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Neil Edwards Photography Collection
Coll2007-003
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Title: Neil Edwards photography collection
Dates: circa
1950-circa 1970
Bulk Dates: 1964-1969
Collection number: Coll2007-003
Creator:
Edwards, Neil, 1939-2003
Collection Size: 12 ring-binder boxers + 12
archives boxes + 1 oversize box (5.3 linear feet).
Repository:
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90007
Abstract: 474 photographic prints and 3910 slides created
circa 1964-1969 by male physique photographer Neil Edwards, as well as 420
photographs and 909 slides collected by Edwards and created circa 1950-1970 by
Athletic Model Guild, Bruce of Los Angeles, Calafran Enterprises, Champion
Studios, Jay Mitchell, and Times Square Studio, and others. The collection also
includes Edwards' business records, including model releases and notes on
models, miscellaneous physique publications, 1958-1968, and erotic drawings and
writings.
Languages: Languages represented in
the collection: English
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access
restrictions.
Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in
writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner and
copyright holder.
Neil Edwards photography collection, Coll2007-003, ONE National Gay and
Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Gift of Scott Wachtler.
Collection processed by Robert Graves, September 2005-December 2006.
Finding aid edited by Michael Palmer, March 2007.
Processing this collection has been funded
by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.
Neil Edwards was born George Elliot McNeil on February 11, 1939, to
George lliot McNeil and Elizabeth McKinney, and was raised in Virginia. His
parents also had a daughter, whose name is not known. His mother eventually
divorced her husband, who was said to have "tormented" her and their children.
As an adult, the younger George Elliot McNeil legally changed his name to Neil
Edwards to avoid any connection with his father's name. Neil adored his mother,
who went on to marry another man, Wilbur Peck.
Little is known of Neil's formative years. After leaving Virginia, he
moved to New York City and took a few classes in computers and arts at the City
College of New York. During this period he also worked as a set designer on
Broadway summer stock productions, where he met prominent entertainers such as
Marlene Dietrich, Carol Channing, and Barbra Streisand.
Along with contemporaries such as Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild,
Walter Kundzicz's Champion Studios, and more independent photographers such as
David of Cleveland, Bruce of Los Angeles, Edwards played a part in creating the
mid-twentieth century phenomenon known as physique photography. Intended to
skirt and evade censors of the time, physique photography was designed to
produce erotic photographs of male and female models for consumers who could
not obtain such materials from any other source. Physique photographers
utilized any loophole they could find to produce, release, and distribute their
product. Early models were photographed with skimpy posing straps, and
photographs, catalogs and magazines of nude or near-nude models were released
with editorial commentary suggesting that the photos were produced to satisfy
the interests of naturists, fans of sport and bodybuilding, or budding human
form artists.
Edwards' work as a physique photographer appears to have fallen between
the years of 1964 and 1969, when he lived in Philadelphia: the earliest model
release in the collection is dated March 1964, the latest January 1969.
Mailings for his studio and model releases from this period also give a studio
address in New York City, so it is believed he split his time between the two
cities. It is not known how Edwards came to be a physique photographer. His
associate, Scott Wachtler, believes that photography was a hobby for Edwards
and that he entered the field of physique photography in the belief that he
could do a better job than those currently in the field.
At the height of his photographic productivity, Edwards' work appeared
in the pages of and on the covers of several male fitness magazines, including
The Young Physique and Muscleboy, some of which are represented in this
collection. Edwards also is known to have to produced one periodical showcasing
his work exclusively, The Edwardians, of which three or four issues were
published, and possibly one other magazine, Blueboy (long preceding the
better-known, gay erotic photography magazine of the same name), which featured
a male model posed in the same fashion as John Singer Sargent's Blueboy
painting.
Wachtler does not believe that Edwards was a standard portrait
photographer during his time as a physique photographer. However, his
collection contains several examples of portrait and other photography, and he
may have worked on a commission basis during this time, taking standard
photographs for friends or paying clients.
As with other photographers of the day, Edwards' work started out tame,
with models wearing posing straps and rarely touching themselves, and
progressed to more obviously erotic work in later years, with models fully
nude, sometimes shown touching themselves and on some occasions posed with
other male models in tame but sexually suggestive situations.
Eventually, Edwards was targeted by the Philadelphia District Attorney,
Arlen Specter, for his physique photography work. Edwards' home was raided by
police, who confiscated all his photographic equipment, most of his film, and
his mail-order lists. Edwards was not arrested, nor was he ever charged for a
crime. However, he petitioned for over a year for the return of his equipment.
At one point, he was told the equipment had been lost, and eventually he was
told that the raid never took place. This loss ruined Edwards financially,
forcing him to go on public welfare, and depressed him emotionally, eventually
resulting in a nervous breakdown that saw him committed to New York's Bellevue
Hospital for a short time. It is unknown precisely when this raid occurred;
however, Edwards' photographic output ceased abruptly in 1969.
Edwards never took up professional photography again, and instead took a
job with American Airlines, eventually developing the company's SABRE computer
reservation system. When American asked Edwards to move to Texas, he refused
and was bought out of his contract. Edwards used the money to move to Tampa,
Florida, where he opened a restaurant, Neil's, which was popular with locals,
but did not make enough money to sustain itself and ended in bankruptcy.
Edwards then went to work as an art critic for a local classical music radio
station. It was there that he developed a computer software program, Music
Director, that automatically scheduled classical music for radio stations all
over the country. In 1989, he created the company Broadcast Data Consultants,
the firm where he met Wachtler.
Edwards' sister died in the mid 1990s of lung disease, and his mother
and stepfather died in the late 1990s. Edwards himself died in Clearwater,
Florida, on December 16, 2003, of the hereditary lung condition, pulmonary
fibrosis, which may also have been the cause of his sister's death.
Source: Scott Wachtler
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of the 474 photographic prints and 3910 slides
created by male physique photographer Neil Edwards, as well as materials
created by Edwards in the course of his work, and photographs and magazines he
collected throughout his life. In addition to physique photographs, the
collection contains slide images of vacations and other trips taken by Edwards.
The materials pertaining to Edwards' photography business include model and
employment releases, notes by Edwards concerning his models, and brochures and
catalogs for Edwards' studio. Among the other studios and well-known
photographers whose images (420 photographs and 906 slides) Edwards collected
are Athletic Model Guild, Bruce of Los Angeles, Champion Studios, Calafran
Enterprises, Jay Mitchell, and Times Square Studio; the identifiable nude
models include Rudolf Nureyev, Burt Lancaster, Ray Fuller, and Jim Stryker.
Printed materials in the collection include bound volumes of The Young Physique
(1958-1966), Demi-Gods (1961-1963), and Muscleboy (1963-1966); unbound issues
of magazines and other publications; erotic drawings; and gay erotic short
stories.
Series 1. Photographic works by Neil Edwards. Series 2. Photographic
works by others. Series 3. Printed matter.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Edwards, Neil, 1939-2003
Athletic Model Guild
Bruce of Los Angeles
Calafran Enterprises
Champion Studios
Conrad
Jay Mitchell
Star Fire Studios
Times Square Studio
Gay erotic literature
Gay erotic photography
Photographers--United States
Photography of men
Photography of the nude
Index of Models Photographed or Distributed by Neil Edwards
Adams, Ted
Alexander
Allen, David
Anderson, Steve
Antoine, Jacques
Arnold, Hank
Baillard, Rupe
Baker, Bill
Barnes, Chip
Basco, Tony
Bouchard, Andre
Bucholz, Dirk
Byers, John
Carlton, John
Carroll, Larry
Castor, Eric
Chamberlain, Peter
Cokos, Alex
Collins, Rick
D'Amboise, Gregg
Devereux, Rick
Dougherty, Rich
Douglas, Bill
Estes, Jimmy
Evans, Brett
Falkenburg, Lance
Farrell, Trate
Fredericks, Karl
Gavin, Chuck,
Gelder, Hans
Hamilton, Steve
Hammel, Chuck
Harding, Ken
Harrigan, Tim
Hastings, Bill
Idol, Brian
Jackson, Brad
Jefferson, Jim
Jensen, Peter
Jordan, Trey
Keeler, Ronnie
Kelly, Jack
Kirby, Don
Koenig, Walt
Larson, Ernie
Little Joe
Lloyd, Joseph
Lunstead, Tom
Marshall, Gary
Martin, Peter
Mason, Alan
McCauley, Don
McDonald, Bruce
Miller, Ed
Mitchell, Jay
Müller, Franz
O'Neil, Tony
O'Shea, Tim
Payne, Bill
Peterson, Alan
Peterson, Jerry
Pettit, Keith
Powell, Wayne
Powers, Drake
Price, Ernie
Primavera, Dennis
Primavera, Tony
Randall, Ed
Richardson, Mike
Roberts, Barry
Rodriguez, Manuel
Rogers, Ian
Rogers, Johnny
Sanford, David
Scali, Vince
Shephard, Phil
Stevens, Ricky
Stewart, Marty
Sullivan, Jerry
Swanson, Ted
Tallchief, Joe
Talley, Mat
Todd, Charles
Weiss, Kurt
Whyte, Lee
Williams, Dennis
Williams, Ronnie