A History of Mr. International Rubber - 1992-2001
The following history of Mr. International Rubber is by fetish author Tim Brough. It is part of his book "Skin Tight" which is devoted to the rubber fetish world. Tim is a prolific writer in the fetish community, and has served as a judge for several of the MIR competitions in the past. As such, he brings first hand experience and knowledge to his writing and we appreciate that he has shared his MIR history for the 10th Anniversary Celebrations!
In 2006, The Mister International Rubber competition will have celebrated its tenth anniversary in Chicago, its host city since its inception. But the roots of that contest go back to 1992.
1992
In 1992, the Boston Leather Knights presented the late John Ferrari with the title of Mr. Vulcan 1993. John was a founder of National Leather Association San Francisco and a charter member of AVATAR Los Angeles. He was also a member of Chicago Hellfire Club, New World Rubbermen and Rainbow MC. John organized the Leather Community Relief Fund to aid those who suffered major damage during San Francisco’s 1989 earthquake.
1993
The following year, on March 12, 1993, Ryan Johnson traveled from Chicago to take the title from a panel of judges that included John, Peter “Rubber Bear” Tolos, Rick Price, Wayne Goguen, John Paul, Jeff Zirpolo, and John Pendergrast. The Master of Ceremonies for the contest was Michael Smith. There were six contestants for that contest, and a prize package worth $1200.
1994-1995
But then the Mr. Vulcan contest hit a dry patch. Ryan’s title as Mr. Vulcan ‘94 extended to ‘95 and ‘96. It was in that year that Ryan and the Boston Leather Knights teamed with the newly formed Men Of Rubber in Chicago and the Cell Block bar to move the contest to the windy city. According to Ryan, “I feared the MVR title was going to fade into just a memory, which was pretty depressing. I promoted the title for nearly three years to keep it alive and relevant, making presentations in New York for the 1994 25th anniversary celebration of Stonewall, several Living in Leather weekends, MAL - even in the leather column I authored for the Windy City Times. Walking away just wasn’t an option. So, I approached the Leather Knights about moving the contest to Chicago, rather than wait for who knows how many years for it to be held in Boston again. Club leadership felt it could be a possibility if a venue could be found and a group to sponsor it. Rich Brooks and I were chatting one night, and the thought of Men of Rubber sponsoring the contest came to us almost simultaneously. Rich approached Cell Block, and (Cell Block owner) Roger Hickey quickly said yes. When I presented the idea to the Leather Knights, they gave their blessing. Regardless, Rich and I were thrilled. Rich worked on the details with Cell Block and advertising and graphics for the event, while I looked for judges, recruited contestants, and sold advertising space in the program book. It should also be noted that the contest was a fund-raiser for three Chicago AIDS-related charities.”
When it came time to bring in people for the first contest, Cell Block manager David Boyer spread his search far and wide. “We looked around at who was in touch with the rubber community, and there was Rubber Rebel. We figured, we should have this guy because he’s in on the scene. If you’re going to do a leather contest, there are a lot of guys to pick from for that. But if you’re going to have a rubber contest, you’re going to want it judged by guys who are into rubber or by guys who have contact with rubber. How could this panel of judges decide which is the best rubberman in the crowd if they weren’t rubbermen themselves? There just weren’t many people we knew to approach to be judges authoritatively. It was nice when we got to the point where we had enough contests that we could have a panel of judges and they were all our previous contest winners. Bill Bailey (of New World Rubbermen) and his partner David were always fun to work with, as judges."
1996
In November of 1996, the first Rubber Blowout Weekend was initiated and Rich Villagracia became the third Mr. Vulcan. Rich had become friends with Ryan several years before entering the contest, claiming that his early defining moment as a Rubberist came from “seeing Ryan at the ‘94 Folsom Street Fair, being with friends and seeing him on the street in full rubber. Seeing him and going, oh wow.” When asked if he would be holding the title for multiple years as Ryan did, Rich laughed and replied “No, one year, definitely one year.”
Ironically, Rich has held the title ever since, as the following November initiated the start of the Mister International Rubber competitions, but Roger believes Rich was crucial in the early years as an ambassador for the Cell Block’s rubber weekends. “For years, Rich was our number one spokesman all around the world. Because he worked for an airline, he was able to visit many places and he made sure that he hyped up the contest and the rubber scene in the United States.”
There was also a hostess for the first and only time in the contest, comedienne Carolynne Warren. David found her to be a great host. “She was pretty hilarious. She did a lot of little take offs or rubber items. She reached under her dress and pulled out a rubber chicken. She made these great jokes, she was hysterical.” After that, though, comedian Khris Francis became a regular fixture for the coming decade.
1997
Negotiations with the Boston Leather Knights to transfer the title to Chicago did not bear fruit. At that time, Roger and David decided to forge ahead with their own contest and title. When it came time for the name change, Roger noted “We were going to call it International Mister Rubber, but we did not want a conflict with IML. The Powers That Be at International Mr. Leather thought that we’d be pushing it a little bit by calling in IMR. So we turned it around a little bit and everyone was happy with that.” Renaming the event Mister International Rubber in 1997, the first weekend at the Cell Block set the blue-print for Rubber Blowout Weekends to come. Play parties, Rubber Brunch at Buddy’s (and later, the Kit Kat), and a swap meet. “David originally brought the Rubber Blowout Weekend concept to the table. He felt that we could combine it with several other activities, similar to what IML does. Then maybe do it a little bit better on a much smaller scale. That’s where we put together the idea for the Rubber Buddies Brunch , which is held at Buddy’s Restaurant, do the prejudging before the contest, and put on the contest with good entertainment and a good MC. (Bar Manager at that time) Patti Brown was a big name in the sash circuit. So a lot of the good advice we got on how to run a contest came from him.”
Rubber Blowout Weekend 1997 was not without some conflict, however. Across town at Man’s Country that year, International Mister Leather sponsored a Mister World Rubber contest on Sunday the eighth; the day after the first Mr. International Rubber contest took place at the Cell Block Saturday the seventh. Keith Waltrip went home that year with the one and only Mister World Rubber sash, and Christof Lerner became the first Mister International Rubber. The MIR ‘98 first runner up that year was Walt Waskawicz and second runner up was Michael Vayinger. Christof, a native German, was calling Lexington, KY home at the time. David Boyer remembers Christof as one of the bigger surprise winners of the MIR history, because “Christof was in Chicago for the weekend and we actually talked him into entering the contest. We were like ‘Be in the contest…who knows, you might win. You’re here, you might as well enter…’ as opposed to having a couple of guys already with their gear and ready to go.”
Keith Waltrip, like many rubbermen coming into their fetish in the 80’s, credited seeing fellow Chicagoan Ryan Johnson as an initial inspiration to engage in rubber as a fetish. When interviewed for Vulcan America’s third issue (at IML 20), he stated that seeing Ryan “at the Chicago Eagle, when he was encased in black rubber…I just couldn’t stop touching him!” Mister World Rubber was quietly tabled after that one year.
1998
In 1998, the irony of Thomas Smith accepting his sash from Christof was in the fact that the title would not be venturing all that far. Like Christof, Thomas was a citizen of Lexington Ky. Or at least, a close association. “In fact, I lived in Minneapolis, Minnessota” Thomas informed me. “I had a close connection to Lexington, Kentucky since I had been Mr. Kentucky Leather 1997 and resided part-time in Lexington, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota.” First runner-up that year was Michael Ryan from Cincinnati, Ohio and second was Stephen Kruase from Munich, Germany. Scott from Sludgemaster was on hand that year, and his infamous videos were played to the delight of those in attendance.
This was also the first year that the contest included a live onstage “shower scene” as part of the competition. Inspiration for the shower came from David Boyer. He recalls, “The first year we did the contest as Mr. Vulcan Rubber, we required contestants to perform a fantasy scene. Nobody wanted to do that. They were like ‘I want to be in the contest but I don’t want to play out a fantasy onstage.’ So we nixed that, realizing that other contests were going at the time, what could we put in the show that would be entertaining and people could play around with have some fun, and get a little sexual without being a fantasy set-up? That was when I thought, how about if we hose them down. The biggest complication at that time was we were talking about running water on a floor that isn’t a bathroom, where there’s no floor drain. So how do we build something that retains water until we can get it out of there? The first year we started, we built a water tower, and had them stand under the tower. The emcee would have turn a little knob on the back of the tower that would start the water running. It got pretty wet and sloppy, but it was a lot of fun.”
When interviewed by Dave Rhodes of the Leather Journal, Thomas had strong thoughts on the contest and its future. He said to Dave “I have traveled to London, Amsterdam, Australia and across the country; I have observed a large interest in the rubber fetish. If you look at the Rubber Lover’s Chat List or the Rubbermen web sites, it is clear that there are lots of rubbermen.” Rubber Blowout Weekend prepared to march into the next millennium
1999
“Can you believe we’re alive to say this? MISTER INTERNATIONAL RUBBER 2000!”
It was with those words that Comedian (and regular Rubber Blowout Weekend MC) Khris Francis introduced the winner of the next year’s title, Tom Kelley. The first runner-up was Bruce “BD” Chambers and second was Jim Drew.
In just one year, the growth of the rubber scene was evident; from the demos to the preparedness and desires of this year’s five contestants to the expanded Saturday swap meet and vendor fair. This was also the year the Mister International Rubber went webwide, with a live webcast of the contest via the Rubbermen.com site.
Mother Nature was at her most co-operative that year. The weather was so mild that many in attendance shunned cabs and jackets to walk in the warm Indian Summer like conditions. With the weekend’s temperatures rarely falling lower than the 50’s during the day, and nary a drop of rain (or winter snowflake) in sight, a few of the package ticket holders arrived for the regular Buddies Saturday brunch in T-shirts!
There was plenty of hot rubber in every variety. Sexy stylish suits mingled with men in full hardcore gear. There was a liquid latex demo covering the bodies of the curious, giving the Cell Block a delicious smell of rubber from the moment the lights opened on the contest. The panel of judges was composed of Mr. International Rubber 1999 Thomas Smith, Mr. Vulcan Rubber 1997 Rich Villagracia, NWRM founder Bill Bailey, Leather Journal Editor Dave Rhodes, and myself.
2000
The following November, when I boarded my flight to Chicago On November 10th, 2000, I was taking a seat as a run of the mill tourist, prepared for a weekend of rubbery fun and maybe some debauchery. I was attending this year’s Mister International Rubber contest as a citizen and not as a judge, since one of the attractions of the fifth anniversary of the Rubber Blowout Weekend that year was to have four of the five previous winners returning as judges.
So imagine my surprise when, as I entered the Friday Night Welcoming Party at the CellBlock, Manager David Boyer met me at the door with a big cheery welcome and then proceeded to ask me “How would you like to party on us?” It seemed that Mr. Vulcan Rubber 1997 Rich Villagracia had been called off to work at the very last minute and a stand in judge was required...and so for the fourth time I was being seated as a contest judge. Not that I objected! The judging panel for the year’s contest included the remaining rubber titleholders selected from the first four contests. Joining me was Mr. International Rubber 2000 Tom Kelley; Thomas Smith, Mr. International Rubber 1999; Christof Lehner, Mr. International Rubber 1998 and rounding out the judges’ panel was Dave Rhodes, Publisher of the Leather Journal.
This was, without exaggeration, CellBlock’s biggest Rubber Blow Out weekend yet. The biggest crowd of attendees, the largest turnout for contestants, the hottest swap meet and vendor area...you couldn’t help but get excited by all the rubber contact to be made that year. When returning host (fresh from a Lake Tahoe gig) Khris Francis began his evil comedic rants for the third year, and the final judgment turned the title over to this year’s winner Chad McLaughlin, you just couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement. Tommy DeNail was first runner-up, and Jim Drew, second for the second year in a row.
2001
The contest hit several new highs this year, the most important being that this year’s winner was truly the first International Mr. International Rubberman, as he traveled all the way from Paris to Chicago. Yannick Kerjose boarded the plane back to France with the 2002 Mr. International Rubber sash in his luggage. Second place contestant Jeff Detweiler hailed from Seattle and Californian James Miller was the final runner-up from a field of seven.
There was the usual sea of friendly faces uniting for what had become many for us, a regular autumn pilgrimage to the Cell Block bar. There were a couple of new faces on the judge’s table as well. Durk Dehner of the Tom Of Finland foundation, and Bob Maddox, the founder of Male Hide Leathers of Chicago, joined this year to sort through the field of applicants. We had a new host this year, as well. Jeff Roscoe added a welcome different touch to his guest emcee duties, including his skills as a singer and songwriter. (And his fabulous flippers!)
I have to say personally that the moment I knew we had a winner on our hands (from an audience point of view) was when Yannick came out during the wet rubber competition, with his boot pre-filled with water and dancing sensually for the crowd. Up till then I really felt everyone was running neck to neck. But everyone had their special moments...especially “Uncle Dick” from Ohio, whose fantasy description was a standout!
There was another standout moment that had nothing to do with the competition. Michel-Jean Roupert, the publisher of France’s rubber magazine PlanK, made an impassioned speech abut the feeling his French brethren have towards the citizens of the United States after the events of September 11, 2001, and then presented the Leather Archives and Museum with a complete set of PlanK magazines, courtesy of the M.E.C. (Mecs en Caoutchouc - Men In Rubber) rubber club. It was a spine tingling moment, and when Yannick was announced the winner at the closing of the contest; you could feel the pride in the room.
An important aspect to having a winner from overseas is that we could claim as fact the Mr. International Rubber was now an even more broad based competition. With Yannick being able to get to more of Europe than any winner before, the opportunity for other rubbermen to become aware of the competition increased the opportunities for more rubbermen to visit and build upon what the Cell Block and its staff and management had been supporting since 1997. Roger viewed Yannick’s win as a turning point in legitimizing MIR. “When Yannick won,” he explains, “I was very glad about that. I wanted it to be a legitimate title and not just a bar title.”
A History of Mr. International Rubber continues for the years 2002-2006.
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