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| Royale Studio - Bullied Sailor |
This photo is one of a three, related, spanking images that rank amongst Royale Studio's most memorable and well known. They show a sailor being held down over a vaulting horse and caned. He has a manly, gym trained physique with formidable thighs which amply fill his tight, white shorts. His quiffed hair places him firmly in the Elvis era.
The man restraining him is wearing high-waisted trousers which were normal fashion in the 1950/60's It looks odd and dated to us but this image must have been very sexy back then. His white armless vest/singlet isn't everyday naval uniform. It suggests he is a PT instructor which fits with the use of a gym vaulting horse. Plain singlets like this were also used in Hussar's 'PT Class' (Hussar Studio was another Royale brand name). Personally I think that 'dress' gym kit is more attractive but that's another post.
I'll come back to these pictures in the second half of this article,
which is where I think they fit in the story.
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| Royale Studio - BULLIES - Catalogue Image A |
The three famous pictures mentioned above belong to the 'Bullies' set and are usually all that ever gets posted of it. The official thumbnail for the set is shown above, taken from Royale's Catalogue Sheet 7. You can immediately see it's the same punisher here in his 'wife-beater' vest/singlet and high waisted trousers.
As is often the way with Royale images, it's less obvious that the victim is the same man apart from his tousled hair. He's not wearing the same clothes, not even the same belt. He also looks less chunky, although his arms are very muscular.
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| Royale Studio - BULLIES - Catalogue Description Royale's catalogue description outlines a story of bullying which sounds calculating and brutal but less elaborate than the water torments we saw dished out in 'Navy Romeo' and 'Navy Gash'. The catalogue image above seems to depict the deck-scrubbing part of the punishment. I haven't been able to identify what the 'surprise' ending is because most of the 24 pictures are missing. The images I do have are presented below in my best guess of what the set sequence might be and numbered according to that. The picture pricing given in Royale's Catalogue may seem a little confusing and contradictory. The 24 pix for 10/- (50p) offer at the top relates to the thumbnail sheet which would have had good enough thumbnails to warrant buying in it's own right. Underneath it gives the price of 7x5 inch enlargements. 3/6 is the pre-decimalisation equivalent of 17.5p now.
It's David Reed (more usually known as David Reid) who plays the bullied sailor in this series. This picture appears to show him being dragged from his bunk by the bullies, so it might well be image No 1. I found it in a small ad* for Royale in a beefcake magazine, hence the poor quality. Fortunately it is specifically attributed to this series in the ad but you can also see the the man on the right is wearing that same armless singlet/vest and high-waisted bell bottoms. (That bulge on the left also crops up later, if you'll pardon the expression) The camp bed used as a bunk substitute in this picture also appears fleetingly in Royale's 'Unapproved' series (mitchmen set 8, awaiting revision) and so, incidentally does David Reid . *The Royale 04 Zip file which I will upload to the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive contains a copy of the magazine ad I extracted this picture from.
This is a bigger version of Catalogue Image 'A' and it gives us a more immediate sense of the strap about to descend. There's a faint suggestion of weals and bruising on David's back. These guys mean business! There's also a decent shot of the other bully's face. I suppose his bare feet may be connected to David's shoe cleaning task, mentioned in the set description. *The Royale 04 Zip file which I will upload to the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive contains another version of Bullies-2, smaller but better quality. Probably taken from a thumbnail sheet.
This picture is a second thumbnail from the same Royale Catalogue Sheet No 7. It gives a better view of the victim's face. The two tormentors casually lean against the wall to supervise him, a neat and clever composition. The bare-footed one on the left seems positively excited by the situation (it's that bulge again). The sequence of names given for the actors in Royale's description (above) looks as though it matches the left to right order in this picture, because the man in the middle is definitely David Reed/Reid . He was a bodybuilder who featured in a number of other Royale sets, he also appeared in the beefcake magazines of the day and those images help to identify him here (a separate article with more pictures of David Reid will follow this post - LINK PENDING). The two Johns mentioned in the description don't appear by name in any other sets in the catalogues I have, but as we know, Royale's names are not entirely reliable nor consistent (e.g. Reed - Reid!). It was unusual for Royale to give provide than one thumbnail of a set in their catalogues so they must have rated it highly themselves. Unfortunately I don't have a better version of the second one. It obviously belongs to the same scene as BULLIES-2 but you can decide for yourselves whether it precedes or follows it's companion. The sequence I have used is the same way round as they are presented on the catalogue page. i.e. they hit him first then stand back and watch him working.
The image with which I started this post appears to be a continuation of the punishment theme. But why is he now wearing full dress uniform instead of bare top and belted gym shorts, is this really the same set? I don't think there is any question that the tormentor on the right is the same man in the same clothes. But in addition, if you compare the creases in his trousers in Bullies 4 to those in Bullies 2, particularly those distinctive looping shapes just above the gaiters at the back, they are almost identical. That means these two pictures must have been taken in the same session. I can't prove conclusively it's the same David in both pictures above. Sometimes I think there's a disturbing resemblance to Simon Cowell! However BULLIES 6, below, which is normally grouped with this picture does offer a more convincing face and hair match. If you refer to my separate article on David Reid (LINK PENDING) you'll see how his facial appearance does seem to vary in different shoots. We often take for granted that people are as they are named and don't register that they actually look very different when seen from different angles. Close up shots can also exaggerate bulk (think of all those giant cocks!). David was relatively short in stature so although he has a big physique for his size, he can look quite boyish when placed next to tall men (as in Bullies 3 above and 'Unapproved' here). Maybe other images will turn up one day to resolve this conundrum. The only explanation I can offer regarding the uniform change in the story is that it's meant to represent a different occasion to the previous images, possibly after David returns from being on leave, for which he would have worn formal dress. A similar transition from gym to dress shorts also happens in 'Royale set 08, Unapproved' which also stars David Reid in a similar down-trodden role. I speculate that the 'surprise' ending mentioned in Royale's description might have been that David had beefed himself up while on leave and on his return, still dressed up, he confronted the bullies, but in a sensational mitchmen-style twist he ended up getting another beating! If this really is the story line, all photographed on the same day, it's even conceivable that they substituted a stand-in (uncredited) to provide extra beef for these 'surprise' images. 
Apart from the clean, crisp quality of these pictures and the familiar Royale feature of shapely bottoms in tight trousers, it's the caning of a big, fully grown man, and a serviceman at that, which makes these pictures so memorable. It's a humiliating, schoolboy punishment and he is having to be held down for it. That makes it seem all the more erotic of course. Remarkably, the striker with the cane is not visible at all, just the tip of his cane. That glimpse conveys little sense of it's fearful power, despite the sailor's outrage on feeling it touch his bottom. This image is focussed on the offender's forced submission, his humiliation rather than the process of caning itself.
This is a fairly typical image of the aftermath of a spanking. Whether it depicts real pain we can only guess (or hope), but it's a pretty good act at any rate! We get a good view of the punished sailor's pecs and chunky torso here. The bullied victim in Navy Gash, Percy, seemed to be a bit of a wimp, but this man is no weakling. In this picture the sailor's cap has been deliberately posed on the horse to imply he is a real serviceman. The name band appears to say HMS Gambia, which was a real cruiser in service with the Royal Navy until being scrapped in Dec 1960. (Spookily, that date follows not long after the issue of this Royale set in Apr 1959). The owner of this cap has laddishly crafted it into a beautiful curve. If you look back at Bullies 1 you will see what might be the same cap in the background. The numbers in the corner of these pictures are simply a previous owner's reference numbers (see separate article - 'Royale Numbers & The Mystery Seller' - link pending). I have relied on the flow of the action for my numbering, but it is quite possible that BULLIES No.6 (332) should precede BULLIES Nos 4 and 5 (334, 333). That would imply there was another ass event of some sort immediately before the caning. I wish I had a picture of it!
Maybe this is it, because this image and the next one, both showing the sumptuous, raised backside of a sailor draped over a cavalry saddle as though awaiting punishment, could also come from the Bullies set. His shorts, belt, and socks closely match David Reid's dress in the 3 pictures just above - as does his physique for that matter! The white gaiters seen in Bullies 4-6 are present too but partially obscured by ankle straps used to hold his legs apart (it's more obvious in Bullies 8 below). I don't put much faith in the refence numbers on the pictures but this one (331) does happens to fit neatly in front of the other three (332-4) so someone else seems to have linked them too. It would be a plausible precursor to BULLIES-6 (332), but Royale transitions are not usually that abrupt. Unfortunately there's no other crossover detail to link them into 'Bullies' more convincingly. Arguably there's a more convincing link to 'Royale set 08, Unapproved' in which David also wears these shorts and is beaten over the saddle too, except that it's placed on top of a table in that example. One other caveat. Extreme close-ups like this are rare in (surviving) Royale pictures. I can't think of any off-hand in other storyettes, but some solo sets do have ass images like this. There is only one solo set I know of for David, called 'DAR' (see separate article on David Reid - link pending). The thumbnail image for DAR does include a military prop, the Royale drum. It's possible that these images may belong there.
More interestingly the seam between David's legs is revealed to have a delicious worn area and possibly a split too. It adds a titillating emphasis to the parting of his balls in this unusually graphic picture. ~ Ambiguity about model identities is not new in this survey. Some of the apparent difference in David's build in these pictures can be attributed to the camera and photographic technique, close up shots can exaggerate bulk (think of all those giant cocks!). Another contributing factor may be that David was relatively short in stature so although he has a big physique for his size, he can look quite boyish when placed next to tall men (as in 'Unapproved' here). More on David Reid (see separate article LINK PENDING) ~ *The next article in this series will be Royale Studio 05 - Airman Gym Training (pending) Read the new series of Royale Studio articles at mitchmen from the start:- ~ The General Upgrading of Royale Studio Posts at mitchmen The original mitchmen Royale series (published in 2010) is currently being extensively revised and extended. This completely new article replaces the original Royale post No 4 To see which articles have been revised to date, please check the 'Come and Get It!' post. I occasionally revisit the articles listed there with further, minor upgrades which are logged there by dates. You can access all the old and the new and revised articles
'mitchmen' Royale Studio Open Archive The Royale Studio Open Archive at mitchmen blog Please tell me via my profile link if you have any difficulty downloading, Google has recently changed the file sharing system so links in older articles may have stopped working ~ If you have any other Royale Studio images from this or previously published groups and would like to contribute them to the mitchmen Open Archive please contact me via my profile page link. 2008 Aug 2nd, repub ref 2022-05=1474 |
