Gong man
(Rank Organisation)
Slightly off track. How many of you remember going to the cinema and seeing the gong man introduce a Rank Organisation movie
Adopted by Rank as their trademark in 1932, the semi- naked gong man became the symbol for all of their movies. Actually, over the years, there were four different gong men all chosen for their brawn and these included fighters, wrestlers and athletes.
Adopted by Rank as their trademark in 1932, the semi- naked gong man became the symbol for all of their movies. Actually, over the years, there were four different gong men all chosen for their brawn and these included fighters, wrestlers and athletes.
It wasn't until much later that I learnt the gong wasn't real; in fact it was made from papier marche and care had to be taken not to actually hit the fragile gong. The deep resonating boom of the gong - which always gave me goose bumps - was made by a musician striking a small Chinese gong called a tam-tam.
As a very naïve and impressionable young teenager, I really loved watching the gong man introduce the movie and even though it only lasted a few seconds, it was the highlight of the movie for me. Originally, the gong man "struck" the gong three times but this was later reduced to one.
Even as a boy, I was fascinated by the naked, male body and without realising, it was a pointer to my own predilection. To this day, I am held spellbound by the naked male.
Therefore, seeing the Rank gong man with his gleaming, oil coated, naked torso and flexing muscles always stirred me.
In my imagination, the gong man was a white slave sounding the gong to announce the arrival of his exotic Arab master and this was a fantasy role I longed for.
Why am I writing this? Over the holiday, I watched an old Rank movie from the "Carry on" series and I was re-introduced to the gong man and through him to one of my earliest erotic fantasies.
Erotic fantasies never fade away!
What a wonderful nostalgic post, Chris ! A post that really stirred my memories of a young teen boy who – with a lot of anxiety, at the beginning- was discovering ……. also through Cinema ! ……… his homosexuality and his sadistic inclinations.
ReplyDeleteI also remember well the muscular semi-naked body of the athletic “Gong Man” of the Rank Organization, a sequence that unluckily lasted just two or three seconds.
And I too have fantasized ……. exactly like you ……. about that gorgeous, herculean young male, with his shining oiled massive muscles.
I too imagined him being ……. this seemed to me almost instinctive …….. of course a white slave …… exactly as you say ! …….. in some oriental barbaric kingdom, e.g. the white slave of a mighty Indian Raja or an Arab Caliph or Sheik !
It would be marvelous to see one of these common fantasies of ours about this bewitching semi-nude “slave” Gong-man, developed in one of your wonderful future stories !
Allow me to add also that, in those young first years of my adolescence, the spell for the NUDE MUSCULAR MALE BODY ….. exactly for you ……. was charming and exciting me in the Cinema of those years not only through the athletic physique of the Rank Gong Man, but also through the films of TARZAN and, even more, through the many and many (in those years) ” mythological” films ….. later called also “Peplum” or “Sword & Sandal” movies, because they were normally set in an ancient Rome or ancient Greece background …….. of the various Hercules, Goliath, Samson, Ursus, Maciste etc.etc.
Those films had, as their protagonist, always a very handsome, powerfully built young bodybuilder, who, for the whole film, was wearing just a tiny and tight loincloth, that emphasized even more not only his huge naked muscles but also his well-displayed genitals’ bulge !
And most often the herculean hero was surrounded by a bunch of friends / comrades normally interpreted by other very good-looking young bodybuilders.
This of course, stirred my emerging homosexuality …… but also my surfacing sadistic inclinations.
In fact, for the movies of Tarzan, especially in the movies interpreted by Gordon Scott in the late 50’s and early ‘60’s, Tarzan was always captured, bound, beaten and even threatened of savage tortures, by his enemies, both whites and even more black Africans.
For what concerns he Peplum movies …. well, sadism was one of their “fundamental” elements. Out of probably almost a hundred Peplum movies that I watched in my life, I remember just three or four films (no more !) that do not contain AT LEAST ONE SCENE in which the muscular young hero …… and / or one of his equally herculean young comrades …… is captured by his evil enemies, and enslaved, bound, tortured, subjected to atrocious and inhuman hard-labours or strength-tests etc. etc.
Ahhhh, my friend ! you are perfectly right ! Erotic fantasies …… especially the ones of our younger years …….. never fade away!
Karel