bushnstache: Towels in the Yard

Move away from the pool and the towel follows us into the patio, deck and backyard. There's no longer any real need to dry off. Now it's mostly about sunbathing—and putting something between a naked, often well-oiled body and whatever happens to be underneath it.

1. Sam Jones aka Andrew Cooper III on orange towel with necklace for Playgirl in 1975. Sam used the pseudonym Andrew Cooper III for this shoot. He later went on to beat out Kurt Russel and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the lead role in Dino di Laurentiis' Flash Gordon film. After the success of the film Playgirl reissued these photos in 1981 using his real name, Sam Jones.

2. John Pruitt aka James Yount (thanks, Uncle Vic!) on blue towel by Jim French Palm Springs in 1985. I love him with chest hair and I guess there was quite a scandal around this. Pruitt was also doing muscle magazine shoots (not nude) at the time, which pressured models to shave their chests. Apparently he showed up to a shoot with Jim French with his chest shaved and French was furious as Pruitt was a lead model for their Hairy Chested Men calendars and videos.

3. Kirk Robbertze for Playgirl magazine c 1975 on two towels, tan and red. I miss his signature thin mustache here. Robbertze has a fascinating story. He was born in South Africa (Robbertze is a common South African last name). He emigrated to Germany as a professional ice skater then moved to New York City and opened a boutique by his own name. He was part of the Studio 54 scene and involved with the notorious, closeted political lawyer, Roy Cohn, and passed away at the age of 44 in 1993 of AIDS.

The fantasy becomes even more private here. These aren't men at the beach or even necessarily beside a pool. They're simply naked in the yard, soaking up the sun, with a towel turning a chair, deck or patch of ground into a perfectly adequate place to lounge.

4. Paul Zion on a purple towel by Jim French in 1983.

5. Ron O'Brien aka Ron Bernard by Bruce Bellas c. 1957. My source suggests that models would often do a morning shoot with Bob Mizer at his compound and then go straight over to Bruce Bellas' studio for another shoot to double their earnings for the day. Each photographer would often use different pseudonyms for the same model. They referred to this as the "freelance hustle" and most models were reportedly heterosexual or deeply closeted gay or bi men.

6. Paul Seton on a towel and wooden deck from film Le Garçon de Cours (Houseboy) by Jean-Daniel Cadinot in 1978.

7. Cole Taylor on a large white towel by Bob Harrison c 1957. I like the aerial perspective and use of diagonal line here.

And sometimes that's almost the entire photograph: man, sun, towel. Spread one on the grass and apparently you have everything you need for a physique shoot.

8. Joe Leitel on a padded patio mat by Bob Mizer in 1957. This is technically not a towel, but serves a similar function in the photo. Mizer discovere Leitel when he was 19 years old and took photos of him from 1957 into the 80's. Leitel trained as a bodybuilder with Joe Weider and his body transformed considerably throughout this 2+ decade period.