Cliff Smith posed in Civil War and Leather Kit

Cliff Smith by Hussar

 This picture of Cliff Smith, by Hussar in 1963 (from a set of 3), is the latest addition to the mitchmen Royale Gallery. Cliff was one of the ever-present Royale boys, appearing also in the 1958 'Stolen Motorcycle' set and the 1961 set 'Leather Merchants', that marked the breakaway of Dolphin Studio (later named Hussar). He wore that studded leather belt in all 3 sets. 

The Cliff post follows a group related to the career of Ron Fenn - 'Tough Schoolmaster', 'Thief' and 'Black Leather', view all three at the Royale Gallery.

The Royal Tournament, Earls Court (Updated)

Royal Tournament, Field Gun Race 1999

 

 Royale Studio's catalogue description for the 'Navy Gash' storyette describes the models as being members of the '1959 Earl's Court, Chatham Gun Crew'. Don Avard, one of Royale's first models, was reported to be a member of the 1957 Chatham crew (in Adonis, May 1958). 

 

This identifies them as being (or having been) real sailors in the Royal Navy. It's a reference to the Field Gun Race, which was part of  'The Royal Tournament', a military display which the UK military services used to put on annually at the Earls Court arena in South West London. It ran up until 1999 when it was halted on the grounds of cost, but is still revived occasionally for charity events.

 

Royal Windsor Tattoo 2010

 

The Royal Tournament featured displays from all three services - marching bands, army gymnastics, dog-handling skills and formation displays by motorcycle riders, cavalry and artillery regiments. 'The Field Gun Race' (illustrated above) was one of the most popular events. It originally involved four Royal Navy crews*, representing the naval dockyards of Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport, plus the Fleet Air Arm, all competing against each other to dismantle a cannon, ferry it across and through various obstacles and then reassemble it and fire it before their opponents could beat them to it. 

 

*Chatham dropped out of the competition after 1960, I don't think it was because Royale were recruiting their hunkiest men, but you never know! 

 

The top image features Portsmouth vs The Fleet Air Arm from the final Royal Tournament in 1999. In that year Devonport beat the Fleet Air Arm in the final, setting a new record time that would never be broken. There's a good video on YouTube showing the final race in full. There's also a video of the 1957 event on YouTube, which involved Don Avard, but, unfortunately it's not possible to identify the team members.

 

In Royale's day the Royal Tournament got a lengthy, Saturday night, peak time TV viewing slot, so Royale's models were minor celebrities as well as being real sailors.

The Gun Race and it's Royale connection

This contemporary article about the Gun Race in 'Man Alive' No 7 (Oct 1959) was illustrated with an image from Royale's 'DTS' photo-set. The joke re-titling of the event as the 'Royale Tournament' has all the hallmarks of Basil Clavering's bravado.

Read about Royale's use of real Servicemen

~

The Gun Race was originally inspired by a heroic incident in the Boer War, in which Navy crews transported guns from their ships across very difficult terrain to help relieve the siege of Ladysmith. There's a succinct explanation of the history of this event in Origins of the Gun Race. The Gun Race is still used as a Navy training exercise, and I believe it featured in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.

~

Earl's Court Exhibition Centre

In the 1950s, the Earl's Court Arena was one of the few spaces in the country capable of mounting large scale events like the Royal Tournament, undercover before a seated audience. It could accommodate military vehicles and even stabling facilities for the horses (it was regularly used for indoor Show Jumping events, including for the 1948 Olympics). For the Royal Tournament it was also conveniently close to a number of barracks, including Chelsea Barracks, home of the Queen's Guards. 

The building itself was also used for Exhibitions, Fairs (above) and award ceremonies like 'The Brits'. Unusually for a big arena (back then), it was very easy to get to by public transport, being directly opposite Earl's Court tube station. It had a striking 'Art Deco' frontage but was controversially demolished in 2017.

 

Jan 2023 - Original Article

Aug 2024 - Updated with cross-reference to Royale Studio in Man Alive and an image of the venue.

Feb 2025 - Enhanced header image added 

Jun2026 - Video links added 

 

Don Avard - Biographical Notes (completed)

Don Avard by Royale (Detail)

  

Don Avard was half British, half Australian, brought up on his father's cattle ranch, down under. He had a career in the Royal Navy (for 6 years according to Barrington - see Ad below) and took up boxing while serving, winning the (RN) Far East Middleweight title and ending up as an instructor. 

He was one of several Royale models who represented Chatham Dockyard in the June 1957 Gun Race at the Royal Tournament in London. It's conceivable that this is how he met Basil Clavering. There's a video of the 1957 event on YouTube but, unfortunately it's not possible to identify the team members.

 

Don Avard in RN Uniform

  This is how Don would have dressed for the 'Gun Race'. There aren't any more images of him like this, but I believe he wore this kit in some wrestling duos for Royale (see his profile page)

 

This picture of Don in British Navy uniform appeared in an article about his background in 'Adonis' in May 1958 (more on this below). 

~ 

 John Barrington (a physique photographer and acquaintance of Basil Clavering) recalls how, in August 1957, he met a 'half naked' Don Avard while out walking with his wife and children on the banks of the Thames at Richmond and 'adopted' him for the day. He was thrilled with the young man's physique and credentials as a sporty, half-Australian, seaman. In his biography, 'Physique', (Source 101) he recalls how they arranged to meet up again for a photographic session at which point Barrington proposed an 'extra dimension' to their friendship, as he usually did with the men he photographed. 

 

Don Avard by John Barrington (Paignton)

Apparently Avard was reluctant, revealing he had other good friends who kept him in pocket money. Nevertheless, he did go before the camera and a photograph of him in a mock studious pose (above) duly appeared in the November issue of Barrington's own beefcake magazine, Man-ifique No 6 (Nov 1957).  

Ad offering Photos of Don Avard 
in Barrington's 'MAN-ifique' No 6

 Opposite the image was this ad, offering "unusual and exciting" prints of Don and describing him as a "natural", these were all euphemisms for nudity. 

~ 

It appears that one of Avard's other generous supporters might have included Basil Clavering, because his own pictures of Avard for Royale appeared almost simultaneously in December. It's possible that Barrington passed Don onto him, the two photographers had known each other for 5 years at that point, ever since collaborating on 'Under the Lash', and they often shared models. 

Remarkably, an almost identical pose of Don was later published in Man-ifique 9, but attributed to Royale, which makes you wonder just how much Barrington and Clavering collaborated in this case. The Royale sets featuring Yves Grangeat were almost certainly shot by Barrington.

Royale Studio Ad in Man's World (Dec '57)

 Clavering was equally enthusiastic about his young protégé, putting Don's image at the top of Royale's first advertisement in Man's World, Dec 1957, describing him as a "young boxer from the Royal Navy". Barrington featured one of the Royale pictures of him on the front page of his February 1958 issue of MAN-ifique (No 7). He also added Royale to his list of 'reputable photographers' in the same issue.  

 Don continued to be prominently featured in Royale's advertising with a dedicated ad in 'Tomorrow's Man' in April 1958, Royale added some 'storyettes' to his CV, but few details about them have survived. May 1958 was probably the height of his beefcake fame. He was awarded the accolade of a seven-page article in 'Adonis' magazine that talked about his background and interests, as if he were a pop star. That article is the source of most of the information about his background at the top of this article. It has all the hallmarks of being written by Basil Clavering, himself, whose Cinema Manager background gave him a flair for marketing.

 

Adonis (may '58) Article about Don Avard

A section of the Adonis article talked about Don's sporting interests, but in a more interesting section where we are told Don worked at Mount Pleasant Post Office. At the time this was well-known as a sorting office for the Royal Mail, its modern technology was often featured in mini-documentaries. It would have handled both Clavering and Barrington's mail outs. Don's background in the Royal Navy would have given him the necessary security clearance for such a job. It seems to imply he planned to settle in London.

 

Adonis (May '58) Article about Don Avard

The Adonis article goes on to show him relaxing 'at home', Noel Coward fashion, in a dressing gown. 'Home' appears to have been a sumptuous residence, luxuriously furnished, including extravagances like a grand piano and candelabras dotted around.

 It seems entirely plausible that this is Basil Clavering's own home in Denbigh St. Apart from the wealth and tastes on display, the double window seen in the background of the bottom image broadly tallies with the outside view of Clavering's house, assuming the sitting room was on the first floor and occupying the whole width of the building. 

 In fact, according to the 1958 Electoral Register, Don was indeed resident in Clavering's house in Denbigh St. This may have simply been an arrangement to enable him to get his job with the Post Office. However, it seems to have become more than that, an article in Tomorrow's Man in October 1959 stated that Don was now 'part of the (Royale) firm'. In what capacity is not known, but in April 1959, Barrington had removed Royale from his List of Reputable Photographers without explanation. He did, however, include pictures of Don in the same issue. 

After the initial launch, there doesn't seem to have been another Royale shoot and interest in him gradually petered out. Barrington continued to publish pictures of Don in the years that followed, but they appear to come from the same original shoot. In his model catalogue, he gushed about how good a friend Don was, the kind 'one can never tire of'. However, in 1962 Barrington had to report to his readers (in the Autumn issue of MAN-ifique) that Don was back in Australia. 

In the mid-70s Barrington was finally able to openly publish his nude photographs of Don Avard in 'Man to Man', Vol 1 No 1 (link pending). 

~ 

An interesting footnote to this story came in 1995 when an Australian tourist named Don Avard came upon the scene of a tragic accident on the M4 motorway. A coach carrying pensioners had struck some debris and careered off the carriageway resulting in the death of 10 of the passengers and injury to 20 others. Mr Avard told the press that he too had hit debris and had to avoid wooden pallets scattered on the road, believed to have been shed accidentally by a lorry. 

It was reported that Mr Avard was 59 and an Ex-Londoner who now lived in Adelaide, Australia. He was staying in Warminster, Wiltshire and heading towards Bath at the time of the accident. He was further described as a property developer who formerly lived in the Kings Cross area of London. 

I have no idea if this man was the Royale model of the same name, but the age he gave, 59, meant he would have been 21 in 1957, exactly the same age that Barrington quoted in his first advertisement (see above). The Australian connection fits and Kings Cross is about a mile from Mount Pleasant, where Don was believed to have worked. 

The Warminster connection is intriguing, it's a UK Army garrison town, not far from Salisbury Plain, a major Army training area. It's an interesting, old town, but not on the tourist map. A place where someone might go to stay because they knew someone who lived there. It's a long way from the sea, so not a Navy town, but Royal's model roster was full of military men of all three services of course. Don might easily have befriended one of them. 

If I was being mischievous, I might also observe that Brian Lamprill, who was also modelling for Royale in 1958, ended up in Australia too.

I guess we'll never know! 

A Biography of Tibor Urgay

Tibor Urgay, 'Youth in the Glade', ca 1961

  Thanks to Basil Clavering's flair for publicity in the early days of Royale, we know more about Tibor than most of their models.

 Tibor Urgay was a Hungarian national, born in Budapest in August 1941 [1], at the height of the second world war, a war in which Hungary sided with the German fascists. 

Tibor (aged 15) came to the UK in the wake of the September 1956 uprising against communist rule and the subsequent Russian re-occupation. Tibor had manned the barricades, according to [1].  He joined about 200,000 Hungarians who fled their homeland to escape retribution after resisting the Soviet invasion.  Most of them escaped by crossing the Austrian (Iron Curtain) border illegally in treacherous, wintery conditions. Tibor was one of around 20,000 who came to the UK. He and many others really wanted to go to the USA and regarded the UK as a stepping stone, but he ended up staying in Britain.  

In general, the refugees were welcomed in the UK, but most of them could not speak English and found it hard to find work [4]. Their English hosts could not speak Hungarian either. A poignant exhibit in the Bedfordshire County Archives [5] records the confusion and language problems surrounding their sudden arrival, and the disorientation and mistrust, some of them felt. Of course, they were accustomed to the West being painted as an enemy by Communist governments. 

According to one source, the refugees were not universally accepted, particularly if they failed to conform to 'expectations'. One report suggested criminal behaviour was hushed up by a supportive press, but when a group roasted a wild duck in Hyde Park it made headlines [4]. 

According to two sources, Tibor worked in the English coal mines [2], [3]. Miners were indeed a significant group amongst the arrivals, having played a major part in resisting the Soviets. The National Coal Board had a scheme to actively recruit 4000 experienced Hungarian miners to fill the national labour shortage left after the War. They were mainly sent to Staffordshire and Cheshire. However, a 2006 article in 'The Guardian' reported local opposition to employing them in coal mines in Wales.

Tibor wasn't actually old enough in 1956 to work in a UK mine. He was reportedly living about 30 miles north of London in 1958 [1] and there weren't any coal mines there. The Coal Miner claim may be a distortion of his life in Hungary or a result of him attempting to join the National Coal Board scheme. Or it may simply be pure invention by Basil Clavering, cashing in on the NCB publicity to give Tibor an interesting, manly persona.

 According to [1], Tibor "turned up" at Royale's Studio, i.e. Clavering's house, in July 1958. We don't know how this came about. He was reported as having joined a weightlifting club near his new home [1] and may have learned about Royale and its address that way. Several other Royale models were Hungarian, and they could have introduced him. It's possible that some of them had already learned, like British servicemen, that posing for Clavering was a glamorous and semi-respectable way of earning pocket money.  

 

 

Tibor's first issued photo set, a dual shoot with Fred Collins, was issued in October of that year. Fred, a relatively experienced model for Royale, may have had the job of mentoring him. A flurry of solo sets of Tibor had appeared by the end of the year. 

The esteem in which Tibor was held by Clavering is evident in the lengthy copy and rich prose that accompanied his photos in the Beefcake press, even comparing him to Michaelangelo's David (as in the image below). He even appears in the rare shot of Basil Clavering at work with his camera alongside Brian Lamprill and Ron Wiltshire. 

Tibor seems to have posed again occasionally, for Royale and Dolphin, in the years that followed. He doesn't seem to have posed for anyone else. In fact, a Royale advertisement in the beefcake press (Man Alive No 3) in January 1959, claimed in the small print that he was exclusively contracted to Royale, implying some sort of ongoing, monetary arrangement (see below).  

 

Royale ad (Jan 1959) - Tibor shown as under 'exclusive photographic contract'

After Royale's demise, a number of Tibor's photos appeared in the beefcake press labelled as the work of Peter Dobing, but nearly all of them are demonstrably part of the Royale catalogue. That doesn't necessarily mean Dobing didn't take them, Royale also distributed photos taken by John Barrington under the Royale name, but equally Dobing may have simply acquired the rights to them in the closing down sale.

Tibor Paul Urgay became a naturalised British citizen in 1967 under the name Tibor Urge, which I imagine is the correct Hungarian spelling (with the 'e' pronounced 'eh', as in 'bet'). That means that he was able to show good character to the British authorities and intended to stay in the UK. He was declared to be living in Luton, which is indeed 30 miles north of London (and in Bedfordshire, as it happens!). His occupation was given as a toolmaker, which means he had acquired professional engineering skills when he wasn't training with weights or posing for beefcake photographs.

He married the same year. 

I have also found press reports of a man with his name in the East Anglia region later in 1967 and again in 1976. The man concerned was reportedly 26 in 1967, which exactly fits with 'our' Tibor's birthday. The trail goes cold after that, if he is still in the UK, he would now be 84. 

~ 

 

References 

[1] Article in Man's World, Nov 1958 (Beefcake Magazine)  

[2] Article in Tomorrow's Man v7#1, Dec 1958 

[3] Article in Formosus #1 (Summer '59)

[4] How Britain welcomed fugitives from Hungary - Guardian, Oct 20th, 2006

[5] Bedfordshire County Archives, Refugees Display - 3 

Ray Huggins and 'IRESC' Scout Recruitment

Ray Huggins by Hussar

  To complement the publication of the IRESC, Scout Recruitment set at the Gallery, I posted a gallery of solo shots of one of its stars, the very beefy, Ray Huggins. 

The IRESC images came with no identifying information, no cast list, no storyline, not even a proper title. There seems to have been no contemporary advertising to even help in dating it. Consequently, discovering the identity of one of the models has been one of my more satisfying investigations. 

I worked on the hunch that IRESC followed Royale's normal practice of coding sets using the model's initials plus a more descriptive abbreviation - as in FJWR for example, short for 'Fred and John Wrestling'. With the 'SC' in IRESC looking like an abbreviation for Scout, that left I, R and E as possibly the model's initials. 

To my delight, I quickly found Ray Huggins under 'R' in my models list. His face is not his greatest asset, but it's unmistakeable. Messrs 'I' and 'E' remain more elusive to date, but tracking down Ray's solo images in the old, beefcake press has given me a clue to when the others may have gone before the camera too. Watch this space!

View Ray Huggins Profile

2 Rare Fragments added to Royale Gallery

Detail from 'Football Fight'

 I have added two rare fragments of storyettes starring Brian Morris and Tibor Urgay which I have dubbed 'Bike Trio' and 'Football Fight' in the absence of definitive information about them. Linkages via the models' index pages have been given an overhaul.

Gallery Improvements

Tibor Urgay - Feeling Exposed and Doing Research

 

 I have just finished upgrading the Gallery by enlarging the text size on every article there. This should make it easier to read, especially for those accessing it on mobile phones. I intend to use large text on all my sites in the future, but won't be able to make it retrospective because of the number of posts involved. I will apply large text selectively to old articles on the Royale blog which are important, like the 'Timeline' article, for example. 

Improving mobile phone presentation on this Royale blog and the mitchmen blog is more difficult because I use the sidebars for important links and this cramps the text area on phones. 

 At this blog, the sidebar acts as an index, so if I make it invisible, I will remove vital functionality. I'm thinking of creating a separate index but haven't worked out how to integrate it with the existing blog and Gallery sites. Hence, the caption I've given to the great picture of Tibor Urgay above! It's from his photo set TIB4 (article pending).

Reader comments and feedback will be welcome 
particularly from mobile users 

Royale's Merchandising of Clothing

One of the spin-offs that Royale tried to exploit was the sale of clothing seen in their photographs. Clavering's background in the cinema industry gave him an entrepreneurial flair and practical knowledge of marketing and merchandising.

Their first campaign was spearheaded by Fred Collins, "Royale's most popular model" in 1959. 

Fred's Shorts on Offer

 In Sept 1959 Man's World carried an image from Fred's 'Footballer' series in an advert offering The “Fred Collins, Elastic Waist, Continental Soccer Shorts” for 15/- a pair (or £0.75 today). The ad was selling the fantasy of course, not just a pair of shorts, but since various sizes were on offer, we may conclude that the shorts were not pre-worn! 

The 'Continental' attribution was quite exotic and sophisticated in the 1950s, pre-EU. It was a time when elastic was replacing drawstring shorts for Soccer (but not for the hurley-burley of Rugby). 

Notice also the 'Specially Styled' claim. With his ethnic background, it's likely that Clavering had connections in the 'Rag Trade'. We can only speculate about the nature of the 'special styling'. 
A tight fit perhaps

 

 The inclusion of Brian Morris (3)  and Mike Ridgeway (4) in this clothing 'brochure' suggests it must have been produced around 1960-1 when the Royale-Hussar transition had just begun. Model (5) may be Tibor Noszgay

The photograph of Fred Collins (2) is much earlier, of course, 1958.

Cliff Smith (1) had a legitimate career as a model for casual wear. Here he shows off a self-supporting "clip pouch". It was advertised in its own right in Man Alive 10 (Jun '60), below 

This ad enlarges the rather vague explanation of the mechanism in the brochure, but gives little idea of how the device is kept in place. Cliff's, rather forced, smile suggests it might involve clenched muscles. It did. Illustrations in other magazines showed it had a back piece, a rod that fitted, rather inelegantly, but not entirely uselessly, between the buttocks. 

 

 

Cliff Clenches

 Amazingly (or perhaps not so amazingly), these two images turned up in 'Drummer' in 1988, but the illustrations were so small that the novelty design of the pouch and it's erotic significance barely registered.

Fred's shorts were made of cotton, 'Sea Island', no less, but Cliff's pouch and the G-string advertised in pictures 3, 4, 5 of the brochure above were made of nylon, which was still regarded as desirable and luxurious. The 60s revolution in men's attitude to dress (pink shirts!) meant that it's exotic qualities could now be marketed to them. Its fit as an erotic garment in these images speaks for itself, and the moral climate had eased enough for them to be publishable. There are good examples of it in 'Tibor Urgay Outdoors' as well as in Brian Morris solo and Mike Ridgeway (pending). A very similar design can be seen in Scott of London's contemporary photos of Wally Grimme,

 

Royale Studio - Brian Morris

From an erotic point of view, this sleek, tight, form-fitting pouch design is a marked improvement on the early, loose 'pocket' style, which was the disappointing norm in beefcake imagery when Royale started up (e.g. Ian Oliver).  The original pouch was characterised by a top hem, through which the waist string passed, producing 'gather' like a simple curtain hanging. This design was not incapable of producing impressive results in the right hands (as it were) but often delivered far less.

 Royale also experimented with other styles. Some of Peter George's pouch images show a different self-contained, box-like design which is rigid and has no gather on the top hem, keeping its shape and guaranteeing generous bulk. It still had string supports, though. 
I've not yet found any attempt to market it.  

All these garments were priced at £1 (about £30 pounds in today's money). Customers may have imagined that the hunky models had actually worn the garments they purchased, but when the average wage was about £10 a week, a pound for a G-string (even a nylon one!) was not a cheap indulgence. 

£1 sounded so expensive in those days that expressing it as 20 shillings (20/-) was common practice. Indeed, even higher prices were often disguised this way, 21 shillings (a guinea) was regarded as a 'posh' price, and you might be asked to pay 25 or 30 shillings in some places.

 ~ 

I may add more clothing references here as I discover them.

New: Tibor Urgay Outdoors, COMPLETED

Tibor Urgay wading in

 One of the pictures from a new set posted at the gallery called Tibor Urgay Outdoors.

Outdoor shoots were not common in beefcake photography, apart from muscle beach and outdoor competition reports. This image featuring transparent, wet shorts is one of a kind! 

This image attributed to Dolphin Photography by Tim in Vermont, I don't know the original source.

Other sets featuring Tibor 

 

Tibor Urgay wading in

Royale Fun 1

Royale Studio - The Stolen Motorcycle

 

This picture from 'The Stolen Motorcycle' is a joke in itself, especially with no motorcycle in sight in any of the images. My caption draws out the subtle eroticism and in-jokes to be found in some Royale Studio images. And w ho's to say what happened when the studio lights were dimmed?

Ian Oliver and Cliff Smith bend over forwards to entertain us.

I was quite pleased with the colouring of the jeans, but couldn't persuade the 'AI' to colour Cliff's pants a different colour, something like khaki. I made this compromise by marrying two different efforts together. Grey would have been a decent compromise, but for some reason it would only do the top half!

Work continues on the Football Ballet set

Royale Studio - The Football Ballet, FOBA1-03 The Players Mount Up

 Publication of the Football Ballet series has commenced at the gallery.

Features Royale's 'famous shorts'.

Background and onward link to the pictures at the Football Ballet Index Page

Royale's 'Joke' Names

 Confusion about model names abounds in vintage beefcake photos. Models often adopted pseudonyms for publication. Sometimes they used different names for different studios. Royale Studio seems to have had more than it's fair share of confusion.

Tibor Urgay and Brian Lamprill in 'Gym', April 1960

I relate elsewhere at this blog the confusion of Tibor Urgay's identity with the US Model Ray Andersen (see above) because they looked so alike. Brian Lamprill was also inexplicably given the name of another British model, Gerry Haywood (not Gerri!) in this caption. By the way, I love the idea that this image (actually from the Urgay v Lamprill set) was an impromptu session created by models 'waiting assignment'.

Trim 16 March 1960

Communication problems might be the explanation of this earlier mis-naming of Brian Lamprill as Brian Campbell in Trim magazine in  April1960. In the 60's contact between Royale in London and Trim in Washington DC with attendant clock differences was reliant on slow letters and unreliable phone lines. In the index of Trim Studio Quarterly No 26 he's called Brian Lamphill.

Vim Nov 1960

Poor Brian Lamprill was also tagged as Brian Lamphrille in Vim later the same year. This hardly seems like a simple mistake, a typo or misspelling. It's as if some wag deliberately turned the name into a suggestive pun. (Say it out loud if you don't get it!). It probably wasn't Vim's doing, they took themselves very seriously as a body building periodical. In fact, Royale seemed to make a regular practice of giving models 'joke' names.

The Cast of 'Navy Gash'

Lamprill was primarily a 'straight' body builder for Royale and able to use his real name (or at least his competition name) but Royale often using serving members of the armed forces for their racy, uniformed storyettes and they probably adopted false names which were often not particularly subtle. Thus the trio above from 'Navy Gash' were named (L to R) Ned Willy-gan, Percy* and Tom Hard-ing. (To be fair, Tom Harding could be a real name)

*Percy is a common UK euphemism for penis, (as in 'I'm off to point Percy at the porcelain').

I have also related elsewhere at this blog the confusion surrounding the names Ned Willigan and comedian Spike Millican in Navy Romeo Identities which I suspect is another jest by the people at Royale.

Royale seemed to pick a well-known, French surname (top left) at random to identify Yves Grangeat in this feature at Body Beautiful 9. Presumably they couldn't remember or couldn't pronounce his real name in their communications with the magazine. In fact Yves suffered a multitude of misnamings in his short career, see the Yves Grangeat Index Page.

In those days in the UK making fun of foreigner's names was perfectly normal and Tom Manlick's improbable, saucy 'moniker' was possibly derived from an original Central European name.

Peter George as 'Harold Andsbury' in Gym 3, Jun 59

Gym Magazine were complicit in dubbing Peter George as 'Harold Andsbury' in this feature. Abbreviating Harold to 'H' produces the name H.Ands-bury, highly suggestive of FF fetish. Coining sobriquets like this for other people was a popular pastime for certain gay men in those days and some were very good at it. It's more likely a jest about Peter's memorable backside rather than titillating information about his actual sex life. 

Stan Free giving a caning to a youth in' TEDS'

Renaming models was not confined to magazine appearances, Stan Free was called 'Barry Cutts' in the Royale Catalogue listing of 'TEDS' but I've not found that name used anywhere else. I've speculated that this is another joke  in his Solo Sets Post

~

More casual mistakes crop up even in Royale's own catalogue - 

David Reid was called David Reed in the blurb for the Bullies storyette.

Yves Grangeat (new post announcement)

 Yves Grangeat by Royale

One of a series of images of this French model taken on the French Riviera. 

This set featured in Royale's 1960 Catalogue but the outdoor, (non-UK) beach location is unique for a Royale set and the model never featured in a conventional Royale studio set or storyette.

Photographs of him were also published by John Barrington who made an annual trip to the South of France to find and photograph new models and old friends on the beaches there. I suspect this is actually a contribution by him to the Royale Catalogue, he was friends with Basil Clavering and they also collaborated on other projects.

This picture is a good example of how difficult it is to capture the sexiness of jeans in a photographic  image. They probably looked great in real life.

Visit the Yves Grangeat Index Page for more images of the model by both Royale and Barrington

Stan Free caught moonlighting

Stan Free - Conbreef for Adams (1959)

 Some physique models branched out into advertising, Cliff Smith posed a lot for Domenique's clothing range and Fred Collins advertised shorts for Royale (not such a challenging task!). I stumbled across this ad with Stan Free looking very well-endowed in Man's World (Sept 1959). 

Support in those days was not about emotional crises.

~ 

This image has been added to Stan's folder at the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive 

Tibor Urgay and Ray Andersen

This article is a supplement to the Tibor Urgay Index page 

 

Tibor Urgay by Royale Studio

The Royale Studio model Tibor Urgay was gifted (from a curator's point of view) with an unmistakeable appearance. His baby face and fair, curly hair contrasted with a surprising, well-developed and bulky physique. He's seen here posing astride Royale's trademark half-roundel, polo mint prop.

Ray Andersen by Lon of NY (1953?)

On occasion Tibor was (understandably) confused with the US model Ray Andersen (above) who modelled for Lon of NY in the early 1950s. In fact, five images of Tibor wrestling nude with Brian Lamprill were published in the US magazine 'Gym' in April 1960 and labelled as Ray Andersen v Gerri Haywood (see image below). 

Tibor wrestling nude with Brian Lamprill in 'Gym' magazine

Gerry Haywood (not Gerri) was another British model who did some work with Royale but quite how the magazine mixed up these names quite so comprehensively is a mystery. On another occasion they published a picture of Peter George labelled as 'Harold Andsbury', but I suspect this is one of Royale's 'joke names' of which more in another post.

Ray Andersen by Don Young (1955)

The story of Ray Anderson is tragically short. He was nicknamed 'Golden Boy' by Lon of NY, on account of his 'flaxen hair and tanned skin'. Lon first photographed him in 1953 aged 17, but the earliest magazine appearance I have found is in 1955, modelling for Don Young Studio in a woodland location.

Interestingly, Royale used a similar setting for one of Tibor Urgay's shoots later, one of the few solo sets taken outside the studio by them.

 

Ray Andersen by Don Young (Vim, May 1956)

These images give a rather better impression of Andersen's physique and sex appeal (bolstered by some pretty skimpy briefs). The resemblance to Tibor is striking, so some confusion was understandable. When the world of beefcake discovered Andersen, he already had a successful career as a trapeze artist (which seemed a common route to success in the 1950s and accounts for those powerful shoulders). He had also appeared in the 'Big Top' TV show.

 

Ray Andersen by Don Young

Ray made the front cover of Vim in January 1956 

with an image that shows alluringly large nipples gracing impressive pecs 

and a classic, hard 'washboard' stomach.

~

Sadly, Ray's life was brought to a tragic end the following year when he suffered serious injuries in a traffic accident and died suddenly a few months later, from undetected, internal injuries.

Lon penned a moving, two page memorial for him in Man's World (Feb 1958) 

from which much of the information in this article is taken.

The Royale Studio Archive

by mitchmen

Images at this blog which bear the 'Royale Studio Open Archive' legend have been enhanced. All the images from this series, including unenhanced originals, those omitted for quality reasons, variants and source references will be uploaded in due course to the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive. (click on link to check).

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

Information about the Contents and Organisation of the Royale Studio Archive

For links to similar sets please use the labels below