EL KADIR

by Santiago.

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LIONARDO by Santiago

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(page) ROMA 1957.

"POCKET BOOK CALLED 'MUSCLE BOY' GROSSLY INACCURATE" On the back cover is the promise: "A Novel exposing the Beefcake Kings !" It goes on to opin, "Most men fall in love with women. But some men fall in love with themselves-men like the weightlifters at Muscle Beach. For these body worshippers, their physique is their fortune. Whether it's being exhibited performing feats of strength, or leered at in glossy photos by thrill-seakers of every sex and taste, there's big money in those biceps, And it's often dirty money!"

The kindest thing that can be said of the author of the book is that he naive and/ or poorly informed. To be sure he has done a certain amount of research, he must have visited at least one or two physique studios (some of us have unknowingly entertained a viper in our midst), and he has drawn a caricature of a San Francisco gym owner and his wife which many consider to be slanderous. But much of his information is pitifully inaccurate. For instance he has a dishonest muscleman do his 400 lb bench press from specially built bench which is supposed to make it easier for him--but any person who understands physical training knows that while an incorrectly slanted bench could make a press harder, there is no bench that could make it easier (unless it were equipped with a hydraulic jack.) The same muscleman commits murder before a big physique show audience by deliberately throwing the 400 lb barbell thru the air so that it comes down on the skull of one of his spotters. This of course would be impossible for any human to do, but it was just one of the many "artistic" licenses the author felt privileged to take.

The hero of the story is Jerry Carpenter, an innocent youth who is lured into posing by the promises of handsome sums of money which no physique photographer in real life would be in any position to offer. Ray, the photographer, is an ex-con who had been sent up for pornography, and has various slimy friends including a blackmailing artist who was kicked out of 16 Colorado. Everybody in the book tries to outdo himself in being nastier and more vulgar than the others. To insure his old on the model, Ray takes regular posing photos of Jerry and with darkroom magic creates negatives showing Jerry in acts of fornication with various other models. This is supposed to make Jerry fearful of public exposure.

However, a real-life Jerry would have wisely gone straight to the police if this sort of thing were done. It would be no problem to prove the fakery. Too, if a photographer is such a stinker as Ray is painted out to be, he can take portraits out of magazines, high-school annuals, other photos etc os etc. and place them on whatever body he wishes. Such a photographer, of course would be subject to a prison sentence as well as a lawsuit for defamation of character.

Jerry is also forced to watch the rituals of a sado-masochistic group, the members of which get their "kicks" beating each other with metal-studded belts, until they are masses of limp flesh and blood. This phase of the book is even more sickening than the rest. It can hardly be considered typical of muscle-boys' hobbies.

Information offered on the elaborate photography studio set-up and procedure may match some shop the author saw, though we dont know which one, because 95% of the physique photographers we know must make do with no shop at all, but rather make use of a spare room or old building, and many have all their processing done commercially.

The book completely ignores the cultural and aesthetic aspect of physique photography, and the author seems unaware of the instructional and therapeutic values, but rather he implies that physique photographs are conceived and produced exclusively in a sensual vein. There are certain certain people who like Muscle Boy's author seek in physique photos and magazines only the salacious and the carnal. Using his own prurient attitude as a criterion he therefore assumes that the whole field is a big racket. Occassionally a physique operation does arise which is a racket--using crudely suggestive advertising designed to mislead, undercounter sales of outright pornography, etc, but such groups are by no means representative. Now, just as some churches become rackets, there can be expect this small group of people in the physique field who will operate with no concern for the public welfare, but it is an unthinking syllogism to assume that all churches or all physique 17 firms are rackets. The church is concerned with the development of the soul, while physique enthusiasts sell the cult of a healthy, beautiful body. Each will offer the most effective presentation he can find to gain the maximum numbers of new

converts.