Vintage Bondage - Don Ferrara

Don Ferrara in Bondage (AMG ca 1954)

 

This impressive image of Don Ferrara, tied hand and foot, has a tremendous sense of muscle and bulk having been tamed and rendered subservient. He looks up respectfully to his invisible master utterly helpless on the end of a tether. It's hard to see whether he's wearing a pouch or totally naked. 

The background image seeks to cloak this extraordinary scene in the enslavement practices of the ancient world but I think the architecture is more medieval. 

Don Ferrara in Bondage (AMG ca 1954)

This related image is equally tantalising. The 'hands in front' bondage technique restricts but is not inescapable. However it has the virtue that it looks as if Don is genuinely, tightly restrained, which isn't always the case with bondage from the 50's. Fun to create for the photographer (or his assistant!) and the model too perhaps. 

Don had an attractive face with rounded features that are homely and soft rather than dangerous and sexy. He was handsome in his time, having the look of several film stars from the 50's. College jock good looking, his greased hair was the height of cool. Although he's shaved his torso, there's a nice fuzz of hair on his arms and legs.

Don Ferrara in Bondage (AMG ca 1954)

Don looks just as good in a hog, bringing in a sense of his height as well as his musculature. His open legs are tantalising. It's not the most demanding of hog-ties admittedly, but good enough to allow examination of the goods.

This pose might remind you to of another, contemporary AMG bondage set featuring Leonard Chambers, also hog-tied. I have recently updated it with additional images

Don Ferrara pre-Bondage? (AMG ca 1954)

This image seems to be from the same shoot with Don striking an open, inviting pose, presenting a shapely pouch to us, but with a less than welcoming expression. It's easy to imagine his feet are tied together here and although his arms are not tied, they seem to be 'assuming the position' prior to rolling into the hog. If you like hairy forearms, feast on his!

Don Ferrara (AMG ca 1952)

This is a slightly earlier image, a more youthful Don (aged 26) but already in possession of muscular arms, a well-defined torso and able to fill out his pouch . This relaxed body-builder pose has a disinterested quality that seems designed to allay accusations of flaunting one's body, but for gay men it has a submissive, 'come and get me' feel. Set against the ruins of ancient Greece it suggests an early suitability for being tied up.

Don Ferrara (AMG ca 1952)

Don demonstrates here that he was not overly concerned with protecting his modesty and had a youthful willingness to challenge the conventions and restrictions of the day. His pale imitation of the body-builder's bicep flex pose challenges us to try and remove the fig leaf precariously attached to something that certainly isn't a pouch! You sense he's not going to try very hard to stop you either.

Don Ferrara (AMG ca 1952)

Most body builders were willing to experiment with artistic poses which showed they had sensitivity and were not just musclebound blockheads. In fact, seated poses like this tend to accentuate pure bulk more than conventional upright flexing does and it could be seen as a take on Narcissus gazing at his own reflection in the pool below. Nevertheless this thoughtful introspection makes the model seem less God-like, more human, vulnerable - and accessible.

Don is heavily oiled up for this image and that was and is a normal, bodybuilding practice for display. It's nice to imagine the photographer or an eager assistant, helping out to ensure full coverage. 

Don Ferrara (AMG ca 1954)

The full measure of this stately man, ready and waiting
with welcoming arms

~

Unusually for 50's physique models, Don's life was well documented in his recent Obituary. He was a fireman and lived a straight, married life reaching the ripe old age of 94 by the time he died in 2021. He was a bona fide bodybuilder (as firemen often are) and the article even mentioned his appearance in Tomorrows Man in Oct 1954, although this was an image that had clearly been crudely sanitised (see below). Not surprisingly, his bondage experience wasn't mentioned. It makes you wonder what persuaded him to try it, perhaps his firemen buddies put him up for it! 

Don Ferrara (AMG ca 1954) in Tomorrows Man Oct 1954

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to spot that this image has been censored.

The photo is taken against the same background pattern as the fig leaf image above.

Perhaps this is the moment when the fig leaf fell!

Choosing to publish this picture out of all the images AMG took of Don seems like a deliberate attempt by TM to signal the availability of illicit nudes. Also, for this image to be known to Don's friends in later life suggests he had a dare-devil streak and no regrets about any youthful indiscretions and experiences. Which goes some way to explain the praise he attracted on his death.

~

For more Vintage Bondage articles click on the label below

Images courtesy of Tim in Vermont, most enhanced by mitchmen blog