You might not have otherwise given the song much attention, but when female muscle features in music videos it's difficult not to leave your personal tastes aside and get excited. One day, a better man than me is going to make an exhaustive list of every example of FBBMTV, but for today I've picked four of my own favourite examples.
CAROLYN CHESHIRE in Pump It Up by Melle Mel
DOROTHY HERNDON in Reach by Martini Ranch
Shall we have a little break?
Spot the female muscle superstar burning up the screen in this gem.
Back to the music.
MARTHE SUNDBY in Sing (The Night Is Still Young) by Camp Sounds
JILL RUDISON in Baby Blue by Action Bronson feat. Chance the Rapper
Showing posts with label Dorothy Herndon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dorothy Herndon. Show all posts
Friday, 5 February 2016
Monday, 18 August 2014
August Picture Post: Teenage Kicks
DOROTHY "BIG DOTTY" HERNDON
My first exposure to Dorothy was courtesy of Muscle Training Illustrated. I can still remember quite vividly the purchase of these two magazines. I was 14/15.
NPC USA Heavyweight and Overall Champion 1988
IFBB Pro World Championships 1989, 3rd place
Glamorous, beguiling beauty. Powerful, intoxicating muscularity.
To my teen self, Dorothy was perfection. I was helpless, she was irresistible. Lord knows how many hours I spent pouring over her pictures in these and other magazines. Lord knows how many DAYS I spent paying tribute to this goddess.
Still one of my favourite ever FBBs (see also, Size Matters: A Fantasy Contest).
The magazines have long since been disposed of, so it's only through the tireless work of the female muscle scanners that I can relive my teen dream. Heroes, one and all.
And here's a clip of Dorothy guest posing from 1988.
Get comfy and just LISTEN to that crowd reaction!
Enjoy!
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Favourites Fortnight
Ever FBB
Choosing your favourite ever FBB is, as I'm sure many of you know, a bit of a hiding to nothing, but I have been asked this question a handful of times since I started the blog, so at least I do have an answer I made earlier on this one. So here goes...
I've been a female muscle head for over 25 years now. At first, this meant I bought mainstream muscle magazines to satisfy my cravings. I have my favourites from these years: Anja Langer, Michelle Andrea, Diana Dennis, Denise Rutkowski and even a young (ie. pre-surgery) Melissa Coates among them. But if I had to choose one woman from this period, it'd be Dorothy Herndon.
I can still recall the purchase of that issue of Muscle Training Illustrated which introduced Dorothy to me. The sight of her on the cover and suddenly I was dry-mouthed, trembling with excitement, frantically turning pages to see more of this vision of heart-stopping muscular beauty. Once bought, this magazine remained at or near the top of the pile for many many years after, treasured not least because there was very little of Dorothy that appeared anywhere else.
Little more has come to light since the advent of the internet, but thanks to those heroic scanners of muscle magazines, you can see pretty much all of Dorothy there ever was all at once. But better still, Dorothy's video work with WPW can now be enjoyed by all, as well as this guest posing clip from 1988. And I found that she moved like I always imagined she would - with the graceful power of a lioness.
Dorothy isn't my favourite ever, but she was pretty much my favourite of that era of female muscle lovin'. When mainstream muscle magazines gave way to Women's Physique World, there were suddenly so many more women in many different outfits (albeit only every few months - remember the torture of that wait?!), and among them were women who belong on the same level of my female muscle pantheon as Dorothy.
And then came the internet. All of those past favourites to be seen anew, and on top of that there was a whole new generation of female muscle talent available for our collective and individual viewing pleasure. More images than ever before, more videos than ever before, and it was all easier to access than ever before.
Yet more women for the pantheon.
And in that era, more or less, I first met my two all-time favourites.
GINA DAVIS
It's been a while, but FMS did pay tribute to Gina back in February 2012 (Treasures from the Archive: Gina Davis), pointing out, among other things, how much fun it is to say that your dream woman is Gina Davis and have everyone around you (secret female muscle heads excepted) assume you are talking about Geena Davis.
We also noted that Gina's relatively short competitive career left me (and many others) wanting more, and wondered if perhaps this was the secret of her enduring appeal.
And around that time, news that Gina was posting pictures of herself on social media led me to fall in love with her all over again. No longer was she the huge, ripped bodybuilder Gina, but she still has that brilliant smile, and all those years of pumping serious iron have left her with mouth-watering muscular curves.
DENISE HOSHOR
Her WPW and Ray Martin videos are still the all-time best sellers, so I doubt that I'm alone in my adoration of this Californian female muscle legend. I reckon I first saw Denise Hoshor in the WPW pic above, just one of the many unforgettable images of her of course, but especially cherished because it was the first.
As far as I'm concerned, everything she did as a bodybuilder was magic, but two stand out. First, Denise in Hawaii, posing in a purple bikini and white heels in public. She is in incredible shape. Huge and defined from head to toe, but unmistakably feminine. As the crowd (of men) watching her grows, the more provocative and sexier her posing gets. Second, in a tiny segment of a GMV video (can't remember which, I bought it and threw it out so long ago now, and have never found the exact clip). She's at an Expo, strutting through the crowd in a tight black dress. The GMV camera person asks her to flex, and when she does - biceps, shoulders, pecs, biceps again - camera person is rendered speechless. She flexes one magnificent bicep again and looks beyond the camera. Good? she asks. There's no reply. She smiles, and struts away.
For me, Denise is all about arrogance. There's the way she looks at herself in the mirror as she flexes in the pump room. And then the measured posing you can see in her routines - slow, showing every muscle in glorious detail, looking like she's loving every single second she's on that stage displaying her beautiful strong body. And then there's her knowing smile... You know I could go on and on and on...
So there you are. Gina and Denise. Denise and Gina.
Not the most original of choices, but to me that just shows I'm not alone in ranking (I said 'ranking'!) these two ultimate goddesses highly. They appear at or near the top of most all-time lists I've seen. There must be something about them...
But wait! I hear you cry. What about Alina? Shannon? Oana? Aleesha?
Well, call me old-fashioned, but I feel that if you are talking ever, all-time favourites, then you should apply a little caution when it comes to active female bodybuilders. Case in point: if you'd asked me for a top 30 all-time a couple of years ago, Fabiola Boulanger would definitely have featured. And looked what happened next.
I don't think Alina, Oana or Aleesha are about to downsize - Shannon I'm not convinced about, though it doesn't seem she'll be giving up 'bodybuilding' imminently either - but I'd rather let their careers come to their conclusions before finding them their place in the pantheon if it's all the same to you.
Final faves of the fortnight tomorrow...
Choosing your favourite ever FBB is, as I'm sure many of you know, a bit of a hiding to nothing, but I have been asked this question a handful of times since I started the blog, so at least I do have an answer I made earlier on this one. So here goes...
I've been a female muscle head for over 25 years now. At first, this meant I bought mainstream muscle magazines to satisfy my cravings. I have my favourites from these years: Anja Langer, Michelle Andrea, Diana Dennis, Denise Rutkowski and even a young (ie. pre-surgery) Melissa Coates among them. But if I had to choose one woman from this period, it'd be Dorothy Herndon.
I can still recall the purchase of that issue of Muscle Training Illustrated which introduced Dorothy to me. The sight of her on the cover and suddenly I was dry-mouthed, trembling with excitement, frantically turning pages to see more of this vision of heart-stopping muscular beauty. Once bought, this magazine remained at or near the top of the pile for many many years after, treasured not least because there was very little of Dorothy that appeared anywhere else.
Little more has come to light since the advent of the internet, but thanks to those heroic scanners of muscle magazines, you can see pretty much all of Dorothy there ever was all at once. But better still, Dorothy's video work with WPW can now be enjoyed by all, as well as this guest posing clip from 1988. And I found that she moved like I always imagined she would - with the graceful power of a lioness.
Dorothy isn't my favourite ever, but she was pretty much my favourite of that era of female muscle lovin'. When mainstream muscle magazines gave way to Women's Physique World, there were suddenly so many more women in many different outfits (albeit only every few months - remember the torture of that wait?!), and among them were women who belong on the same level of my female muscle pantheon as Dorothy.
And then came the internet. All of those past favourites to be seen anew, and on top of that there was a whole new generation of female muscle talent available for our collective and individual viewing pleasure. More images than ever before, more videos than ever before, and it was all easier to access than ever before.
Yet more women for the pantheon.
And in that era, more or less, I first met my two all-time favourites.
GINA DAVIS
It's been a while, but FMS did pay tribute to Gina back in February 2012 (Treasures from the Archive: Gina Davis), pointing out, among other things, how much fun it is to say that your dream woman is Gina Davis and have everyone around you (secret female muscle heads excepted) assume you are talking about Geena Davis.
We also noted that Gina's relatively short competitive career left me (and many others) wanting more, and wondered if perhaps this was the secret of her enduring appeal.
And around that time, news that Gina was posting pictures of herself on social media led me to fall in love with her all over again. No longer was she the huge, ripped bodybuilder Gina, but she still has that brilliant smile, and all those years of pumping serious iron have left her with mouth-watering muscular curves.
DENISE HOSHOR
Her WPW and Ray Martin videos are still the all-time best sellers, so I doubt that I'm alone in my adoration of this Californian female muscle legend. I reckon I first saw Denise Hoshor in the WPW pic above, just one of the many unforgettable images of her of course, but especially cherished because it was the first.
As far as I'm concerned, everything she did as a bodybuilder was magic, but two stand out. First, Denise in Hawaii, posing in a purple bikini and white heels in public. She is in incredible shape. Huge and defined from head to toe, but unmistakably feminine. As the crowd (of men) watching her grows, the more provocative and sexier her posing gets. Second, in a tiny segment of a GMV video (can't remember which, I bought it and threw it out so long ago now, and have never found the exact clip). She's at an Expo, strutting through the crowd in a tight black dress. The GMV camera person asks her to flex, and when she does - biceps, shoulders, pecs, biceps again - camera person is rendered speechless. She flexes one magnificent bicep again and looks beyond the camera. Good? she asks. There's no reply. She smiles, and struts away.
For me, Denise is all about arrogance. There's the way she looks at herself in the mirror as she flexes in the pump room. And then the measured posing you can see in her routines - slow, showing every muscle in glorious detail, looking like she's loving every single second she's on that stage displaying her beautiful strong body. And then there's her knowing smile... You know I could go on and on and on...
So there you are. Gina and Denise. Denise and Gina.
Not the most original of choices, but to me that just shows I'm not alone in ranking (I said 'ranking'!) these two ultimate goddesses highly. They appear at or near the top of most all-time lists I've seen. There must be something about them...
But wait! I hear you cry. What about Alina? Shannon? Oana? Aleesha?
Well, call me old-fashioned, but I feel that if you are talking ever, all-time favourites, then you should apply a little caution when it comes to active female bodybuilders. Case in point: if you'd asked me for a top 30 all-time a couple of years ago, Fabiola Boulanger would definitely have featured. And looked what happened next.
I don't think Alina, Oana or Aleesha are about to downsize - Shannon I'm not convinced about, though it doesn't seem she'll be giving up 'bodybuilding' imminently either - but I'd rather let their careers come to their conclusions before finding them their place in the pantheon if it's all the same to you.
Final faves of the fortnight tomorrow...
Saturday, 17 August 2013
The Way Legs Were
With the notable exception of the (then and now) freaky pair of legs that belonged to a certain Bev Francis, back in my formative years as a female muscle head, the only legs around were rarely as muscular as the majority of women who compete in the physique division today. However, it is, as Einstein once said, all relative, and at the time, the women I saw in the muscle magazines I obsessively bought were more than big enough to get my teenage eyes popping out of my head (among other things).
So today, courtesy as ever of the heroes who scan and upload images from those 1980s mainstream muscle magazines, a trip down memory lane, a bit of nostalgia for all those furtive purchases we made in newsagent's all over the world and the women that made those purchases so urgent. Today, we remember the way legs were.
Rachel McLish
I don't remember this image particularly, but it serves to indicate how little muscle (by today's standards, and even, in some ways, by early 80s standards) it took for a woman to be 'muscular' back then. I arrived at the female muscle party just a little late for Rachel McLish in her competitive pomp, but it seems to me she actually got bigger after she stopped competing.
Carla Dunlap and Clare Furr
Brian Eno named-chacked Carla in a recent interview, provoking some bizarrely hysterical reactions from the female muscle brethren (more about that on FMS in the future). He says, I remember in the early 1980s when female bodybuilders first started appearing and there was one I really liked, Carla Dunlap. She was Ms Olympia or something like that. She was this amazing black woman, absolutely musclebound, beautiful. 'Absolutely musclebound', he says, and that's exactly what Carla would have seemed to be at that time, not just to Eno but to me too. To her right, Clare Furr's (slightly later) thighs seem positively other-worldly compared to Carla's. 'Absolutely musclebound' back in the early to mid-80s could become 'hardly musclebound' almost overnight.
Tonya Knight and Mary Roberts
As I recall, images of women training like this one of Tonya squatting were far more numerous in the magazines of the 1980s, and only if you were lucky would there be the kind of 'glamour shot' the we can see Mary Roberts in here on the right. It sometimes came (again, this is as I recall, so don't take this as gospel) at the beginning or end of a training photoset, I guess as a way of showing how the hard work pays off. I found, in general, that these shots were much more attention-grabbing, presumably because they were more unusual.
Marjo Selin
And gradually, legs got bigger. Compare the next few groups of images. I really can't say if they are at all chronological (this post is simply not that well-researched!), let's call it 'legological' or perhaps 'podological' (!). I just wanted to illustrate the point somehow. By the time you get to Jackie Paisley, who is (and I do know this) very much late 80s and into the early 90s, legs have, well, you can see for yourself, changed.
Lisa Lorio, Janet Tech and Juliette Bergmann in her early days.
Sue Gafner and Dorothy Herndon
Marie Mahabir, Rene Casella and Jackie Paisley
Sandy Riddell and Anja Langer
Two of my favourite pairs of legs of the period (among many). I was especially taken with Anja's calves. Even today, as I look at the way they bulge outwards so that you can see them even when looking at her leg front on, they are magnificent, so at the time they would have been quite literally breathtaking.
Cory Everson
This image, for me, evokes a lot about that time in my female muscle life, not least the way the women in the magazines used to always seem to be glistening. The style of photography of the time, no doubt, nothing more, but I came to think of that sheen as the glow of health and vitality that only female bodybuilders possess. Impossible to post anything about the 80s without her, Cory is the epitome of female muscle in that decade, her legs as much as any part of her wondrous physique. Funny now to think that once upon a time I couldn't imagine Cory and her contemporaries getting any bigger or better.
Enjoy!
So today, courtesy as ever of the heroes who scan and upload images from those 1980s mainstream muscle magazines, a trip down memory lane, a bit of nostalgia for all those furtive purchases we made in newsagent's all over the world and the women that made those purchases so urgent. Today, we remember the way legs were.
Rachel McLish
I don't remember this image particularly, but it serves to indicate how little muscle (by today's standards, and even, in some ways, by early 80s standards) it took for a woman to be 'muscular' back then. I arrived at the female muscle party just a little late for Rachel McLish in her competitive pomp, but it seems to me she actually got bigger after she stopped competing.
Carla Dunlap and Clare Furr
Brian Eno named-chacked Carla in a recent interview, provoking some bizarrely hysterical reactions from the female muscle brethren (more about that on FMS in the future). He says, I remember in the early 1980s when female bodybuilders first started appearing and there was one I really liked, Carla Dunlap. She was Ms Olympia or something like that. She was this amazing black woman, absolutely musclebound, beautiful. 'Absolutely musclebound', he says, and that's exactly what Carla would have seemed to be at that time, not just to Eno but to me too. To her right, Clare Furr's (slightly later) thighs seem positively other-worldly compared to Carla's. 'Absolutely musclebound' back in the early to mid-80s could become 'hardly musclebound' almost overnight.
Tonya Knight and Mary Roberts
As I recall, images of women training like this one of Tonya squatting were far more numerous in the magazines of the 1980s, and only if you were lucky would there be the kind of 'glamour shot' the we can see Mary Roberts in here on the right. It sometimes came (again, this is as I recall, so don't take this as gospel) at the beginning or end of a training photoset, I guess as a way of showing how the hard work pays off. I found, in general, that these shots were much more attention-grabbing, presumably because they were more unusual.
Marjo Selin
And gradually, legs got bigger. Compare the next few groups of images. I really can't say if they are at all chronological (this post is simply not that well-researched!), let's call it 'legological' or perhaps 'podological' (!). I just wanted to illustrate the point somehow. By the time you get to Jackie Paisley, who is (and I do know this) very much late 80s and into the early 90s, legs have, well, you can see for yourself, changed.
Lisa Lorio, Janet Tech and Juliette Bergmann in her early days.
Sue Gafner and Dorothy Herndon
Marie Mahabir, Rene Casella and Jackie Paisley
Sandy Riddell and Anja Langer
Two of my favourite pairs of legs of the period (among many). I was especially taken with Anja's calves. Even today, as I look at the way they bulge outwards so that you can see them even when looking at her leg front on, they are magnificent, so at the time they would have been quite literally breathtaking.
Cory Everson
This image, for me, evokes a lot about that time in my female muscle life, not least the way the women in the magazines used to always seem to be glistening. The style of photography of the time, no doubt, nothing more, but I came to think of that sheen as the glow of health and vitality that only female bodybuilders possess. Impossible to post anything about the 80s without her, Cory is the epitome of female muscle in that decade, her legs as much as any part of her wondrous physique. Funny now to think that once upon a time I couldn't imagine Cory and her contemporaries getting any bigger or better.
Enjoy!
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