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Saturday, June 19, 2021
Tight Ships
Aye, Aye, Captain
A good father is often your anchor,
Never to hold you down or to keep you in one place,
It's the ballast to keep you grounded and steady,
As you chart your course and begin to soar
Clint Walker: Left Behind
'End your day with a smile, a happy thought, and a grateful heart.'
Clint Walker
When my mother died a few years, I did a piece spotlighting her love or romance novels. (Tender Is The Storm) I knew my mother read a lot of romance books, but was still surprised how many I found when cleaning and packing up her belongings. There were hundreds of Harlequin's and other books tucked away in almost every room in the house.
I again had to clean and pack with the recent death of my father. This time, there wasn't really any one item that stood out to represent my father or who he was. His eyesight made reading difficult and except for playing cards and exercising, he didn't have a lot of hobbies. My father also didn't watch much television, except for maybe the evening news. He loved sports, but preferred getting into bed and listening to a baseball or hockey game on the radio.
When I was younger however, I do remember that when he did watch a movie, it was a western. Over the years, I bought him many movies on VHS and DVD, usually featuring John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. I bought those not only because he liked them, but they were the only two actors I really knew who starred in westerns. Given my dad basically stopped watching movies years ago, most of them had long ago been thrown out or given away. Except one...
While I was cleaning out the house, I found one VHS western, tucked and long forgotten behind the cable box in the television cabinet. It's title was The Night Of The Grizzly. Given it was on VHS, I didn't really think twice about tossing it in the garbage bag I was using. As Father's Day approached this year, for some reason that movie was on my mind. I felt compelled to do a little Googling...
The hunky actor clutching the rifle on the box cover turned out to be Clint Walker, and a quick Google search had me realizing he sort of epitomized what was meant by the term beefcake. Walker's solid frame and square hairy chest was obviously coveted by many movie goers during his long career. It wasn't a mystery the studios knew it given how many 'beefcake' photos he appeared in and how often he was shirtless in both his films, and the promotional material used to sell the tickets.
Walker's sturdy build came from a lifetime of hard work beginning when he was just a kid. He left school early to work, working in factories and on a riverboat. At 17, he joined the Merchant Marines just as World War II was coming to an end. After the war, he caught the eye of talent agent Henry Wilson who made use of Walker's great physique by casting him as a Tarzan like character in his first film, 1954's Jungle Gents. Two years later, Walker appeared in the classic The Ten Commandments.
Walker's good looks and imposing physique (he stood 6 feet, 6 inches tall with a 48-inch chest and a 32-inch waist) helped him land an audition and win the the lead role in the TV series Cheyenne. (1955-1963) After Cheyenne was cancelled, walker moved to films mostly appearing in Westerns and action films including 1966's The Night of the Grizzly. Walker continued acting with his last appearances being on television in the late 1990's.
I have to thank my father, and that VHS cover, for my introduction to Walker, a truly grade A cut of beef. I enjoyed looking for images of him, and although I haven't watched it yet, do plan on finding a copy of The Night Of The Grizzly to find out why, of all the movies my father owned, that VHS tape was the one left behind.
Pop of the Morning: Pete by Studio1x
'I've got a good father
And his strength is what makes me cry'
Jann Arden
I was very fortunate to have a good father. A father's who's caring and kindness I try my best to follow. A father whose strength wasn't exhibited in physical terms, but in quiet determination. No matter what was thrown at our family, he moved us all along with determination and through proximity. My father wasn't especially vocal about how he felt, but he was always, always physically there. It didn't matter what I was doing, a speech for student government, a hockey game or the school musical, I always knew out in the crowd somewhere, he was there.
Although I certainly had friends whose father's were absent, most of my friends had a relationships with their fathers, even if strained at times. Most of the fathers in my current friend group are incredibly dedicated, in some cases, the primary parent. Yet negative stereotypes about fathers continue. I get it, there are some horrible fathers, but I'm guessing the rate is closer to that of horrible mothers and less than Hallmark and Hollywood wants us to believe.
Looking back, it's funny to me to think about the differences in how my mother and father parented, especially when it came to 'taking breaks'. My mother was very vocal about needing breaks, and almost daily told my father she was going out, or for a walk to take a break. She also took weekends away and vacations with her friends under the guise of needing a break. I don't blame her at all, she deserved every one of them and more, but my father never seemed to have the same option. Although he may have hid out in the shed from time to time, I don't remember him ever saying he needed, or was taking a break.
For many fathers, work might be considered a 'break' from their family and kids, but I don't think that was the case with my dad. He had to get up at 4a.m every morning in order to catch the 5a.m bus to get him downtown in order to then catch a ferry to work. He took that same two hour ferry and bus home each night. We had a car, but that was left at home for my mother to use for errands and to drive us to our various appointments. Once or twice a month, my father was able to take the car to work, usually on a school in-service day, or a day one of us was home sick, meaning my mother wasn't able to leave the house.
Our mother worked hard, very hard, but for some reason my siblings and I felt more pressure to give dad a special Father's Day. There were dozens of time each year my father arranged for my mother to have a special night out, a day off, or an afternoon to herself. Father's Day was really the only day that we as a family tried to give back. The giving back usually ended about 10a.m when he came out to help us clean up the 'breakfast in bed' mess, but we gave it our best. Mother's Day usually meant mom and dad went out alone, Father's Day however, usually meant Dad taking us out to a movie or drive, leaving mom home alone..
Pete's family however, meant it when they said that Sunday was going to be Daddy's Day. Not just until after breakfast, but all day long. As you can see, Pete's day starts with a rare sleep in day. He awakes, and for the first time that he can remember, has the house to himself. Pete's family knew the best way to ensure daddy's day was really about daddy, was to leave for the day, leaving Pete home alone, completely by himself.
And what's the first thing most men do when they wake up late, and find an entire day to themselves ahead of them??? Well, masturbate of course. Pete rarely had the opportunity to pleasure himself without his spouse wondering why, or worrying about one of the kids running in to interrupt him, usually of course, at the moment just before climax. After a little self-gratification, a little clean-up is always in order. Join Pete as he heads to the shower on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
For Jim from Studio1x, finding just the right 'father figure' for his Father's Day shoot, sort of fell in his lap. Pete had already been in touch about doing a shoot and Jim knew he had just what he was looking for. Pete was good looking with hot body and a great face. Adding to this daddy's sex appeal was the perfect touch of grey in his beard and sideburns. Pete was also incredibly creative, and Jim knew he'd be into a theme shoot and beautifully carry out the creative idea's Jim had in mind.
'Given the theme, I felt doing the shoot at Pete's place would be perfect. He lives in an older complex that had such a great feel to it, plants, decorated well, claw foot tub, beautiful lighting, I was in heaven. I love working with other creatives as we build upon each other's ideas and the outcome is outstanding. Pete is a very pleasant guy to be around and shortly after our introductions, it was like we were old friends and got right to work creating art. Pete has been in front of the camera before so he felt very at ease. We were going for the Sunday morning routine and think we captured it well.'
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