His name is unknown to us.

His realm lies somewhere East of Shangri-La and West of Oz.

We’ll just call him Tony from Massapequa.

Tony from Massapequa put a great deal of thought into his senior year photo. It had to be memorable. Distinct. A visual paean to his unearthly august. And it is.

Sure, he could have spent the year reading Frankenstein or Of Mice & Men for English Lit, but Tony had real priorities. When he wasn’t waxing his Camaro or basting himself in body bronzer, he was at the gym blasting his delts and triceps to the sounds of Eminem and Linkin Park. (more…)

No, we didn’t use Photoshop on this picture.

That really is John Wayne — in hot pants.

John Wayne, who was for generations the archetype of rugged cowboy manhood. Broad shouldered. Self-contained. All pensive, wounded looks and a slow-to-anger, two-fisted approach to solving problems.

During the late days of the American Empire, he was “the ugly American” as photogenic movie star, a world conqueror with shameful face, at home as much on the Sagebush Trail as on the Sands of Iwo Jima — two typically iconic titles of his America-Myth building movies.

And yet, there he is, at right, in a not-ready-for-icon-worship private moment.

Exactly how many things are blowing our mind about this photo? Let us count the ways. Not merely the super-tight hot pants, but the super-tight hot pants with the cowboy hat.

Then there’s the little issue about the man-bag — man-bag! — oxygen, please. This is 1952! That’s when the photo was taken, in Acapulco. Not even the dizziest bottle-blonde chorusboy, staggering about drunkenly on a gay holiday in Capri, French poodle in beach bag, would be this gay or this proud. (more…)