A few posts back we saw Peter George playing a down-trodden gymnast, repeatedly spanked in Royale Studio's 'Airman's Gym Training'. His first solo shoot had a similar athletic theme.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) Catalogue Image |
His debut set at Royale Studio (ca May 1959) was labelled (somewhat confusingly) as 3-PUN.
It featured poses in very revealing, tight, white gym shorts with a military belt.
I don't have full thumbnail sheets for any of Peter's solo sets for Royale, only the representative thumbnails in the Royale master catalogue sheets, and the descriptions provided (like that below). The key differentiator seems to be the clothing worn, so I have assigned the photos I have to sets based on that. In the case of 3-PUN it's those sticky shorts.
The catalogue description for 3-PUN provides a fair amount of seemingly real, personal detail implying that Peter was serving in the armed forces at the time of the shoot. Royale's catalogue did not specify which branch of the services he was in, but an article in Trim Magazine No 15 (1960) and others described him as an RAF Corporal (reference pages in archive folder). The image below appeared in Man Alive No 5 (June 1959)
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 01 RAF PT Instructor Kit |
At the claimed age of 21 he would have been past the age of compulsory National Service and serving as a professional airman, Peter George was probably not his real name but these images and the other information that was supplied about him would have sufficed to identify him and in all probability end his military career, so I'm inclined to think he was really an ex-serviceman when he posed for Royale. As it happens this particular set didn't seem to appear in the beefcake magazines until a few years later.
Peter's PT Instructor persona and fitness was also showcased in the notable, spanking-rich, Royale set, 'Airman's Gym Training' (Royale Studio 05 in the mitchmen archive).
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 02 |
This nice introductory picture highlights the model's upper body musculature and thighs as well as his smile and erotic credentials in a relaxed, natural pose.
(Picture taken from a 'Hussar' retrospective, published in Grecian Guild Studio Quarterly No 22, in late1967. Hussar was a studio name also used by Royale, almost interchangeably it seems, I've not yet discovered how they were differentiated, if at all).
Interestingly the 'PUN' label for this set does not seem to follow the usual practice of naming sets by using the model's initials. Perhaps it relates to another name that was later replaced by Peter George.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 03 |
This squatting pose was (and is still) widely used for sportsmen, notably for team photos and it is automatically seen as 'manly'. Footballers tend to place one hand on the ground to steady themselves in this pose, concealing their assets. Peter's ability to balance on his toes here without bending forwards is evidence of his fitness and hands us a much clearer view of his crotch bulge than is normally the case. The cap-sleeved tee-shirt and plain shorts are highly plausible, real world, PTI kit (not usually worn this tight of course).
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| JC Leyendecker - Harvard Rower |
Peter George had boyish looks and a tall, lean, physique that was muscular but perfectly balanced. With his wavy hair and penetrating eyes, he might have just stepped out of the world of Leyendecker.
He was an enormously popular model for a period in the 60's.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 04 |
This standard, gym, stretching exercise (with Peter not quite touching his toes!)
produces an erotic display which would have horrified conservative viewers.
The tight T-shirt also shows up nicely here.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 05 |
This party trick, further evidence of Peter's flexibility, would have been even more distasteful.
I have seen young women performing this 'crab' exercise and even walking in this fashion,
but I'm not sure it was ever OK for men to do it, even in looser clothes than Peter is wearing.
The erotic intent is all too clear from the viewing angle.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 06 |
This leg stretching exercise produces a less explicit display,
but it has multiple homoerotic undertones all its own.
I imagine there's a variant of the pose in this set taken from behind, but I don't have it.
You can see one however in the 'Airman's Gym Training' set, image 12
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 07 |
This fragment from a magazine spread shows the upright position of a similar stretching exercise.
And it's not just limbs that are being stretched in this picture.
Imagine the temptation if you were the class supervisor.
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| Peter George (in Royale Studio set 3-PUN) 08 |
In this picture Peter isn't wearing the military belt but he has the same shoes as the other 3-PUN pictures, so I have included it in this group. His shorts show a remarkably tight fit between the buttocks, showing astonishing shaping.
This image was on the back cover of Man Alive No 4 (April 1959), there's a 'clean' version (without text) in the mitchmen archive folder for this set (link in final part of this series).
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Part 2 of this article will cover Peter's other 'PUN' sets for Royale Studio,
his storyettes and other imagery will follow in later instalments