JACK CONANT at age 22, 6' 200 lbs, A rugged, natural he-man type, formal exercises (including barbell training) bores him, but he goes in for all types of sports, including acrobatics. Logging season will usually find him in the north woods of California or Oregon as he particularly loves this kind of life. During winter he often works for a cement contractor, or anything that's good hard work.
By no means a graceful model, he has nonetheless managed to pose for some very inspirational photos. 12 photos of him in AMC's Album ZK $2.50, 4 catalogs 40 cents in ZK13.
JOHN LACEY at age 19 5'10 165 lbs Biceps 15, Neck 16, Chest 43.5 exp, thighs 22.5, calf 15 1/4, forearm 13, wrist 7 1/4.
John's desire has been. to have just enough muscular development to fill out his clothes nicely and to acquit himself adequately in a bathing
suit. Active in dramatics, he has done movie extra work. Dislikes dull routine.
He is found in AMG's catalogs YD13 pages 10 thru 15 (60c).
WILL FEDERAL COURTS RULE CERTAIN PHYSIQUE PHOTOGRAPHY OBSCENE? Many physique artists and photographers feel secure in their rights to express themselves under the 1st ammendment to the US Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and communication. Senator Kefauver who plans some ambitious legislation directed at material he considers objectionable points out that the right of free speech does not give a man the privilege of shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater. The federal courts now tend to hold that the test of obscenity is the effect on the mind of the average normal adult--that is, if the product would incite thoughts of lust or sexual deviation from the community standard (whatever that is) it is obscene. However to save themselves embarrassment, the federal courts will not call classics "obscene" even though they fail to pass this test--but rather only new, unproven work. One may publish a book showing nude statuary with immunity, yet if he shows a full nude of a live person in exactly the same position as the statue he is subject to severe prosecution (one physique photographer drew a $5000. fine and a 20 yr suspended prison term for a non-pornographic nude. Judge Jerome N Frank of the US Circuit Court wrote this in a recent cose: "Governmental control of ideas or personal preferences is alien in a democracy. And the yearning to use governmental censorship of any kind is infectious. It may spread insidiously. Commencing with supression of books os obscene, it is not unlikely to develop into official lust for power of thought control in the areas of religion, politics and elsewhere. To vest a few fallible men--prosecutors, judges, jurors with vast powers of literary or artistic censorship, to convert them into a 'moral police,' is to make them despotic arbiters of literary products. If one day they ban mediocre books as obscene, another day they may do likewise to a work of genius. Originality, too plentiful, should be cherished, not stifled."
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PRESERVE FREEDOM IN THE ARTS? An organization whose exclusive aim was to preserve freedom for physique photography and art would be so small as to be ineffectual--therefore we must become part of larger groups whose general aims coincide with out own. One such group we very much admire is the American Civil Liberties Union whose sole objective has always been to preserve the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution, even when to do so meant unpopularity. ACLU fights censorship vigorously and has had its attorneys appear in court many times when attempts at unreasonable censorship have been made. ACLU (or a similar type group) may have a branch in your own area--probably needs your financial help and/or time. (If you want free information about the ACLU program write them at 170 Fifth Avenue, New York 10 New York). Page 10
PARIS COURT RULES WORK OF VIOLENCE "OBSCENE". A Paris publisher has been fined $571 by a local court for the public sale of the unexpurgated 28 volume set of the complete works of the Marquis de Sade, a 17th century student of human nature, who cataloged some 600 variations of the sexual theme, though he is most remembered for his experiments in the sexology of pain. He reasoned that if certain animals' sex reactions were intensified in the presence of pain, the same might be true of humans. These experiments were an insignificant portion of the total scope of his work, but it is from them that the term "sad ism" has arisen. In America and England bitter controversey has raged over comic books and pictoral magazines carrying any illustrations with violence in evidence--in fact our own Physique Pictorial was warned by several of its distributors that they could not handle the book if it displayed any photographs with a model's hands tied or restrained. In Los Angeles, the City Attorney charged in a complaint that a physique photographer's showing violence (i.e, wrestling, models tied in the manner of Michael Angelo's slave, etc) was certainly obscene, but the high courts here rejected this premise. In New York, the FBI spent hundreds of hours in the office of a dealer who specializes in pictures and drawings of violence, though his greatest sales are from movie stills such as one of a whipping scene of Alan Ladd from "20 Years Before the Mast" of which he sold over 10,000 copies though a 3 story figure of the pose was displayed in Times Square for two years! Reactions against the pictorialization of violence are well intended because it is feared that suggestible individuals will want to imitate, However, seeing the crucifix in the church makes few Catholics want to crucify someone else or be crucified themselves, but rather makes them humble and compassionate. Pictures of violence may serve a vital need, just as prize fights in America, Bull fights in Mexico, (Gladiatorial fights in Ancient Rome) help to work off the primitive hatred latent in many individuals who have not spiritually evolved to a non-violent plane.
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