Colt gay
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For decades, people who appreciated masculine male beauty, turned to Colt. Colt was a predecesor of The Lüger Studio, co-created by French, and similarly to Lüger, Colt Studio's name played with the imagery of a pistol as well as cowboy themes.
Jim French (1932-2017) was an illustrator, photographer, filmmaker, and publisher. Please request 3 working days in advance if you wish to use it.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the authors of the items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
For photocopy and duplication requests, please contact the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries.
Biographical / Historical
Colt Studio was founded by Jim French and Lou Thomas in 1967, as a male homoerotic photography studio and distributor of mail-order prints.
Alleged Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray's father said his son had been called "gay" by classmates in 2023 interview transcripts recently released by police.
Colin Gray, 54, has been charged in connection with Wednesday's school shooting, which claimed the lives of two students and two adults in Georgia.
Initially French used different pseudonyms for his business ventures, Arion for Arion Studio, Kurt Lüger for Lüger Studio, and Rip Colt for Colt Studio.
For preservation and security purposes, researchers are limited to accessing one folder at a time.
Conditions Governing Access
The material is stored off site. The name Rip was a reference to San Francisco photographer Rip Searby. Colt Studios helped define generations of gay men on their own personal roads to 'creating' the men they became.
Many of the images and videos produced by Colt Studio are still available for purchase via Colt Studio Group.
Full Extent
2 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged alphabetically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquisition information is indeterminate.
Lydia Tang (2018)
Date 2025-05 Description rules Describing Archives: A Content Standard Language of description English Script of description Latin Revision Statements
- 2025-05: Finding aid revised to incorporate accrual, standardize titles, create an alphabetical arrangement, and provide an updated historical note for the collection.
Item, Folder number and/or title, Box number, Colt Studio photographs collection, MSS 618, Stephen O.
Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, MSU Libraries, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Item, Folder number and/or title, Box number, Colt Studio photographs collection, MSS 618, Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, MSU Libraries, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6335 Accessed December 30, 2025.
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At some point while working on illustrations, French began using polariod shots of the models he was drawing, and eventually these images were later sold as reproductions.
All that like, he should be excited about getting into 8th grade. The leather scene which was an interest of Lou Thomas, who in 1974 went on to open Target Studio which had a major focus on the leather scene.
Colt Studio established itself as one of the most successful gay erotic studios. Each photograph set corresponds to a specific model.
6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Authorities claimed that Colin knew and allowed his son Colt to have access to his firearms in the household ahead of Wednesday's shooting. The cowboy aesthetic of Colt often alternated with leathermen themes.
And it was Jim French behind all the images and the 'persona' the company helped create. It just was very difficult for him to go to school and not get picked on by, you know, it went from one thing to another to, you know, he was talking to the couple friends he has," said Gray.
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, leaves the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept.
Screens with the short film "Into Man's Country." Into Man’s Country delves into the secretive and intimate world of the gay bathhouse during the ‘70s.