Ed Wood Wednesdays: The Lost Greg Javer/Keith Crocker Commentaries [PART ONE]

Keith and Greg talk Ed. (Header image by Brendon Sibley.)

Not long before he died, Greg Javer (aka Greg Dziawer) contributed some commentary tracks to the deluxe three-disc collection Hard Wood: The Adult Films of Ed Wood (2024) from Severin Films. Looking back, this was one of the last major Wood-related projects of Greg's too-brief life. If you purchase that set, you can hear him give his thoughts on Necromania (1971), The Only House in Town (1971), and The Young Marrieds (1972). If you're missing Greg, and I know many of you are, these tracks allow you to spend some time with him.

But these were not the only recordings Greg made for Hard Wood. He and I, for example, recorded a jovial and hopefully informative commentary for the rowdy, rural comedy Shotgun Wedding (1963), which Eddie scripted for director Boris Petroff. Unfortunately, that track got lost in the shuffle and never made it into the finished set. If you're interested in hearing it, I have made it available in a previous blog entry.

Meanwhile, teaming up with film historian Keith Crocker, Greg recorded commentary tracks for six (!) of the adult loops that Ed Wood made as part of the Swedish Erotica series in the early 1970s. These, too, were unfortunately lost in the shuffle and did not make it into Hard Wood. But fear not! Recently, reader Brendon Sibley forwarded these tracks to me and asked for me to present them on my blog. How could I resist an offer like that? 

In fact, I will devote this week and next to the lost Javer/Crocker commentaries. Three this week, three next week. Does that sound like a plan? For obvious reasons, I cannot present the loops without some visual distortion. YouTube has very little sense of humor about these things.

I asked Keith Crocker to give his thoughts on the (no longer) lost commentary tracks, and he was nice enough to comply. I now turn the article over to him:

Hard Wood Gone Soft: A Tale of the Missing Commentaries

by Keith Crocker

“It’s all archeology."

That’s what Greg Dziawer and I used to say as we were trying to unravel the mysteries behind the 8mm loops that had been credited to director Ed Wood, Jr. In early 2024, Greg contacted me about recording commentaries for a select few of the nineteen 8mm stag films released by Swedish Erotica and said to have been directed by Wood. I had already transferred and released two DVD sets of the films, but word had it that Severin was going to release a Blu-ray of Ed's soft and hardcore feature films. And the loops would also be featured there.

My friendship with Greg started over those loops. Joe Blevins had written on Ed's possible involvement with the loops, and I had responded that I happened to have all those loops in a collection I received from a former cameraman I had worked with. I transferred the loops, and Greg was one of the first to review them. I explained my theories on why I believed Ed directed those shorts. I did not base it on Conrad Brooks' exclamation in Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992).  Brooks was a huge BS artist; you couldn’t hang a coat on the claims he made. It was film aesthetics that linked Ed to those shorts, stylistic tropes that Ed had practiced, starting with his TV commercials from the late 1940s. Greg agreed.

Greg loved a mystery. I didn’t. I always felt that we needed a direct answer regarding those short films. Noel Bloom, who ran the Swedish Erotica series, was (and is) still alive. I told Greg that Noel should be contacted and questioned. Greg found Noel's son and tried going through him. My wife is a librarian. She dug up Noel's home address and phone number for me. I sent Noel a letter explaining that I'd like to speak with him. He immediately returned my letter with a phone call. According to Noel, he himself had directed the early 8mm loops. 

However, during the conversation, I noticed that Noel's memories were cloudy. He insisted that Necromania was a short, softcore film. From this point in time, we all knew the truth behind that. He also claimed that Ed didn’t direct loops for his father, Bernie Bloom. The "Jailor" loop on the "Classics" label bore out that this wasn't correct either. So, despite what Noel told me, I do believe Ed handled the first 19 Los Angeles-made shorts, and that Noel took over the production duties with the San Francisco-shot shorts starting with loop 20. Noel had told me that he answered my letter because I directly came to him. He didn’t like Greg trying to get to him through his son.

In the spring of 2024, Greg and I did commentary for the following pornographic loops: The Virgin Next Door, (parts one and two), Western Lust, Girl on a Bike, Devil Cult, and 15" Commercial. During part two of Virgin Next Door, Greg and I even discussed Noel Bloom's proclamation that he made those shorts. We defended our argument that he didn't. 

It is interesting to note that the "Jailor" short and subsequent shorts shot for the "Classics" label for Bernie Bloom are extremely crude as compared to the production value that was a trademark of Swedish Erotica. My belief was that Ed offered his services to the loops, and that both Bernie and Noel accepted because Ed had a background in filmmaking. Once Noel saw how easy it was to put together a loop, he may have felt he no longer needed Ed's help and regulated him to box synopses and subtitles only.

Greg and I recorded the sessions in one sitting via Zoom. Greg and I had our ups and downs during our collaborations over the years. I hadn’t spoken to him for some time prior to the loop commentary proposal. We had done at least two Ed Wood Summit Podcast episodes together. But the loop commentaries gave us the spotlight to focus on what had brought us together in the first place. The session was spontaneous, the energy was there, and the results were satisfying. The sad thing was that they never ended up on the disc. 

Greg passed away from cancer in December 2024. I had no clue he was ill. It suddenly just happened. Apparently, Greg never got the finished commentaries to Severin. But it wasn't just those commentaries missing; others made contributions that went unrealized. There was supposed to be a more up-to-date commentary on The Only House in Town, but it was never submitted. When we finished the commentaries, Greg sent me the loops linked up with the commentary tracks to check over. I did just that, and then removed them from my computer due to the space they took up. My belief was that they would be on the disc.

When the box set was released in June of 2025, I asked Severin's founder David Gregory (who I’ve done other commentaries for) if the loops had the summations done by Greg and myself. Dave wasn't sure, but he sent me the box set to check. Lo and behold, they were not there. 

Suddenly, I realized that I had no record of that session. I figured they were on Greg’s computer and lost for good. But every dark hallway has a bright light gleaming. Recently, while switching computers, I noticed a file being uploaded that said "Javer/Crocker." Not knowing what it was, I opened it only to be gobsmacked that it was the original audio files of the session. Greg must have sent them to me immediately after the session was over. I stuck them away and forgot I had them. 

Upon finding them, I immediately announced it to the Ed Wood group. I’m currently in the process of editing a documentary I had shot back in the late 2000s. Hence, Brendon Sibley came to the rescue, spared me the work, and laid the tracks over the loops. And at last, the Ed Wood fans can hear what Greg and I discussed. It’s a fitting tribute to Greg, who we all miss very much. Joe Blevins will share the synched up flicks with you. Enjoy!