Etienne's - The Plumber

 This article features an Etienne image that seems to be the predecessor of his 'Bath Nite' storyette. 

Etienne - The Plumber

 

This is the most complete copy I have of the picture, others have outer detail cropped off. However, it is marred by a scratch/crease line across the background character, which the others aren't. 

 

This picture doesn't have a title, even in the Kris Catalogue, where it is simply labelled as 'E56'. It's clearly not another 'Bath Nite', however. This plumber seems to have been called in to deal with some major pipework problems, but he too has managed to drench himself. He's taken off his clothes and hung them on the line above while he sorts out the problem, entirely naked.

 

Enter the owner, or maybe it's his foreman. He stands, looking very dissatisfied, with hands on hips, which seems to confirm the plumber has made a hash of things. The plumber seems to think the new arrival is more interested in his nakedness than his work, and doesn't seem the least bit concerned about it!

 

Like the final image in Bath Nite, this picture has something of a split personality. The man in the background seems to have been added in as an afterthought and not very well integrated. He's not actually looking at the plumber, but at us, like a posing model. In addition, there's a sort of halo around his entire body, making it seem as if he doesn't 'belong'. His feet seem to be hovering above the ground, whereas the plumber is grounded very convincingly. However, this image was taken from a contemporary magazine 'Fizeek Art Quarterly', so it must be authentic (?) 

 

The explanation may lie in another version, which I discovered not long ago at the 'Tim in Vermont' website (now defunct, sadly).

 

 

Etienne - The Plumber (coloured)

Here there are two on-lookers, and they obscure the staircase detail in a way that makes you look back and question that element of the black and white version too. Is this the original image then?

 

 I must admit, I have my doubts about the integrity of this image, too. Etienne often seems to have painted many of his original images, so the colour element is not surprising. He also depicted explicit details, with sanitised copies for general publication, so that's fine too. This picture contains a considerable amount of detail on the right side, which is not present in the black and white version. All of which stakes a claim to it being more authentic. 

 

In the black and white image, the spectator seemed the least convincing detail. The two seen here fit in more convincingly in purely technical terms, but don't create much of a narrative, which you would expect from an Etienne picture. Perhaps they are the cowboys who caused the problem and had to call in the plumber. But they are not even looking at him. Apart from this, the styling of their faces is more life-like than the plumber's and his 'appendage' for that matter has all the hallmarks of an 'add-on'. 

 

 I think the underlying colour imagery here probably is original by Etienne, but I suspect the spectators are a later alteration, possibly by Etienne himself, who was known to revise older imagery (see Sailors Beware!) but was not always scrupulously correct about consistency. 

 

The arrangement of the two spectators here actually makes a striking parallel to the poses of the men in the (supposedly later) Bath Nite 6. It's tempting to see this as a cross-over revision.

 

All this begs the question, what did the original version of this picture actually look like? The best answer is the illustration in the Kris Catalogue and I have to say it looks identical to the black and white image above, although it's not possible to be sure about facial expressions and eye-lines. It also has the extra width of the coloured image. 

 

~ 

 

Other Etienne posts at mitchmen

Etienne - Bath Nite (Updated Sat 22 Feb))

UPDATE Sat 22nd Feb

I have updated this article with two 'missing' pictures found at the 'Exclusively Etienne' Google Group. Thanks to them for the valuable resource. 

 

Plumbers come and go in Gay iconography. We tend to assign a rough masculinity to all manual workmen by default, but plumbers routinely gain admittance to our most private areas, prompting all sorts of erotic possibilities. The nature of their job and its association with spanners, pipes and fluid flow makes for plenty of innuendo and jolly puns. 

 

These days, gay interest seems to lie primarily in the voyeuristic spectacle they offer, whilst fiddling under the sink...

 

Plumber by jk

 Etienne's mid-60s storyette, 'Bath Nite', ca 1965, takes the 'home invasion' ingredient much further. The Kris catalogue shows 6 pictures in the set, all but 1 of them have come down to us in reasonably clear quality.

 

 

Etienne - Bath Nite 1 - Trouble In The Shower

 In this picture, a muscle hunk discovers he has got a blockage in his shower pipes. The switch is set to 'On', but all he gets is a drip.

 

 Most of us hate a wet shower curtain clinging to our bodies, but here it handily covers his naughty bits. 

 

The hunk's, slightly odd but suggestive, open legged pose seen here occurs in other Etienne images too. I wonder if it's connected with his experience as a ballet dancer.

 

 

Etienne - Bath Nite 2 - Professional Assistance

The plumber arrives, responding to the hunk's call for help. The workman cuts quite a roguish figure in his rakish cap and coat casually slung over his shoulder, a confident, showy devil*. His skimpy, tight-fitting polo shirt, reveals a tattoo on his bare arm and bulging jeans confirm his butch credentials. No wonder the hunk has dropped his towel! He looks round at him with an appraising eye, limply pointing out the dripping (and suggestive) shower head! 

  

*I suppose you might read more boastfulness into his trading name 'A1 (or top class) Plumber', but it was a standard way of getting a business to the top of telephone listings in pre-Internet days. 

 

The dense, ill-defined shading of this copy may be because the original was painted (i.e. in colour) and not drawn. 

 

Etienne - Bath Nite 3 - Slight Miscalculation

A minor tweak of a spanner (it seems) is all it takes to unexpectedly unleash a jet of water, drenching the plumber and knocking him to the floor. For some reason, his belt has come unbuckled and partly detached from his pants, which also look undone at the fly. Has there just been some hanky-panky distracting him from his task? The hunk's smile might suggest so. 

 

The plumber looks more jock-like and handsome here - vulnerable too, like a regular guy. It's the hunk's turn to look roguish as he closes the door. Has he contrived this unfortunate accident - or is he just an opportunist?

 

Notice that the size difference between the two men is disguising a simulated contact between the plumbers boot and the hunk's thigh, exactly at crotch level. There's a reciprocal arrangement involving the plumber's (wide open) crotch and hunk's knee being at the same height. 

  

Etienne - Bath Nite 4 - Beyond Repair

I've had to resort to enlarging the catalogue thumbnail here. It looks as if the clumsy plumber has wrought more serious damage to the shower than it appears in the previous picture. There seems to be a hole in the wall with dripping pipework where the shower head was before. There's also a pile of rubble? at the hunk's feet as he stoops to pick up the shower head and its (hitherto unseen) feed pipe. 

The plumber in the foreground wrings out his jeans, looking very wet or very embarrassed - or both. His muscular arms and the perky cap (back in place on his head), add a nice tweak to his manly embarrassment. However, the shape seen in his wet underwear might suggest that it's the not just his mistake, but the sight of the hunk's bare backside, that is causing his consternation. He's taken off his boots to facilitate the removal of his jeans, so he obviously not that flustered! That enables Etienne to include a typical detail of oversized feet in slack socks.

 

Etienne - Bath Nite 5 - Off With The Wet

At this point, the plumber has lost his underpants altogether, they are hanging on the line behind, together with his jeans. His last sock is in the process of being peeled off his foot, by the hunk, who is holding it up in a very servant-like way.

 

 The still-dripping plumber looks as if he's going to take off his polo shirt and is clearly not the least embarrassed about his exposed crotch, because his legs are wide open. Nice legs they are too (Etienne's ballet heritage again). Plus generously sized feet.

The plumber's roguish, toughness seems to have reasserted itself here, his cap is symbolically back on his head. He appears to be resting his right foot on one of his own boots, pushing it into the hunk's crotch. The response of the hunk is obscured by a wet sock, but there's something else going on just behind the boot and sock, which I can't make out... Irrespective of this, there's plainly an erotic interaction going on.

 

Etienne - Bath Nite 6 - The Solution

In the end, the hunk gets his shower, thanks to the magnanimous, muscular plumber sprinkling him from a (very camp!) watering can. The tattoo on his arm reveals him to be called Bud, which mellows his hypermasculine aura in an attractive way. 

The hunk lounges contentedly, his legs unashamedly open (ballet style again) and in a position to receive a playful splashing onto his groin - and much else, I dare say!  He is clearly conscious that Bud's dick is lurking just behind his head and within touching distance of his clasped hands. There's a dark shadow to the left of Bud's 'treasure trail' which may be screening a glimpse of something naughty. 

This sexy, bath tub pose is probably inspired by (if not copied from) a 60s beefcake picture in the AMG set of Wally Schillicut bathing*. Etienne has drawn the image well, but the departure from the free flowing, 'drawn from the imagination' style of the rest of the picture, and indeed the rest of the set, jars a little.  

*More of Wally Schillicut and other vintage hunks in bathtubs 

(link pending)

~ 

The 'Bath Nite' entry in Kris Catalogue No 2

 

 ~

This plumbing story has a predecessor image, also by Etienne, from about 3 years earlier, in 1962. It's clearly the prototype for 'Bath Nite' but tells a slightly different story. 

View Etienne's 'The Plumber'

Other Etienne posts at mitchmen
 

AI Art by DirtyMocchaBB -1

DirtyMocchaBB - I Think We Look Real Good

 

A nice group of real, hunky cowboys.
They find new arrivals irresistible.
(Provided they look just like them). 

Such is life! 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - I Have Been Waiting For This Moment (1)

This construction site opportunist is more open.
About both his preferences and intentions! 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - I Have Been Waiting For This Moment (2)

The unlikeliness of seducing this handsome prey, in broad daylight, on a building site makes you imagine there must be some disreputable leverage at work. But we all have our kinks, preferences

  - and skeletons in our closet.

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - Please Queue Up While I Clean Your Body

Perhaps this sexy, building sight ritual has something to do with it.

The men look as if they put up with it just to please the boss. 

He wants his hunky workers to look clean and smart.

But, it's also a good excuse to get close up and personal. 

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - You Asked For It

 The boss of this office seems to have similar odd ideas about keeping his staff clean. It's bad enough when the office cleaners come in and sweep up while you're working. When they come in to vacuum you personally, it's far more distracting. 

And more than a little disturbing

 

You can see this operative is single-minded, not about to let project deadlines deflect him from his allotted task. This employee must submit to being cleaned! I suspect the underwear exposure (and vacuuming that will follow, down under) is a gratuitous punishment for resisting. 

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - This is the beginning

All controversial office procedures have the same ambiguity baked in: just whose benefit is this for, exactly? 

 

The artist's caption is even more doom-laden than mine. It looks as if there's not going to be much privacy allowed either. I wouldn't want to be in Peterson's shoes, but I wouldn't mind making a tactile check inside his shirt!

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - I Feel Fit And Good

This worker looks shell-shocked. Not wanting to be found lacking in the breast scan, he took a triple dose of muscle enhancement powder last night. Now he wonders if it was a trifle hasty. 

Like AG-Rens Transformers, he's busting out all over.  

 

Not only that, his shorts, worn at the boss's insistence, are now so tight that they are extremely uncomfortable to sit in. But if he stands up, they are going to become an irresistible homing beacon for his wandering hands.  

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - Worship My Feet

I can't say if this is an employee perk or the exploitation of a PA. You never can tell. The AI construction of the boss's figure is a bit off, but I couldn't resist that splendidly, face-smothering foot and the open crotch beyond. Tight, grey suits are almost obscenely erotic.

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - You Seem A Little Lost, Can I Help You?

 

It's easy to get confused when you join a new organisation, but Dale was completely flummoxed when the boss relieved him of his shirt at their first meeting and strapped a collar round his neck. It wasn't how he thought Office hierarchies worked.

 

It was so unexpected after he'd been give a welcoming drink of fresh coffee. Everyone else gave him the lousy stuff out of the machine, but the boss prepared one from scratch, just for him. Afterwards, he felt unable to resist his instructions for some reason. 

 

Despite his compliant mood, however, he just couldn't bring himself to take off his trousers. He got as far as undoing the top button, then froze. Something from his upbringing wouldn't let him do it.

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - Oh No, My Briefs Are Showing!

"Never mind" purred the boss, "I obviously miscalculated your dose. But I'm happy to do it for you, as you are such a promising prospect". He knelt and slowly undid Dale's zip.

 

 "Nice red briefs" he commented, "but I'm afraid only white underpants are permitted in this office. I'll have to confiscate them, but you can come back for them, when you finish work. I'll even put them back on for you". 

 

"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir", Dale replied obediently, not realising he'd be using that phrase a lot during the end of day review, which he hadn't been told about yet.

 

 Some of this artist's captions are priceless, others simply baffling!

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - Come On, Give In

 This was one such daily review, I'm told, though reportedly not much work was discussed. There's a marvellous controlling strength in the boss man here. I dread to think what the title means, the poor wretch in the wheelbarrow position seems to have 'given in' quite a lot already. The sacrifices one makes for career advancement! 

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - I Need A Ride

It was not unknown for the long-suffering (male) citizens to be relieved of their clothing on their way home. Everyone else on the train looked the other way, of course, calculating that the poor sap would need to borrow money or cadge a lift from someone, and it certainly wasn't going to be them driving a naked man home. That's the effect commuting has on gayest and kindest of men.

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - You Are Arousing Me

 

Seemingly good Samaritans sometimes offered a hand,

but often turned out to want payment in kind. 

Or payment in pants, you might say.

 

 

DirtyMocchaBB - My Neighbour Says He Loves My Tan Lines

Even in their own homes, men were not safe. The creeping criminalisation of secret, voyeuristic, picture-taking drove those addicted to the sport out into the open. There was no law that forbade brazenly man-watching someone on his own property (paparazzi-style). Just as long as they didn't touch and didn't publish anything, the police regarded any complaint as just a 'domestic'. 

 

DirtyMocchaBB -Two Cowboys, Hot and Hunky

 

I'm closing this selection with another cowboy picture that is sensuous, romantic and very erotic. The styling may be pure AI, but it's created colours and texturing that make the picture memorable in its own right. One for the living room wall.

More DirtyMocchaBB in Part 2 

DirtyMocchaBB posts at Deviant Art 

 

Mitchell's Roofers

Based on the AI-images of 'dures annees'

 

Part of my series of collected images which visualise a world where men have to wear short shorts whatever their age or job. 

 

The Roofing Profession comes under the spotlight here. 

 They suffer the inevitable consequences.

Some, but not all, of these images have been published at 'X' 

 

Roofers - 1

Being in the public eye was uncomfortable for some.

 

Roofers - 2

 

Others made the best of it.

 

Roofers - 3

Not everyone was free to make their own choices.

 

 

Roofers - 4

 

Roofers - 5

Roofers - 6

C'est la vie!

Mitchell - Soldiers, shorts and sexiness

Mitchell - Builder Press-Ganged

A construction site workman is arrested by a Military Policeman after a struggle that has resulted in most of his clothes being ripped off. Interestingly, the cop is tying his hands with rope rather than clapping handcuffs on him. The workman does not seem to find his predicament very worrying, on the contrary, he's positively excited by it*. Perhaps he does not realise that he has been selected for conscription into the expanding British Army and a taste of military discipline is coming his way. The MP's choice was not entirely random, of course, he could not resist the hunky man doing manual work in tight white vest and jeans. Predictably, the Policeman's own shorts are somewhat briefer and tighter than normal military issue, but who wants normal?

 *Unlike some parts of the world, British people find Military personnel a lot less threatening than civilian police. 

~ 

 This picture has many connections which date it (rather damningly from my point of view!). The central figure with the ripped vest was inspired by a 'Zipper #31' beefcake model called 'Giano', I think. He posed on a board looking very wet, but I can't find him in my back files for the moment (and thanks to Google's latest 'improvements' to its search engine, it's now disappeared off the face of the earth, until such time as a copy pops up for sale on e-bay). Any offers of help to find him?

Mike Arlen - Military Arrest

The Military Policeman (and to some extent the whole image) was inspired by Mike Arlen's photo-series about an MP arresting a suspected Arab insurgent and being seduced by him (above). 

Arlen's work in this genre and the military shorts, link back in turn to the Royale Studio military imagery of the 50s/60s.

~ 

For more pictures by Mitchell at this blog, click on the 'mitchpix' label below 

Dr Smith 2 - Mike the Construction Worker

Dr Smith has some strange obsessions with manipulating his patients (see Part 1) 
His encounter with Mike the Construction Worker is one of the most sinister - and memorable.

1

Mike is taken to Dr Smith's clinic by his site Foreman, after falling from a girder into a sandpit.

He tells the Doctor that he's hurt his abdomen and his knee is a painful as f**k. 

 

2

 

Dr Smith immediately gives him a powerful painkiller. 

So powerful, in fact, that Mike quickly becomes sleepy and groggy.

 

 

3

 Smith tells him to take off his clothes, but he's unable to get any further than his helmet. 

"I'll help you", Smith says, and picks up a pair of scissors.

 

 

4

 

Cut open from top to bottom, Mike's T-shirt falls from his shoulders.

Smith hastily clears it away, holding on to Mike, so his sedated state doesn't make him fall.

 

 

5

Smith is seduced by Mike's enticing torso and sweaty workman's odours.

He sniffs his shoulders and runs his hands over his contours in a sensuous examination.

Mike is 90% out of it and doesn't realise it's not quite professional.

 

 

6

 

Eager for more, Smith tells Mike to take off his jeans, 

ostensibly so he can examine his injured knee. 

Mike tries to comply, but he doesn't get far before he swoons again.

 

 

7

 

Smith gently lays him flat on the examination table and jiggles his jeans down.

Then he roughly jerks off them off his legs and casts them aside.

 

 

8

Mike's underpants are very workmanlike - well-used and dirty, but Smith is undeterred.

Eagerly, he sides his hand up between Mike's thighs - as high as he can dare.

 

 

9

But when he tries to slide his palm inside the waistband,

Mike comes to and, smelling a rat, insists the Doctor attends to his knee. 

 

10

Aware that Mike's Foreman is waiting for him outside, the Doctor complies.

He promises to call in at Mike's house in a day or two to see how he is recovering.

It's a special favour for him.

 

 

11

Mike goes home to rest his body, relax and get better.

It's hot, sweaty weather, so he strips down to keep cool. 

 

12

 

 True to his word, the Doctor turns up on his doorstep a few days later.

He explains he was just passing and asks if he can come in.

 

 

13

The Doctor is touchy-feely as Mike explains that he still has some pain.

Smith encourages him to take his shorts off so he can examine his knee (que?)

 

 

14

Mike kicks off his shorts and obediently sits on the settee. 

But once his back is turned, the Doctor attacks him with a chloroform pad.

(Note interesting foreground juxtaposition)

 

 

15

Mike resists strongly and succeeds in making a grab for his phone at one point.

But the Doctor comes back at him and eventually has the handsome hunk 'out for the count'.

Now, at last, he's completely at his mercy.

 

Continued in Part 2

 ~

See the plot storybook and video link for Mike sees Dr Smith at Film 911

Read Part 1 of this series about Dr Smith