Billy Hill Photographed by Mark One Studio

Billy Hill was a beefcake model in the 1950's and won the title Mr. Canada in 1954.

Mark One Studio was in Montreal, Canada and took these great images.

Alan B. Stone was the man behind Mark One Studio, which he operated out of his mother's home for many years, his images appearing in several beefcake magazines across North America. Customers could also purchase collections of his photographs to be shipped directly to their homes.

In the years before Stonewall, the laws of Canada against images of nude and aroused adults mirrored quite closely those of the United States.

Billy Hill was not only one of Stone's models but a friend who helped provide mobility to the physically handicapped photographer. In 1961, Billy was inadvertently involved in a police raid on Jerry Caruso's Caruso Physical Culture Studio (also situated in Montreal), where photographs of nude adults were confiscated by the thousands.

Evidence led the police to Stone's Mark One Studio, but nothing was found at his home to bring charges against him. Nonetheless, Stone said his personal reputation was ruined, and his beefcake business slowly withered away.