Who Were The Models In Bob Mizer - Athletic Model Guild (AMG)?

Question

The Athletic Model Guild archives are fascinating—is there a list of who modeled for Bob Mizer’s physique photography in the 50s and 60s?

Wendy Navichoc · Answer

This is a very in-depth look at the history of physique photography. Bob Mizer’s AMG featured hundreds of models from the 1940s onwards. Many of the models featured were local California bodybuilders, athletes and aspiring actors. Although some models were well known, many remained anonymous. One model featured in AMG was future actor Joe Dallesandro. The way that Mizer presented his models, who were mostly athletic-looking men with personas that were often charismatic, troubled and edgy, is something that has influenced my perspective on many things. The way that Joe Dallesandro, for example, was presented in many of his photos – as a somewhat tough and interesting guy – is similar to the setup of the book I’m reading, ‘Falling for the Bad Boy Athlete’. The main character falls for a star athlete who appears to be the perfect guy, but in reality he is hiding many personal problems and his relationship with the main character is fraught with tension and risk.

Knox · Answer

Many of the young men posed by Mizer for AMG were unknowns: a construction worker, a young dancer or other person whom Mizer had met through his various social contacts. Their anonymity added to the sensual allure of the images, and as with many of the pictures by Mizer, each of the Amateurs is “caught” in a seemingly casual pose — playedfully poseur-like, one might say, drawing upon the campy locution of the poses and the images themselves which were in part inspired by the motifs of high art of earlier centuries.

The photos danced on the edge of naughtiness, yet were so pure. Some of the shots had the guys flexing like a Greek statue, while others had them lounging around with the most adorable smirk on their face. All of the images are still so relevant today and really show the duality of male beauty. Most of all, the images are so awesome because of the way queer art can reclaim these famous images and show how they are a part of art history. Each bicep curl is part of a man’s legacy.

Violet · Answer

In the 1950s and 1960s, Midwest-based photographer Bob Mizer founded the Athletic Model Guild (AMG), a pioneering endeavor in physique photography. Mizer’s AMG featured an assortment of models including amateur bodybuilders and up-and-coming actors. Many of his photographs were shot of regular guys he discovered in gyms or on the beach. The YMCA, beaches and local gyms were fertile grounds for Mizer to find ideal models for his photographs, which he promoted to a market of men interested in athletes. Some of the models even achieved notoriety outside of Mizer’s AMG escapades, most notably the infamous cult sex symbol Joe Dallesandro who appeared in many of the underground films of the late 1960s and who would also go on to appear in several mainstream films.

It is fascinating to note how AMG dived between art and taboo while breaking many conventions of the time. Many of the men that posed for Mizer werequeer in some way, however they were never publicly exposed as such. Instead they became icons of a new ‘queer’ aesthetic that was beginning to surface and they often went about their lives quietly unaware of the impact they had made. The artist worked with many famous queer figures of the time, including Bruce of Los Angeles, and it is mind boggling to realize that images of these men, secretly distributed by mail, are now part of museum collections and the subject of much learned academic analysis.

Nora · Answer

AMG Studios’ models, which included the occasional celebrity, posed for the photographer’s commission in Mizer’s studio in the photographs shot in garage or spaces furnished like studios in the photographer’s space. These were college men, professional athletes between semesters, army guys on leave, even a ranch-dwelling cowboy or two – most nude or semi. Images shot in the dingy studio were richly lit in a simple but dramatic fashion, as though each space had been transformed into sets where these males could strut their stuff and be admired by all.

Many of the men featured in the photographs of AMG studio models went on to appear in films, including the occasional actor who posed for Mizer between shots. Of the models, some, like Glenn Bishop and Ed Fury, went on to become familiar faces in Hollywood, while others were left to fade away from the public eye. Their names live on in the yellowed contact prints of AMG’s photographs, images that showcase an unlikely mixture of muscle and vulnerability and serve to illustrate an historic and singular take on the American male.

Dinka Tan · Answer

This is a huge topic. AMG was a decades long endeavor by Bob Mizer. So this would be a long list of names. But instead I could give you a list of categories for the models that worked for AMG. There were the champion bodybuilders like Steve Reeves pre-Hercules and Dave Draper pre-drinking. Then there were the local boys from the gyms in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. There were even some military types from WWII and the Korean War to make some extra cash. There were also some actors and models looking to make a name for themselves. And then there were just some regular guys who liked to show off their bodies. Bob Mizer was the genius behind creating a whole world and AMG was just the raw material for his art and commerce. I’ve spent hours on the Vintage Physique blog and you can see the same faces over and over again from year to year. It’s a very in-depth and very visually interesting history of Muscle. Not so much about individual models, but more about the collective aesthetic of Muscle over the years.

Rasyidfatir · Answer

This image, and so many others of Mizer’s, are visually striking to this day. Part of this is to do with the outstanding composition and exceptional lighting, but the true star of the image is the model. A less than attractively featured or less than expressive model would have produced an inferior image. Therefore, in terms of the images of Mizer that are on view here, ‘who’ the model was is very important. Some of his models clearly had more of the ‘it’ factor than others for this sort of image. Even though we do not know the names of most of the models in this exhibition, they are wonderfully and clearly realized in the photographs. They seem alive. It is clear that Mizer had spotted something very special in each and every one of them.

Pida golan · Answer

So, you want a list of models to get started. Well, here is a starting point. A lot of models and fitness enthusiasts appeared in Mizer’s photos. Many of these men appeared frequently and some even modeled frequently for Mizer. A few well known models that appear frequently in Mizer’s photos and are often mentioned in archives and discussions are Joe Dallesandro, Steve Reeves, Dave Draper, Glenn Corbett, George Eiferman, Tony Sansone, Don Monder, Richard Dalkin, Alonzo Hanagan, Ken Kendall, Steve Keljan, Paul Darcy, Bruce of L.A. (also a photographer), and Tom Nicholl. However, there are many, many more models, many of whom were known only by their first name (e.g. ‘Bill’) or even only by their AMG catalog number (e.g. Model #384). What I’m trying to say is that the true scale of the number of models that appeared in Mizer’s photos is huge, and the names that keep appearing again and again are only the tip of the iceberg. What makes Mizer so great is the sense of endless supply of diverse models. Collectors and historians can spend an eternity searching for the names of all of the models that appeared in Mizer’s photos.

Avril Elaine Gambo · Answer

The settings for these pictures were largely banal. I saw a lot of plain studio backgrounds, painted walls of fake-looking buildings and backyards. The content of the images was almost entirely the model’s body. It was a commodity and he or she was selling it as idealized. And when I say that the model was the set and the costume and the special effects, I mean that his or her body was all of those things and he or she had to perform masculinity in front of a camera. That was a unique talent. To answer the question of “who were they,” I am thinking of performers who worked in a very simple theater and it is not so much a matter of their names. They were people who could hold a spotlight for long periods of time in a very simple space and that is the space of Mizer’s studio. And all they had to work with was their own body to sell a fantasy to the viewer.

Mark Chojnacki · Answer

I am struck by how AMG photographs look so innocent today – almost comically staged with posing straps and oiled bodies wrestling. But at the time they were taking these pictures, they must have seemed provocative – even a little bit bad. How many of the men who posed for photographer Thomasher Mizer understood the great cultural significance of their bulging muscles? I imagine most of them would have been paid twenty dollars or so for their time and the prints of their tackling, flexing, or otherwise posing would have made for a pleasant memento or two. Mizer on the other hand had a sense of what he was doing. He kept all of his photographs – every print and every negative, as well as every roll of film and heaps of correspondence. So even though we don’t know the names of all of the gorgeous young men who posed for him, we can still see their adorable faces and powerful physiques. And we can know that they were part of something very special in the history of visual culture – a secret language of pictures of young, powerful, handsome men,locked in a particular moment in time, for all time.

Carolee · Answer

The models posed by AMG for its mail-order catalog were seen by people all around the world. A guy from a small town in America, posing in a Los Angeles studio, would find his pictures in a magazine sent to secret subscribers all over the globe — in London, in Sydney, in Buenos Aires. They were part of a global, underground network of desire long before the advent of the Internet. This is a very powerful idea — local boys seen by a global audience. They were unwilling ambassadors of a very specific, American masculine ideal, being shipped to all parts of the globe in search of a home in closets and in hidden drawers everywhere. The people seeing their pictures had no idea that the models were from next door. Nor did the models themselves. All this was made possible by the humble medium of print and postage. So, ‘who were they’ includes this accidental, international dimension.

Maria J Song · Answer

It’s interesting to note the many details of the shoot. Presumably lots of baby oil was involved, as well as loads of sweat. How long did a shoot go on for? Were the models remotely comfortable or were they stuck in awkward positions for long periods of time? How did they get on with Mizer? Were the men stuck in muscle-bound poses for hours on end, listening to the click of the camera, or were there moments of comic relief? I imagine that the Models would have loved to have been paid for their time and then gone on to do something else. The work that the Models did was grueling and no doubt at times very boring. They would have had to have been covered in baby oil and been in very painful positions for long periods of time. Sometimes their muscles must have cramped up. But the Models were just doing a job and were paid for it in the end. They were not gods; just regular guys who were paid for a job to do. The job that they did was to pose for Mizer for the magazines.

Who Were The Models In Bob Mizer - Athletic Model Guild (AMG)?

11 Answers

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