Edward D. Wood (1924–1978)

If you take away the preachy beginning and (especially) ending, this is a pretty entertaining story of a group of high school girls who rob service stations and commit other violent acts. Most of the acting isn't too bad for this sort of thing, but the actor playing the judge--who has 378 IMDB credits to his name!--is just awful. And he lived and continued to act more than 20 years after this, so it isn't as if he were on his deathbed. Perhaps he was just depressed by the awful dialogue he was given. Written by the immortal Ed Wood, and it has all the hallmarks of his "best" work, including narration and preachy lecturing.… (plus d'informations)

review of
Ed Wood, Jr.'s Death of a Transvestite
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 25-26, 2019



WARNING: SOME QUOTES FROM THIS BOOK ARE EXPLICITLY VIOLENT IN WAYS THAT MIGHT BE TRAUMATIZING TO UNWORLDLY PEOPLE.

This is the sequel to Wood's Killer in Drag ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2688068842 ). The main character is a hit-(wo)man who dresses in drag both for the pleasure of it & for the surprise element in the killings. His/her name is Glen/da, as in Wood's movie Glen or Glenda. In Killer in Drag, Glen/da has tried to retire from the killer business but the police are after her/him for a murder s/he didn't commit. Death of a Transvestite begins w/ Glen/da on Death Row a few hrs before the impending execution. Glen/da asks for clothes to enable his/her death to happen in drag. In exchange, Glen/da offers to tell the hitherto hidden story of the fleeing & other circumstances that've climaxed in the eventual arrest & trial. The bk provides different POV (Point-Of-View) narratives that piece the whole story together — including that of the hit transvestite sent by the syndicate after Glen/da. There's not really any attempt to make these narratives in plausible voicings but I didn't find that this lack of realism effected the plot flow much — it was more of a glaring writing error. As w/ Wood's movies, suspension of disbelief isn't likely, but, unlike w/ Wood's films, it's not as distracting.

"We entered Glen Marker's cell, a bleak, cold arrangement of bars and solid cement, at seven-thirty p.m. It wasn't a pleasure visit, and even as we entered the cell Glen could be seen visibly shaken by the finality of our presence.

"The same situation hadn't happened in several years—that a man was to be executed in the State electric chair in our eastern city." - p 7

""A year ago I was so shot up it was a miracle anybody could put me back together again. All that patching just so I'd live to see the inside of your little green room. Wouldn't it have been better, and less expensive, to let me pass out of the scene while I was blacked out and going fast? All these doctors, the hospitals, the cops and courts, the extradition across the country . . . seems to me everything could have been so much more simple the other way."" - p 8

That got me to wondering: Are Execution Chambers generally green? I imagine a pale green. I found a picture online of one in Louisiana & it's off-white. I cd make a joke about offing whites but I won't. Instead, I'll ask: Are they following Rudolph Steiner's color symbolism? According to one website:

"‘Image of Life’ (Nature Plant Life). The Color of ‘Perfect Repose’. It’s effect is healing both for the mind and body. Green is the polar opposites neutralized. It neither advances nor retreats. In its blackened, negative form Green connotes extreme lethargy – an almost pathological stasis. Envy – jealousy." - http://www.baliartclasses.com/rudolf-steiner-colour-theory.html

""Is it true, after I'm strapped in and hooded—the second before you pull the switch— one of your men will smash my testicles?"" - p 9

Of course not, silly. After you're cooked the testicles are removed & flown by the fastest possible method to a secret meeting of shadow government people where they're eaten as dessert along w/ other similar delicacies. After they say Grace.

This & Killer in Drag are NOT Happy Ending bks. Lighten up, Ed.

"["]The foremost thought in any honest transvestite's mind is to die in female attire."

"My eyes flashed to the guards then back to Glen as he continued. "And to be buried in such clothes. That's my last request, Warden.["]" - p 14

Was Ed Wood, Jr. cremated in drag?

"We take exceptional notice of the fact that, on the tape, when Glen talks of Glenda he speaks of her in second person, but when he refers to Glen it is always with the first person I." - p 17

Wd Glen/da have survived in today's pronoun-obsessed world?

The majority of the novel is a 'reconstruction' along the lines of a flashback.

We all know about Mac & Cheese. How wd you feel if you went to your favorite bar only to learn that you cd no longer order Mac & Cheese there?

"So" [Cheese] "& Mac were dead. Glenda had been a Syndicate killer, but she held respect for the real law enforcement officers—after all, they had a job to do the same as Glenda did her job. But when a cop turned rotten, it turned her stomach." [Cheese] "and Mac were rotten to the core. Let them rot in hell. The world was better off without them... the bastards! Let them rot in HELL! Yet they'd probably go down in history as heroes, and be buried with all policemen's honors. And the ever-lovin' taxpayers would undoubtedly get stuck with paying somebody a persion for them for life. It's always happened that way. An honest guy gets kicked in the teeth and a rat gets fat. Glenda vowed to herself that she would write a letter, anonymous of course, divulging their true characters." - p 26

Glen/da starts hallucinating Mac & Cheese in pink satin panties, Mac & Cheese w/ a nightie on, Mac & Cheese w/ falsies. No wonder the bar stopped selling it, for some people it's worse than absinthe. After all, a Rose is a Rose is a prostitute named Red remembering sex w/ Glen/da, 2 professionals clinching the deal.

"His tongue found her breasts. One nipple then the other, back and forth with the suction of a windshield wiper in a heavy rainstorm. His tongue, his ever-pleasing hot tongue, found her navel. then the inside of her thighs. It was too much... this one really knew what he was doing." - p 35

I wonder where the rest of Glen/da's body was while her/his tongue was on its exploratory mission. If Glen/da doesn't watch out that tongue's going to become irretrievably lost in the dark interior. Imagine this scene done by Svankmajer. Ah, Rose, poor sweet Rose. Of course that maniac Ed Wood, Jr., has to kill her off in a horrible way. I can see the following scene in a film noir. Wood wood've never pulled it off.

""Did he say where he was going?"

""Yes."

"Barbara forced a smile as she turned back to face Rose. "Where was it?"" - p 42

The audience knows that Rose & Glen/da are going to be betrayed to the syndicate but Rose doesn't know. They stare transfixed in horror & dismay. The black & white is so sharp, the lighting so dramatic. Get out of there Rose! But she doesn't. & then the film goes color, blood RED.

"The red outfit—her red outfit. It could hasten all his plans. He didn't like Hollywood. He didn't like anything about it: the complete hassle to get out of the airport area; the stupid, even crazy drivers on the freeways; the accidents he witnessed even in his short duration on them. At least on the tollways in New York, the people had to stop their cars every so often to pay the toll fees. It kept them in line, kept their speed down. But that Sepulveda Freeway which eventually led to the Hollywood Freeway—that was too much!" - p 47

Isn't it bad enough that those corrupt contractors are always pretending to be working on those speedways when they're not really?! Do we also have to have toll roads just b/c the hit men have pet peeves?! The killer walked on down the hall.. & stamped his darling little high-heeled foot & demanded that something be done about those freeways!

The narrative's constructed as if from a variety of sources but little or no attempt is made to have the voices of these sources be realistic. Hence, "GLEN MARKER'S CONFESSION—TAPE" doesn't really seem like someone talking about their life in a Death Row cell shortly before they're executed. It's too literary, there's nothing speech-like about it:

"I turned my road-stained convertible onto the Hollywood Freeway as I criss-crossed off the San Bernardino Freeway. A long time before, early that morning just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, Glenda had shed her white angora sweater and the blue velvet skirt for my brown suit, white shirt and brown tie.

"The Los Angeles green-gray smog with its light rotten-egg smell gtreeted my sense of smell just after I had left San Bernardino, and by the time I reached Pomona it had further become an eye-stinging mess. A sudden spring heat-wave mixed with the fact of practically no rain and not the slightest breeze, kept the lung-choking smog in thick clouds." - p 50

Still, as I noted earlier, this lack of versimilitude didn't really bother me, the story still moves along.

The 2nd killer-in-drag, the one sent by the Syndicate to find & kill Glen/da, has their early homicidal history disclosed in ostensible diary form:

"However, as he raped this unconscious girl, something did pierce his skin. It was a feeling, a strange sensation which he paused in his action to analyse. Then he knew what it was. The girl wore a fuzzy, brushed wool sweater which was buttoned up the front. It seemed to move against his skin with a sexual stimulation he had never experienced before. To be sure, very sure, he let his hands slowly caress the softness of the garment to the point where her breasts stretched the wool so invitingly. Then he was sure. The electricity of the sensation shot through to his groin. He could hardly contain himself as his nervous, shaking hands unbuttoned the fur-like sweater and took it from her body. Just as shakily he put it slowly onto his own body and the ecstasy of the moment as he buttoned it up caught a craving within him so intense he nearly exploded before he could get back with the girl and complete his climax the way he always had before. She died with her throat cut, but it was the start of a collection for the Killer." - p 60

Meanwhile, back at the ranch dressing, Glen has gone to the home of a woman for sex. When she discovers that he has on women's underclothing she concludes that he's gay & gets frustrated by having her sexual fantasy go awry:

"She waved her hands in frustration as she walked back to her bar and poured another straight shot. "All night I thought about you. I've had it with guys like last night. I sure expected something out of you." She laughed. "And there you stand in your panties. Man oh man, am I about ready for the rubber room at the happy farm!"" - p 116

That, too, is presented as from the CONFESSION TAPE. The equally implausible language of the continuation of this is credited to the woman he then has sex w/:

"L.A. POLICE INTERVIEW #999—CYNTHIA HARLAND

"Glenda reached up to pull her head down again, but the kiss was short-lived. Cynthia put her arm around Glenda's waist and led her into the bedroom where, a moment later, she had adjusted a blonde wig to Glenda's head then stood back breathing in eager anticipation.

"No matter what Glenda looked like in drag, she was strong." - p 121

Back to Glen's POV:

"The girl weaved slowly on the bed like a snake in heat, with little moaning sounds coming from her lips. They were both tired from the first jousting, but not so tired that the sensations of renewed life were not forthcoming." - p 124

I'm particularly fond of the phrase "The girl weaved slowly on the bed like a snake in heat".

"When a female snake is ready to mate, she begins to release a special scent (pheromones) from skin glands on her back. As she goes about her daily routine, she leaves an odor trail as she pushes off resistance points on the ground (See Getting Around). If a sexually mature male catches her scent, he will follow her trail until he finds her. The male snake begins to court the female by bumping his chin on the back of her head and crawling over her. When she is willing, she raises her tail. At that point, he wraps his tail around hers so the bottoms of their tails meet at the cloaca -- the exit point for waste and reproductive fluid. The male inserts his two sex organs, the hemipenes, which then extend and release sperm. Snake sex usually takes under an hour, but it can last as long as a whole day." - https://animals.howstuffworks.com/snakes/snake5.htm

It's probably realistic to say that Glen/da followed Cynthia's snake-like pheremone trail to her home.

This bk was originally published in 1967. I don't know how much earlier than that it was written. Wood's still referring to countercultural people as "beatniks" so, apparently, the word "hippie" hadn't caught on for him yet.

"Dirty clothes. Long hair. Sweaters that even the Salvation Army wouldn't accept."

[..]

""This LSD craze is going to cause us a lot of trouble. It's going to put a lot of those kids in the cemetery."" - p 128

"["]There is much more to it than a few pushers trying to get the kids hooked. Most of those kids don't have the cash for their espresso, let alone lay out the kind of cash the stuff costs."" - p 129

Squaresville, Daddio. I wdn't describe anyone selling LSD as a "pusher". Also, LSD was very cheap back in the day. I have no idea what it costs now. Prices get inflated when legal penalties become Draconian & people dealing LSD are taking ridiculous risks of long-term imprisonment for promoting consciousness expansion. Anyone in prison for selling LSD shd be released immediately & given a pension.

A subplot of Death of a Transvestite is that the Sunset Strip is being infiltrated by LSD-fueled riot-hungry beatniks. Here's the 'police perspective':

""You have a sap?"

""Lined in along the back of my belt."

""Get it clear. Put it in your side pocket where you can get at it mighty damned quick. You might have to crack some skulls before they can crack yours." His eyes narrowed as he looked across the street to another bunch who were ambling around the corner of Laurel Canyon to enter upon the Sunset Strip. "Those are pros. They know what it's all about. When things start it's not going to be easy." Terry looked ahead to the almost bumper to bumper traffic. "Another smart move. They're moving in the heavy line of defense; the vehicle traffic, bumper to bumper so out boys can't get their squad cars through in a hurry."" - p 149

I'd call that a rather paranoid perspective.

I think that the 2 Wood novels I've read so far have 'their place in literary history' — by wch I mean that they have enuf distinguishing characteristics to make them not utter pot-boilers. I wdn't really recommend them but I wdn't write them off either. He's reputed to've written "at least 80 lurid crime and sex novels in addition to hundreds of short stories and non-fiction pieces for magazines and daily newspapers. Thirty-two stories known to be written by Wood (he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms such as "Ann Gora" and "Dr. T.K. Peters") are collected in Blood Splatters Quickly, published by OR Books in 2014." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood#Books_and_novels ) I'd be interested in a collection of everything he wrote for magazines and newspapers — esp anything that gets away from his drag obsession. I've got nothing against drag but other people's obsessions aren't nearly as fun for the reader (at least not for me) as they are for the obsessed person writing them.… (plus d'informations)

review of
Ed Wood, Jr.'s Killer in Drag
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 24, 2019

I've never really shared the tendency of people to love Ed Wood as 'the worst filmmaker in the world'. I've never found Plan 9 from Outer Space enjoyable even as camp. I liked Glen or Glenda partially because it's such an odd mixture of materials but the soundtrack, at least in the version I witnessed, is garbled to the point of being unintelligible in parts. I've witnessed Jail Bait but I don't even remember that one. Tim Burton's Ed Wood fueled my appreciation for him but I still never liked the movies much. I've even seen some of the soft porn. I can relate to the work as wacky low-budget stuff but, well, it's too bad he wasn't alive in the era of affordable video production, maybe he cd've pulled it off better now.

ANYWAY, I got a copy of Killer in Drag 1st, wondering if I might like his novels more, & then a copy of Death of a Transvestite. I started reading the latter 1st but when I realized that it was the sequel to the former I switched to that being 1st. I didn't have high expectations. As it turned out, I've found the novels to be much more competently created than the movies. Comparisons to Jim Thompson might be in order. Both of these novels turned into one movie made w/ a reasonable budget wd even stand a chance of being popular. I wdn't want to do it but I'm sure there're plenty out there who wd. What about Todd Haynes?

The thing is, this novel is GRIM. Almost unbearably so (for this reader). I've always had the impression that as a filmmaker Wood was probably fun to work w/. Wood's 'career' as a director started transforming from attempts at 'mainstream' work to more pornographic material in the 1960s. Killer in Drag was 1st published in 1965. It's easy to imagine it being written by a bitter alcoholic frustrated by his 'lack of success' in movies. The drag details are obviously autobiographical, esp the emphasis on hetero-drag.

"He picked up the gun affectionately and slipped it smoothly into the pocket of the garment he was wearing. That garment was a fluffy, floor length, pink marabou negligee. Calmly, then, he made his way to the bedroom.

"Mona, beautiful blonde Mona, sat on the edge of a rumpled king-sized bed waiting for him. She wore only a filmy nylon bed jacket which left nothing underneath to the imagination. Her eyes watched every move Glen made as he walked to a vanity table and removed his marabou negligee revealing beneath a pink satin, black lace trimmed nightgown." - p 8

People familiar w/ Wood know that he loved dressing in drag &, in particular, wearing angora sweaters. "In Wood's 1992 biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr., Wood's wife Kathy recalls that Wood told her that his mother dressed him in girls' clothing as a child. Kathy stated that Wood's transvestism was not a sexual inclination, but rather a neomaternal comfort derived mainly from angora fabric (angora is featured in many of Wood's films). Even in his later years, Wood was not shy about going out in public dressed in drag as Shirley, his female alter ego (who also appeared in many of his screenplays and stories)." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood#Cross-dressing ) I've dressed in drag but never w/ the intention of being seen as a woman. Check out "Gender Fuck Party (closet film)" (1980, Ricki DellAmerica - https://youtu.be/sXQ_CVS_5_8 ) in which I appear in a dress. My own feelings about so-called 'cross-dressing' is that people shd wear whatever clothes they want to regardless of what sex those clothes are ordinarily associated w/. Even in today's considerably more 'queer-friendly' world, a man in drag is not likely to be well-rc'vd in most places. In Wood's time, things were much more intolerant.

"In 1953 Wood wrote and directed the exploitation semi-documentary film Glen or Glenda (originally titled I Changed My Sex!) with producer George Weiss. The film starred Wood (under the alias "Daniel Davis"), his girlfriend Dolores Fuller, and Lugosi (in voiceover) as the god-like narrator. The film, loosely based on transgender woman Christine Jorgensen, was panned by critics (then and now), and considered one of Wood's worst films, though many others have praised its camp qualities. It is notable for its emphatic and groundbreaking portrayal of LGBT issues at a time when the media was very hostile to such ideas." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood#Glen_or_Glenda

&, Lo & Behold!, Glen & Glenda are the names of the main character, a cross-dressing hit (wo)man.

""Open it—If you try for a gun I'll see you go out the hard way. Right in the belly where it'll hurt—where it'll take you a long time to die."" - p 21

That's at least the 2nd time recently that I've come across the notion of shooting people in the stomach to make them suffer horribly while dying slowly. Is that some sort of rc'vd wisdom in this culture?

Glenda wants to retire from the Syndicate, that's a no-no.

"The syndicate had a long arm, but after the operation which would make Glenda a real girl, she could well disappear forever from their grasp." - p 25

There's some confusion in the bk about wch way Glen/da's sexual preferences run but basically it's heterosexual. How this heterosexuality was to be experienced after having the penis removed is a bit unclear. Life is complicated.

In keeping w/ Wood's own cross-dressing preferences much of Killer in Drag & Death of a Transvestite centers around the clothes. "A matching black velvet belt with a rhinestone buckle embraced tightly to her twenty-two inch waist line". (p 26) Wch will kill Glen/da 1st?: a syndicate killer or complications from cinching in the waist too far?! Wood's characters are definitely concerned w/ being sexy women.

"The bellboys eyes lighted up suddenly. "Yeah," he replied dreamily. "It was summer—She was wearing pink slacks and a pink sweater. Not one of them fuzzy kind like she's got on now—but a tight one; showed just about everything she had. I'll never forget that sight if I live to be a thousand. Let me tell you. That set of titties she's got sure does stretch the wool—and the imagination—WHOW."" - p 28

In keeping w/ Glen/da's sexual ambiguity, even though Glen/da's lust for & sexual skill w/ women is emphasized, as a career move away from being a killer s/he goes to a rich gay man's place to sexually please him for the advancement connections that'll result.

"Glenda slid softly into the bed beside the old man. Immediately he was at Glenda. She felt his hot breath on her neck; her ears; her throat; her hair. He wiggled. He squirmed. Sweat poured from his sex hungry body. He moaned words of endearment. Words of love; of forever worship. His hand suddenly lashed out and tore the right shoulder strap from Glenda's nightie. Then the left tore the other strap. The foam rubber breasts that made many women green with jealousy, rolled from her flat chest to lose themselves in the fast becoming wrinkled sheets and blankets. Dalten Van Carter's tongue searched the small boyish nipples of her breasts as his feverish hands pushed away the pink mist." - pp 37-38

But then the party pooper came in.

"The little Negro boy who had helped him escape was also dead. Murdered! The only one. other than the murderer, who knew that Glenda had not killed Van Carter." - p 52

Of course, Glenda's fooling those heterosexual men does have a tendency to bring out the beast. But Glenda has a way of dealing w/ wd-be rapists.

"Glenda came out from behind the brush just enough for him to see the lovely body still partially hidden in the tight pink panties and brassiere. Her long auburn hair fell so wonderfully over her white shoulders. Charlie stared out of the car window. Glenda unsnapped the brassiere and turned her back at the same time. With her back to him she let the brassiere fall to the brush. She cupped her hands over her flat boyish nipples feigning full breasts, and turned to him again.

""You can come over now, honey . . ." she cooed." - p 63

Glen/da falls on hard times as s/he tries to evade the police & the syndicate. S/he's looked upon w/ suspicion in a small town along the way.

""What in the world is a 'Green River' law?"

""A kinda law that keeps them door to door sales guys off our backs. They hit this town like a swarm of locust a few years back. Made deals on a lot of things: magazines; pills; face soap that takes out wrinkles; miracle seeds; any kind of gimmick thing. Sure! Nobody sees them, the cash and most of all the folks never see what they bought. Course—Lots of them sales folks is honest hard working citizens. But because of the bad ones, everybody's gotta suffer."" - pp 76-77

Yes, the same person who wrote such monologues as "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" for Plan 9 from Outer Space wrote the above. Too bad Wood didn't start as a writer & then become a filmmaker.

"A Green River Ordinance is a common United States city ordinance prohibiting door-to-door solicitation. Under such an ordinance, it is illegal for any business to sell their items door-to-door without express prior permission from the household. Some versions prohibit all organizations, including non-profit charitable, political, and religious groups, from soliciting or canvassing any household that makes it clear, in writing, that it does not want such solicitations (generally with a "No Trespassing" or "No Solicitations" sign posted).

"The ordinance is named for the city of Green River, Wyoming, which in 1931 was the first city to enact it. The ordinance was unsuccessfully challenged on constitutional grounds by the Fuller Brush Company in 1932." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_River_Ordinance

Our anti-hero decides to invest his killer money in buying a carnival, partially to comouflage himself from the local law. This turns out to be a bad idea. It's funny seeing the hardened killer in drag get bilked.

"That did it. Bill Greater burned. "Maybe you think you'd like to take over the whole show?"

""Maybe I would at that," Glen spit back quickly.

"Bill Greater's mind clicked fast. The whole shebang wasn't worth five thousand bucks. It had been a bad season all the way. The insurance company wouldn't renew his insurance on several of the rides because of their condition and he wasn't about to throw good money after bad by fixing them up." - p 89

Again, I emphasize that Wood wasn't anywhere near as inept a writer as he was a filmmaker. Consider this passage re Glen/da surveying his/her new domain.

"A Hindu spread out on nails. The Fire Eater; and an extra large poster of the Half-Man, Half-Woman, blow off attraction.

"Noises of every description resounded throughout the entire area and it was into this fantastic scene Glen walked from his new office.

"His eyes marveled at the speed and accuracy with which the work was accomplished. Each man knowing his job and doing it with the precision only experience could teach." - p 93

"Shirlee's voice became whiskey thick. "Meet old Doc Henry yet?"

"This time she waited for an answer. Glen slowly spoke. "No, I haven't."

""You will. But even as young as you are—you're too old for him. He likes young boys. Ten. Twelve. Thirteen. He's a son of a bitchin' bastard creep. You ain't gonna find anybody around here that likes that son of a bitchin' creep. It's his son of a bitchin' creep kind that makes a bad name for everybody who is a—little—different."" - pp 100-101

Glen goes home with a prostitute. He's more excited by her clothes than he is by her (but that changes).

"Glen nearly drooled at the red satin, knee length cocktail dress she had been wearing beneath the rain coat. Even her drop earrings, necklace and bracelet were of a red glass. She leaned over to open the bottle and pour the whiskey into both glasses.

""Bet you even wear red undies." Glen had a warm smile on his face." - p 121

One of the things that makes this bk so grim is that even the sympahetic characters undergo horrible experiences. I won't spoil that plot by specifiying. All in all, Wood's vision of humanity is pretty sad.

""Ah—too damned fat. Maybe if I shave." Pause. "What the hell can a shave do for a kisser like mine. Kisser? Huh! It ain't been even kissed in five years. That old battle ax of mine—Huh! Who needs that fat slob anyway." A vision of he and his wife in bed crossed his mind's eye and all he could think about were elephants." - p 162

In the long run, this is basically a variation on soft-porn exploitation or some such. As such, I can't really recommend it in the same breath as, say Ross MacDonald. Still, if you've ever watched Wood's movies & thought something like 'I could probably find this guy interesting if he weren't so inept' then you might want to try to read a novel. They're short & easy reads. I'd recommend reading Gypsy Rose Lee's mysteries 1st, though.… (plus d'informations)