Waitin' for the Weekend: Friends of Walter F.

Golden boy:
Kenneth Carson, Galveston, May 14, 1938 -
one of Walter's many friends.

Something different this week:  a poignant series of photographs of handsome young men at the beach and elsewhere, taken between 1937 and 1941.  The photographer, who appears in some of the photos, was one Walter R. Ferguson, who apparently had a job that enabled him to roam the South as "your TAFT representative," whatever that means.  He stayed in very nice hotels, too.

The photos record his travels, first to seaside towns, starting with Jacksonville, Fla., and westward along the Gulf Coast to Beaumont, Texas.  Next he shows up in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Miami, then travels up the East Coast all the way to Norfolk, Virginia.  The following year, he visits Charlotte, Birmingham, Jackson, and Dallas, then goes up to Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville in Tennessee.  And meets studly guys everywhere.  And they gladly let him take their pictures!

It's obvious that Walter was good at striking up friendships wherever he went; he must have had a charming personality.  The smiling young men he photographed seem to be enjoying his company, too.  Apparently, nothing more is known of Walter and his friends, but the photos seem to tell a story.  What do you think that story is?

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

These vids were posted on the YouTube channel homosexualhistory.

-----