Death of a Transvestite

Rating:
Summary: Ed Wood's literary Bride of Frankenstien
Review: Death of a Transvestite is Ed Wood's sequel to his previous pulp novel, Killer in Drag. As in Killer, the main character is angora-loving, cross-dressing, professional killer Glen Marker who is now sitting on death row. Mere hours before his execution, Glen agrees to provide the sympathetic the Warden with a confession to his crimes in return for one thing. What is Glen's price? He wants to be allowed to meet his fate not as Glen but as Glenda. As Charlie, another sympathetic guard, goes off to ransack his daughter's bedroom for a proper outfit (yes, the entire book is like this and God bless it), Glen gives the details of his sordid final days of freedom in Hollywood. And from there, Wood spins a tale of two cross-dressing killers, a young actress with sadomasochistic tendencies, and hippies (though Wood, unknowingly proving just how endearingly unhip he really was, insists on referring to them as not Beatniks but just simply 'niks). The hippie subplot (essentially having to do with outside agitators slipping LSD to Hollywood teenagers in order to turn them into cop-hating zombies) is perhaps indicative of the style of the book as a whole -- it comes out of nowhere, is obviously the product of an out-of-touch mind desperately trying to make a socially relavent statement, and it somehow works within the demented world that Wood creates in this book. No, this is not an undiscovered masterpiece of a book. In fact, its pretty sordid and at times, one can see signs of the alcoholic dementia that would destroy Wood in his later years. But, if you're an Ed Wood fan, its a must-read. And, unlike Killer in Drag, Death actually does (in its own twisted way) work even if separated from the campy reputation of the man who wrote it.

Death of a Transvestite picks up directly where Killer in Drag ends and features most of the same character but in style, it is a very different book. Written two years after Killer, Death of a Transvestite has a streak of fear and paranoia running through it as well as several caustic and bitter comments on the state of the Hollywood film industry. Whereas Killer featured a bizarre sincerity to its plea for tolerance, Death is almost a work of nihilism. As such, in tone and style, it is far different from the work that proceeded it. In that way, it resembles the first two Frankenstien films directed by another bitter casualty of Hollywood, James Whale. Whereas the first Frankenstien was almost somber, Whale's Bride of Frankenstien, while obviously continuing the story of the first film, was a deliberately insane, middle finger to the Hollywood establishment. The same analogy can be applied to Wood's two Glen Marker books (though he'd, undoubtly, perfer an analogy involving Bela Lugosi's Dracula as opposed to the classic Karloff films). If Killer was one of Wood's last attempts to turn pulp into art, Death of a Transvestite was his final admission that sometimes, pure trash is preferable to both.

Rating:
Summary: A Recently Discovered Missing Chapter!
Review: L.A. POLICE REPORT #9

Patrolman Kelton: "Why do I always get hooked up with these spook details? Monsters, graves, bodies, drag queens. There's a full fledged riot going on and I have to investigate the DEATH OF A TRANSVESTITE, not to mention a KILLER IN DRAG lying wounded next to him, his blood oozing out like whiskey from a broken bottle."

Lieutenant John Harper: "No doubt about it, that's the ugliest drag queen I've ever seen. He's dead...murdered...and somebody's responsible!"

Patrolman Kelton: "The ambulance is on the way but, with the riot going on, the traffic is jammed up tighter than this drag queen's sweater. Do you think the rioters will let the ambulance through? What do you think will be the next obstacle they'll put in our way?"

Lieutenant John Harper: "Well, as long as they can think we'll have our problems. I don't believe what I'm seeing!"

Inspector Daniel Clay, recently shot dead in the line of duty, is approaching them. He is a huge hulk of a man. Although he was buried in his finest suit, he is wearing red high heels, pink capri pants and a pink angora sweater. Atop his huge, bald head is a disheveled blonde wig. He approaches them in a menacing manner and, acting on instinct, they begin shooting at him. They empty several rounds into him at point blank range, but it has no effect on him.

Patrolman Kelton: "Clay is dead, and we buried him. How are we going to kill somebody that's already dead? Dead! And yet there he stands! I don't believe what I'm seeing!"

Just then a flying saucer buzzes them. It projects a beam of blue light on the scene as an ambulance screeches into view.

Ambulance Driver Criswell: "That flying saucer has been following us since we left the hospital. It guided us right to this spot."

Lieutenant John Harper: "I don't see a flying saucer. I see a weather balloon surrounded by swamp gas, and that's all I see."

Ambulance Driver Criswell: "You see? You see? Your stupid minds...stupid! Stupid!"

Rating:
Summary: Priceless
Review: What a wonderful trash wallow!!! This represents the best (or worst, I guess) of pulp fiction. It's all here-- the mob, a redhead who gets thrown into the East River in a weighted bag, lots of kinky sex, plenty of murder, and a truckload of hookers with and without hearts of gold. But Ed Wood gives the whole package a new twist with his genuinely fascinating and complex portrayals of transvestites(something not easy to find when this book was written, nor when the movie (Glen or Glenda, and it is essentially the same character) was made.) Ed Wood comes across as a potentially brilliant writer who, unfortunately, never had the chance to develop his craft in a disciplined way. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: "Real" pulp fiction...
Review: Wow, If you're into the Ed Wood stuff, this is really something for you. Just the idea of mixing cross-dressing with a killer story... Anyway, I had fun while reading it.