Bob Mizer for the Athletic Model Guild, Jim French for COLT Studio Group, Kenn Duncan, Jeff Dunas and many others, he appeared in Playgirl, Playboy, OUI, the Ah Men Clothing Catalog, After Dark, Honcho, Drummer, Mandate and numerous other publications.

In October 1996, he was involved in a motorcycle accident in Laurel Canyon that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He died of injuries from that crash in March 1998 at age 51.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P2I4FGeTgC0/UflrXmne6FI/AAAAAAABcW0/7bVbaa37HUA/s1600/Face190bill+cable+(%22stoner,%22+Colt,+1972).jpg

 

Talk about classically handsome. Sigh!!!

[+ azdr0710]

Burt Bacharach - born 1928 in Kansas City, MO.....

 

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2008/10/17/Bacharach276.jpg

 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02574/burtbacharach_2574949k.jpg

 

http://www.covermesongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/bb.jpg

 

 

http://bento.cdn.pbs.org/hostedbento-prod/filer_public/PBS%20Program%20Features/Pledge%20Features/burt-bacharach-960x360.jpg

Edited January 18, 2018 by azdr0710