Book Review: Bye, Bye Broadie & The Olympic FotoReaders by Ed Wood

Bye, Bye Broadie. Raped in the Grass. The Svengali of Sex. These three volumes (possibly joined by The Erotic Spy written under the name Abbott Smith) are a unique testament to the gullibility (or suspension of disbelief) of the average porn connoisseur in the late sixties and early seventies. The concept behind these books was the same as the Olympic Fotoreader. Stills from a movie would be inserted on opposing pages of text, illustrating the pornographic story. From The Svengali of Sex, “This paperback novelization was taken from the original screenplay. And all the photos are taken from the film track.” Only, there doesn’t seem to be any film associated with these “film track” photos. It looks as if a series if stills were taken, and look to be completely posed, to match the story and the books were printed as a “novelization” of the film. Maybe exploiting the popularity of other film books, like the Olympic Fotoreaders, aided the sales.

Buy Bye, Bye Broadie in Vintage Paperback!

Raped in the Grass is the story of two young coeds in Central America. Their car is destroyed in a rebellion, but they are confident they can make it to the escaping plane. Of course they don’t make it and are taken hostage by a band of guerilla warriors. The band of Guerillas repeatedly rape the young women who, strangely enough, grow to enjoy their captivity. Shirley and Barbara, the two captives, become close with Gerda, the lesbian Guerilla. What happens next… well, you’ll see:

Gerda glanced over to the Leader as he cut the bonds from Barbara and took her in his arms, then kissed her tenderly, thoughtfully. Gerda then knew she had to do the same with Shirley. Release her own captive. Shirley fell into Gerda’s arms.

“Take the Goddamn car! – and take me…” Barbara and Shirley had found a new life.

Now, isn’t that sweet.

Bye Bye Broadie is even a little nastier than Raped in the Grass. The story centers around a Peeping Tom rapist that preys on women at a local girl’s school. The headmistress catches the rapist and kills him. She then asks the student body to help her bury the man. After the burial the “dead” man reaches up from the grave and smacks the headmistress, Mrs. Grundy, with a shovel and kills her. In between all of this action there is quite a lot of sex going on. One would think that a girl’s school wouldn’t allow that kind of behavior, but who knows?

Interestingly, Wood had written a script called The Peeper as a sequel to his Sinister Urge. It is quite possible that Bye Bye Broadie is an adaptation of The Peeper script.

The Svengali of Sex, under the name Edgar Andrews, concerns the exploits of a hypno-therapist who deals in the sexual hang-ups of young women. Of course, these young women will have sex with the good doctor and become “cured.” Sadly, it sounds as if this scenario is ripped from today’s headlines.

The good doctor begins with introducing all of his new patients and deciding which course of therapy would be best for each. At one point, Larry (the doctor) makes a great leap of progress with his newest patient, Shirley:

Shirley nodded and even managed a small smile. She got up and said, “Thank you, doctor. I don’t know why, but I, too feel somehow that I am better than when I walked in here.” Larry walked her to the door an then stood thinking a moment after she had left. Shirley, he knew, would be a cinch to straighten out. And he was really looking forward to the task…

I don’t suppose Dr. Larry, being a hypno-therapist, has to be licensed by the state.