Don Peters (1936-2001) Title winner of : IFBB Mr International 1966 AAU Mr Los Angeles 1967 AAU Mr California 1967 IFBB Mr Western America 1969 Before he was a bodybuilder he was in the Marines 1957-1960 and later had bit parts in tv shows in the 1970’s. The book Muscles, Smoke and Mirrors ll by Randy Roach recounts the unusual arrangement of Don Peters living in a house purchased for him by wealthy businessman James Larson. Larson made a fortune from his educational film studio in Los Angeles and was an admirer of bodybuilders and the physique scene. Bodybuilders referred to Larson as Dr Strangelove, and called Peters’ house the pleasure palace as Peters’ house was equipped with a swimming pool, full gym and billiard room. Peters and Larson would host summer barbecues and dinner parties at the house. And at times Joe Weider would feature the house in his bodybuilding publications to publicize how well some bodybuilders lived. One of the spare bedrooms featured a two-way mirror where Larson and his select guests would watch bodybuilders, including Peters, strip and workout nude for their entertainment. Larson and Peters were both married men with children, a common thread in physique culture. -Rj
I think there is a book out there waiting to be written on the intersection between Hollywood, bodybuilding, and the closet. The Larson pool parties remind me of George Cukor’s pool parties for fresh-faced young contract players. They weren’t mandatory, I guess, but they were useful to new arrivals. And then Jimmy’s Backyard, from that brief moment when Hollywood decided that pansies were amusing and should be cultivated — all events that were semi-public at the least, and all events that were an entrée into more private arrangements.
Adonis dans les escaliers.
ReplyDeleteDon Peters avait un physique élégant, les idées esthétiques.
-Beau Mec
Don Peters (1936-2001)
ReplyDeleteTitle winner of :
IFBB Mr International 1966
AAU Mr Los Angeles 1967
AAU Mr California 1967
IFBB Mr Western America 1969
Before he was a bodybuilder he was in the Marines 1957-1960 and later had bit parts in tv shows in the 1970’s.
The book Muscles, Smoke and Mirrors ll by Randy Roach recounts the unusual arrangement of Don Peters living in a house purchased for him by wealthy businessman James Larson. Larson made a fortune from his educational film studio in Los Angeles and was an admirer of bodybuilders and the physique scene. Bodybuilders referred to Larson as Dr Strangelove, and called Peters’ house the pleasure palace as Peters’ house was equipped with a swimming pool, full gym and billiard room. Peters and Larson would host summer barbecues and dinner parties at the house. And at times Joe Weider would feature the house in his bodybuilding publications to publicize how well some bodybuilders lived.
One of the spare bedrooms featured a two-way mirror where Larson and his select guests would watch bodybuilders, including Peters, strip and workout nude for their entertainment. Larson and Peters were both married men with children, a common thread in physique culture.
-Rj
I think there is a book out there waiting to be written on the intersection between Hollywood, bodybuilding, and the closet. The Larson pool parties remind me of George Cukor’s pool parties for fresh-faced young contract players. They weren’t mandatory, I guess, but they were useful to new arrivals. And then Jimmy’s Backyard, from that brief moment when Hollywood decided that pansies were amusing and should be cultivated — all events that were semi-public at the least, and all events that were an entrée into more private arrangements.
DeleteAnd! The closet, so useful and so imperfectly secure … as Rock Hudson found out.
DeleteYes, that comfortable closet that becomes a suffocating tomb.
Delete-Rj