The Brass Bed (trope)

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The Brass Bed is a trope first used in Star Trek: TOS fandom by Jean Lorrah in her Sarek/Amanda Night of the Twin Moons stories.

It migrated to Starsky & Hutch.

Some Context

Brass bed frames were a popular 1970's decorating choice.

Lorrah's use of one in her Star Trek: TOS universe is more a reflection of the author's exposure to them as a reflection of her own century and decade, rather than futuristic science fiction.

Starsky & Hutch were characters in the actual 1970s. Brass bed frames (though mostly not brass, but cheap thin wall steel with a yellow plastic film, and by many accounts, very rickety) were a common decorating element in the United States in the mid-1970s. This was in part, due to the celebration of the American Bicentennial in 1976 which propelled in an interest in antique and vintage items.

A brass bed was a prominent background fixture in Starsky & Hutch. Hutch's brass bed sat in his bedroom/living room in his canal-side cottage.

the original poster (date unknown) -- From a fan in 1982: "You mean you haven't seen the Brass Bed P oster?! You must get hold of one. It's the poster where Starsky is leaning over the brass bed-rail with that 'you're gonna get it good tonight, blondie' look on his face."

The brass bed theme in Starsky & Hutch fandom was also flamed by a well-known poster that was sold at the time, one that showed Starsky leaning on the footboard of a brass bed.

Star Trek: TOS

The original brass bed stories in Star Trek: TOS were Sarek/Amanda ones.

Later, some fans picked up the trope for Kirk/Spock stories.

Sample Fiction

• Sarek and Amanda's brass bed in the April 1976 story in Night of the Twin Moons was highlighted by Camille Bacon-Smith in her 1986 article, Spock Among the Women, as a symbol of "Amanda's brass bed has become a symbol in the community for the ideal of sexual equality."
• The Brass Bed, art by Alice Jones portraying Sarek and Amanda from Night of the Twin Moons
• Amanda of Vulcan by Jean Lorrah ("When they had first come to Vulcan, Sarek had fastened her antique brass headboard to the wall behind their Vulcan bed. They had slept in the brass bed during their honeymoon on Earth, but the headboard was much more than a nostalgic reminder of the beginning of a long and loving relationship.") (Stardate Unknown #5, reprinted in NTM Collected #2) (1979)
• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Lynna Bright (This was Bright's very first K/S story.) (A complicated Fuck or Die story, features a brass bed, Kirk and Spock are captured after following a terrorist from a diplomatic function and forced to have sex with each other.) (1983)
• Best of Times by Toni Cardinal-Price (Spock gives Kirk a brass bed for their shared quarters, and there is extensive discussion about the meaning of this gift. Thank goodness Spock didn't buy it because of his parents! Instead, it is an 18th century Earth antique.) (1983)
• A Big Brass Bed by Ursula Tulle ("Spock plays out Kirkʼs fantasy in a cabin in the mountain.") Fantasies (1986)

The Brass Bed as a Symbol of Sexual Freedom

From Camille Bacon-Smith in her acafan book, Enterprising Women:

In the story "The Tenth Night" [Amanda] teaches Sarek the importance of an equal partnership in bed as well as in professional life. Amanda has grown tired of taking the passive role in their sexual relationship. On the night in question, she asks her husband to grip a bedpost while she takes over the dominant sexual role. By the end of the story, the brass bedpost has taken the imprint of Sarek's hand, and he has come to understand his wife's sexual frustration. In fact, Amanda's brass bed has become a symbol in the community for the ideal of sexual equality.

Sarek and Amanda's Bed Gets a Nod in Pro Fic

Lorrah even slips the brass bed into her 1984 Star Trek Tie-in, The Vulcan Academy Murders. A fan wrote:

I just finished Jean Lorrah's The Vulcan Academy Murders... I love the way the author subtly and deftly worked in elements of fanfic. I think my favorite part of the book was when Kirk casually observed Amanda and Sarek'a brass headboard with the "dents in the rungs." (Aha! The infamous "brass bed" story! We know where those dents came from…heh…heh).

Star Trek: TOS Brass Beds in Art and Illustration

• 

  from Full Moon Rising, artist is Signe Landon (1976)

• 

  "The Brass Bed", art by Alice Jones portraying Sarek and Amanda (1978)

• 

  cover of Night of the Twin Moons (1979)

Starsky & Hutch

The brass bed as a nod or focus in Starsky & Hutch fandom almost certainly began with the official poster (date unknown).

Fans speculated on the bars in the headboard, and like in the Star Trek stories, imagined them as a place to grab over one's head during sexual relations.

The first brass bed story was a very early pass around story, The Brass Bed (pre-1982), a story by Billie Fowler, which was likely a BDSM story.

Early Starsky & Hutch Brass Bed Fiction

• Chameleon Universe, an underground pass around story (early 1980s)
• Vermont Avenue, an underground pass around story in which the brass bed is mentioned several times (1981)
• Lucifer Rising, poem ("... that in whatever time and place is reality, I make love to you in a brass bed of shining crossbars and uprights with music and sandalwood transfixed in the light of a thousand white suns...") (Code 7 #1 (1981)
• Bound Blintz was another set of BDSM stories (1982)
• Surrender, a controversial non-con involving partner rape story by Paula Smith (1982)
• Daydreams by Misty (contains the lines: “What! Tie you to a brass bed? So, you like it rough?”) (in Hanky Panky #6 (1983)
• Replay by Pam Rose in Who You Know... "The room was lit with candles, soft and glowing. Starsky's breath caught in his throat. It was beautiful...absolutely beautiful. The brass bed was huge. Ornate, but dignified in a way. Solid and strong. 'Do you like it?' Hutch said softly. 'I remember you said you'd always wanted one.'") (1983)
• Fountain of Sorrow by Eileen Roy (from a flyer: "Bed story, and a darkly poetic psychological study. Read carefully!") (1983)
• Anyone Else But Me by "Kate Wallace" (Hutch hangs a piece of mistletoe on their shared brass bed headboard. -- a fan wrote: "aha! another one of those brass bed stories." ) (Hanky Panky #11 (1984)

Starsky & Hutch Brass Beds in Art and Illustration

• 

  "Brass Bed Embrace," artist is Maureen B, winner of a 1984 Huggy Award, printed in Code 7 #3

• 

  cover of The Who Do We Trust Times, issue #4, Merle Decker -- shows Starsky and Hutch sitting on Hutch's brass bed reading zines, one of which is Scales of Justice. (1986)

• 

  from Wanna Share? #2, not credited (1990)

• 

  from Total Eclipse of the Heart, art by Suzan Lovett (2000)

• 

  by Jean Clissold, her photo reference was the original poster; this art was in Bonaventure (1990), reprinted in Mind If I Join Ya? (2004)