Bob Mizer: Difference between revisions

Bob Mizer
Bob Mizer
	Mizer at 20
Born	Robert Henry Mizer; March 27, 1922; Hailey, Idaho, U.S.
Died	May 12, 1992 (aged 70); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Known for	Photography, film
Website	bobmizer.org

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Robert Henry Mizer (March 27, 1922 – May 12, 1992)^[1] was an American photographer and filmmaker, known for pushing boundaries of depicting male homoerotic content with his work in the mid 20th century.^[2]

Biography[edit]

Bob Mizer's earliest photographs appeared in 1942, in both color and black and white. He began his photography career apprenticing with former silent film star Frederick Kovert, who operated a physique studio in Hollywood.^[3]

In spite of societal expectations and pressure from law enforcement, Mizer built a veritable empire on his beefcake photographs and films. He established the influential studio, the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) in 1945, but by the time he published the first issue of Physique Pictorial he was operating the studio on his own at his home near downtown Los Angeles. He photographed thousands of men, building a collection that includes nearly two million different images and thousands of films and videotapes.^[4]

In the 1950s, several photographers were doing similar work, such as Alonzo Hanagan (Lon of New York) in New York City, Douglas Juleff (Douglas of Detroit) in Michigan, Don Whitman (of Western Photography Guild) in Denver, Colorado, Russ Warner (in Oakland, California), and Bruce Bellas (Bruce of Los Angeles) in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Mizer continued to pursue his vision, influencing artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and David Hockney.^[5] Over time he captured on film the career beginnings of a number of soon-to-be Hollywood actors, including Glenn Corbett, Tab Hunter and Dennis Cole.

Examples of Mizer's work are now held by esteemed educational and cultural institutions the world over, and can be found in various books, galleries, and private art collections. New York University’s 80 Washington Square East Gallery presented what it called "the first major institutional solo presentation of Bob Mizer’s work to be shown anywhere in the world" in early 2014, where artists Bruce Yonemoto, Karen Finley and Vaginal Davis added to NYU's scholarship on Mizer. The New York Times reported that the exhibition "makes a good case for [Mizer] as an artist with interests and imagination considerably more expansive than what his popular reputation suggests."^[5]

In 1999, Beefcake, a docudrama directed by Thom Fitzgerald, was produced, inspired by a picture book by F. Valentine Hooven III (published by Taschen).

Legal challenges[edit]

Mizer was repeatedly targeted by authorities in relation to his trade in photographs and film. In 1945, he was visited by US postal inspectors, who searched his room and found "dirty pictures", but he avoided prosecution. Mizer was investigated again in 1947 after a man told police that Mizer had sold him nude photographs. As a result of the investigation, Mizer was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, after it was found he had taken nude photographs of a seventeen-year-old, James Maynor. He was sentenced to six months at a prison farm in Saugus, California.^[6]

Mizer used a set of codes to record information about the temperament, physical characteristics, and sexual proclivities of AMG models, and covertly shared this information with photographers and others to whom he would loan out models. This practice led to an arrest by the Los Angeles vice squad for running a prostitution ring. He was convicted, and author Jeffrey Escoffier speculates that he was imprisoned for part of 1968 as a result, explaining a lapse in the run of Physique Pictorial that year.^[7]

Films[edit]

Mizer produced over 3,000 film titles from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. In August 1980, he began using the then-new technology of VHS, and recorded over 7500 hours of his photo sessions until his death in 1992.

Partial filmography[edit]

Advice Without Consent (1955)
Alladin (1956)
Andy & The Angry Mummy (1963)
Motorcycle Thief (1958)
Love 2001 (1970)
Joe Dallesandro Posing (1966)
Tijuana Bandit (1964)

References[edit]

As of November 19, 2011, this article is derived in whole or in part from Bob Mizer Foundation. The copyright holder has licensed the content in a manner that permits reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed. The original text was at "Biography"

^ "Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild and Physique Pictorial | One Archives". one.usc.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
^ "Beyond the Muscle". East of Borneo. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
^ Johnson, David K. (2019). Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement (eBook ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-231-54817-5.
^ Hanson, Dian, 2009. Bob's World: The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer. Köln, Germany: Taschen; ISBN 978-3-8365-1230-5, p. 19.
^ ^a ^b "Beyond Beefcake in the Work of a Gay Pioneer", The New York Times, January 10, 2014
^ Johnson, David K. (2019). Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement (eBook ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-231-54817-5.
^ Escoffier, Jeffrey (2009). Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore. Running Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0786747535.

External links[edit]

[1] "Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild and Physique Pictorial | One Archives". one.usc.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2023.

[:0-2] "Beyond the Muscle". East of Borneo. Retrieved July 31, 2018.

[3] Johnson, David K. (2019). Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement (eBook ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-231-54817-5.

[4] Hanson, Dian, 2009. Bob's World: The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer. Köln, Germany: Taschen; ISBN 978-3-8365-1230-5, p. 19.

[nytimes-5] "Beyond Beefcake in the Work of a Gay Pioneer", The New York Times, January 10, 2014

[6] Johnson, David K. (2019). Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement (eBook ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-231-54817-5.

[7] Escoffier, Jeffrey (2009). Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore. Running Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0786747535.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|American photographer and filmmaker}}
+{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
 {{Infobox artist
 | name = Bob Mizer
 | image = BobMizer.jpg
+| caption = Mizer at 20
-| image_size = 167px
+| birth_name = Robert Henry Mizer
-| caption = Bob Mizer at 20 years old by [[Bob Mizer Foundation]].
-| birth_name = Robert Henry Mizer.
 | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|3|27|mf=y}}
-| birth_place = [[Hailey, Idaho]], [[United States]]
+| birth_place = [[Hailey, Idaho]], U.S.
 | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|5|12|1922|3|27|mf=y}}
+| death_place = [[Los Angeles, California]], U.S.
-| nationality = American
+| website = {{URL|BobMizer.org}}
-| field = [[Photography]]
+| known_for = Photography, film
-| occupation = [[Photographer]], [[Film director]], [[Film producer|producer]], [[screenwriter]]
-| website = http://www.BobMizerFoundation.org
 }}
+'''Robert Henry Mizer''' (March 27, 1922 – May 12, 1992)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild and Physique Pictorial {{!}} One Archives |url=https://one.usc.edu/archive-location/bob-mizers-athletic-model-guild-and-physique-pictorial |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=one.usc.edu}}</ref> was an American photographer and filmmaker, known for pushing boundaries of depicting male [[homoeroticism|homoerotic]] content with his work in the mid 20th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://eastofborneo.org/articles/beyond-the-muscle/|title=Beyond the Muscle|work=East of Borneo|access-date=July 31, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
-'''Robert Henry Mizer''' (March 27, 1922 – May 12, 1992), known as '''Bob Mizer''', was an American [[photographer]] and [[filmmaker]] who was known for pushing societal boundaries in his work. Bob Mizer’s' earliest photographs appeared in 1942, in both color and black and white, but his career was catapulted into infamy in 1947 when he was convicted of the unlawful distribution of obscene material through the US mail. The material in question was a series of black and white photographs, taken by Mizer, of young bodybuilders wearing what were known as posing straps — a precursor to the G-string. He would serve a nine-month prison sentence at a work camp in Saugus, California for what now seems tame. At the time, however, the mere suggestion of male nudity was not only frowned upon, but also illegal.
+==Biography==
-In spite of societal expectations and pressure from law enforcement, Mizer would go on to build a veritable empire on his beefcake photographs and films. He established the influential studio, the [[Athletic Model Guild]] (AMG) in 1945 with one or more heretofore unidentified partners, but by the time he published the first issue of Physique Pictorial he was operating the studio on his own. With assistance from his mother, Delia, and his brother, Joe, he would go on to photograph thousands of men, building a collection that includes nearly one million different images and thousands of films and videotapes.<ref>Hanson, Dian, 2009. ''Bob's World: The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer''. Koln, [[Germany]]: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-1230-5, p. 19.</ref>
+Bob Mizer's earliest photographs appeared in 1942, in both color and black and white. He began his photography career apprenticing with former silent film star [[Frederick Kovert]], who operated a physique studio in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=David K. Johnson|last=Johnson |first=David K. |title=Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement| location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-231-54817-5|edition=eBook|page=53}}</ref>
+In spite of societal expectations and pressure from law enforcement, Mizer built a veritable empire on his [[beefcake]] photographs and films. He established the influential studio, the [[Athletic Model Guild]] (AMG) in 1945, but by the time he published the first issue of ''[[Physique Pictorial]]'' he was operating the studio on his own at his home near [[downtown Los Angeles]]. He photographed thousands of men, building a collection that includes nearly two million different images and thousands of films and videotapes.<ref>Hanson, Dian, 2009. ''Bob's World: The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer''. [[Köln]], Germany: Taschen; {{ISBN|978-3-8365-1230-5}}, p. 19.</ref>
-Despite all of the trouble that he faced, Mizer continued on in the pursuit of his vision, influencing artists as varied as [[Robert Mapplethorpe]], [[David Hockney]], and [[Gore Vidal]]. Examples of his work are now held by esteemed educational and cultural institutions the world over, and can be found in various books, galleries, and private art collections.
+In the 1950s, several photographers were doing similar work, such as [[Alonzo Hanagan]] (Lon of New York) in New York City, Douglas Juleff (Douglas of Detroit) in Michigan, Don Whitman (of Western Photography Guild) in Denver, Colorado, [[Russ Warner]] (in Oakland, California), and [[Bruce Bellas]] (Bruce of Los Angeles) in Los Angeles.{{cn|date=September 2023}}
-__TOC__
-{{clear}}
+Mizer continued to pursue his vision, influencing artists like [[Robert Mapplethorpe]] and [[David Hockney]].<ref name=nytimes>[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/arts/design/devotion-excavating-bob-mizer-at-nyus-80wse.html?_r=0 "Beyond Beefcake in the Work of a Gay Pioneer"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 10, 2014</ref> Over time he captured on film the career beginnings of a number of soon-to-be Hollywood actors, including [[Glenn Corbett]], [[Tab Hunter]] and [[Dennis Cole]].
-==Filmography==
-Bob Mizer produced over 3000 film titles from the early 1950s to the early 1980s.  In August 1980, he began using the then-new technology of videotape, and recorded over 7500 hours of his photo sessions until his death in 1992.
-'''Selected Filmography'''
-*''Advice Without Consent''  (1955)
-*''Alladin''  (1956)
-*''Andy & The Angry Mummy''  (1963)
-*''Motorcycle Thief''  (1958)
-*''Love 2001''  (1970)
-*''Joe Dallesandro Posing''  (1966)
-*''Tijuana Bandit''  (1964)
+Examples of Mizer's work are now held by esteemed educational and cultural institutions the world over, and can be found in various books, galleries, and private art collections. [[New York University]]’s 80 Washington Square East Gallery presented what it called "the first major institutional solo presentation of Bob Mizer’s work to be shown anywhere in the world" in early 2014, where artists [[Bruce Yonemoto]], [[Karen Finley]] and [[Vaginal Davis]] added to NYU's scholarship on Mizer. ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that the exhibition "makes a good case for [Mizer] as an artist with interests and imagination considerably more expansive than what his popular reputation suggests."<ref name=nytimes />
-== References ==
-{{Dual|source=Bob Mizer Foundation|sourcepath=http://www.bobmizer.org/bob-mizer/biography/|sourcearticle=Biography|date=19 November 2011}}
+In 1999, ''[[Beefcake (film)|Beefcake]]'', a [[docudrama]] directed by [[Thom Fitzgerald]], was produced, inspired by a picture book by F. Valentine Hooven III (published by [[Taschen]]).
+==Legal challenges==
+Mizer was repeatedly targeted by authorities in relation to his trade in photographs and film. In 1945, he was visited by US postal inspectors, who searched his room and found "dirty pictures", but he avoided prosecution. Mizer was investigated again in 1947 after a man told police that Mizer had sold him nude photographs. As a result of the investigation, Mizer was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, after it was found he had taken nude photographs of a seventeen-year-old, James Maynor. He was sentenced to six months at a [[prison farm]] in [[Saugus, California]].<ref>{{cite book|author-link=David K. Johnson|last=Johnson |first=David K. |title=Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement| location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-231-54817-5|edition=eBook|page=62}}</ref>
+Mizer used a set of codes to record information about the temperament, physical characteristics, and sexual proclivities of AMG models, and covertly shared this information with photographers and others to whom he would loan out models. This practice led to an arrest by the Los Angeles vice squad for running a prostitution ring. He was convicted, and author [[Jeffrey Escoffier]] speculates that he was imprisoned for part of 1968 as a result, explaining a lapse in the run of ''Physique Pictorial'' that year.<ref>{{cite book|last=Escoffier|first=Jeffrey|title=Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore|year=2009|isbn=978-0786747535|publisher=Running Press|page=19}}</ref>
+==Films==
+{{Unsourced|section|date=September 2023}}
+Mizer produced over 3,000 film titles from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. In August 1980, he began using the then-new technology of [[VHS]], and recorded over 7500 hours of his photo sessions until his death in 1992.
+===Partial filmography===
+*''Advice Without Consent'' (1955)
+*''Alladin'' (1956)
+*''Andy & The Angry Mummy'' (1963)
+*''Motorcycle Thief'' (1958)
+*''Love 2001'' (1970)
+*''Joe Dallesandro Posing'' (1966)
+*''Tijuana Bandit'' (1964)
+==References==
+{{Dual|source=Bob Mizer Foundation|sourcepath=http://www.bobmizer.org/bob-mizer/biography/|sourcearticle=Biography|date=November 19, 2011}}
 <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically -->
 {{Reflist}}
+==Further reading==
-== External links ==
+* {{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=Dian |title=Bob's world: the life and boys of AMG's Bob Mizer |last2=Mizer |first2=Robert |date=2009 |publisher=Taschen |isbn=978-3-8365-1230-5 |location=}}
-* [http://www.BobMizerFoundation.org Bob Mizer Foundation website]
+* Padva, Gilad. "Nostalgic Physique: Displaying Foucauldian Muscles and Celebrating the Male Body in ''Beefcake''". In ''Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture'', edited by Padva, pp.&nbsp;35–57 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). {{ISBN|978-1-137-26633-0}}.
-*[http://www.athleticmodelguild.com Athletic Model Guild website]
+* {{cite magazine |first=Daniel |last=Wenger |title=The Obsessive Photographer Behind America's First Gay Magazine |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=September 22, 2016 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-obsessive-photographer-behind-americas-first-gay-magazine}}
-*[http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/sex/all/05724/facts.bobs_world_the_life_and_boys_of_amgs_bob_mizer.htm TASCHEN – ''Bob's World. The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer''] ISBN 3-8365-1230-0
+* {{cite news |first=Kate |last=Wolf |title=Beyond the Muscle |journal=[[East of Borneo]] |date=November 2, 2016
-*[http://www.thisisexile.com Exile Gallery Web Site]
+|url=http://www.eastofborneo.org/articles/beyond-the-muscle}}
-*[http://invisible-exports.com/exhibitions/46_mizer/mizer_artifacts.html New York solo debut of work and objects by Bob Mizer at Invisible-Exports]
+==External links==
+*[http://www.BobMizer.org Bob Mizer Foundation website]
+*[http://invisible-exports.com/artists/the-bob-mizer-estate/ Invisible-Exports Web Site]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130206072623/http://www.invisible-exports.com/exhibitions/46_mizer/mizer_artifacts.html New York solo debut of work and objects by Bob Mizer at Invisible-Exports]
+*[http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=mizer&GSfn=bob&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=80801919&df=all& Find-a-Grave memorial]
+{{Early U.S. gay rights movement}}
+{{Authority control}}
-{{Persondata
-| NAME              = Bob Mizer
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Robert Henry Mizer
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American photographer and filmmaker
-| DATE OF BIRTH     = March 27, 1922
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Hailey, Idaho]], [[United States]]
-| DATE OF DEATH     = May 12, 1992
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mizer, Bob}}
 [[Category:1922 births]]
 [[Category:1992 deaths]]
 [[Category:People from Hailey, Idaho]]
-[[Category:American photographers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American photographers]]
-[[Category:American filmmakers]]
+[[Category:Filmmakers from Idaho]]
+[[Category:American LGBT photographers]]
+[[Category:American gay artists]]
 [[Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery]]
+[[Category:Gay history]]
+[[Category:History of gay men in the United States]]
-[[it:Bob Mizer]]
+[[Category:Gay photographers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American LGBT people]]

v t e Early LGBT rights advocacy in the United States (pre–Stonewall riots)
Organizations	Columbia Queer Alliance Council on Religion and the Homosexual Daughters of Bilitis ECHO Homophile Action League Janus Society Knights of the Clock Mattachine Society Metropolitan Community Church NACHO ONE, Inc. PRIDE Society for Human Rights Student Homophile League Veterans Benevolent Association
Mattachine Society	Hal Call Rudi Gernreich James Gruber Harry Hay Dale Jennings Frank Kameny Jack Nichols
Daughters of Bilitis	Lisa Ben Barbara Gittings Barbara Grier Kay Lahusen Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Ruth Simpson Ada Bello
Others	Merton Bird Reed Erickson Arthur Evans Charles Henri Ford Henry Gerber Morris Kight Aristide Laurent W. Dorr Legg Bob Mizer Troy Perry Clark Polak Craig Rodwell José Sarria Richard L. Schlegel Drew Shafer Parker Tyler Randy Wicker H. Lynn Womack
Publications	The Advocate Drum Focus: A Journal for Lesbians Journal of Homosexuality The Ladder The Phoenix: Midwest Homophile Voice Vice Versa
Events	Newport sex scandal (1919) Harvard Secret Court (1920) Pullman porter affair (1940) Hazel's Inn raid (1956) One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) Cooper Do-nuts Riot (1959) MANual Enterprises v. Day (1962) Fun Lounge police raid (1964) Annual Reminder (1965–1969) Julius sip-in (1966) Compton's Cafeteria riot (1966)
Film/TV	The Rejected (1961) "The Homosexuals" (1967)
Related	Athletic Model Guild Black Cat Bar Black Cat Tavern DOB Australia Homophile movement Garden of Allah (cabaret) Julius (NYC bar) Henry Gerber House Minorities Research Group (UK) ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives Oscar Wilde Bookshop The Patch Tavern Guild LGBT rights in the United States

Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	France BnF data Germany United States Netherlands
Artists	Photographers' Identities
Other	SNAC