A Vintage Vantage: Ben Pascham by Kovert of Hollywood

I love this series of model Ben Pascham from Bob Mizer and AMG studios.  In addition however, to Ben's beautiful body, charming face and adorable smile, is the story behind the images.  Although Mizer was a photographer, his name, as well as the Athletic Model Guild, often used other photographers to shoot models for their brand and for male physique publications.

These images, which I believe were shot in the late 40's were shot by Frederick Kovert.  The LA based photographer also used the credit of Kovert in Hollywood, which was also the name of his studio.  Mizer trained with Kovert at the beginning of his career.  Kovert was truly ahead of his time, a drag queen in the 20's and 30's.  At the time, he was referred to as a 'female impersonator', and appeared in drag in stage shows, clubs and reviews.

Kovert was also a silent film actor, appearing in silent films in the 20's and 30's.  One of his roles was in silent film version of The Wizard of Oz in 1925.  Kovert also acted as the costume designer on the film.  Following his career in films, Kovert went on to become an early pioneer of not only shooting the male nude, but creating content for early formats of physique magazines and pictorials.  Given the time, his photo were considered both illegal and obscene, which led to his becoming a target of the Los Angeles Police department.

In 1945, Kovert's studio was raided by the LA police vise squad, and he ended up pleading guilty to possession of obscene materials.  Kovert's passion for shooting the male nude was not stifled however, and he continued to shoot until his death in 1949 from a self-inflicted gun shot rule.

Although these shots are under the AMG brand, there is a big clue that they were not shot by Mizer himself. Mizer wasn't a fan of smoking, and didn't like cigarettes in his shots.  You may notice that Pascham is holding a cigarette in several of these shots.  Kovert was a smoker, and didn't have rules about featuring cigarettes in his images.  I can't be sure, but I'm guessing Kovert's shoot with Ben took place in the late 40's, a year or so before his death.