Ed Wood's When the Topic is Sex: "Interview with a Sadist and a Masochist" (1972)

Enjoy this early '70s typography.

NOTE: This article continues my coverage of Ed Wood's When the Topic is Sex (BearManor Media, 2021).

The article: "Interview with a Sadist and a Masochist." Originally published in Passion Annual (Gallery Press/Pendulum Combos), 1972. Credited to "Dick Trent."

Excerpt: "And I literally make him kiss the asses of the guests . . . all of them, men and women alike. And when that's done we strip off the dress or the blouse and skirt and he's made to kneel down in the old bra and filthy panties and wash their feet with his tongue. Oh, how he cries, and how my thighs twitch to get at something." 

Reflections: Even though Ed Wood has already conducted several mock interviews previously in this collection, "Interview with a Sadist and a Masochist" is unique for several reasons. For one thing, Eddie portrays three roles here: the interviewer, a masochistic man named Henry, and Henry's sadistic lover, Marsha. What's more, the interviewer is repeatedly identified as "Ed" throughout the body of the article, even though the byline says "Dick Trent." The following brief excerpt will give you an idea of how this article was originally formatted. As Bob Blackburn points out, "Ed" could be short for "editor." (But it could also be the author's sneaky way of getting his name into the article.)

An excerpt from "Interview with a Sadist and a Masochist." Note that Ed Wood identifies himself as the interviewer.

Character actor Wally Cox.

Beyond that, this is a deeply and memorably strange article that manages to stand out from the stories surrounding it. And when you're talking about the written works of Ed Wood, that's quite an achievement. After giving us a brief history of torture, Eddie sits down for a chat with Henry and Marsha, who have been a happy couple for two years. Henry loves to be punished and humiliated, and Marsha is more than happy to dole out the punishment and humiliation. "This is their jolly kicks," Ed explains with his usual stilted syntax.

In some ways, Henry and Marsha are like something out of a cartoon or a comedy sketch. He's the stereotypical henpecked male, and she's the equally stereotypical domineering female. I would not have been surprised if Marsha had starting beating Henry on the head with a rolling pin. Whenever Marsha scolds Henry or tells him to shut up, he meekly responds, "Yes love." I pictured him looking and talking a bit like character actor Wally Cox (of Mr. Peepers fame).

At first, it seems like these two are your garden-variety sadomasochists. They're into roleplaying, for instance, with Henry having to be Marsha's maid and even wear a frilly uniform when he cleans. They're also into discipline, with Marsha saying she likes to spank her lover's "pink little bottom" when he transgresses. Sometimes they'll have guests over, so Marsha can humiliate Henry in front of company.

But, as the article progresses, we learn that these two are into some weird, weird stuff. Gross stuff. Marsha makes Henry clean the toilet with his bare hands. She also makes him wear her oldest, dirtiest panties, but only after she's broken them in for a few days. At one point in the interview, Henry says, "You'll make me lay down and open my mouth and you'll squat over me." In a word, yuck.

That's something Eddie's fans will have to get used to when they read his writing. This kind of nausea-inducing material doesn't appear much in his movies, even the pornographic ones, but Ed had a definite fixation on bodily functions and gross-out humor. Sometimes, he just likes to roll around in the muck. "Interview with a Sadist and a Masochist" is one of those occasions. 

Next: "The Movement" (1973)