Michael Ferguson - Idol Worship: A Shameless Celebration of Male Beauty in the Movies

Richard Davalos and Tab Hunter are buddy-buddy shipmates in The Sea Chase (1955). STEVE RANDISI COLLECTION Revised & Updated Second Edition

IDOL

WORSHIP

A Shameless Celebration of Male Beauty in the Movies

By

MICHAEL FERGUSON

STARbooks Press
Sarasota, Fla.

For Dad and Mom,
who wont approve of the language but fostered my love of the movies and encouraged my creative endeavors.

STARbooks Press 1370 Boulevard of the Arts Sarasota, FL 34236-2902

Second edition, entire contents copyrighted 2005 by Michael Ferguson. All rights reserved. Every effort has been made to credit copyrighted material. The author and the publisher regret any omissions and will correct them in future editions.
Cover design by John Nail

Second Edition published in the U.S. in June, 2005
First Edition published in the U.S. in November, 2003 Library of Congress Control Number: 2005926940
ISBN No. 1-891855-48-4

John Wayne from The Big Trail (1930). AUTHOR S COLLECTION

Gotta love a man in uniform. Cary Grant does the honors in Madame Butterfly (1932). AUTHOR S COLLECTION

CONTENTS

Introduction
Page 1
The 1910s-1920s

I Want To Look Nice When The Ambulance Arrives Male Physique Photography IMen in motion, dirty postcards and flexed to pose
Birth of the Matinee Idol Wallace Reid Neil Hamilton Rudolph Valentino
Ramon Novarro John Gilbert Nils Asther

Page 5
The 1930s-1940s

Because I Just Went Gay All Of A Sudden!
Gary Cooper Clark Gable John Wayne Johnny Weissmuller Buster Crabbe
Male Physique Photography IIOlympic aesthetics, premier photographers, and the artistic nude
Cary Grant Robert Taylor Errol Flynn Tyrone Power Jon Hall Sabu Jack Beutel
Guy Madison Jean Marais Louis Jourdan Grard Philipe

Page 33
The 1950sTake One

Live Fast, Die Young, Have A Good-Looking Corpse Montgomery Clift Farley Granger John Derek Marlon Brando
Rock Hudson Tony Curtis Robert Wagner John Ericson Johnny Sheffield
Jeffrey Hunter Tab Hunter

Page 70
The 1950sTake Two

Hey, You Wanna Come Home With Me?
James Dean Richard Davalos Sal Mineo John Saxon
Sidney Poitier Paul Newman Elvis Presley
Male Physique Photography IIIThe Athletic Model Guild, muscle magazines, and the home loop
Steve Reeves Teen Idols I Ricky Nelson

Page 105
The 1960s

People Who Are Very Beautiful Make Their Own Laws Troy Donahue Fabian Alain Delon Brandon de Wilde Horst Buchholz Warren Beatty
Male Physique Photography IVGovernment censorship, PhysiquePictorial , and 8mm male order
Joe Dallesandro Underground cinema, an erotic politician, and the new Adam Christopher Jones

The 1970s

Tell Him To Take Off His Sweater And Look At The Camera Robert Redford Don Johnson
Dawn of the HunkBurt Reynolds on a rug, naked men on the racks, and page 602 of the Sears catalog
Helmut Berger Bruce Lee Bjrn Andresen Teen Idols II Jan-Michael Vincent
Male Nudity in the Movies

Page 171
The 1980sTake One

Well, I Guess Ill Have To Go Queer Now
Richard Gere Eric Roberts Matt Dillon Christopher Atkins Mel Gibson Mark Lee
Male Physique Photography VBillboard bulges, gymnast hardbodies, and male strippers
Tom Cruise Rob Lowe Matt Lattanzi Maxwell Caulfield Johnny Depp

Page 195
The 1980sTake Two

I Could Love Someone Even If, You Know, I Wasnt Paid For It River Phoenix Keanu Reeves Rodney Harvey Sasha Mitchell
Denzel Washington Rupert Everett Rupert Graves

Page 242
The 1990sTake One
So Use Me Till The Right Guy Comes Along Brad Pitt Leonardo DiCaprio Mark Wahlberg
Page 271
The 1990sTake Two
Youre Like A Life Support System For A Cock

Male Physique Photography VICelebrity fakes, the male supermodel, and underwear everywhere
Lukas Ridgeston James Duval Johnathon Schaech Jude Law
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Jared Leto Ryan Phillippe Casper Van Dien
Paul Walker Taye Diggs

Page 295
2000 and Beyond

Im The Handsome One In The Bunch
Whos Next? Josh Hartnett Charlie Hunnam Ian Somerhalder
Colin Farrell Gael Garca Bernal Heath Ledger Orlando Bloom Male Call A List

Grard Philipe (right) bums a light in Le Diable au corps (1946). AUTHOR S COLLECTION

Introduction

Brad Pitt with his shirt off. Jude Law climbing out of the bathtub. Jared Leto sniffing Robert Downey, Jr. Matt Dillonjust standing there.
Its time to indulge . Idol Worship: A Shameless Celebration of Male Beauty in the Movies is a

guidebook to a centurys worth of men who have quickened our hearts, put a sparkle in our eyes, and lulled us willingly into fantasy. All things considered, they may just be the very reason more than half of us go to the movies...period. Lets face it, theres not much more elemental than the sex drive; all the resplendent scenery, brilliant storytelling, and high-tech special effects in the world cant do for us what a gorgeous leading man can with just a glance. Here are the fellasfrom Rudolph Valentino to Orlando Bloomwhose beauty has made them the objects of intense fantasy and desire, as well as ridicule and scorn.

Not so very long ago, you didnt have to go to a drag show to discover which movie stars gay men were most often identified as idolizing. From Mae West, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford to Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Barbra Streisand, the pantheon of players was so rigorously stereotyped that to be an urban gay was to be euphemistically encoded a friend of Dorothys, coined from Ms. Garlands role in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

It should come as no surprise, however, that gay men enjoy watching men in their movies, too. But theres a curious double standard. The grand dames of our cinema worship are expected to be no less than that. Theyre ballsy, tortured, emancipated, tragic, and exotic. Theyre beautiful on their own terms and definitely arent up to playing the roles others want them or expect them to play. They can even get old on us. In fact, age, personal bouts with abusive men, liquor, drugs, and godawful movies make them even more glamorous.

The men, on the other hand, are strictly candy. We like them young. We like them cute. But we can never take them seriously. And they cant age. If and when they do, we replace them.
Well, revoke my membership card, because I love Dietrich and Davis, too, but its the guys who keep me coming back to the moviesand I take them very seriously. I guess thats why Im a homo.
Once upon a time, there were enough gay men whod memorized entire Barbara Stanwyck movies that it was a foregone conclusion shed never be forgotten. That no longer seems assured. And so, with a subculture on the verge of gleeful assimilation into a mass culture, and the resulting loss of our movie heroines in our collective cross-reference, I wish to do my part for the boys and keep the torches burning for the likes of Rudolph Valentino, John Ericson, Brandon de Wilde, Christopher Jones, and Matt Lattanzi.
Yep. Sometimes cute is enough. And while were at it, lets hear it for that stunning young man who delivers a telegram halfway through the picture and can barely say his two lines!
It always floors me to hear a straight guy denying knowledge of whether another guy is good-looking or not. Men go out of their way to avoid admission, as if agreeing or simply having an opinion was akin to romantic culpability. Can a woman know that another woman is pretty? Sure. Can a woman say it, admit it, or even openly envy it? You bet. Men arent allowed to and theyd rather not. How would I know? or Ill take your word for it are the most often heard responses to: Man, is he good-lookin or what? They can mutter agreement in a playful or self-deprecating way, but never in the gushing, complimentary, or even jealous way that women are allowed.