Men Swapping Clothes No 30 - Royale Studio's Chain Pouch

This article is due to be upgraded and reposted 

in the mitchmen Royale Studio Archive

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Peter George's provocative pouch and waders in the previous Royale post 

were not the only fetish garments in that studio's wardrobe.....

It's easy to overlook the sexual power of old black and white beefcake images which were designed to look not overly sexy, but the best of them still manage to turn their muscular subjects into erotic gods. In this informal and intimate pose, the softly moulded muscularity of Brian Lamprill seems bulky, real and almost touchable. His indrawn navel creates a strangely alluring detail.

 The skimpy garment he is wearing has the look of a bikini rather than posing pouch. It seems like a properly designed, fashion garment designed to highlight and enhance his near nudity rather than being an artificial screen, crudely improvised for the sake of modesty. It's embellished by a distinctive chain net that adds a dose fetishistic sexiness by suggesting restraint and containment of what lies within.

He's thoughtfully handling an epee here, rolling the handle between his fingers as though considering what to do with it. It's an instrument of combat, a rather refined style of fighting, and it has with the ability to pierce body muscle. That makes its position here, slanting across the bulge of his pouch a very S&M-like touch.

Picture from Man Alive (Apr 61) 

Brian Lamprill was a serious body builder who posed regularly for Royale Studio,

 including storyettes like 'PT Class'

Tibor Urgay wears the same garment to add a fetish flavour to this muscular pose. This model was usually portrayed by the Royale group as boyish and elfin-like rather than beefy like this. His physique in this photo complements the chains which have assumed a wider, more rounded shape to accommodate his projecting tackle.

Update Nov 2024: I don't have a date reference for the image above, but I recently discovered another photo of Tibor Urgay wearing it (disguised as a bunch of grapes!) dated to 1958 so it's appearances in 1961 are evidence of the sensitivity of the chain motif (too near the knuckle as it were in 1958) rather than the date of those photos.

Tibor Urgay also appeared in the Hussar Studio's PT Class

The same, intimate garment worn by a third model (Tibor Noszgay). He doesn't have quite the same allure in my eyes, despite a tidy body. However, his more upright, open pose shows the forward thrust of the pouch in a way that makes the chain containment seem more of a chastity device than simply an exotic decoration. 

His serious expression might reflect the fact that he knows this is a stock Royale/Hussar Studio wardrobe item, one that has been worn by other models before him. If he finds it exciting to wear, he might be imagining just what his predecessors must have felt.

Picture from Man Alive (Apr 61)

Tibor Noszgay is more recognisable (and more attractive) in this picture which I presume is from the same set. In this image, you can see his waist chain curving across the far thigh but it seems to have disappeared on the near side. The dark line you can see is the shadow of his sword, which looks much like the one being played with by Brian Lamprill in the top picture. 

Picture from Man Alive (Apr 62)

James Julien gets himself into groin chains here. He was probably snapped for the conventional beefcake stream, which featured many of the most prominent bodybuilders of the day. At that time the bodybuilding world desperately portrayed itself as a thoroughly decent, health and fitness practice. That may account for the less-than-amazing pouch shape. Still, one can only imagine the thrill of excitement some of those men must have felt when they were invited to don this indisputably kinky garment. He looks as if he might be feeling a little faint and is clinging to the screen for support.

This picture appeared in 'Tomorrow's Man' May 1962.

The chain pouch also figured in one of Royale's most notorious photo sets, featuring real enlisted men of the Royal Horse Guards. That was bad enough for the men at the Ministry (of Defence), but for them to use their own Uniforms to create homosexual erotica and pairing them with a suggestive pouch like this, well, it must have blown their institutional fuses.  

This Horse Guard is Tom Manlick. Just a wild guess but I'd say that's not his real name. 

The helmet affords additional protection of his identity.

In this picture you can see that the chain pouch is completely separate from the cloth inner lining but nevertheless, it's wearers must have been conscious of the other men's groins it had previously graced. You're very aware of Tom's loin in this picture.

Tom also appeared in Football Ballet 

John Skilling in Chain-Male Pouch by Royale Studio

In this image it's an oily John Skilling who gets the cold comfort, ball support. 

He was a seasoned 'Royalist' who appeared in the Football Ballet storyette 

and starred with Fred Collins in the Soldier-Sailor set and others. 

There's been a sketchy Review of John Skilling's career here at mitchmen

(Scheduled for updating)

This is an AI-Enhanced image (view original)

The original picture appeared in 'Tomorrow's Man' Oct 1961.

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Interestingly, all these chain pouch images were attributed to Hussar Studio when published and not the Royale brand, which was was being discarded as a name when they appeared in 1961-2.

I've not found a picture of Peter George in the chain pouch but given this image I'd not be surprised to see one. He seemed to have an affinity for fetish and bdsm themes.

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 For other posts showing men swapping and sharing clothes,

 click on the 'sharing' label at the foot of this post.

For Royale and Hussar posts click on the 'GIU/Royale' label