Pepper’s physique modeling sessions took place, as nearly as I can determine in 1947-48. While Pepper spoke at length about his body building, his routines and workout schedules, he said virtually nothing about the modeling sessions he was involved with. Dennis and I asked only subtle questions and the only in depth answers came to questions about his buddy Gene Meyers.
Since our interview was at his home with his wife and son present, it did not seem appropriate to push him for answers about modeling. He did comment that he and Gene use to hang out at Muscle/Venice Beach in 1947-48 and this is where they were approached by photographers. Venice Beach was the get together place for bodybuilders, Hollywood stars, agents, producers, photographers and the curious. Steve Reeves, Eric Pedersen, Bill Cantrell, Jack Delinger, Joe Sanceri and later Ed Holovchik(Fury) are among the many super star names who found their way to Muscle Beach.
As far as I know Pepper seems to have done at least four modeling shoots, two each, one indoor- one outdoor, with Bruce Bellas and Bob Mizer(AMG). I do not recognize any other photographer in his body or work and nothing seems to stetch into the 1950s. His school buddy and sometimes modeling partner Gene Meyers did numerous shoots over a number of years for several different photographers all in the Los Angeles area, as far as I could tell. While Gene did a marvelous session with Fred Kovert of full frontal nudes, there are no known full nudes of Pepper.
The article in the posted 1948 Strength and Health (with a radiant Pepper on the cover) details Pepper’s workout routine and talks about his diet, and lists all his measurements at that time. The article was written by Vic Tanny, with whom Pepper was training at the time. Pepper recalls Vic fondly and gives him some of the credit for gaining the results obtained.
