Jack Thomas poses nude with bodybuilding guru Jack Lalanne in 1948 for Russ Warner.
Lalanne’s solo nude photos may seem somber, lacking personality compared to the vibrant landscapes that frame him. However, a fascinating twist emerges when he collaborates with fellow bodybuilder Jack Thomas in a series of duo nude photos.
Russ Warner, known for photographing bodybuilders for fitness magazines and clandestine nude sales, sometimes doubled photos, adding painted-on pouches. Lalanne denied these photos’ existence and attempted to buy and destroy them, particularly troubled by the homoerotic nature of the duo shots with Jack Thomas.
Jack Lalanne, the ‘Godfather of Fitness’, hosted the first (and longest-running) nationally syndicated fitness TV show in the US. Despite his denials, during his early bodybuilding career, he also posed for homoerotic, full-frontal nude pics.
Jack Lalanne started working out in his mid-teens. He won national wrestling championships before he turned 20. The young bodybuilder also hung around the famed Muscle Beach for a while. It was around this time that Lalanne posed for nude pics, something many bodybuilders did from the 1940s through until the 1970s.
