 |
| A model sizes up John Holmes in "Super Stud" (1973). |
This week, we continue to explore the pornographic loops on which Edward D. Wood, Jr. worked during the 1970s. "Super Stud" is a quintessential specimen of the genre. Carrying a 1973 Cinema Classics, Inc. copyright, this silent 8mm short was the first entry in the Pussycat Films series, a West Coast franchise produced by Noel Bloom. (This is not to be confused with the Danish-produced Pussycat series, begun in 1974 by megalithic producer Color Climax.)
"Super Stud" has all of the key details—subtitles, set decorations, artistic tropes, etc.—of other Wood-connected 1970s porn loop series, including the first 19 Swedish Erotica loops and the Danish International Films series. I'd surmise that the Pussycat loops just barely preceded the Swedish Erotica films, as the latter show an even greater attention to artistic detail, utterly superfluous though that might be. Also, the subtitles in the Pussycat series appear in a smaller, blockier font, the type of primitive lettering one finds in the very earliest of the subtitled loops.
What follows is a complete transcription of "Super Stud." The film commences with the familiar "Adult Cinema presents" swirling graphic logo, another hint that it was made around the same time as the two series mentioned above.
 |
| (left) The film's title card; (right) John Holmes in his apartment. |
The film's title (SUPER STUD) is superimposed over a medium shot of a young woman at a table. According to the movie's box cover, she is an aspiring adult model named Candy. There are plenty of recognizable set decorations from other adult movies of the period: a black rotary phone, a ribbed fitted sheet used as a wall hanging, and—best of all—a familiar piece of bronze statuary, its top pointing downward over the table,
Naturally, our leading lady picks up the phone and makes a call. We're off and running! And now begin the subtitles:
Candy: I NEED SOME PROFESSIONAL PICTURES.
Candy: I'LL SEE YOU AT THE TERRACE.
I can lip-read her saying "half an hour," so the performers were fully acting out the narrative.
Candy meets the photographer, played by the ubiquitous John Holmes, and the latter snaps a few exterior shots of the aspiring model. The pair grab a snack at a sidewalk pretzel stand on the way back to his apartment. Once there, Candy makes a request with which the photographer is eager to comply.
Candy: CAN I SEE IT NOW.
Candy: MY GOD...THAT'S A GIANT.
She lunges toward Holmes' famous organ while licking her lips, the sex finally underway nearly halfway through the loop.
Candy: ALL FIFTEEN INCHES.
Candy: I'VE GOT TO SUCK IT.Considering that her mouth is fully occupied when these last two subtitles appear, we can infer we are reading her thoughts. While the subtitles in loops typically represent spoken dialogue and/or sexual grunts and groans, on rare occasion they are employed as a character's inner monologue and sometimes even as a textual sound effect.
Photographer: UMMMMMM GOOD.
Photographer: TAKE IT ALL DOWN YOUR THROAT.
By this point in the typical loop, it's not unusual for the subtitles to become sparse, only occasionally punctuating the sexual action. It is customary for John Holmes to be as taciturn as he is in this film. While the subtitles in "Super Stud" don't let up, John Holmes only has one line remaining. Instead, we are treated to a wildly overheated and fanciful (albeit un-PC by today's standards) run of lines uttered by Candy throughout multiple sexual positions.
Candy: OHHHH! WHAT A MEAT WHISTLE.
Candy: GIVE IT TO ME IN MY CUNT.
Candy: I'VE NEVER TAKEN ONE SO BIG.
Candy: YOU'LL BLOW OUT MY RECTUM.
Candy: PUMP IT IN ME...PUMP IT IN ME.
Candy: OHHHHHH GOD YOU'RE COMING OUT MY ASS.
Candy: HURT MY CUNT WITH THAT BIG COCK.
Candy: HURT ME GOOD...HURT ME GOOD.
Candy: I'VE GOT TO SUCK IT AGAIN.
Candy: GIVE IT ALL TO ME.
Photographer: OHHHHH, I'M COMING...COMING....
Candy: OHHHH, IT FEELS LIKE HOT COLD CREAM....
Candy: WHAT A COME...WHAT A COME....
For the record, that's 21 lines of subtitles totaling 117 words for an average count of 5.57 words per line. While the number of lines is in the median, the line length is decidedly at the upper limit for similar subtitled loops of this era. Ed Wood was clearly having fun with this one. The dialogue even includes the term "meat whistle," a crude sexual euphemism that shows up in two of Eddie's short stories from 1973, "Sex Star" and "Calamity Jane Loves Hosenose Kate Loves Cattle Anne."
In the bigger picture, "Super Stud" is a highly representative loop in just about every way. Beyond those crazy subtitles, let's not discount Eddie possibly having been on set in some capacity. And although the box cover summary for the loop is a tad perfunctory, it shares the narrative presented by the subtitles and adds plausible details, suggesting common authorship.
 |
| The perfunctory yet accurate summary of "Super Stud." |
The Pussycat Films series did not survive its inaugural year, ending after just ten individual loops. Like "Super Stud," these short films constitute a crucial link between the various series being produced by Noel Bloom at the time. Not long after this film, Bloom would embark upon the Swedish Erotica series, arguably the most successful franchise of its kind in American history.
And Ed Wood was right there, all along.
 |
| A standard Pussycat cover. |