James Seely Naked

In this series of articles featuring James Seely (see foot of post), I've posted numerous images of him in which he is genuinely naked (despite the restrictions of the 1960's) , but none of them are frontal nudes, which were considered to be indecent. The 'shower post' illustrated how clumsy and contrived some of the cover-ups were to comply with this ban. 

This picture of James Seely totally nude is attributed to Denny Denfield by Tim in Vermont. Apparently he photographed models as a hobby but did not sell the pictures. He lived in San Francisco and knew Bob Mizer which is perhaps how he came into contact with James. However, I confess I know very little else about him or any other images of James taken by him.

1

Looking at this image of James today it's hard to comprehend what all the fuss was about. It shows a beautiful physique and although he looks very attractive 'out of pouch' it barely qualifies as erotic. Very close to the ideal of ancient Greek statues. I suppose the oily sheen on his physique might be thought dubious, but it was then, and still is, a standard device used by body builders to highlight their muscle development to contest judges. 

Later on, in the 70's, Mike Arlen would anoint his model's cocks with oil as well as their bodies

and produced spectacularly sexy results never seen before.

2

This photographer has taken pains to ensure that Seely does not look aroused, which would have made the picture not just indecent, but pornographic. Similarly James' facial expression, which is often entertainingly animated in other images, is sober and serious here allowing a claim to be made that the image is purely artistic (which is what the column is there for of course).

It's not surprising to discover that, faced with a naked model, photographers took frontal nude shots of them (which was not of itself illegal). However, the photos could not legally be sold or sent through the postal system. Photographers had to resort to coded advertisements and catalogues and post the pictures to buyers in plain envelopes, hoping that the postal authorities would not intercept them. Unfortunately, photographs require stiffened envelopes and were quite often spotted, inspected and the contents confiscated. It's clear though that much of the material did get through, the Post Office couldn't open every envelope and no doubt there were plenty of postal workers who ignored them.

3

Here James poses with another lusciously muscled man who I have not yet identified (info welcome)

Any gay man would see the eroticism simmering in this coupling, but the photographer has pre-empted accusations of smut by placing the models either side of the same pseudo-classical column seen in 1 above. It's effect is rather like the pillow down the centre of the bed, supposedly used by Hollywood film makers to legitimise putting movie stars in bed together. 

Nevertheless, the models' hands are tantalisingly close together on top of the column, and the fingers of James' partner (both hands) look as if they are itching to get up to mischief. In fact, you might have taken the model's facial expressions to indicate that they just have. Fortunately all is calm down below. 

Purveyors of nude images presumably took precautions to prevent intercepted images being traced back to them and recipients sometimes took elaborate precautions like using Post Office boxes and Post Restante to prevent their addresses being discovered by the authorities on envelopes and mailing lists (and also to hide the material from their wives and other people they lived with). Police in the UK went out of their way to expose gay men to their relatives and employers, ruining many lives. Not all gay men lived in fear though, if you lived your life openly the risk of fines was worth running.  

 

4

 With the models down on one knee the separating effect of the column is increased, allowing the models to face each other, but not look at each other. To the knowing eye, though, the phallic connotations of the column itself are clear enough.

5

In this image, a low, tin box has replaced the column but the raised knees of the models continue to shield their nether regions from each other. However, they also open up their stances and it almost seems like there is a 'musical chairs' style race to clamber on top of the box. Both men seem to be struggling to keep a straight face

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Apart from Denfield, James Seely only seems to have posed for Kris of Chicago and Bob Mizer and I believe the photographer who took these black and white images was Kris. Kris didn't go in for Greek Columns very much but a very similar object can be seen in the catalogue page shown below (in No 7). A drum-sized version, painted black, also appears in several of his images.

In addition to this match, the original of one of the nude images above (No 2) has the inscription 'R-27' on it and you can see above that this is how Kris numbered his sets in his catalogue.

~

 The James Seely series:

The Abandoned Slave

Vintage Bondage - James Seely

James Seely meets some Naked Men

James bags John in the shower