Pete Beale

Pete Beale - Royale Studio's 'Big Lad'  

 

Peter Beale featured in Royale's earliest images and was one of several men in the Royale stable who were, reportedly, PT Instructors in the RAF (see Royale's use of real military men). He was noted for his raw bulk, but matured into a majestic figure well suited to dominant, military roles. 

Pete Beale's Solo Sets

Pete Beale appears in the 1960 Royale Catalogue no less than three times. In Royale's inimitable fashion they do not appear in numerical order, but this is probably attributable to the reshuffling of the Catalogue sequence as older sets were retired. They are listed numerically below.

Solo Set 1-PEB (Feb 1959)

We do not have a description or thumbnail from this set, but its existence is referenced in the description for set 2-PEB, which states that 1-PEB was originally part of Catalogue List EX3. EX3 has been dated to February 1959 by Catalogue Research but 1-PEB isn't included in the shortened version of that list in the 1960 edition of the Catalogue. It seems to have been popular enough, possibly it had sold out. The Archive's collection of Beale's solo photos (link below) includes a possible image from this set.

Solo Set 2-PEB (Apr 1959)

 

Set 2-PEB included this magnificent, rear nude study highlighting Peter's bulk. Other fragments from this set form the greater part of the Archive's solo collection (link below) 

It was included in the 1960 Royale Studio Catalogue, in List VII (April 1959). 

 

Solo Set 3-PEB (Jan 1959?)

 

Set 3-PEB shows Pete Beale wearing the Royale 'Eagle Vest' as part of a tight-fitting PT gym instructor outfit. It's the only image we have of this set.

In the 1960 Catalogue it is included as part of List VI which has been dated as January 1959, predating the two sets above. It is possible the sets were issued out of sequence or 3-PEB may simply have been shuffled into an earlier list to fill a gap during the manual editing process*. 

*Royale constantly edited their lists, deleting sets which were unwanted or no longer available. Since word processors didn't exist in 1960 they literally cut and pasted paper documents. It didn't really matter to them if one ended up in the 'wrong' list if that saved time in reordering them. A near identical situation occurred with Peter George's PUN sets (also involving EX3).

See all of Pete Beale's Solo Images

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Pete Beale's Storyettes

Pete Beale Trains Tibor Urgay PBTI, Apr 1959

Tibor Urgay being aggressively trained using PT exercises

with Pete Beale as his instructor.

Sadly, this is the only image from PBTI in the Archive.

The 'Drill' or 'The Tripod Set' ca1962?

Pete seems to have made something of a comeback around 1962, posing for Hussar Studio. Many of the Pete Beale solo images appeared in magazines around this time even though they belong to the earlier 1959 sets. 

This image is known as 'Drill' or 'the Tripod set' and I have attributed it to Peter Beale. It is presently referenced in Part 2 of 'The Captive' although probably not part of that set. The model's physical bulk is in evidence in this picture, but he seems to have acquired more muscle definition in the interim. Partner unknown.

The Horse Guard's Batman

Pete plays an Officer being helped to undress by his young batman, possibly Mike Morgan. There is much less doubt that this is Pete Beale (compare with this pose from the solo sets). 

It's possible he's paired with the same partner as the Tripod set above, but there's no evidence that the two sets are the same.

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Many of the images above have been enhanced, 

(to view the originals check the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive 

for Pete Beale's solo folder and those of the sets he appears in.) 

If any reader possesses different, related images and would like to contribute a digital copy to the Archive I would be delighted to hear from him via the e-mail address at my Profile. All donations will be fully credited in the Archive records.