Who is Tony Dow's Boyfriend?

This photo is causing a bit of speculation.

It looks like Venice Beach in Los Angeles (the cabana in the background says "Charter 0").

The guy on the right is Tony Dow, the teen hunk of Leave It to Beaver, shirtless, in his standard white shorts. Sometime in the early 1960s.

He's with a guy who is about his height and age, buffed, with a severe military haircut, wearing a dark t-shirt and cut-off jeans. They're both barefoot, and they both bulge to the left.

Tony is looking at the photographer, while the other guy is facing away, not sure what to do.  It's not a posed photo, it's a candid, two guys caught in an informal moment.  Hanging out together, or on a date.

But who is Tony's boyfriend?

I cropped the photo, but the original doesn't display any more information.  There are three guys sitting on the left, and there's a partial watermark: eart.ltd edit

Three possibilities have been suggested:

1. In "Wally the Lifeguard," a episode of Leave It to Beaver that aired on October 22, 1960, Wally thinks he has been hired as a lifeguard, and is embarrassed to discover that he will be selling hot dogs in a ridiculous outfit instead.  Some scenes are set at the beach, where the real life guard is played by 25-year old Dick Gering. Maybe he and Tony Dow bonded.

Severe military haircut, but the guy in the photo doesn't look like him.

2. Tommy Rettig, the star of Lassie, four years older than Tony Dow, became one of his closest friends during the early 1960s, and starred with him in Never Too Young (1965-66)

The guy in the photo is definitely not Tommy Rettig.

3. John "Butchie" Davidson.  Not the actor, the physique model. He was in Los Angeles for only a few months in the spring of 1965 before shipping out to Vietnam (he died tragically en route).  But during those months, he starred in several Athletic Model Guild films and got the cover of Physique Pictorial.  

Same haircut, same hands, same face.

Tony Dow never appeared in Physique Pictorial, but he mostly likely knew about it.  It's not inconceivable that he met Butchie, and was showing him the sights that day when an anonymous photographer snapped his picture.

There are nude photos of John Davidson on Tales of West Hollywood.

See also: Tony Dow Dating and Hookup Stories

Beefcake and Bulges in Old Swedish Photographs

The Du Gamla website uploads photographs of people who lived in Sweden from the 1850s and 1950s.  Some local celebrities, like Olympic athletes, but mostly regular people with no particular claims to fame.

It's a fascinating compendium of people who were once solid, who ate and drank and planned for the future, who desired and were desired by men or women, or both, and now are long forgotten.

Like Allan Buhne, 1911.  Obviously a wrestler.

I have found no other record of him on the internet except for this, from the records of the Hammarby Idrottsförening (Sports Club) in Stockholm: Allan Buhne came 4th in SM. He worked for almost all his life in Hammarby Wrestling.

It's obvious that he had the same singlet problem that wrestlers have today.

Frithiof Martensson (1888-1956) was a middle weight contender in the wrestling contest at the 1908 Olympics.  Later he became a dental hygienist.

August Bylen, 1871-1954, was a metalsmith and farmer. And, apparently, packing.

Ruben Johansson, 1899 to 1918.  Very cute guy.  He died at age 19, maybe during the worldwide influenza epidemic.

Ragnar Larsson, 1901-1984, a wrestler at the 1924 Olympics.

More after the break.

The Many Faces of Sam McCarthy

Sam McCarthy stole the show on Dead to Me, flawlessly portraying Jen's teenage son as by turns vulnerable and angry, bitchy and endearing.  So naturally I wanted to research this up-and-coming teen idol.

He was born in 2002, son of former Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy.  He has been performing on screen since 2016, with guest roles in 4 tv series (The Family, The Jim Gaffigan Show, The Blacklist, Teen Wolf) and recurring roles in 2 (as main characters' teenage sons in Dead to Me and Condor).

Also a movie role: in All These Small Moments (2018), he plays the brother of a teenage boy who is infatuated with an older woman.

And the upcoming 18 to Party (2019), about some 8th-graders in 1984 trying to get into a nightclub.

Doesn't look like a lot of gay interest, but give him time.

An image search was not fruitful. There are dozens of "Sam McCarthy" different instagram, twitter, and facebook accounts.  It's a horrendously common name, and half the people who have it are girls.

This is definitely the right Sam, and I think the top photo is, too.

This is not the right one, but ripped anyway.




















Maybe what Sam looked like a few years ago.

Maybe what he will look like in about 10 years.

More after the break

Pudge and Bum, the Beefcake Buddies of Yale University

I saw the name Pudge Heffelfinger online the other day.

Ok, "pudge" means fat, and a "heffelfinger" is a sex act, so..surely this was a made-up name, from a humorous story or satire.

But no, there really is a Heffelfinger family, with a member named Pudge.

Obviously I have to write a post about him.  Someone with such a distinctive name must have some gay connection.

Pudge Heffelfinger (1867-1951) played baseball and football in high school in Minnesota, then went to Yale, where he became all-American three times in a row (I don't know what that means).

I couldn't find any shirtless pics, but he fills out this Yale sweater well.  He was 6'3 and 200 lbs, a giant in his era.

After graduation, he played for the Chicago and Allegheny Leagues, where, in 1892, he was paid $500 for a game against Pittsburgh,  becoming the first professional football player in history.

Later he coached the California Golden Bears, the Lehigh Brown and White, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, plus returning to Yale as a guest player and coach.  He appeared in exhibition games through his life -- the last time he played was in 1930, when he was 63).


Meanwhile, he published sales booklets for sports equipment and an annual book, Pudge Hefferfinger's Football Facts.  

He produced a sports quiz radio program, plus a spy show, Secret Agent K-7.

For a career, Pudge worked in the shoe business and real estate, and spent twenty years as the Hennepin County, Minnesota Commissioner.  In 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

He died in Blessing, Texas in 1954, leaving a wife and four children.

But being married with children doesn't necessarily mean that Pudge was straight.  What about this intimate pose in a cabinet photo from his Yale days?

The moustached guy with feminine hand thing and his wrist an inch or so from Pudge's crotch is Bum McClung, aka Thomas Lee McClung (1870-1914), three years younger, a "frosh" who became a football star in his own right, and, like Pudge, returned to Yale  to coach throughout his life.

After graduation, Bum became the treasurer of Yale University, and in 1909 the United States Treasurer under President Taft.

When he died unexpectedly from an illness in 1914, an obituary called him "a remarkable athlete, a wonderful football player, a lovable classmate, a diligent student, a manly man–a type Yale men idealize for emulation."

You'd never make it to a high office in the U.S. today without being married, but Bum managed.

The late 19th century was the "era of the bachelor," when many men who liked women feared the loss of freedom that came with marriage, as well as the debilitating effect of the sex act itself.  Being unmarried doesn't necessarily mean that Bum was gay.

 Still...

Maybe he and Pudge....

Here's another picture of Bum McClung with an unidentified friend.  He's doing that feminine hand thing again.

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10 Black Guys in Bondage

If you are attracted to black men and to men in bondage, why not combine the two?

It's not that easy.  There are very few gay black men into BDSM, and those few are usually tops.  After years of collecting, I have only about 100 photos and videos, and those are mostly movie caps.

Here are my favorite non-movie photos of black men in bondage.

1. Nice biceps and abs on display.

2. The cropping is a little off, but you can't complain about that sculpted physique.

3. Two guys together is always hotter than a guy alone.

4.  Where to classify him: black men, bondage, or men in suits?

5. The red shorts contrast beautifully with the gleaming abs.

More after the break.

6.  Arms behind the back, and a camouflage jockstrap.

7.  Not very muscular, but have you ever seen such long arms? 

8.  Mature men in bondage.

9. Massive chest.

10. Spreadeagle on the bed.

Philips Andover Aquatics: Beefcake since 1912

Phillips Andover Academy, an elite private school in Andover, Massachusetts, has trained hundreds of notable people, including Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator of Tarzan), Presidents Bush Junior and Senior, gay writer Paul Monette, and my friend, crazy-as- loon Matt.

It has had an aquatics team since 1912, with team photographs from each year posted on its website.

Notice the chest-covering swimsuits in the early years

In 1938 a few brave souls pose bare-chested for the camera; it was still considered a bit indecent, illegal in many cities.

By 1945, they're all bare-chested.  They play the Olneyville Boy's Club, the Boston Boys' Club, Harvard Freshmen, and Gardner High.  The captain has the odd name of Chips Lazo (real name Mario; his father designed airports).

In 1963 we see the first nonwhite athletes.  They also start looking younger.  I've noticed that in a lot of old photos: before the 1960s, teenagers looked like men in their 30s today.

Through the 1970s they're all photographed wearing white jerseys.  Got to cover up those chests.

In 1986 we see the first Asian boys.

More after the break

10 Fratboys in Bondage

When I was in high school, we used the term "fratboy" to refer to a boy who had wealthy parents and could sport  $20 haircuts, designer shirts in pastel colors, and his own car; plus was an athlete, a straight A student, president of the student council, and so on, and so on, perfect in every way, with a bright future of ivy-league college, skyscraper-and-business suit job, and house on a winding cul-de-sac.  He may or may not have belonged to an actual fraternity. 

When I was a sophomore in high school, the seniors kidnapped the valedictorian at Better-Dork high school and made him guest of honor at our graduation party.  I wasn't there, but I heard that there were a lot of cocks and balls rubbing against him.

I have a collection of photos of wealthy, elitist, snobbish fratboys getting their just desserts.  Here are some of my favorites.

1. Pants down.  What comes next?

2. Does this answer your question?

3. I love the Harry Potter glasses and look of apprehension. 

4.  Fratboys often have wavy blond hair,  I don't know why.

5. But there are fratboys of every race and religion.

More after the break

The Men and Boys of Coney Island

Coney Island is a peninsula in southern Brooklyn, about an hour by subway from Penn Station.  It consists of four neighborhoods (Seagate, West Brighton, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach).  Beginning in the 1870s, thousands of New Yorkers tried to escape the summer heat by heading out to the beaches of Coney Island every weekend.

When they weren't swimming, they could walk along the boardwalk for snacks (hot dogs with chili were invented there), and eventually other attractions: side-show acts, carnival rides, burlesque shows, bodybuilders.

Coney Island had its own muscle beach.

Two amusement parks developed, Luna Park and Dreamland, with rides, games, and carnival acts.

It was the place to go for working-class New Yorkers.  They have included fond memories of Coney Island into dozens of movies (Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Wanderers) and tv programs (Seinfeld, The Golden Girls), in songs and poems and novels.



And, of course, photographers roamed the crowds, capturing the joy and pain of the young men who came for momentary relief from the drudgery of everyday life.

These boys are doing some sort of feat of strength on Muscle Beach in 1905.









Why no swimsuit? Was this a spur-of-the-moment outing, or couldn't he afford one?

This guy seems to have lost his pants.  Nice bulge.

Harold Feinstein (1931-2015) was born on Coney Island, and began photographing Coney Island boys and men at age fifteen.

This is Muscle Beach, 1967, aka two guys holding hands.

More after the break.

Swim Teams of Yesteryear

Back before tv stars commonly took their shirts off and gay porn was unheard-of, Grandpa got his beefcake by watching sports.  Wrestling was the best for bulk and baskets, but for the most exposed skin, you had to go with swimming. 

Here's what Grandpa (or Great-Grandpa) was looking at in 1952.

The University of Melbourne.















The Burton School.

The University of Texas

The University of Georgia

The Salem YMCA