In Memory of Ed Lee, founder of Nu-West
July 23, 1938 - January 6, 2013
On the Ed Lee I knew ...
Nu-West was founded by Ed Lee, and they produced their first video in 1982. They are the oldest and largest producer of spanking and corporal punishment related videos in the world. Even though I never met Ed in person, we corresponded via email a fair amount over the past few years. I think my first correspondence with him was by postal mail in the early 1990s, in which I had an idea for a video. Ed pointed out that my “cast of about a dozen” would make it prohibitively expensive to produce.
Ed was an amiable, encouraging sort of person. He insisted that what we were doing was “art”, and that putting out quality art was a challenge. It takes a fair amount of insight to pin down, define, refine and present those aspects from the very large domain of sex - which appealed to us (beyond perhaps, that traditional Victorian minimum needed for procreation). Ed had me do some custom work for himself, which was perhaps eclectic, and he offered me the marital advice that (contrary to what one sees in the videos), he didn't think that most women were inclined to be dominant in the ways we guys liked. His videos pointed out that some women get turned on during a spanking, and others only afterward; and his technique of bringing a woman close to orgasm and then backing off repeatedly was (how do I say this?) very instructional. Darn, I wish that guy would have written a book.
Yes, life is multidimensional. And sex is undoubtedly one of its bigger and perhaps more important dimensions. But it is not the only one. My correspondence with Ed over the years covered various topics - everything from motorcycling, to diesel engine cars, to maintaining evaporative cooling units. When we got onto the subject of gun control, we both agreed that better respect for and training on the handling of firearms would go a long way in preventing mishaps, and I was happy to hear that Ed had been teaching the son of one of his models (a divorced mom) how to handle a gun (i.e., always check to see if it’s loaded, never reach for a gun in anger, etc.). Like I said - life is multidimensional. Our email subjects drifted all over the place.
About two years ago I agreed to illustrate one of Nuwest’s old comic books, bringing its artwork up to date as part of a republication. Almost immediately Ed and I locked horns on the content, as I regarded the original script as uninspired if not boring (yes, I pointed out, it’s quite a feat to make some of this stuff boring, but in my opinion Ed’s original author had succeeded). After some initial sample page drafts, Ed (being busy with his mainline business) slowly relinquished control of how the story would progress, and he eventually gave me more or less of a free reign. When we were mailed the first printing, despite being snowed in on his ranch in the dead of winter, Ed hoped in his jeep to get down to the post office where that initial printing of “A Visit to Aunt Rita’s” had arrived and was waiting. We were soon swapping ideas for improvement if not a follow on.
Like I said - I never met Ed in person. Given this, the feeling of his passing is sort of the way I felt when John Wayne passed away. He was an icon who had been around my whole life. It was hard to picture the world without him. The same goes for Ed. It’s a bummer not having him around to bounce ideas off of, let alone debate the merits of that latest Volkswagen TDI.
- The Poser Artist, February 18, 2013
The original Nu-West/Leda announcement can be found here
The Shadow Lane obituary can be found here
Another link can be found here