In Physique Pictorial Volume 16, Number 1, published December 1966, Bob Mizer writes about his model, Bob Jensen, who was about eighteen years old when he posed for these photographs:
"His is a build developed from natural sports rather than from formal training. Though a cooperative model, he was quite indifferent to physique display, and it was only through the efforts of his attractive mother (since passed away) that he was persuaded to pose for these photographs." *
Whenever I see pictures like these, of a young man in the sunlit perfection of his youth and beauty, I can't help but wonder what became of him in the years that followed. I wonder what he thought about posing nude or nearly nude, at the time and in later life. Was he proud or embarrassed? Did he bring out old copies of photographs or magazines, or was it a secret he kept? Though many of the names of physique models from this period have come down to us, most of them are still otherwise anonymous; Google their names - if their names are sufficiently particular, if they even used their real names - and it's very unlikely you'll find anything at all.
That was certainly the case with this "Bob Jensen". Other than the quotation from the photographer, I've found nothing. What became of him? Did he marry and have a family, is he still living? Is he a different form of beautiful now? I find a certain degree of poignancy in the fact that we'll never know. That his youthful image - handsome and tanned, perfectly proportioned - is to be seen by thousands on the internet, all across the world, while the person he was and who he became, doesn't really exist in any other public way.
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* The quotation and its context was found on the Male Models Vintage Beefcake blog.
Beautiful photographs. There's a movie "Beefcake" (1998) that deals with Bob Mizer's story (somewhat fictionalized) and the types of young men who posed for him and what drew them to do it. It's a fun movie, a bit of an odd mix of tragedy and romantic comedy, well worth seeing.
ReplyDeleteClassic male beauty.
ReplyDeletePhotos are actually from 1956, they were reprinted in 1966.
ReplyDeleteOh? I'd be very interested to know where you got that information; please tell me more!
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DeleteBob Mizer took the photos in 1956 and sold them through his mail order service.
He would sometimes use some of the photos in later editions of his magazine.
How do u know
DeleteAccording to AMG’s Prevue 19, Bob Jensen’s ZV album and catalogue was to be published in December 1950, setting a rough period in 1950 when all of these photos were taken.
DeleteThat's very confusing information, especially since the magazine was first published in May of 1951. And it's rather difficult to believe that Mizer would wait - sixteen years - before publishing these images...!
DeleteThe Prevue series precedes and supplements Physique Pictorial, and publicized the photo series as they appeared. Bob Mizer published and republished, using images from the 1940s into the 1950s and ‘60s — he also revisited favorite models long after the date of their sessions.
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