Toys, Equipment & Gadgets

Boys like toys. And grown men do too—we just make them more expensive and give them more utility.

Some of these really are toys: rockets, oversized dice, a clown doll, billiard balls. Others are equipment and gadgets—a fishing pole, telescope, binoculars or camera. Whatever we call them, they give the models something to play with and the photographers another way to build a little personality into the pose.

1. Chris Yunker by Walter Kundzicz in the mid-1960s with a clown doll.

2. Dana Sumer by Walter Kundzicz holding a large pair of dice.

3. Lynn Hunic by Walter Kundzicz holding a toy rocket.  Notice the position of the toy and the double shadow. Hunic is often posed with props in his shots.

 

Sometimes that playfulness emphasizes a model's innocent or youthful appearance, especially when he's paired with a child's toy, which isn't really my thing. I much prefer seeing that same sense of play brought out in a more mature-looking man.

4. Ron Walker reclining on a pool table. The visual pun of "balls" is hard to miss hear. Notice the 60s Scans watermark in the lower right corner.

5. Unidentified model (though one source sayid this is also Chris Yunker -- same as #1 above -- but, I have my doubts by the "mod" shag haircut) kneeling over a gester masque on the floor.  The position of the mask nose beneath him leans in the direction of sex toys, but I'm not going there.

6. Bill Douglass (featured in my Playgirl series and Ginger hair posts) with a fishing pole...not technically a 'toy', but most men I know fish for leisure.

Bill Douglas goes fishing, Mike Williams and Brig Mandrell get telescopes—and Brig apparently decides his is a bugle. There's something charming about these carefully posed men being allowed to fool around a little.

7. Mike Williams by Bob Mizer in February 1955 in his studio on 11th St in L.A holding a telescope. This photo was taken during what archivists consider Mizer's "clean period" when he first built indoor studios in his compound and used more all white or black backdrops before moving into more elaborate sets.

8. Brig Mandrell in the same studio by Mizer holding the telescope like a horn.

And naturally, the photographers couldn't resist a visual joke. Lynn Hunic holds a toy rocket directly above his own “crotch rocket,” while binoculars and cameras bring another favorite pastime into the mix: looking. Guy Harding Moore even turns the camera toward his own exposed crotch. Subtle? Not particularly. Fun? Absolutely.

9. Steve York by Nova Studios (Scott Masters aka Robert Walters and Jim Randall) in the early 1970s holding a pair of binoculars. Masters and Randall pioneered what was considered the "West Coast look" in that period through their choice of models who looked like surfers.

 

And yes, I'm ignoring the elephant in the room: sex toys. Physique photographers photographed those too, and the images are definitely out there. They're simply a little too risqué for this platform, so we'll leave that particular toy box closed.

10. Guy Harding Moore by Walter Kundzicz in a blue mock turtle neck (probably polyester) holding a camera toward himself.

Please leave thoughts, questions, corrections or additions in the comments. Thank you, bns