American photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer founded the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) in 1945. The most influential of the twentieth-century nude male physique photographers, he also remains the best known.
Bob Mizer recorded in his diary that he started experimenting sexually with his male models in his late teens. By the age of twenty, he was working as a photographer. Bob apprenticed with Fred Kovert, father of nude male physique photography and a former silent movie drag star.
Fred Kovert, KoVert of Hollywood, focussed on beautifully lit studio images. However, Bob Mizer preferred natural lighting and real-life settings. In contrast to the God-like figures of early physique photography, AMG models appeared authentic and relatable.
In addition to producing images and films, Bob Mizer also published several magazines, most notably Physique Pictorial. The magazine featured photographs along with articles about male physique and health. Advertisements in the mag offered readers the opportunity to buy more images by male/mail order.
Read Physique Pictorial, Volume 17, Number 1, including a special brothers feature.
Bob Mizer’s models ranged from famous bodybuilders and weightlifters to actors, dancers, and street hustlers. Men like Mr World 1974, Bill Grant, and Warhol superstar Joe D’Allesandro posed for him before they became famous.
But, Bob Mizer sometimes felt the need to warn readers of the light fingers or trigger tempers of some of his models. Indeed, one young man pictured nude in the famous AMG shower, Paul Ferguson, murdered movie star, Ramon Novarro.
NSFW! Click here: Paul Ferguson full-frontal nude.
Photographs of the AMG models often included a scribbled code. The hieroglyphics alerted those in the know to the model’s temperament, his availability and what services he offered.
A still of nude male physique photographer Mel Roberts’ boyfriend Jay Howard with Tony Rome in the AMG film Woodsman & The Faun displays examples of the code. Jay was gay, performed oral, bottomed and was a ball in bed. Tony was also available for a price though bisexual and, while very good in bed, basically an oral top.
NSFW! Click Here: Jay Howard and Tony Rome full-frontal nude, and Jay Howard solo.
Likewise, a still from the 1970 film Boy Factory lists the availability of the three young stars. Ron Elledge, John Crawford and Bob Lewis all identified as straight but happily topped, bottomed and sucked for a price. Ron also made a wrestling film with his brother Jim. Bob Mizer wrote that the brothers worked as race car drivers and described them as wild.
Observant readers will notice that the Elledge brothers are uncut. In the 1960s, circumcision was almost universal in the USA, and nude male physique photographers often asked uncut models to peel their foreskin back. It seems Bob Mizer asked Ron Elledge to do exactly that in Boy Factory.
NSFW! Click Here: Ron Elledge, John Crawford and Bob Lewis, plus Ron and his brother Jim, full-frontal nude.
The squiggles on a pic of Tom Short and Jim Giussi in 1965 indicated both were available for a price. While both Tom and Jim topped and bottomed, and Jim happily performed oral, Tom would only receive oral. Jim Giussi (pronounced juicy) worked for AMG under his real name but used a stage name for his later television career.
NSFW! Click Here: Tom Short and Jim Giussi full-frontal nude.
NSFW! Click Here: Various AMG models.
In addition to the challenges posed by some of his models, Bob Mizer, like most nude male physique photographers, experienced occasional legal difficulties. It is believed he served a jail term in the late sixties. But the laws relaxed around the same time. Physique Pictorial became an all-nude magazine – out with the posing pouches. After initially resisting the move to more explicit sexual imagery, Bob began photographing his models fully erect, touching each other and, finally, some sexual activity.
In his lifetime, he photographed thousands of men, took an estimated two million photographs, produced about 3000 films and recorded 7500 hours of video.
Unfortunately, following his 1992 death, much of his work went into skips or was poorly stored. Dennis Bell, founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation, began working to preserve Bob Mizer’s archives in the early 2000s.
NSFW! Click Here: Popular longtime AMG photographic and film model Bob Jackson full-frontal nude.
Read also: NSFW! Our hottest vintage nude men + the 1st lesbian, gay and bisexual movie porn.
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