Mr. International Rubber

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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. 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. Kris 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."

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.

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.

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!)

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."

Seven men were ready to vie for the title, a new stage setting laid out to make the event take place in a locker room (complete with shower), and the return of the always acerbic Kris Francis to provide bite. By the time Mr. International Rubber 2002 Yannick Kerjose came on stage to give his farewell speech, I doubt if anyone in the crowd knew who would be donning the new title, but it was Chicagoan William “Rubberwilli” Schendel who stood front and center to accept the sash at night’s end. The 2003 first runner-up John Reddy of Alexandria, Virginia and second runner-up was Elmar Koeller of Marpingen, Germany.

Willi decided from the very start to use the title as a means to bring more men into the MIR circle. “I saw IML as a venue to get to the international crowd while they’re in Chicago. A few years ago at IML I started something I called The Rubber Agenda, which is a separate set of rubber events that correspond to the IML schedule. That way rubber guys have something to do while they’re there and they don’t have to hang around the leather guys the entire time, but they can have something that’s just rubber guys. There is a play party that is in the Agenda.  I worked with Master Mike Zuhl (of International LeatherSir/Leatherboy), and hosted the first Recon party. I just tried to find as many ways as I could to meet people."

Willi also saw IML as a means to reach the international attendants that come to Chicago “The first Mr. Rubber Italia contest in 2003 happened because they had come to IML and found at there was Mister International Rubber. They said, if there was MIR they needed to send someone. I was honored to be able to judge that contest and help select the very first Mr. Rubber Italia, Andrea Pannucci.  He would compete in MIR the next year."

Since then, Willi has become one of the driving figures keeping the contest progressing forward. “Willi has traveled all over the world. He is very much into the rubber scene, he knows the people to contact and he’s a dynamite guy to work with. He just took hold of the contest and ran with it,” is how Roger views it. “My parting words to the new owners of the title were ‘It would be a good idea if you treated Rubberwilli very nicely, because he can do you a lot of good’."

A lot of changes were being made in 2003 when Mr. International Rubber 2004 was won by Las Vegas’ Chris Vincent.

Roger Hickey had decided to sell the Cell Block, and this year’s Rubber Blowout weekend was also meant to be an introduction to the two new owners. Unfortunately, the new occupants were woefully ignorant about what a fetish bar was, and basically ran the bar into a ditch. By the following April, Roger had taken the bar and contest back under his control.

While Roger, David and other bar employees had kept many records and photographs of the MIR contests, Roger was soon to discover that almost all of these documents had been destroyed in the few months in which the bar had changed ownership. While the less said the better about the two men left unnamed here, all parties interviewed for this chapter described the duo mostly in epithets.

Both runners-up this year were international contestants. Mr. Rubber Italy, Andrea Pannucci was first and David Peachey from Sydney, Australia was second.

The loss of  much of the general information about the contest led to several challenges getting things going in 2004.  “I started taking on the responsibilities for MIR in 2004," say RubberWilli. "I jumped in behind the scenes for Mr. International Rubber 2005 and worked really closely with Jeff Roscoe. He was helping the bar get back on their feet. He created the MIR website. Meanwhile, I had to come up with a new application. My goal was to get all the basic questions out of the way. When I entered the contest (in 2002), the application was one page. Now the application is three pages. We ask questions like, what are your club affiliations? What do you think is a distinguishing characteristic of rubber? It’s a little more in depth and that gives the judges a better idea of who the contestant is and where they can probe further."

On Saturday November 13, in front of over 200 cheering spectators, Frank “Bug” Buog from Otterstadt, Germany headed the first international sweep at the Mr. International Rubber 2005 Contest.   Frank was also the first man to hold the Mr RubClub title, Germany’s first ever gay men’s rubber contest. Nine men competed from all over the globe. David McLay from Montreal, Canada was first runner-up and “Rubber Matt” Matthew Grevink from Sydney, Australia was second runner-up. The expansion of contestants and contests was something that made Roger proud. “When there are contests like Mr. East Coast Rubber or West Coast Rubber, that’s when you realize that you’ve really done something. They had a series of elimination contests in Europe for a representative to send to Chicago for Mister Rubber. The man from Australia was a real coup."

The judges were Mr. International Rubber 2003 Rubberwilli (head judge), 1999 Thomas Smith, 2000 Tom Kelly, 2001 Chad McLaughlin and the Leather Journal publisher and editor Dave Rhodes. Khris Francis emceed with his spicy brand of humor which, as usual, took no prisoners.

For only the third time in the run of the contest, a new Master of Ceremonies ventured forth to host the ninth Rubber Blow-out Weekend.  Jinx Titanic played fast and loose with the crowd, getting more and more wild as the evening continued, along with ASL interpreting by Brooke MacNamara, a perrenial crowd favorite.

Michael Schneider, Mr. Rubclub 2005, was elected as Mr. International Rubber 2006, and the second German in a row to win. (And counting Christof in 1997, the third German overall.) Alan Stroik from Southern California was present as Mr. West Coast Rubber, and placed as 1st Runner-Up. Also competing were Paul Shank from Houston and Kevin Heindorf from Chicago, who stole the show with the memorable catch phrase “Fuck you like the bitch you wanna be!"

Michael is not just a rubberman, he is also a Saint…sort of. “I am a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” he informed me. “I am not a fully professed Sister, but I am a Saint. I am not Saint Michael, but I am known as Saint Phoenix. I am not allowed to do some actions on my own; I need a fully professed member beside me, either a Sister or a Goddess."

On his own, Michael used his title as a method of spread the good word about rubber across Europe. “After winning MIR, I attended several contests in the leather scene in Germany as a judge, a rubber contest in Rome, Berlin for Folsom Street Fair, gay prides in Paris, Zurich, Nuremberg, Munich, London, Europride, and Vienna for the LifeBall Charity Event benefit for HIV/AIDS.” He also has one other accolade to be known for; Michael is also passionate about sport dancing! He was the German champion 2005 in Latin formation dancing.

Judges for the contest were Mr. International Rubber 2005 Frank Buog, Laura Petriella of Vex Clothing, Bill Stadt of the International Mr. Leather organization, Tommy DeNial of RubberZone.com, and Chuck Windemuth of the Chicago Leather Kennel Club (a titleholder grooming organization). This new judging line-up was a change that Willi was aiming for. “We wanted to get out of a rut of having the previous winners always being the judges. All the previous winners were saying they wanted to relax and enjoy the contest, so we pushed to find judges that were are not previous title holder except the one stepping down. We needed to begin to cultivate and find out who are the people who are worthy or need to be judging this, you have the credentials, the experience, you know what we’re looking for, would you be our judges."

As occurred at the contest of 2003, Roger Hickey used the occasion to announce that the Cell Block would once again be changing hands and introduce a new owner. But this time, the signature belonged to an experienced leather bar owner, Frank Blondale, who had officially signed to papers on August 31, 2005. While Frank, as owner of The Detroit Eagle, had a good idea about the mores of a leather bar, the rubber contests, he told me, were new territory. “At that time, pretty much nothing and been done for the Mr. International Rubber 2006 contest. I wasn’t aware of how little had been done or how much needed to be done. Thank God RubberWilli was there and was active on the part of the contest. That was what got us through the first year. Willi knew that something was stirring and that there was going to be a sale (of the Cell Block), so as soon as Roger and I signed the papers, Willi was in touch with me."

The circumstances of that first call were unusual. “I was on my way out to judge Mr. West Coast Rubber for their first contest,” Willi recalls. “As I was on my way out, I called Frank and introduced myself. It was the first time I ever talked to him. I said ‘By the way, these guys are doing this contest that will be a feeder contest to MIR, I need your permission to give them gift certificates to send their winner to our contest. It would be good publicity.’ The first conversation I ever had with him, and I was standing on the El Platform getting ready to go to Mr. West Coast Rubber contest, asking Frank’s permission to give away gift certificates over Labor Day Weekend."

“I had not been to an MIR before. Obviously with (The Detroit Eagle)” said Frank about his newness to MIR, “my weekends are spent in Detroit. Detroit is kind of unusual in that we don’t even have a gay leather shop here. There is one leather store, but it is basically straight. As far as a rubber vendor in the Detroit area, there isn’t anything. Most guys in Detroit either go to Chicago or Toronto for leather gear."

With the ownership of both the Cell Block and the contest still in a re-organizing stage, details on and registration for the weekend were not available until around the start of October. Under the guidance of Mr. International Rubber 2003 Rubberwilli, small revisions to the format were made, judges were empanelled, and a great contest weekend went down. David Boyer, like Frank Blondale, gives Rubberwilli a lion’s share of credit for keeping the contest alive. “He took up the torch,” David says. “He was a good ambassador to begin with. After he won the title and I was still there (working for Cell Block), he was going out to these places, like a party or a club weekend, and getting people excited about being part of the whole thing."

As Mister International Rubber approached the tenth year, Frank and Rubberwilli decided to attempt to make the contest grow.  Frank began laying down ground work for expansion, starting with venue. “I had a meeting with the folks at Circuit (a club) in Chicago,” he informed me a few months ahead of the 2006 contest. “We got them settled as the contest venue for the tenth anniversary. We had a lot of discussion about having a change of venue for the contest to Circuit. I’d been listening to other people, and part of the idea is that MIR, if it is going to be seen as something besides a bar contest, needs to have a little bit of distance from the bar. We had taken a look at theaters and other places like that, and the problem is they were either too small or way too big. Ultimately what you want is slightly packed – not too many people to be uncomfortable, but more than enough people to fill it. You can’t have a 500 seat theater with 200 people or it looks like nobody came! Circuit was also accessible to the bar and the host hotel.” The expanded contest included an opening Wet Rubber Competition at the CellBlock on Saturday night, then the final contest taking place on Sunday afternoon at the Circuit Club. There were additional categories for scoring this year, including a first ever audience vote and the first appearance of the "mystery bag."

With the contest expanded to a two night show, it was Mr. Rubber Italia 2006 Maurizio flying home with the title. First runner-up was Frenchman Eric from Paris, and Canadian Frank made his appearance as the first Mr. Rubber Montreal and finished as second runner-up.  Judges for the contest were Hervé Bernard, Mr. International Drummer 1998; Roger Hickey, former owner of both the Cell Block and Mr. International Rubber; Ryan Johnson, Mr. Vulcan Rubber 1994; Fred Katz, former owner of DV8 NYC and a Zeus video actor; and Michael Schneider, Mr. International Rubber 2006.

The 2006 host was Eddie Hibbs; aka Sister Erotica Psychotica of the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. “The main reason I had Eddie come this year,” Willi explained, “was I had people saying that previous MC’s had demeaned the contest or didn't give it the respect it deserves.  I thought ‘Ok, we’re going to have a Nun!’ Nobody’s going to argue with a Nun. And Eddie’s really in the scene, knows what it’s about, understands it, has rubber gear and wears it. He was also great on stage and kept the contest moving."