Much thanks to the Twitter handle @oldmasc, which recently shared this as a Fleet. I’m fairly certain these guys are not gay, but the expression on the guy facing the camera makes me laugh and captures a moment in time – probably one of very few lighthearted moments these men were able to enjoy. I assume this was taken during WWII, but I welcome anyone who can shed more light on either this military social or the uniforms that might help date the photo.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
I’ve posted this photo previously because I find it so funny I thought it might make for a good April Fools post. I can’t recall when people suggested this photo may have been taken but my assumption is in the 1940s or possibly the 1950s. What do you think?
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This photo was posted on the Twitter account @oldmasc and I swiped it for this weekly blog post. I can’t tell much about this photo other than that Harvey (on the left) was eighteen years old when the picture was taken. I assume these are military uniforms. Are you able to glean anything from the clothing or hair style that might pinpoint a date or location when these three were photographed?
Men in the past were often photographed close together and touching, but the photo strikes me as more intimate with each man interlacing his hands and sharing a seat so that the men on either side are half seated on the arm of the chair and half curled around each leg of the man in the middle. Certainly it would have been more comfortable standing on either side or behind the man in the middle.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This is another photo that I can’t place but I like their style, sharing a milkshake. I suppose this could’ve been taken anytime from the 1950s to present day. I’d welcome your thoughts about the photo as well as when or where you think this may have been taken in the comments section.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
What a great photo. I have no clue where or when this may have been taken and wanted to share it to ask you if you can glean any hints from this grainy photo? Share your thoughts about the photo as well as when or where you think this may have been taken in the comments section.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
The backdrop of the large granite blocks and rocks are reminiscent of Provincetown’s Causeway — a narrow path that starts by the Provincetown Inn and extends into the harbor ending by the dunes at Woods End. But that is just a guess. Where do you think this may be and when do you think the photo may have been taken?
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Much thanks to Peter Miller who regularly shares amazing photos from the past for this weekly post. One cannot help but look at the gentleman in the upper right; are the two men joking around or is there something more between the two men? Regardless, the spontaneous pose is unusual for the 1880s or 1890s when Peter surmises this may have been taken.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Much thanks to Arnon who shared this photo and note on the reverse-side. His father is shown above on the right. Arnon shared his family history and the relationship of these two men, which is quite tender and personal. The inscription on the flip side of the photograph shows the date of October 23, 1943. For historical reference this photo was taken in Europe during WWII; weeks after Italy surrendered to the Allied Forces. However, fighting would continue to rage in Europe until May 8, 1945. It makes me wonder what these men were forced to endure – fortunately both survived the war.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
Much thanks to my friend Jim Lundy who lives here in the South End for sharing this photo for my weekly vintage gay post. I’ve shared this previously but the photo of two African American servicemen posing together in 1951 with their names scrawled across the photo is definitely worth a re-post. I think my favorite thing about the photo is how Davis has his chin resting on his “friend’s” shoulder.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This photo is one of several images of men called “Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s-1950s.” The image above is a photograph, known as a cabinet card. This is a process that dates back to around 1880. You can see the other photos shared here. Much thanks to friend and longtime BosGuy reader, Jim Lundy for sharing this with me.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
When Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell stumbled across a photo from the 1920s of two men in a tender embrace they thought it was one-of-a-kind. But things changed when they found more photographs. The result of their unexpected discovery is a moving book, portraying male romance over the course of a century.
I’ve shared several of the photos from this collection in the past and will likely continue to share more in the future but the BBC 5 minute video published in November 2020 is worth watching. Above is a screen capture of Hugh speaking about what the collection of these photos represent and their significance. Click on the photo to launch the interesting video.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
James Baldwin was romantically linked to the bisexual Swiss painter, Lucien Happersberger. They met in Paris in 1949 when Lucien was 17 and remained lifelong partners, but as you can read from the newspaper clipping shared above, the public would only know them as “close friends”.
In addition to his book Giovanni’s Room, which I highly recommend. Baldwin was highly quotable. Below is a personal favorite quote of mine.
I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for that reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
James Baldwin, American author, poet and activist
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This week I’m featuring three men who for nearly twenty years lived in a polymorous relationship in the first half of the 20th century. Monroe and Glenway first met in 1919 at the Poetry, Club of the University of Chicago when Monroe was twenty and Glenway was eighteen. In 1927 the two would meet George and form a unique bond. Back in 1998 a picture book of this thruple’s travels through Europe between 1925 – 1935 called When We Were Three “The Expatriate Years” was published. It is amazing to think the eyebrows these three must have raised wherever they went.
Monroe Wheeler (1899 – 1988) was an American publisher and museum coordinator. He would spend the rest of his life with Glenway Wescott and die one year after Wescott’s passing, requesting that his ashes be buried with his lifelong partner.
Glenway Wescott (1901 – 1987) was an American poet, novelist and essayist. He mixed with many American expatriates in Europe and was the model for the character Robert Prentiss in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.
George Platt Lynes (1907 – 1955) was an American photographer who worked in the 1930s and 1940s, producing many photographs that featured gay artists and writers. These were acquired by the Kinsey Institute after his death in 1955.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
This week’s photo of Bernard Perlin and Edward Newell dates back to 1970. The two were a couple for 54 years until Perlin died in 2014.
For those unfamiliar with Perlin, he was an extraordinary figure in twentieth century American art and gay cultural history, an acclaimed artist and sexual renegade who reveled in pushing social, political, and artistic boundaries. As a government propaganda artist and war artist-correspondent, he produced many iconic images of World War II. He was notorious for his canvasing scenes of underground gay bars and nude studies of street hustlers, among other aspects of gay life that really amazes me if you think about the political climate of the time.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
No clue when or where this photo may have been taken but I’m guessing the 1950s. However, I thought I should conclude 2020 with a vintage gay photo of men celebrating and what better way to celebrate than dancing?
Be well and thank you for checking out this weekly post.
I want to wish you a happy and healthy 2021.
I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.
