I was sad to read that Ed Lee, founder of Nu-West/Leda productions, had recently passed away. In an earlier era of really bad BDSM porn, he produced some of the most authentic and exciting corporal material around. As he describes in this interview, he was taking a big risk by doing so. The legal situation was very unclear and even if you won in court you could still end up bankrupt.
As a young femdom aficionado in the late 90’s I remember travelling down to London’s Soho specifically to hunt for Leda videos. I’d seen some of the still shots on-line and wanted to get my hands on some high quality VHS. There was only one shop that sold them (as they were illegal in England) and unfortunately they had a very loose approach to labeling their tapes. You’d buy 3 tapes and hope at least one of them was what it claimed to be. I suspect they were all pirate tapes, which no doubt would have infuriated Ed had he known. Being young and very nervous I never had the guts to go back and complain. After several trips and a dozen random tapes of all sorts of random porn (mostly rubbish), I’d managed to accumulate just 3 Leda ones. It was worth it though. The production values weren’t great, but the authenticity was never in doubt.
I’ll leave you with two shots from the short-lived Ma’am magazine he produced. Thanks for everything Ed.
Thanks for the heads up about Ed’s passing. He was definitely a pioneer, and I remember stumbling on his content in the early 90s. It was always so matter of fact, it seemed far more real and approachable than so many of the overly done up FemDom stuff that was around – and still is today.
Though I have to admit, I really preferred the stuff they shot in homes than in the empty stage room. But that’s probably just my preference for something that seemed lifestyle. Either way, I’m grateful for Ed’s work. It was unique.
Matter of fact is a good way to put it. The sets were often bare and minimal but personally I never minded because the action seemed so real. It also still retains its power today. I’ve got several Leda clips and, although the quality is not great, they’ve got a real edge to them. It’s a real shame he didn’t get to enjoy his retirement after such an influential and brave career.
-paltego
Who was he though? I get he was some sort of pioneer in the field, but literally nothing about him beyond that and about a half-dozen videos. The most I do know about him is one of his favorites was “Mallory” (also called Debora in another upload, but he worked with her twice) and he was pretty good with that whip.
Did he have a date of birth? Nationality? ANYTHING else?
It’s a shame this is all I know. 🙁