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June 03, 2007
Father's Day is Coming!
Father's Day is coming up on June 13th, something I hadn't really thought about until a friend mentioned it. My dad wasn't all that excited about Father's Day when I was a kid, as he correctly perceived that it was a marketing ploy and he never really liked the gifts. I went through a series of annual duck objects I would give him. I don't know why, although I've always liked the word "mallard."
Father's Day was incredibly exciting for me as a kid, and not because it was an opportunity to give my dad a duck-themed object. I would only become aware of it as It was the time for all the department stores to begin posting circulars in the Sunday papers showing their sale items. I'm sure that my mother thought I was a little too interested in gifts for my dad as I carefully and discreetly perused them, but I had a different fascination.
I loved those circulars, as they were chock full of photos of men in their underwear. Even as a really young kid, I loved looking at the pictures. The men in the circular ads were living in a different town than mine. Their town was filled with men who stood proudly shoulder to shoulder, drinking coffee, reading newspapers, chatting in the locker room. All in their underwear. I did those things too, but usually with pajamas or kids' clothes. I really wanted to move to their town.
Once Father's Day passed, it was back to women's bra commercials, but there was always the Sears and JC Penney catalogs. Even as a five year old, I thought the Penney catalog was racier, but then came the 1975 Sears catalog. Below is the page that seared itself into my memory.
Click to enlarge.
Please look at the guy on the left. Do you see what my five year old eyes couldn't believe they saw?
Yeah. Essentially it was my first gay porn. My mom would wonder where the catalog was, and I'd just look innocently at her.
Looking back at those ads, I have a few questions.
Do straight guys really tuck their tshirts into their underwear? (Gays don't.)
Am I the only gay guy who was fascinated by the underwear guys? (Probably.)
Hell, did straight boys look at the Mother's Day circular? The words Mother/Father could really mess with our little minds, but I never saw my parents lounging around like the people in Underwear Town.
Do those models have those photos in scrapbooks, lounging around in their sixties and seventies, still in their underwear?
These are the things I wonder when I should be thinking deeper thoughts.
Posted by G at June 3, 2007 09:22 PM
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Comments
Yeah, and back then I used to beat off to looking at those Sears men's underwear ads just like this one. That was the late 70's I believe, and they were color ads! oooooh!
Yeah, I'm a sick man. I know. D'oh.
Posted by: Robert at June 3, 2007 11:04 PM
I remember the thrill of the J.C. Penney catalog when I was a young teenager, for comprensive range of men's unerwear. Good times.
Posted by: Tom at June 3, 2007 11:30 PM
Left? Meaning the nice-ish rack and maybe a little chest hair peaking over the "V". I feel sorry for the guy on the right - his bulge air-brushed into the next county.
I think every gay man went through this - we're curious about the male form and this, for many, was our only outlet for that urge.
Because the Canadian advertising industry is centred in Toronto and Montréal, some models would appear year after year - one fellow (short dark hair, nice eyes, 1000 Kw smile) was almost like an old friend - who only wore his underwear. When the new catalogue would arrive, I wait nervously to see if he was still there, breathing a sigh of relief when I found him again. (It this a precursor to the "my secret internet boyfriend" phenomenon?)
Of course, he's also appear in body-hugging WINTER underwear. I believe it was a precursor to Spandex. He was such a delicious looking ass back then. Sigh.
Posted by: Jim (The Canuck One) at June 4, 2007 04:54 AM
You should go and check out someone in a tree, he has a post very similar to yours!!! I guess you all loved the circulars haha xx
Posted by: Princess at June 4, 2007 05:25 AM
some straight men do tuck...me...no way...though I ain't straight either
Posted by: Seth at June 4, 2007 07:08 AM
Great post! I remember when I was kid, walking through K-Mart and always spending time in the underwear section. I always got so horny but it was so exhilarating walking through.
Posted by: Patrick at June 4, 2007 10:01 AM
Fast forward a few years and I recall in high school when International Male started sending me *their* catalog, which was pretty damn racy.
I thought "Oh my God, how do they know!?!?!"
Posted by: Brian at June 4, 2007 11:40 AM
Oh, I tuck my t-shirt into my briefs when I'm wearing a tucked in shirt. Otherwise I find the undershirt gets all screwy and bunchy and its hard to fix it.
Maybe that's just something that happens on my weirdly-proportioned body.
Posted by: Brian at June 4, 2007 11:43 AM
i dont remember these ads...but i do remember others. sigh.
Posted by: chris at June 4, 2007 12:19 PM
I confess, I also stared at the underwear catalogue pages too. I had one bf who tucked his tshirt into his underpants, I always thought that was strange. And at my house, we always lounge around in our underwear, sometimes I even bake cakes doing so!
Posted by: homer at June 4, 2007 04:00 PM
I never knew that tucking you undershirt into your underpants was even an option. It is a fashion challenge I will avoid...
The underwear ads received mighty close inspection from a youthful GayProf. I am missing the gay porn moment from the guy on the left, though. What did you see that I am missing? Pecs? Nipples? A wayward wang? What?
Posted by: GayProf at June 4, 2007 06:40 PM
okay, and no one is going to admit that they STILL look at these ads either in the sunday paper or in magazines? yeah, right...
why did we ever think that our parents didn't really know what was going on? it has always amazed me. when i told my parents - wow, 30 years ago - my father's response was, "i knew that." my response to him was, "then why didn't you tell me!"
as far as tucking the t-shirt in, i worked at a top restuarant in chicago and we were required to tuck it in. the owner thought it looked tacky when the shirts came out and showed "plumber's crack." i kid you not. after all, the diners were paying $40 minimum for dinner and this was in the 80's. i still tuck when i'm doing a suit or formal occasion. habit...
Posted by: Mike/ at June 4, 2007 07:33 PM
Oh the old "marketing ploy" denial. I'm sooo tired of it. Sure the day may have been designed to sell products, but everything in this culture is designed to sell products! The sentiments behind the ploys remain valid! (This is the same argument I use regarding Valentine's Day. Heh.)
Posted by: goblinbox at June 4, 2007 07:49 PM
All gay boys probably had a thing for the underwear ads.
Posted by: Foxy at June 4, 2007 10:07 PM
God I remember that ad! My mom actually spotted it and almost wet herself laughing. I seem to remember something about the model suing Sears over it.
I was a big fan of the underwear ads, but never of Father's Day. I always live in the hope that my little angel will forget the day and she usually does. Now if she sent me one of the models from the Undergear catalog...
Posted by: Tony at June 5, 2007 04:43 AM
Can you imagine if Calvin Klein or 2xist had been around in those days? Your mother would have never found you again after you discovered the underwear section at Macys with all that packaging.
Posted by: Tony R at June 5, 2007 11:00 AM
I look at the ads as well.
And G - I need to make a correction, Father's Day this year is on the 17th, not the 13th.
Posted by: Lee at June 7, 2007 07:10 AM
I was always a fan of the Sear catalog and I used to secretly j/o to the catalog in the bathroom and that was in the 90s!
Posted by: TOS at June 7, 2007 10:20 PM