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Dates of Operation: 1972 thru 1989
Location: San Francisco,
CA
Known Aliases : Dennis
Forbes
Known Affiliations : Falcon
Studios, Advocate Men Magazine, Western Man, Lobo Studios, Le Salon
1972 – 1974
  
Fred Bisonnes' alter ego, Dennis Forbes, arrived in San Francisco from Iowa City,
where he had been the Assistant Director of Publications at the University of
Iowa. Working as a freelance writer, graphic designer and photographer, he served
as volunteer art director for Vector, the monthly magazine published
by S.I.R. (Society for Individual Rights), in which capacity he came to the attention
of David B. Goodstein, the future owner of Liberation Publications, Inc., and
publisher of The Advocate. Forbes became the San Francisco correspondent
for After Dark magazine, writing performance-arts reviews and contributing
articles illustrated by his photography. In association with San Francisco model
John Appleton, he formed Paragon Photographics, producing a ''zodiac'' calendar
of his photos of the nude Appleton, which sold successfully through advertisements
in After Dark. A second calendar was planned, featuring several nude male
models photographed by Forbes, but he and Appleton parted company over ''creative
differences.'' He then formed Gymnos Studio and continued photographing male
nudes in black and white for a book project. In late 1974 (December), he was
hired by David Goodstein, who had purchased the Los Angeles gay-bar newspaper The
Advocate, planning to convert it to a biweekly gay news magazine.
December 1974 – September 1975
Forbes served as art director of The Advocate, then as LPI creative director
and finally as associate publisher, in which latter capacity he designed the
book Crawford Barton's Beautiful Men. He then left Liberation Publications,
to return to freelancing.
Late 1975 – late 1977
Freelancing, Forbes occasionally undertook a special writing, photography or
design assignment from The Advocate. He also contributed the every-issue
caricature-cum-text feature ''The Madding Crowd.''
Late 1977 – late
1979
    
Forbes took on San Francisco-based Falcon Studios as a client, functioning as
independent-contractor photographer and art director. In the former capacity
he shot stills during the production of the Studios' 8-mm hardcore gayporn loops,
as well as taking ''fluff'' or ''glamor'' nude solo photos of the individual
models Falcon wanted to promote as its ''superstars'' (such as Dick Fisk and
Sky Dawson). As the Studios' art director, he designed the brochures and print
ads used to promote the Falcon product line, and placed photo-beefcake materials
with the gay-erotica magazines of the time (Mandate, Blueboy, Torso, In
Touch, etc.). He also created a series of magazine-format 48-page ''picture
books'' of Falcon's black-&-white and full-color models' ''glamor'' photos
and softcore production stills, which he had shot. During his two tenures with
Falcon, Forbes/Bisonnes produced several titles, some of which had multiple issues: Falcon
File (9 issues), Falconers (5), Dynamo (5), Odyssey (3), Talon (2), Ski
Summit (2), Jocks (2), Buckaroo (2) and Dune.
These publications were printed and distributed by Le Salon, a San Francisco-based
erotica/porn distributor and retailer. In late 1979 Bisonnes terminated his association
with Falcon.
Late 1979 – mid-1981
    
After leaving Falcon, Forbes was encouraged by Le Salon to continue producing
the same sort of magazine-format gay-softcore publications that he had been doing
for Falcon. For this purpose (with a former college friend as business partner),
Forbes formed his own ''erotica'' company, Western Man (to which was later
appended a second producer name, Lobo Studio). Between late '79 and mid-'81 – using
the name Fred Bisonnes (an anagram), and also Ned Hart – he photographed
over thirty models and produced numerous titles, some in multiple issues: for
Western Man, Paragon (2), Chevron (2), Gymnos (2), Rivet (2), Strap (3), Bronco, Cinch, Hard
Men and Men of Western Man; and for Lobo, Tanline, Performance, Manacle, Uncut, Prime and Sizzler.
In the Western Man titles, he included erotic short fiction which he wrote and
illustrated under various pseudonyms, as well as portfolios of his homoerotic
drawings, credited to Bisonnes. The beefcake and softcore-action photographic
work of San Francisco gay photographer ''D.J.'' Garrett was published in several
of the titles, at the insistence of Le Salon. By mid-81 both Forbes/Bisonnes
and his business partner had become totally disenchanted with the owners of Le
Salon, and the days of Western Man/Lobo were numbered.
Late
1981 – 1985
Following the decision to end Western Man/Lobo production for Le Salon - with
a total of 34 models having been photographed, several more than once - Forbes
took on Falcon Studios as a client for the second time, commencing as the production-stills
and model-''fluff'' photographer for the three-part fashion-themed series titled
''Style,'' with Falcon's new instant ''superstars'' Todd Baron, Tim Kramer,
Leo Ford and Ron Pearson. He also resumed producing the Falcon ''magazines,''
which were still printed and distributed by Le Salon. But now the model photography
was credited to Fred Bisonnes, whereas previously it had been anonymous. By
early 1984 Forbes had worked out an arrangement with Falcon whereby he could
photograph models independently and sell the photo-shoots to the New York-based
Modernismo monthlies (Mandate, Honcho, Playguy). This
published work was also credited to Bisonnes.
    
In early 1984, while still shooting and art directing
for Falcon, Forbes was given the challenge by Liberation Publications, Inc.,
to create a newsstand full-color glossy publication that would compete in the
marketplace with the plethora of erotic gay titles already in existence. The
resulting product was named Advocate MEN, reflecting the spin-off
relationship to its parent publication, The Advocate. Only the prototype
issue was commissioned, however, with Dennis Forbes functioning as the magazine's
editor and Fred Bisonnes art director/photographer. If the decision was made
to go monthly, Forbes/Bisonnes would have the option of remaining in those roles.
Debuting in April, 1984, the premier Advocate MEN was a newsstand success,
so LPI's owner, David Goodstein, decided to give it the green light for monthly
publication; and, of course, the second issue was wanted immediately.
However, a major change had taken place after Advocate
MEN went to press: Goodstein decided to move the entire LPI operation from
San Mateo in the Bay Area to Malibu, California, where he himself was already
living. To retain their jobs, all LPI employees had to relocate to Los Angeles
from San Francisco, which most of them called home. This held true for Forbes
and his alter ego, if they wanted to continue with Advocate MEN. Instead,
another arrangement was negotiated: Forbes/Bisonnes would continue producing
the magazine in San Francisco until the LPI move was accomplished and a new Advocate
MEN editor and art director were hired. Additionally, Bisones would continue
on, as an independent contractor, flying to L.A. to photograph the magazine's
models and returning to S.F. to design the beefcake layouts of same. He would
be paid a monthly retainer for the design work and a ''per diem'' fee for the
photo shoots. Three more issues were produced before A-MEN was turned
over to the new editorial/design team.
By mid-1985 it had become apparent that having both Falcon
Studios and LPI as clients resulted in a conflict of mutual interests, and Forbes/Bisonnes
parted company with Falcon for a second and final time. During his years of shooting
for Falcon, he had worked with 41 models.
Early
1985 – September
1989
By the time that work had to begin on the fifth issue of A-MEN, a new
art director had been hired in the person of F. Glen Offield; and LPI editor-in-chief
Robert McQueen assumed the role of A-MEN editor. Starting with the sixth
issue, The Advocate managing editor, Stuart Kellogg, began functioning
as the monthly glossy's ''associate'' editor (although, in fact, he was delegated
all the day-to-day work of editor, while McQueen exercised the major editorial
decision-making). Things would never again be the same for Bisonnes vis-à-vis A-MEN.
Starting with issue eight, April 1985, his photographs
were no longer the only beefcake images in the magazine. Kellogg and Offield
persuaded A-MEN publisher John Knoebel that the publication would benefit
from additional ''looks'' rather than only Bisonnes's ''in-house'' photography;
more importantly, the gayporn studios would provide nude-model layouts free of
charge, and other beefcake photographers' work could be purchased for somewhat
less than Bisonnes's per-diem fee for model-shoots. Additionally, Offield would
be freed up from having to interview so many ''dogs'' who wanted to be A-MEN models,
as well as from having to find ''tony'' L.A. locations for Bisonnes to shoot
at. This all ignored the fact that the magazine's success up to that time had
been precisely because of the ''look'' of Bisonnes's photo-work and the ''style''
uniformity it provided A-MEN. Lesson not learned: ''If it ain't broke,
don't fix it.''
In early May of 1985, David Goodstein was diagnosed with
greatly advanced colon cancer, and he died on the operating table in late June.
This sent LPI into a chaotic period, when ownership of - even the future of -
the company was up in the air, and resulted in major budgetary crises. Thus,
the argument for using studio freebies and less ''expensive'' photographers'
work in A-MEN seemed the way to go; and the June '85 issue included the
first non-Bisonnes photoshoot, by Montreal-based photographer Carlos Quiroz (whose
work and models Kellogg particularly liked). At Bisonnes's urging, his protege
and Brazil-based friend, Kristen Bjorn, soon began submitting model shoots on
a regular basis, as well.
While Bisonnes's per-diem income from photographing models
was considerably diminished from mid-'85 on, he was still being paid his monthly
retainer as ''creative consultant''; and Robert McQueen devised a new justification
for that outlay. Since there was already an abundance of unpublished Bisonnes
material in the files only a fraction of what was shot of an individual model
could be used in his A-MEN layout – it seemed smart to employ this
already-paid-for photography in a new LPI publication, an A-MEN spinoff
which could generate additional income for the floundering corporation.
    
Thus Advocate MEN Presents Men of Advocate MEN (quite
a mouthful, soon shortened to Men of Advocate MEN, and referred to as Men
of MEN in house) was born as a full-color, advertising-free (at least initially)
64-page glossy quarterly of pure beefcake (no fiction or other features), with
Bisonnes doing the design and layout of each issue. He selected the model materials
to be used therein during his continuing occasional visit to L.A. to photograph
models for Advocate MEN. By the time the first issue was ready for press,
it had been decided that Men of MEN would publish bimonthly rather than
quarterly; and, between the initial issue (Oct/Nov 1985) and the final one of
the series (Sept 1989), 25 issues were published, three of which featured the
work of photographers other than Bisonnes (Kristen Bjorn [2] and Carlos Quiroz
[1]). Men of MEN ceased being, morphing into a short-lived monthly, Male
Pictorial, which also featured materials from the Advocate MEN photo
files.
Fred Bisonnes's other involvement with Liberation Publications,
Inc., was the ''video magazine'' series ''Advocate MEN Live!'' Conceived
by him (on assignment from LPI) as a ''live-action'' version of the magazine
(hence the name), the initial video consisted of coverman models in solo jo segments,
augmented by other erotic feature material, and was shot by professional videographers
(Male Entertainment Network [M.E.N]), following the direction of Bisonnes, who
also directed the editing, executed at the M.E.N. facility in San Francisco.
From ''Advocate MEN Live! 2'' through the sixth and final installment, however,
the concept was changed considerably and production values declined to almost
zero. The former was due to McQueen taking over ''A-MEN Live!'' as his pet project
and functioning as sole video editor (Bisonnes was still shooting model segments,
as was Kristen Bjorn, in Brazil); the latter resulted from the ''economical''
use of nonprofessional video cameras and amateur editing equipment (two high-end
Betamax VCRs).
By mid-1989 several LPI employees were ill with AIDS,
most significantly Robert McQueen (who would pass away in October of that year);
and the company was in another financial bind: the mail-order clothing company,
Malibu Man, that had been started a couple of years earlier – as a diversification
of product-line for LPI – had proven to be a marketing disaster, losing
rather than making money for the company. Thus, to keep afloat, an executive
decision was made to let several employees go and to cut operating expenses by
half. Bisonnes was informed that both his occasional per diem and monthly retainer
would be likewise be reduced by 50%. That was not acceptable to him, and he terminated
his relationship with LPI, in September 1989.
After independently shooting a few models and submitting
the results to the Modernismo magazines (but being disappointed with the quality
of their reproduction), Bisonnes decided it finally was time to hang up his cameras
and for his alter ego to channel creative energies in an altogether different
direction. Thus, Forbes, went on to found a glossy quarterly journal devoted
exclusively to the subject of ancient Egypt, which debuted in spring 1990, with
him as editorial director. Fifteen volumes and 60 issues later, Kmt, A
Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, is still publishing, a subscription
and newsstand success, and an established fixture in the world of Egyptology.
While pondering a name for this publication, a friend quipped, ''What are you
going to call it, Advocate Mummy?''
– Dennis
Forbes - December 2004
Dennis Forbes - Art Directing at The
Advocate 1976
For additional information:
FRED
BISONNES interview by Dennis Forbes
originally published in Advocate Men - April 1986
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