Total Mental Eclipse

July 30, 2026

In 1977, Leonard Burtman’s Eros Publishing Company (Wilmington, DE) published Ed Wood’s novel TV Lust under the pseudonym “Dick Trent” as part of their Transexual Library series (TSL 102). Unrelated to the story itself, the book included nineteen, full-page, black and white photos of a young unnamed transvestite.

Contrary to the cover banner proclaiming “Exclusive Photos!,” these images came from a 1975 photoshoot with several clothing changes of a transvestite known as Dean/Dena Noel. The background in each photo is the same – a complex gold on white wallpaper pattern.

Emblematic of the recycling that occurred in adult publishing, from 1975 – 1980 these photos appeared in a number of fetish magazines including Female Mimics, The Queens, Guys in Drag, More She-Males, Transexuals, The Transexual Phenomenon, Impersonators & Transsexuals Scrapbook, and 200 She-Males.

Dean/Dena also appeared on the cover of two novels published by Theodore Rothstein and Robert DiBernardo’s Star Distributors (New York City) in their popular Transvestia series: Transvestite Bride (1984, TV-149) and Transvestite Housewife (1985, TV-179).

Of course, adult publishers did not limit themselves to merely recycling images, they recycled text too. From 1985-1986, Eros Publishing serialized Ed’s TV Lust in eleven parts as “TV Confessions: The Memoirs of a Man in Women's Clothing” in their magazine Female Mimics International (issues # 27 through 37). No author was credited; each part was one chapter from the original book. None of the Dean/Dena photos were used, although artwork graced the first page of each installment.

Issue #27, part 1