1960’s Beefcake comes to Fire Island: Jim Stryker
Jim Stryker Photographed by Walter Kundzicz for Champion.
When you think about gay culture in the 1960s on Fire Island, one icon comes to mind: Jim Stryker. This blonde, blue-eyed, physique model epitomized an era of muscle-headed beefcakes, free-spirited playboy jocks, and beach boys.
Jim Stryker was discovered by photographer Walter Kundzicz and it was through his (frequently semi-nude or fully-nude) portraits against the natural setting of Fire Island, that Stryker rose to fame.
Early Career: Jim Stryker’s Start To Modeling On Fire Island
Stryker was fresh out of high school when he met photographer Walter Kundzicz (a.k.a. Champion) in the summer of 1952. In search of new subjects for a growing portfolio of young male models, Champ traveled specifically to a rural swimming hole to meet the beautiful blonde youth. Upon arrival, he was greeted with the breathtaking sight of a fully naked 18-year-old in a tree, laughing uproariously as he urinated on a friend standing below.
Jim and Champ hit it off at once and the photographer proceeded with the first of 21 separate photo sessions with the boy. These photographs quickly turned him into the first (and still most enduringly popular) gay icons of all time.
About Physique Photographer Walter Kundzicz
Walter Kundzicz was born in 1925 in the Polish district of Newark, New Jersey. His parents bought him his first camera for his eighth birthday and he immediately became obsessed with photography.
A few years later he discovered his other obsession: well-endowed young men.
In his early teens he started to unite these two loves by photographing his buddies, whom, to his delight, all had rather big dicks. His words, not ours…
Walter Kundzicz’s Photographic Style
One thing that set Kundzicz apart from other photographers of the time, was that he didn’t pretend to see his models only as beautiful photographic subjects. He displayed them clearly as sex objects and sometimes even engaged in romantic and sexual relationships with them.
Kundzicz’s first catalog was dedicated only to Jim Stryker, who turned out to be his best-selling model for over seven years. These works were captured on Fire Island and remain some of the most searched to this day.
Kundzicz’s Impact On 1960s Gay Culture
The 1960s were a time of great change. Beefy muscle types gave way to slimmer builds, covered cocks became proud exhibitionistic roosters, American obscenity standards gave way to hardcore action, and to top it off, it was all available in full color.
No one took advantage of this increased accessibility to color film and production like Mr. Kundzicz.
Kundzicz’s images of boyishly playful models in skimpy costumes, depicting everything from all-American football players to Bonanza-style cowboys, stood in stark contrast to the reality of gay life at the time, and his use of bright, saturated colors only pushed the fantasy farther.
Advocacy For Nudity As An Art Form
In the sixties, physique photographers fought several legal cases that changed the US morality laws. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that photographs of the male nude were not necessarily offensive, just as a depiction of a female nude wasn’t always obscene. Though this was a huge win for the artistic community, there were still some rules in place: full frontal nudes were still prohibited. Then, in 1965, some brave publishers printed the first photographs of male genitalia. These depictions were brought to court and in 1967, the Supreme Court sanctioned it in a landmark ruling that would change the course of nudity in the media going forward.
Champion’s magazines of Stryker were every gay boy’s fantasy. In a time where sexuality was repressed in the mainstream, Fire Island came to represent a place of mystery and a gay haven for many. While much about Jim Stryker remains unknown, his blonde beauty against the liberated setting of Fire Island remains a snapshot in time of a refuge for young gay boys of the time.
