Russ Warner

[1] Unlike many other prominent physique photographers of the time, Warner was heterosexual, though he was aware that gay men comprised a significant portion of the audience for his photos.

[6][a] LaLanne later attempted to buy and destroy all prints of the photo set, apparently out of concern for their homosexual connotation.

Investigators and prosecutors typically targeted physique photographers, publishers, and consumers; scholar Thomas Waugh characterizes this incident as "the most prominent case involving victimization of a model".

[9] At some point before 1951, Warner was interviewed in Washington by postal inspectors regarding his distribution of nude photographs with "inked-in" posing straps (a common practice at the time, which allowed customers to easily remove the doctored pouch to reveal the full photo).

During the early 1960s, Warner worked for Joe Weider, providing photographs for his organization's wide catalogue of magazines, which included gay-oriented posing strap titles like Tomorrow's Man and Vim, as well as titles which were seriously devoted to bodybuilding and physique culture, such as Muscle Builder and Mr.