Ed Wood Wednesdays: The Ed Wood Summit Podcast #4 by Greg Dziawer

This week, Greg examines the mysterious yet prolific Dr. T.K. Peters.

My mind never strays far from Dr. T.K. Peters (1879-1973). A true pop-culture enigma, this man's prodigious life of adventure continues to inspire me, nearly half a century after his passing. Thomas Kimmwood Peters was many things -- scholar, historian, inventor, author, etc. What makes him relevant to us is that, through his writings on sex, he played a small but significant role in the Ed Wood saga.

Shed no tears for Dr. Peters, however. He accomplished a century of living while maintaining an unquenchable thirst. Peters is not, despite some fan theories, a pseudonym for Ed Wood. He was very much his own man, and this week, I aim to tell you all about him. Join me for the fourth episode of The Ed Wood Summit Podcast in which I give you an overview of his life and set the stage for an eventual full reckoning of his incredible legacy.

If that video piqued your interest, check out these previous articles, which provide a little related color around the esteemed Dr. Peters.

• The Wood Paperback Odyssey, Part Four

• The Wood Paperback Odyssey, Part Five

• The Wood Paperback Odyssey, Part Six

Ed Wood Wednesdays: The Wood Paperback Odysssey, Part Five by Greg Dziawer

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Ed Wood Wednesdays: Advertising T.K. Peters by Greg Dziawer

Well, maybe not everything, but Greg's working on it.

NOTE: Greg Dziawer has been doing extensive research into the career of Dr. T.K. Peters, whose name is often touted as a literary alias for Edward D. Wood, Jr. Much more Peters-related material will appear in this space in the weeks to come. For now, here is a preview of what Greg's been working on. Enjoy. J.B.

A T.K. Peters book from SECS.

There was a time when many considered the name T.K. Peters, which appeared on close to 50 photo illustrated sociological sex paperbacks, to be a pseudonym of Ed Wood. Or even a shared pseudonym of multiple authors at Pendulum Publishers. Leo Eaton, fellow staffer of Ed's at the Pendulum magazine offices in Los Angeles, laid these notions to rest when he revealed that Peters was a real person and that the paperbacks were sourced from a comprehensive sex study he had sold to Pendulum.

The sociological angle was a legal gambit, justifying the hardcore sex of the photographs (the raison d'etre of the books, with a pic on each right-hand facing page), common practice of many adult publishers during the transition to the legalization of pornography. These kinds of books exploded across the adult paperback world in the late '60s and early '70s, albeit briefly, when the educational pretenses quickly became unnecessary.

The following scans are of two advertisements, both of which appeared in many Pendulum/Calga/SECS Press magazines, regardless of theme, circa 1971. The first ad consists solely of titles from the Peters source, whose name is not even mentioned in the copy, as part of the SECS Press Encyclopedia of Sex series. The second ad throws in a few titles from Calga's Sexual Enlightenment Series and even a couple from the non-Peters PsychoMed series (published by Pendulum's Atlanta office). 

As you check them out, how many of the Peters titles in these ads do you recognize as being by Ed? He wrote or collaborated on approximately a dozen books from the Peters source. The answer is below, after the second scan.

"Every aspect of sex... from foreplay to orgasm..."

"Photos are censored. Books are not!"

So how many did you spot? If you said zero, then congratulate yourself. You really know your T.K. Peters!