This is Breakfast Boy

Pillow: Breakfast Boy
Model: Tar

This is Breakfast Boy. Breakfast Boy is one of my favorite pillows.



He is smiley and friendly and eager to please.

Breakfast Boy is based on a photo from a 1964 Physique Pictorial that I picked up in Provincetown. The history of physique magazines is interesting - from the excellent Planet Out article by David Bianco (who has a pretty interesting background himself):

'Bob Mizer was only 23 when he started AMG [publisher of Physique Pictorial] and its catalog in 1945. He originally operated out of a spare room in his mother's house. She wasn't particularly happy that he was gay, but she cooperated because she liked the extra income he shared with her. When Mizer's business boomed, he built a separate studio next door to Mom. He recruited models at gyms and along Venice Beach, searching for a particular type: chiseled, muscular, white. Many of the models he hired were heterosexual.

Popular demand for these homoerotic images grew, and Mizer looked for another way to distribute them. In 1951, he began publishing Physique Pictorial, a pocket-sized magazine created especially for a gay audience..."



Here's the cover of the issue Breakfast Boy's photo appeared in. Don't you just love the font? Yes, that woodgrain fabric is from Joel Dewberry's Aviary line. I just love to pair partial nudity with woodgrain.



The model's name is Gerald (Gerald?!) and is described here in great detail for his stats (including ankle, not pictured). He apparently "works as a salesman but wants to be an actor, or anything else that brings him lots of money." Hmmm.

More from the David Bianco's article:

'Because of the oppressive atmosphere of the 1950s, physique magazines were careful to disguise their homoerotic intent. Postal inspectors and FBI agents were on the lookout for pornographic content, such as "excessive genital delineation." They particularly targeted gay publications, trying to indict them for violation of the 1873 Comstock Act, which prohibited sending obscene material through the mail. To avoid harassment, Physique Pictorial adopted a lofty mission statement: "A fine healthy physique," it claimed, was "a great compliment to our creator who planned for the utmost perfection in all of his universe." A beautiful body, according to Mizer's publication, "makes the soul sing."'



Sigh. You may notice that the photographed model carefully avoids said "excessive genital delineation." He also apparently isn't cooking anything. I took a little creative license here - added back in the genital delineation, and gave him some fried eggs!



The yolks of the sunny side up eggs represent the first instance that I did a solid fill in embroidery.

Isn't he a charmer?

The Bartender Pillow

I draw pen and ink illustrations based on found photographs. (Can someone please give me a sexier way to describe "pen and ink drawing"? You can really see people's eyes glaze over when you say this - unless you evoke Robert Crumb). My principle sources for photographs are loose individual photos purchased at flea markets, old magazines (especially LIFE, Playboy, and "physique" magazines), old textbooks, and the occasional original photographs that I take as snapshots.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky to come across a whole stack of snapshots taken at a strip bar in New Jersey in the 80s. This is a very unusual find. At that time, I was strictly drawing, not embroidering, so I made an attempt at drawing some of these ladies.

When I started embroidering, I was attracted to this particular image. I liked her tough attitude, her stance, and her sexual ambiguity.

The major disadvantage of drawing women is hair. Hair takes a long time to embroider. I took a break from embroidering women for awhile, but now that I've become more proficient, I am no longer intimidated by long hair.