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| Charles Atlas - Muscles Made Easy |
It might seem to surprising to label this smiling, slightly pudgy, middle-aged man as an erotic icon, but for many years semi-clad images of him featured prominently and regularly in most boy's lives. This was a time when naked male torsos were a rare sight, other than on beaches and swimming pools but he popped up like this almost everywhere - in newspapers, magazines and even comics specifically aimed at teenagers. Even if you didn't fancy him, his continued presence was a heart-warming affirmation that men's muscles and bare skin were OK and desirable.
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| Charles Atlas - Sand in the Face ad |
Atlas famously conjured the spectre of the beach bully who kicked sand in the faces of ordinary guys just for the fun of it and even if the context was always heterosexual, the message about being gratuitously bullied must have struck a chord with every young, gay man who saw the ad. The claim that you could do something about it and change your life for the better by developing your physique might have promised more than it could really deliver to this particular group. Nevertheless it must planted seeds of self respect and created an awareness of new pathways for isolated, non-sporting, young gays.
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| Charles Atlas testimonials - Health and Strength Dec 1949 |
I'm not sure that 'Dynamic Tension' really worked but it must have introduced many young men to ways that they could make themselves more attractive, so there's probably more than a grain of truth in these testimonials.
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| "The Slave" - Charles Atlas leading Tony Sansone |
If the gays amongst them had ever seen this image of Charles Atlas
they might have become even more inspired and excited!
Here, his more youthful self leads the legendary Tony Sansone along, supposedly as his submissive slave. Given Sansone's mega reputation as a muscle man it's an astonishing scenario, on a par with the recent sensationalism of life-long tops being persuaded to bottom for the first time on film. The homoerotic undertones are glaringly obvious*.
Atlas wasn't the prettiest of men by modern criteria but this 'before he was famous' photo suggests that modern styles might have crafted a more than acceptable image for him.
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* Tony Sansone is an interesting figure, noted for his lithe definition rather than the muscle bulk that Atlas and others cultivated. He wasn't a competitive body builder but earned money by nude modelling. There's another teasing image of him posed as a captive in chains (below).
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Click on the label below for more Classic Homoerotic Images