Royale Studio and Guys In Uniform

Compare these two images ...

Royale Studio - Tough Schoolmaster

 The first is from Royale Studio's 'Tough Schoolmaster', showing the students turning on their military-style master and giving him a taste of his own medicine. The date is 1960.

 

Guys In Uniform - Unknown Title

This, near identical image, comes from a set of photos published by 'Guys In Uniform' in 1975. Their set (which I have informally named 'Caning by Numbers') closely follows the plot line and imagery of the Royale one, there's a picture by picture comparison in 'Caning by Numbers' at the mitchmen blog. 

 Royale Studio and Guys in Uniform images are often confused. It's easy to see why when comparisons like this are made, but they were actually 15 years apart. The GIU photographer, Charles Koestler, reputedly had been involved in the Royale set-up, and he actively emulated the 'Royale Style'. He even recreated Royale's memorable, rigging prop for a set of Sailor images. Unfortunately, his use of serving Guardsmen as models, as Royale had done, was to prove his undoing (see mitchmen article on the history of Guys In Uniform) 

Stylistically, the colour used by Guys In Uniform in the image above is an obvious differentiator between the two studios (although the Colville Exhibition showed that some of the later Royale/Hussar photos did exist in colour). The differing styles of the footwear and socks are an even better clue to the passage of time. In addition, if you look more closely, the Guys In Uniform shorts are a great deal briefer and snugger than Clavering ever achieved with his sewing machine, thanks to the wider availability of elasticated fabric in the 70s. The numbered singlets feature in a number of 'GIU' photo sets, there are a few Royale images of men in numbered singlets, but they are of a different, less austere style. 

Koestler was not the only photographer who revived Royale-style, British military scenarios in the 1970s, Mike Arlen also produced a selection of homoerotic, photo storyettes (see Soldiers, Shorts and Sexiness at mitchmen blog). 

Click on the label below for more about 'Guys in Uniform' at this blog.