Magazine (Un) Cover

Favorite non-pornographic magazine to masturbate to... 
Brennan

Good Housekeeping
Dale

I'm a magazine lover.  Even today, with most of my favorite magazines no longer published, I still get excited entering a bookstore or drugstore with a decent sized magazine rack.  I can't tell you how much I've spent on magazines over the years, and I even ran a magazine store on eBay for awhile.  I think my favorites are movie and celebrity magazines, especially if they're from the 80's and 90's and were published outside of the US. 

It may be 2026, but there are still a few places man, (a nude man at least) has still never gone before, the cover of a American mainstream magazine.  Even gay men's magazines like DNA and adult magazines like Playgirl usually used swimwear or implied nudes.  Despite this, they were still placed strategically in book and magazine stores so they wouldn't be seen.

Although many mainstream magazines show a little skin inside the pages, the covers usually remain PG.  It also seems to me, we're going backwards as it was a long time between Burt Reynolds in Cosmopolitan in the 70's, and Glen Powell showing his butt in Men's Health in 2024.  Sure, skin has always sold, but if you check out the average Tiger Beat from the 80's, their pin-ups at the time pushed more boundaries than most mainstream magazines to today.

There have been a few exceptions, ESPN's Body Issue and a few magazines like Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone have featured implied male nudes on the cover.  Check out some examples of boundary pushing mainstream magazine covers on the NEXT PAGE HERE:

Back Issues: Cleo, July 1977

'Jimmy Cavaretta is flying high.  A guy who fulfilled every little boy's dream of running away to the circus and becoming one of the world's most exciting trapeze artists.'

Regular FH viewers are aware of my love of calendars.  I still love getting and giving calendars, especially at Christmas.  Thanks to the wonderful Michael Andrews73a, most of the features in my Calendar Men series are due to his extensive and thorough research.  Naked calendar hotties are the only subject Michael explores and investigates.  He recently began posting on DreamCap about the male centerfolds in Cleo magazine.  Michael welcomed me to share some of the results of his hard work!

I've featured some visuals from Cleo before, but never focused specifically on the magazine, or the men within it's pages.  For those unfamiliar with the magazine, Cleo was an Australian 'women's magazine'. First published in Australia in 1972, each monthly edition was geared towards a mature audience. Cleo became one of Australia's most iconic titles due to its mix of provocative content including detailed sex advice. 

Cleo was the first Australian women's magazine to feature non-frontal nude male centerfolds in 1972, Jack Thompson appeared as 'Mate of the Month.' (following American Cosmopolitan's nude centerfold of Burt Reynolds six months' earlier)  The centerfold turned out to be so popular, the planned 'one-off' featured became an essential part of the magazine and one of the reasons it became so popular.

When I saw Michael's archive of centerfolds, instead of staring with the beginning, and Jack Thompson, I decided to start with some favorites from the current month.  I also wanted to start with a model who also appeared in Playgirl around the same time.  Jimmy Jim)  Cavaretta appeared in as the magazine's centerfold in July of 1977.  In Cleo, the first five shots, are PG and relatively tame. Things get a little more revealing in his Playgirl spread.

Playgirl

Playgirl: January 1976
Man of the Month
Photography: Bob Seideman

As far as Jimmy's circus career, It all started when he was five and living in Florida in the U.S.A.  The US Parks and Recreation department sponsored a youth circus to develop potential circus talent.  Jimmy and his sisters went along, and given they all had talent, formed an act when they got older.  The Flying Cavarettas were the star attraction at Circus Circus in Las Vegas and from the on, the trapeze became Jimmy's passion and life. 

Jimmy's the catcher, so his sisters rely on his timing and strength to catch them at exactly the right moment and return them to the swinging bar on time and at the right angle.  His body and mind have been trained to cope with the incredible strain of repeatedly catching and throwing his sisters and handling the big top tension night after night.

When Cleo learned that this daring young man was traveling to Australia to be part of the Greatest Show on Earth, the decided to catch the act.  Give the risks he takes in the air, stripping dow,n for Cleo was a walk in the park.

Although 15 when he began flying in the air, by the time Jimmy posed for Playgirl, he was 26, and the act with his sisters a thing of the past.  Now, he's flying with his wife, one sister, and a brother-in-law.  Jimmy's also preparing for life beyond the circus tent by focusing on his love of music, especially the piano.  As you can see, still a risk taker, as when he posed for Cleo, their no full frontals, for Playgirl however, it wasn't only Jimmy's moustache that got totally peeled off. 

Sticky Business

Meet the model son who's been good too long.

I love when I find a good porn flick from the 80's or 90's, especially a take-off of a popular movie.  1986's Catalina's Sticky Business is of course based on the 1983 Tom Cruise flick Risky Business.   This time instead of Joel, (Cruise) we meet a Mickey, played by 80's porn star Michael Gere.

Cruise

I've always been hot and cold about Tom Cruise, I wrote about it when I did an Actors & Skin piece a few years back. (Actor HERE: & Skin HERE:)  I have a theory that there are just some men who are more attractive to women, than to gay  men.  There are exceptions of course, but actors like Cruise, Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck and other don't seem to excite men the way they do women.  

Gere

Don't get me wrong, when I was younger, I lusted after Cruise on the cover of Vanity Fair in his wet tank top.  I've just never been really drawn to him, and have never seen Risky Business, not all the way through anyway.  I've seen the underwear dance, and although Cruise looks hot, especially his legs, it's just not a visual that really gets me going.

Now actor Michael Gere certainly does his own version of the dance.  Skimpier undies, which of course given it's a porn, soon come down.  His legs good good as well, but his signature dance move certainly seems to be the penis helicopter, which he repeats at the end of the dance.

Just take those old records off the shelf 

I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself 

Today's music ain't got the same soul 

I like that old time rock 'n' roll

Sadly the video below doesn't have sound.  I lose sound when I try to convert an AVI file to MP4.  Like the movie, are underwear dancing lead is left money when his parents go out of town.  He's warned not to have a party, but of course that's exactly what's in order.  Just think a cheap knock off version of 'Old Time Rock & Roll while watching.

Prime Time Supporters: Casey Siemaszko

Last month, I took a deep dive into the 'male stripper' episode of The Facts of Life.  (HERE:)  I was intrigued and motivated because of all the real life strippers who appeared in the episode.  The show airs nightly on one of my retro channels, and I've continued to watch an episode here and there, the most recent being the season six episode Smile. 

The episode centered on Natalie, and how she was hiding all of her problems from her new boyfriend Brian.  Worried he might leave if she's not happy and smiling all the time, she actually makes thing worse by covering up.  We got to see many of Blair's boyfriends over the years on the show, but only a couple of Natalie's.  In this episode, the only episode in which we see Brian, he's played by actor Casey Siemaszko.

Siemaszko was great in the role, not to mention completely adorable.  I sort of recognized him, but couldn't place where I had seen him before.  Chances are, if you were going to movies or watching television in the 1980's and 1990's, you know the face, and the actor as well.

Breaking In (1989)

The Facts of Life was one his early roles, but he quickly starting appearing in films including box office hits including; Stand by Me, Back to the Future, (both I and II) and Young Guns.  You may also remember the adorable actor from his role in other films including; Class, Three O'Clock High Biloxi Blues, Of Mice & Men and co-starring alongside Burt Reynolds in 1989's Breaking In.  Don't worry, I've seen a few Burt Reynolds films, I didn't remember that one either...

Siemaszko also appeared in dozens of television shows in the 1980's, 90's and 2000's including most recently in shows including; Elementary, The Blacklist and Billions.  The dates on the actors resume seem to end about 2018 with a voice role in a video game.  I couldn't find any upcoming credits, but hopefully the lull was partly due to Covid and the recent strikes. 

Three O'Clock High (1987)

Young Guns (1988)

Of course whenever an actor catches my attention, I start researching their on-screen skin resume.  Sadly Siemaszko's was short, with just a brief butt crack scene in Young Guns. 

12 Days: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

'But there's nothing dirty going on!'

There really wasn't anything too dirty going on in 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  Well, maybe by 'Dolly Parton' standards it was a bit racy, but looking back today, the film pretty much Disneyfies the depiction of a whorehouse, with minimal nudity, and no drinking aloud, because as we're told, they get a nice quiet crowd...

Adapted by the Broadway musical of the same name, The film was actually, 'sort of' a Thanksgiving movie.  I didn't pick up the holiday connection the first time I saw the film on television, but most of the main action occurs on Thanksgiving day, and the Thanksgiving weekend.  The holiday is certainly  mentioned several times in the film, but there's not really many visual nods to the holiday.

As the story goes, the annual game between rivals, the University of Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies takes place on Thanksgiving Day.  As part of the story, the winners, thanks to alumni association of the winning school, celebrate with a trip to Mona's place, the chicken ranch, to celebrate the win with a sexual release of athlete energy.

If you've seen the film, those athlete's don't really look much football players to me.  They're athletic for sure, but the casting director obviously hired dancers, not football players, given their big number is a big song and dance number after the game.  Thankfully however, that number also includes a shower scene, which his why the film makes it onto FH's 12 Day's list of Holiday films.   I stated in the preceding piece that this scene is one of two Parton projects with male nudity.  The other was also a locker room scene in Steel Magnolias, which I previously featured HERE:

It was also noteworthy that given this was 1982, they were still hiring about 1 black actor per every 12 of 15 white actors.   There was one black football player on the team, I guess to match the one black woman working at the chicken ranch.  There was also one Asian woman working for Mona. (Parton)  Looking back at the film, this 'minimal inclusion' casting really bugged me.  I know it was common during the time period, but it looks so obvious, and unrealistic and stands out, and not in a good way.

Parton has been quoted as not enjoying her experience on the film.  She said she enjoyed working with Burt Reynolds, and the rest of the cast,  but shared she was ill at the time.  I also think Parton struggled a bit with the role, given she's a made a career of making smart, but usually safe choices when it comes to her image.  Although Parton could be a little 'naughty' with her public persona, it was very much in the 'Betty White' school of safe and harmless naughtiness.

Speaking of Reynolds, the 1982 film, although a hit, seemed to kickstart a bit of decline in his career.  It was fun seeing him singing with Dolly, and he looked good in his bikini briefs, even if we only saw him them for a split second.  Reynolds was really the star of this film though, that was Dolly, and his scenes, despite the talented supporting cast, lacked the energy a musical requires. 

The film did mark the film debut of Parton's song 'I Will Always Love You', sung near the end of the film.  This song was added to the film, and not part of the original Broadway show.  This was exactly 10 years before Whitney Houston belted it out in The Bodyguard.  I loved Houston's version when it first came out, and played it over and over.  Today however, I really only listen to Parton's.  Maybe I just over played Houston's version, or maybe it's because as I get older, Parton's version really has the stripped down heart and emotion without all the musical handstands and theatrics. 

My favorite song from the musical however, is Hard Candy Christmas.  I remember listening to Dolly's solo version before realizing it was sung by the women of the Chicken ranch in the film.  The song is beautiful, and reminds me of my mom listening to it in the kitchen on an old tape recorder when I was s kid.  Usually she on Dolly Parton when she was cooking or baking for the holidays. 

Got to love a musical number with naked men!  Although they didn't look much like a football team, the guys they choose to strip down in the locker room were all hot and fit.   The homoerotism in the locker rooms scenes is not exactly subtle. Despite the the fact the film was about a whorehouse, given the way most of the film was film was rather tamely shot, it was a nice surprise to have the shower scene.  

We might have to thank director Colin Higgins, who directed Dolly in both this film, as well as her film debut 9 to 5.  Higgins was openly gay, something that seems quite rare for a director of main stream films in the 1980's.  Higgins was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, and a year later, in 1986, established The Colin Higgins Foundation to provide support for gay and transgender youth.

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