It's My Party (and I'll Sigh if I Want To!)

Recently, the calendar read August 24th, 2010. This date probably holds little significance for you unless it happens to be your birthday, but in The Underworld, it’s a date to celebrate a little bit. A little over a year ago I decided to emerge from my underwater grotto and begin posting my various tributes, musings and other nonsense for all the world to see! Poseidon’s Underworld is one year old! It’s hard to believe.

And, surprisingly enough, representatives from almost all the world have come to this domain, even if only for a brief stay. Technology greenhorn that I am, I only discovered a few days ago that I have access to statistics for this blog and am able to see how many hits have come in and from which part of the globe. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that folks from Belgium, Brazil, Peru, Turkey, Australia and even Luxembourg, among many other nations, have taken a dip in these waters.

I couldn’t help but be amused, though, that out of all the yammering I’ve done about this star and that one, this movie that that one, the most popular pages (by a landslide!) are my tributes to 70s and 80s television, the ones involving bulges in the pants, open (or missing in action!) shirts and speedos on the men. The one on bulges has had more than twice the number of hits than its nearest competitor. So I guess I will be revisiting that topic again before too long! Gotta keep the customer’s happy. Research on that subject will be painful, I’m sure, but I’m willing to make the sacrifice. Ha!

The only non-beefcake subject to attain any sort of ranking, and it is very consistent, is the profile on Stella Stevens. She’s the fourth most visited page. Either she is wildly popular with the gays or there is a fair share of straight men coming by or both! I worship her, so it stands to reason that others do too. It just surprises me that she outranks any other female profiled at this site.

This endeavor remains a lot of fun for me and I doubt that I will ever run out of things to post about. It has just become exceedingly difficult to find the TIME lately. If I could, I would put up a post a day, but it’s just not possible with my workload (I’m doing 3 to 4 peoples’ jobs at present) and all of my other interests, including writing a quarterly theatre newsletter and being an adjudicator for local theatrical productions. Somehow, though, I will forge ahead the best I can to bring my ruminations to the surface!

Now, it’s time to unwrap my presents and I’m going to share them with you as a thank you for coming to the party! There were three men who I profiled during the earliest days of Poseidon’s Underworld. Somehow, without it even being intentional, I strayed from the sort of brief overviews I used to do back then to the more in-depth, comprehensive accounts I lean towards now. Since these men are among my very favorite hunks ever, I feel like they got short shrift, so I’m going to put a few more pictures up of each one! Most of them can be, er, enlarged, by clicking on them.


First is the divinely handsome and strapping Clint Walker. Star of the TV series Cheyenne and quite a few movies as well, this tall, soft-spoken god possessed one of the greatest hairy chests ever to be witnessed by the public. His broad shoulders hovered above a slim waistline, giving him a distinctive, imposing presence, yet he couldn’t have been more of a gentleman and a gentle man. (I’m speaking of him in the past tense, though he and the other two men I’m talking about today are very much alive!)

We all love Paul Newman’s eyes, at least I know that I do, but Clint’s were very pretty, too. His thick, dark hair provided a great contrast for them. I am still, after many years, looking for that one perfect portrait of him. I have never seen a picture of Clint Walker that fully lives up to the way he appeared on screen. Somehow, seeing him in action is always vastly more satisfying than the pictures I come across, though some of them come very close to doing him justice.

Next is Mr. Hugh O’Brian. He enjoyed a pretty long career in films and television (probably most closely identified with his title character from The Legend of Wyatt Earp), though, for me, his attractiveness falls into a pretty clearly defined window (that being about 1963 – 1973.) Prior to that, he was skinnier than I am drawn to and after that, he was a bit shaggier and more leathery than I prefer. Nonetheless, he was another strong, rugged, handsome and polite man with impeccable manners and class. Of course, his shining hour for all time in my book was his appearance in the Lana Turner spectacle Love Has Many Faces.

Over the last several decades, O’Brian has emerged as one of the most giving and devoted philanthropists when it comes to providing inspiration and guidance to young people. The Hugh O’Brian Youth (HOBY) Foundation has done terrific things for kids and enough good cannot be said about this caring, charitable man.

Last, but certainly not least, is the almost painfully perfect Van Williams. A beautiful piece of art in the form of man who enjoyed an all too brief career on TV (best known as The Green Hornet), he possessed an almost Ken-doll perfect face and a lean, sexy body that, once glimpsed, can never be forgotten. In the earliest days of his career, it seemed as if he was allergic to shirts! That’s most definitely no problem, though the man was equally delicious in suits and ties. It really wasn’t possible for him to look bad.

Mr. Williams also found himself helping others when he eventually turned to local law enforcement in lieu of trying to keep an acting career going during the dramatically changing times that Hollywood faced in the wake of the studio system (he had been under contract to Warner Brothers for the better part of his acting life.)

These are a few of my favorite things and I wanted to dust them off and put them out today as part of the anniversary celebration. Feel free to break off a piece and take it with you as you depart. I will fight you for the bone, though (and I don’t mean the wishbone!)

These men share more in common, though, than their stellar looks. Each one has demonstrated a strength of character and a personal sense of justice that I find just as (okay, almost as!) appealing as their physical features.

Walker refused to film any more of his extremely successful TV series until Warner Brothers came through on their promises to balance the series with film work. He held out and won the stand-off. He also declined script after script in the late 60s/early 70s because he didn't want to do movies that contained a lot of "bad" language and nudity.

O'Brian allowed a meeting with famed humaitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer to turn him into a proactive force in the development of and inspiration for disadvantaged youth in America. Funnelling his energies into that cause, he learned that giving back outweighed his desire to continually chase roles in TV and film.

Williams clashed with the powers that be behind The Green Hornet in order to assure that his Asisan costar Bruce Lee would be afforded not only respect and intelligent treatment (such that was possible in a comic-book action series!), but also proper billing in the credits, something that the makers were not particularly keen on.

Thank you, as always, to my visitors, regular and casual. It always makes me happy to hear that anyone out there has a fondness for or an interest in the same things as me. Take care and I’ll be back with more again soon.