MAN AND SUPERMAN

Up in the sky, look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s superhunk!

Serving as something of a flipside to yesterday’s post, today we have some excellent examples of the beefcake art of George Quaintance. As we mentioned before, Quaintance’s work seems to be growing more popular all the time, and these examples were going for $150.00 and up. That makes us appreciate even more the Quaintance we got for five dollars during our U.S. trip in 2012. Your Physique was launched by bodybuilder Joe Weider when he was fourteen, which makes any plans we have for the future seem pretty unambitious by comparison.

These issues date from 1946 and 1947, which were the only years Quaintance did covers for the magazine. Typically, he illustrated actual bodybuilders, and you can see their names on the covers. You may also notice an interesting juxtaposition of the Empire State Building in panel seven. Quaintance’s love of the male form emanates quite strongly from these masterworks, not just because of their technical brilliance, but because of the dominant scenarios some of the figures are placed within—for example, flying above or striding across the planet. The top cover was in pretty bad shape, necessitating some restoration work in Photoshop, but the others are untouched.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1960—Woodward Gets First Star on Walk of Fame

Actress Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Los Angeles sidewalk at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street that serves as an outdoor entertainment museum. Woodward was one of 1,558 honorees chosen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1958, when the proposal to build the sidewalk was approved. Today the sidewalk contains more than 2,300 stars.

1971—Paige Enters Baseball Hall of Fame

Satchel Paige becomes the first player from America’s Negro Baseball League to be voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Paige, who was a pitcher, played for numerous Negro League teams, had brief stints in Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Major Leagues, before finally retiring in his mid-fifties.

1969—Allende Meteorite Falls in Mexico

The Allende Meteorite, the largest object of its type ever found, falls in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The original stone, traveling at more than ten miles per second and leaving a brilliant streak across the sky, is believed to have been approximately the size of an automobile. But by the time it hit the Earth it had broken into hundreds of fragments.

1985—Matt Munro Dies

English singer Matt Munro, who was one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s and sang numerous hits, including the James Bond theme “From Russia with Love,” dies from liver cancer at Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London.

1958—Plane Crash Kills 8 Man U Players

British European Airways Flight 609 crashes attempting to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane is the Manchester United football team, along with a number of supporters and journalists. 20 of the 44 people on board die in the crash.

Five covers for football pulp magazines illustrated by George Gross.
Rare Argentinian cover art for The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

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