Dedicated to the photography of the vintage British Royale and Hussar Studios founded by Basil Clavering.
Saturday 27 July 2024
Whip Duel added to the Archive
Sunday 21 July 2024
'Whip Duel' - inspired by 'Song of Scheherazade'
In his blurb for the Royale Studio, photo storyette, 'Whip Duel', Basil Clavering compares the dramatic quality of his imagery with the Whip Fight scene in "Scherezade". This is a reference to the 1947 film 'Song of Scheherazade' starring Yvonne de Carlo and Brian Donlevy. It's a romanticised fantasy about a young Rimsky-Korsakoff being inspired to write his well-known musical suite whilst on a visit to Morocco when he was serving in the Russian Navy.
This contemporary poster includes an image of the whip fight (top right) between the young Rimsky-Korsakov and one of his shipmates over the honour of 'Cara', whom he wants to take back to Russia with him. The scene featured heavily in the official publicity stills and posters at the time (some of which are reproduced below) but for some reason, current synopses of the plot don't even mention it. I had to look up the film itself to find out more about it.
The scene starts with Rimsky-Kosakoff (right) trying to negotiate a way of smuggling his girlfriend aboard the ship to take her back home with him. His shipmate refuses to play ball and in the argument that follows he insults her, calling her a 'pick-up'. I think the whip he's holding (there's another one somewhere!) is connected with the mandatory 'ballet sequence' (see below).
Having got themselves thoroughly worked up, the protagonists prepare for the fight by standing nose to nose and taking it in turns to progressively discard trappings such as caps and sword belts, which they dramatically fling aside. This procedure is not without erotic overtones of course. Sadly though they don't get as far discarding any interesting clothes, not even their shirts, although bare chested fights weren't uncommon in movies of this era.
Clavering may have been moved to emulate this introductory, confrontation scene in his storyette, the sailor's cap can certainly be seen lying on the floor in one picture, but I haven't found any pictures that explicitly confirm the existence of such a sequence.
The only other beef on the menu is Brian Donlevy who plays the Captain of the ship. Apparently he was told by the director to shave his chest for the bare top scene. That's an interesting exercise of power that is not without erotic interest in itself, particularly when the man ordered to shave has such a macho image. His incongruous, unshaved arms seen here - a protest perhaps - highlight what a fool he has been obliged to make of himself.
Donlevy looks much better with his clothes on, but the film's portrayal of the Captain is a weird mix of butch, sophisticated (an avid chess enthusiast) and plain camp (cigarette holder and frilly bed hangings - not to mention the hand on hip pose!). No wonder his crew are given to extravagant romantic gestures.
The whip fight itself is a spirited affair, recognisably Hollywood in style with wholesale destruction of the surroundings. It's dramatic nevertheless and reasonably convincing with a couple of blows seeming to land realistically. There's a still on the internet that shows Jean Pierre Aumont (who plays Rimsky-Korsakoff, right) being taught how to handle a whip for the film.
At one point Rimsky-Korsakoff is knocked to the ground by a blow and is unable to defend himself against some ruthless blows. Clavering's interest in corporal punishment is evident in much of the Royale Studio's output and documented in the biography of John Barrington (source ref 101), so it's easy to see how he might have got excited about this imagery.
Unlike Royale's storyette, no clothes get torn by whip lashes in the movie, but a wall hanging does. That little detail might have helped to inspire Clavering although it's not clear whether he actually saw the film. His storyette description suggests he took his inspiration from stills published in the 'Picture Post' (probably those shown here). His job as a cinema manager would lead you to think he must have viewed such a notorious scene at the time it first appeared, but in 1959, 10 years later, it would have been next to impossible for him to view it again unless it popped up on TV and even then, in the absence of video recorders, he would have been obliged to rely on those magazine clippings and his memory to compose his visuals for 'Whip Duel'.
This poster was dedicated to a less explicit crop of the 'grounded' image. Clearly the film's publicists also saw the scene as a useful bit of sensationalism which they could exploit. The film was a success at the box office but a critical failure.
110 Denbigh St (updated July 2024)
Updated 20/7/24 with more information about the use of the house and garden
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110 Denbigh St in 2022 click to enlarge |
- Unapproved School (Part 2) link pending
- Navy Romeo (Part 2)
- Captivity/Escape
- Solo sets of Tibor Urgay, David Reid, Mike Scudder.
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Unapproved School (Part 2) |
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Doug Strohl by George Greenwood ca 1958 |
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UNAP1-18 |
Thursday 18 July 2024
Timeline - Royale, Hussar and Dolphin Studios - UPDATED, v14 Aug 2024
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Royale Studio - 'Unapproved' 1958 |
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Don Avard by Royale Studio 1958 |
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Royale Advert in Body Beautiful 2 (1958) |
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Royale Studio ad for Limey and Yankee (1-ARHP) 1959 |
This is a good example of Clavering's flair for extravagant marketing and publicity, drawn from his experience in the cinema industry. The bombastic tone of the script gives us an insight into his exuberant personality and wit. It also illustrates British perceptions of how to impress American customers in pre-global times. The sheer chutzpah of the ad is justified by Royale Studio's genuine success in getting itself into physique print prominence in a very short space of time.
Dolphin Photography launch spread 1960 click to enlarge |
In 1960, the Dolphin name was launched with this full page advertisement (above, right) in Man Alive (August edn). It promoted the "The Thieving Cowboy" series by Tom of Finland which, they said, had been "expressly drawn" for Dolphin, implying something of a coup.
Dolphin was also represented in the editorial pages of the magazine including one picture (opposite the ad, above) of Dennis James clad, Royale style, in exceedingly tight football shorts. You can see it was paired on the page with another soccer-themed picture, but one that was attributed to Royale.
Dennis James (aka Dennis White), was a established and popular physique model and there were two more pictures of him in that issue. Once again, one of those pictures was attributed to Royale, the other to Dolphin. It doesn't seem that there was any intention to differentiate the two 'brands' at this point.
60.2
*There was until recently a pub called the Dolphin two doors down from 110 Denbigh Street, it's a modern building but quite probably replaced an existing pub of the same name. One wonders whether Clavering and Parkhurst hatched their plans for Dolphin there.
It's also possible the name Dolphin was inspired by Dolphin Square an up-market apartment building also close by. It was built as a garden square and thanks to its proximity to the Houses of Parliament has been home to many MP's and prominent people over the years, including Princess Anne. Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies of the Profumo scandal were also residents there and John Vassal, the homosexual, Soviet spy was arrested there in 1962. It's been called 'The UK's most notorious address'
60.5
Two months later, in October 1960, Royale laid their own claim to ownership of Tom's 'Thieving Cowboy' being "especially drawn for them" in an advert (shown above) in Tomorrow's Man Vol 8 No 11
According to De Simone Wayland (writing for the Bonham's Sale Catalogue in 2021), Royale commissioned the series from Tom in 1957 and it's dated as being drawn in 1958 in GMP's Tom of Finland Retrospective (Vol 1 p14). However I cannot find any trace of Royale advertising it prior to these two ads. They did advertise some artists in their 'stable' and included them in their 1960 catalogue, but not Tom of Finland. Maybe the claims of exclusivity related to publication in Britain. Whatever the case, there seems a sniff of competition and one-upmanship in the near-simultaneous release and wording of these two ads.
60.6
Significantly, in an undated order acknowledgement included as ephemera in the British Photographers collection (Ref 1), John Parkhurst described himself as the Proprietor of Dolphin Photography with no mention of Clavering. Notice that he didn't adopt the Studio tag for Dolphin and in another subtle differentiation with the Royale brand he described his photo stories as 'playlets' instead of storyettes.
We don't know the rationale behind the Dolphin-Royale differentiation. There's some evidence of a split in the leadership (60.6 above) but the material and the models continued to be shared by them much the same. It's a matter of conjecture whether this represented a parting of the ways, amicable or otherwise or was a practical device to rehabilitate the brand from it's reputation for attracting unwelcome interest from the authorities.
According to a message sent to the 'British Photographers Group' (Source No 1) and reported at 'Tim In Vermont' (Source No 9): -
"Basil was forced to finish due to his co-Directors, after he released a set of pics denoting two sailors supposedly whipping their white uniforms from each other which somehow got out and caused a huge rumpus".
This is pure hearsay, but there is a photo set that fits this description. It's 'Whip Duel' starring Peter George and Ron Wiltshire (Archive set No 38). The only difference is that it features a sailor and a soldier, not two sailors. It was included in Royale's July 1959 Catalogue list (with the name 'Whip Fight') and was prominently illustrated (as 'WIP' Duel!) in a display advert in 'Man Alive' in the August and the October issues that year.
This timing is a plausible fit with the (breakaway?) launch of Dolphin in mid 1960 and might explain the puzzling continuation of the two studios in parallel until 1962. However, the cause of the split in the quoted statement (if split it was) is vague and not entirely convincing. The name change from Fight to Duel might be significant. It was an era troubled by organised, public fights between tribal gangs of youths. However, the violent imagery of the set is not much different to contemporary 'Sword and Sandal' movies although Basil did accompany it with a lurid description suggesting in was real.
The 'rumpus' might have simply been an internal disagreement or, more seriously, it could have been a reaction to Police raiding premises - Royale's or Magazines' or Retailers - and confiscating the offending material. As far as I know the Police didn't keep records of raids such as these, but there's no evidence of prosecutions.
Whatever the case, 'Man Alive' continued it's usual print schedule in January 1960 with Royale material included and a new, full page advert. All the pictured sets had changed, but it still mentioned 'Whip Duel' in the text. The magazine's editorial speaks, slightly disparagingly, of 'seeing the back' of the old year but does not elaborate. There's some evidence of rivalry between the two 'brands' in the years that followed, but nothing more.
Equally interesting in the report of the rumpus is the reference to co-Directors (plural). We know about John Parkhurst who set up Royale with Clavering and then founded Dolphin. Don Avard was reported as being involved too (see 58.2 above) but was he a 'co-Director'? We don't know. If the quoted statement is accurate (which is a big 'if'), was there someone else involved? I can't help thinking of Scott of London who crops up time and time again in these articles and Pete Dobing. Both these men feature in the aftermath of the Royale Story (see 65.2 below)
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Dolphin Photography and Man Alive magazine shared the same Address |
60.8
The Man Alive 'Thieving Cowboy' advert (60.1) gave Dolphin's new address as 3, Golden Square. This is a garden square at the Regent Street & Piccadilly Circus end of Soho's Brewer Street. Interestingly, Man Alive, the magazine that carried that first ad also gave Golden Square as their publishing address, although they had been based elsewhere, at 10, St Martin's Court, for every previous issue. There's clearly a connection between the two events but it may simply have been a matter of convenience to share offices. Man Alive were supporters of Royale and they would have been in regular contact with each other about such plans.
1961
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Curious Headline in Tomorrow's Man (Mar 1961) |
61.1
Royale often used unconventional headlines in their ads, but the curious wording of this advertisement for Dolphin a few months later in March 1961 (Tomorrow's Man) is downright puzzling. Arguably it supplies more evidence of rivalry between Royale and it's new off-shoot. I've never heard of Dolphins being renowned for their happiness, larks yes, dolphins no. I suppose it's possibly related to some popular theme of the day or perhaps it's nothing to do with Royale, but a precursor to the unexplained name change that was to come about a few months later, see below.
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Dolphin Photography becomes Hussar Studio 1961 |
61.2
A year after it's launch, in August 1961, Trim were telling their readers that Dolphin Photography had changed it's name to Hussar Studio although the explanation given was somewhat vague.
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Parallel Advertising for Hussar and Royale 1961 |
61.3
Royale and Hussar continued to advertise their 'Storyettes' and 'Playlets' alongside each other (literally!) This was in Body Beautiful No 15, around the end of 1961. Hussar have listed four new playlets here, three of which are still known to us. The flowery, literary copy boasts of their quality. Royale, by contrast, have used only a photo (which I have been unable to connect to a model or a storyette. It may possibly be part of a cowboy series from Don Avard's heyday). There seems a touch of frustration in the pushy Royale copy which is clearly trading on their reputation.
Towards the end, illustrations were regularly dropped from the ads and some were simply addresses, relying on images posted in the body of the magazine to attract interest. Hussar had a picture of Peter George featured in this issue but Royale wasn't represented at all. Royale had appeared in every issue of Body Beautiful up to No 12, with as many as six full pages at the peak but there was only one more after that - David Clarke in issue 19 (1962).
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more info on the dropping of illustrations (pending)
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1962
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Tomorrow's Man, Directory of Physique Photographers (Jan 1962) |
Both Hussar and Royale were still included as active businesses in the 'TM directory of Physique Photographers' published in the January 1962 issue of Tomorrow's Man.
The Hussar advert at the bottom of the page mentions a number of new 'playlets' all of which seem to have been completely lost except 'Hold-Up'. (If any of my readers know differently I'd be delighted to hear from them)
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Tomorrow's Man, Directory of Physique Photographers (Jun 1962) |
64.1
Hussar's pictures and advertisements continued to run until at least February 1964 (in Manual No 49).
The last one featured Peter George's elderly (1959!) PT Instructor set.
So far I've not found any later ads for Hussar. Their last appearance in Tomorrow's Man's Directory of Physique Photographers was also in February 1964, which suggests that this was when they ceased trading, although 'Manual' and 'Trim' continued to list them until Oct 1964.
We don't know what finally finished Hussar,
perhaps the loss of Clavering's flair for publicity after the split was too damaging.
64.2
Scan Magazine No 8 (ca. Jun 1964) chose to commemorate the demise of Hussar studio rather symbolically, provocatively even, by reviving this image of Tom Manlick (yes!) posing in half of a genuine Royal Horse Guard's Uniform and a chain-mail pouch.
Male Classics Annual in 1964 included a lot of Royale/Hussar pictures but did not mention them in the list of contributors.
Other magazines lamented that 'some people' could not accept increasing use of clothing and biker imagery, which of course was still 'disqualified' from the categories of health, body building and fashion which were permitted by the authorities for imagery in which men 'displayed' themselves.
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1965 onwards
65.1
The Male Classics 1965 Annual went further with an article discussing in academic-sounding terms the evolving use of clothing in physique photography with Royale/Hussar well represented. There was a striking double page spread with multiple snippets of examples almost entirely dedicated to them, but they weren't mentioned by name except via cryptic, coded credits.
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This montage spread appeared in Male Classic Annual for 1965 without any explanatory text and seems to be a tribute to Royale. One that isn't Royale is 24 which is by Scott. I'm not sure either about 9, 13 and 20. These two pages feature snippets of many pictures that were previously unknown to me but I have tried to caption them as far as possible. If any reader can add to or correct my names, please add a comment to the foot of the post.
Some time later Royale material started turning up under the names of other photographers like Scott of London and Peter Dobing (further article link pending). Royale and Hussar images continued to appear in print in their own right for many years after, with Peter George's fetish, wader images still carrying carrying the flag in Drummer in 1988 and Dungeon Master in 1989 (see Peter George's Career).
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Tibor Noszgay by Hussar |
Royale and Hussar still refuse to die with exhibitions and new images turning up from time to time and astonishing prices being reached in sale rooms for surviving photographs.
article produced by Mitchell for the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive
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