Vintage Nudism: A Club Holds an Open House

With this installment we continue our visit to the ghosts of nudists past. This time, we bring you an article published in The Nudist Sunshine and Health magazine (unrelated to Australian Sun & Health)  in December, 1937, titled “Elysium Foundation Hold Second Annual Open House”. It was written by George Spray about a gathering at the club in the San Jose, California area. Here’s the article exactly as it was published three quarters of a century ago…

Everyone seemed so pleased with the first annual “Open House” that we instituted a year ago and to which we invited all West Coast nudists, including members from all of the existing nudist groups in this part of the country, that we decided to repeat the idea this year and had set upon the Labor Day week as being the most appropriate period for the undertaking. We sincerely regret that the announcement of plans for the West Coast sectional convention of the American Sunbathing Association, to be held at Soquel on Sept. 18 and 19, gave to the announcement of our “Open House” the appearance of an effort on our part to “get in head” of the national organization meeting, and the newspapers did their part in giving to the two gatherings something of the appearance of hostile competition. Let us say at the outset that nothing could be farther from the truth. We wished the gathering at Soquel the very best of success but saw no reason for giving up our own local plans which had been a long time in formation.

On Sunday, the fifth of September, the visitors began to gather and by Monday (Labor Day) we had a good crowd present with many of the West Coast groups well represented. We had a grand Bar-B-Q for all comers and the game field never saw an idle moment all day long. One incident occurred during the day that was without our knowledge though it brought a little local publicity to the Foundation. We refer to the fact that one of our members saw fit to participate in the San Francisco Labor Day parade sans clothing, except for brief swimming trunks. In order that his pro-nudist convictions might be emphasized by proper setting, he elected to march with the ladies garment workers who were all attired in natty white uniforms. The incident caused quite a rumpus and the unwanted marcher was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and disturbing the peace. Since the offender identified himself as a member of our organization, and we do not approve of any type of publicity, we were under the necessity of expelling the stunt marcher from our organization. In passing it should be noted that at the trial of the offender the Judge possessed understanding and courage enough to declare that the charge of indecent exposure could not be sustained and the defendant was dismissed under a suspended sentence for disturbing the peace. Gradually the whole business of much or little or no clothing at all will be taken for what it really is, — a point of view and in no sense a matter of morality or criminality.

The entire week was one of continuous activity from morning till night and while we did not put on any convention program of speakers and addresses, the periods of conversation and discussion of many nudist problems were replete with interest and enthusiastic participation.

Perhaps the most noteworthy section of our program was what some of the papers quite erroneously referred to as our “beauty contest.” At the time that our plans were in the making, we were approached by the manager of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce through whom the offer was made of a hall should we have need of one for any of our “nudist meet” business. At first it did not seem that any such provision was needed but as we talked over our plans it seemed possible that our plan to award a blue ribbon to the “most nearly perfect nudist” man and likewise to the “most perfect nudist” woman could appropriately be made a public event and thus bring some very favorable publicity to our nudist movement and particularly to its interest in developing attractive physiques among its members. The San Jose auditorium was therefore freely placed at our disposal, for Thursday evening, Sept 9, a splendid musical program was organized, a lecture on “The Art of Nudism” was given by the writer and a lecture on “Body Structure in Relation to Health” was presented by Dr Douglas H. Wells. Finally the awards were made to Stephen Fabian of New York and Dorothy Vetters of San Francisco, both of whom appeared on the public platform dressed in the minimum of clothing appropriate to the occasion. The hall was well filled by an appreciative audience and thus once more we had an opportunity to present the cause of nudism to a large non-nudist contingent of our local population. Out of this event there came an invitation to address the San Jose Chamber of Commerce at their next meeting on “Nudism in Ancient and Modern Life.”

The week of “Open House” did not terminate till the week-end of the 12th. During that period upwards of 200 guests and visitors had participated in one or another portion of our program. The gathering was in every way a success along the lines originally laid down — not a business session or convention of delegates, but a big, hearty gathering of nudists who wanted the broad fellowship incident to meeting many other nudists from various groups for the interchange of ideas and the participation in good fellowship and nudist sports. That it was successful along these lines is a cause of gratification to all of us and we confidently look forward to an even more successful meet of like character a year hence.

Although this was 74 years ago, one gets the feeling that the  business community in their area was very open minded, sounding much like that of  Pasco county  (FL) in our times.  As we’ve said before, the times they are a changing, but nudists, not so much!

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• New Australian Nudist Magazine
• New Brazilian Nudist Magazine
• Nude Photos Cause Political Storm in Spain
• N gets an A

Tags: elysium, magazine, Nudist Sun and Health, Soquel