Blueboy (March 1978), Part One

In September of 1975, twenty-eight-year-old Mark Frechette died two years into his prison sentence for robbery. It marked a tragic end to the actor’s short and tumultuous career. In his early twenties, he was discovered by Sally Dennison, the casting director for Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, while Frechette was engaging in a heated fight at a bus stop. Struck by the young man’s beauty and temper, Dennison recommended him to Antonioni, who cast him in his movie Zabriskie Point. During filming, the novice actor and Antonioni had numerous confrontations over artistic ideas. Although Zabriskie Point was a box-office failure, Frechette’s beauty made him an instant success and he appeared in several magazines, including Vogue, and on multiple talk shows, with his appearance on The Merv Griffin Show ending in a fight with another guest. His popularity earned in roles in two additional films before he joined the Fort Hill Community, a cult ran by musician Melvin Lyman. In August of 1973, Frechette and two other cult members attempted to rob a bank, which resulted in his arrest and conviction. In this March 1978 issue of Blueboy (which has been broken into two parts), Robert Hudson’s article offers a biography of Frechette, lamenting the actor’s lost potential as a major heartthrob. As contained in this first half is a discussion of Man Ray’s contributions to the field of photography.

Honcho (March 1993), Part Two

In the spring of 1916, Sir Roger Casement, a beloved philanthropist who had worked to protect African natives from colonial exploitation, was tried and charged for treason due to his involvement with the campaign for Irish independence. Although the original verdict did not involve death, Ernley Blackwell, a legal advisor to the British Home Office, used Casement’s Black Diaries, a personal memoir he had written which graphically detailed his sexual encounters with African men during his humanitarian efforts, as a means to tarnish the individual’s reputation and sway King George V into overruling the verdict and demanding a death sentence. Despite pleas for a stay of execution from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the United States’ Senate, and writers George Bernard Shaw and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the King, repulsed by the accounts presented in the dairies, had Casement executed. In this March 1993 issue of Honcho (which has been broken into two parts), Roger Edmonson’s article explores the life and legacy of Casement, including his poetic defense of same-sex love. Included in this second half (see the first half here) is a reader’s praise for the magazine’s willingness to feature hairy, mature men, the short story “Tuck-Point” (where the narrator tries to find relief during finals week), and photspreads titled “Big Things Come in Leather Packages,” “Daddy Leatherbear and His Favorite Gloves,” “The Next Best Thing to Strange Underwear Is Taking It Off,” and “On-the-Job Training.”

Honcho (March 1993), Part One

In the spring of 1916, Sir Roger Casement, a beloved philanthropist who had worked to protect African natives from colonial exploitation, was tried and charged for treason due to his involvement with the campaign for Irish independence. Although the original verdict did not involve death, Ernley Blackwell, a legal advisor to the British Home Office, used Casement’s Black Diaries, a personal memoir he had written which graphically detailed his sexual encounters with African men during his humanitarian efforts, as a means to tarnish the individual’s reputation and sway King George V into overruling the verdict and demanding a death sentence. Despite pleas for a stay of execution from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the United States’ Senate, and writers George Bernard Shaw and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the King, repulsed by the accounts presented in the dairies, had Casement executed. In this March 1993 issue of Honcho (which has been broken into two parts), Roger Edmonson’s article explores the life and legacy of Casement, including his poetic defense of same-sex love. Also included in this first half is the short story “Call of the Wild” (about a fishing trip that ends in a threesome) and photspreads titled “The Bull’s-Eye of Love,” “Hey, Pal, What Are You Looking At? Wanna See Something Hot?” and “Off-Duty.”