Jan 17, 2018

Men of Steel

Superman is the most recognizable superhero in the world, a perennial favorite in comics, movies, and tv shows.  And for cosplay.

You can buy a superman costume, complete with built-in muscles.














Or you can provide your own.


















Come to think of it, muscles aren't really necessary.  It's the red, yellow, and blue outfit that does the trick.


















Although no one said that it had to be blue.  A black muscle shirt with the red-and-yellow "S" logo is fine.


















Or the red-and-yellow "S" logo on a bare chest.

More after the break.
















Jan 15, 2018

Eddie is an Eye-Witness to Prince Charles Having Sex with an Extremely Muscular Scottish Athlete

Boomer: Hi, Eddie.  Did you know that I'm the sixth cousin, once removed, of Prince William?  His mother, Princess Diana, and my mother share great-great-great-great grandmothers.

Eddie:  Brilliant!  You should pop over to Kensington Palace and say hello.  Maybe Wills will invite you in for a sandwich.

Boomer:  I don't think so.  William probably has about six thousand sixth cousins.  You're much closer to the royal family than I could ever be..  You went to Eton with Harry and got a sausage sighting of him in the shower.  You've met William, Charles, Prince Andrew, Princess Anne...the Queen?

Eddie: Not formally, but I've been in the same room with her.  I was eight years old, not impressed.

Boomer: I know what you mean.  I met President Johnson when I was five, and the only thing I could think was 'He's not cute'!  But I was wondering, with all the insider scoops you've been privy to over the years, if you can substantiate the 'Prince Charles is Gay' rumors.

Eddie:  Not gay, though, really?  Bi, maybe.  My Dad tells me he had a girl for every day of the week before he met Diana.

Boomer:  I found a list on the internet: Caroline Longman, Lady Tryon, Laura Watkins, Angela Keating, Camilla Hipwood, Rosie Vestey, Davina Morley...well, the list goes on and on.  If he slept with all of those women, he'd be a regular Lothario.  But was there time on any of those days of the week for men?

The rest of the story, with explicit details of Prince Charles, the future king of England, having explicit gay sex with an extremely muscular Scottish athlete, with nude pictures of the athlete, is on  Gay Celebrity Dating Stories.

Gay Hints on "Let's Make a Deal"

Monty Hall, who died last year at age 92, was not exactly a gay icon, like Tarzan or James West, but he offered a few gay hints during my childhood.  He was the host of Let's Make a Deal, the game show that aired at noon or in the early evening from 1963 to 1986.

I never watched an episode all the way through -- game shows, gross!  -- but I saw snippets here and there, as I was walking through the living room on the way to do something else, or waiting for it to end so I could watch something else.










Glimpses of Monty Hall, a very well-dressed man with a beautiful smile, asking contestants to choose between Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3.  If they got a good prize, like a bedroom set or a car, "the lovely Carol Merrill" would run her hands over it while announcer Jay Stewart extolled its benefits in an obvious advertising ploy.

I never saw men in business in everyday life, except in church on Sunday, so watching Monty Hall walk up and down the aisles brought a frisson of erotic interest.  Nothing as intense as Tarzan or James West, but a frisson.









The end credits said "A Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Production."  I didn't know who Mark Goodson and Bill Todman were, but -- two guys together?  Come on, I thought, they must be boyfriends, sharing a house and a life.















Born Monte Halparin in Winnipeg in 1921, wearing a business suit even as a student at the University of Manitoba in 1944, Hall worked in radio before hosting the Canadian game show Who Am I? on television (1952-59).  He moved to New York in 1955 and hosted children's shows, sports programs, and of course game shows before developing Let's Make a Deal.

Over the years he appeared on many other talk shows and game shows, and played himself, or a parody of himself, on That Girl, Laugh-In,  Love, American Style, Love Boat, Providence, The Nanny, and That 70s Show.








Sometimes you don't need to flex anything.  A beautiful smile and a business suit are enough.

By the way, Mark Goodson, Bill Todman, Jay Stewart, Carol Merrill, and Monty Hall were probably all heterosexual.

Searching for Beefcake in "Boys' Life"

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Boys' Life magazine was everywhere: in the children's room of the library, in the waiting room of the doctor's office, in my friends' bedrooms.

The articles were dreary.  It said "For All Boys," but it was really just for Boy Scouts, and the articles all assumed gender-polarized hegemonic masculinity. The exact opposite of anything I was interested in.











 The July 1975 issue, for instance, had articles on "The Fastest Human in Swim Trunks" (a Florida schoolboy named Andy Coan), Scouting in Canada, boat safety, how to get your cycling merit badge, why cub scouts talk like sailors (huh?), magic tricks, fishing tricks, a Bible story, and how to build a doghouse accessory rack.












August 1975: fishing in Hatteras, canoeing in Canada, airborne fire fighters, tall tales for Cub Scouts, home made fishing gear, and "All About Nails" (I'm not kidding).

But the beefcake was intense. Guys in skimpy swimsuits, both photographs and drawings, in every issue!






When Boys' Life was first published in 1911, it was an all-purpose magazine, like the boys' own paper in Britain.  The newly-formed Boy Scouts of America bought it in 1912, and it's been an official vehicle ever since.  Anyone can subscribe, but non-scouts will get a lot of encouragement to join up.

Norman Rockwell and Salvador Dali have both illustrated covers.

A number of famous writers, including Arthur C. Clarke and John Knowles, have published in Boys' Life.











Photographic covers began during the 1950s.



















This is one of the iconic images of my childhood.  I think I got it at the Denkmann School carnival around 1969 or 1970.  It's dated July 1965.


















I wanted to see if Boys' Life was still gender-polarized, macho, and exclusive, so I picked an issue at random: October 2012.

Articles on the fast cars, off-road bicycling, a canoe trip to Hoover Dam, how to make a battery out of a lemon, federal air marshals.  Bible stories.





 Advice on being afraid of the dark: "I'm 12, and although I'm really brave, I get superfreaked out at night." Suggestion: Say the alphabet backwards.

Yep, still gender-polarized, macho, "sports! sports! sports!"  And no beefcake.  Not even a drawing of a guy in a swimsuit.

They must have realized that gay boys read the magazine, too.

See also: More Boys' Life Beefcake
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