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Image by Pat Milo
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Sunday, July 19, 2026
Jack Rowan in Benjamin
'How do my nipples look?'
You all know I love me a good cmnm movie, so when I saw a shot from 2018's Benjamin, I had to check it out. I try when time allows to watch all of the movies I feature here, but watching Benjamin was a challenge. I found a couple of versions to download or watch on-line, but twice I ended up with the wrong film. There was another film titled Benjamin that came out at about the same time.
Jack Rowan
by Abraham de Souza
Vanity Teen
The 'other' version was directed by Bob Saget, and also starred Saget, along with Mary Lynn Rajskub, Cheri Oteri and a group of other great actors. After starting it three times, (thinking it was the Benjamin I wanted to watch) I actually got into it, and finished watching. Then late last night, I found the version I wanted on Sundance and got about half-way through before falling asleep.
In the British gay drama, we meet Benjamin, (Colin Morgan) a rising young filmmaker who is struggling to replicate his early success. Benjamin is currently previewing his newest film: a romantic drama about his character's doomed relationship with his boyfriend and inability to love.
English actor Jack Rowan plays Harry, the nude in a cmnm scene with the clothed Benjamin. Harry is not one of Benjamin's main loves, but the bisexual boyfriends of one of his female friends. Harry and Benjamin are both creatives and Harry want to work with Benjamin on a film project. Harry is also an artist who wants asks Benjamin to pose shirtless for a drawing.
When Harry is done, he offers to pose so that Benjamin can then draw him. Harry takes off more than his shirt though, and the end up in having sex. For Harry the sex is just casual however, and when they're done, clarifies to Benjamin that the sex was just a one-time experiment.
The Celebrity Olympics: Party XI
Battle of the Network Stars XI
November 20th, 1981
When I began this series, I thought I'd breeze through the episodes from beginning to end quickly and easily. The best laid plans... It's taken longer than I planned, especially ensuring the shots I feature are from the episode I'm spotlighting. I know I've made some mistakes, especially with actors who wore his tight speedos in multiple battles. Although the bathing suit bulge is my focus, sometimes I can only identify the exact battle by the color of the speedo who else in the photo.
Well, we're over half way there. There were 18 episodes of Battle of the Network Stars during it's original run. We're now on number eleven! This was the year of the green speedo, and the green bulge. Some of you have seen shots of Andrew Steven and Sam J. Jones in their green spandex before. I've featured images of the hot duo previously on the site.
Looking at their IMDB pages, I see that both actors were co-starring together in the short lived ABC Drama, Code Red. Along with actors Lorne Greene and Adam Rich, the show looks like an 80's version of TV's current craze of 911 shows. I have yet to really watch any of the 911 franchise, but with Jones and Stevens, had I been a little older when it aired, I may have given it a try.
I love the hotness of both actors, and both to me are symbols of those 80's himbos. Both also seemed to accept their fate, at least temporarily. Unlike some actors competing on Battle, we don't have to guess what's under the speedo, at least with Jones. He appeared multiple times in Playgirl, starting with being the man of the month in June of 1975. You can check out a few of Playgirl full nudes on FH HERE:
I've also featured quite a bit of Andrew Stevens on the blog. If you click HERE:, you'll see a variety of his 'nude' work, including his softcore period, often starring along side softcore queen, Shannon Tweed. If you check out the piece on flick Massacre at Central High, you may also see a quick frontal. Although it didn't appear in the U.S version, I included a clip of a European cut which appears to show Steven's stick in a beach scene.
Check out more speedo bulges from the eleventh Battle on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
The Artistry of Pat Milo
'The core of Milo's style relies on shadows and highlights to give the muscles a three-dimensional appearance.'
As many FH viewers know, most days while drinking my morning coffee, I travel virtually through the web checking out my favorite sites. Some of the pages I visit are for information, news, ranging from political to entertainment and sports. Other pages, are more for the visuals, and saving images that pique my interest and curiosity. The image above was one of those shots, and it was quickly right clicked and saved into a folder.
A quick search told me the image, and one just below it, were of model Pat Conners. Sadly, that was as much as I could learn about the model. I was however able to find out the photographer was Pat Milo. (Milo of Los Angeles) I knew a bit about Milo's work, and have featured his images in several previous posts featuring vintage male models. I had not yet however, given the artist's work a spotlight of it's own.
Milo shot the he male form for about fifteen years, starting in the mid-fifties. Therefore, I'm guessing he shot Conners somewhere between 1955 and 1969. Forced to leave school to care for his family, Milo used some his free time to dabble in amateur photography. Although he hid his hobby from his family, when his father found some of his photographers of nude men, he was kicked out of the house and forced to fend for himself and venture out on his own.
Milo soon found work as a short-order cook and it was in one of the restaurants where he worked he connected with a man named Lyle Frisby. Frisby had a similar hobby, and the together, Milo and Frisby opened a photography studio in the early 1950's. The studio didn't take off, but undeterred, Frisby got in contact with Bruce Bellas, (Bruce of Los Angeles) for advice.
Both Frisby and Milo admired Bellas' work, and wanted to follow in his footsteps. The most direct suggestion Bellas gave the pair was to move to Los Angeles. Frisby moved right away, with Milo following a year later. Together the opened Lye Studio, a storefront styled studio just blocks from Chinatown in L.A. Initially Frisby handed the photography, while Milo took care of the business side of things. The store fronted as a commercial business, catering to the public, but in the back, Frisby was shooting athletic male models in the hopes of selling the images to male physique magazines.
I'm always fascinated to learn about photographers shooting the nude male form back when it was truly risky. This was still about 12 years before it was technically legal to shoot the nude male form. Everything Frisby and Milo created and sold had to be done discretely. This was long before the Internet, and even before adult magazines featuring the nude male form could be sold in stores. This was a time when images of the nude male form were sold through the mail from 'discrete' ads put in newspapers and athletic magazines.
I often wonder if I'd been alive at that time if I would have be brave enough to have mailed away for nude images. I would have been worried about using my real name, or that someone at the post office might figure out what was inside the brown packaging. I remember the utter fear I felt in early 90's buying Playgirl magazine.... Before we had the net in our home, Playgirl, or the fantasy sections of my brother's Playboy magazines, was the only way to see and enjoy images of nude male form. It was a huge deal back then, one that I had to plan for.
I'm sure some of you also remember. Part of my plan was finding just the right corner store far from where I lived. I wanted one without a lot of traffic, and one that hopefully had an older woman behind the counter. By the time I worked up the courage to enter the store, I was usually red and dripping in flop sweat.
I would wait until the store was empty, then slide my Playgirl below issues of other periodicals. It was usually a newspaper or a copy of Time and Mad magazine. I don't know why I thought this would conceal anything, I'm sure the saleswoman knew exactly what my main focus and purchase was. Thankfully, most times, whoever was behind the counter, didn't seem to care, or at least let on that they did.
Back in the 50's the risk was far more than just embarrassment, it was being arrested and jailed. That's exactly what happened to Frisby. In 1956 Frisby was arrested for obscenity. Although I'm sure Milo delt with the fear, he didn't let him stop him. While Frisby was in jail, Milo began taking his own photography more seriously, taking classes at the University of California to improve his photography knowledge and skills.
It was also during this time he met with photographer George Hurrell and hone similar photographic techniques. Hurrell is known for revolutionizing the photography of the male physique by applying his signature dramatic chiaroscuro lighting and shadow-driven framing to leading men in Hollywood's Golden Age. It was up to Milo to continue the business as Frisby's health began to decline while incarcerated and died soon after his release.
It is this mix of muscle, the male form and glamour that first drew me to Milo's shot of Pat Conners and why love vintage shots of the male form. As risky it was for Milo and Frisby, there were also risk for models like Conners who posed completely nude. Photographers had the ability to hide their appearance behind the lens, something models could not. Of course they could change their names, but there was a risk that somebody somewhere might find out who they were.
To capture the "classic physique" aesthetic championed by pioneering photographer Pat Milo, you must utilize dramatic, high-contrast, directional studio lighting to sculpt and emphasize muscle definition.
After Frisby's death, Milo opened his own studio on Vermont Street in L.A, shooting models under his own name and brand. By the time the 50's came to an end, Milo's images of nude men began appearing in physique magazines. He also used Frisby's mailing list and contacts to see nude photographs through the male and added fans and buyers through magazine ads. Although Milo shots hundreds of men over the next decade, some of his most popular and famous images were of competitive bodybuilder Larry Scott.
Milo earned the respect of the men he shot through both his skill and professionalism. While many photographers blurred the lines with regards to their subjects, Milo set up professional boundaries, something that attracted men hesitant to give nude modeling a try. Although Milo is known for his classic physique shots of body builders, he also enjoyed shooting more rugged and realistic models, including men the sex trade. Although his models became more diverse, his signature style remained.
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