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Friday, January 19, 2024
A Vintage Vantage: Blue Max Hensley
Most of the posts on FH begin with just one image, and for this piece, it's the image below. When I was looking for covers from my 'Holiday Issue' feature last month, (HERE:) I searched several sites for images for the piece. There were several non-holiday covers that also caught my eye, including the issue of AMG's RAW below.
The issue is from the 1970's and two things grabbed my attention. The first of course was the cover model. There was something about the pose and his look. There was also something about his head turning around with that scowl that I found incredibly hot. The second was the issues tagline, 'photos the athletic model guild dared not print til now.' Certainly an attention grabber.
A Google image search led me to discover the model's name was Blue Max Hensley, and most of the images featured here are credited to AMG's Bob Mizer. Although most of the AMG models I've featured before were from the 50's and 60's, the studio was still producing new imagery and magazines into the 1970's.
When looking for more on Blue Max, I discovered that I'd seen him before, but under another name. Max also modeling under the name James Dexter. Despite those blue eyes and that blond hair, I didn't initially connect the two, but I actually featured his 1977 Playgirl layout on FH back in 2011. (HERE:)
Blue Max was also featured in a collection of short videos by Aaron Productions. The footage, shot between 1975 and 1978 was a series entitled 'Odds And Ends' and appears to be mostly outtakes and behind the scenes clips shot during photo shoots. The clip below comes from a longer video posted by Alexioz Adonis Male.
The remainder of shots feature Blue Max along with model Tico Patterson for an AMG photo shoot intitled 'Voluptuous Scouts'. The shoot reminds me a bit of a 70's version of the current Scout Boys series from Carnal.
Winter Kept Us Warm
'Winter kept us warm, covering / Earth in forgetful snow, feeding / A little life with dried tubers.'
T.S. Eliot
I've posted many times about the history of the male form in art and photography. It's fascinating to look back at the history, and the artists who created works when it wasn't only risky to their lives and careers, but was also illegal. Winter Kept Us Warm is a Canadian film that was made in 1965. Same-sex 'activity' was not decriminalized in Canada until four years later in 1969. Decriminalization also began in the 1960's in the US, but wasn't until 2003, through Lawrence v. Texas, that all remaining laws against same-sex sexual' activity' were invalidated.
So, back to 1965 in Canada. The independent film, Winter Kept Us Warm was written, directed, and funded by David Secter. The film received an initial $750 grant from the University of Toronto Students' Union, along with permission to film several key scenes at Hart House. Secter had to fight the university administration however, for permission to film in other locations on campus. Due to the subject matter, the film was declined production grants from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the National Film Board of Canada. .
The title of the Canadian romantic drama film, comes from the fifth line of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Secter found much of the cast by placing a classified advertisement in the university's student newspaper The Varsity. The film stars John Labow as Doug Harris and Henry Tarvainen as Peter Saarinen, two very different students at the University of Toronto, who develop a complex quasi-romantic friendship,
'Its the 1960s at the University of Toronto. Doug is a well-liked senior with an equally popular girlfriend. Peter is a shy freshman, and new to the big city. Peter and Doug become best friends and soon start going to concerts, drinking, and playing in the snow together. When Doug brings Peter to a steam bath and washes his back, the friendship seems headed to a whole new level, at least in Doug's mind. But when Peter emerges from a party after having sex with a co-ed, things get even more complicated...'
I learned about Winter Kept Us Warm through DreamCap after seeing a thread about the shower scene posted by Christoph. There was something about the story, and the nostalgic feel of the clip that had me wanting to see the entire film. It was easy to find and although the quality is not great, there is a very watchable full version on Youtube. (HERE:)
I wasn't alive in 1965, yet there were scenes in the film I found so very relatable. Having grown up in the closet, I spent all of my school years pretending. Regardless of ones sexuality, and no matter at what age you come out, I think we've all experienced having to hide a crush. Gay kids in particular were forced historically to remain quiet and pretend. They were safe only to silently long for that person who dominated their thoughts and fantasy's.
I related to so many of the scenes in the film, especially the moments of touch. They were not sexual, yet incredibly sensual. I think we all remember touching our secret crush, either bumping into them in the hallway, or brushing by them on the bus. Innocent touch, that with anyone else would be forgettable. With someone you're longing for however, and someone you'll never have, the touch can be electric.
The sexual connection between Doug and Peter is incredibly subtle, subtle enough to insure the film could get made. Both characters were also given girlfriends in the characters of Bev and Sandra. The film's gay subtext was carefully coded by Secter, who wrote the film based on his own experience falling in love with a male fellow student, but feared that a more explicitly gay film would not attract an audience.
Although not widely remembered among the general public, Winter Kept Us Warm is considered a major milestone in the Canadian film industry as one of the first Canadian films ever to attract international attention. The film occupies a unique place in the history of Canadian cinema as the first English-language Canadian film screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
'Winter became the first English–language Canadian feature to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival, where it was very warmly received. Sophia Loren chaired the jury that year. I ended up sitting with her at a dinner party they’d organized. She was stunning. That was a heady experience, one I’ll never forget. Cannes made me feel like I was the closest to levitating that I’ll ever get.'
David Secter, NorthernStars
The Morning After: Michael by Cooks Photography
' I waited all night long
For morning'
Mornings aren't always always made up of sunrises, chirping birds and the smell of fresh coffee. Many mornings, especially Monday mornings, can be depressing, rushed and stressful. Winter workday mornings are the worst. But... on a day off, or a day you don't have to rush out the door, mornings can be the most erotic time of the day.
Many break up the morning monotony with a morning grind. Many men have masturbating mornings, with a wake up rise up. First thing in the morning is one of the most popular times for self pleasure, coming just after bedtime. I also really enjoy watching my partner go through their morning routine. There's something incredibly erotic about watching a hot man shower, shave and get ready for his day.
It's especially hot when the man in questions looks as charming and delicious as Michael. I been wanting to feature more of Hal's (Cooks Photography) since his move, and shot him a list of some of my favorite models. When I saw one of Hal's shots of Michael on his Twitter, I knew I wanted to feature their work together.
I loved Michael's great smile, beautiful body and bountiful behind. I also enjoyed how engaging Michael appeared, and how he interacted with his eyes with both Hal and the camera. Michael didn't appear that he was posing, or looking at a camera lens, but looking intimately at someone he cared about and enjoyed spending both his mornings, and those nights before, with.
Hal was on board with my featuring the shoot, but wanted let me know there were no frontals taken during the shoot. I didn't care, frontals are like icing on a cake, and given how visually engaging Hal's images of Michael were, not to mention how juicy those cakes appear, icing wasn't necessary to be filled or satisfied.
As much as I love hot men shot in front of colorful studio backgrounds, many of my favorite shoots include then nude male form in natural settings. Men going through their regular daily routine, walking, hiking, hanging around the house. I, and I think many others, are drawn to visuals of a nude man shaving. Not exactly sure why, there's just something about shaving. I'm no Freud, but I guessing in part, it's the crucial connection that shaving plays in our journey from boyhood to manhood.
Although Michael looks right at home in the space he and Hal worked and shot it, it wasn't the home of either model or photographer. Hal met up with Michael for the shoot at an Airbnb that Michael was renting in t own. It didn't begin as a solo shoot however, Michael originally had hoped there'd be another mode involved.
Michael had first learned about Hal's work through a friend of his who had previously modeled for Hal. Michael originally wanted Hal to shoot he and his friend together. The only time Michael was to be close enough to shoot however, his friend was going to be out of town. Michael still wanted to shoot and decided to go head modeling solo for Hal. I think it worked out well, but am also really curious about how a duo shoot would have turned out...
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