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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 08 (Oiling Up) |
On the day of the contest, the buddies change into their costumes and oil up. The dark haired one is being assisted here by some very butch-looking young men. The scenario provides an excuse for some fairly intimate contact between them. The bodybuilder has got himself a sexy, dark pouch with a chain for the waistband, and one of the assistants actually seems to be putting him into it. It's a daring ingredient, albeit well-disguised by a confusing arrangement of hands.
The blond changes his clothes, unassisted. There's a sense of his friend getting all the attention, being pampered and hero worshipped. He's playing up to it, too, striking a god-like beefcake pose with modest downcast eyes. His blond buddy does not seem too dismayed or jealous about it. He is, perhaps, proud of his friend changing from a clumsy, ugly duckling into a swan. Interestingly, his beefcake pose resembles the ballet dancer's 'petit pose' and this conjures up another swan connection - 'Swan Lake', which is also about transformations. However, the Black Swan in that ballet plays a very dark role.
There's no doubt about this image being part of the 'Universe' set, it was explicitly labelled as such (with title) in Scan issue 8, circa August 1961. The distinctive chain pouch helps to assign other, later images to this set. Apart from these, I know of only two other instances in Tom's work where this pouch design is featured. One is in Beach Boys No 2 (1972) where a leather-pouched sun-bather wreaks havoc amongst the straight crowds. The other is a single image included in the mitchmen 'Tailor Group' article (previously referenced in Part 1 of Mr Universe). That one is not part of this set either, the pouch is white and it's being worn in a studio setting, suggesting a porn star being dressed or fluffed up for participation in something very different. Interestingly, though, it's another 'connected' image dated as 1963 in the Tom of Finland Retrospective Vol 1, but the Universe image above is definitely 1961.
Notice the number 1 written in the bottom left corner. This may offer an explanation of the 1961 v 1963 date confusion. That the later images in Part 1 were post-scripts, prequels if you like, inspired by and elaborating on the run-up to the contest. That doesn't explain image 3, however, which is indistinguishable in style and provenance from the group presented here.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 09 |
The boys strut their stuff on the competition stage.
Obviously this is only a fragment of the full image and although it didn't appear until later (in 101 Boys Art Quarterly for Summer 1965), it did so alongside other fragments from the Universe series so it's almost certainly part of it. There wasn't much mileage for Tom in drawing beefcake posing when the magazines were awash with photographs of the real thing, so it's not entirely surprising that no copies of the full image have been found. The cropping here might lead you to suppose that Tom spiced it up with some provocative, costume detail deemed too daring to show. However, this publication seems to have used cropping widely and arbitrarily, perhaps to evade copyright challenges.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 10 |
Needless to say, one of the two boys is fated to win the contest. It turns out to be the blond who has appeared to be the more confident and polished one throughout the (my) story. In a flip of image 8, it's now him who is being feted (with exceptional generosity) by his beaten rivals. Tom uses an unconventional viewpoint at the rear of the stage which shows the enormous, equally excited audience almost clamouring to get on the stage with them. This is the era of pop star adulation, remember, with screaming '
Beatlemania' just around the corner.
Tom's backstage viewpoint also shows us the backsides of the bodybuilders, who are all, as expected, wearing very skimpy costumes, halfway to being backless thongs. Their two-man lift has parted the blond's legs (and butt cheeks) creating an extremely suggestive view (the serial croppers at '101 Boys' printed an unsubtle fragment of this specific area framed only by a glimpse of supporting shoulders). Despite this sexy detail, the image was used to advertise the series in Scan 9 (Nov 1961).
However, the version above is not the complete image.....
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 10 (version 2) |
This version of the victor's celebration was used to promote the series later, in Man Alive #19 (Mar 1962). It reveals that the blond's dark-haired buddy is watching the proceedings from one side and looking defeated, disappointed and envious.
Notice the lines top and bottom that seem to suggest this version was meant to be cropped as well. However, the extra detail is an important link to what follows. The accompanying blurb talks portentously of 'back-stage struggles'.
Notice the Number '3' in the bottom corner of this picture (following the No 1 in image 8).
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 11 |
As the competitors leave the stage, there's an extraordinary confrontation between the two buddies. The darker one attacks his friend, clamping a hand over his mouth as if he's just made some gloating, disparaging remark about him or perhaps disclosed a secret. The cherished trophy is sent flying. This sudden animosity is entirely unexpected*.
But look what is happening at waist level! He's pulling the blond into a tight embrace, which doesn't suggest their friendship is in any danger. Both their pouches are swollen and nestling together in a remarkably explicit sexual statement for it's time.
The attacker's knee is raised between his friend's thighs, which might be an angry ball-bashing attack, but in reality it seems to be more about contacting his groin and prising his legs open. This detail might just be Tom milking the erotic potential of the scene, but it also seems like an echo of what the loser has just watched other men do to his buddy in image 10. Also, it may be my over-active imagination, but the blond's six-pack seems to have taken on the shape of a giant penis. There's certainly a remarkably strong line tracing down his body to his buddy's groin.
*Perhaps his annoyance is less surprising if you discount the introductory, character developing images and narrative which I assembled for Part 1. A comment posted here while I was composing this commentary says the set was originally called 'Beating Mr Universe' which implies he's probably just a sore loser. These days we could just blame steroids.
There may have been some cropping of his image, but disembodied hands reaching towards the sexy subject of the picture were a popular device at this time. You can see them in Etienne's calendar images and there's a similar 'off-stage' presence in Harry Bush's surfer pictures. Perhaps it's reflecting the cruel plight of men in the 60's who suffered from forbidden desires and were doomed to a life of hiding in perpetual frustration.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 12 |
The bystanders drag the two combatants apart. While they glare at each other, the darker one gets a gratuitous groping. It's clear he still has plenty of admirers, the two on either side of him match those seen in image 8*.
Darkie is revealed to have a giant bulge in his pouch, but it's not clear whether it's because of his feelings for his buddy or because of the guy cupping his pecs and furtively snuggling up to his uncovered backside.
The blond on the right seems poised to attack or repel one. This pose can be seen in other fight images by Tom. It's not particularly interesting, but Tom has cleverly positioned his fist in a suggestive position close to the crotch of one of his rival's supporters.
*Tom's
fastidious attention to detailing the supporting cast as individuals and regular guys of ambiguous sexuality is one of the
joys of his older work. In later years, they tended to become leather clones or cops, which were more or less equivalents.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 13 |
Relative peace descends and the antagonists return to their post-contest routines, showering off the posing oil and stage grime. Nevertheless, the sense of animosity lingers on. The dark-haired guy has stripped off his 'costume' and is grimly grasping it, as if contemplating using its chains as a flail. He appears to be looking in the direction of his former pal who has just emerged from the shower, but his eyes are closed (or closing) in response to some distracting pampering from one of his loyal acolytes. The masseur appears to be squatting astride his right leg, in a typically ambiguous Tom juxtaposition that appears to suggest his mind is on a service he might like his hero to provide for him. The blond looks on with just the faintest trace of a smile on his face.
The chain pouch confirms this to be part of the 'Universe' series. The picture is taken from 101 Boys Autumn '68, so it sheds no light on the dating of the series.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 14 |
While the blond finishes dressing, cramming his bits into incredibly tight jeans, his dark haired buddy creeps up behind him and pinches the trophy. I'm giving his motives the benefit of the doubt in not using the word 'stealing', influenced in part by his suddenly boyish appearance and cheeky grin. I can't say whether Tom intended it to be seen that way.
You'll notice there's a considerable presence in his jeans, perhaps he's excited by his own daring here, or perhaps it's the result of all the attention he was getting in the last picture. But even that excitement and the enticing ass before him does not deflect him from his villainy.
This is another image I have reassembled from two 'bleeding chunks' published in the same issue (!) of 101 Boys, Summer '65. It's pretty obvious where the join is. The little statuette that tops the contest trophy (see image 10) can just be glimpsed between the blond's legs. That's a nice, little innuendo that is satirical as well as erotic if you think about it. Thankfully, the cropping just manages to preserve it. In addition, you can just about see that the leather guy's hand is gripping one of the handles.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 15 |
The thief emerges from the contest hall to be greeted by the assembled ranks of the press corps and fans eagerly awaiting a glimpse of their victorious hero. Their expressions of shock and horror tell us exactly what they think about being presented instead with a contestant who didn't even make the top 3 (see image 10). He looks annoyingly cute and confident too!
Is that all there is?, you say. 'Fraid so but we must be grateful for this small mercy from Boys 101 (yet again), for at least preserving this much. It resolves the issue of motivation, the guy just craves attention and adulation. The top of a head, just below the trophy, suggests a kneeling press-man who will probably be seeming to give it to him, by performing intimate tasks.
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| Tom of Finland - Mr Universe 16 |
The disappointed crowd turn on the misguided imposter and strip him of his clothing. This reveals a formidable physique that arguably justifies his disappointment at not winning*. It's possible that this revenge is triggered by the blond himself following him out and confronting him (see the middle head of the trio at the back). The ill-gained trophy falls to the ground yet again, helpfully linking this image into the series.
*Interestingly, AMG ran a little article alongside images from this set, reporting allegations of 'result fixing' in real bodybuilding contests, but not endorsing them.
This image would surely have been the best of the set in uncropped form and original quality. For once this copy isn't taken from the 101 Boys Art Quarterly, but from John Barrington's 'The Tom Album' (1974). The drawing style of the boy on the right closely resembles the characters in an early 1959 biker series which surfaced a few years ago.
~
In Tom's normal vocabulary of this period, image 16 would probably not have been the final image in his series. We would have seen the trophy restored to it's rightful owner and the miscreant doing penance in some way, possibly by way of a spanking or by grovelling before his better. If such an image exists, I haven't been able to find it but I live in hope.
In all we have 9 images (or parts) which can reliably attributed to the 1961 set out of the supposed 12.
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