HERE HE IS, GIRLS ... PAUL MEERS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This news clipping from 1930 suggests that Mrs. Thelma Meers, wife (and dance partner) of popular 1920's - 30's ballroom dancer, Paul Meers, found their marriage to be quite incompatible.  Why just the year before, he was the subject of gossip for driving around Harlem in a chic maroon Packard Roadster given to him as a "love token" by a big "YOU'D NEVER GUESS WHO." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Meers may have experienced irreconcilable differences with her husband, but by 1932, photographer and Negrophile Carl Van Vechten apparently knew quite well that he wanted to capture the handsome Mr. Meers from both the front AND the back!

 

 

 

The resolution on this late 20's image was so crazy that I had to splice it in two parts - top and bottom - in order to copy and post it.  So YES!  Whether you prefer seeing Mr. Meers from the front, the back, or as a top or a bottom - here he is, GIRLS! 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[TheRevKev]

He was definitely A CUTIE AND A BEAUTY!

[Allen Wright]

Hmmmm... He looks a lot like someone I once dated.

[Michael Henry Adams, Style and Taste!]

there's a tiny nude snapshot of Meers at Yale too, most likely by George Platt Lynes. Apart from Meers, who danced etc. with Jo Baker, being Bi, it seems that his equally beautiful son Paul Meers,Jr, was also Bi at best...

[Corey]

@Michael, I tried to find a few photos of Paul (JR.) but was unsuccessful at the attempt. I know that he followed in daddy's footsteps so I'm sure he was as equally beautiful! Thanks! And yessss .... George Platt Lynes ... umm hmm!!! I love his work!

[Greg]

This certainly is something! More details please! And Damn that Carl Van Vechten, did he hit on all the best of the Harlem Renaissance? Damn him for using is photography as an instrument of seduction! But I ain't mad at him, I suppose one must use what one has to get what one wants!

[Greg]

Another thing I'd like to point out is that I actually really dig the 2nd photo of Paul holding the cigarette. Although I am not now and never have been a smoker I do think it looks cool and sophisticated. I am sorry that there is a movement to get films and advertising agencies to stop photographing the models & actors without the prop of a cigarette! In the film; "Notes on a Scandal" I think the cigarette smoking and holding of Dame Judi Dench in several scenes really does add authenticity to the character as well as personality.

Now, Corey & Michael I don't know if you know it (Btw Michael good to see you! Hope to see you at the concert tomorrow) But the statement about Paul Jr. being bi really does open up a can of worms of a scientific nature. It makes me wonder if sexual orientation is more genetic than we have been told. What I mean is that if we are truly born bi, gay, straight, etc. and if sexual orientation is encoded on particular genes, then can one pass it on to the next generation.

There was a family who lived on my block and the husband was a well known bi-sexual man. And of course it was one of those things we weren't supposed to talk about. But we did. And what is even more scandalous is that he supposedly made reference to desiring his sons to be of the same ilk because; "...I don't want my boys to die ignorant, you supposed to try a little bit of everything before you die!" Well, in a way he got his wish; 2 of his 3 sons were unashamedly bisexual. The middle boy notoriously chased skirts and trousers, sometimes at the same time and whomever he caught first, oh well... So do you guys see where I'm going with this. There is a famous neurobiologist in the UK who studies the brains of homosexual men and straight women and has found significant similarities between the two. For example, the part of the brain that is actively involved in sexual attraction is the same size and shape in sgl men as in straight women. This neurobiologist comes from a male sibiling dominant family (7 boys I think) and they all are sgl! Another european scientist has studied the offspring of sgl men who have fathered children and discovered that gay men produce more female children than male children. I find this whole thing very fascinating and affirming quite frankly and gives those among us a significant amount of leverage in the debate department.

Well?

[Derrick from Philly]

Carl Van Vechten couldn't get enough chocolate. I just hope he didn't put his lecherous hands on Paul Robeson...he did get Paul to pose nude. Then again, why would I care. I can only have Mr Robeson in my dreams now anyway.

[Greg]

Whew!!! I was afraid I had scared y'all!!

[Corey]

@Derrick! You're right about Van Vechten but I don't think he had everything we THINK he had. But Oooo Oooo Oooo what a little influence and power can do - like getting the best of the best to pose before his little camera. Now, I don't think Robeson posed naked for Van Vechten, but he DID pose for Nickolas Murray. I included a few of those shots in a post last year. You can see that here: PAUL ROBESON: http://illkeepyouposted.typepad.com/ill_keep_you_posted/2010/10/paul-robeson-naked-lost-and-found.html

If the link doesn't work, copy and paste it; the post is from October 28, 2010.

@Greg! Noooo ... we love you too much to be scared of you! I guess we agree with you too much to add anything to what you had to say - YOU SAID IT ALL! We co-sign it! Unless, someone else see's this and wants to agree to disagree. Yes, I've seen the same-type scenarios over and over myself! WE KNOW the deal because we operate on that level but others are going to believe what they want to believe despite the evidence to the contrary that's often RIGHT IN THEIR FACE!

[Greg]

Thanx Corey and everybody else

[Derrick from Philly]

You're absolutely right, Corey. Mr Robeson posed for Murray (and what a magnificent body). I apologize to Van Vechten's ghost. And he did give us some wonderful photographs of some of our greatest Black artists and cultural figures of the early 20th Century.

Thanks, Corey.

[jahlaune]

love this