Blueboy (November 1983), Part One

Starting out as a writer for the magazine Woman’s Own, Mike Arlen transitioned into photography at the beginning of the 1980s, when the editor of a German magazine noticed a picture he had taken of two men in swimwear. At the editor’s request, Arlen shot his first nude model on a farm holding a lamb. The photos went to both the German magazine and Zipper, where readers expressed interest in his images but asked for different content, explicitly men in uniforms. As time progressed, Arlen went the route of David Hurles – becoming famous for his photographs of rugged, working-class men – and, like Hurles, he became both a close confidant and easy target for these men, with Arlen lamenting that his biggest regret was offering to post bail for many of them (an offer over a dozen of his models took and sent requests from prison). This November 1983 issue of Blueboy (which has been broken into two parts) features a showcase of Arlen’s work. Also included in this first half is a review of Milo Speriglio’s book Marilyn Monroe: A Murder Cover-Up and photo spreads titled “Hot Rocks” and “Trick or Treat.”