Royale's use of Members of the Armed Forces

 In their catalogue description of 'Navy Gash', Royale boldly announced that the stars were members of one of the Royal Navy Teams in the Royal Tournament Gun Race. Similarly, Peter George's solo sets were introduced with the statement that he was a Corporal in the RAF and this information was printed in beefcake mags that featured him (see Airmen in Royale images). Many other models were also promoted as servicemen in this way (see foot of post)

There are many contemporary accounts of how easy it was to pick up servicemen from pubs near barracks and enjoy their company (and maybe more) for the price of a pint. There were large numbers of conscripts in the services at that time, reluctantly doing their National Service in the aftermath of World War 2, so there will have been plenty of off-duty gay and non-gay servicemen who ignored the prohibitions of their superiors and frequented gay haunts to simply enjoy the company or offer themselves for rent, where their military identity was an invaluable selling point. 

Basil Clavering (the man behind Royale) was a willing buyer of course and through these men he could gain access to an even larger pool of less adventurous and non-gay servicemen friends, who could also be persuaded to perform for him. It's possible, I suppose, that this grapevine effect may have given rise to the myth about homosexuals 'recruiting' straight men and 'turning' them queer.

The Earls Court area of West London where the Royal Tournament was held annually was close to an area which at that time had a seedy reputation rivalling that of Soho in central London. It was home to a number of well-known gay pubs and clubs with intimidating reputations, notably The (leathery) Colhearne, The Boltons and The Catacombs. There were notorious, dangerous, cruising areas, nearby. 

The Colhearne Pub (ca 1970?)
(click to enlarge)

During the Royal Tournament all the pubs in the immediate vicinity of the Arena will have been crammed with military men from all 3 services taking a break from performing and attending to their equipment, so there would have been unrivalled opportunities for Basil Clavering and his associates to chat up and proposition likely lads, offering them the possibility of becoming celebrated in a slightly different way and earning some pocket money to boot (no pun intended!). To gay servicemen in those oppressive times it must also have seemed an attractive way of having their publicly despised sexuality recognised and valued even.

It was risky for serving personnel to allow themselves to be photographed in compromising, homosexual situations, they risked lengthy imprisonment, not just expulsion from the services. Royale's description for NAGA referencing the 1959 Royal Tournament actually comes from their October 1959 Catalogue, so the men involved were probably still in the Navy at that time and therefore highly vulnerable. Peter George was also implied to be a serving airman, and his Royale Career history provides hints that the practice may have backfired on Royale. Likewise, the story of Tom Manlick.

Royale Studio - Navy Romeo, Part 1 - Image 7

There is no doubt that many Royale models used their real names, although Harding, Avard and Willigan in the list below for example seem improbable. The need for Royale models to have a degree of anonymity may account for the fact that their faces are often obscured or turned away in Royale Studio pictures which feature two or more men together. You can see this especially in Part 1 of the 'Navy Romeo' storyette. But it's also true that when it comes to censorship, rear views in general are safer ground than frontal bulges.

Fortunately, Royale images circulated largely on the fringes of society. A few relatively innocuous pictures and contact ads appeared in the back pages of British beefcake magazines, but even those magazines were hard to come by in the UK at that time. There were rigorous censorship laws and uncontrolled, homophobic, police activity led to the seizing of anything (they) deemed to be remotely indecent. In addition, Newsagents, the only available public outlet in those days, were mostly in the hands of conservative and understandably cautious, private owners whose personal standards determined what could go on their shelves. Even those willing to sell the magazines were likely to hide them 'under the counter' where they were effectively restricted to those 'in the know' and bold enough to ask. 

  I'd welcome any comments on this era by readers who experienced it.

~

Servicemen Appearing in Royale's Photo Sets

Royal Navy, Royal Tournament Gun Crews

Alan and Harry 1957 Race (probably)

Don Avard 1957 Race

Ned Willigan 1959

Ted (see DTS) 1959

Tom Harding 1959

Tony Newnes (link pending) 1959 (probably)

Royal Navy (other)

Alan Routh

RAF (PT instructors)

Pete Beale

Peter George

Steve Wilson - see Eagle Vest

Ian Oliver possibly?

British Army

Tom Manlick (possibly a Horse Guard)

Eric White and Trefor (Welsh Guards)  

Ron Wiltshire (Paratrooper)

Sandy MacCrea  (Paratrooper)

Ron Wiltshire Overview added

Ron Wiltshire in Model Man (Summer 1961)

 In preparation for the publication of 'The Captive' in the Archive Gallery,
an initial overview of Ron Wiltshire's career with Royale, Dolphin and Hussar Studios
 has been added to the Models section in the right hand side bar. 

Visit Ron's Index Page

AI-enhanced image Quality at the Royale Studio blog

New AI-Enhanced Image of Peter George 

The image above is an example of a gallery posting which I have replaced with an AI-enhanced version. I think it improves the presentation, especially of images culled from old beefcake magazines (which the majority of images at this blog are). Produced prior to modern printing processes, they were not amazing quality prints even when new. The unenhanced version is shown below.

Old Image of Peter George (Unenhanced)

The enhancement process benefits muscle and posing pouch definition, sometimes with spectacular success, but the technique has its limitations and human faces with their relatively small detailing sometimes come out with unnatural exaggerations and emphasis. The grainy texture of old images tends to be replaced by smoother, slightly plastic textures which is a mixed blessing, hairiness is much diluted, for example and texture generally. However, the result often serves better for the purposes of presentation, I feel. 

I'm not seeking to 'restore' or 'preserve' the images in an academic sense, but to improve the impact of them for a modern and casual, first-time audience, hopefully recapturing something of what the first viewers experienced when Royale burst onto the British gay scene. Enthusiasts can seek out the unspoilt originals at the Archive (see link below)

I trialled the new style of images in TEDS and Stanley Free and now use it routinely on new posts, but only where it improves the presentation. I do not attempt to improve those images which are already good quality. There are a variety of tools in the kit, but there are situations where the AI software cannot improve the imperfect original, it struggles with fuzziness (sometimes surprisingly) and low resolutions (more understandably). It can also be misled by spurious marks on the original where the human eye would not be. Likewise, my ability to use the tools is evolving and has its limits! 

I hope to retrofit older posts (pre March 2023) in due course. 

You can identify AI-enhanced images at this site because I add the Royale Studio Archive logo to them. I don't add it to untreated images and I don't claim any ownership, just having cleaned and enhanced them.  Sometimes I provide a link to the unaltered originals for comparison purposes in the text of the post, but in any case the original source images can all be found in the relevant set or model folder in the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive. The folders also include other images omitted for quality reasons, duplicates obtained from different sources, and the source references themselves. Sometimes the upload process may be delayed, so watch for an announcement or click the link to check periodically. 

Stanley Free's Solo Career added to Royale Studio Gallery

Stanley Free as a sexy muscular cowboy for Royale Studio (1958)

Stan Free, sailor star of TEDS had been added to the Model Index in the right sidebar.

Through that link you can access TEDS and a new article about his solo career for Royale Studio, Hussar and Lon of London.

The Link Between Royale Studio and Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland - The Thieving Cowboy 01

I have posted an article at the mitchmen blog which explores the link between Royale and Tom of Finland and the 'Thieving Cowboy' story they commissioned from him.

'TEDS' is the latest addition to the Royale Archive

TEDS13 - Sailor Canes A Mugger

In Royale Studio's 'TEDS' a muscular sailor is attacked by a mugger with a cosh.

He fights him off with much loss of clothing on both sides.
Then he punishes him by caning him over his knee

TEDS is Set 06 in the mitchmen Royale Studio Archive

~

Go direct to the 'Teddy Boy and Sailor' pictures

Read the TEDS Introduction and Background first

 Tou can access all the sets via the index in the right sidebar

The 1960 Royale Catalogue

The Full Royale Studio Catalogue for 1960 

The British Photographers (BP) 'Originals' Collection is one of the foundations of this Archive. It included images of a number of catalogue sheets, some showing text descriptions of Royale sets, some showing photo thumbnails. Together these pages make up the January 1960 Royale catalogue. They are a valuable resource about what Royale did in it's early years.

The catalogue actually consists of 7 separate Lists issued by Royale between Oct 1957 and January 1960. In other words the entire existence of Royale up to 1960.

Each of these 7 lists consists of two elements:
A 'Key List' containing sample thumbnail images of each of the photo sets in the List
A 'Catalogue List' with text descriptions of each set and pricing information

Each picture 'Key List' has an exactly matching text 'Catalogue List' 
(which may consist of more than one page of text)

The original filenames assigned to the various 'Key List' and 'Catalogue List' images in the British Photographers collection are not much help in assembling the catalogue as they are not numbered in chronological sequence and the numbers of the thumbnail sheets (labelled Catalogue001 etc) and text sheets (labelled Brochure001 etc) don't cross-match  either. The article describes how the complete Catalogue was reassembled from these constituent elements. At the end of this article, it has been used to date each quarterly list and by implication the release date of the sets within it. 

 

List 'A' 

Royale Key List 'A'
(click to enlarge)

List 'A' is the earliest as you might expect.
Key List 'A' shows 27 sample thumbnails with reference codes in the bottom corners.
These codes are used in the corresponding text list below.

.

Royale Catalogue List 'A', page 1
(click to enlarge)

This Catalogue List (headed simply as List 'A') has descriptions and prices of 15 of the photo sets on the Key, thumbnail page. It starts with set LLCK, which is the fifth thumbnail in the Key List, the reason for this is explained below. The list of text descriptions overflows onto a second image (below)

Royale Catalogue List 'A', page 2
(click to enlarge)

We know this second page is part of List A because the set codes match the images in Key List A directly above. The shortened length of this page is due to it having been cut off page 1. The old style, paper size used in 1960 (called foolscap) was larger than A4 and does not fit onto a modern scanner, so it's been split into two scans. You can just see traces of page 1 at the top edge matching the chopped text at the bottom of page 1.

Notice that the two sets that sit either side of the page change - 2-ERTR and 1-ERTR are in reverse numerical order. It's evidence of the editing that has taken place. List A is actually a compendium of selected sets from Royale's first five lists but because of cumulative editing and rearrangement it's sequence is not indicative of the original release sequence of those sets.

Thus, the thumbnails for the last two sets on this text page (ROC and DAD) seem to have overflowed back up to the top row of thumbnails in Key List A . This also tells us that the list has been edited at some point with unwanted sets removed to make way for the newer additions.

There's also a third text page for List A (below) with the last 2 sets on it - 2-TIFC and BOF.
The thumbnails for them have also been inserted into the top row of 'Key List A'.

List 'A' (end) & List 6

Royale Catalogue List 'A', page 3 & List VI page 1 
(click to enlarge)

The heading on this page tells us it was always a separate sheet of paper.

After List 'A' ends, the catalogue continues without break, to List VI.

The puzzling change in notation is because List 'A' was an extract of Lists I to V and replaced them.

Royale Key List 6
(click to enlarge)

This is the Key List of thumbnails for List 6 (or 'VI'). 

It's fairly obvious from the gaps that this sheet has also been edited.

Pre-computers, these thumbnail sheets would have been produced by physically attaching the individual pictures to a backing sheet and photographing the result. Adding and deleting was most easily done by removing or covering an unwanted thumbnail and pasting a new one into the vacant space. In this example it looks as if some have not been replaced.

Two of the sets depicted on this page - 2-RON (Ron Wiltshire) and 3-TIB (Tibor Urgay) - are not included in the List VI descriptions above. They are not on the next sheet either (Shown below). The explanation for this is that they have been withdrawn from sale, confirmation of this practice appears as a note at the top of Page 3 of list 7 (which is shown further on).

 

List EX3 and List 7 

Royale Catalogue List EX3 and VII page 1
(click to enlarge)

This next list is headed 'EX3'. There is no continuation statement referencing a previous list so we know this is the start of a new list.
We also know EX3 comes next after List VI (6) because List VII (7) starts at the foot of the page.

'EX' appears to simply mean 'extra', i.e. a supplement to List VI

Each of the sets in these lists had it's own thumbnail set showing a miniature of all the pictures in that set. Customers could buy these and select the pictures that they wanted to buy as full size copies. Thus set FJSS which appears in List A at the start of this article had it's own detailed thumbnail sheet. It's actually labelled as EX2 FJSS on it, showing that it was part of an earlier 'Extras' list incorporated into List 'A', which presumably had an EX1 list in it as well. 

It's not clear why Royale decided to create a separate sequence of 'Extra' Lists.

Royale Key List EX3
(click to enlarge)

These are the thumbnails for 'List EX3'. It's an exact match with the text list above, but there are multiple thumbnails for some sets: '2-FC' (Fred Collins) in the top row has three, '3-IOL' (Ian Oliver) in the middle row has two and 'VC' (Vic Cane) in the bottom row has three.

Royale Key list 7 
(click to enlarge)

This is the Key List, thumbnail sheet for List 7. 

It begins with the two sets shown at the foot of the EX3 text List above: 

ANC (Andre Coel) and BIS (Bill Stevens).

This sheet does not look as if it's been altered at all and the continuation page of text 'List 7'

 flows in exactly the same sequence, beginning with 'BULLIES'

Royale Catalogue List VII (7), page 2
(click to enlarge)

The 'cash please' footnote on this page indicates that it was the foot of a physical page

but it's not the end of List VII

Royale Catalogue List VII (7), page 3
(click to enlarge)

The remainder of List VII (with helpful 'continued' title at the top) continues following exactly the same sequence as Key List 7

The entry for 1-ROW (Ron Wiltshire) references 1-RON, one of the descriptions missing from List VI.

The message at the top of the page explicitly confirms the practice of 'editing out' sets that are no longer available for one reason or another (e.g. stocks exhausted or not selling enough). It doesn't actually apply to this List VII, but explains the two missing descriptions in List VI. I haven't come across any other mismatch in this particular catalogue. 

List VIII originally started on this same sheet, you can just see (bottom left) traces of the heading where it has been cut off.

 

List 8 

Royale Key List 8
(click to enlarge)

Key List 8 shows signs of serious editing with huge gaps in the top row.

The bottom row has been filled by putting in multiple thumbnails for two sets

Royale Catalogue List VIII (8), page 1
(click to enlarge)

These are is the corresponding List VIII text descriptions 

(with the top edge of the heading cropped off).

It has been (invisibly) edited to follow the same sequence as the Key List 8 just above.

There weren't any word processors then, so text documents had to be typed onto paper. Small numbers of copies (4 or 5) could be created simultaneously by putting 'carbon' paper (inked on one side) between multiple sheets but it was also possible to create masters which could be used to reproduce many more copies to send out to customers  using a process called cyclostyling. Changing them later required laborious re-typing or physically cutting and pasting them to create a new master. 

Royale Catalogue List VIII (8), page 2
(click to enlarge)

Page 2 completes List VIII

The set descriptions for storyettes are becoming more detailed and more sensational.

 

List 9 

Royale Key List 9
(click to enlarge)

It's hard to tell if this Key List has been edited or not. You would expect the more recent lists towards the end of the catalogue to still be intact.

Notable entries: The Captive, Navy Gash

Royale List IX (9), page 1
(click to enlarge)

This is the first sheet of List IX and it's dated. Royale didn't seem to date every List, but it's possible to deduce their dates from those we know and the fixed quarterly interval between Lists (see below)

The heading contains full details of how to order photos. It's likely that this information would have been given on earlier lists originally, but over time become a casualty of the editing process. It's content is also quite likely to have changed with the passage of time. The warnings about frontal nudity reflect the pressure the authorities were applying. Royale's contemporary, John Barrington, was probably supplying frontal nudes at this time.

The set descriptions in List 9 follow the same sequence as the Key List 9 thumbnail sheet

Royale List IX (9), page 2
(click to enlarge)

This sheet has another footnote clarifying the ordering process with interesting examples of the pitfalls of mail ordering in an era when many customers would not have had telephones. Clavering was a wealthy man and probably had a phone but Royale never gave out a number. Some of the problems with these orders may have been the result of customers trying to avoid being identified should their paperwork fall into the wrong hands - the Police or potential blackmailers.

The number of orders that could not be fulfilled, 37, gives a clue that the number Royale were successfully dispatching must have been quite significant, in the hundreds.

 

List 10 

Royale Key List 10
(click to enlarge)

List 10 is the last in this Catalogue

Notable enties - Navy Romeo, Peter George nudes.

Royale Catalogue List X (10) page 1
(click to enlarge)

Royale gives it's ordering information at the top of this list once again. Crucially it's dated and this time also includes the useful information that Lists come quarterly. This is the key to dating all the preceding lists VI-IX (6-9) back to the start of 1959. Scroll to the foot of the post to see the result.

Notice too how Royale are branching out into selling shorts (not used, or so it appears)

This List follows the sequence of the corresponding Key List 10 just above except that NARO and JBT are reversed, possibly to accommodate the two NARO thumbnails on the top line together.

Royale Catalogue List X (10) page 2
(click to enlarge)

The list continues in the same sequence as the Key List
another 'orphan' list from trimming foolscap size to modern A4

Royale Catalogue List X (10) page 3
(click to enlarge)

TABLE

DATED TABLE OF SUB-LISTS WITHIN 

THE JAN, 1960 CATALOGUE

The dating of sets 1-5 here is guesswork really but it does bring us back to the same Royale 'start date' identified in the Timeline for Royale Studio from magazine sources. The earliest advert for Royale which I have found is late 1957 (see same article). Presumably the October 57, List 1 was prepared anyway as a press release. It's existence implies Royale had been recruiting models and taking photographs of them even earlier, for at least 3 months going by their subsequent publication interval. Of course we know Clavering had been doing it as a hobby much earlier (ref 5, Colville).

You might also like to read  'How Royale Sold Their Pictures'

List	Source of Date	Date	Precision
10	Given at top of List	Jan 1960	Actual
9	Given at top of List	Oct 1959	Actual
8	Back step a quarter  (Royale's standard frequency - see List X page 1)	July 1959	Deduced
7	Back step a quarter	Apr 1959	Deduced
EX3	Date somewhere between List 6 and List 7 EX3 was an 'extra' list	Feb 1959?	Assumed
6	Back step a quarter from list 7	Jan 1959	Deduced
A	The date given at top of List A is only a date of revision, coinciding with the issue date of the whole Catalogue i.e. List 10.  'A' is a consolidation of Lists 1-5 so we can only date the sets listed as 1957-8 EX1 and EX2 were also in here somewhere	Dec 1959	Actual
5	Back step a quarter from List 6	Oct 1958	Notional
4	Back step a quarter	Jul 1958	Notional
3	Back step a quarter	Apr 1958	Notional
2	Back step a quarter	Jan 1958	Notional
1	Back step a quarter	Oct 1957	Notional

List

Source of Date

Date

Precision

10

Given at top of List

Jan 1960

Actual

9

Given at top of List

Oct 1959

Actual

8

Back step a quarter 

(Royale's standard frequency - see List X page 1)

July 1959

Deduced

7

Back step a quarter 

Apr 1959

Deduced

EX3

Date somewhere between List 6 and List 7

EX3 was an 'extra' list 

Feb 1959?

Assumed

6

Back step a quarter from list 7

Jan 1959

Deduced

A

The date given at top of List A is only a date of revision, coinciding with the issue date of the whole Catalogue i.e. List 10. 

'A' is a consolidation of Lists 1-5 so we can only date the sets listed as 1957-8

EX1 and EX2 were also in here somewhere

Dec 1959

Actual

5

Back step a quarter from List 6

Oct 1958

Notional

4

Back step a quarter 

Jul 1958

Notional

3

Back step a quarter 

Apr 1958

Notional

2

Back step a quarter

Jan 1958

Notional

1

Back step a quarter

Oct 1957

Notional

List

Source of Date

Date

Precision

10

Given at top of List

Jan 1960

Actual

9

Given at top of List

Oct 1959

Actual

8

Back step a quarter 

(Royale's standard frequency - see List X page 1)

July 1959

Deduced

7

Back step a quarter 

Apr 1959

Deduced

EX3

Date somewhere between List 6 and List 7

EX3 was an 'extra' list 

Feb 1959?

Assumed

6

Back step a quarter from list 7

Jan 1959

Deduced

A

The date given at top of List A is only a date of revision, coinciding with the issue date of the whole Catalogue i.e. List 10. 

'A' is a consolidation of Lists 1-5 so we can only date the sets listed as 1957-8

EX1 and EX2 were also in here somewhere

Dec 1959

Actual

5

Back step a quarter from List 6

Oct 1958

Notional

4

Back step a quarter 

Jul 1958

Notional

3

Back step a quarter 

Apr 1958

Notional

2

Back step a quarter

Jan 1958

Notional

1

Back step a quarter

Oct 1957

Notional