Athletic Model Guild - History

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 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. He used his magazine, Physique Pictorial which featured other artists such as Tom of Finland, as means of advertising his material.

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 Athletic Model Guild might be familiar with. Others included Ed Fury and Glenn Corbett of 77 Sunset Strip, and Susan Hayward and Alan Ladd. Bodybuilder and former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger posed for AMG under Mizer in 1975.

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 2011 will mark its 66th 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.