John Manning and His Beefcake Brothers

Born 1936 in Portland, Oregon, John Manning moved to Los Angeles during his teens and began putting his physique and penis to work.  He was photographed by most of the gay physique photographers of the era, including Bruce of Los Angeles, Pat Milo, Dave Martin, and Lyle Frisby.

But his favorite photographer was Bob Mizner of the Athletic Model Guild.  He appeared in many issues of Physique Pictorial from 1955 to 1968.

  Sometimes he capitalized on his half-Sioux, half-Irish heritage by appearing in an Indian headdress.

I have found only a few more details about John Manning.  Some may be apocryphal:

1. He was a paratrooper in the army.

2. He enjoyed judo, karate, and boxing.

3. He could lift the front end of a jeep.

4. He "had never been beaten in arm wrestling."

5. There is  a John Manning of the right age living in Portland today..  He's a retired botanist.

John's younger brothers, Jim and Joe, also appeared in a few issues of Physique Pictorial.  

The three brothers appeared together in two AMG films 

1. The Pharaoh's New Slave (1958).

2. The Experimental Model (1964).









I have found even fewer details about the lives of the brothers, except fo a tantalizing hint: They starred in The Experimental Model "during one of those rare times when they are all out of jail at the same time."

Nude photos of John and at least one brother are on Tales of West Hollywood.

Forrest Millard, the First Gay Physique Model

During World War II, Forrester Dorlac moved from Missouri to Los Angeles with his parents.  He went out for gymnastics, and used to work out on Muscle Beach in Santa Monica with the other bodybuilders.  A lot of gay men used to come down to watch -- Forrester was straight, but he loved the attention -- and one day in 1946, Bob Mizner invited the 16-year old to his mother's house in downtown Los Angeles for a photo shoot.  It was fun to put on a skimpy posing strap, and recreate the poses of a classical Greek statue.  And it was gratifying to realize that guys found him attractive.

Forrester returned again and again for 15 photo shoots during the next 14 years, using the stage name Forrester Millard.   Bob sold the photos by mail order through his company, the Athletic Model Guild, and, beginning in 1951, Physique Pictorial, the first magazine aimed at a gay male audience (although it claimed to be for fitness enthusiasts).

He also appeared in a Mizner film.

Branching out, Forrester became the "mascot" for the Table of Contents of Tomorrow's Man beginning in 1954.

Mizner photographed thousands of men, including professional bodybuilders Ed Fury and Chris Dickerson, and film and tv stars like Sammy Jackson, Glenn Corbett, and Nick Adams, but he loved returning to Forrester, his first, and favorite, model.

In 1958, Forrester posed with  John Tristram for several openly homoerotic scenes, giving many gay men their first glimpse of same-sex desire and romance.  They were reprinted frequently during the 1960s,

In 1960 Forrester left Los Angeles and retired from modeling.  Eventually he married Barbara, and they had a son, Forrester Jr.  They lived in Rochester, Washington, near Olympia, for thirty years.

In 2009, Dennis Bell, head of the Bob Mizner Foundation, sought Forrester out for an interview.  He was surprised that he was still remembered, and gratified that he had a profound impact on gay culture, helping thousands of men come out.  He agreed to recreate some of his classic poses.

He died in 2011.

There are nude photos on Tales of West Hollywood.