Interview from the Archives: In touch with Tom

5th March 2021, 6:38 pm

Tom of Finland advertisement for The Pits

Now in The World of TOM, we have another treat from the TOM House Archives: an interview with Tom of Finland from a 1983 issue of In Touch for Men magazine, written by Joshua Olivetti. In Touch was one of the early Gay male magazines. In 1973, it began publication in Los Angeles and had bi-monthly issues.

There are a few details that make this interview an interesting historical piece. First, Tom had begun exploring the LA Leather scene as a Finnish man, new to living in the United States. He even mentions a favorite spot, The Pits, a Gay Leather bar for which he also created their first promotional image (see above).

It’s interesting that very few of your men are ever completely nude.
Yes, that’s true. I think partial nudity is much more exciting. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like the baths or nude beaches. I find it much more stimulating to let my imagination get carried away.

This IT interview was also conducted in the early years of Tom and Durk working in LA together setting up Tom of Finland Foundation, so Tom’s responses provide a glimpse into Tom’s early years in the US, as well as the formative period of the Foundation.

 

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TOM interview with Olaf Odegaard

  Now we go into the archives for an exclusive 1986 interview with Tom of Finland, conducted by Olaf Odegaard. Olaf was a friend of Tom’s whose work was shown at TOM House starting in the mid-1980s. Some of Olaf’s work was featured on the World of TOM House Tour of TOM’s Hall. In 1996,… View Article

Published: 5th March 2021

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