Athletic Model Guild

Infobox Company
company_name = Athletic Model Guild
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = Los Angeles (1945)
location = flagicon|United States El Cerrito, California, USA
industry = Gay pornography
products = Gay Photography, Films and Publications
homepage = [http://www.athleticmodelguild.com www.AthleticModelGuild.com] The Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, was founded by gay pornography pioneer Bob Mizer in December 1945. During those post-war years, United States censorship laws allowed women, but not men, to appear in various states of undress in what were referred to, with a wink, as “art” photographs. Mizer began his business by taking pictures of men that he knew, both gay and straight. His subjects would often pose for pictures, which, while ostensibly meant to illustrate fitness tips and the like, were clearly produced and published as homoerotic material.

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History

A majority of the early AMG films and photos were ambiguously sexual in nature. The formula consisted of images (moving and still) of young men doing bodybuilding poses, or perhaps wrestling in pairs. Often the setup or “plot” of these shoots was fairly absurd and just served to provide a rather “thin” legal pretext for the display of the male physique.

Mizer did appear in court to face several charges over the years, including obscenity, drug use, and prostitution. Allegedly, Mizer's AMG models would sometimes make a little extra money “renting” themselves out, but Mizer argued vigorously that it was not his business what they did on their own time. Despite some legal setbacks, AMG survived its many trials.

The AMG material (sold in the form of photographic prints, a magazine and short films) slowly evolved over time - from altered images where the male genitalia were “painted” over to photographic prints where the models wore extremely skimpy posing straps and then finally (as the changing laws allowed) to full nudity.

Several bodybuilders and actors of the day got their start posing for Mizer and his friends at AMG. It is estimated that he shot over 10,000 men throughout the course of his career. Andy Warhol's protégé Joe Dallesandro, who later worked for Calvin Klein, was one of the many AMG models that even those not acquainted with The Athletic Model Guild might be familiar with. Others included Ed Fury and Glenn Corbett of "77 Sunset Strip". Bodybuilder action movie star, and now Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger posed for AMG under Mizer in 1975. [ [http://www.athleticmodelguild.com/timeline.html] ]

The 1998 movie "Beefcake" directed by Thom Fitzgerald, combines documentary footage with fictional dramatizations in an attempt to tell the story of Mizer and AMG.

After Bob Mizer’s death in May 1992, Wayne Stanley, a friend and legal advisor, tended to his archives. In 2004 the company and its archives were sold to physique photographer Dennis Bell.

Under Dennis Bell's reins, Athletic Model Guild is once again thriving and 2008 will mark its 63rd anniversary. The legacy material from Bob Mizer's archives that was once feared lost to time is being organized and digitally remastered. This new material is branded under AMG FILM CLASSICS. New DVD releases contain full length films, as well as never-before-seen film clips and behind the scenes footage as extras. Along with its primary mission of preserving the history and legacy of Bob Mizer and AMG, the company continues to produce new original movies that keep the AMG spirit alive in the present. In his own style, Bell launched the highly acclaimed brand AMG Brasil, a new line of erotic films shot on location in Brazil, that feature the same youthful models and "joyful spirit" of life that Mizer once loved.

Timeline

* 1943: Bob Mizer stands in as a nude model for lighting tests for Fred Kovert of Hollywood
* 1945: Bob Mizer opens AMG Studios in Los Angeles
* 1946: Forrester Millard becomes AMG's first cataloged model
* 1947: Bob Mizer spends 6 months at Saugus Prison Farm for distributing images of male frontal nudity through the US Postal Service
* 1951: First issue of "Physique Photo News" (the precursor to "Physique Pictorial") is published in May
* 1951: "Physique Photo News" is renamed "Physique Pictorial" in November
* 1953: Bob Mizer travels to Europe and photographs models
* 1957: "1000 Model Directory", a catalog of all former AMG models, is released
* 1963: AMG publishes "Young Adonis" magazine
* 1966: "Grecian Guild Studio Quarterly" releases catalog of AMG models
* 1967: Mizer discovers Joe Dallesandro, of Andy Warhol fame, and shoots him fully-nude in the AMG studio
* 1968: Obscenity laws are revised to allow male frontal nudity
* 1973: "Inside AMG", a documentary about the studio, is shot at the AMG compound
* 1975: Future Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenneger, poses for Mizer
* 1980: Upon the suggestion of Old Reliable's David Hurles, Mizer begins experimenting with new video technology
* 1982: Gay Sunshine Press publishes "Physique: A Pictorial History of Athletic Model Guild"
* 1987: French publisher releases "Athletic Model Guild: 160 Garçons Americans" by Ralf Marsault
* 1990: Campfire Films produces the first of five documentaries about the studio, entitled "Fantasy Factory"
* 1992: Bob Mizer dies from cardiac arrest in a Los Angeles hospital
* 1992: Bob's brother Joe, sole heir to the AMG estate, dies and the collection is passed on to Mizer's friend, Wayne Stanley
* 1994: Stanley closes the doors of the LA compound and moves AMG to Northern California
* 1997: Taschen publishing releases "The Complete Physique Pictorial", a three volume reprint of the magazine from 1951 to 1990
* 2004: Former Falcon Studio photographer, Dennis Bell, purchases the AMG estate
* 2004: AMG releases the first production from AMG in 12 years, "Best Size 35"
* 2005: Bell releases first full-length hardcore AMG feature, "AMG Resurrection", starring Jason Adonis

* 2006: AMG launches AMG Brasil, a premium brand of hardcore shot entirely on location in Brazil [ [http://www.athleticmodelguild.com/timeline.html] ]

AMG Brasil Videography

* "Deluge" (2006)
* "Suruba: Primal Urge" (2006)
* "Gêmeos" (2006)
* "Suruba: Bronze" (2006)
* "Fazenda" (2006)
* "Suruba: Tropicus" (2006)
* "Suruba: Pecado" (2006)
* "Paraíso" (2007)
* "Carioca: Sarado" (2007)
* "Suruba: Piroca" (2007)
* "Amazônia: Capture" (2007)
* "Amazônia: Release" (2007)
* "Suruba: Agua" (2008)
* "Carnaval" (2008)
* "Suruba: Azul" (2008)

AMG Classics Videography

* "Anal Erotic (A&E) 19 & 20" (2005)
* "Wrestling Live 1&2 (2-Disc DVD) " (2005)
* "Story Film Classics: Unstrapped" (2005)
* "Story Film Classics: The Wild Ones" (2006)
* "Story Film Classics: Hardcore Film Classics: Vito & The Love Bandit" (2006)
* "Nude Posing Film Classics: Caliente!" (2006)
* "Nude Wrestling Film Classics: SmackDown" (2007)
* "Story Film Classics: Slave Market" (2007)
* "Theatre Film Classics: Why The Wooden Indian Wouldn't" (2007)
* "Theatre Film Classics: Billy Boy" (2007)
* "Hardcore Film Classics: Cowboy Virgin" (2008)
* "Theatre Film Classics: Brawn Over Brains" (2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.athleticmodelguild.com Athletic Model Guild Web Site]
* [http://www.AMGBrasil.com AMG Brasil Web Site]
* [http://www.amgstudio.com/wordpress/ Athletic Model Guild Blog]