John Norman Collins Strikes a Pose

In January of 1969, John Norman Collins did three photo shoots for a pocket-sized body building magazine entitled Tomorrow's Man (1952-1971). The popular subtitle for this "beefcake" magazine was "Hunks in Trunks." Readers may recognize the names of Steve Reeves (Hercules) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator) as people who have posed for this periodical. The pictorials and covers featured prominent bodybuilders and amateurs.

This pulp fiction relic was particularly popular in the 50s and 60s among gay men and curious newcomers. It was considered a crossover publication which could be found on newsstands in urban areas across the country, or it could be mail-ordered discreetly from home.

In those days, beefcake magazines were often the only connection closeted gay men had to their sexuality. But by the end of the Sixties, social conventions had relaxed and gay porn became legal. The market for beefcake magazines declined. The advent of home video in the Seventies struck the death knell for this pulp genre. Collectors of vintage beefcake magazines have made it next to impossible to obtain a copy of Tomorrow's Man.

***

In a prison letter written July 15, 2013, John Norman Collins tells his Canadian cousin the story of his brief involvement in the world of bodybuilding modeling. 

[The following excerpt is presented essentially unedited as written.]

"Oh my God, you found those pictures of me in that "Tomorrow's Man!" ha, ha. Those were taken when I was at Eastern Mich. University. I was a Junior I believe [January 1969]. The media tried to PLAY IT UP after my arrest and make me seem GAY. Here's the SCOOP, John [Collins' Canadian cousin]. I was a JOCK in college and loved all sports so I joined a JOCK Fraternity [Theta Chi] that had lots of football players, wrestlers, baseball players, etc. Well a couple of Brothers told me about this guy that took photo's of guys for some weight-lifting magazines and it paid really good for just 1/2 hour of work. I went to the studio with a few Brothers and I saw what they really did and I agreed to do it. I did like maybe 3 sessions and forgot all about it. I knew the photographer could use my photo's in any magazine he wanted to and he used Bill Kenyon as my name. I have no idea WHY he did that? Anyhow, he used guys from the wrestling team, swim team, etc. Anyone that was in decent shape. At the time he told me he would try to get me into modeling jobs (clothing), BUTT, that didn't happen. How many pictures were in the mag.? I'll never be an "Arnuld." ha, ha. Maybe I should have you send me a copy of the photo(s) they used in the mag.? :) Just curious! I lifted weights for football, hockey, baseball etc., NOT really to be a bodybuilder. Just want some size & strength."

Tomorrow's Man used only one of the photos from Collins three separate shoots, for which he was paid $5.00 a session. "Teenage bodybuilder" Bill Kenyon was, of course, twenty-one year old John Norman Collins. In addition to the photograph, which was placed to the right of an advertisement for wheat germ capsules, the photo's banner read "GREAT FUTURE."

Two Eastern Michigan University coeds had been murdered in Washtenaw County prior to the Collins photo sessions. Five additional unsolved murders of young women occurred in the nine months after Collins posed for Tomorrow's Man magazine. Only for the last of these brutal serial killings would John Norman Collins ever be tried and convicted. The six other cases have hung in limbo for almost fifty years.

For more examples of Tomorrow's Man covers, tap on the following link: http://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/entry/Assorted-covers-of-Tomorrows-Man-bodybuilding-magazine.html

For more information about Beefcake magazines, tap on this link: http://www.bilerico.com/2011/02/a_short_history_of_physique_magazines.php

San Diego's 2015 Gator-by-the-Bay Zydeco and Blues Festival

2015 Gator-by-the-Bay poster and T-shirt art

Every Mothers' Day weekend for the last thirteen years, San Diego has been home to the Gator-by-the-Bay Festival-held at Spanish Landing on San Diego Bay. This year's event is May 7-10th. Michael Doucet & Beausoleil concert is scheduled for Thursday night, and a Gator at Night dance is on Friday--but the real action takes place over the weekend--May 9th and 10th.

Five stages host zydeco and Cajun music as well as blues, swing, rock, country, and jazz. National, regional, and local musicians enjoy performing at Gator-by-the-Bay because of the beautiful venue and the lively crowds. Free dance lessons are given throughout Saturday and Sunday in partner dances and line dances. Especially welcome are the large, shaded, wooden dance floors located at each end of the festival site.

This is a Mothers' Day, family friendly event with arts and craft activities for kids, assorted vendors, and over twenty food booths. Festival organizers ship in 10,000 pounds of fresh crawfish from Louisiana for the weekend and boil them right there with potatoes and corn on the cob. The Gator-by-the-Bay Festival typically draws up to 12,000 people, and a good time is had by all. 

"Laissez les bon temps roulez!"


For more information, check out this link: http://www.sandiegofestival.com/

San Diego, California 's Annual OMBAC Over-the-Line Tournament

The Over the Line (OTL) tournament began in 1954 when members of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) organized their first event--their motto was Booze, Babes, and Beach Boys. These basic ingredients haven't changed much over the decades.

OTL began as a local San Diego County beach competition, but it has grown into what it is now, an international event with over 1,200 teams competing. The OTL tournament has become San Diego's most iconic and largest summer venue attracting over 60,000 spectators and participants to Fiesta Island in beautiful Mission Bay over the second and third weekends of July.

This year's 62nd Annual World Championship will be held July 11/12 and July 18/19, 2015. The tournament has both a men's and women's division. Each division is broken into age categories. The men's categories include: Open, Century, Canardly, Cannever, Cadaver, and Camummy. The women's categories include: Open, Century, Caneasy, and Canalways.

OTL is a bat and ball game played out on the sand--though a beach is not a necessity. It requires only three players per team: the batter and the hitter are on the same team. The fielders (other team) stand behind the line in fair territory. The pitcher tosses an official game ball up and the batter swings at it with a softball bat. If the ball is hit into fair territory without a fielder catching it, a run is scored. A hit can also be scored when a fielder drops the ball in fair or foul territory. Base running is not a feature of this game. Women use softball gloves, and men can use golf gloves.

An OTL court is laid out with rope staked into the sand. At one end of the court is a triangle whose longest edge is 55' (17meters) called The Line. The point of the triangle called Home is 55' from The Line. The pitcher and the batter both work from there. Parallel ropes mark the Fair Territory which extends as far as a ball can travel. Three fielders position themselves within Fair Territory.

An out is made if the ball is hit in the triangle, the batter swings and misses, the fielders catch the ball, the batter has two fouls, or a player bats out of order. As with baseball and softball, three outs ends a team's inning at the plate.

Runs are scored after the third hit in an inning and each hit after that. A home run is a hit that lands past the furthest fielder from the line--not over, just past--without being touched by the fielder. The batter scores a run and all of the unscored hits that preceded the homerun.

The tournament has a history of being a Bacchanalian orgy with distinct sexual overtones. The team names pride themselves on their consummate vulgarity.  Local news stations report on the event but can't announce the team names over the air. Major news stories from the previous year are also the subject of comic team names.

Miss Emerson contestants from yesteryear.

The Miss Emerson contest is a favorite sidebar attraction for the male horn-dawgs in the crowd. Young adult women shed their tops--behind a cordoned-off area--in exchange for an official OTL T-shirt. At the awards ceremony, the new Miss Emerson is crowned and given a bouquet of flowers. The derivation of the Miss Emerson title started as a bad knock-knock joke that can be found in the link below--along with a listing of men's and women's team names from 2011.

Over recent years--to gain more wide-spread municipal support for the event--the bawdy atmosphere has been toned down somewhat to emphasize the sport rather than the spectacle. OMBAC has instituted the Seven Bs: 

1. No Bottles
2. No Bicycles
3. No Bowzers (dogs)
4. No Babies
5. No Boas (snakes)
6. No Bad Attitudes
7. No Battles (fights)

OTL is taken seriously by the players, many of whom have been competing for decades. Most people in attendance come to drink beer and enjoy the scenery. Organizers state up front that this is an adult event inappropriate for children.

OTL video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHcEmUM4w3s

Warning! Explicit 2011 OTL team names:  http://vicejunkies.com/continents/north_america/united_states/california/san_diego/over_the_line_tournament.html

Gone Girl Takes the Mystery-Thriller Up a Notch

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was published in June 2012, and I have only just read it. My overall response is she has raised the benchmark for the mystery-thriller genre to a literary level. At its heart, her story examines the inner workings and underpinnings of relationships.

Gone Girl is a dissection of one of the most complex of human relationships--the psychological warfare played out on the battlefield known as marriage. This is a He said-She said story ripe with ironies and lies. Gillian Flynn alternates her dual first-person narration between husband and wife Nick and Amy Dunne. Each point of view is unique and searing--one male, the other female. The delicate balance between the spoken and the unspoken is laid bare in their thoughts. Anyone who was ever in a dysfunctional relationship will hear echoes of their own interior monologue resonate through the words of these characters.

The couple's unapologetic and unrepentant narratives reveal their deep-seated psychological motivations and justifications for their corrosive actions. The primal forces have been transgressed and someone must be punished. But who? While Nick is following the algebra of Amy's thinly disguised wedding anniversary riddles, Amy is dishing out the calculus for his punishment. The reader is left to do the math.

Gillian Flynn has been accused of misogyny in her portrayal of women, but Flynn reveals what readers have known since Shakespeare: the gentler sex can be as wicked, cruel, and vindictive as men. Anyone recall Lady Macbeth? How about the William Congreve quote, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"?

I especially like Flynn's use of realistic language to depict authentic human interaction. When used, the coarse language gives the rest of the work a distinct air of verisimilitude. Lesser authors would have softened their use of blue language and gender invective in favor of being less offensive to readers--but there is plenty of fiction around to satisfy those tastes. Amy Dunne's cool girl soliloquy is a classic that tears down both men and women and takes aim at the games we play to be a part of a relationship.

I have seen the 2014 film starring Ben Affleck and Rosemund Pike--in the lead roles of Nick and Amy Dunne--and thought the David Fincher movie was first-rate. A quick check of Gone Girl's credits revealed that the screenplay was written by Gillian Flynn, which accounts for the continuity from page to screen. One of the film's producers--who bought the movie rights--was actress Reese Witherspoon.

Witherspoon wanted the role of Amy, but director Fincher didn't think she was right for the part. Given the great job Rosemund Pike did, I think he may have been correct.

Seeing the film before reading the novel did not diminish my appreciation of the ragged inner lives of the main characters or the spot-on portrayal of our media obsessed culture that roots out the worst and always assumes that the husband dunne (sic) it. Jillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl is emblematic of its age.

***

Here is a trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3LB0lOJ0o

Author Gillian Flynn speaks about misogyny regarding her depiction of women: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/01/gillian-flynn-bestseller-gone-girl-misogyny

The Rainy Day Murders--My Beta Readers

To take The Rainy Day Murders (RDM) to the next level, I have enlisted the aid of five highly-qualified beta readers. A beta reader is a non-professional reader who reads over the manuscript giving suggestions on how to improve the material. Beta reading is typically done before a book is published.

It was time for me to step back and see how people coming to the material for the first time would react to the manuscript of the Washtenaw County sex murders of the late 1960s in Michigan.

It is surprising how easy it is for a writer to overlook common mistakes. The eye sees, but doesn't see itself. Nagging grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes are mechanical errors that can be easily fixed, and fresh eyes are always appreciated to snare them. But organization and content matters are of more concern to me: Does the narrative move well? Are there continuity problems? Where are the hollow spots? Is the material believably presented? Do the facts and assertions appear accurate? Is the story a respectful treatment of difficult material? These are my areas of particular interest.

Working with this material for over four years has given me a form of writing blindness called authorial myopia. I needed some time and distance from RDM to gain perspective and recalibrate my vision to strengthen the manuscript.

Once my beta readers report to me, I will devise a specific plan for one last revision and begin looking for representation and a publisher. Barring that, I will self-publish RDM and make it available over the Internet. 

The descriptions in RDM are often graphic but never lurid. I have endeavored to portray the victims with dignity and respect while--at the same time--providing the public with documentable information regarding the details of the seven young women's murders. This was not an easy story to write, nor will it be an easy story to read for some people. I have strived to make RDM as accurate as possible given the limitations of the historical record.

The facts and circumstances of these tragedies deserve to be told to prevent them from falling further through the cracks of governmental neglect and the deliberate obfuscation by John Norman Collins.

Here is a link to my post about the victims: http://fornology.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-rainy-day-murders-who-were-victims.html

The Rainy Day Murders Visits the Book Doctor

Such as it is--here it is. Stay tuned!

Mental Health and John Norman Collins - Two Extremes Too Hard To Comprehend At Once

Doing research for The Rainy Day Murders has lead down corridors my researcher and I could not have envisioned when we began this true crime project over three years ago. But one key area of information has remained closed to us, the mental health records of John Norman Collins. That information is privileged and protected.

Shortly after Collins was arrested, his second attorney, court appointed Richard Ryan, arranged a "private" lie detector test for Collins to take. After the examiner revealed the results to the defense attorney, Ryan suggested to John's mother that they go for a diminished capacity plea, commonly known as an insanity defense. 

Loretta Collins became unglued and fired Ryan on the spot. He is said to have left the conference room shaken but no doubt relieved to be off the case. When the legal team of Joseph Louisell and Neil Fink took over, there was no more talk of an insanity defense.

Early on in our investigative research, my researcher, Ryan M. Place and I invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) documents. Every time the Collins' case comes up for review and reclassification, Collins is offered psychiatric services. In the space provided on the form, he always writes, "Not interested."

Most people would agree that it is impossible to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. What good are psychological and psychiatric services to a person whose existence is built upon the mirrored reality of delusion? To break through that wall of falsehoods would be to admit guilt and responsibility; a narcissistic, psychotic personality will not tolerate this.

*** 

Several months ago, I received an email from Kristin Bronson, whose father worked briefly with John Norman Collins in an official mental health capacity. What follows is a loving tribute to her father:

"My father (now deceased) was in the mental health profession all his life, first at Mercywood Sanatorium and then at the University of Michigan Neuropsychiatric Institute. He worked with a vast number and all kinds of patients and always worked very hard to find a way to reach and help them. He usually succeeded, though not often enough. One lost is one too many.

"My father was involved in the evaluation and treatment of John Norman Collins. He was the only patient I am aware of that my father bailed out from his case. It gave him the shudders. 


"My dad said that Collins was never going to change. He was too evil. It really got to him, even just being around Collins. He was wickedness incarnate! There were other killers my father worked with, but this one was too much even for him who loved every human soul alive.


"Rest in peace my beloved father, William Arthur Bronson, born September 7, 1926. You helped so many people regain their lives and paid a price to do so."