Tom's Circus Acrobats

 Tom of Finland's 'Circus' story (1975) was one of his 'Pekka' might-have-beens. It's birth (according to Hooven's biography) was mired in conflict between writer and artist. As a piece it suffers from the same limitations as the other 'Pekka' stories (see my recent Pekka 'Loggers' article) . However it is notable for it's depiction of muscular acrobats in skimpy tights.

This surely must be one of Tom's most erotic, indeed romantic pictures, 

with Pekka falling under the spell of a classic homo-erotic stereotype.

There's a fascinating 'is he or isn't he?' ambiguity
about just how intimate their contact is in the lower regions.

The man in the Top Hat is not the Ringmaster, but a magician 

who has just materialised a clutch of (chicken) eggs from Pekka's pants.
(I'd like to see that on "Britain's Got Talent"!)

 Word like 'skimpy' and 'revealing' scarcely do justice to the design of the acrobat's performing outfits in this scene and it's little wonder that the author thought his serious writing was being compromised. If you hadn't spotted this feature in the previous picture you might find my comments make more sense now if you go back and re-read my commentary. With tights, Tom's mining a potentially rich vein of eroticism, but this open arrangement discards part of the very essence of the garment.
It doesn't leave the imagination anywhere to go. 

A slightly more demure 'bulge' might have made a more thought-provoking image.  

Tom's design purpose becomes clear in this fanciful sequel. The performance of 'The Flying Fuckers' is the spectacular climax of the 'Circus' story. Tom illustrates it with a further group of 3 more Pekka-style sketches showing other erotically-inspired leaps and 'catches'.

Tom doesn't quite overcome the ultimate improbability of aerial intercourse, but does succeed in capturing something of the flight and balletic grace of the entertainers in these pictures. However the reversion to simple sketches at this critical point in the story (a puzzling feature of the Pekka series) means the piece ends with an visual anti-climax after a promising build-up. 

I'd have been fascinated to see the result if he'd done this series about fifteen years earlier and relied on more subtle signals to suggest an erotic interaction between these two flyers, hinting at intimacy to come. As it happens, Tom had portrayed acrobats 15 years earlier, as part of another 'Circus' series in 1961, but not as adventurously as this (below).

Tom - Acrobats from the 1961 'Circus' series

This picture is the only acrobat image in the 1961 Circus series. Tom shows their packages discreetly but it's decipherable to the trained (and seeking) eye. However, this is not so much an erotic image as an admiring one. It is positive and affirming, as the young man is awarded the applause for his accomplishment by his generous partner and mentor. The slightly germanic blond on the right was a stock character in this period of Tom's work, appearing in various guises and invariably portrayed as a happy, desirable man. This image gives him a rather 'manly' character.

There's a further group of what appear to be acrobats

in Tom's 'Dare Devils' series of 1962.

Tom clad the 'The 3 Dare Devils' in skimpy briefs in preference to tights and they have the distinct air of bikers about them with their Sam Browne belts and leather wrist supports. There's an astonishing gulf of explicitness between this picture and the 1961 acrobats which makes me wonder if that picture could be older than I supposed an not part of the 1961 series.

I have never discovered an image of the 'Dare Devils' performing on the trapeze, so their occupation is really supposition on my part based on the name, I suppose it could equally be a 'Wall of Death' motorcycle display team. Whatever they did, I'd have liked to have seen them in action! 

The '3 Dare Devils' have a story of their own which I will describe in separate post.

~

Influences contributing to Tom's dabbling with Circus imagery are not hard to find. Acrobats made a dramatic appearance in popular culture with the controversial 1956 movie 'Trapeze' starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. The actors played out a mentor/student relationship with a strong suggestion of homosexual love thrown in. Tom must have known of this film and there's a hint of the Lancaster-Curtis cross-generational relationship from 'Trapeze' in his 1961 picture above, although his 'older' man is less removed in age and less grizzled than Lancaster. (This movie connection adds to the case for an earlier dating of Tom's image).

In the 10 years that followed 'Trapeze' there was a rash of films about the circus and a TV series 'Circus Boy' which ran from 1956-58. This is still well before Tom's 'Circus' in 1975. However, a reference from this era that stopped me in my tracks and prompted this article was the story of Ricky and David Nelson (shown below).

Ricky and David Nelson

Ricky Nelson (left) was a top-selling rock and roll/pop singer in the 1950's, one of the first teenage hearthrobs with a string of 30 Top-40 hits from 1957 to 1962, and he was very cute! (see below).

Ricky Nelson publicity shot

What I didn't know about him was that in the late 50's he also performed with his brother David as a trapeze artist in 'The Flying Nelsons', their act being shown briefly on TV in 1960.  The resemblance between David's costume in the picture above and the indecent acrobats in 'Circus' is quite uncanny! I'm sure Tom will have heard of Ricky Nelson but possibly not his acrobatic career. However, given Ricky Nelson's world-wide fame at the time, it's quite likely that this picture (highly revealing for it's day) would have been shown to Tom.

Sadly, Circus is one of those performing arts that does not reward close-up scrutiny or regular viewing and whose collective, diverse nature demands too much patience from modern audiences, who have grown accustomed to a fare of continuous indulgence and high excitement, undiluted by lesser pleasures or tradition. Tom was a child of the 30's and old enough to have experienced the post-war revival of Circus. He captures a flavour of it's history and declining years in his two forays but his attempts to inject erotic interest perhaps show too much respect for the authenticity of the traditions he was trying to draw on.

also from this blog: more Men in Tights and Men in Tights tied up

Other articles on Tom of Finland