Bob Mizer Foundation Film Archive
See full details and film list:
store.bobmizerfoundation.org/collections/americana-collection/products/bmf021
Dick Fontaine of Richard Anthony Enterprises (and formally Apollo, then Zenith) was doing physique films even before AMG (and was a friend of the family when he was a pre-teenager). He has now given up all physique work in favor of doing major general release movies, and he has put all of his 8 & 16mm physique film negatives in our care.
– Bob Mizer, founder Athletic Model Guild
In his time, Dick Fontaine was the cream of the beefcake crop. It was 1949, 4 years after Bob Mizer founded the Athletic Model Guild, when Fontaine broke into the physique industry. His foray into filmmaking came with a short black and white reel, entitled "Always Obtainable," starring a young Guy Mayor. The budding dancer approached Fontaine about producing a special “audition film," and the two set out on a journey that would make history. Whether or not that first film was beneficial to Mayor’s career is questionable, but its influence on Fontaine’s future is unmistakable.
In 1954, he continued his groundbreaking film work, producing the first physique film with sound, "Days of Greek Gods." The film starred physique icons Bob Delmonteque, Artie Zeller and Johnny Apollo – all mainstays of Muscle Beach, CA. Fontaine’s collaborations with Bob Mizer’s AMG began early on and persisted until his exit from beefcake in the 1970s. Throughout the 50s and 60s, Dick shot most of his films at the AMG compound, further cementing the close bond between the two photographers.
After a long career in beefcake films and photography, Fontaine set out for a career in the mainstream. In the mid 1960s, he turned over all his physique work to AMG, where Mizer sold Fontaine film prints until his death, in 1992. In keeping with this monumental collaboration, AMG has remastered a carefully selected group of these early film negatives. In RICHARD FONTAINE: THIRTEEN APOLLO FILMS 1954-1965” we pay tribute to this innovative filmmaker’s inimitable style.
Cast:Bob Mizer Foundation
Tags:richard fontaine, apollo, athletic model guild and 1950s