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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

CONTINUITY AND EVOLUTION IN A PUBLIC SYMBOL:
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THF‘ CREATION A?
CCMI’YUNICATION OF THE JAI-TES DEAN IICAGE

IN MID-CENTURY AMERICA

presented by

ROBERT wine TYSL

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph. D. degree in SEGGCh

. “AIL/tit Z /(”
I Major professor

Date July 30, 1965

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ABSTRACT

UMWINUITY AND EVOLUTION IN A PUBLIC SYMBOL:
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CREATION AND
(XWMUNICATION OF THE JAMES DEAN IMAGE
IN MID-CENTURY AMERICA

by Robert Wayne Tysl

With the growth of mass communications a series of
"Mnoes“tms been fed to the public. Various ”personalities,"
realandzfixmional, have been said to capture the public
famnzas figures to be emulated and/or held in high esteem
Mmdmjngcx1adoration. Most prominent among the modern
gmpuku'heroes has been the Hollywood "star." Few stars in
mmentymmrs have attained the popularity of James Dean.
municzxection to Dean reached beyond national borders and
marmaiage limitations, despite the fact that Dean had
sfimraiin only one major film before his death in 1955.

This investigation is a study of the forces involved
inesUfiflishing James Dean as a symbolic heroic figure in our
dyihzatuniand culture. Critical analysis of Dean's film
mfles,gmrsonal interviews with Dean's family and co—workers,
(mtau1analyses of “official" and unofficial publicity
(EmmNgns~—all contribute to this historical overview of

the:hmeraction of personality, talent, and publicity, as

Robert Wayne Tysl

nweahxlto the public via the mass media, projecting an
emfluthiof the image from celebrity to public symbol.

The construction of a viable set of personality traits
mfl.mmnmxisms,reinforced through linkage with the public
megecfi Marlon Brando, established the James Dean image.
'nus:MEge was maintained and further reinforced in film
mflesanfl.in presentations in other mass media channels,
mmtly:fin commercial reasons, achieving through various
hnkmfim and repetitions enough popularity to enable it to be
demnjled, however inaccurately, as an adolescent symbol of
raEIIRXIagainst conventional authority, adding yet another
dhmmshxito its appeal. The overall image, including
gmblhzrecognition of Dean as a person, as an actor, and
asaapubkuzsymbol, has retained a viable appeal to the
gmemam day, and, until the rise of another public figure
nub mungh unique appeal to supplant it, the Dean image will
sunnve as the archetypal “young rebel” of our times.

Such presentation of the celebrity as ”hero" suggests
{mssflfle cultural implications as well as concurrent and

rendtmu:re3ponsibilities of those in control of the mass

media.

CONTINUITY AND EVOLUTION IN A PUBLIC SYMBOL:
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CREATION AND
COMMUNICATION OF THE JAMES DEAN IMAGE
IN MID-CENTURY AMERICA

BY

Robert Wayne Tysl

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Speech

1965

Copyright by
ROBERT WAYNE TYSL
1966

PREFACE

When I left the campus of Michigan State to resume
teaching and initiate my research, I little expected what lay
ahead. I never considered my dissertation subject nor the
expected research to be easy, but I had no idea how difficult
it would prove to be. How difficult it was has taken me
almost seven years to prove to myself.

I had counted on the recency of Dean's career to be a
decided asset in terms of the collection of material. Such
was not the case. Certain aspects of Dean's personal life
prompted those who did know him to disclaim knowledge.
Because he was a “star, " there were many ready to claim knowl-

edge for publicity's sake--others who admitted knowledge but

withheld it in the hope of locating some more lucrative market.

The inside story of how one becomes a star and how that star
becomes a money-maker for his studio is not always a particu-
larly wholesome story. It is, in fact, unprintable.

The motion picture industry goes to great lengths to
Protect its properties from invasion from the outside.
"Academic co—operation" is a meaningless term to a money-
making industry trying to keep its financial head above water
and willing to go to almost any lengths to protect the status

({110. No scripts were made available to me, no interviews of

ii

any consequence were granted; letters were ignored, and
personal presentation brought only a coldly formal tour of
the "publicity files": a thick but useless collection of un-
dated, underlined blurbs in Hollywood columns.

"Academic co-operation” means even less to anyone
peripherally connected to the motion picture industry as a
means of livelihood. To protect himself, he must protect
Hollywood. Again, letters were ignored, promises were made
and broken, appointments were made and broken. In the case of
a New York agent, after a month of being put on and off the
engagement calendar I received the comment: "I was hoping
you'd get disappointed and leave." Not only was I unable to
CJet: c0pies of Dean's scripts, I couldn‘t even get a record of
his professional appearances. Public and university library
collections, locally and in California ,- provedto be equally
useless, and the James Dean Foundation with its glorious
sounding Museum and Library proved to be a group of enterpris-
ing Fairmount merchants with a handful of racing trophies and
an eye to the Indiana tourist trade.

Considering that there is no reference file or list
Of any sort available, I believe I have collected as complete
a dossier of material about Dean during his lifetime and
afterward as is humanly possible. This often meant a page
by page coverage of years of foreign and domestic newspapers
and Periodicals; it meant painstaking perusal of probable
and possible sources of mention or even leads. It meant

iii

consulting societal studies, psychological studies, novels,
pmetry, and criticism. It meant bagging, borrowing, and
stealing whole collections of material from Dean fans, and
then tracking down the sources: books, magazines, phonograph
records, and pictures. I taped TV soundtracks for study,
asked permission to set up a tape recorder in local theatres,
and if that didn't work, sneaked in a miniature portable
transistor recorder, bought for the purpose, and used that.
kw intention throughout has been to chronicle what happened
and in the process to preserve material which by its ephemeral
nature would be unavailable to future scholars.

I was once informed that a dissertation and its prep—
aration were part of the continuing education of the doctoral
candidate in his selected field. I feel I've learned a great
deal. .As far as the James Dean image is concerned, Hollywood
gapes in astonished innocence, Dean's father waits for Gerold
Frank to write the definitive biography, and Grandmother Dean
Sits in glory amid her twenty—one portraits.

To those who helped with interviews, translations, and
nwral support, my thanks. And a special word of thanks to

Professors Weld and Lewis who "kept the faith."

Robert W. Tysl

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER Page
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
I. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. THE BEGINNING: STAGE AND TELEVISION—-THE
CELEBRITY: A REPUTATION IS FORMED . . 26

III. l955--A NEW BEGINNING: EAST OF EDEN AND
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE: AND AN END--

 

 

 

OF SORTS . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . 51
IV. l956--RESURRECTION AS AN IMAGE: GIANT. . . 158
V. 1957--APOTHEOSIS OF THE IMAGE-—A ”SYMBOL"
IS SHAPED: THE JAMES DEAN STORY . . . 520
VI. 1958--THE "SYMBOL" AS BEAT: ADOPTION AND
ADAPTATION--FACT AND FICTION . . . . . 422
VII. l959--ANALYSIS: THE TASTE MAKERS TAKE OVER
WHERE THE IMAGE MAKERS LEAVE OFF . o . 476
VIII. l960--SOME REVELATIONS AND MORE ANALYSIS. . 499
IX. 1961--FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT REVIVAL--TELE-
VISION TAKES OVER. . . . . . . . . . . 521
X. 1962--TELEVISION AND THE BIG PUSH--AND A
BIGGER FALL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
XI. 1963--HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY——AFTER THE
FALL: DEAN AND MONROE . . . . . . . . 575
XII. 1964-—HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY REVISITED--
"JAMES DEANS I HAVE KNOWN...". . . . . 603
XIII. 1965—-THE END--AND A BEGINNING OF SORTS . . 623
XIV. CONJECTURE AND CONCLUSION—-A NEW BEGINNING. 640
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . 666

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Most general public information about Hollywood and
its stars is as illusory as the definitions offered. The
Ikfllywood star has been equated with the gods,1 has been en-
ckmmd with the qualities "of magic, of holiness."2 The star
tas been almost universally considered as a freak of circum—
smance and "the breaks,"3 the product of "a sudden excitement,
a sense of recognition, and then a feeling akin to love."4
The sudden and immediate recognition of star quality on the
Inut of the public may well be part of the insulated myth
Ikfllywood has created and fostered as a protective camouflage.
The motion picture industry as a business has protected itself
fimethe public and from all outsiders by a careful and rigid
tmt invisible censorship procedure.

With the breakdown of the Hollywood studio system,
(May recently have more cogent'and perhaps more reliable
anal-YSes of stardom come to light. The veils of mystery have
hleen partially ripped away. As Bill Davidson put it:

. the creation of a movie star often is an artificial

Process, not unlike the manufacture of Cheddar cheese.
If the proper ingredients and machinery are used, you

have--after the elapsing of a certain period of time-~an
excellent cheese or a good movie star.

Coukiit be that being a star meant less "some internal flair,
some catalytic capacity to evoke excitement and response"6
thmiit meant some external manipulation of the totality of

the star's public exposure, his image? Davidson's rather
mmwrto—earth imagery concerning star-building coincides with
iflistair Cooke's revelation of some years ago, disguised as

part of an historical study, that "the routine has been so often
rehearsed, it is a wonder any boy or girl worked on by a studio

doesrmm automatically become a star."7

To better understand the nature of stardom, it is the
intention of this paper to examine the career of a particular
smar, James Dean, to note the formation of the Dean image,
vmat was employed and how it was used, the ingredients, the
machinery, and the timing.

The reasons for using the Dean image are several.

He was, first of all, what Edgar Morin called "the perfect
star,”8 exhibiting all of the traits Morin and most other
Mmiters associated with star quality. Moreover, Dean was
dead; he was dead, in fact, before he became a star. Indeed,
the fact of his death may have triggered the spark of greater
PUbkkzrecognition. In any case, the situation of the Dean
iflmge was such that no "real life" tampering with the image
Cfllthe part of the star could unseat him or sway his follow-
hKL Dean's personal contributions to his image ended with

Ins death, creating what could almost be called a laboratory

sfituation. Only manipulation of that image could raise him
to star stature; such is the process this paper is interested
in. Zicritical biography is not the focus of attention. The
flxnmsremains the image, which is not necessarily related to
'Truth." Truth would be, in any case, of little relevance
lune, insofar as the image is concerned, except as it enters
asgxut of the raw material of the image and the image makers.
bkme important than truth in the building of an image is the
constant reiteration of a selected set of personality character—
istics or related illustrative anecdotes which form a compre—
tensible, cohesive, and coherent public image, at once recog—
rnzable in film roles and augmenting publicity material, a
tnocess hardly magical, but a manipulation of public imagery

in time--for a time.

James Dean, man and image, was a creature of his time.
Pan and image had an historical reality, and any overview
nmst construct some sort of historical perspective. Eric F.
Jehnson characterized the middle Fifties as a "kind of auto-
meted 1920's with weak White House leadership, a foreign
gmlicy drifting from platitude to platitude, a domestic policy
that avoided the basic problems of the 1950's."9 Richard H.
Revere saw a “general weakness of conviction on most things
throughout the country. . . . The great sin of the early 1950's,
the great difficulty, was that nothing could be discussed on

its merits.“10 McCarthyism and the exhaustion of the

Democrats had created a sort of intellectual void on the
national scene. John Emmet Hughes saw "temperance, modera-
tion . . . and restraint . . . a conviction to do nothing."11
Basking in the luxuries of increased leisure and a high
national economy, yet still shaking from the fears of the
Korean conflict, the nation sat back to watch without reflection
the passage of "the placid decade."12 On the day of the Big
Four Geneva Meeting millions of Americans watched the opening
of Disneyland on television.
The moral tone of "that strange period"13 called the
Fifties was described by John Clellon Holmes as lying "some~
“mere between Ike's reassuring grin and McCarthy's wolfish
mMJe."l4 There was more time to enjoy, less time to think.
Eflmer Davis saw "fear of intelligence, fear of thinking, fear
to trust your own opinions in the give and take of dis_
cussions."ls
Popular literature alternately decried the younger

6 or called

gmmeration as riddled with juvenile delinquency,l
it "silent,”l7 "apathetic, laconic,”l8 with "no great loves,
no profound hates, and pitifully few enthusiasms."19 The
scholarly research studies would seem to bear out the popular
conclusions. Riesman, Glazer, and Denney's The Lonely Crowd

saw a creeping "other-directed—ness,"2O

and the Purdue Opinion
Polls Study of Youth found that "every study of teenagers'
attitudes finds them to be a reflection——sometimes distorted

lnm more often accurate-—of adult thinking and behavior."21

The family worried about its youngsters: the young-
smers worried about themselves. With more money and fewer
responsibilities, the youngsters often had more money to Spend
on purely leisure pursuits than had their parents.22
Adolescent entertainment was to become an important part of

the national economy. Young people were a part of the affluent

society.

Certainly a good portion of the adolescent entertain»
bent dollar went to the film industry, but the film industry
was not wholly convinced it had lost its greater mass audience.
The Fifties was a very difficult period for Hollywood.

Theater receipts had declined since 1947 and continued to drop
through 1953.23 Television and other forms of recreation were
stealing Hollywood's mass audience. Fewer and costlier pic-
tures employing fewer people seemed the immediate answer to a
panic that arose as sharply and as quickly as did television.
It was a time for taking chances. It was a time for not
taking chances. It was a time of deSperation. The Fifties
was the era of the filming of the "best sellers," works which
had been "proved" in the bookstores, on the stage, on tele-
vision. Young newcomers, actors, writers, directors, and
producers, were imported from Broadway and from television.

In the area of acting, especially, the studios feverishly be-
gan to re-build stables of talent to work with and, in time,
to replace the established stars who "were growing too old to

Pflay romantic leads to appeal to vast teen age audiences.”24

There was still some belief in the particular suit-
ability of the film for the modern temper. One aesthetician
commented:

We live in a fragmented, motile environment, and in
the motion picture the seemingly futile activity of daily
American urban life acquires by reason of its decoction
into meaningful rhythms and patterns of sound and image,
excitement and acceptability. The modern temper, ex-
asperated and energetic, yet passive under bombardment by
accessories to nature, receives in this visual drama of
multiplicity its most authentic revelation.25

The popular utilization of the anamorphic lens
(Cinemascope), at first considered as feasible only for ”big"
pictures with crowd scenes and spectacle, proved, in use, after
competing with other varied emergent forms, to provide even
greater elasticity and intimacy than the old narrow ratio.26
By its very physical and aesthetic nature Cinemascope elimi-
nated the necessity of the many cuts previously used. The
depth of focus released directors from the necessity of using
establishing shots; dialogue need not be cross-cut. Cinema~
scope took film a step further from the montage aesthetic of
the silent film, but it put a magnified emphasis upon what
mes being shown. The film environment which supported the
Dewiinmge had the combined qualities of theatrical concen-
tration and the intimacy of the screen. The wide screen
techniques allowed and, at times, demanded greater and longer
concentration on the actor.

With the new techniques of filming came new techniques

of acting. Opposed to the "mainstream sound style" of the

late Forties and early Fifties, which Specialized in the

dead—pan faces of stars like Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, came
the Method: "The Method was a conscious, perhaps somewhat
cerebral reaction against this lack of feeling, towards a
deeper, more revealing and spontaneous self-awareness."27

Though he would have carped at the aesthetics of Cinema-
scope and its lack of montage, the Russian theorist Pudovkin?"8
printed out, years ago, the particular suitability of an acting
method employing Stanislavskian principles for the cinema.

Pudovkin's emphasis on "living the role"29

pointed, too, to
the very principle of the star system in films. Because the
actor's roles would be a "subjugation and re-expression of
the actor‘s own living individuality,"30 Pudovkin considered
the theatrical sense of the actor's range as becoming altered:
The variety of roles he can play in the cinema is
dependent: either in the variety of characters he can
play while preserving one and the same external appear-
ance (Stroheim) or, alternatively, on his development of
one and the same character throughout a variety of
circumstances (Chaplin).31
James Dean's acting career was brief. His was a grow~
ing talent. He may not have been the first Method actor on
the screen, but his acting style in combination with directorial
Cinemascope techniques brought an enhancement to the qualities

of each, and, in turn, added no little stature to the recog-

Iution of Dean's acting talents and his claims to stardom.

The film figure is not yet a star, though he may be als
ready well along the road to stardomt Whether the actor in the

fihnnmkes his journey to Hollywood from the stage or television,

or rises through the ranks in Hollywood, the way toward star-

2 either

dom has already been prepared by the press agents,3
those employed by the motion picture studios or personal
representatives. Though a trend placing greater or equal
emphasis on the story and/or the director has been on the rise
in recent years, merchandizing a film by using the star's name
as a selling point has been and still is a major part of the
fkdlywood advertising procedure. If the picture is the actor's
first, more likely than not publicity will be built around his
activities and personality traits which can be most easily
associated with his film role when the picture is finally re-
leased. The image presented through publicity builds upon the
fihninege. They become one. With the addition of more pub—
licity and more films, the joint image can be nurtured and
enriched.

Both cultist and anthropologist agree on the importance

of reinforcing publicity. Edgar Morin said:

The interchange anddidentification of the two person-
alities, that of the heroine of the film and the more Or
less fabricated one of the actress, produce the star, who
in return will determine the characters she is to
incarnate.33

Hortense Powdermaker intimated the same thought when she said:

Publicity, whether it is through the gossip columns
in trade and daily papers, or in interviews and articles
in fan and other magazines, concentrates on the person of
the actor. . . . Type casting, in which the actors re-
peatedly play similar roles, strengthens this tendency.

The audience tends to identify the actor with the role
and thinks it is seeing the man and not the actor.34

The kinds of publicity that can help build a star
are varied. Exposure is the key and may consist of anything
from photographs to full length biographies. Initial or
intermediate stages may include nothing more than the star's
zume among those attending a party or a premiere. When a
picture is in production, or about to go into production, a
representative from the studio publicity department is assigned
to the unit. It is his job to sift through the often inconse—
quential incidents connected with the actor's work or his life
and to find those anecdotes or situations most newsworthy.
These, in turn, are passed on, either personally or through a
"planterfi‘to the Hollywood press and eventually, and hopefully,
to the awaiting public.

Not all Hollywood publicity is false. It is merely
selective-~and, at times, exaggerated to make it not only
acceptable but capable of being sold as a news item. The truth
of the information presented may be in inverse proportion to
the popularity of the star concerned. Once a star is accepted
inrthe public, there is little difficulty in Spreading the
information. Difficulty arises when the star—to—be is an un—
known. ‘Where there is no demand for the information, it is

up to the publicist to create the demand.

The most direct source of Hollywood publicity campaigns
is the press book or campaign book. The large (approximately

12 inches by 18 inches) sheets detail the “official" studio

10

publicity campaign dealing with a Specific picture. The press
books illustrate the various publicity materials (advertisements,
posters, stills, banners, etc.) that can be ordered by exhibit~
ors for display purposes in conjunction with the showing of

the film. Copy for canned reviews, publicity Spots, and bio-
graphical materials are also presented for local use in the
exploitation of the picture and its stars. The press books

are created by the studios and are printed for and distributed
to the individual local exhibitors. The general public seldom
sees the press books as a whole. What the public does see are
the general distribution advertisements in the mass media and
the selections made from the press books by the local exhibit—
ors for local use.

The press books do not include local publicists' bally-
hoo, usually concentrated in the larger cities, for reviewers,
cplumnists and/or the general public. Local big city pro—
motional stunts may be as inventive and imaginative as the
Mats and budgets of the studio publicity staffs allow. Some-
times special agents or firms are hired for a specific bally
project. Parades, stars' junkets from Hollywood, press junkets
tolkfllywood, and press parties are typical ploys. An ex-
penditure of "$30,000 to $40,000 for one film in a metropolitan

area is not uncommon."35

More generalized information concerning the stars and

their images is presented to the public through the Hollywood

11

press. The Hollywood press represents the syndicated column-
ists and the writers regularly assigned by newspapers and
umgazines, foreign and domestic. Ezra Goodman was rather
scathing in his description of them as a group:

The Hollywood press is unlike any journalistic group
anywhere. It consists of approximately 500 working (?)
press, including about 150 representatives of foreign
publications and 50 photographers. . . . And this press
aggregation is as bad as it is big. It is strictly a
second—rate fourth estate subsisting-—with negligible
exceptions--on press agent hand—outs of mostly trumped up

tales, freeloading (another name for payola) and general
incompetence.3

O O O O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Hollywood may well be the one news beat where sheer
ability and enterprise can fail to pay off. In Hollywood,
it is not so much what you know as who you know, and not
how hard and well you work, but what circulation you have
and how kind you are in print to all concerned.37

Goodman found that internal and external pressures

exerted to preserve the Hollywood image so great that "even

the most elementary facts about movies rarely get into print."38
At the root of the entire situation was money. Goodman saw
money as "the life blood of the community, and publicity-—or

the lack of the right kind of publicity--goes right along with
it .l139

Malcolm Boyd4O quoted exhibitor R. J. O'Donnell as

reporting that stardom could be worth $200,000,000 to a studio,
based on a screen life anticipation of ten years, with four or
five pictures a year. Publicity investments could be con—

sidered good investments if they paid off. And to pay off,

there must be exposure; somewhere in that estimated 100,000

12

vmrds a day floating out of Hollywood from the corps, the
name of the star must find its way—~once or several times.41
"Exposure, exposure, exposure. The more attention the better."42
A detractor of Clark Gable once analyzed the star's appeal:
They took a big, handsome hunk of man . . . and they
told everyone he was the King. They repeated this loud
and long enough-~like Goebbels' Big Lie-~50 that everyone,
including Gable, believed it.43
And the papers and magazines would accept the Big Lie.
like other Hollywood products, Hollywood news is a commodity,
a commodity to be sold and to be bought. The public did like
to hear about its stars. It did like to hear about the images.
Marlon Brando said once:
It's all a fairy tale, of course . . . but many
people have a peculiar need to have fairy tales repeated
to them. They like to think of certain persons in terms
of a particular identity, and they don't want them to
play other roles in their mind or their fantasies-~they
don't want much variance from the original character they
endow you with.44
David Susskind's 1961 "Open End" television show cover-
ing "Hollywood's Fourth Estate"45 featured a symposium involv-
ing several of Hollywood's top writers. They all thought of
themselves as "reporters." Mike Connolly, columnist in the
trade papers, film magazines, and syndicated in 88 neWSpapers,
said that the Hollywood actor had three lives, his personal
life, his life on the screen, and his life in print. Joe Hyams,
freelance writer and columnist for the New York Herald Tribune,
Syndicated to 100 neWSpapers, told how the press agent, studio

or personal, came to interviews to set the scene and to listen

in, to "intermediate," making sure the information given

13

exploited "the things the person wants exploited." It was

explained that the function of the press agent was "trying to

either stop or get publicity for the client." It was at times

names out of the paper, or neces—

necessary to keep clients'
sary to "create a different image." Hyams said that the stars
that's

were symbols: "What they represent on the screen

how we cover them-—personal lives, that's another thing. . . .

Connolly called a star "a ticket seller,"

We are doing a job."
the star was someone who could "bring the people in."
claiming ”the public has to

He dis-

claimed any ability to make stars,
make the stars." Sidney Skolsky, fan magazine and newspaper
columnist, said one of the jobs of the Hollywood press was to

try to discover who were the stars and who were to be the
stars, declaring that "something happens to a face or a person

when they hit celluloid," there was a ”magic involved,” and

"if you could pick out these people.
The change in the Hollywood system had not much changed

the publicity scheme of things. If anything, the solicitation

of journalistic favors was "more intense." As Connolly stated

it, "I'm very glad. I'm suspicious of people who don't want

publicity. They need it."

These writers and the others of the Hollywood press

corps present their material to the public through a variety

of media. Television and radio have played their part in

selling Hollywood to the public. The newspaper wire services

14

send out regular dispatches concerning all manner of Hollywood

trivia. Larger new5papers often carry a regularly syndicated
Hellywood column. Magazines present more lengthy trivia;

magazines can afford greater Space for elaboration and amalga-

mation of the image-bearing information. Sometimes dressed

up as news, the information may be presented in Time and Life.

Such pretensions are not even necessary for magazines like

Cosmopolitan or Redbook. Public interest and enthusiasm may be

enough of a selling point.

Probably the greatest single regularly published outlet

for the Hollywood myth and the star image is the fan magazine.

 

REX Knepper's study of the fan magazine in Sight and Sound46

said that although the fan magazines were devoted exclusively to

personalities and productions of the film industry, they were

Yet Bill Davidson said that "for

"in no sense house organs."

studio publicity departments have regarded the

many years ,
ll 47

fan magazines as ex officio arms of their organizations.
Though the fan magazines remained independent of fi-

nancial control by the studios, the general housecleaning of

1934 forced them into a position where they paid the piper, but

the studios called the tune. Since the magazines and their

umiters existed primarily on handouts from the studio pub-
Lnfity'departmentsfg‘they could not but agree when‘the studios
demanded that "all fan magazine stories that have been arranged

through the studios had to be cleared by the studio publicity

.15

departments before publication."49 Studio censorship of the

fan magazines was evidently something more than merely the
C150

"broad" policy Knepper suggeste

provided the studios "with an

The magazines, in turn,

outlet for publicity of a uniformly favorable character, some-
thing which they cannot command from any other medium of
that

public information."51 It should be stated, however,

motion picture advertising in other magazines and in neWSpapers

has been known to command considerable reSpect for the medium

and its stars. Why did fan magazines put up with such tamper—

Mainly because the studio had to provide them with

ing?
And the business

material or they would go out of business.

was much too lucrative to lose.
Knepper reported sales of "well over five million”

copies a month for the leading fan magazines, with Modern

Screen and Photoplay averaging well over a million each.

Screenland, Silver Screen, Motion Picture and Movieland made
up much of the rest of the total sales.52 A decade later Daniel

Boorstin reported that one quarter of all magazine titles were

 

in the fan-romance category, according to a Newsdealer survey,

Vflth combined sales of 53 million copies a month, 400 million
copies a year.53 Knepper rated fan magazine consumption at
"three readers per copy," considering their popularity in beauty

parlors, waiting rooms, etc., with "none of their circulation

wasted" because "nobody but a movie fan" reads a fan magazine.54

16

Since a mainstay of the fan magazine is the gossip
column, the column puffs and mentions of the up and coming
young stars are interSpersed, at first, with photo layouts,
showing the starlets on the beach, on a picnic, at a party,
sightseeing. These layouts are furnished by the studio.

"After there have been enough layouts and the kids begin to
notice them, then finally a writer is assigned to the story."55

Knepper considered the readers "emotionally adolescent"56
and in recent years the readership has become completely so.

The copy emphasis reflects the tastes of the readership with

its concentration on physical attraction, sex appeal, and the
personal lives of the stars. Readers are "but slightly con—
cerned with the professional attainments of their idols; they
vent to share the personal lives of their favorite screen

figures . . . to enter into what they believe is the charmed
world of naughty but nice Hollywood":57

The studios know this. They also know that it is the

readers of the fan magazines who raise an actor from the
ranks of average to the pinnacle of box office 'take,‘
since their abnormal enthusiasm blinds whatever critical
faculties they might otherwise possess: they will need
to see his every film not once but several times.58

The correlation of the star's life with a film is
further enhanced by the large number of photographs and other
illustrations in fan magazines. Portraits, stills, on- and
off-the-set Shots are mingled with the simple easy-to-read
COPY: which makes usually only one point and takes several

thousand spice-packed words to do it. A research project

Sponsored by the U. S. Office of Education once Spent

17

$1,200,000 to prove the readability of fan magazine materials.59
More recent years found the age of the readership
decreasing, and the contents debased still further. The tin-

seled success of Confidential and other such scandal magazines

 

brought about a changeover in the mid-Fifties when the fan
magazines, in order to recapture some of the readers lost to the
juicier copy of the scandal magazines, resorted to using some

of the Confidential tricks, using misleading headlines, putting
even greater emphasis on self—indulgence and sex. Motivated by
the dollar sign, the themes of fan magazines became more racy,

but the stories themselves "consisted of the same treacle as

before."60

Confidential, Rave, and other such scandal magazines
did their share of debunking of the Hollywood star image, but
scandalous information, per se, is not always injurious to the
star image. Ezra Goodman cited several instances of collusion
between the publishers and the studios where scandal magazine
revelations were, in fact, directly inspired by studio-provided

information.61

Probably the closest generic descendant of the fan
magazine, which fulfills many of its functions but on a
broader base, is the teen magazine. In recent years teen
magazine publication has begun to assume a stratification not
unlike that assigned to adult publications. There are the

"glossy" SOphisticated fashion magazines like Seventeen, the

18

muddle class magazines, like Teen, comparable to the mass
sellers, and the lower class magazines like Dig, and 16,
It is notable that the magazines which feature an age as part
of their title invariably serve and cater to an audience
several years younger. None of the magazines in this category,
obviously gauged to a uniquely Specialized audience, appeared
on the national scene before 1956. Jesse Bernard's study of
the teen magazines revealed that the group as a whole was
concerned with "the major positive-—fun and popularity-~and
negative——overweight or underweight and adolescent acne—-
values of its readers."62 Bernard said, "How to be attractive
in order to be popular in order to have fun is the major bur-
den of their contents."63 Charles H. Brown's study found the
basic format to be double barreled, with a confessional aSpect
and a cultic aSpect:
The confessional aSpect centers about relationships

with the other sex and such personal problems as how to

be attractive, how to overcome shyness, and, in general,

how to be popular. The cultic aspect centers about

young and handsome rock—and-roll musicians and movie and

television players. The articles deal with the most

intimate of matters, to such an extent as to constitute

an almost morbid preoccupation.64

Brown's 1961 circulation figures showed combined sales

h.65 Since the time of

of almost a million copies a mont
Brown's study the number of magazines and their circulation have
grown considerably, but their format remains the same. Brown
felt the magazines were "meeting a real need of young people”

in that they offered "the reassurance of a kind not to be

found elsewhere."66

19

The even more specialized publics of the trade papers
and the "serious" film magazines constitute an extremely small
Imxcentage of the movie public. Indeed, since the regular

readers of the trade papers, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter,

 

are almost by definition members of the entertainment industry,
they can hardly be considered as part of the consumer public.
The serious film magazines, foreign and domestic, are not
typical of the greater consumer public either. Even the most

pmpular magazines, Cahiers du Cinema, Sight and Sound, Films

 

 

and Filming and Film Quarterly, rarely exceed a distribution of

 

 

over 10,000 copies per issue.67

The majority of the serious
film magazines are recent in origin and are generally not
American publications, though their subject matter is pre-

dominantly American films. Concentration is usually aesthetic

and critical rather than biographical.

With the atmosphere and the machinery of star building
established, what remains is the basic ingredient: the indi-
vidual. Though, as noted previously, truth has little
reference in the study of imagery, some indication of "What was
James Dean really like?" might serve to indicate from just
what kind of source the publicists could draw material. To
better serve the interests of ascertaining what was true, the
following section of this study dealing with Dean's biographical
information is derived from previously unpublished materials,

through personal interview and observation. That even here

20

one is dealing with the variables of personal interest and
distorted memory is a recognized limitation and should be re—
garded as such by the reader.

There follows an attempt at chronological reconstruc-
tion of the Dean image. The available materials drawn from
the mass media in no sense represent a complete compilation.
Considering the fact that the greater majority of the materials
mare derived from no known bibliographic sources, the listing
is as complete as might be expected. More importantly, how-
ever,ix1their totality, the materials chronologically reveal

patterns and influences that allow a reconstruction of the

image in time.

In the reconstruction of the Dean image several general
characteristics were noted and are suggested here as a guide
to reading what follows. As already suggested, the image built
is a generally cohesive, coherent amalgam of repeated personality
characteristics, reinforced jointly through films and other
mass media. Other repetitions which might be catalogued are
the repetitions involved concerning a single source. A given
poem about Dean, for instance, might receive initial publication
in a periodical, then be reprinted in a collection of the
author's works. It may be further reprinted in an anthology.
Similarly, movies become television programs, hardcover books
are serialized, condensed, or become paperbacks. The reasons

for repetition may find their foundation, commercial or

21

otherwise, more in the aesthetic quality of the work or the

Jxmmtation of the author, than in any intrinsic relationship

‘UJthe Dean image. Though the image may not be the cause of

the repetition, the repetition has an effect on the image.

Above and beyond the effects on the audience of repetition,
per se, the degree and means of repetition may broaden the
receiving audience.

Another recurring characteristic in the evolution of

the Dean image might be called "linkage": the linking of one

ruma with another. A picture may be sold by linking its title

tx>the name of its star. A rising star may be linked to an

already established star. Daniel Boorstin has noted a
"symbiotic" reinforcing relationship between celebrities,68 but

a.study of the evolving Dean image will Show the importance

of linkage in establishing celebrity.

The concepts of linkage and repetition are basic means

for long and continued public recognition of the star image.
Linkage and repetition extend public recognition of the star

image long after the immediate, viable causes of the insti~

tution of the image have been met.

Following the reconstruction of the Dean image a final

Chapter is devoted to a brief conjectural analysis of the

effects of the Dean image.

22

To support the chronological approach employed in this

paper, an arbitrary system of noting has been established.

Chapter notes appear at the end of each chapter. Newspaper

and magazine column items and books receive the usual page

reference to Show where the indicated item appears. Magazine

articles are, however, often extensively summarized and quoted.

For the convenience of the reader, to forestall any long and

repetitious listing, the Single page listing noted for magazine

articles is the page on which the article begins. The notes

then of themselves constitute a more graphic chronological

mmmary of Dean material presented in the indicated period.
Because of the nature of the material and its sources,

some of the items are fragmentary. Correct placement regard~

ing location and date is conjectural. They have been so noted.

(0(1)

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

17.
18.

19.
20.

21.

. Bill Davidson,

. Leo Rosten,

. Alistair Cooke, "Douglas Fairbanks:

CHAPTER I--NOTES

Edgar Morin, The Stars, trans. Richard Howard (New York:
Grove Press, Inc., 1960), p. 33.

Maurice Zolotow on "Open End: The Actor's Syndrome"
(Chicago TV, February 18, 1961).

Hortense Powdermaker, Hollywood, The Dream Factory
(New York: Grosset's Universal Library, 1950), p.
244. See also Thomas Lorber Harris, "The Building of
POpular Images, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe,"
Studies in Public Communication No. 1 (Summer, 1961)

pp. 45-48.

"Hollywood: The Great Stars" (Chicago TV, March 13, 1963).

The Real and the Unreal (New York: Lancer

Books, 1962), p. 56.
"Hollywood Revisited," Helloy Hollywood, ed.
Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr (New York: Doubleday and

Company, 1962). p. 506.
The Making of a Screen

Character" (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1940),

p. 6.

. Morin, Op. cit., p. 133.

"The Open Mind: The Eisenhower Years" (Chicago TV, April

28, 1965).

Ibid.

Joseph Satin (ed.), The 1950's: America's Placid Decade
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960).

John Clellon Holmes, "Farewell to a Bad Decade," Nugget,

April, 1964, p. 41.
Ibid.
Elmer Davis, "Through a Perilous Night,“ The 1950's:

America's Placid Decade, ed. Joseph Satin (Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960), p. 127.
Benjamin Fine, 1,000,000 Delinguents (Cleveland:

Publishing Company, 1955).

"The Younger Generation," Time, November 5, 1951, p. 46.
Harrison Smith, "Report on a Generation,” Saturdaijeview,

December 1, 1951, p. 22.

Ibid.

David Riesman, Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney, The Lonely
growd: A Study of the Changing American Character
lNew York: Anchor Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1953).

H. H. Remmers and D. H. Radler, The American Teenager
(New York: Charter Books; Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,

1962), p. 38.

The World

23

24

Henry Holt and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22. Alan Levy, Operation Elvis (New York:
Company, 1960), p. 112.

23. Murray Schumach, "Hollywood Today," New York Times,
January 22, 1961, Sec. 2, p. 7.

24. Baldwin H. Ward (ed.), Year (New York: Simon and
Schuster, Inc., 1955), p. 140.

25. Vernon Young, "The Witness Point: Definition of Film
Art," New World Writing No. 4, 1955, p. 270.

26. See Charles Barr, “Cinemascope: Before and After,"
Film Quarterly, Vol. XVI, No. 4, Summer, 1963, pp. 4-26
for a discussion of this topic.

2L.Raymond Durgnat, "Getting Cimena on the Right Wavelength,"
Films and Filming, Vol. XI, No. 5 (February, 1965)
p. 47.

28. V. I. Pudovkin, Film Technigue and Film Acting (New York:
Grove Press, Inc., 1960), p. 334.

29. Ibid , p. 216.

30. Ibid., p. 242.

31. Ibid., p. 369.

32. Interview with Ted Ashton, press representative, Warner
Brothers Studio, July 15, 1959.

33. Morin, op. cit., p. 58.

34. Powdermaker, op. cit., p. 207.

35. Sam Lesner, "What Sells a Film?" Chicago Daily News,
"Panorama," July 25, 1964, p. 17.

36. Ezra Goodman, The Fifterear Decline and Fall of Hollywood
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961), p. 18.

37. Ibid., p. 19.

38. Ibid., p. 42.

39. Ibid., p. 17.

40. Malcolm Boyd, Christ and CelebrityrGods (Greenwich,
Connecticut: The Seabury Press, 1958), p. 8.

41. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image or What Happened to the
American Dream (New York: Atheneum, 1962), p. 160.

42. Hal Perlman, publicist quoted in Dick Christiansen's
"Here's What Makes Movie a Smash Hit," Chicago Daily
News, "Chicago Life," July 16, 1960, p. 14.

43. Davidson, op. cit., p. 85.

44. Joanne Stang, "Marlon Brando at 40," New York Times,
November 29, 1964, Sec. 2, p. 11.

45. "Open End: Hollywood's Fourth Estate" (Chicago TV,
February 26, 1961).

46. Max Knepper, "Hollywood's Barkers," Sight and Sound, XIX,
No. 9, January 1951, p. 359.

47. Davidson, op. cit., p. 146.

48. Knepper, op. cit., p. 359.

49. Goodman, op. cit., p. 78.

50. Knepper, op. cit., p. 359.

51. Ibid.

52. Ibid.

53. Boorstin, 0p. cit., p. 160. See also Laurence J. Quirk,

"Fan Mags: The Pros and Cons," Variety, January 9,
1963, p. 36.

25

54. Knepper, op. cit., p. 359.
55. Goodman, op. cit., p. 83.
56. Knepper, pp. cit., p. 360.

57. Ibid.
58 Ibid.

 

59.'lem Articles Easy; Others Baffle Teens," Chicago Sun-
Times, February 21, 1962, p. 14.

60. Goodman, op. cit., p. 52.

61. Davidson, op. cit., p. 146.
62. Jesse Bernard, "Teen-Age Culture: An Overview,"

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science, Vol. 338 (November, 1961), p. 5.

63. Ibid.
64. Charles H. Brown, ”Self Portrait: The Teen-Type Magazine,’

The Annals of The American Academy of Political and
Social Science, Vol. 338 (November, 1961), p. 15.

65. Ibid., p. 20.

66. Ibid., p. 21.
67. Andrew Sarris, “The Farthest Out Moviegoers,“ Saturdgyfi

Review, December 26, 1964, p. 14.
68. Daniel J. Boorstin, op. cit., p. 65.

 

CHAPTER II

THE BEGINNING: STAGE AND TELEVISION--THE CELEBRITY:
A REPUTATION IS FORMED

James Dean was born in Indiana on February 8, 1931.
Mbving to California with his parents as an infant, Dean re-
turned to Indiana at the death of his mother when he was nine.
He was raised by his aunt and uncle, Ortense and Marcus Winslow,
cn1a farm near Fairmount, Indiana, where he stayed until he was
eighteen years old. According to his aunt:

He was a borned actor . . . from the littlest child,

he'd tell us things, acting them out—-he'd mimic us.

Why he could make a dog laugh! Funny! You never saw
anyone so funny. Everybody talks about him being so
serious. I never saw such a well-adjusted boy. He was
the only boy grandchild . . . everybody made such a fuss
over him. He started calling me 'Mom' right away.

He loved sports: basketball and track. And the

drums . . . why he‘d tap out on anything until we got
him-m1 guess you'd call it—-a marching drum.

He loved an audience. She said, "I never saw such a
determined child." Aunt Ortense was active in the local
W.C.T.U. Starting at an early age, he gave speeches in
W.C.T.U. speech contests and won medals; silver. gold and
bronze. Aunt Ortense continues:

About his junior year he was going to try for the

Pearl--you need four or five Speakers to have a contest.
He was supposed to be in the track meet that same day.
He wanted to be in the track meet. I made him go to

5Peak. He started out beautifully--and then he froze—-
ComPletely. I'd never again force him into anything.

26

27

Dean seldom had to be forced. He enjoyed dramatics
and was active with his high school drama group. According
to a Fairmount local: "He took to acting like he took to
slopping hogs--he, himself, directed everything he was in.
Adeline Nall didn't have to do anything."2

But Adeline Nall, the drama coach, did see possibilities
in Dean's Halloween high school performance as Frankenstein and
coached him to win the National Forensics League state com—
petition at Peru in April, 1949. His competition material was
a horror monologue, "The Madman." He went on to Longmont,
Colorado for the national competitions—but didn't make the
grade. After graduation he went to California where he re—
joined his father, a dental technician at the Veterans Adminis-
tration hospital near Santa Monica. He did some work with a
Santa Monica little theatre group, and a change from the local
Santa Monica city college to U.C.L.A. brought new theatre
Opportunities: he played Malcolm in the Theatre Department's
production of Mgppgph. It was at this production that he was
noticed by a young actor's agent, Isabelle Draesmer: "For me
his sex appeal lay in his mouth and below—-the use of his body.
He was Sharp--quick and sharp. But he didn't have the
discipline nor the concentration to give his talent direction.“3
Working on these aspects of his now chosen career, Dean started
to work with James Whitmore, a successful motion piéture

aCtor. in a sort of West Coast Actors Studio Whitmore was con-

ducting at the time. Whitmore said of the group:

28

These were boys and girls, mostly in their teens or
possibly many in their early twenties . . . maybe Jimmy
was twenty; I don't know exactly how old he was . . . who
were getting no real, they felt, helpful, dynamic, or
specific, really usably specific instruction in acting at
U.C.L.A., so they came to me . . . how they arrived at me
I now disremember completely. I undertook the thing
completely selfishly to discover in myself, to reaffirm
things that I had learned in New York in the Actors Studio
and various other schools I had attended, and to see if
they applied to young people and if they could be com-
municated to young people.

A great pianist, or a violinist, or a painter, you
know, all of them have to go through certain——not have to.
but should, daily--go through certain exercises to keep
their muscles in trim . . . and the muscles in acting, of
course, are the imagination and your senses and your
emotional organism.

We did the basic finger exercises, so called, of acting;
imagination exercises, sensory exercises, to just heighten
the acting equipment that a human being is provided with by
God: the use of the senses, the use of the imagination.
Yes, in a sensory way you do little daily tasks without the
objects being there: you peel an apple without the apple
being there or without a knife in your hand-—just using
your imagination and your sensory equipment to make it be
there. This is not usable on the stage, hardly ever, or
in the work, but it just heightens the organism that
you're using.

The essential thing that came out of that group, aside
from the specifics of the acting technique, the thing that
I tried to impress on the young people that I taught, was
to find out what it is you essentially want as an artist.
That was the thing I kept telling them over and over again
to find out, and, in connection with Dean, he was in a
terribly confused state at that time, as most young men
are——but Jimmy, I feel, was possibly more sensitive than
many young men—~and whether it was that Jimmy was gifted,
as very few human beings are, with the ability to find out
essentially what his needs were at an early age, I cannot
say, but at any rate, Jimmy took this advice very much to
heart and mind and made it a part of him.4

Dean dropped out of school. He dated Beverly Wills,
daughter of comedienne Joan Davis, and, somehow, managed to
98h a job at the C.B.S. parking lot, then privately managed.
Funds were low, but he relished the independence. Working with

him was Art Marshall, a young actor who had worked with Dean

29

in Macbeth at U.C.L.A.:

Several boys worked there. We were all literally
starving actors, ready and willing to take almost anything
that came along. I was married and had my own problems.
Jimmy asked me to come and fill in for him from time to
time, and, in time, I was working as often as he. He would
have appointments, saying, "From twelve to four . . .“
and then be gone all day--and, sometimes, for several days.
It got so I never expected him to show up until I did see
him. There were times when he didn't even have a place to
sleep and slept in his car-~an old jalopy he used to love
to barrel around in. He would drive the hell out of it.
and how he loved it when he had a chance to drive

a real car.5

Acting jobs came, but they were inconsequential: some

radio shows, a television commercial, a stint in the movies.

They attracted no real attention, professional or otherwise.

When a good break came a bit, it went by unnoticed. More

often he was just a face in the crowd——if he ever did get on

camera. But the jobs brought money; money bought food. He

existed. James Whitmore continues:

Jimmy's goals were, it seems to me, oh, what ninety—
five per cent of the young people's goals are: multi-
tudinous, multifarious, and completely undefined in their
own minds. And I think this is one reason why they
uh . . . rebel . . . from a sense of formlessness in
their lives and in our world. And Jimmy didn't know,
really, what he wanted to do. He had great urgings in
him as most young people do . . , that's why I did not
separate him from the other young people at the time.

I remember a coffee klatsch we had at one time when
he came to see me and said, 'What shall I do?‘ and he
asked me to see a television half hour he had done, and
at that time Jimmy didn't know whether the idea was to
become a motion picture star, ideally, or what really was
the most desirable thing for him. And I had a very serious
talk with Jimmy and told him that there were very important
things a man or a woman can do in an artistic sense or in a
domestic sense, or in any other way. And the important
thing, and it's reiteration now, is to decide for oneself
whabone needed out of life and, even though wrong, even

though it would change, to make this decision early and
then to have a go at it and damn the torpedoes, not to let

3O

society dictate to you its own restrictions and inhibitions,
which it is, you know, only too eager and happy to do.

As I told Jimmy, go back and find out whether you're
an actor first, and mature . . . and by mature I mean find
out just what your powers are——by acting . . . and acting
in the best sense of the word, which is on stage. The
actor is given much more importance, real importance, on
the stage, because he isn't surrounded by all the technical
crutches that an actor has in motion pictures, or in tele-
vision, for that matter. It's pure acting . . . that's
where the actor is naked . . . on stage. In my opinion
that's the way to find out. And to live with actors who
regard their craft as a craft, not a racket, not as a way
of earning money or fame or fortune or whatever. And I
feel that New York was the place to find that out. New York
seems to be the closest that an actor could get where acting
is viewed as a craft or art.

Jimmy was at that strange state that many people come
to in their lives, where all it takes is a nudge to send you
headlong in a direction. And, as I say, it was really no
more than a two hour talk over coffee one day. It provided
the nudge, and Jimmy never forgot it. As I say, I was not
aware. It was just a nudge.6

The continual search for breaks had been wearing.

Even the relationship with Beverly Wills brought important
professional contacts. And there were other contacts, too.
The "gay" crowd started treating him to supper. He laughed it
off as a free meal ticket. "Later it was a question of marry-
ing Joan Davis' daughter or going off to live with a studio
director . . . ‘He said we could have twin beds' . . . In any
case the next thing they were living together, and it was

with this man he went to Chicago——and on to New York,"7 said
his agent Isabelle Draesmer. Art Marshall said:

The man had dark hair, glasses, was effeminate—-not
obnoxiously so, but obviously so. At the parking lot we
didn't know what the relationship was, but we worried
about Jimmy. He took chances--any chance that might pay
off. Even to directly calling the studios. Never got

him much of anything--but the audacity! Then he left
for Chicago and New York. We lost track of him.8

31

Isabelle Draesmer added, "My mother thought him an

opportunist."9

Opportunistic? Oh, no! He was an instrument, using
all of the things he could control-—what every actor Egg
to do to quench the burning urge for self expression and
creativity. He would put himself in the character whether
it called for it or not. He had the courage to lay his
soul bare.

Deep down, he liked himself. He didn't necessarily
accept himself, but he liked himself. He would sometimes
appear to have disdain for himself because he didn't
think others could like him. They would not see his
worth and would put him down. Rather than risk a gesture
of love, he'd strike out.

Perhaps Jimmy would have been different if he had had

a different background . . . a velvet suit . . . trips to
Europe . . . but then he wouldn't have had the raw, ex-
pressivity he was able to summon and command. He didn't

stand straight on the mark and let it go at that-—he had

the courage and the scruples to be himself, to Show his
hurt and Shock.10

Christine White, a young actress, met Jimmy after he
came to New York. The words above are hers. She knew him
when things were, for him, as bad as anything he had encount—
ered in Hollywood: cheap hotels, the 63rd Street Y.M.C.A.——
always money problems——and problems of identity. His Indiana

family sent some money; his friend, minister James De Weerd,

.1

sent money. A letterle to De Weerd during this period,
characteristically signed "James Dean" (as if he were signing

a check, belying the friendly conversational tone of the body

of the letter), comments on these problems:

We are impaled on a crock of conditioning. A fish
that is in the water has no choice that he is. Genius
would have it that he swam in sand. We are fish and we
drown. We remain in one world and wonder. The fortunate
are taught to ask why. No one can answer. . . . I must

run in the opposite direction. . . . even if I don't know
who I am.

32

Later, television and theatre work give Dean's talent some
water to swim in. We get a picture of the young actor at
work from Christine White:12

The first time I met Jimmy was at Louis Shurr's office.

[theatrical agent——Jimmy was now managed by Jane Deacy,
who worked through the Shurr office] I was sitting in
there typing out a play I had written when in walked this
little boy, all dressed up in a suit-~and glasses, great
big glasses.

'Do you have an envelope for us?‘ he asked.

He asked what she was typing, and when told it was a
play, almost brazenly, he asked to read it. Page by page, as
she typed, he read the play. It was a short two character skit
Chris was preparing for an audition with director Bobby Lewis
depicting a chance meeting between a boy and a girl, Sam and
Clayton, alone on a beach at night, a mood piece four pages
long. It was an excellent vehicle for the purpose for which
it was written. He liked the script and asked Chris to
coffee——to discuss her play: "We discussed my characters and
their motivations, but his first interest was in what they
were wearing. He wanted to visualize what would be taking
place."

Not long afterward Jimmy called Chris to announce that
he had received an appointment for an audition for the Actors
Studio. He wanted to use Chris's play for the audition.

She refused: ”I am going to use it myself . . . I will not
assist you in my own play." He asked her to audition for the

Studio too, and when informed that such a practice was not

allowed, said, "I'll call Lee Strasberg right away." And he

33

did, calling back to inform Chris that all that was needed
was her confirmation.

We worked on it and worked on it, on the roof, on the
street, in the park--for a month and a half. There were
changes and changes, working things out. At no time was
it ever wrong, but it was invariably improved, touch
after touch, until the big day arrived.

I was talking with some friends after we arrived for
the audition, and when I turned around, there he was,
sitting on a radiator, staring-~mesmerized, 'I can't do
it . . . I'm not ready yet!‘

It took all of Chris's persuasive powers and all of
the cans of beer they were using for props to reassure Jimmy
and restore his confidence. When their names were called,
Jimmy's confidence was restored, but they were without props.
Chris suggested they fake it, but was refused, and Jimmy
dashed out to buy four more cans. They had lost their place,
but when Jimmy returned, the nervousness was completely gone.
"Physical energy is the answer," he said.

When their turn came again, everything started off
wrong. Jimmy couldn't find the center of the stage without
his glasses. Chris's entrance called for her to jump over
him. She had to play from the other side or she'd end up in
the wings:

I had to work out something new; it was something
we'd never rehearsed. When he saw me, he straightened
up. It was an electric moment . . . and then he worked
his way over, picking up imaginary sand, letting it fall.
and then catching it, snatching at it in the air, kick—
ing it up with his toe.

The five minute time bell never sounded. The scene

lasted eight and a half minutes, and when it was over,

It . , .
Very nice," said Kazan, "very nice."

34

He never played the straight lines——always the over-
He had a very painstaking and methodical way of

tones.

working a thing out . . . but it came out. Jimmy could

analyze, but he could also execute. He could be tempera—
He was more emotional than

mental, but he was charming.
intellectual, yet the two were strangly intertwined.

There doesn‘t seem to be a middle road for the actor.
He was a creature of extremes: depression one minute,
wild gaiety the next. It is difficult to be childlike,

a quality absolutely essential for an actor, retaining

the wonder and innocence, without being childish. He
could do things and be nasty--yet you couldn't help liking
him. And perverse! He would always do what wasn't ex-
pected: ‘Don't do the normal thing!‘ His way was Egg
way; he was virtually undirectable because he felt he
could do no wrong insofar as his art was concerned.
the 'wrong' things were not completely wrong. You'd
rather believe the character could do such a thing.
Behind them all was always Jimmy. Even Hamlet: 'Hamlet
hasn't been done yet until I_do him!‘ he'd say.

Chris used

Even

When asked to clarify the last statement,

herself as an example in what one may consider a form of the

currently popular Method approach to a role, an approach, a

method Dean probably used:

Juliet does not exist in the flesh and blood unless
she is played. Juliet does not exist until the actress
gets a hold of her. She is a fictitious character,
written down on paper. Juliet becomes me. I do not be-
come Juliet, because I am me, born in this century.

Juliet is another character conceived in ShakeSpeare's
mind. He never knew me. She must become me because I am
the one who is alive. That means, she jumps into my skin,

so to speak, because I have to honestly be her with the
equipment I have: the voice that I have, Juliet must
she must use. Therefore,

use; the gestures that I have,
that makes her a true character in terms of the way I am
playing her.

If the conceptual approach to a character seems

strange or unorthodox, the approach to the playing of a role

is equally so, and much more involved.

35

How do you get yourself stimulated into a part so
that it is in conjunction with your own feelings comfort-
ably? When I look at a script, this is what I do: I just
read it through, and draw no conclusions I just want
to get an impression. An impression is very important
because it doesn't deal with the intellect. It deals with
the emotions: which is a reflex or a reaction to some-
thing which usually comes in terms of simple things like
'like' and 'dislike.‘ Now my reaction might be, I either
like the script or I do not like the script. Now I have to
make an adjustment if I am assigned to do this script, or
I may like it enough to do it, or what have you. I find a
way to like the script and to like the character—-animosi—
ties toward the script will come out surprisingly in your
interpretation. I then try to fall in love with the
character, and that takes a certain amount of stimulation

Setting this attitude,

which can be definitely worked for.
I am also kind of emptying myself and preparing my—

then,
self to receive any kind of impressions I may have about
the part. Then I read through the script again in terms

of the character I am playing, and lift her out of those
and find out what she alone is doing in the script.

pages,
I can then make out a list of the activities that she is

actually doing in the script and in relation to other
people. I then disregard those activities and I pay

attention to what her stream of consciousness is in the
. what she is thinking. Then I throw all this

script . .
away.

I now pick for myself what you might say is the task.
It takes about fifteen or twenty minutes for the task to
really concretize itself in your mind. Now by the task,
I mean that you say, ‘Play this scene as if you were going
to catch a train.‘ Now, immediately, all kinds of be-
havior things happen, because you have given yourself that
image which has nothing whatever to do with the Script.

It is merely an acting task which you have chosen to
to get what you hOpe will add

which isn't there in the
so,

stimulate you, personally,
to the script. Maybe energy,
but which you would like to put in the part,

script,

therefore, I give myself an image of catching a train.

Now. if I don't really like that, or if I don‘t really
I‘ll pick another one.

think that is all there is to it.
I may pick four, five, six, or seven . . . like I've got
or whatever it is that I think might attach

a headache,

itself to this character. Then I forget about all of
them and just simply play the scene, and you'd be sur—
prised that all these things are there, because they
have all been tuned in on.

To be sure, preparation is an individual practice and

there must be as many variations as there are players.

 

36

Geraldine Page, was asked about the

she replied, "That's true

But when another actress,

conceptual basis of the approach,

of every character and every actress."13 At the time she had

not yet been cast as the Princess in the motion picture version

of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, a part she origi-

nated on the stage. Mentioning some of the Hollywood actresses

she said they would be "five

being considered for the role,
all fascinating and all valid.” She

different Princesses,

added:

All the great roles, Chekhov's roles, Ibsen's roles,
O‘Neill's roles, Tennessee's roles can all be played a
number of different ways. They're all right, but they'll
all be different. The different tasks each actress takes
will appeal to different people.

Theme? Really good authors are tapping all of life——
if they were better at explaining things than doing things,

they wouldn‘t be poets, they‘d be critics.

This process, then, of finding an approach to one's

roles through one's own background and experience, one's own

personality, if you will, was practiced by Dean at the Actors

Studio.

Describing the Actors Studio as a "high powered post-
graduate course," Geraldine Page told of a typical Studio
session:

In the studio people attend the sessions-when they
can; most of the people work a great deal. Every day
there are two scenes done, usually two people. and Mr.
Strasberg tries to get people to find out what they are
doing and why, so that it isn‘t all just chance and
accident. If they do good work once in a while, to find
out what made it good-~50 that they can repeat it:

‘What did you do?‘
'What did you mean by that?‘

37

And he tries to develop the person's awareness of
what results they got when they did it and what made it
happen. The main thing he does is to explore the vast
array of what you can do-—what all actors can do if they

know how to do it--so that they are forced to examine
what they just repeat because it was good once--imitate
He continually makes you work back to some
That‘s what that ‘mean, old man'

themselves.
‘I don't want that—-I want you!‘

initial source . . .
Strasberg insists on:

Dean worked this way under Strasberg-—not often, nor

for long, to be sure. One skitl4 Dean wrote himself for just
such a session has "Jim" and "X" looking at a map, deciding

This script, too, runs about

for or against a trip to Europe.
four pages and has many opportunities for action, allowing a

play on Dean's actual short-sightedness. Dean evidently knew

what he could and could not do, he knew his assets and defects.
he preferred to play up his assets and play

When possible,
He evidently just didn't

down, or make a play on, his defects.

like having to hear about them. At one Actors Studio session

he worked in a Skit in which he played the part of a matador

(he loved the Sport; at one time he considered trying to

become a matador) and Strasberg really "lit into him.”l“ The

critique sessions were valuable and interesting, but from
then on, the actual playing at the Studio could be left for

others. He would save his work for public performance.

James Dean‘s first critical notices on Broadway came

from his performance of Wally Wilkins in N. Richard Nash‘s

Play See the Jgguar, which opened at the Cort Theatre
December 3, 1952 and closed in less than a week, a commercial

38

failure. Dean played the role of a weak—minded mountain

boy whose mother kept him locked in the ice-house because

she feared that men in the outside world would not treat him
with justice nor kindness. An earlier Hartford tryout merited
a "special accolade to James Dean in a tender touching role

"16

as a simpleton. He plays the part beautifully. Evans

Clinchy in the Hartford Times called his "an exquisite per—

 

formance."l7

Broadway critics were not quite so warm toward
Dean and even colder toward the play. The New York Times's
Brooks Atkinson made no specific cast mentions, but contented
himself with comments about the "tortured literary style and
tangled craftsmanship" of the play, noting that it was

"verbose" and said "nothing.“18

George Jean Nathan called it
"symbolic delicatessen"19 Richard Watts in the Egg; agreed,
but added, "James Dean achieves the feat of making the child-
ish young boy believable and unembarrassing."20
And it was a feat: the part was a difficult one, though
Dean was not without experience. The Cort Theatre program
listed "The Lux Video Theatre,“ "The Web," "Martin Kane,"
"Studio One," "The Columbia Workship," and "SuSpense" as his

television credits, and Has Anybody Seen My_Gal, Fixed Bayonets,

and Sailor Beware as film credits.

 

Some of the charm Dean brought to the role in Nash's
mountain morality could be seen in the August, 1953
Theatre Arts21 publication of the text, illustrated with

pictures of the Broadway cast. The curling toes of the

39

habitually shoeless farm boy demonstrate part of the bucolic
charm Dean must have used on Lemuel Ayres who produced the

show and got him the job.

The closing of the Show threw Dean back on his tele-
vision credits. The Sponsorship of Ayers and Dean‘s good
reviews kept him working in television. He was becoming more
and more successful in getting roles, and the roles kept
getting better. Working his way up the scale from minor roles
to supporting roles, by November of 1953 he had achieved his
first starring role in a television drama: the lead in a
"Kraft Theater" presentation “A Long Time Till Dawn,“ presented
on November 11. In that same month, on November 17, he co-
starred with Gene Lockhart on the "Armstrong Theater“ pro-
duction "The Bells of Cockaigne." He also had a supporting
role in the "Robert Montgomery Presents" production of

"Harvest" starring Lillian Gish and Ed Begley on November 23.

Subsequent Broadway credits came with Ruth and

Augustus Goetz‘s The Immoralist based on Andre Gide's auto—

 

biographical novel. The play opened on Broadway at the Royale
Theatre on February 8, 1954 after a week of paid preview per—
formances and a prolonged tryout period in Philadelphia.

Dean played the blackmailing, homosexual Arab boy, Bachir.
Certainly this role was the polar opposite of his previous

Broadway effort. Even in a Broadway season graced with the

4O

sexual candor of plays like Tea and Sympathy and Picnic,

 

The Immoralist seemed somewhat shocking and blunt. Theatre

 

Arts thought Dean "eSpecially good,“22 and Walter Kerr thought

"23 well done, as

Dean's "colorfully insinuating scapegrace
did Brooks Atkinson.24 The playing of Bachir brought Dean
the Daniel Blum Theatre World Award25——but Dean gave his
quitting notice opening night. There were bigger things in
the offing.

The Royale Theatre program noted the considerable

“critical attention"26 Dean received for his performance in

See the Jaguar, repeating the motion picture and television

 

credits earlier recorded. The first two decades of Dean‘s
life were covered with a sentence apiece: "Born in Indiana,
he began his career by winning the Indiana State Dramatic
Contest and then went on to win the National. His pre-law
studies at U.C.L.A. were interrupted by movie offers. . . .“
Geraldine Page was a member of the Actors Studio but
she never met James Dean until they appeared together in
The Immoralist; She was an established actress and a star-—
he was a supporting player. She recalls his performance
vividly: “He was supposed to be an Arab boy and, of course,
he looks less like an Arab boy than anybody you could imagine
with that face and the blond hair. But the way he behaved
gave such an image . . . that had nothing to do with the

way he looked on the surface."27

41

Even more vividly, she recalls their friendship and
professional association. They became "good friends right
away." The key to their relationship and, for her, the basis
of his appeal to some people and not to others was:

. . . a tremendous intensity and a curiosity about peOple,
and a continuously alive mind—~always fascinated by
everything around--so when you're in his company, every—
thing took on such an added vividness. I saw things in a
different light.

I think it's very unusual. Most people would be
frightened by this kind of intensity. It didn‘t frighten
me—-I enjoyed it. But most people didn't quite know what
to make of it; it made them uncomfortable because he was
so alive—~continual examination of peOple and himself, a
tremendous awe—inspiring kind of integrity and honesty
which really upset people. He had the effect on people
of making them look at themselves——and not like what they
saw. A kind of unremitting pride in himself and self
respect . . . made everybody who ever saw him remember
every lie they ever told! He was a very uncomfortable
person to be around unless you kind of welcomed that look
at yourself that was propelled by his presence, because
it gave you a chance to reassess yourself.

It suffused everything he did, you see. His powers
of concentration were enormous and his imagination was
endless. When we were in the middle of the play and
they started rewriting the third act so often, I got so
confused I didn't know which end was up! We had thirty—
two different third acts in thirty—two consecutive days——

and I was carrying on so! ‘Who pg this creature I'm
supposed to play? Every night it's somebody new. I can't
keep track of it all!‘ . . . and I‘d complain and carry

on. He‘d say, 'Let me look at it,‘ and I‘d Show him the
new rewrites, and he's sit down with it for a minute.
'Um hum!‘ he's say, 'why don't you . . . ‘ and he would
come up with some idea that would be so intriguing to my
imagination that I couldn‘t wait to get on the stage and
try it.

Like for instance the time they decided to change the
scene when we come in from the desert. It's all a scene
about how hot and dusty it's been. So, as I recall, I
didn‘t notice that about that scene; it was he who brought
it up. And he was walking around thinking about it and
saying, 'Now what do you do when you're hot? Try to get
cool! Now there'll be a wash stand and some water . . .'
so while he was thinking this, he went like this . . .
‘You take a cool cloth and put it here on the insides of

42

and you put it here on the insides of your
elbows, and you put it behind your neck.‘ Well, with
that little bit of business to incorporate into it, the

whole scene took on a kind of shape, and then all the
dramatic values and all the content, the words, gathered

around this Simple little thing.

You know what the great sadness is? [Not only] That
anybody so gifted Should die so young . . . but the fact
that he was gone before he had a chance to direct. He
would have been a phenomenal director, because of this
specific kind of ability to excite your imagination with—

out giving you anything that would bind you.

your wrists,

As a further illustration of Dean's artistic integrity

which made a personal impression, Geraldine Page recalled the

first time she ever saw Dean, and the event which followed

that first impression:

The first director we had was Herman Shumlin. I‘ll
never forget the first reading of the play . I locked
ever so

around and everybody was on their good behavior,
anxious to please. Then I saw somebody very remote and
relaxed, slumped down, with his cap and the glasses, and

the jacket up. You know, sort of hiding from everybody

that way. You just naturally noticed him. . . .

When we started reading the play, after each line
that anybody would read, Mr. Shumlin would say, ‘No, no,
no, no,‘ and give us a line reading, ‘Not tuh-dah, tuh—dah,
tuh-dah, but tuh-dah, tuh-DAH, tuh—dah' and we all shuddered
and sneaked looks of commiseration and, oh, we all tried
very desperately to please him with line readings. We
thought, ‘Oh, we're in for a dreadful time if it‘s going
to be like this.‘ After hourS--we finally got through
the first act. It was a painful process.

Then came the second act that Jimmy was in. And he'd
been sitting down in his chair, you know, all covered up,
hiding——and he mumbled.his first line . . we could hardly
hear him.

Mr. Shumlin said, 'I beg your pardon. The first line,
you should read it this way: Tuh-dum, tuh—DUM, tuh-dum.‘

And there was this long silence and Jimmy finally
said, ‘Mr. Shumlin, why are you insulting my intelligence?‘
And we all were ready for the earth to open and volcanic
flames to erupt.

We thought,"who is this little boy with the small part
talking to the great Herman Shumlin?"-—We all waited to
see what Shumlin would do about that!

And there was an equally long pause from Mr. Shumlin
and then he finally said, 'I didn't intend to do that.

How did I insult your intelligence?‘

43

'Well, it's the first reading and you want me to
read the line a certain way. I would like to have some
time to get used to who the people are that I'm supposed
to be talking to, and have a chance to decide some things

about it first.‘

And we all thought, ‘Oh,
really gonna get it now!‘

Mr. Shumlin said, ‘I'm very sorry.‘

And we could have died we were all so jealous and
angry that we hadn't had the nerve to do the same thing.
But that was so typical of his behavior all the time:

A complete lack of fear!

this is so pretentious-—he's

The success Dean had with treatment of Mr. Shumlin and

Shumlin‘s treatment of him was reflected in the construction of

his role. He “flowered." Unfortunately, the same was not true

of the rest of the cast, and, as has been noted, the script,
I

too, was having its difficulties. A new director was called in

to save the cast and the play from disaster. The new director

was not so understanding of Dean's personality as was Herman

Shumlin. The relationship, and it was personal rather than

professional, obvious and public, grew steadily worse as the

play approached Broadway. On opening night Dean gave his two

week notice. AS one member of the cast stated the problem,

"He refused to ass-kiss!“

On March 6, 1954 The New York Times announced:

James Dean who originated the role of the young Arab
servant in the Broadway offering The Immoralist has been
signed by Elia Kazan for the male lead in the forthcom-
ing Warner Bros. version of John Steinbeck's novel
East of Eden; The announcement was made yesterday by the
local offices of Mr. Kazan, who will produce and direct
the Cinemascope project through the film company.28

Kazan used his power in casting the picture. What was he

looking for in his cast?

44

Some aptitude. Training is important. It must be
good training—~voice and body movement, of course. Even
more important are concentration, imagination, and fantasy.

‘ . . . But you may become too tame, too sweet. An actor

has to have a sense of danger.29

. U C C O C O O O O O O O O I: O O O O 0 0

If they've got something——the shine and shiver of life,
you could call it, a certain wildness, a genuineness--I
grab them. That's precious. That's gold to me. I've
always been crazy for life. AS a young kid I wanted to
live as much of it as possible, and now I want to Show it——
the smell of it, the sound of it, the leap of it. ‘Poetic
realism‘ I call it when I‘m in an egghead mood.30

Having built his fame as a stage director, Kazan had
long been admired as an actor‘s director. The new filmic

medium Cinemascope would seem to be especially adaptable to

his particular forte:

The principle seems to be to try to keep the camera
on the actor as long as possible and only to cut when
physical difficulties arise. If this technique never
actually becomes dull, it is because Kazan fills his
background with a mass of atmospheric detail which is in
itself fascinating to watch. As one might expect, he is
at his best in passages of dialogue . . . through clever
staging and minute direction of the actors.3

If Kazan could feel and express the power of a motion
picture director (". . . A movie director can create. The
camera is such a beautiful instrument. It paints with
motion."),32 he also knew what he liked:

There's the technical muck, the filters and light
meters and cameras and spotlights. While all that matters
is the actor. That little human thing you want to get at——
that little moisture in the girl's eye, the way she lifts
her hand, or the funny kind of laugh She's got in her
throat-—that's what matters.3

Acting in pictures is much more demanding than on the
stage. The camera penetrates like a microsc0pe. '

O O O O 0 o 0 U 0 o o D o C o o o

What forceps did Kazan use to manipulate the "little

human things" under his microsc0pe? His simplified version is:

45

"You tell him [the actor] the basic problems he'll have to
meet, the things he‘ll have to remember. After that you hope
he gets his own ideas."35 Others, who have worked with him
and under him can provide perhaps more penetrating information:

Deborah Kerr: You see, Gadge [Kazan] made me realize
that in some ways my role was literally me.36

Burl Ives: Improvisation . . . that‘s the boy's specialty.
There was no reason to drag my father into it. The
only way I can explain it is that Gadge must have read
my autobiography where I kept writing about my father
without knowing what I said. Anyway, he asks me,

'What would your father do?‘37

Or, as an anonymous actor said:

There's nothing he doesn‘t exploit. That animal
trainer! Uses their emotions like they were animals.

He plays democracy with them like a trainer puts his

head into the tiger‘s mouth-~for the good of the Show.

It's all calculated. He lets them pat him on the back—-

and each time they do, they're working for himf38
Kazan liked "young and hungry actors" because they

"39

were "more suggestible, more trusting. Kazan's cast con-

tained no big Hollywood names. His leading player was an

unknown.

The final script of East of Eden by Paul Osborn, dif—
fering but slightly from the released film, was dated May 17,
1954.“:0 Cal, the role played by Dean, was described Simply
as "about twenty, dark and intense." The picture was shot

during the summer and early fall of 1954.

To Hollywood, and to Hollywood's fans, Dean was a no-

body. True, he had a starring role in a big production, but

46

by the Hollywood rule of thumb, "You're only as good as your
last picture," Dean attracted little attention from the
columnists. Ted Ashton, press representative for Warners on

East of Eden had his problems. He said41 that Dean was too

 

wrapped up in his work to care about public relations~-or
even be convivial with the rest of the cast or crew—-except
Kazan and Julie Harris. Even for Hedda Hopper, he was too
busy. She was to blast him. His possibly erratic personal
behavior went unnoticed, or, at least, received little public
comment in a social group where behavior is more often
erratic than not. To gain attention, the kind of attention

that sold tickets at the box office, a gimmick was needed—-

111.

an

”Linkage" was the obvious answer-—linking his name
with some more established star: the device that worked so
well for Rock Hudson at the beginning of his career when his
name was constantly associated with that of Vera—Ellen. It‘s
the kind of publicity device used in many fields. Politically,
it's the basis of the straight party ticket. Its rationale
permits Robert Kennedy to bring John-John, son of his murdered

brother, on a senatorial campaign.

Though still unknown to the movie public, James Dean
was not forgotten by the New York theatre crowd. Maurice
Zolotow reviewing "The Season On and Off Broadway" in general
and the new musical Hayride specifically, mentioned in passing,

"I have not seen such interesting sexual gyrations since

47

James Dean as the Arab bOy in The Immoralist attempted to work
his wiles on Louis Jourdan."42

In Hollywood Dean solved the whole problem himself.
He fell in love. The feeling seemed to be evidently mutual
and not too long afterward the names of James Dean and Pier
Angeli were linked in the gossip columns and the gravure
sections as a going team. Linkage is good copy; romance is
better. Hedda Hopper, initially uncharmed, noted that Dean,
a "member of the Dirty Shirttail group of actors from New
York," had to borrow a tuxedo to take Pier out.43

Pictures were taken of them visiting each other on

the set, holding hands. "They were like children,"44 said
Julie Harris. Pier would come to the Eden set; Jimmy would
go to The Silver Chalice. They exchanged mementoes. It was

 

not to last.

While it did last, it gave Dean a perhaps larger
audience for his starring roles on television. Dean starred
in the "Philco Hour" production "Run Like a Thief" on
September 5, 1954 and on the "Suspense": "Padlocks“ with
Mildred Dunnock on November 9. That same month, on November
14, though Dean played the dramatic lead opposite Natalie
Wood on the "G. E. Theater" production "I'm a Fool," advertis-

ing in the New York Times45 concentrated publicity on the

 

better known Eddie Albert, who did the narration.
Pier Angeli‘s new boyfriend was only starting to be-

come a somebody, and when the romance with Pier was officially

48

over with her marriage to another man, a new linkage had to
be established. Romance is always good, but it is not

necessarily the only route to public acceptance.

OCOCD‘QOUU'IFPCNNH

|._.& l— s
H

p;
N

13.
14.
15.

16.

17.
18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

CHAPTER II--NOTES

Interview with Mrs. Marcus Winslow, December 31, 1958.
Interview with Mr. Louis Crist, December 20, 1958.
Interview with Miss Isabelle Draesmer, July 27, 1959.

. Taped interview with Mr. James Whitmore, August 14, 1959.

Interview with Mr. Arthur Marshall, August 1, 1959.
Interview with Mr. James Whitmore, August 14, 1959.
Interview with Miss Isabelle Draesmer, July 27, 1959.
Interview with Mr. Arthur Marshall, August 1, 1959.
Interview with Miss Isabelle Draesmer, July 27, 1959.

. Interviews with Miss Christine White throughout the summer

of 1959.

James Dean's letter to James De Weerd, date not noted;
copy in possession of Mr. Stewart Stern.

Interviews with Miss Christine White throughout the summer
of 1959.

Taped interview with Miss Geraldine Page, November 18, 1960.

James Dean, untitled manuscript in possession of Miss
Christine White.

Interviews with Miss Christine White throughout the summer
of 1959. Those portions of the interview concerning
the Method were taped on August 27, 1959.

"T.H.P.," Hartford review of See the Jaguar by N. Richard
Nash, November 14, 1952._p. 21 [Fragment-—no source
listed, private collection].

Evans Clinchy, review of See the Jaguar, by N. Richard
Nash, Hartford Times, November 14, 1952, p. 34.

Brooks Atkinson, review of See the Jaguar, by N. Richard
Nash, New York Times, December 4, 1952, p. 46.

George Jean Nathan, Review of See the Jaguar, by N.
Richard Nash, quoted in "How Palpable Is a Hit,"
Theatre Arts, Vol. XXXVII, No. 8 (August, 1952), p. 33.

Richard Watts, Review of See the Jagger, by N. Richard
Nash, New York Post, December 4, 1952. Reprinted in
New York Theatre Critics‘ Reviews, 1952, Vol. XIII
No. 26, p. 164.

Illustrated text of See the Jagger, by N. Richard Nash
Theatre Arts, Vol. XXXVII, No. 8 (August, 1953), pp.
34—64.

Review of The Immoralist by Ruth and Augustus Goetz,
Theatre Arts, Vol. XXXVIII. No. 4 (April, 1954). p° 17.

Walter Kerr, Review of The Immoralist by Ruth and Augustus
Goetz, New York Herald Tribune, February 9, 1954.
Reprinted in New York Theatre Critics' Reviews, 1954.
Vol. XV, No. 21, p. 374.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

49

24.

25.
26.
27.

28.
29.

0.

Cr]

31.

32.
33.
34.

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.
45.

50

Brooks Atkinson, Review of The Immoralist by Ruth and
Augustus Goetz, New York Times, February 10, 1054,
p. 38.

Daniel Blum, Theatre World: Season 1953—1954 (New York:
Greenberg, 1954) Vol. X, p. 186.

Program, Royale Theatre, The Immoralist by Ruth and
Augustus Goetz, p. 14.

Taped interview with Miss Geraldine Page, November 18, 1960-

"of Local Origin" New_York Times, March 6,'1954, p. 13.

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara Schultz, "Elia Kazan Tells Drama Students: 'Stick
with It‘" Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1961, pt. 3,
p. 11. '

Frederick Morton, "Gadge," Esquire, Vol. XLVII, No. 2
(Whole No. 279)(February, 1957), p. 49.

Karel Reisz, "Editing," Sight and Sound. Vol. 19, No. 8
(December, 1950), p. 335. '

Morton, op. cit., p. 123.

Ibid., p. 122.

Louis Marcorelles, Review of Baby Doll, Sight and Sound,
Vol. XXVI, No. 3 (Winter, 1956), p. 150.

Schultz, op. cit.

Morton, op. cit., p. 127.
Ibid., p. 121.

Ibid.

William Glover, "Theater for Writers, Films for Directors,
Says Kazan," Chicago Tribune, July 8, 1960, p. 23.

Copy in Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

Interview with Ted Ashton of Warner Brothers Publicity
Department, July 9, 1959. Mr. Ashton was "unit man"
for East of Eden and Giant.

Maurice Zolotow, "The Season On and Off Broadway,"
Theatre Arts, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 11 (November, 1954),
p. 87.

Hedda Hopper, from Motion Picture, November 1954.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stopy (New York:
Fawcett, 1956). p. 22.

Taped interview with Miss Julie Harris, April 3, 1959.

Advertisement for "G. E. Theater," "I'm a Fool,“

New York Times, November 14, 1954, Sec. 2, p. 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER III

1955--A NEW BEGINNING: EAST OF EDEN AND
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE; AND AN END—-OF SORTS

 

 

Kazan, the director of East of Eden, gave the screen
a new kind of hero when he presented Marlon Brando in

A Streetcar Named Desire. His more recent On the Waterfront,

 

a tour de force in naturalistic drama utilizing improvisational
acting techniques, was a smashing success and highly touted in
many areas for varied film awards. Brando, again Kazan's star,
was a Shoo—in for the Academy Award. Warner Bros., under whose
aegis both Kazan and Brando worked, was happy with the results
of the work of both men—-but there were problems. Brando,

who made his name as a young, off—beat, "rebel" type, unhand-
some in the more typically Hollywood sense, underscoring
erupting emotional violence with an almost childlike asexual
tenderness, was in need of a change of image: he was no longer
young. The type retained a valid appeal. Brando as the type
did not. Brando was ready to be settled into the role of

movie "star": solid, versatile, stable. His recently an-
nounced engagement (later broken) was perhaps a first step
toward a semblance of stability. Other steps c0uld be and
would be taken. But the type, an assured box office success,
must be filled by a younger replacement, a replacement which

could be believed by the new younger movie going audience.

51

52

The replacement chosen was James Dean. The concur—
rent building of the Dean rebel image while the Brando image
was being replaced by that of the conservative artist is

obvious and undeniable.

It is interesting to note that by the beginning of
1955 James Dean was still not enough of a name to be identi-

1 taken with Marlon Brando on the set of

fied in a picture
Desiree when it was published in what was probably one of the
first popular "one shot" magazines dealing with a single star:

Florence Epstein's That Guy_Brando.

 

There was a color picture in the special "I Predict"
issue of £29k at the first of the year: "I Predict These Will
Be the Bright New Stars of '55"2 and that was identified.
Dean's motion picture career was officially launched on a
national scale. That same week on January 4, 1955 an appear-
ance on the "United States Steel Hour" TV presentation
"The Thief" gave interested viewers an opportunity to equate
a performance with the face and name.
Hedda Hopper also shot one of the opening bolts in
the February issue of Motion Picture: "James Dean turned

1

down the lead in The Egyptigp_when Marlon Brando walked out.

 

He insisted on doing his first picture for director Elia
Kazan. Evidently it paid off."3
The writers for the slick-paged Vogue chose to unveil

Dean with a blurred moody photograph by Jean Howard as the

53

O
0

first of "The Next Successes: Eight Americans in the Arts“
James Dean, thin, intense, with such strong pro—

jection that he is always noticed, has brought that
In his first

projection fairly quickly to the public.
movie, East of Eden, still unreleased, he is a smash.4

Others (motion picture and gossip columnists were less

restrained) followed the Hopper tack:
Watching James Dean watch Marlon Brando

Sidney Skolsky:
who was casing James Dean at Ella Logan's party.b

Erskine Johnson: James Dean is making his film debut in
East of Eden, already being hailed as a second Marlon
Brando. A comparison he doesn‘t like. But they both
come from farms, dress as they please, ride motorcycles,
and were developed by Elia Kazan, the director. Dean
matches Brando‘s indifference to the press and shares
his dislike of small talk. People, he says, were
telling him he behaved like Brando before he knew who
He‘s just 23 years old and is under

It's our guess that you'll

The screen can do with a
was

Brando was.
incidentally,

contract to Warner Bros.
be hearing much about him.
couple of actors like Brando. Dean,
going with Pier Angeli just before she fell for Vic
Damone. Now Dean has shifted to Terry Moore. We're
not taking that seriously though.6

By the middle of the month a possible and typical

HOllywood feud could have been initiated by the Dean quotation
"I am not disturbed by the comparison,

in Louis Sobol‘s column:
Kate Cameron would seem to add coal to

7

nor am I flattered."
"Close your eyes--they are wonder-

the fire with her comments:
8

ing just how much of Brando is really Kazan."
Attributing the possible success of both actors to

the artistic wizardry of Kazan need not have bothered Dean.

He had gone to Indiana on a trip with photographer Dennis
And by the end

for his career a most important trip.

Stock,
the first advertisements for East of Eden had

of the month,
appeared in the New York papers.

54

The promotional campaign for East of Edep as detailed

 

in Warner's Press Book of tabloid size running twenty—three
pages put almost equal emphasis on Kazan, Dean, Sex and
Steinbeck—~in that order. Most evident in the studio inspired
copy to be used by local and indulgent journalists was the
constant and continued linkage of Dean with the name and
career of Marlon Brando:

James Dean, whose performance is creating the great-
est excitement in Hollywood since Marlon Brando made his
debut.

His first directorial assignment for Warner Bros.
was Streetcar Named Desire which made a star of Marlon
Brando. Now Kazan predicts the same sensational stardom
for James Dean.

Egst of Eden . . . introduces James Dean to motion
picture audiences in a debut which is reported to rank
favorably with the impact created by Brando‘s initial
appearance.

. . . owes a big portion of its impact to the per—
formance of young James Dean who bids fair to become
Hollywood’s hottest property since Marlon Brando.

Dean is the young actor being referred to as the
greatest talent to reach Hollywood since Marlon Brando.

 

 

Two catchlines were used in connection with the publicity:

“James Dean Must Be Seen"

and

“James Dean: A Very Special New Star”

The Dean name or picture dominated most of the adver—
tising lay—outs, often boxed and with one or the other of the
catchlines.

A special “Pre—Sell" campaign featured Dean in a
variety of posters, and theatre exhibitors were urged to

purchase lapel buttons to be distributed to their patrons:

55

Capitalize on all the interest being generated by
newspapers, fan magazines and nationally known feature
writers—~pin one of these lapel buttons on every person
who leaves your theatre:

"Seen James Dean?" "I've Seen James Dean in
East of Eden"

 

Variant advertising devices included special wrappers

for the movie edition of East of Eden, published by Grosset

 

and Dunlap, plugging credits and scenes from the film; a sug—
gested man-sized telegraph "wire" congratulating Dean, to be
signed by fans in the lobby read:

Congratulations James Dean on your wonderful per—

formance in East of Eden. In your very first picture
you have become a very Special star.

 

With sincere admiration
The picture-stories for newspaper publication, the color stills
for lobbies and fronts, the general-display 11 x 14 stills, all

featured Dean prominently.

Pictures advertising the film started to appear regu-

larly in the New York dailies. The New York Journal-American

 

1 . . .
*9 and was jOined

carried pictures at least two days running,
in publication by the New York World-Telegram and Sunl; and
The New York Timesla in the March 6. 1955 editions.

By that time, too, Hedda Hopper's column.13 in

gption Picture was long on the stands. Her attitude had

 

mellowed. She declared Dean to be ”sensational, sullen and
seductive and is Hollywood's next big star." The Hopper

column also mentioned that she heard that Dean "sat outside

56

the church on his motorcycle" while Pier Angeli got married
and was now dating Vampira in his new German sports car,

"The latest thing in swank."

Louella Parsons' "In Hollywood"14 guaranteed he
"will be the rave of the season after he is seen . . . he is
a great young actor." Parsons also mentioned the ill—fated

romance with Pier Angeli, adding that ”before a Warner Bros.

scout discovered him in The Immoralist on the New York stage,

 

James had been just a kid struggling for a break and accept—
ing what bits were handed out to him on TV or radio," noting
that "Dean has had much publicity about being Ianother Marlon
Brando,‘ the sweatshirt, motorcycle—riding, grumpy young
sophisticate in tennis shoes . . . Now come on, young Mr. Dean,
how about forgetting the Brando bit?”

Parsons' column was just about repeated-~for a dif-

ferent audience-~in the then current issue of Cosmopolitanf"S

 

“Move Over Marlon!“ ordered filmlands

It was obvious from his first lines that he could
emote with the power and dynamics of Marlon Brando. He's
built less bullishly than Marlon but wears the same
almost sullen, defiant look that has become part of the
Brando legend. His dramatics enhance the dialogue and
can, Brando like, affect the most virile man in the
audience.16

The full page article with pictures from East of Eden
mentioned his "staring into space“ on dates with ”Pier

Angeli (before Damone) and Terry Moore,‘ the apartment full
of animals, Dean's interest in bull-fighting and motorcycle

racing, and concluded: "With a natural dramatic flair and a

57

talent for eccentricities, Jimmy could crowd Marlon off his

perch as Number One source for gossip."

The week East of Eden opened in New York appeared
perhaps the most effective, influential and timely publicity
break in Dean's active career. Warner Bros. was to trumpet
to its exhibitors that they should back up this ”tremendous
publicity,“ this "tribute," "with a top drawer campaign of your
own! Start it with a lobby board built around this article."17
The article was "Moody New Star"18 in the Life issue
dated March 7, 1955. This article was to set the tone, in
pictures and copy, of succeeding publicity releases.

The ultimate genesis of the idea of the photographs is
somewhat in doubt. The identity of the photographer is not:
the pictures were taken the previous month during Dean"s
visit to Fairmount and subsequent trip to New York City with
photographer Dennis Stock. Stock was the dialogue director
for Dean‘s second film, Rebel Without a Cause. According to
Stock}9 the initial meeting with Dean took place at the home
of 3323; director Nicholas Ray. Ray evidently often had cast
and crew members to his home, formally or informally, to work
on the then current production. Stock said his job on Rebel
came through Nicholas Ray, "more or less political."

A Hollywood friend of Dean's said that Jimmy used his influ-

ence to get Stock his job as dialogue director. Whatever the

case, the Desiree pictures with Brando and Dean were credited

58

to Dennis Stock, and they were taken several months previously.
The cultivation of Stock could have been a conscious thing.

Dean asked Stock to a preview, along with ”a lot of
people." Stock was very impressed with Dean's work on the
screen, but when they met later to talk, at Schwabs. it was too
noisy to say much of anything. After an hour, though Dean knew
Stock had a car ready to take them anywhere they wanted to go,
he said, "Hop on the back of my bike." And they raced at
breakneck Speed through the Hollywood Hills. With rattling
teeth, Stock could barely yell out, “If I go, you go too!"

All Stock could do was hang on:

He started testing me right at the beginning--
constantly and continually testing. Later, we stopped
and talked for about three hours-~about many things.
I knew even before then that I wanted to do the pictures.
But he had his own ideas. I sold Life on the idea, but
he wanted the cover and a writer. I said ‘Forget it!“
He tested, pushed, just to see how far he could go.

After several invitations, Stock consented to ac—
company Dean. Together they roamed the Indiana countryside,
taking shots everywhere: in the house, in the field, in the
barnyard, on the mainstreet in town, the motorcycle shOp,
the high school Valentine's dance, the mortuary. A shot of
Dean lying in a casket——Dean's own idea, said Stock--has
never yet been shown in this country.

Stock considers his work a real collaboration, in,
as he described it, a ”choreographic sense."~ Though perhaps

30% was played "by ear," more often Stock would set up the

shot, “let him see me . . . like a motion picture director

59

works with an actor." Later, they went on to New York to—
gether, where Stock continued to take pictures; on the
streets, in Dean's apartment, in bars and restaurants, dance
classes, drum classes. The collection as a whole was a
study in contrasts, a la You Can't Go Home Again, a title
given by Stock to one of his photographs. As Stock saw it:
The real tragedy of James Dean was that he couldn“t
partake of the warmth and friendliness of Indiana. The
loss of the mother and the rejection of the father was

so great a traumatic experience--this testing was perhaps
part of it--that, in the end, all he had left were the

parasites.

The pictures Eiié used for “Moody New Star" heightened
the contrasts—~both in selection and lay out. Over the sub—
title “Hoosier James Dean Excites Hollywood” appeared a large
picture, perhaps 70% of the page, of Dean, dressed in a suit
and tie and holding a book, seated in the half light of a cob-
web filled, dusty loft. The rustic locale was partially re—
called by the language of the accompanying text of the caption:
"In Sunday Best Dean reads as he used to when a child after
Sunday School in his uncle‘s barn.” The text below the
caption began with the pattern set in the Warner Bros. press
campaign: “Most exciting actor to hit Hollywood since Marlon
Brando," calling his performance "reminiscent of Brando
but distinctly his own." Describing him as a “moody, 24—
year-old recluse," it lauded his ”skillful portrayal“ of an
"unloved problem child" in East of Eden, which “stems partly

from his own complex personality and from elements in his own

60

farm—bred early life,‘ adding that the performance had won
him a starring role in another big picture Giant, though

studio executives were apprehensive about his ”militantly
independent offstage behavior and his scorn for movie con-

vention." This text was framed on the right side with a

small still from East of Eden.

 

There was an implication that the presented selection
was a newsworthy scoop because Dean was "shy of publicity
which he feels might show him in a false light.” The pre-
sentation was offered to show "how he reacted to life on the
farm and how it contrasts with his new one.”

Overleaf, two large farm pictures, balanced at op—
posite sides of the two page spread, dominated and contrasted
strongly with the accompanying New York shots. In the farm
pictures, Dean wore rough clothes and a cap; the only other
figures were animals. One shot, with a large hog, was
burlesqued as a tin—type family portrait; in the other Dean sat
cross-legged in a feeding bin, surrounded by hungry cattle.
The caption read: "He has always liked animals because they
accept him on his own terms." On either side, below the
animal pictures, was yet another contrasting set. In one,
Dean talks with his grandfather, a burly farmer, straight out
Of Norman Rockwell, about family matters; in juxtaposition to
it is a shot of Dean, feet on the desk of a bespectacled,
natty, New York type business manager, discussing finance.

Centered above, was Dean in the dressing room of his good

friend Geraldine Page, who was still starring on Broadway

in The Immoralist: "He feels at ease in settings like this

 

with friends he respects." The dressing room mirror was
lined with clippings and photos of Dean. Below, center, a
shot of Dean, peering from under his brows out on to the
street from a chair in a furniture store show window.
Passersby could be seen walking in front of the window, re-
flected in it. They stare back at the curious figure in
the chair. The caption: "Like an actor, says Dean, the
observer here looks out at the world as it appears from
within and is in turn looked at from without by the world‘s
passersby." I

The accompanying text divided about equally psycho—
logical and professional information. The interest in sports,
the Indiana Speech award, the U.C.L.A. pre-law studies, the
Broadway award were all mentioned, as were "his eccentricities,‘l
his "sincere but incessant self analysis." Depicting him as
"intense and introspective," ”with the dedication of an
artist," the article .also noted that Jimmy gave up music
"when his mother died.“

On the final page of the four page Spread was a Single
picture showing Dean, muffled and dressed in a dark overcoat,
as in the other New York Shots, walking in the rain, alone
on an almost deserted Times Square. The brief caption spoke
Of his anonymous wandering: "His top floor garret on Man—

hattan's West Side is no more home to him, he says, than the

62

farm in Indiana. But he feels that his continuing attempt
to find out just where he belongs is the source of his
strength as an actor."

The appeal of the pictures and the text as a whole
was hardly romantic and certainly not sexy—~stock in trade of
the typical Hollywood publicity Spread on a new leading man.
The appeal was rather to concern, even pity, perhaps ad-
miration-—for the motherless, talented, generally misunder—
stood but dedicated individual who overcame many obstacles,
who from a Simple beginning was rising to fame, taking his
place with the accepted stars——yet still seeking new, but
personal, goals. And above it all predominates the sense

of alienation which follows Dean wherever he goes.

East of Eden officially opened in New York at the

 

Astor Theatre on March 10, 1955 after a Special preview
performance the previous evening. The preview was a much
ballyhooed benefit for the Actors Studio. Everyone was
there-—even Marilyn Monroe was a program girl. Everyone,
that is, except James Dean.

Since knowledge of exactly who is responsible for
What in a film is virtually impossible to have unless one is
in some way connected with the production of that film, but
since Elia Kazan is credited with being both the producer

and director of East of Eden, the picture Shall be approached

 

as a Kazan production.

63

A Golden Boy on the Hollywood lots Since the pro—

duction of On the Waterfront, Kazan had a virtually free hand

 

in the production of East of Eden. It would be up to Kazan

 

to try to prove to Hollywood and to the world that Cinemascope,
Hollywood's answer to the television screen, could be used
successfully in “intimate" drama.
Kazan has himself said, "Broadway is a writer's theatre

films are a director's medium. On Broadway you have to
wait for playwrights you like to come along. In the movies
you can initiate, and film writers are more amenable."20 The
probably amenable Paul Osborn's screenplay of John Steinbeck‘s

figst of Eden bore but little resemblance to the novel as a

 

whole. Ignoring the first 75% of the book, Osborn worked only
with the last hundred pages or so, even there concentrating

and distilling events and characters. Various sub-plots were
omitted. The major character of Lee, Steinbeck‘s choral
character throughout the novel,was completely done away with,
his Speeches Spoken variously by the Sheriff and Abra, whose
roles in the story were therefore amplified and made more
sympathetic, though the moral core became diffused. Exami—
nation of the final shooting script Showed evidence, too. that
the role of Anne, cleaning girl cum prostitute in one of Kate‘s
houses, was intended to be amplified, though few of her

scenes remained in the release print. Compression of time
and reference centered on the struggles of Cal in trying to

gain his father's recognition and love:

64

East of Eden
Synopsis
(Not for publication)

 

Among the students rushing from classes at the end of
the day, Aron Trask (RICHARD DAVALOS) and his girl friend,
Abra (JULIE HARRIS) are joined by Aron's brother, Cal,
(JAMES DEAN). He follows the couple to an ice house
where their father, Adam Trask (RAYMOND MASSEY),is excitedly
explaining to Will Hamilton (ALBERT DEKKER) his plan to keep
vegetables fresh by refrigeration. In introducing his two
sons Adam plainly reveals that Aron is the favorite. That
evening, Cal learns from Sheriff Sam Cooper (BURL IVES) his
mother, who deserted Adam years before, is Kate (JO VAN
FLEET), owner of a notorious gambling and dance hall. When
Adam's refrigeration project fails, Cal anxious to win his
father's affection, enters into a profitable venture with
Will. One night at an amusement park, Cal offers Abra a
ride on the ferris wheel. She protests her love for Aron,
but passionately returns Cal's kiss. At Adam's birthday
celebration, Cal makes elaborate preparations to present
to his father all the profits from the speculation.
However, Adam reprimands his son for profiteering and Cal
is further denounced by his brother. With that, Cal de-
cides to reveal the secret of their mother. Following the
meeting with his mother, and discovering Abra‘s love for
Cal, it is a drunken and completely changed Aron who bids
Adam farewell before departing to join the Army. Stricken
at the turn of events, Adam is carried home. There, as
Abra pleads, Adam finally acknowledges Cal, blesses them
both.

Running Time: 115 min21

AS the script was worked out, the major characters

throughout the better portion of the film fell to one side

or the other of a Good—Bad scale. Morally loaded because of

an oversimplification of the issues in the novel, the script

equated Good vs. Bad with Idealism VS. Cynicism-Fatalism.

The hazy moralism of this equation resulted in some inter-

esting but morally ridiculous parallelisms as the script

progressed.

65

Cal, "high-strung,” cannot be figured out by his
father ("I don't understand him.“), and feels he has been
displaced in his father's affections by his more superficial
brother Aron. Cal equates himself with his mother (”She
ain't no good, and I ain‘t no good.“L When Cal asks his
father what his mother was like, Adam replies: "I never knew

she wasn't like other people. There was something She
seemed to lack. Kindness-—maybe conscience." Further at-
tempts to communicate with his father appear fruitless:
"Talk to me father—-I gotta know who I am; I gotta know what
I‘m like. I gotta know!" So Cal turns to his mother:
"Talk to me please, Mother!” with even more brutal results.
Rescued by the Sheriff after being beaten and thrown out of
his mother's ”house" ("I hate her. And I hate him too.“),
Cal is assured by the Sheriff that he should not be too hard
on his father because Adam has ."more kindness and conscience
than any man I've ever known."

Cal's previous behavior has earned him the name at
school ”the prowler"; his father thinks him ”thoughtless”
and “inconsiderate"; to his brother, to Will Hamilton, and
to Rantani, the bean farmer, he's “crazy“; to Abra, “he's
scary--sorta like an animal." Lack of love seems to be Cal‘s
problem. Not sex. Abra notes: “Girls follow you around."
Even Abra is intrigued by the amoral sexuality Cal seems to
exude: "I know love is good the way Aron says, but it's more

than that. It's got to be. . . ."

66

Cal can't figure himself out: "I'm sorta twisted
I scare myself." Even Abra notices that Cal ”is alone all
the time." The good Adam, secure in self—righteousness,
cannot understand him, and his good brother Aron, depicted
and portrayed as officious and smug, is no help at all. Cal
can turn only to Kate (Abra would not seem to be much help
since she's as mixed up as he). Kate receives him as a re—
flection of herself: I‘You‘re a nice looking boy . . . you got
sense. Maybe you don't fall for that slop any more than I do.
Maybe you know what people are really like. What they
really want. . . ." Cal‘s alienation-—Cal against the world——
is complete when he finds he is able to use Kate and her
money as a tool in the attempt to gain his father's recog-
nition. Kate accedes because Cal is a "likeable kid," and
because she is amused by the irony of the situation. When
this attempt proves abortive, Cal again uses Kate, this time
as a weapon against his brother. Torn by guilt and frustra-
tion, Cal's violent emotional binges can find no relief or
release except in the betrayal of his brother‘s faith and
idealism. Then, in a contrived denouement, his brother's
spirit broken, his father's resultant stroke leaving him half
paralyzed, Cal confesses his guilt and forgives his father-
After Abra's prognosis of the situation:

Excuse me, Mr. Trask, for daring to speak to you

this way, but it's awful not to be loved. It's the
worst thing in the world. Don't ask me how I know

that, I just know it. It makes you, it makes you
mean and violent and cruel. And that's the way Cal

67

has always felt all his life. I know you didn't mean
it to be that way, but it's true. You never gave him
your love. You never asked him for his. You never
asked him for one thing. Cal's going away, Mr. Trask,
but before he goes, well-m-well, he did something very
bad and I'm not asking you to forgibe him. You have
to give him some Sign that you love him, or else he‘ll
never be a man. He'll just keep on feeling guilty and
alone unless you release him.

——Adam forgives Cal.

AS Cal, James Dean exhibited an unusual Cinematic

quality in East of Eden. The physicality and forcefulness

 

of his projection of the emotion~bound adolescent was notable
for its well rounded exactness. The loose, bouncy walk, the
flailing arms, the sometimes jerky movements——quick, after
moments of inactivity, the sudden stops——all portray with
meticulous care the still uncoordinated, less than mature
person. Dean intensified the expression of Cal's lack of

love by embracing with complete freedom and lack of inhibition
even inanimate objects in his search for warmth and affection——
the Sheriff's water cooler, the locker in the high school,
Abra‘s house——aS, indeed, from time to time, he embraced
himself, touching his mouth, his lips, his hair, his hands

in and out of his pockets. Considering the fact that Kazan
kept his camera on Dean throughout so much of the picture,

one can observe, too, the quality of his reaction--perhaps
most noticeable in the scenes with Abra or Kate: the sudden
half—born smiles of agreement, the lifting of the head as

interest quickens, the false starts of an intended answer,

68

the gulp. So exact was the characterization, one even accepts
the unexpected; the stolen drag on Will's cigarette in the
locker room, the tense moment as Kate signs the check, his
hand, seeming to be unconsciously reaching out—~then grabbing,
the leap to the train, the attack on Aron, the antic dance in
the bean field as he exhorts the shoots to grow-

The physicality of all other scenes is in marked con—
trast to the lack of physicality exhibited in the love scenes.
Dean's Cal, though reputedly sexy, seems to be searching more
for a mother image than Aron is. Giving the promise of an
amoral sexuality, Dean's Cal presents us with a moral
asexuality. Spying on Aron and Abra in the ice—house, Cal
sees Abra rock Aron in her arms and hum a lullaby as they talk
about marriage, but, especially, motherhood. In a fit of
rage and jealousy, he hurls the ice blocks down the chute.
Later, when Abra tells him of her dissatisfaction with the
role Aron has thrust upon her, he turns to her hungering
for a kiss, lips expectant. She kisses him, his hands never
touch her; psychologically and photographically, she is on
top. The lullaby music swells.

Dean's Cal is mirrored in the vaguely asexual and
maternal quality of Julie Harris's Abra. She is continually
smoothing Cal's hair, as a mother might for a small child.
The obligatory final kiss might be between a brother and a
sister, or a mother and a son. Indeed, the music which rises
to a climax at this final scene is again the major theme,

the lullaby Abra bummed to Aron.

69

In this film Kazan was to utilize not only the hall—
marks of his style as an actor's director, but a heightened
awareness for the resources of the cinematic art. The inter-
play of light and Shadow when Cal emerges from the leaves of
the willow to tempt Aron is like an illustration for the
book of Genesis. When Cal forces the confrontation of Aron
and Kate, his shadow on the floor is almost like another
character in the scene. During the imaginative, though some—
what forced, angle shots with the tilted table top during
the dialogue between Cal and Adam, the Bible and the condiment
holder provide an ever-present wall, an obstacle to their com-
munication. We are led into the movie with the misty. other—
vmrldly quality of the filtered opening shots of Cal stalking
Kate, panning with Kate's walk to pick up and cover the
waiting figure of Cal, sitting hunched at the curb, until
he dominates the screen. The ascending notes of the musical
commentary hold him in the consciousness of the audience~—
as he hovers in the background of the long and, for him,
wordless opening scene. The tilting camera, when Cal on a
swing, crouched like an ape, returns to his father after
Aron has confronted Kate,“shows us momentarily the boy's
kaleidosc0pic, off—balance View of the world from the swing
Which is wonderfully expressive of the defiant youngster's
sense of abandon."22

In color, too, Kazan found new expression, as Dorothy

Jones also noted:

70

Yellow is usually a youthful color. In East of Eden
(Kazan) the scene dramatizing the growing attraction
between Cal and Abra is drenched in sunshine and pictured
in and against a field of yellow pepper grass in full
bloom. Warmth and joy permeate this scene, partly through
the use of the brilliant yellow color to frame the gaity
and affection between these two young people.

 

Indeed, the employment and juxtaposition of imagi-
native camera shots, color, music, light and shadow enabled
the characters, themselves, to become psychological symbols
in Kazan's stylized presentation of naturalistic phenomena,
enhancing their dramatic values in the script while, simul-
taneously, providing a striking and arresting pattern for the
eye and ear. And projected over the overall pattern is the
figure of James Dean, or Cal, for the two terms are, by now,
virtually interchangeable: the semi-orphan boy who cannot
communicate with his parents, who doesn't know what he really
is; sexually frustrated, he tries to do good but finds only
rejection; in alienation, he rebels, seeking an outlet
through emotional binges and violence. The convergence of
publicized personal image and Screen image produce a satis—
fying cohesion, further facilitating audience identification,

giving new proportion and dimension to the whole.

The New York reviews were mixed and yet often ex-
pansively congratulatory——eSpecially regarding Dean. Frank

Quinn of the Daily Mirror called the picture a "masterpiece,"

 

"23

With Dean ”destined for a blazing career. Kate Cameron

in the Daily News hailed a "new Star.“24 The New York

 

figurnal—American reviewer called Dean "an important new

71

screen personality . . . even though his mannerisms and

delivery were frequently remindful of Marlon Brando.”25
Whitney Bolton in the_New York World-Telegram and Sun

addressed his review "To a Young Actor Aping Mr. Brando,

William Zinsser in the-New York HeraldyTribune saw Dean as

 

reflecting "some dark joke known only to him. You sense

"27

the badness in him. But you also like him. Bosley

Crowther of The New York Times pulled no punches about what

 

he called "histrionic gingerbread”:

Never have we seen a performer so clearly follow
another's style . . . he scuffs his feet, he whirls,
he pouts, he sputters, he leans against walls, he
rolls his eyes, he swallows his words, he ambles
Slack—kneed--all like [sic] Marlon Brando used to do
. . Mr. Kazan Should never have permitted such a
thing.28

Could criticism ever be more commercially apt? When
an unknown in his first motion picture is compared to the
current Academy Award nominee——that's box office! In the

ensuing decade, East of Eden was to gross over $5,000,000 in

 

. 29
domestic rentals alone for Warner Bros.

The New York Times softened the scorching review by

printing in advance a Special Dean interview by Howard

30

Thompson. Thompson wrote that he found Dean impressive

and enigmatic:

He sat quietly awaiting the first query. The
slender frame and boyish features suggested a Booth
Tarkington hero. The black corduroy Shirt and trousers
and a penetrating neutrality of expression, magnified
by large steel spectacles, did not.

72

To Thompson Dean expressed his psychological attitude
toward his art:
Acting is the most logical way for people's
neuroses to manifest themselves in this great need we
all have to express ourselves. To my way of thinking,
an actor's course is set even before he's out of the
cradle.
Dean's ultimate aim was to achieve what he called
“camera functioning" on the stage. He expressed his admira—
tion of Lee Strasberg, whom he called “an incredible man, a
walking encyclopedia with fantastic insight.” The article
closed with Dean's tribute to the vitality and fertility of
New York. He stated his belief that in Hollywood, too, though
they're harder to find, "are human beings just as sen81tive
to fertility. The problem for this cat--myself-—is not to get
lost.” The strange intermixture of psychological cant and

jive talk was evidently part of the man and was to become part

of the Dean legend.

Thomas M. Pryor in The New York Times relayed the news

 

that Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean had been selected for

leading roles in the Warner Bros. production giagg, based on

Edna Ferber's novel.3'l

Louis Sobol's “On the Broadway Beat“ commented on the
"32

"fake feud between Brando and Dean.

The more "serious" film publication Eilms in Review

 

carried a lengthy analysis of East of Eden in a two part

review.33 Robert Kass thought the picture "comes off extremely

73

well." Though he considered it "watered—down Steinbeck,“

it was "virile as film." Kass mused over “Kazan's under-

standing and compassion for the adolescent's confUSion.”

finding it "curiously intense-—almost personally so.” He
was bothered by production "tricks," pinpoint lighting.
obvious camera movement, attempts at a mysterioso effect with

faces blotted out by lighting or scenic pieces, muted dia-

logue, etc., and was especially vehement about the acting

techniques employed and exhibited;

Kazan's tricks have their limitations and the school
of acting promoted by the Actors Studio, which Kazan
supports, can be a bore as well as ineffective, viz:
the line tossed over the shoulder as a character walks
away from the camera; the line muttered incoherently
from a head resting in the crook of an arm; absurd body
contortions gotten into under the mistaken impression
they are non—acting acting and thus connote naturalism.

Kass felt that some of these mannerisms get in the way

of Dean. Since so much of Dean's voice and so many of his

mannerisms suggest Marlon Brando, Kass felt that Dean's

possibilities as an actor were not fully on view in §§§E_Q£
he considered Dean's performance an im—

Eden. Nevertheless,

pressive film debut: “He is younger than Brando or Montgomery

Clift (24) and may well outgrow the acting style he has

adopted, or been forced into for this film.”

The latter half of the review by Ralph Gerstlé sug—

gested the film to be a "tour de force by Ted McCord " the

cinematographer. Whether or not Gerstlé was correct in

praising McCord for the photographic effects achieved, the

review cited two dramatic instances in the film where by

74

idsual communication the domination of the "bleak hiber—

nation" of Cal's spirit is explored:

A shot of his dark troubled face framed between two
huge blocks of ice . . . and in the final scene, a wonder—

fully framed close two shot of Cal's head against his
father's is followed by a high angle medium shot of the
room with the bed in the background, and the father lying

in it almost lifeless and Cal, a very small figure in the
The shot is a soft focus one

room, crouching alongside.
and its effect is not sombre. but

with low key lighting,
peaceful, as it should be, to suit the ending of the

story itself.
Sidney Skolsky's column on March 21, 1955 mentioned

seeing "Jimmy Dean in a black leather jacket and wearing his

customary eye—glasses, standing unrecognized outside of the

Egyptian Theater watching the people standing in line to buy

tickets for East of Eden."34 A later Skolsky column on March

24 mentioned Dean's friendship with Maila Nurmi.35 A filler

publicity item from UPI in New York's World—Telegram spoke of

Dean's changed curriculum at UCLA with "Drama Dean‘s Dish,

Not Law.”36
The release of East of Eden increased national inter-

est in Dean. The congratulatory reviews in the national

magazines alternately praised the daring of the script (e g.
ngk: “Reflects a new relaxation in film censorship")3'
and the arresting appearance of the new star (” As a complex

and troubled adolescent who feels unloved by everyone

around him, Dean, under Elia Kazan's direction, is a touching

little monster."L covering the now usual tack of finding

reminiscent of Brando. L995

Dean's "acrobatic mannerisms"

patted itself on the back in the review by referring to its

”I Predict . . .” article three months earlier.

75

With the Academy Awards around the corner, the pub-

licity build-up for Marlon Brando was also pitched to still

greater intensity. Youth magazines38 and a news service

release commented on the change from the ”old Brando“: from

”brute to genial actor."39

Sidney Skolsky continued his almost one man publicity

campaign with a fairly long entry in his column of April 8th:

Jimmy Dean goes into a scene in Rebel Without a Cause

for director Nicholas Ray and looks exactly the same,
except for the eye glasses, as when I meet him with the
Schwab'S-Googie's set. Jimmy is wearing the same blue

jeans and black leather jacket,40

Column items like this would serve several purposes.

They helped to announce and publicize a forthcoming pro-

duction: Warner Bros. had Shifted position, moved Dean into

a quickie to capitalize on the personal success he found in

East of Eden. Also, the personal identification of a star
with a role is often enhanced by the costume. In this particu-

lar case the outfit mentioned was the exact costume Marlon
now standard

 

Brando wore in his delinquency film The Wild One,

uniform for ”wild ones" the country over. In reference to

this item, it might be noted that Dean did not wear a black
leather jacket in Rebel, but Since the film was not to be re—

who would remember? A further infor-

leased for seven months,

mation bit added by Skolsky, though probably based on fact,

without clarification accentuates the eccentric syndrome:

before going into a scene, will take a short
or Jimmy will jump up and

Jimmy,
Dean has to be in

run around the sound stage,
down before going to play the scene.

action before going into action.

76

United Press syndicator Aline Mosby contributed to a

new dimension of Dean's character under the heading ”Not a

"He is at times moody and/or shy. He

Brando Claims Dean":
is also intelligent, and his conversation compared to most
Hollywood actors is positively brilliant."4l

Louella Parsons added the standard comment for up-and—

coming star material: she considered Dean "not in the least

Spoiled." She said that Dean considers ”Elia Kazan largely

responsible for his success."42 This comment was followed

several days later by her announcement that Dean was slated
to play the leading role in the Rocky Graziano autobiography

Somebody Up There Likes Me for MGM in return for the loan of

Elizabeth Taylor in Giant: "I guess this boy can play any-

thing."43

Skolsky gave Dean two more items44 in the course of

the month, both just brief mentions to keep the name in the

public eye, the latter containing variations on the "recluse“

theme of earlier promotion, citing Dean's newly found

"hideaway" home in the hills.
Hedda Hopper opened the field in May"*‘5 with a refer-

ence to Dean's interest in the occult, noting the fact that

Dean's ”dating" of Vampira (Maila Nurmi) was occaSioned by

his interest in her interest in the occult. She was dropped

because she ”knows nothing." In apposition to this item of

information Hopper mentioned the St. Christopher medal Dean

wears——a gift of Pier Angeli. A study in related contrasts!

77

Film Life continued with more normal matinee idol

 

building45 describing "the DEAN of Hollywood's younger crop

of top notch swooner stars" as having ”sex appeal, plus-—

the plus being talent." A brief article continues: "Jimmy

Dean——the man——the boy--the actor——is likable in every role~—

when he wants to be——which unfortunately isn't very often "

The article mentions his "cool, steady nerves” which serve

him in good stead in his racing hobby, and the shyness, the

gentleness that people who know him see. As is true of all

articles of this period, the Brando comparison is also here,
"Jimmy bitterly

and, in this case, perhaps somewhat barbed:

resents being likened to Brando, played the drums before

coming to Hollywood."

By this time the fan magazines, too, were coming out

with reviews of Eden, described in glowing terms: “Darken

your TV screens, take along a handkerchief. Your emotions

will be deeply touched."47

“The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars” offered a Dean per-

formance, a performance by the now established star, in a

teleplay "The Unlighted Road,"4‘E3 happily filmed, permitting
many subsequent replays. Dean played an ex-G.I. recently

returned from Korea, Jeff Latham. Currently a drifter, lonely

and searching for friends and values, Jeff's miSplaced trust

leads him to the threshold of a criminal career. Only the

78

faith and love of a girl can and does redeem him. Though

the character Dean played here may seem more mature on the
surface, the tentative gropings for love and acceptance,

matched by the hesitations and calculated confusions of his
acting style, presented Jeff Latham as thoroughly consistent
with the Dean image thus far presented in films and through

the various publicity sources. The fairly polished filmed

introduction to the play, narrated by Dean out of character,

was often omitted in later presentations.

And Sidney Skolsky went right on with his Dean pub—

licity campaign in his column, heading it “James Dean Own

Stunt Man,”49 likening Dean to former swashbuckling romantic

lead Errol Flynn, who was also reputed to do his own stunts.

Even the reviewer for the usually stolid Today: The

ggtholic Youth Magazine labeled East of Eden a ”solid—as—

"50 The reviewer, Donald P. Costello,

concrete film masterpiece.
cited especially the change imposed upon "Steinbeck's long,

He felt that Steinbeck's “dirt“ had

abused and ugly novel."

been changed "to a paean to the importance of love.’I
Costello vouched the film "proved the value of Cinemascope”
in that the director was able ”to develop dramatically Sig—
nificant and true ideas without sacrificing anything of

action or form." Eden was both "fine and art."

Modern Screen described the young star:
As anyone who has watched his electric performance

in East of Eden will testify, Jimmy has an inexplicable,
boyish magnetism, a youngish sex appeal. One senses

79

latent passion, great depth and seething. smoldering

energy and wonders about a momentary eruption.5'

Yet, it quoted one young unnamed actress: "There's

nothing original about Jimmy Dean" She called him a Brando

copy. The article further recounted how Dean lost Pier Angeli
who was reputed to be closer to Pier s mother s

to Vic Damone,
the

ideal of "a good Catholic boy." Going back even further,

article told of Dean‘s life on the prOSperous farm of his

Indiana, and "nowhere in

uncle, three miles from Fairmount,

that-small, clean town can you find anyone to say a harsh word

about him." Current less than laudatory rumors were explained

away by an anonymous ”Warner's publicity man”:

He's hard to figure out . . . He's one kind you can't
figure. The only concessions he will make are to his own
conscience. He is determined to live his life in his own
way—~not according to the rules of a young actor S cone

duct as prescribed by Hollywood.

The enthusiasm for Dean exhibited by American fans

seemed matched by that of European critics as initial impres—

sions from foreign publications began to filter back to

 

America. Derek Prouse reviewed East of Eden for Sight and
Sound52 and found the film as a whole an ”empty Show” of

M

oppressive tedium . . . a film without a centre":
Lack of genuine response and the consequent inability
essence of the situ-

to convey to his actors the core and
ation . . . seems to lead Kazan to favor an acting style
The actors Sidle

that discourages any direct expression.
up to their lines, juggle with them, break them up into
erupt into sudden shouts or Sink into

unusual stresses,
elaborately natural calm.

To the basic themes of the various natures of love
(distorting, blinding, or satisfying, and the consuming
loneliness of the boy who yearns for it) Kazan only ever

80

The most consistent
The action of

offers a peripheral illustration.
moment by

quality of this is a virile assertiveness.
the story seems to be presented explosively,

moment, and these separate stresses never make up a
believable rhythmic flow.

For James Dean, however, the praise is strong:

James Dean is a discovery of outstanding talent——at

the moment heavily influenced alike by Kazan and Brando,
he is sometimes at the mercy of these stylistic borrow1ngs

insufficiently absorbed into a final creative authority.

But on occasion when his own vivid actor's imagination
he is striking.

takes wing and bursts these limitations,
the truth of his character-

For much of the time, however,
as if he instinctively felt that a

ization is cautious.
more complex relationship with the others would only in—

volve him with the surrounding falseness.

An unusual tie~in in the Dean-brando linkage appeared

as the caption to Frank Degan's Brando article ”From T—shirt to

Bow Tie"53 in the June issue of Screenland. The Brando—Dean

picture on the Desiree set was used with the mention that "The

pre—analysis Brando and present day James Dean to the contrary,

however separate and talented, inte-

it appears best that man,

grate himself with society."
Sidney Skolsky in his column54 said he had had no

problems with Dean, reputedly "a difficult fellow to under—

Skolsky believed Dean gained such a reputation be—

stand.”
Skolsky proved

cause ”it's hard for Jimmy to trust a person."
ins point with a picture of the two of them together.

The Brando—Dean feud earlier dreamed up was fanned

Vflth a reported Brando quotation:

Jim and I worked together at the Actors Studio in

New York, and I have great respect for his talent.
However . . . Mr. Dean appears to be wearing my last

Year's wardrobe and using my last year's talent.'3

81

It should not be presumed that a critical comment

like this from Brando should or could in any way hurt or

It was quite conSistent, showing the

destroy either's image.
at the same

current Brando separation from a Dean-like image,

time accepting it as a valid performance. A further comment

 

in the same interview critical of Brando's film The Wild One

may indeed be a preparation of the public for acceptance of

Dean's latest film Rebel Without a Cause, now finished and

awaiting release:

The making of The Wild One was a disappointment to
There are so many kids who are confused today. This

me.

problem has not been intelligently articulated. The‘Wild
One's script ambled and was not focused.
Hedda Hopper was prompted into new raves, calling

.5 ,
' 6 She then made a curious

Dean "the hottest actor in town.

ploy regarding East of Eden in an attempted Brando—Dean con—

"Marlon Brando turned down the role Dean played,"

nection:
”AS talented if not moreso

She continued even more curiously:

than Brando, Dean used to herd cows on a motorcycle.“

In this single item, Hopper employed linkage between

Brando and Dean, in a most unlikely situation, and to Dean's

advantage. The employment of Marlon Brando to play a teenager
Dean's performance in

would be ludicrous—-but she said it.
the role was generally winning raves, and Since Brando had just

won the Academy Award, to compare Dean in his first picture to
would certainly constitute a plug for Dean.

him, and favorably.
Another

Hedda Hopper's favorites were usually never in doubt.

Possible but unlikely combination, the herding cows on a

82

motorcycle, presented a composite image of daring, eccen—
triCity. and originality. teetering on a relationship be—

tween Rebel Without a Cause, and Dean's new film giant. now

g...

 

in the making.
The HOpper enthusiasms over Dean were repeated in her
estimation of the current crop of "Young Men of Hollywood”

in the June issue of gggonet.57

 

Skolsky continued with an unusually long column on
Dean. Acting in general and Dean's acting in particular is

discussed as an expression of ”the fantasies in which they

[the actors] have involved themselves.“ Dean is “much like
Cal”: ". . . actually, what was in the movie came out of
him——even those bits resembling Marlon Brando." Dean is

further described as ”sensitive, easily hurt and difficult for
a person to reach. He pretends to be aloof . . . is un-
disciplined . . . but loyal to his friends."5£3
Skolsky‘s description of Dean's preparations for an
acting stint might be thought of as exaggerated, but as was
the case in his previous descriptions and from other evidences.
the account was probably based on truth:
He usually wanders away and has to be summoned to
play a scene. Generally he comes running to do the
scene. Or he will stand to the Side of the camera
jumping and waving his arms (“I try for relaxation be-

fore acting."). Sometimes he will box a little with his
stand-in, former champ fighter, Mushy Callahan.

The article concluded with a reference to Pier Angeli 5

wedding and the fact that Dean “stood across the street after

83

the ceremony. He must win at everything he does.“ Skolsky,
a Dean supporter, had in this case turned a negative and
possibly mythical incident into a positive commentary.

An interview with Joe Hyams dated June 30, 195559
finds the tables turned on the interviewer: in his leather
jacket Dean "asks questions relentlessly." The brevity of
the item did not preclude the formation of an oddly ambiguous
yet consistent image. Turning the tables on the interviewer
and the wearing of the black leather jacket coincide with
the rebellious Dean, personally and cinematically. The re—
lentless asking of questions repeats a previously tried move

to paint Dean as a searching intellectual.

The columnist of the proper Christian Science Monitor,

 

0

Richard Dyer MacCann,8 was not concerned that his June inter—

view might not match most of the preceding:

There seem to be a good many versions of James Dean's
approach to life, and it may well be that most of them
are founded, more or less, on fact. Newcomers in Holly-
wood are likely to be misinterpreted, in any case. Some
of them encourage conflicts in interpretation: such
conflicts are dramatic and likely to focus attention on
the subject.

MacCann “got an impression of powerful intenSity“ and
of keen intelligence from this new ”bobby-sox idol." MacCann

cited the fact that even though Dean's role in East of Eden.

 

was ”a kind of archetype for whining delinquents . . . count-
less feminine moviegoers of all ages evidently watched his

shambling gait and listened to his inarticulate yearnings with

84

maternal devotion." Their devotion manifested itself in the
form of fan mail, which, according to MacCann, ranked Dean
"with the top four or five actors in popularity "

Dean, who didn't "necessarily Shamble or mumble,”
approached his adolescent roles by trying to imitate life;

It is the romanticized conception of the juvenile.
he declares in round clear tones, that causes much of our
trouble withwdelinquency‘nowadays. The Wild One, for in-
stance--it had, so far as I can see, no good effect. It
just encouraged these kids to go out and buy black leather
jackets and a motorcycle and act like Brando in the
picture.

You can't Show them some far off idyllic conception
of behavior if you want the kids to come and see the
picture. You've got to Show what it's really like, and
try to reach them on their own grounds.

 

The MacCann interview was, of course, a plug for Rebel.
Dean's further remarks, as printed, concerned that film:

I think one thing this picture shows that's new is the
psychological diSproportion of the kids' demands on the
parents. Parents are often at fault, but the kids have
some work to do, too . . . You know, a lot of times an
older boy, one of the fellows the young ones idolized,
can go back to the high school kids and tell them. 'look
what happened to me! Why be a punk and get in trouble
with the law? Why do all these senseless things just for
a thrill?‘ I hope this film will do something like that.
I hope it will remind them that other people have feelings.
Perhaps they will say, 'What do we need all that for?'

In a single step Dean contributed to the intellectual,
socially conscious aspect of his image, retaliated against
the Brando comments_ and plugged his new picture. Whether
this was done by Dean with a conscious knowledge of the particu-
lar audience he would reach, or whether this was Slanted by the
interviewer who knew the audience he was writing for, the

picture of Dean which emerges from this interview is that

85

which is most likely to appeal to the readers of The Christiag

 

Science Monitor and is yet thoroughly consistent with remarks

 

and diSposition noted in other publications. The disparity

of the readership of The Christian Science Monitor and, that

 

of, say, Photoplay, is countered by the consistency of the

image presented.

The summer's end found Dean the man winding up work on
his third Hollywood film. By this time he was firmly enough
established for the fan magazines to take particularized
interest in his case-~the small gossip squibbs, the one or two
page features were being enlarged to full length spreads.

The time lag can be partly accounted for by the peculiarities
of the fan magazine publishing routine. Most of the monthlies,
and not all fan magazines were issued monthly, came out almost
a full month in advance of the cover date. An analysis of
content further reveals that comment is limited to events
occurring usually a full month preceding the issuing date.
Consequently, even the most popular and successful fan maga-
zines, the monthlies, were, for all the claims of "sc00p”

and "exclusive,” a full two months behind the more regularly
appearing news and advertising media. The effect of this
peculiarity was to have particular Significance in the build-
ing of the Dean image.

Yet another reason for the publicity to become

heavier was the now only average sales resulting from the

86

release of East of Eden. A hypo to the fan trade could mean

 

a hypo to the box office. Also. Rebel Without a Cause was in

 

the cans awaiting a later release; gianp, the block—buster,
was in the making. The Dean image must be prepared to take
its place beside those of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.

the firmly entrenched co—stars of that film.

Screen Album for August of 1955 in a “Spec1al Report:

 

Young Love" included “A Heart That Stalked in Darkness,“59
featuring a compendium of Dean public1ty Spots, including a
Dorothy Kilgallin comment on the intractability of the new
star: he "had to become a big Star' and 'a big headache“;
also included were Louis Sobol's Brando—Dean routine and the
comment that Dean t"even goes to Marlon s psychiatrist

Present, too, were the continued comments about the lost love
of Pier Angeli, though, by now, the softening effect of com-

ments on the new dates, the new “flames,' added new spice to

the old routine. This particular piece noted a present to
Dean from Lili Kardell, bosomy starlet——a new oil filter for
his sports car.

62

Filmland played up Terry Moore, another young and

 

bosomy starlet, and also managed, one might add, through the
same agent handling Jane Deacy's West Coast affairs concerning
Dean, Dick Clayton. Terry had been around for a while, and,
though still young and despite sexpot publiCity, never seemed

to be able to quite make it out of the "B“ pictures.

87

Phlmland commented: “Julie Harris got Jimmy in East of Eden.

 

but it was Terry who shared his limelight at its preem”

on the West Coast. that is. Though this was the only photo—

graphically documented ”date" of the two, the article declared:

"When Terry talked up religion, Jimmy became her devoted church

escort." To prove her closeness to her “devoted" escort. Miss

Moore analyzed Dean's character as a 'combination of insecurity

coupled with a driving ambition that visualized a SpeCific
goal—~to get to the top."

_greenland added to the store of unlikely romantic
legends noting that James Dean and Mercedes McCambridge were

two rugged individualists who love to discuss acting. books.

and music. Yet another gossip blurb. filliped with a small

picture bearing no relationship to the text. said: ‘The line

used to read, 'Come up to my apartment and see my etchings '

Cornball! Jimmy Dean now says to the dolls. 'I ll be over to

your apartment and help you With the scene“€53

A major and lengthy article appeared in Modern Screen

 

in this same month. Entitled "Lone Wolf,”54 it constituted
an interesting juxtaposition of attack and apologia almost
unique in this particular period in Dean's career.

Prefaced with a brief editorial entitled ”The Hottest
Kids in Hollywood,” Modern Screen purported to unveil in this
issue the ”new" Hollywood star image:

These kids are different . . . these kids spark be—

cause they have natural greatness. They know where
they're going and exactly how to get there.

88

Among the stars listed as this new breed was the
"moody, unapproachable Jimmy Dean“: "James Byron Dean is a
free-wheeling individualist who breaks all the rules except

one-vhe travels fastest who travels alone.”

Commenting especially on Dean's lack of publicity co-

operation, the article said that:

Jimmy is not particularly well liked by some of his
studio colleagues these days because he refuses to Show
up for interviews, declines to be photographed, breaks
appointments with reckless abandon, and insists upon
keeping his private life private.

A Dean quotation was given in explanation:

Maybe publicity is important. But I just can't make
it, can't get with it. I've been told by a lot of guys
the way it works. The newspapers give you a big build—up.
Something happens, they tear you down. Who needs it?

What counts to the artist is performance, not publicity.
Guys who don't know me, already they've typed me as an
odd ball . . . Most of it is a bunch of !

 

Further comments on Dean's general taciturnity and

his sense of humor were made by an unnamed actress and Lili

Kardell. Despite no really unfavorable comments by either

lady. the article noted that Dean's sense of humor ”is

generously described as slightly perverse.” An example given

was the picture taking at Wilbur Hunt's mortuary during
Dennis Stock's Fairmount visit. Dean's comment:
Anyway, he shot the pictures. Great stuff? Sent
them into Life. Know what? The editors wouldn't publish

a single one. Printed some stuff of me around the farm.
Country boy-—that routine!

Further perversity, said the article, was demonstrated
by Dean's sports car racing in Palm Springs and Bakersfield.

A Warner “executive" was quoted as saying, “That crazy kid is

90ing to kill himself!"

89

There were added details of Dean's current screen

work, including an interview with Jim Backus, "Dean's On-

Stage Dad" in Rebel Without a Cause:

I've played fight scenes before.
this. Jim is so carried away.
such a pitch of intensity.
me. No kiddin'l

In one rehearsal he grabbed me by the lapels.

carried me down the stairs.
room sofa.

This kid is strong as a bull. In another rehearsal
he broke off parts of the stair railing, but even though

we grappled, he always held onto me so that I wouldn't
get hurt.

but nothing like
He works himself up into
I thought he was going to kill

half
fought me across the living

The odd ball nature of this “free soul” was painstak-

ingly delineated for the fans. The testaments, anonymous and

otherwise, of those who "know” him, and even the evidence in

intra—Hemingway—ish autobiographical prose identified Dean as

"a regular little tiger.” East of Eden,

 

as such, was down the

drain, but careful mention was made concerning ElEQEe and a

specific scene in_Rebel Without a Cause was noted in violent

detail. pointing out, eSpecially, the tenacity strength, per—

versity. and tenderness of the young star. Even Dean's re-

ported dislike of publiCity could be interpreted as a Sign of

his sincerity, as well as being a rebellion against authority

and convention, even if it was only Hollywood convention that

Was involved. Dean's dangerous hobby of sports car racing

VHS given Strong attention as a tribute to his daring. Also,

because cars, speed, racing were growing increasingly popular
With the teen fans, this mention would lend an identification

set to the star and to the article. The death prophecy of

90

the unnamed executive, though not intended as fatalistic, was
notable in that it appeared but a matter of days before it
literally came true.

If the private life of James Dean would seem enigmatic,
if not inscrutable, his screen performance was as clear as
crystal to some of his growing list of fans. A letter from

one, published in the August Motion Picture, praised Dean's

 

"consummate artistry”:

He merits every superlative in the book. Moreover,
he reveals an utterly amazing talent—~far too seldom
seen in a newcomer nowadays. He did more than play the

role of Cal Trask-~he lived it. He never made a false
movef"5

The talented newcomer was, indeed, a rara aVis in
Hollywood, and, as such, Dean had to be protected. He was
not to lack his apologists. One columnist who had recently
taken Dean "over the coals" for tacting up on giang” quoted
him as saying:

The trouble With me is I'm just dog tired, Everybody

hates me and thinks I'm a heel. They say I've gone

Hollywood——but, honest, I'm just the same as when I didn't
have a dime.

As I said, I'm just tired. I went into Gian: after
a long hard schedule on Rebel Without a Cause. Maybe
I'll just best go away.

The columnist's reaction? —-:

Let's forget the whole thing. Jimmy. Stick around!66

By September fan magazines were starting to catch up

with block—buster articles. Modern Screen unveiled baby

 

pictures and high school yearbook shots, properly annotated.

with the article "Smoldering Dynamite":67 ”The life story of

9i

the boy who is frankly the most important young man to rock
Pkdlywood since Brando hit town,"

What started as a typical comparison of the immediate
post-Eden publicity variety, branched, as now did other later
couplings, into the beginnings of a detached image--Dean
standing alone—-very alone. "A co-ed who dated Jimmy in 1950
Mmen he was attending Santa Monica Junior College" testified:

Jimmy . . . is the most individual young man I ever

met. He was the way he is long before Marlon Brando
came on the scene. Everything he does is sincere and
heartfelt, It is not calculated for effect.

Unlike Brando, he is not a shocker. He is gentle.

sensitive and masculine. Yes, he“s moody and introverted.
Sure, hefis a non-conformist, but he°s very well brought

up. . . .

A Warner spokesman described him as "a kid who spent
his whole life on an Indiana farm, a regular, healthy farm
boy with a flair for acting."

The distance from Brando was increased With a further
comparison. Brando had been reported as saying. ”I became
an actor through accident.” Dean was firmly described as an
actor "by design”-—who let nothing stand in the way of his
dogged determination to succeed in his chosen field. Even
when things were difficult, he showed his “independence and
self-reliance“ in refusing to ask his family for money during
the lean New York days. Poverty may have seemed to deflect
him from his purpose, but Dean‘s ambition was enhanced by his
determination and luck:

Instead he talked himself into a crew—manfis job on
a sloop cruising the Atlantic seaboard. To the skipper

92
he confided his acting ambitions, and as luck would
have it, the skipper knew a friend who knew a friend.
And James Dean wound up in the cast of §e§_£hg
‘Jaguar.
A Mrs. Jean Owen, who taught dramatics at Santa
ionica Junior College, described Dean‘s approach to his acting
as "intense and dedicated”:
Those are the two qualities that characterize
Jimmy—~excitement and imagination. His approach to

problems is unusual. He plunges in head first.

Hollywood Stars brought out a direct pitch for Dean‘s

 

forthcoming movie in the article "Rebel With a Cause”:68
Based on the book of the same name, the picture is

the story of a group of teenagers who rebel against
society. Basically, they are misunderstood children who
want love from their parents. Unable to find the love
and affection they need, they turn their despair into
destructive acts. As a boy caught in a terrible conflict,
Jimmy shows a deep penetrating understanding of the
character he is scheduled to portray, for in his personal
life he is also a rebel, but one with a cause. . . . He is
possessed by a drive to become one of the finest actors
in the world, and he is determined to accomplish that
cause. He will work at anything, consent to anything. if
he thinks it will further his goal.

The article also mentioned Dean‘s fascination with
the skill and grace of the matador and was illustrated with
a variety of photographs of Dean doing cape work, noting that
"the skills he has develOped in body movement and coordi—
nation are invaluable and acquiring them is part of his dedi-
cation to his work." The article further developed that
fatalistic quotation of Dean‘s, ”an actor‘s course is set
even before he's out of the cradle," and concluded that

though Dean was an unsatisfied taskmaster, he was ”without the

93

smallest doubt the most promising actor of 1955. . . . If
being a rebel helps him to become a better actor, then who
is there who has the right to say he should conform?”

Film Life was there with the answer in ”The Man Behind

 

the Camera" by Don Allen.69 The article brought in both sides
of the coin, mentioning Dean‘s "magnificent performance" but
describing his personal attitudes as "moody," "sullen,"
"uncooperative." Personal characteristics were defined as
"rudeness and uncouthness" by an unnamed "top New York writer."
A personal incident was summarized with the comment: "He

was like a little boy who tries to show off by deliberately
using a naughty word in front of company. But this was an
adult twenty-four years old":

When he thought someone was watching him he slouched
and brooded and acted bored. But when no one paid any
attention to him, he came alive and seemed keenly inter—
ested in everything that was going on around him.

Allen contended that it was “inevitable that he be
compared with Marlon Brando." The analogy began with Brando‘s
acting . . ." the low mumbling of lines, the mannerisms and
facial gestures, the calculated understatement . . . and
Continued on to include his personal behavior.“ The compari—
sons, he said, were "too many and too obvious to have been
merely coincidental."

Allen noted further that "studio representatives" were
a little apprehensive "that Jimmy may have become a one—

character actor who does not have a change of pace on the

screen." Allen labelled the East of Eden role as a "bad boy

 

94

type with dirty fingernails",and called the Rebel Without a

 

Cause role "a confused, neurotic juvenile delinquent." The
Giant role, said Allen, was "practically a reversal of this,"
and Dean was said to be giving trouble:

George Stevens is having trouble getting exactly
what he wants. I've seen him shaking his head many
times when Jimmy resorts to the mannerisms he has used
in previous pictures.

Personally, too, Dean evidently left much to be desired.

The article noted criticism from the townspeople of Marfa,
Texas, site of the Giant location shooting: ”He used too

much dirty language." Even Dean's co—stars would seem to be,
if not critical, certainly not positive in attitude. An
anonymous reporter who tried to get ”some personal stuff" on
Dean from Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor found they "clammed
up_ They just sort of shrugged their shoulders."

By way of explanation, the article could offer only
the fact that even Dean's own father considers him ”a tough
hwy to understand," and Allen resorted to a personal analysis
Of Dean by an unnamed "top studio executive": ”Jimmy's be—
havior is simply a result of shyness, which, in turn, comes
from an inferiority complex.” A "well-known star" was also
quoted:

He popped off when he was in New York about how he
was going to get a lot of publicity out here by being
obscure, abstract, and hard to know. I don't know ex—
actly why. Maybe he was impressed by the Great Garbo
'I want to be alone' technique. Or by Brando's oblique
approach to publicity which has been uniquely successful.

At this same time a more up—beat and traditional

Publicity approach was attempted in Dorothy O‘Leary's

95

"The Littlest Rebel.”70 Obviously a direct plug for the coming
[Kan picture, the article stressed Dean‘s aloneness and in-
tensity, ascribing them to dedication: ”Jimmy stayed by
himself, often retired to his dressing room, where he‘d con-
centrate on the next scene, either by studying or listening
to classical recordings." The ”I have my personal rebellion"
quotation was brought in relating to Brando, and an attempt
Mas made to define Dean‘s intellectuality and seriousness of
purpose, concluding; "The only real resemblance between Dean
and Brando is that they're both truly dedicated actors."
An odd yet interesting note was struck with the announcement
that "this summer Jimmy will direct friend Leonard Rosenman‘s
one act opera 'Capolla the Great‘ at the famed Tanglewood
Summer Music Festival." Pictures accompanying the article
showed Dean rehearsing his lines with a tape recorder and
Playing chess.

Another even more typical plug was Lori Nelson's
"The Dean I Dated."71 Miss Nelson, who was also a Clayton
client and also struggling hard to break out of the "B”
category, said of Dean:

He's dynamic and deliberate, devilish and direct--
but he's not eccentric. . . . He's just as real and
tender and sensitive as he was in the movie. Excite—
ment can be a theatrical quality. Warmth isnGt.

The article accentuated, specifically, Dean‘s unpre—

tentiousness, that he considered Lori Nelson more beautiful

in jeans and pigtails than she was in her finest gown--

a comment certain to appeal to the bobby-sox crowd.

96

The same issue of Motion Picture gave two more puffs

to Dean.72 Kilgallen's goesip Column noted that Dean was

having landlady trouble because he repaired his motorcycle in

the bathroom. Erskine Johnson mentioned the "camera wizardry"

employed to make Dean, "who‘s shorter by far,“ look as tall as

Rock Hudson in Giant. Pictures heralding the forthcoming

Rebel had begun to appear in the New York papers,73 an

article appeared in the Journal—American,74 and Screenland

reiterated a previously released note;

Daredevil Dean is hell on wheels. Racing his Porsche
in local meets, he wins handily at 120 mph plus, earns
the respect of racing pros, but the word around the studio

is, 'That crazy kid is going to kill himself.‘75

With still only one picture released to his credit,

Dean inspired articles like Ruth Rowland‘s "What Jimmy Dean

Did to Hollywood":

In one brilliant performance, the belligerent, moody,
off-beat ‘character' with nothing of the usual glamour

has changed Hollywood and all its concepts of what a
young leading man should be . . . it has opened the doors
that had once been closed because those who made pictures

felt the type was not salable.7o

Mrs. Rowland felt that the ”young and brilliant" actor

had an unusually “sensitive brooding quality" and this, com-

bined with “his fine acting sense," gave him the ”ability to

throw himself into the characters of the young killers or

neurotic juvenile delinquents he frequently played“--even when

she first saw him on television some two years before.
Mrs. Rowland commented also about Dean's lack of pub-

licity cooperation: "Either he is very shrewd or very honest.“

97

An interview with "a young actress" convinced her the latter

description was true, for "he still carries the deep hurt

of those early days."

A lead-in in the October Motion Picture called
'fielent or Temperament" used a Dean anecdote for continuity
in an article about certain stars who continue to parlay their

tempestuous off-screen behavior into box—office popularity.

Mentioned were Shelly Winters, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner,

Robert Mitchum, Mario Lanza, Marilyn Monroe, and, of course,

erlon Brando: "Today, Brando, long Hollywood's No. 1 rebel,

takes a dim view of his one—time behavior." The conclusion

related how, at a party, Brando, "wearing a sincere—type

Madison Avenue suit," warned Dean, who was wearing "old

clothes and a black shirt," that a motorcycle accident could

cost him his career. And, as for bongo drums, ”That was last

year's publicity," smirked Brando as evidence of his "new

self—discipline." The editors noted that this ”new self—

discipline" was "mostly self—imposed."

The October issue of Screen Stories featured the Dean

film East of Eden: "He was cruel and wild because he knew

his father hated him——the story of a boy's search for love."77
Imogene Collins wrote an article on the Clayton—engineered
Dean—Lili Kardell romance entitled "The Secret Love That

These

Haunts Jimmy Dean"78 for the October Modern Screen.

and other articles must have been on the stands when the news

98

came. .All the news services rattled articles off the wires:

INS: Giant Star Dies in Crash—~Tragic auto crash
death of brilliant young actor James Dean-—The actor,
who was forbidden by his studio to indulge his passion
for racing while working, just completed a starring role
in Edna Ferber's Texas opus Giant and was on his way to
Salinas to compete in a sports car race.79

Even in death came the inevitable comparisons to

Brando:

Many compared him to Marlon Brando and concurred that
his death ended what might have been “one of the great
talents' of the theatre.80

Also present were the romantic notes, for, as re-
ported:

None mourned his death more than his ex—sweetheart
Ursula Andress, who wept hysterically and blamed herself
for the actor's death declaring she wished she hadn't
‘broken off' their romance a few weeks ago.

She cried, 'I tried to understand him, but I just

couldn‘t make it work.‘Bl
Ironically, the same Ursula Andress was publicized as
figuring strongly in the divorce proceedings of actor John
Derek, initiated at the time of Dean‘s death.82 She shortly
became Mrs. Derek.

The UP release was labeled "Movie World Mourns Actor

Dean” in Chicago's Sun—Times.83 Called ”Hollywood's newest

 

bobby-sox Idol," Dean was described as "often moody and shy,”

dressed in "blue jeans and T-shirts," having ”taken over
Mmere Marlon Brando left off . . . he had an extraordinary
talent."

AP termed him "a brilliant young motion picture actor

and sports Car racing enthusiast." He "flashed on the movie

99

lxmizon with the same intensity as Marlon Brando, with whom

"54 The Chicago Tribune iced the front

he was often compared.

page release with a photo of Dean holding some of his racing

trOphies. The Sun—Times release recalled Dean as the "surly,

he was often

lmooding Caleb of the movie East of Eden

compared to Marlon Brando."85 The Chicago DailyjNews AP

release added that Dean had a "love for fast cars and motor-

cycles" and "had been a constant worry to his studio. The

Emily News also added the ironic note that the photo showing

 

Dean on a date with Ursula Andress as printed in the issue‘s

roto section "went to press before Dean was killed.”85

A later AP release in the Sun—Times called Dean "a

sensitive young actor . . . who could well become Hollywood‘s

first posthumous Academy Award winner":

Not since the screen debut of Marlon Brando had any
actor made such a bow as had Dean in East of Eden. . . .
Many critics tabbed it the male Oscar performance to

beat.87

This release mentioned that though Dean "was con—

 

sidered eccentric by some outsiders," his death came as a

stunning blow when announced at the "Deb Star” ball. Others

in Hollywood, too, felt the loss. Director George Stevens

was quoted:

Long before the movies or anyone else in Hollywood
had heard of Dean, I saw him in a half—hour television
It was the first time that I ever watched anxious—

play.
ly for the credits so I could find out who this brilliant,

sensitive young actor was. His was an extraordinary

talent.88

100

Chicago's American used an INS release labeled

"Brando Tells Actor's Rush-—Dean‘s Premonition of Tragedy

Told":

Brilliant young movie actor James Dean streaked
through life like a runaway rocket because he felt there
was not enough time, he always had to hurry. And he was

right.
Friends reported today he once told his fellow actor

Marlon Brando, 'I've just got to go places in a hurry.
There just isn't enough time.‘89

The release noted in closing that Dean as the "surly

Caleb in East of Eden displayed the same naturalistic acting

 

talent that made Brando a sensation."

Another gambit on the same theme appeared in a local
3

Chicago column the same day:

The unfortunate fate of movie star James Dean was
prophesied, unknowingly, of course, by Marlon Brando.
We visited Brando last Spring while he was making Guys
and Dolls in Hollywood. The conversation turned to
Dean, who was known as a 'Young Brando.’ 'I told that
crazy kid to stop driving those motorcycles and Sports
cars or he‘d kill himself,‘ Brando said. ‘Know what he
said to me?' ‘If it was good enough for you, it's good

enough for me.‘90

 

Hedda Hopper's daily syndicated column exclaimed that

she was "still reeling" over the loss of "one of the greatest

acting talents I‘ve ever known":

a tragic figure; so few understood him.

He was such
out for love and understanding but got

He was reaching
so little.81

Miss Hopper recalled Dean's interest in acting,

eSpecially the role of Hamlet. "It should be done only by

a young man," he said. She added, "He had a sure instinct

for drama." Miss Hopper sadly noted the lack of effect of the

101

St.(fimistopher medal Dean owned, a gift from Pier Angeli.

Louella Parsons backed away, she said, from the
endogizing "most of Hollywood" would apply to Dean for “his
acting brilliance":

What I remember most about him was the little boy
quality, shining forth at you from behind those thick
glasses of his, tearing at your heart.

He had that extreme and touching idealism of youth
which made you wish that he would never have to be dis—
illusioned.

Now he won't be. He leaves behind his two films in
which he proved that his distinctive magical performances
in East of Eden was not merely a flash. In both Rebel
Without a Cause and Giants [sic.] I understand he far
surpasses his first movie performance which made him an
overnight star.

In fact, it isn‘t hard to find many people in
Hollywood who feel, given the years, Jimmy would have
surpassed Marlon Brando, with whom he was so often com-
pared.

This is a most tragic loss.

 

 

92

Columnists continued to milk the untimely death for
all it was worth, linking Dean's name with other stars, star-
lets, productions, and publications, providing ready publicity
finiall. Sammy Davis publicly lamented the death in Walter
Winchell's column, thanking Winchell for his sage counsel to
"Take it easy!"93 Ursula Andress is quoted as telling friends
"a few days before" Dean‘s "tragic" death: "I know we love
each other because we fight all the time."94 Irv Kupcinet
cited the irony behind the statistic that though Dean had
Mmrked earlier as a backstage assistant on"The Hallmark Hall
Of Famef'next month he was scheduled to return to"The Hall of

Fame"as star of The Corn Is Green.95 Walter Winchell em—

Ployed irony, too, in:

102

In the October Modern Screen question and answer

 

page: 'Warner Bros., I am told, objects strenuously to
James Dean‘s auto racing. Does he plan to give it up?‘
S. J. El Paso. Answer: No! In Screenland Dean is quoted,

 

‘My days of fun are over!‘98
Iouella Parsons noted now that Dean was "to have had the

starring role in E. Hemingway‘s story ‘The Battler.“

[firector Arthur Penn chose Dewey Martin to replace him.“97

Emeilah Graham mentioned that Henry Ginsberg flew out to attend
the funeral of Dean and to represent the Giant company, which
Mas shut down waiting for Liz Taylor to get well.98 And
WaUXX'Winchell devoted an entire column to Hollywood tragedies
(Robert Walker, Valentino, Harlow, Lombard), using Dean‘s death
as a springboard to florid prose:

Black headlines extinguish the shimmer of a star and
millions are saddened. James Dean's journey into the
shadows is replete with dark ironies common to tragedies.
There is reason to believe his reckless hobbies were
motivated by the grandest emotion--love. Dean had been
lugging the torch for over a year. The fiery burden com—
pelled him to seek escape and challenge death in speeding
vehicles. First it was motorcycles——then racing cars.

Dean had struggled for years. He literally starved
or toiled as a busboy while searching for acting jobs.

He did walknon and bit parts on TV. Then he won a small
role in The Immoralist on Broadway and attracted Holly-
wood‘s attention. Suddenly his ambition was fulfilled
and stardom was a reality. And suddenly it ended with a
Sickening crash.99

 

Sheilah Graham now revealed that Elizabeth Taylor‘s
COIIapse followed the news of the death of her Giant co—star,

0 Dorothy

hinting secret and deep intimacy of feeling.10
Kilgallen thought it safe to release the news that John Derek
waS "consoling" Ursula Andress.101 Other news revelations in—

cluded the announcement via AP that Dean had received a Speed—

ing ticket less than two hours before his fatal crash.102

103

After the "news" articles came still more tributes.
Joeffiems said in "This Is Hollywood":

Mr. Dean was a brilliant and shy young man tormented
with many personal problems. Cars were not a symbol to
him of a fast life; they were a symbol of rebellion against
routine and a release from an unhappy life . . . [He] never
felt more complete than at the wheel of a speeding car.103

104 and Newsweek105 both carried obituaries, and

11.339.
on October 9th, the news services gave notice of his burial
‘fln a quiet country cemetery" as "a crowd estimated at 5,000
mulled quietly as final services were read."106

Ironically, the New York Sunday News on the day of his

 

funeral carried a publicity photo of Rock Hudson and Dean
"Learning the Ropes" on the set of Giant.107

Miss Kilgallen continued her personal plunge into
Dean lore by noting:
It's never happened that a posthumous Academy Award
has been given an actor, but Hollywood insiders expect
the precedent to be set in the case of James Dean, killed
in that wild auto crash. They believe his performance in
Rebel Without a Cause will win him an Oscar even though
he's dead.108
The "wildness" of the crash seems substantiated by
a later Kilgallen column in which she noted that "a half an
hour before“ the crash Dean had indulged himself in "a chal—
lenge race on the road" with Lance Reventlow, son Of heiress
Barbara Hutton.109

Mentions of a possible Oscar for Dean were to be re—

Peated throughout the next several years, by various people,

on various occasions, and, probably, for various reasons.

104

vmat was an Oscar performance at the time of Dean”s death,

andrmmed as such, was his performance in East of Eden, then

 

hicirculation. Miss Kilgallen mentioned a possible Oscar
RH'Dean's performance in Rebel Without a Cause, which was
abmnzto be released. In the months and the years to come,
the Oscar possibility was also to be connected to Dean's work
ggagg. Probably no cinema award has as much prestige in the
meican public mind as has the Oscar awarded by the Motion
Idcture Academy. To say a Dean performance would merit such
miaward is ostensibly a compliment to his performance.
To keep saying it, and keep saying it over a period of years
lendstx>such remarks a connotation that they may be made,
also, to excite interest and suSpense——nor could they in any
waY'damage box office receipts. At this point, and in the
light of the raves to come, it might be worth mentioning that
Dean never did win an Oscar.

Almost immediately after Miss Kilgallen‘s remarks,

,&§§fl.Without a Cause was released.

Stewart Stern, a young screen writer, wrote the script
fin Rebel Without a Cause. A discussion of the work and
events to the point at which Mr. Stern entered the scene
has eventually written and published by Nicholas Ray, the
director of the film, and will be discussed later at the time
aI9pr0Priate to the publishing date. It might be more reward—

lng now to examine Dean's influence on his screen writer in

105

11m creation of a role written expressly for him. Despite
flxzfact the title is from a well-known psychological study
lnrRobert Lindner, the characters and the plot are originals:
screenplay by Stewart Stern from an idea by Nicholas Ray.

Mr. Stern counts himself among the handful of Dean's
'Tmst friends" in Hollywood. Stern described Dean as:

Mischievous, hearty, trying to get all he could out

of life. He had a superficial knowledge of many things.

many subjects, careening from interest to interest, never
going into anything very deeply, but usinglét for all it

was worth at the time-—and in the future.

Years before, Stewart Stern had worked with a theatre
reading group in New York. He wanted Dean for a role, for
rmmhing, and was advised to call Dean up and ask——but warned,
"He's a good actor, but watch out . . . completely unpredict—
ablefl' Stern called Dean and suggested that if he weren‘t
cknng anything, he might come down and read. He met with an
afflhmative if mumbled answer——"But, even then," said Stern.
"I knew he wouldnft show up.”

According to Stern, when they met again in Hollywood,
Daniasked Stern to go to a film with him. Stern declined,
tmt when Dean called a week later and asked again, the invi—
tation'was accepted. It was a second West Coast Premiere of

W:

Barroom . . . Cinemasc0pe . . . East of Eden . .
BDd I found the little guy sitting next to me had power
as an actor-—and as a mimic. We sat by the hour talking
about animals, imitating them. Jimmy could do it per—
feCtly. Once at a showing of Prince of Players, Jim
Backus was sitting with his wife Henny in back of us.
I noted it to Jimmy, and a few seconds later, he

106

laughed, "That's rich!" in the Magoo voice. I looked
over and there was Backus, standing up and looking
around for his imitator.

It's this sort of thing we worked into Rebel—~points
where his personality and mine met and meshed. There
was frustration, yes, but also a gentleness, a warmth
considered by society as unmanly.

Among Dean‘s Hollywood friends was a young actor, con-
sidered "effeminate." Jimmy sort of played the mother—hen
role to him, wanted very much to get him into Rebel in the
part of Plato. Dean and his friend made a test together for
Rebel, in a scene which was cut from the later script, but
omuured after the "chickie-run.“ The scene included a siege
oflnsterical laughter, much as some people might react to

tragedy. The friend wasn‘t sure he could laugh. They were

iming the old Streetcar set for the test. According to Stern

 

Jimmy took his friend behind the set and he was peeing, seeing
hmntmgh he could make it go, trying to make it go over the
mfi;and into the camera. The result brought forth, of course,
Nude of laughter, and they were ready to shoot.

Though the test went well, the young actor's immediate
career did not, at least not in this particular role. He did
'end up in the picture playing a minor role, but, according

to Stern:

I wanted the role to have homosexual overtones--but
he was too much. Plato was young, yes, and searching for
warmth, but he would have been too much.

Stern found that Dean‘s sensitivity was intermeshed
Math his interest in his own personal well being. According

to Stern until that last year, Dean had no conception of what

107

(NTMmO he was. The tremendous acclaim he had as an actor

Mes lost in his great fear-—finding his place in the world.
Dithat last year he went to a psychiatrist. Stern felt that
:UfDean had lived to continue his therapy, this might all have
baniresolved for him in his own mind.

In terms of the Dean personality used in Rebel and in
the scenario of The James Dean Story, which was written later,
Ekern said he regarded Jimmy as a part of a progression in
the Williams—Inge concept of the BOY-MAN who looks and acts
like a man, but is ruled by a woman——a comment on the role of

the sexes in our society;

Rebel Without a Cause opened in New York City on

(kmober 29, 1955. Unlike East of Eden, it did not seem to

 

fave had a carefully prepared-for opening. There were no

lengthy previews and try-out runs; even the exhibitor reviewer
tad only days before the public opening of the film to see it
and assess it. The haste would seem to point out that Warner
Thus. was edgy about the commercial success of the film.

Though a Cinemascope production and in color, Rebel could hardly
he considered a Class A film. With mostly contract stars, a
relatively little known director, an original story, James Dean
was about the only selling point the film had. With Dean

killed so recently, to issue the film at once would be

tmzardous--to wait might be fatal. The film was released.

108

Demiues the only big star in the film, and the film was
therefore sold on that basis.
The Press Books illustrating posters and story lines

fin Rebel Without a Cause ran twenty tabloid pages.111 The

 

rmfior posters and neWSpaper advertisements featured Dean in
easeries of Specially posed shots and stills from the film.
The lead poster asserted: "Warner Brothers put all
Huaforce of the screen into a challenging drama of today's
txenagers."‘ About 2/5 of the entire advertisement was a
smxho shot of Dean in his red jacket and tight blue jeans.
Tauxlfrom the half—rear, the face looking over the shoulder
:nia serious expression, the hands in the back hip—pockets,
Unapicture had a mock sensuality--almost a parody of the
fmmnm WWII back shot of Betty Grable. The picture was
labeled, “Jim Stark——a kid in the year 1955-—what makes him
tidclike a bomb?" Credits listed "James Dean" in letters as
large as those of the title; Natalie Wood, the co—star, got
less than half—size lettering, Sal Mineo, a little more than
half that, and featured players, director, etc., even less.
Armxfiismaller picture framing the credits showed Dean pro—
tmfijhg Natalie Wood: ". . . and they both come from 'good
families!‘"
A similar poster—ad used half of the Space for a long,

flfllrfront, full figure of Dean, still in the same costume,
1figs crossed, hand on hip, holding a cigarette, with the

same stern look. The credits and wording of the previous

109

amuntisement were repeated, but a somewhat different pose
:flfDean with Wood was used. Their hands are clasped as they
stmxiat a distance from each other. The remaining Space
wastaken by a still from the knife-fight scene, labeled:
"flmareception committee for the new kid on the block."
Ondously, the switch-blade knives, which dominate the screen
hithe film, have been blocked out, giving the impression
lflmt the clenched fists are just that and only that.

A variation using the front shot declared: "This kid
lmm a chip on BREE shoulders. He's Jim Stark, teenager who
tflunks he has to be bad to make good!" An added three-shot
hithis "challenging drama of today's juvenile violence"
suggested: WMaYbe the police should have picked up the
parents instead."

A variation of the back Shot was labeled, "The talk
iSjfive, the walk is swagger. You join a gang. AND A TEEN
WAR STARTS!"

Further variations, all accenting the Dean face,
figure and name were labeled:

A portrayal of surpassing impact-~the story of a

teenage kid caught in the undertow of today's juvenile
violence.

This kid makes a date——and a teen war starts.

Real and overpowering! Warner Bros. Challenging
Drama of Teenage Violence!

Their families gave them everything—~but a good
example.

110

He was new on the block, the pretty girl belonged
to the leader of the gang, and the leader of the gang
called him 'chicken' to his face. . . . This is the
way a teen war starts!

Stills from the film were featured in advertisements
ckmlaring, "These kids are playing 'Cops and Robbers' with
realcops!" and "Look, Ma! No handcuffs——YET!"

Perhaps the most bizarre advertisement, showing Dean
mxiNatalie Wood clasping hands at a distance and used
Ineviously to display a tender, romantic moment. was now cap-
tioned:

Do you know why she just rubbed a little dirt in his
hand? There's a terrifying reason behind this teenage
custom. It's not a ritual from 10,000 years ago or
10,000 miles away. It happens today . . . next door.

In prepared newspaper copy, Dean figured as the star

hia.picture at the same studio "where he made his sensational

debut in East of Eden":

 

His first motion picture bore out the promise of
stardom predicted by Kazan. In Rebel Without a Cause
Dean reportedly repeats the success he scored in
East of Eden.

 

 

The part is said to be as dramatic as the role
Dean played in East of Eden.

The film was also to be touted as the "romantic"
damn of former child star Natalie Wood. She seemed duly
grateful:

After seeing Mr. Dean in East of Eden, Natalie re—

calls, ‘I went home and prayed that I could work with
him some day.‘

 

Perhaps as an appeal to a somewhat different public,

exhflntors were asked to also note the authenticity of the

111

Immerial, the eight months of "research" in preparing the
fihn. To further sell the film they were advised:

Sneak previews and advance screenings prove that
Rebel Without a Cause creates excitement through word of
mouth. That kind of stimulation can be provoked in your
town. Invite local educators, parents' groups, law
officials, newspaper, radio and TV opinion makers, civic
officials, social workers to an advance showing.

 

As was the case with East of Eden, publicity lapel
rflflwns, wall banners, etc. featuring Dean's name prominently
Imme available. In all stills released for advertising,

Dears was the dominant figure.

Although the advertising campaign, as stated, was
(«mked out preceding Dean's death and made no overt play on
tfimt fact, the concentration of advertising attention on Dean
mathe central and heroic figure, the play on the general image
"mate bad to make good," etc., the immediateness of the
Enemiere, as well as the immediacy of the Dean presence on
the screen~~and all so soon after his death-—were to reap
(hyidends, literally, for Warner Bros. In the course of time,
the picture grossed almost as much as East of Eden.

Rebel Without a Cause112
(Not for publication)

A man, beaten up by some teen age toughs, is left
lying unconscious in the street. Jim (JAMES DEAN), an
unruly youth questioned by the police, is released for
lack of evidence, but not before revealing a disrespect
for his domineering mother (ANN DORAN) and weakling father
(JIM BACKUS). With Judy (NATALIE WOOD), a girl friend,
and his pal Plato (SAL MINEO), Jim tries to join a gang
led by Buzz (COREY ALLEN). Instead, Jim and Buzz wind

uP fighting a knife duel and agree to meet later for a
test whereby the boys each get into a hot rod, drive the

112

cars toward the edge of a cliff and leap out seconds
before the vehicles tumble to the jagged rocks below.
Both boys racing at breakneck speed, the Cliff's edge
looming ahead, Buzz reaches for the door, but his

jacket sleeve hooks over the handle. Trapped, he and
the car spin through the air to a violent death below.
Fearing Jim will go to the police, Buzz's friends

track him to a deserted mansion where he, Judy and

Plato, armed with his father's gun, are hiding out.
Plato opens fire, killing one of the youths. Summoned
by the shots, police close in and order the gun—crazed
youngster to surrender. Plato makes a furtive move
mistaken by a policeman who fires at him. Jim, saddened
by his buddy's death, is comforted by his parents. From
this experience, they have come to understand one
another.

There is no running time listed.

As an "authentic" picture of juvenile violence,
BQxfl.Without a Cause is something more and something less.
Acnmiously uneven film, it tends to be rather gothic in
Stlllle. As an example, the opening shot in the film has a
mniously stark and moving——yet vaguely ambiguous-—quality.

The opening scenes of the original scenario were
addently cut, probably as being too violent. The gang beat-
inSupthe man is never shown. Originally, the man, carrying
Exme packages, is accosted, beaten, his packages falling into
Umagutter. Among the packages are toys, evidently for his
duldren. None of this is shown in the film as released.

Instead, under the title and credits, is a single
QNOUnd level shot of a deserted street and gutter. A mechanical
‘UHVmonkey playing tiny hand cymbals is clattering away in the

foreground. A drunken Jim Stark reels into the shot, looks

115

at the toy, and flops down on his stomach for a better View.
Tenderly, he turns the toy on its side, blankets it with a
piece of wrapping paper, and cuddles beside it, his hands
between his thighs, his legs drawn up in an almost fetal
position. The sound of sirens comes up in the background,
and a break is made to the scene in the police station. The
opening scene, as presented, is arresting——but without the
context of the beating, leaves many questions unanswered,
including the reference to the beating in the later dialogue.

In or out of context, this first view of Jim Stark as
drunken and infantile, alone, is in emphatic contrast to the
strength he seems to build to heroic proportions as the
PiCture progresses. Indeed, the story has an almost mythic
quality, with Jim and the kids against the rest of the world.
The parents, the cops, the teachers are, without exception.
if not actually threatening, useless—-or, even worse,
ridiculous.

The picture centers on Jim Stark, the hero, and his
relationships with his parents and with his peers. Thrust
between the Spineless cajoleries of his father (played by
an eX-comedian) and the biting tongue of his mother, he can
Olily scream, "You're tearing me apart, " and bury his head in
his coat as his parents publicly argue over which one of
them is to blame that he was arrested. Jim calls his home
life a "zoo," a "circus." He says, " If I had one day when

I didn't have to be all confused and didn't have to feel that

114

Ives ashamed of everything-—that I belong someplace. . . ."
Hecxiticizes especially his father's attitude:
He always wants to be my pal. How can I give him
anything? I don't know what to do anymore, except
maybe die. She eats him alive and he takes it. I don't
ever want to be like him . . . 'chicken' . . . If he had
the guts to knock Mom cold once!

The juvenile officer, Ray, asserts people can succeed
higrowing up in such an atmOSphere but invites Jim to "come
hm shoot the breeze" whenever he feels like it. Ray, un-
fintunately, is not around when the chips are down. Jim
Immt turn to his peers. And they have their own problems.

Jim's situation is mirrored in the.familial relation—
anB of Plato and Judy, and though the particular situations
areenmreme and the individual reactions equally so, the
pkxure, in a sense, attempts to delineate the general position
Ofthe teen ager in modern society——alone and abandoned, left
tolnneelf to search out values for himself in a world that
dmfld disintegrate at any moment.

At one point Judy's father says with dismay that he
sunny doesn't understand the situation. His wife consoles
tun1with, "It's the age!" For a teenager, nothing seems to
Wbright. Judy's younger brother has yet another answer.
Raiding his spark-throwing toy Tommy—gun, he shrieks, "It's
the Atomic Age! " V

After the apocalyptic planetarium scene, awesome

muidevastating in its depiction of the end of the world--

‘Ubshow the pettiness of man and his problems, Plato remarks

115

Ofthe lecturer with almost existential authority, "What does

hgquwzabout Man, Alone?"

The romantic interest is carried by Natalie Wood as
Judy. Jim has already seen Judy at the police station; she
hmiteen picked up on the streets at 1 A.M. in a red dress
amiuearing too much make—up. She feels her father rejects
her.

The first romantic scene has been praised photo—

gnaphically by Charles Barr:

In Rebel Without a Cause a shot of extraordinary
beauty comes after the first twenty minutes of the film,
during which the surroundings have been uniformly cramped
and depressing, the images physically cluttered up and
dominated by blacks and brown. Now James Dean is about
to set out for school; he looks out the window. He recog-
nizes a girl walking past in the distance. Cut to the
first day/exterior Shot, the first bright one, the first
horizontal one. A close shot of Natalie Wood in a light
green cardigan against a background of green bushes. As
she walks, the camera moves laterally with her. This
makes a direct sensual impression which gives us an in—
sight into Dean's experience, while at the same time rev

maining completely natural and unforced.

Idotorially, the scene is like something out of Our Town.

The dialogue is another matter. Jim makes an obvious
Eflay for the girl, mentioning their first meeting, to be
cmnmered with the rebuff, "Well, stop the world!" To show
lumrbright and witty hg_can be, he comes back with the re—
runder, "Life can be beautiful!"-—to be met with, "Who lives!"
mmia sarcastic, "You wanna carry my books?" Judy's hot—rod
leather jacketed friends drive by to pick her up. Her

'eteady" looks like Marlon Brando, and as they stop the car,

116

lmzyells for "Stella—a—a-a!" Judy looks at Jim and says,
‘Jibet you're a real yo—yo!" He counters, "I love you, too."
Nuascene in dialogue is almost a parody of Our Town, with

cwertones of A Streetcar Named Desire, but it is modern, and

 

it is surprisingly valid.

Youngsters the nation over were to see and recognize
Ummmelves and their friends in the forced and almost cynical
smnnr faire of Jim and Judy. If the adults were overdrawn,
Umateenagers seemed recognizable enough, and, after all,
Uwaadults.were the villains. One might say that Rebel derived
aigood deal of its power and force from the fact that it did
Eggshow an adult's conception of the teenager——shy, pimply,
awkward and fumbling——as had so many earlier films. The early
films were made for adults and adults were presented with an
image of the teenager which would satisfy Eh§m_most. With
the changing audience of the Fifties, some movie makers began
'Uirealize and recognize the changing nature of their depleted

1mm younger audience. Rebel Without a Cause was probably one

 

dfthe first films to cater deliberately to that younger
mxhence in that it presented a picture of the teenager as
the teenagers see themselves~—or, more importantly—-as they
think of themselves. Rebel established here a leitmotif used
dmnmless times since in almost any picture aimed at the teen—
age trade.

Teenage attitudes expressed toward adult authority
miSht be summed up in the scene just after the knife-fight.

Ziplanetarium employee and a guard come to break things up.

117

A member of the gang suggests "cutting out." "What for, "
Buzz asks, "a couple of old poop—heads?" When authority ap—
proaches, the girls sarcastically pinch his cheeks, and one
Of the boys grabs his visored hat, and in imitation German,
a pseudo—Adolph Hitler, screams, "Achtung! Achtung! Ve vas
chust cutting oudt! " Authority, even in its mildest form,
is equated with Nazi-ism.

The.example of the adult attitude toward the teens is
most pointed in the parental relationships depicted, but a
vignette midway through the picture presents. its point also.
When the milling. student crowd presses toward theplanetarium
door, a pinched, old—maidish school teacher starts to yell,
“May I have your attention? May I have your attention?"
Ignored, she petulantly declares, "Oh, what the heck! " The
scene never fails to get a laugh.

Dean had ample opportunity in the film to display his
mimic talents. The animal sounds of a bull in the planetarium,
a cat in the old mansion, even a forced accent and the Mr.
Magoo imitation found their way into the film. The integrity
and sincerity, the tenderness Stewart Stern recognized and
knew, all found their way into the script.

Jim Stark's other friend, John Crawford, called Plato,
is even more disturbed than Judy. The product of a divorced
home, Plato's only overseer is a Negro housekeeper. He is in
the police station in the opening scene because he shot some

Puppies~—and he keeps a photograph of Alan Ladd in his school

118

locker- His comment to Judy about Jim: "My best friend!
You have to get to know him. He's Sincere. He doesn't say
much, but when he does, you know he means it."

James.Dean was playing a role with which he could
identify. .He was-doing the things he could do best, knew
best. His performance. gained an added .ease and authority it
might not haveotherwise had. Moreover, from what Dean's fans
knew of his. life, and what they considered. to be his attitudes--
what they. found. out from the various publicity. media—~they
could. readmore- into the delivery of the lines, the impact
of the situations, by identifying the character with the man.
Even Dean's unexpected, unplanned for death gave new mean—
ing and biting irony to some of the lines. Witness Jim's
remarks to Judy in seeking her acceptance: "I didn't chicken.
You saw when I jumped. What do I have to do? Kill myself?
This morning . . . first thing when I saw you . . . I said to
myself, 'Live it up! Tomorrow you'll be nothing! "'

When Jim later invites Judy to the deserted mansion,
"Wanna go up there with me? You can trust me! "—vShe does.

Plato follows them, and the three of them "play house."
After lullabying Plato to sleep, Jim and Judy set off to
"explore.“ There follows the big love scene. Jim is lying
down, Judy next to him. Her chin seems to be resting about
on his nose. She nuzzles him, talking against his face. His
eyes are almost closed. He is in profile; her face is in

5/4 above and dominating his in large Close Up:

.Judye.fli!

Jim: Hi!

Judy: Is this what it's like to love somebody?

Jim: I don't know.

Judy: What kind of person do you think a girl wants?
Jim: A man!

Judy: Yes, but a man who can be gentle and sweet.
Jim: Yeah.

Judy: Like you are . . . and someone who doesn't run
away when you want them . . . like being Plato‘s
friend when nobody else liked him. That's being.
strong! '

Jim: I'm not going to be lonely anymore . . . ever . . .

ever! Not you or me!
Judy: I love somebody. All this time I've been looking
for somebody to love me, and now I love somebody.
Why is it easy now? I love you, Jim. I really
mean it.
His lips part slightly, he slowly turns his head-—to
axmmy Slow kiss. She still dominates him.
The character of Jim Stark-—How handy when last names
(WHE seldom used——could easily be equated with Jim Dean as
Ins public knew him. Jim Stark could be every girl's dream
kwer. He was there. No demands, he was just there. "Strong"
ami"sincere," he was something less than a lover—-but then,
lovers are, or can be, dangerous. This was safe. But Jim
fixuk was only a character. James Dean was a person. And
.kmes Dean was dead. All of the attributes ascribed to the
cxmracter Jim Stark had become fixed as part of the character
QfJames Dean. And because in death he was equally remote as

lfis character counterpart, James Dean was to become the dream

lover, the idol of a generation.

Newspaper reviews, like Wanda Hale's,114 were generally

unment to remark about the "fine, sensitive performance" by

120

the "late—lamented" James Dean in "a role similar" to his

earlier success in East of Eden. AS will be noted, almost

 

all of the later reviews took into direct account, in greater
and less degree, Dean's recent demise. How much of an

effect Dean's death had on the reviews must be pure con—
jecture; yet, it is surprising how many reviewers tended to
accept the picture as a whole on the basis of their particular

conception of the authority of the Dean performance.

The peculiarities of fan magazine publishing lags
already noted, it was not unusual to find stories, puffs,
pictures, etc. featured in fan magazinesdated months after
Dean's death Speaking of him as if he were still alive.
figllywood Romances noted' Warner Bros. "having fits" over his
racing, adding that "he's due to be drafted any day now."115
Movie Life carried the article "Daffy Over Dean, "116 Screen
5.1.1332 lists his name and statistics among their "New Faces,"

labeling him a "character."117

Hedda HOpper, a strong sup-
porter, rushed to his defense, though late, with: "Dean, a
highly emotional guy, likes to be wanted, and some people

connected with this picture [Giant] treated him like a step-

child."lla Photoplay featured an article by Natalie Wood,

 

Dean's co—star in Rebel Without a Cause, entitled "You
Haven‘t Heard the Half About Jimmy":“‘9 "Eden made Jimmy into

a juvenile delinquent. I shudder to think what Rebel Without

 

1.912%}; is going to do." Miss Wood recounted Dean's "happy

121

childhood," told of his "first break," getting the job as a
crewman on a sloop where "the skipper knew someone who knew
someone." Also recounted were anecdotes concerning Miss
Wood's TV work with Dean, "my first adult role," and, most
especially, the work on Rebel. "Charm and intelligence”
were Miss Wood's keynote phrases: "Jimmy Dean's too busy
living to sulk."

Movie Life Yearbook_#21,120 also on the stands, gave
Dean a full pageas "this year's hottest new star": "He
scarcely resembles the common variety of movie idol. In fact,
you might say he does everything in his power to de different."
Listed were... his immediate objective: to play Hamlet on
Broadway; and his big goal: to step into the director's
shoes of his idol, Elia Kazan.

Hollywood Life Stories featured a biography of Dean
entitled "Melancholy Genius ":121 "Jimmy Dean is an actor who
creates controversy." The article told of Dean's non—appear—
ance at the Eden opening in New York, because he was "allergic
to both criticism and praise"; the Brando comparisons were
brought in, and the article purported to explain Dean's
character "in terms of his past, and the fact that he was
uprooted from a happy home before he was able to cope with
itJ' It went on to tell of the loss of Dean's parents,
through death and the resulting fosterage, the early dramatic
and athletic success in high school, the hard New York years

("The skipper had a friend who was a producer, a good friend") ,

122

theifier Angeli loss, including waiting outside the church:

Proud and defiant and essentially lonely despite
his frequent dates, he prefers to keep his distance
from people and is plagued by a restlessness that he

buries.in dozens of hobbies.
Certain other Dean mentions at this same time took
Duo full account his recent death, capitalizing on it. Time

LmedIUs picture with their review of Rebel. The picture was

cmflfioned "A Kid Was Killed” and the copy lamented the loss of
miactor with such "unusual sensibility and charm."12? They

unmidered his performance "the best thing about the film."

 

JmICOOk, Hollywood correspondent for the New York Post,

mmnjoned the hangman's noose in Dean's apartment in his

euticle on "Hollywood Tragedies."123

Sanford Roth's "The Late James Dean" in Colliers,124

wmslarded with on—the—set shots of Giant (Roth was an

'tfificial" photographer). Roth recalled:

His death was front page news. But the stories were
something more than a tribute to a newcomer whose career
stOpped at the edge of greatness. They were also testi—
mony to the pressures that today keep youngsters like
Jimmy in constant warfare with the status quo.

Roth, who was there "when they took Jimmy out of the
carfl'eflaborated on the early death of the young star, de-
EflCting it as destiny catching up with him, quoting Dean as

Saying that if he "lived to 100, there wouldn't be enough

time for everything." Hedda Hopper was mistakenly quoted:

WWBt I remember most is the little—boy quality shining from

henna those thick glasses of his." (That was Louella Parsons!)

123

Evmiin the recounting of Dean's work with Pegot Waring,

scukmress friend of Roth's, the thread of pity for unconsum-

netaicmeativity ran through the narrative, pity for the boy

Mu)loved.animals, playing tricks. Yet, there was a note

oftwssible future recognition. Roth pointed out that in the

Dean plays the role of "Jett Rink, the

yet unreleased.Giant,

fan living oil tycoon . . . a part some movie people think

maylning Dean the first posthumous Academy Award."

The fan magazines started to catch up with events.

‘Mgkmn Screen's tribute featured two Special articles. One

 

(mm called "Appointment With Death"

Was his appointment with Death a casual rendezvous,
a brutal quirk of fate, or had it been made a long time
ago? . . . He was a boy who had been intimate with Death

(his mother's). . . .In all his human contacts, he was

unconsciously seeking something he had lost in the years

beyond remembering.125

The other article was ”This Was My Friend Jimmy Dean"126

bybflke Connolly. The author said the article was written

mule Dean was still alive, and he presented it in the form

it was first written. Though there is a "Present—tense"

munity about the article as a whole, Connolly prefaced it with
pertinent comment:

You don't Speak ill of the dead. No one will call
him rude and neurotic now; at worst they'll say he was

a non-conformist. He was.
The body of the article was a strange commentary on

mxianalysis of the intellectual and the childish, or at least

fluid-like, enthusiasms of Dean. Dean waxed rhapsodic over

124

Entok in recounting the story of the ballet "The Miraculous

a story of the search for and the power of love.

Renata Tebaldi,

Mandarin,
Nmmm like SchOnberg, Bach, Claudia Muzio,
Jnmue Rodgers (folk Singer of the 30's) popped into the con-

wnsation between Connolly and Dean. As Dean was quoted,
"MXWLaround you at children and animals. They're always
hmking.for and discovering new things. That's what I like

UDdO." Connolly said the story had to be a direct account.
"Itnfight be.tough.writing it any other way, because it has

." "Jim laughed and said, 'That‘s me

a million angles. .

tOO-—a million.angles!"'

Motion Picture also included a tribute to Dean in its
7

 

[Mcember issue, coupled with a full page color photo.12

in the same issue was an article crediting Ursula

Nearby,
Nukess with the break up of the John Derek marriage. There
'The

waseflso an advertisement for Rebel Without a Cause.

one—sentence paragraphs surveyed

Danitribute, in awesome,

DemVs unfulfilled future:

He died the eternal rebel-—laughing at a world he
could not accept—-accepted by a world that loved him.

Jimmy, we will not forget!

Whereas, before his death Dean was said to consider

' now, it, too, becomes part

Ins acting as a "dedication.'
Dean wanted to be

Oféfllunfulfilled urge toward creativity.
a900d actor only for the emotional experience it held:
If I can act well enough, I want to direct. After
that I'll tackle what I think is the toughest of all
But I'm afraid of that one.

professions, writing.

 

125

The article reported that one "intimate friend,"

whmiinformed of Jimmy's death, Showed little emotion. He

amok his head and said:

Don‘t be sad about Jimmy. He wouldn't want it.
We'll never know for sure, but I'll bet he died laughing
at a world he always thought was out of joint.

There's a little of Jimmy Dean in all of us. If
you remember that, you'll never forget him. And that,
above all, would make him happy.

The bi—monthly Movies hadn't yet caught up with Dean's

deaUL and Armand Archerd's "Talk of the Town" quoted Edna
Bernafls description of Dean: ”A very sweet boy . . . a

"128 The same

games suffering from success poisoning.

ismuys "Movie Memo" reviewed Rebel:

Compared to Rebel Without a Cause, Blackboard Jungle
was just a mild romp. This story of gang fights, hot
rods and deadly pranks would be enough to cause excite—
ment without the added attraction of James Dean. Holly-
wood‘s best new actor, he's outstanding. . . .129

Movie Life contributed "The Untold Story of James

 

Dears Last Days,”130 concentrating on the dedication of the

l©ung actor. The article told of "a plan to bring a branch of

Unafamed New York Actors Studio where he got his training
tofkfllywood for the benefit of the young players there.”

Danrs interest in the theoretical was further expanded to
huflude "a view to producing and directing his own films."

Ikiconstantly carried about the set what he called his di-

rector's notebook, jotting down all the information he could

there was racing. where ”a man could be

98t. For relaxation,

freefl' The "key," however, lay in Dean's statement, "My fun

 

126

The road race at Salinas was to be a "last

days are over."

fling":

if only for a few moments, to
the fears,
And

. . to say goodbye,
the heavy cares that burdened his shoulders
the loneliness of being misunderstood and unloved

goodbye.to youth. Goodbye . . . Goodbye. . . .

The same issue pictured Dean with Ursula Andress,l3'1

EUeabeth Taylor132 and alone,133 accompanied by weepy gossip

column puffs.

There was an advertisement134 in the back pages for

Unasister publication Movie Stars Parade, which promised an

mfiicle with the cryptic and misleading title "Where Jimmy

Demitfides and Why." The article actually was about the

mmfll home Dean rented Shortly before he died. Because of
The

its remoteness, it was often described as a ”hideaway.

gxmsibily innocent juxtaposition of the title and Dean 5 death

gmnapromise of more interesting copy than it really afforded

Screen Life called Dean a "Spacegetter."135 Also, he

waSEi"loner . . . an introvert. Because of his unhappy

dfildhood, he became a "drifter":

. . Oh, not in the physical sense, mind you .
but mentally. He lived in a little boy's very grown up
world of daydreams, of wants, of desires . but until
recently, the dreams would end all too swiftly.

Set shots of Giant were used to illustrate the four

page article—~and at the top of the first page, a black

tmrdered insert reads:

The shocking news of James Dean's untimely death
came as we were going to press. May he rest in peace.

 

127

Derek Prouse again reviewed the new Dean film in

Shflm and Sound.136 Any doubts he may have had about Dean's

(neative authority have vanished. He called Jim's relation—

mnt>with his parents a "long-standing, basic rot," exclaim—

imjthat."only a.superb interpretation could have given this

Unitexture of a deeply corrosive, psychic disorder, and

Jmmm Dean (whose second film this was) magnificently achieved

it":

His talent had very early acquired a controlled and
highly selective expression, and there is hardly a single
miscalculated stress. The eyes, withdrawn and undeceived;
the inflections at once relaxed and bitter in their denial
Of all expectation; the awkward grace of youth, and the
moments of eruptive conviction that somewhere, something
is hideously wrong outside himself. Drawn equally to the
life of his own generation and to a superior instinctual
world of the spirit, he drifts——recoiling on the one hand
from the cruelties of the adolescents, on the other from
the chains of his parents. The actor movingly captures
the conflict in all its multiple evasions, betrayals,
sudden giggling release of tension, and agonized deadlock,
and achieves a genuinely poetic account of a modern mis-

fit.
Critic Donald Costello of Today137 found Rebel Without

 

EiCause as "having many qualities of a good movie with a

Immure sense of social responsibility"; "less exaggerated than

makboard Jungle,” it ”concerns itself, properly, with people

 

rather than sociology."
Though the picture tends to "oversimplify a complex

pnflflem,“ and Costello carps at trying to make a 24 year old

mmllook like a 17 year old boy, he praises the unusual plot

must which brings in some interesting psychology with Sol

bic.]Mineo's "father-complex" for James Dean. Costello

 

128

phases the color, the performances-—”but all this pales into

reLuuNe.insignificance when faced with the.overwhelming

pmxmmce of one James Dean." Considering the fact that in

the review of.East of Eden, covering almost a full tabloid

pm LiCostello.never.touched once on Dean's performance-~it

same somewhat strange that in this particular case he should

feelthat."credit is not only due—-but demanded”

,The twoiperformances of James Dean to which we have
been exposed.so.far,.in East of Eden and.in Rebel With—
out a Cause, have excited me like Lsig.]few have done.
Deanis performance here has.heightened the tragedy of
his recent death. It has sharpened the knowledge that
a great artist has been lost——and this in a world that
As I saw again Dean's sensitivity and
I felt my enjoyment
for one of the last two
I was

 

 

criesnfor.art.
charm,.his incredible intensity,

mixed with a concurrent sadness,
films in which he will appear was slipping by.
reminded of how I always dreaded to complete my first
reading of a Shakespeare play, realizing that soon they
would all be used up, and then that great pleasure of

discovery would be closed forever.

The closing year brought Dean "news" from the wire

An AP release told the results of the

services once again.

Dean won the Best Actor of the Year Award

Audience Awards.

.Hlpolls conducted by 8,000 theatre managers

Motion picture patrons voted

who made twenty

Immunations in five categories.

bYdirect ballot between October 1, 1954 and September 30,

1955. According to the press release:

It was a moving moment when Grace Kelly announced
the award at the Beverly Hilton last night. There was
stunned silence, then applause, as the audience realized

the loss of the brilliant actor, killed at 24 in a
highway crash two months ago.138

Though the voting was, by the dates indicated, limited

Unreactions to Dean's performance in East of Eden, the picture

129

untially and designedly destined to benefit from the pub-

out a Cause:

 

lhfity was the newly released Rebel With

After his co-star young Natalie Wood accepted the
award, emcee George Murphy asked the crowd to join in a

tribute to the late actor. The great names and the
lesser lights of Hollywood stood for a moment of silence

and there were many wet cheeks.
Warner Bros. was quick to make use of the publicity.139

hkecial Ad Headings" were prepared and offered to exhibitors
amnnmcing "James Dean's Audience Award for the Best Actor of

szYear.” A new ending was added to the regular Warner Bros.

gutduction trailer carrying the "James Dean Audience Award

Message."

These initial stages of the development of the Dean
iflfige after his death were unordered, vacillating. But the

umknlying themes to be explored, the organizational and

d already been experi-

cmerational devices to be employed ha

approaching the Dean

Imnmed with. By accident or design.

1 alive proved successful, eSpecially

figure as if he were stil.

ifcme could find ambiguous and titillating enough cover

Approaching Dean as a symbol of

'Heads" to sell magazines.
Ins generation had been touched on. as had the use Of the

\Huversal "We." (The Dean audience is approached §_,poto:

"Weaue all members of the Dean audience, aren't we? Would

The major consideration seemed

WMIdeny him this, too?“)
Hate to hold the Dean audience by engendering further their

fmflings of pity and remorse, feelings already developed as

 

130

part Of the Dean image while he was still alive, and using

these feelings, _e_r_i_ masse, to develop and increase the

audience's taste for Dean material until they were "primed"

for still further exploitation.

i\

(fit?-

11.

12.
15.

14.

15.

16.

17.
18.
19.

. Kate Cameron,

CHAPTER III——NOT§§

That Guy Brando (New York: Literary

Inc., 1955), pages are not indicated.

"1 Predict These Will Be the Brightest New Stars of '58,“
Lng, January 11, 1955, p. 17.

Hedda Hopper, column item, Motion Pictugej February, 1955.

Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stogy (Gneenwich,
1956).

Connecticut:
p. 22.

"The Next Successes," Vogue, February 1, 1955, p. 170.

Sidney Skolsky, column item, New York Posg, dated
February 2, 1955, Drama Collection, New York City
Public Library.

Erskine Johnson, "Inside Hollywood," Motion Picture, Vol.
XLIV, No. 550 (February, 1955), p. 75.

Louis Sobol, column item. New York Journal—Americapj
dated February 16, 1955. Drama collection, New York
City Public Library.

column item, New York Daily News, dated
5, Drama Collection, New York City

Florence Epstein,
Enterprises,

 

Fawcett Publications, Inc.,

 

February 20, 195
Public Library.
Advertisement, New York Sunday News, dated February 27,
1955, Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.
Pictures, New York Journal-Americag_dated March 5, 1955
and March 6, 1955, Drama Collection, New York City

Public Library.
m and Sup, dated March 6,

Picture, New York World—Teleqra
1955, Drama Collection, New York City Public

Library.
Picture, New York Times, March 6, 1955, Sec- 2, 5.
Hedda Hopper, column item, Mption Pictuge, March, 1955.
Stogy_(Greenwich,

Reprinted in The Real James Dean
Connecticut: Fawcett Publications Inc., 1956), p. 22.

Louella Parsons, column item, Modern Screen, March. 1955.
Reprinted in The Official James Dean Anniversary Book
Dell Publishing Company, 1956), p. 45.

 

 

 

 

(New York:
Louella Parsons, "James Dean-—New Face With a Future,"
CosmOpolitan, Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 5, March, 1955,
p. 44.
V, NO. 2 (March, 1955M

"Move Over Marlon." Filmland, Vol.

p. 58. [Fragment—~private cOllectionL]

Warner Brothers Studio Press Book: East of Eden.'
"Moody New Star," Life, March 7, 1955, pp. 125ff.
Interview with photographer Dennis Stock, April 25, 1965.

151

20.

26.

27.
28.
29.
50.
51.
52.

55.
54.

55.

56.

57.
58.

59.
40.

. Warner Brothers Stud
22.

. Kate Cameron, Review 0

. Review of East of Edagy

152

Films for Directors

"Theatre for Writers,
nt--private col—

William Glover,
EEicago Tribuga [Fragme

Says Kazan,"

lection].

io Press Book: East of Edea.

Dorothy B. Jones, "The Language of Our Time," Eallo, Holly—
wood ed- Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr (New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962), p. 557.

Frank Quinn, Review of East of Edaa, New York Eaily Mirrag,
March 10, 1955, p. 55.

New York Daily News,

f East of Edaa,
Drama Collection, New York City

 

dated March 10. 1955.

Public Library.
an York Journal—Americaa dated

March 10, 1955. Drama Collection, New York City Public
Library.
Whitney Bolton,

Telegram and San.

Review of East of Edaa,gan York Worla-
dated March 11, 1955. Drama Col—

lection, New York City Public Library.
William Zinsser, Review of East of Eden, an York Herald

Tribune, March 20, 1955, p. 22.
Bosley Crowther, Review of East of Edaa, New York Times,

March 20, 1955, Sec. 2. p. 1.
"All Time Top Boxoffice Films," Variety, January 6, 1965,

 

 

 

p. 67.
Howard Thompson, "Another Dean Hits the Bit League,"
Sec. 2, p. 5.

New York Timaa, March 15.
Thomas M. Peyor, "James Dean Confirmed for Role in Giant,"

New York Timaa, March 17, 1955, p. 28.
Louis Sobol, column item, New York Journal-American, dated

March 19, 1955. Drama Collection, New York City Public

Library. .
Robert Kass and Ralph Gerstle, Review of East of Eden,
Films in Reviag, Vol. VI, No. 5 (March, 1955). pp. 129ff.
Sidney Skolsky, column item, an York Poap, dated March
21, 1955. Drama Collection, New York City Public
Library.

Sidney Skolsky, column item, an York Poaa, dated March
24, 1955. Drama Collection, New York City Public
Library.

"Drama Dean's Dish, Not Law," Eew York World—Telegram and
Egg, dated March 51, 1955. Drama Collection,1New York
City Public Library.

Review of East of Eden, Look.

Helen Dudas, "Marlon Brando.
Compact, April.1955, pp.
collection].

 

 

April 5. 1955. p. 100.
Hollywood's Bad Boy,”
40ff {Fragment——private

Charles Denton, "Brute to Genial Actor," Chicago;a_
1955. p. 12.

American, April 4.
an York PQaE, dated April 8,

Sidney Skolsky, column item,
1955. Drama Collection,New York City Public Library.

42.

45.

44.

45.

46.
47.
48.
49.

50.

51.

52.

55.
54.
55.

56.

57.
58.
59.

60.

. Aline.Mosby, "Not a Brando,

155

Claims Dean," an York World—

Telegram and Sag, dated April 8, 1955.
Louella Parsons, column item, an York Journal-American,
dated April 10, 1955. Drama Collection. New York City

Public Library.
Louella Parsons, column item, New York Journal—American,
dated April 14, 1955. Drama Collection,TNew York City

Public Library.
Sidney Skolsky, column item, New York Post, dated April 16,

1955. Drama Collection,New York City Public Library.

Hedda Hopper, column item, Eation Pictuga, May, 1955.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stogy (Greenwich,
Connecticuté- Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956),

. 61.
"'Reel' Real Romeo." Film Life, May, 1955. p. 27 [Fragment--

private collection].
Anne Higginbotham, Review of East of Eden, antoplay,
May, 1955, p. 17 [Fragment--private collection].
"Schlitz Playhouse of Stars": "The Unlighted Road"
(Chicago TV, May 5, 1955).
Sidney Skolsky, column item, an York Post, dated May 27,
1955. Drama Collection,New York City Public Library.
Donald P. Costello, Review of East of Eden, Epday: Taa

Catholic Youth Magazina, Vol. X, No. 9 (June, 1955),

p. 14.
Laura Owen Miller and Anne Kendall, , Modern Screeaj

June. 1955, pp. 57ff [Fragment-—private_collection].
Derek Prouse, Review of East of Edaa. Sight and Sound,
Vol. XXV (New Quarterly Series) No. 1 (Summer, 1955)

pp. 52ff.

Frank Degan, "From T—Shirt to Bow Tie,
1955, pp. 15ff [Fragment--private collection].

Sidney Skolsky [Fragment-—private collection, date approxi—

mate].
"Unaccustomed As I Am . . ." [Fragment p. 47 (private

collection) date approximate].
Hedda Hopper, column item, Eation Pictuge, June, 1955.
Reprinted in Ehe Real James Dean Stogy (Greenwich,

Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956),
p. 61.
Hedda Hopper, "Youn Men of Hollywood," Coronet, Vol.
XXXVIII, No. 6 June, 1955), p. 55.
Sidney Skolsky, "Hollywood Is My Beat," New York Post,

June 19, 1955, p. 115.
Joe Hyams, column item, New York Herald Tribune, dated

June 50, 1955. DramarCollection.New York City Public

 

 

" Screenland, June

Library.
"James Dean and the High School

Richard Dyer MacCann.
Kids." Christian Science Monitor. July 12, 1955.
Reprinted in Richard Dyer MacCann, Hollywood in

Transition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962),
pp. 187ff.

61.

62.
65.
64.
65.

66.

67.

68.

69.
70.

71.

72.

75.
74.
75.

76.

77.

78.

79.

80.
81.

154

“A Heart That Stalked in Darkness," Screen Album, August
1955. Reprinted in The Official James Dean Anniversagy

Book (New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956—, pp.

46ff.

firagment, pp. 16-17 (private collection) date approxi—
mate.] ’ , - >

[Fragment, p. 12 (private collection) date approximate.]

Richard Moore, "Lone Wolf,“ Epdern Screen, August, 1955.
Reprinted in The Official James Dean Anniversary Book
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956). pp. 44ff.

Fan letter, Motion Picture, Vol. XLIV, No. 556 (August,

1955),;p7714.
Dorothy Manners, column item from the

American, dated August 4, 1955.

New York City Public Library.
"Smoldering Dynamite," Photoplay, Vol. XLVIII. No. 5.

September, 1955),pp. 59ff.
Pinky Todd, "Rebel With a Cause." Eallywood Sta£a_
[Fragment, September, 1955, pp. 28ff, private

collection].
"The Man Behind the Camera," Film Life [Fragment,

 

 

New York Journal—_
Drama Collection,

 

 

Don Allen, __7
September, 1955. pp. 25ff, private collection].

Dorothy O'Leary, "The Littlest Rebel," Movie Secrets
[Fragment, September, 1955, pp. 52ff, private col-

lection].
Lori Nelson, "The Dean live Dated," Motion Pictuga, Vol.

XLIV, No. 557 (September. 1955), pp. 62ff.
Dorothy Kilgallen, "Coast to Coast," Eation Pictuga,

September, 1955L p. 14.
Erskine Johnson, "Inside Hol
6eptember, 1955L p. 25-
dated September 4. 1955.

Picture, New York Herald Tribuaey
Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

"Stage Struck," New York Journal—Americaa, September 25,

lywood," Eation Picture,

 

 

1955, p. 19.

[Fragment, Egreenlaaa (private collection) date approxi-
mate.]

Ruth C. Rowland, "What Jimmy Dean Did to Hollywood,"

September, 1955. Reprinted in

Movie Stars ParaQa,
lNew York: Ideal Publishing

The James Dean Albaa

Company, 1956), pp. 20ff.
October, 1955.

East of Eden synopsis, Screen Storiea,
The Official James Dean Anniversary Bogk_(New York:

Dell publishing Company, 1956), pp. 4Bff.
Imogene Collins, “The Secret Love That Haunts Jimmy Dean,"
Modern Screaa, October, 1955. Reprinted in 3E3
Official James Dean Anniversary Book (New York:
Dell Publishing Company, 1956), p. 47.
"Giant Star Dies in Crash," Chicago's Americapj October,

1955, p. 1.
Ibid.
Ibid.

 

 

 

90.
91.
92.
95.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
105.
104.
105.
106.
107.

155

Sheilah Graham, column item, Chicago Dailerews, October

1, 1955, p. 15.
"Movie World Mourns Actor Dean," Chicago Sun-Times,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 1, 1955, p. 2.

"James Dean, Movie Actor, Dies in Crash," Chicago Tribune,
October 1, 1955, p. 1.

"James Dean Dead," Chicagg,Sun-Times, October 1, p. 2.

"Crash Kills James Dean,” Chicago Daily News, October 1,
1955, p. 1.

'Tndiana Funeral for Actor Dean," ChicagogEgn-Times,
October 2, 1955, p. 4.

. Ibid.

"Brando Tells Actor's Rush,” Chicago's American, October
5, 1955, p. 7.

Irv Kupcinet, "Kup's Column," Chicago Sun-Times, October

5. 1955, p. 52.
Hedda Hopper, "Looking at Hollywood," Chicago Tribune,

October 5, 1955, pt. 5, p. 8.
Louella Parson, column item, Chicago's American, October

5, 1955. p. 9.
Walter Winchell, column item, Chicago's American, October

5, 1955, p. 19.
Ann St. John, "This Is Hollywood," Chicago Sun-Times,

October 4, 1955, p. 51.
Irv Kupcinet, "Kup's Column," Chicago Sun—Times, October

5. 1955. p. 54.
Walter Winchell, column item, Chicago's American. October

6, 1955. p. 29.

Louella Parson, column item,
7, 1955, p. 15.

Sheilah Graham, column item,
7, 1955, p. 15.

Walter Winchell, column item,
7. 1955, p. 19.

Sheilah Graham, column item,
8, 1955, p. 15.

Dorothy Kilgallen, column item, Chicago's American,
October 12, 1955, p. 11.

Fragment, LOS Angeles Times, dated October 5, 1955.

Drama Collection,New York City Public Library.
”This IS Hollywood," New York Heralaagribune
Drama Collectionu*New York City

Chicago's American, October
Chicago Daily News, October
Chicago's American, October

Chicago Daily News. October

Joe Hyams,
dated October 6, 1955.
Public Library.

Obituary, Time, October 10, 1955, p. 114.

Obituary, Newsweek, October 10, 1955, p. 76.

"Services for James Dean," New York Times, October 9, 1955,

 

p. 87.
Picture, "Learning the Ropes," New York Sunday Neya,
Drama Collection. New York City

dated October 9, 1955.
Public Library.

 

 

117.

118.

F3.
leg.
(0

120.
121.
122.
125.
124.
125.

126.

127.
128.

129.
150.

. Dorothy Kilgallen, column item,

. Dorothy Kilgallen, column item,

.J Warner Brothers Studio Press Book:

. Ibid.
. Charles Barr, "Cinemascope: Before and After," Film

. Wanda Hale,

156

Chicago's American,

October 20. 1955, p. 55.
Chicago's American,

October 25, 1955, p. 11.

Interview with Stewart Stern, August 8, 1959.
Rebel Without a Cause.

 

Quarterly, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (Summer, 1965), p. 10.
Review of Rebel Without a Cause [Fragment——

undated. Drama Collection, New York Public Library].
"James Dean," Hollywood Romances, 1955. Reprinted in
The Official James Dean Anniversary Book (New York:
Dell Publishing Company, 1956)) p. 45.
"Daffy About Dean," Movie Life, November, 1955, adver-
tised in Movies, Vol. IV, No. 6 (December, 1955),p. 70.
"New Faces," Screen Album, November, 1955. Reprinted in
The Official James Dean Anniversary Book (New York:

Dell Publishing Company, 1956), p. 42.
Hedda Hopper, column item, Motion Picture, November, 1955.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stogy (Greenwich,

Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956),

p. 60.
"You Haven't Heard the Half About Jimmy."

. Natalie Wood,

Photoplay, Vol. XLVIII, No. 5 (November, 1955),

pp. 55ff.
Mayie Life Yearbook #21 (New York: Ideal Publishing
Company, 1955), p. 52.
"Melancholy Genius," Hollywood Life Stories, 1955.
Reprinted in The Official James Dean Anniversarijook
Dell Publishing Company, 195677 pp. 58ff.
November 28, 1955, p.

 

(New York:
”A Kid Was Killed," Time,

 

Picture,
Jim Cook, "Hollywood Tragedies," New York Post, November
28, 1955, p. 4.
November

Sanford Roth, "The Late James Dean," Colliers,

25, 1955. pp. 62ff.
"Appointment With Death," Modern Screen, December, 1955.

Reprinted in The Official James Dean Anniversary Book
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956), pp. 64ff.
Mike Connolly, "This Was My Friend Jimmy Dean," Modern

Screen, December, 1955, pp. 50ff. [Fragment—~private

 

collection.]
"James Dean," Motion Picture, Vol. XLIV, No. 540
(December,1955£ p. 29.
Vol. IV, No. 6.

Armand Archerd, "Talk of the Town," Movies,

December, 1955, p. 10.
1955, p. 12.

"Movie Memo,” Movies, December,
"The Untold Story of James Dean's Last Days," Movie Life,

Vol. XIX, No. 1 (December, 1955). pp. 10ff.

 

 

(,N

}_\ *—
LN

(4 F) l
0‘1 (Jo (,fx"

H
0.1
O)

l‘ 1
(23
~\)

158.
:59.

07? Hi“ (I. )i i7 In.) * “

. Derek Prouse,

. Donald Costello,

157

Picture, Movie Life (December, 1955),p. 12.
Picture, Movie Life (December, 1955),p. 57.

Picture, Movie Life (December, 1955),p. 6.
Movie Life, December, 1955, p. 68.
1955 [Fragment——

 

Advertisement,
”Spacegetter," Screen Life, December,

private collection].
Review of Rebel Without a Cause, Sight and

Eaund, Vol. XXV, No. 3, (Winter, 1955), p. 61.
Review of Rebel Withqat a Causa, Today:
The Catholic Youth Magazine, Vol.'XI, No. 5

(December, 1955), pp. 26ff.
"Audience Awards,“ New York Post, December 7, 1955, p. 80.

Warner Brothers Studio Press Book: Rebel Without a Cause.

 

 

CHAPTER IV
1956--RESURRECTION AS AN IMAGE: GIANT

The ballyhoo of the Modern Screen Silver Cup Awards

wmalaunched in print in their January, 1956 issue.1 Such

awards given by individual publications were designed to in-

cxease Circulation by stimulating fans' interest, and, con—

mnrently, served to provide additional publicity for the

Dean's co-stars in Giant, Rock Hudson

leading film figures.

mRiElizabeth Taylor, rated first and third in their respective

categories. Dean, himself, was presented with the unique

Samuel Achievement Award for 1955: "no Star deserved it
IMMC" for “his genius and exciting potential."

Photoplay featured its Gold Medal Awards ballot2 in

 

UmaJanuary issue and notably listed Dean's released films,

butIUs name was not among those of the stars in the running.

lhking.Dean out of the running on the direct ballot was a

(wriation of the Modern Screen technique, and, viewed con-

jmxtively, might be construed as "official" recognition of

Dawns death and its considered resultant and inevitable loss

cflfappeal by the motion picture industry.
The same issue of Photoplay carried a review of Rebel

In'Janet Graves.8 She hesitated at the story line: "Without

minmch as a glimpse at any normal, healthy family life. the

158

 

159

sbmqrpresents an off—balance, relentlessly violent picture."

muzshe.praised the star: "A performance of great force and

:fire by the late James Dean gives life to this study of un—

tmppy youth." She called the Dean performance the "best of

the month."
Also in Photoplay in January appeared "To James Dean."4

nus poetic elegy by Evelyn H. Hunt, described as a Vermont

Emglish teacher, was printed "to represent," said the editors,

"Hwasentiment of all of us who feel the loss“ of Dean's

Nedraordinary talents”: "The real tragedy of his death is

that this boy, so dedicated to his career, will never know

Immigreatly he was loved by the people he never knew."
Miss Hunt's accompanying explanatory note said,

"NO one else'S death has ever affected me in quite the same

but I know

way . I do not know how many years I have left,

I would give half of them to give James Dean back to the

world."

The poem was only twenty-some lines long, but it was

{Minted in large type with a photograph that ran across most

dfthe two page Spread, the largest photo in the magazine.

The poem began:

They tell me you are dead, yet I cannot

This night believe the unbelievable:

The restless beauty of your mind and heart
Will not be quenched within the shallow grave.

Continuing in this elegiac Spirit, the poem celebrated

the actor's hands (The poetess—contributor wrote in her

 

140

hater: "He had the most beautiful hands I ever saw.").

Ins smile, his eyes, his "guileless grace," his Spirit of

'The valiant and the free"—-and ended with the words:

Ham.where are you? Oh, where?"
The Hollywood fan magazine gossip columnists were also

beghnung to catch up with Dean's death. Cal York’s gossipy

trflnme was presented in Photoplay:

Brief Moment: Contrary to a ridiculous rumor, James
Dean had every desire to live. This past year, Jimmy
had grown Closer to his estranged father and was beginning
to feel he 'belonged.‘ Psychiatry was also helping him
to mellow. Says Dick Clayton, his agent—friend who knew
him best: 'Jimmy was thrilled about his new million—
dollar contract and doing the Rocky Marciano story.
Born lonely, he was confused at times and, as a result,
his behavior was unorthodox. But every day he lived he
struggled to improve. There was only goodness in Jimmy

Dean's heart.’5
Hedda Hopper's monthly Motion Picture columne inti—
rmmed that she still hasn't recovered from the "tragic and

lumimely" death: She felt that Dean, "had he lived . . .

Mould have gone far ahead of Brando. To me he had the

greater talent." Hopper further mentioned Dean's Hamlet

aspirations, the effect of Dean's death on "Liz"-—and con-

cfluded her eulogy with an appeal for "a Special Oscar” to be

awarded to Dean for his performance in East of Eden.

 

The January Motion Picture also carried a story by

director George Stevens entitled "A Tenderness Lost.“7

The title itself carried the mood and the mode of the essay,

Einunabashed eulogy, oozing sentimentality. The "tenderness

lOSt" referred to Dean's youth:

141

Because I knew he had been motherless since early
Childhood and had.missed a lot of the love that makes
boyhood jell right, I would come to believe that he
was still waiting for some lost tenderness.

The piece could be accepted as a touching tribute, delicately
phrased:

Jimmy, strangely impractical about saying and do-
ing the right things, yet in every word and gesture a
poetical presence with an individualized approach that
I know is opening up a new tradition of acting in
Hollywood.

One finds out, however, that George Stevens took the
time to write the article while ”putting the finishing
touches on his latest picture”--Giant. Mr. Stevens was able
to Get in some strong plugs for Dean's co—stars, using
anecdotes connected with his making of the picture, which he
Exoduced as well as directed, as a foundation for his eulogy.

The January Films in Review listed Henry Holt's
"Ten Best" of 1955.8 Among them was East of Eden, called
"a photographic tour de force." Holt also noted: "Teenagers
rave been quite taken with East of Eden and the performances
in it of James Dean and Julie Harris."

Eabel Without a Cause was getting its share of notice
fixmlthe "serious" film magazines, too. Eugene Archer con—
tributed a rather lengthy review of Rebel Without a Cause to
Film Culture.9 The length and depth of the criticism were
singularly forceful, giving it a unique position in the
Critical reviews contributing to the Dean legend. Archer

“Ede particular mention of the fact that the film was re-

leased "a few days after the death of James Dean." that

142

'The film was advertised with emphasis on Dean and the sub—
ject of violence":

The film was originally announced as the first
Cinemascope production in black and white, but the
producers switched to color when the Cinemascope
company objected. In Spite of the elaborate techni—
cal process employed, the film gives the impression of
being a low-budget product, with a minor director and
a little known supporting cast, produced in an effort
to capitalize on Dean's sudden success in East of Eden.
There is no reason to suSpect it to be good, but it is.

 

Archer felt Dean's acting to be "the major asset" of
the fihn, "a simplified variation of the role he played in
Banzof Eden," though because "the director, Nicholas Ray,
is less gifted with actors than Elia Kazan . . . Dean's play-
ing never quite attains the high level of his best scenes
in the earlier film."

Dean's acting style was traced to the "school of
neo~realism first popularized by Anna Magnani in her Rossellini
:fiims”: American adapters like Montgomery Clift and Marlon
lhando were not originators. Archer felt that "a good deal
ofinaccurate criticism" regarding imitation was levelled

M:the Dean performance in East of Eden:

 

Many observers, still reacting from the effect made
by Brando in On the Waterfront, objected to Dean's use
of Similar mannerisms, without reflecting that the
mannerisms employed were far more appropriate to Dean's
role as a rebellious adolescent than to Brando's thirty-
year—Old prizefighter.

 

Archer felt Dean's contributions to be significant and

unique:

145

In addition to the unique screen personality which
Dean possessed, and an unusual sympathetic quality
which is immediately apparent in both his films (a qual-
ity which is noticeably lacking in most modern actors).
his authoritative playing suggests a potentially un—
limited range.

By way of comparison Archer brought in two then re-
cmn:films dealing with similar aSpects of the same problem

equessed in Rebel: The Blackboard Jungle and The Wild One.

 

 

hlIhe Blackboard Jungle he found "wildly improbable melo—

 

derL" and in The Wild One, in which,significantly, it was

 

MarkniBrando who played a "romanticized characterization of

the neurotic contemporary adolescent who exists beyond the

pole of conventional society, he again found the melodrama

senunmly weakened the thematic treatment. Both films

'hmke elaborate pretense at social comment, but succeed only
hlisolating and exaggerating a single aspect of a major
problon." On the other hand, Archer asserted:

Eabel Without a Cause is less pretentious than its
predecessors and more valid than either. Without prob—
ing deeply into the causes of delinquency or offering
any solution, it nevertheless makes a clear and inter—
esting comment about the Situation and raises the issue
of moral responsibility in a manner which deserves
attention.

 

In EaEaE the key to the protagonist's actions lies in
the fact that because he is "unable to find any help from
the evading adults surrounding him, he can only act blindly,
sometimes brutally, in an effort to substitute action for
thought.” Archer felt the hero was "engaged in a struggle

in which violence is the only means of expression. If the

v
o
.
v
. .
‘
'-

144

yumggle is for survival, the violence is necessary to ex-
guess that survival and, perhaps, to prove it."

As Mr. Archer interprets and expressed the violent
mxtrine of the film, one wonders if he is influenced as
Immm by the film as he is by his own interpretation of it.
the phrasing reflects the impatient attitude of many Ameri—
mnm reacting to the "cold war" political and social climate
Ofthe United States under the cautious Eisenhower adminis-
tratknn The clues are vague, but this is certainly one
mgflanation for the present acceptance of the "improbable
Imflodrama" certainly present in Rebel. Moreover, on yet
anther level, adult audiences would be inclined to accept
evmithe melodrama while viewing the film as a form of self—
mxmement. Concern over the "juvenile problem" was rampant,
amt coached by various popular interpretations, including
Iggxfl.Without a Cause, many adults were all too ready to
emeept the blame, personally or on behalf of their generation.
mlthe political, social, and moral levels, Rebel Without a
Qgfifigcould be viewed and accepted by many as an act of
centrition, suffered and enjoyed with the impatience and

resignation of a mea culpa-

 

Archer continued by praising the "imaginative" work
Of director Nicholas Ray in this "wide—screen picture which
EQKSE." feeling that Ray "obviously devoted careful study"
to Kazan's Cinemascope handling, especially in application

Of cutting and odd-angle camera set—ups. Kazan's East of Eden

 

145

'fimoved that good films could after all be made in Cinema—
mxmm" and “seems for that reason the most important film

of1955." Though Rebel Without a Cause "on the surface"

 

ammeared to be merely "an entertaining but contrived melo—
Ckama with a number of serious flaws . . . within its self-
jflposed limitations . . . it is a remarkably interesting
woflm and one of the few Hollywood films of recent months
vmrthy of serious consideration."

And serious consideration it was getting——and
mxhences, too. Rebel was doing moderately well at the box
cfifice, but publicity of the violence in the picture,
gneviously toned down, was now being more openly exploited.
Inla.newspaper photo advertisement a "tense scene” illus—
trated Dean in "a knife fight."lo

Perhaps even more literal and grisly exploitation
dfthe Dean phiz appeared with the serious editorial11 in
The Saturday Evening Post lamenting the senseless automobile
toll in America. The heady c0py was illustrated with a photo
Cd Dean labelled "a recent victim."

2 was de—

Hedda Hopper's Motion Picture column iteml
voted to Elizabeth Taylor's reactions to Dean‘s talents and
his death: "Her illness . . . was caused by her grief.”

The Taylor—Dean plug seemed worth a second try. The HOpper
Column had covered much the same territory the previous month.

Yet another actress's reactions to Dean's death were

recounted in the February issue of Whisper.13 Editorially,

146

anischaeffer‘s piece "James Dean's Black Madonna" was
deanjlmd as "the most extraordinary piece on any movieland
cflmracter ever run anywhere." The article told of a short—
IUved ”affair" between Dean and Maila Nurmi, who was also
knmm1as Vampira, hostess of a horror TV show on the Los
Ingeles local ABC outlet. A publicity photo of Vampira,
zxmtumed a la Charles Addams, seated next to an open grave,
amilabelled, ”Darling, come join me" was featured in the
anticle, which told of hexes, premonitions, black magic
zfltars, voodoo—-and implied that Vampira had been thrown over
lnrDean, who was, himself, for a time interested in black
magic. 'When he started dating Ursula Andress, Vampira put
acnuse on him, and, since his death, she has been haunted.
Dawns interest in the occult had already been noted as one
oftfis many fascinations. Its employment here was obviously
hithe interests of sensationalism and as a publicity plug
for Vampira.

Seymour Korman wrote of "The Last Hours of James
Dean" in an article for the widely distributed Chicago

TTibune.Magazine on February 5, 1956.14 Based on the story

 

Ci Dean's "last hours” as told by Sanford Roth, the article
contained numerous ”flashbacks" recounting ”premonitions"
of Dean's death by his employers and by himself in conver-
sation with Marlon Brando. Though most of the "lovely and
talented women" in Dean's life (Ursula Andress, Lori Nelson,

Natalie Wood, Pier Angeli) got a plug, care was given to

 

147
huflude the anecdote of the "lonely, introverted" Jimmy,

'Wmtching, heartbroken," when Pier Angeli left the church

after her wedding.

,Korman diSputed Roth's claim that Dean "hadn‘t been

<hjving too fast that day" with the claim "he must have been

Initing 90 to 100 most of the time."

The article closed with mention of Dean's burial

'Tmside the grave of his mother," attended by ”thousands

fnmithe countryside." From Elizabeth Taylor and George

Ekevens, and from other studio officials came tributes.

"Andfkfllywood experienced a remarkable thing—-Jimmy had be-

cmme greater in death than in life." Valentino was brought

hias a solitary example of the one star whose fans did not

flock "to other heroes." That Dean's case was similar was

 

pmoved by the assertion that East of Eden and Rebel Without

a Cause ”are playing to good houses. Werner Bros. studio

empects Giant, which will be released next Spring or summer,

to make the memory of Jimmy even more glittering."

As a capstone the article uses a report of the first

Audience Award ceremonies in Hollywood, "conducted by the

Council of Motion Picture Organizations, in conjunction with

the Tribune and 10,000 movie theaters." With "nearly 15

nullion votes cast by the people who pay at the box office

it was the first time in the annals of the movie in-

dustry that so momentous an honor went to a dead man." The

trophy was accepted by Natalie WOod. "in behalf of the

thousands of fans who were touched by Jimmy's greatness."

148

Impressive language distorts the fact that since this

xfim the first Audience Award poll, it was the first time such

mihonor was given to anybody. It is interesting to note

Hum no other reports gave contributory credit to the Tribune.

Bm:then, the Korman article was created for the Tribune, and

mulliterary piece takes into consideration its readership.

Abroad, Francois Truffaut, who achieved later fame as

 

easpecialist in cinematic juvenile delinquency as a leader

dfthe ”New Wave” of French directors, was, in 1955, one of

the staff reviewers of Cahiers du Cinema.15 His extravagant

Enaise of the East of Eden James Dean was couched in a context

fmfiliar to the educated Frenchman; it evokes an image born

(HFBaudelaire and running through the writing of Cocteau and

Jean Genet:

fleur du mal fraichement coupée,
de

Lillian

C' est de James Dean,
qu 'il importe de parler dans une revue de cinema,

James Dean qui est le cinema au meme titre que:
Gish, Chaplin, Ingrid Bergman, etc.

Less intellectualized was the reaction of a twelve-

year—old girl in Chicago who wrote in her scrapbook.16
Jimmy (MY DOLL) Dean! God Rest His Soul!!!

bbarby, she made a primitive drawing of a grave. She wrote

a poem, too:
got to tell you about a scar
my heart when you were killed in your car.

I cried and cried, but Mom just said,
"Dear, come to your senses! He's dead! He's dead!

But, Jimmy dear, you never will be
For from our hearts you took the key.

Jimmy, I‘ve
You left on

 

149

Public recognition of the Dean figure as a poetic

mnisymbolic image came from quite a different source with

tie publication of "For James Dean," a poem by Frank O'Hara

.hiPoetry in March, 1956.17 O'Hara was a rising young Ameri-

mnxpoet of some literary reputation. Of Harvard and the

[haversity of Michigan, where he won the Hopwood Award for

Pbetry in 1951, O'Hara was a far cry from the fan magazine

versifiers. That he, particularly, should use Dean in his

poequndght be explained by the fact that O‘Hara had been

hMmelf an actor and was one of the original founders of the

Ibet's Theatre in New York in 1950. It is not, however, Dean's

axing which serves as inSpiration; rather, O'Hara celebrates

the Dean Spirit, addressing the unfair "gods":

He has banged into your wall

of air, your hubris, racing

toward your heights and you

have cut him from your table

which is built, how unfairly

for us! not on trees, but on clouds.

O O O O I O O . O O

celebrated

It is true that you high ones,
among amorous flies, hated the
prodigy and invention of his nerves?

to withhold your light
from painstaking paths!

your love
should be difficult, as his was hard.

O‘Hara deprecates the justice of "starlets and other/
gflittering things in the hog-wallow,/ lunging mireward in their
inmuv’moth—like adoration of niggardly/ cares and stagnant

respects/ paid themselves" Spared as "latter-day saints" in

anmnld where ”Men cry from the grave while they still live."

150

O'Hara‘s poem is more than an outcry against fate.
t stands as a criticism of the social mores, a protest
mfiunst the prevailing patterns of society, and, as such,
bmxmm, with its contemporary celebration of the rebel spirit,
atrmal presager of the so-called Beat movement, several

years before its "official" and publicized rise.

Modern Screen published a sheaf of letters from James
{man fans under the title ”Goodbye, Jimmy" in the March, 1956

8

issue.1 Addressed variously to the editor, the publisher,

to George Stevens regarding his article "A.Tenderness Lost,"
muito Jimmy himself, the letters were varied in quality

muicontent. Some letters lauded Modern Screen for its

 

proper justice" in granting Dean its award, and they were
sprinkled with hope for the forthcoming Academy Awards. Other
letters were requests for pictures, either personal requests
(n requests for publication. One request was from Mrs.

Vfinton Dean, wife of James Dean's father, asking for the
ygdern Screen Award plaque "to treasure forever." There are
also bits of poetry, eulogies and testaments. One fan said:

"I've cried every night since his death, seen his new

 

picture Rebel Without a Cause twice and go to sleep on six—
teen magazines containing articles about him.” Another group
letter, signed by a number of girls and evidently a community
effort, addresses Dean as the immortal symbol of their

gameration:

151

We love you.

Yes, Jimmy, not in a possessive way, but in such a
way that we only wanted you to be happy--to lose that
inner torment which seemed to be a part of you. . . .

We love . . .ymnn:meteor spirit . . . courageous,
rebellious, proud, and yet lost and gentle and lovable;
the essence of tormented youth--of a generation to which
we too belong and which we therefore can understand
something that is loved can never die.

These letters were all quite probably authentic, but
therninting of such letters, en_masse, tends to create the
efflxt that Dean worship was a snowballing outgrowth of the

generalized "we" used in previous publications, suggesting

asjt.did that such worship was an in activity with wide—
:fimead and spontaneous participation in a wholly worthy and
Mmrthwhile cause.

Published with the letters, cros5page, was a full

page reproduction of the front page of the Fairmount News

 

Iggxfial Edition on Dean's death. This particular issue's
fnnm.page was devoted exclusively to Deaniana: reviews of
Ins films, excerpts from his letters home, home town re—
actions and preparations for his funeral. Included was the
Immation that "requests from Hollywood that seats be re—
served" were denied, "in view of the fact this is to be a
public funeral. . . . A public address installation will
muflfle those outside to hear the rites."

The friction between the Hollywood forces and the
Fairmount locals was just beginning. In the progression of
years the rivalry over just who was to retain exclusive rights

to the "memory" of Dean, based, unfortunately, on predominantly

 

152

dmmmrcial considerations was to become progressively more

acute.

Photoplay for March featured the Gold Medal Award
yet focused on the season

 

innners of the previous season,
19

aflmad in the commemorative editorial by Ann Higginbotham:
such as Giant—-which,

szcan look forward to many others,
will bring us the last performance of the late

in particular,
To Dean was presented a

muinmch beloved James Dean."

Special Award:
for his outstanding dramatic per-

. posthumously,
formances in Warner's East of Eden and Rebel Without a

His brilliant and tragically brief career can
There it stands, to show

Cause.
serve as his own monument.
other young actors how much can be accomplished in a

short time if genuine ability is combined with intensity
of purpose and a sincere feeling of dedication. Actors
in motion pictures are granted a Special blessing.

Their work does not die with them. Moviegoers will see
James Dean again in Warner's Giant.

The whole award presentation was worked into a seg-

nmnt of the"LuX Video Theatref'NBC-TV, February 9, 1956 in
Yet another Dean award received comment

a prime time Slot.
in Edith Gwynn‘s column; the Audience Award, as accepted by

Natalie Wood.20
"James Dean—-The Boy

The Photqplay feature article,
I'Loved,"21 was purportedly written by Dean‘s grandmother:
'mmen you voted him one of your favorites for a Photgplay

too. And I knew you

I knew you loved him,

Gold.Medal.Award,
Loaded with family

fibuld want to know him the way I did."
Sparkled with folksy phrases

reminiscences and aneCdOteS:

153

the piece tells of Dean's early life, the

and vocabulary,
sacrifices by his family to keep him happy, the comfort of

the fans' devotion. The authenticity of the piece would

 

 

mam1beyond question if it weren't for the fact the "author"

nfisspells her daughter's name.

Concerned as it was with the role of film as social

 

 

commentator, Sight-and Sound from Britain advanced Penelope

Ifimton's "Rebels Without Causes"22 in the Spring issue.
The article cited the growing "social awareness" in Hollywood

films, as compared to the ”over—cautious film making of the

past few years" brought on by the tornado of McCarthyism.

buss Huston noted social criticism in films of the courts,

the police, the school, the family. Among others, Rebel

hfithout a Cause completed "what The Strike began with a savage

 

gflcture of relations between cowed husband and domineering

"domestic tensions as a

udfe" as a further indictment of
Further social criti—

major cause of juvenile delinquency."

cusm in Rebel was said to be "implied rather than stated,

hdth a devastating comment on juvenile gangsterism in an

ordinary high school." Themes employed and developed in films

like.Rebel "suggest not that unhappy adolescents gravitate

toward violence, but that only the exceptionally lucky avoid

it n:

For social comment less directly but more urgently

expressed, one must look beyond the problem picture, with
to those recent films which

its relatively narrow focus,
take for their central character the neurotic misfit, the
They cut more deeply, since we

rebel without a cause.
a sense of personal commitment

find here an intensity,

154

scarcely encountered elsewhere. That the three most
talented young players discovered in recent years——
Marlon Brando, the late James Dean and Julie Harris—-
can all brilliantly convey the quality of truculent,
semi—articulate adolescent rebellion, the brooding
melancholies and sudden excitements, is a part of the
American cinema's own discovery of adolescence as a
particular age of anxiety.

It was suggested that Rebel Without a Cause derives

 

its persuasive quality from its "passionate, forceful, and
tughly personal style" and from "a full-length character study
of the adolescent" which actor James Dean and director

Nicholas Ray have "made more penetrating than anything in

this line since J. D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in The Rye."

 

Eggfly however, kept away from the central problem, which was
conceived by Miss Huston to be "the reason for this instinctive
distrust of the adult world of parents and schoolmasters and
of the discipline it attempts to impose”:
Analyse the content of some recent films and you
have the impression that it is authority in a variety
of aspects that is coming under fire.
The discontent reflected goes deeper than the dis-
satisfaction Miss Huston considered as ”traditionally part
of the American intellectual": "The young peOple consciously
align themselves with the rebel or the neurotic in a pas-
sionate protest against the pressures of society" and "the
present convention seems to require the extreme isolation of
the hero in a world without trust." This, to the writer,
illustrated "a basic sense of insecurity Specifically Ameri-

can in its insistence on the rights rather than the obligations

Of the individual."

155

The expression of such social criticism was deep—
seated:

It is the pursuit of happineSSf-the American dream—-
that is fundamentally in question . . . the instinctive
rebellion finds its expression in meaningless acts of
violence, gestures of empty defiance. It is from this
element of undirected protest that these films derive
their profoundly disquieting quality. What, ultimately,
is the reason for these irrational rebellions, these
revolts whose significance lies in their explicit denial
of a cause?

The appeal to a variety of audiences through a variety
ofgnflflicity sources evidently brought a hypo to the Rebel
tmx office. The film was doing increasingly better business,
and, considering its rather inauspicious conception, was

proving to be a financial rival to its more heralded pre—

decessor, East of Eden.23 The most profound social comment

 

Hollywood seemed to be able to muster at this time concerned
the Academy Awards. Hedda Hopper's magazine column,24
possibly sensing coming disaster, publicly admonished the

motion picture colony, "knowing how fickle" it can be, that
it ought to grant "a special award in memory of one of the

most sensitive, talented boys it's ever been my privilege to
know." At this same time, special advertisementsg5 had been

set up by the Warner publicity department, running Rebel

Without a Cause in tandem with Mister Roberts, noting

 

ESpecially the fact that each was in the Academy Awards
running, Rebel for best supporting actor and actress (Sal
Mineo and Natalie Wood), best story, and Dean for best actor

(for East of Eden).

 

156

Army Archerd's trade column in Variety26 continued
the macabre "kick” initiated by the Whisper article presum-
ing a premonition of death by Dean as testified by certain
underlined passages in Dean‘s personal copy of Hemingway's

Death in the Afternoon, now owned by actor Trevor Howard.

 

On Oscar day, Emily Belsir, in a Special syndicated
report?7 indicated that "Grace [Kelly] may steal the Oscar
TV Show, but sentiment is strong for the late, great James
Dean, who was killed in his racing car last October."
&nmiment was not as strong as indicated, or there were other
considerations. Dean won no Oscar.

But Hollywood was ready. Hedda Hopper glossed over
Dean's perhaps expected loss of an Academy Award in her

8

finxmagazine column2 in the April Motion Picture, already

 

on the stands, by quoting George Seaton, then President of
the Academy, as saying that Oscar recognition cannot be
"special." Hopper argued for a change in the rules so Dean's
exceptional performances can be recognized, and she pre—
dicted the fans will hate the Academy unless Dean is given
his due. Hopper was thus publicly able to redemonstrate

her devotion to Dean, at the same time leaving the fans
hanging until the next Academy presentations.

A feature of Movie Stars Parade for April was "The

 

Deepening Mystery of James Dean."29 In answer to the "flood"

of mail, the editors chose a question—answer format.

157

memions were varied, from the purely objective concerning
tie exact time and day of Dean‘s death to the highly Specu-
lative:
Question: Is it possible Jimmy wanted to die?
Answer: That's a hard one to answer and certainly un-
likely. But some people seem to think that Jimmy

had a premonition about death because he left

cryptic farewell messages. . . .

Like fan mail and letters previously published, the
(mmmtions may have been quite authentic and even spontaneous,
bu;sandwiched among the answers are some adroit comments
mnuanteed to build and/or reinforce prevailing Opinion and
knowledge: Warner's fan mail department has received an
mmxage of 5,000 letters a month requesting information and
photos; .Natalie Wood "was one of his favorite dates"; Pier
Angeli was "his greatest love”; Dean would be the first
actor "to receive an Oscar posthumously——if he won."

Following up the Natalie Wood gambit was an article30
axnm Miss Wood in which she declared "Jimmy Dean was the
finest actor in the world” and told, in some detail ("the
saddest day in my whole life"), how She got the news of
Dean's death.

Also in the same issue was an advertisement offering
"Star Candids."31 Of the hundred—odd names listed, Dean
and Tab Hunter were the only actors pictured. Dean's photo,
alone, was used in advertisements for related Ideal publi-

cations. Announced32 was the forthcoming “special memorial

Issue" of Movie Stars Parade:

 

158

No Jimmy Dean fan or any follower of motion picture‘s
greats will want to miss this special issue.

anflsed were twenty pages of “great stories" and "special

inmmblished photographs" on ”Hollywood's brightest star of

1955, whose accomplishments and blazing personality live on

am no one's since Valentino."

Also featuring Dean's photo was the advertisement33

flnrggyie Life Yearbook £22:

Have YOU seen it? The only complete life story in
pictures (46 of them!) of the late, great James Dean.

The Yearbook34 claim lived up to its promise.

ENerything from family snapshots to high school yearbook

Emotos was collected and used. Over half of the pictures

date previous to Dean's 18th birthday, maintaining the youth—

flfl.image so assiduously worked for in the copy. Besides

assessing Dean's personality through the description of

a "friend" as "moody, gentle, but masculine," the article

declared that Pier Angeli was "Jim's first and only love.”

Dean's "unorthodox behavior” stemmed ”from attacks on his

Personal and professional integrity." AS for his racing;

It was an escape from loneliness. But it was also
an escape from the heavy reSponsibility of being at 24
a valuable property on which many millions were being

staked. James Dean was too young for such an over-

whelming burden, and so he instinctively sought free—
dom. Now he's found it.

Regarding Dean‘s career, "Producer George Stevens believed

Jim was the one actor capable of playing Jett Rink, violent

ranch hand." Though he is dead, this role wins him his

"permanent place with acting greats.”

159

Dean's picture is used with other star biographies
like those of Pier Angeli35 ("James Dean was a steady date
fin many months. After he died in an auto accident, friends
samlthat losing Pier was the tragedy of his life.“) and
Enizabeth Taylor.35 A section ”In Loving Memory"37 features
tributes to five recently deceased Hollywood figures. Only
the Dean captions approach the maudlin. Cheered is the
“unique personal appeal” of a ”top all-time talent,” but:

Jimmy, lonely in the midst of the stir he created

on screen, used car racing thrills to make up for the
true understanding he hadn‘t found. After September
30's killing crash, many mourned the double tragedy:

the loss of a great actor and the fact that nothing

can be done, now, to help his fruitless search for love.

The April issue of Whisper carried the article "James
Dawns Fans Speak Their Minds,"38 its contents similar to the

Cbmpendium fan mail articles already presented in the film

magazines, and the New York Sunday News39 carried an almost

 

hflj_page color picture of "The Late James Dean" in the issue
of April 1, 1956, along with the announcement:

No week has gone by without the News Coloroto
Magazine yielding a dozen letters requesting his
picture in color . . . a moody, intense young man who
wore horn—rimmed glasses offscreen, Dean's acting was
intuitive and bespoke a great future.

 

The promised James Dean Memorial Issue of Movie
Stars Parade in May of 1956 featured Dean on the cover with
the caption:

"The Star Who Didn't Die"

160

Ahfiwugh the issue was advertised as featuring twenty pages

(niDean, considering the article continuations, etc., Dean

material probably ran close to one—half of the issue of

sevmfiqwfour pages. Even the ”Reader's Mail” segment

carried the announcement:

Because of the Special 20-page section devoted to
James Dean, we have not included any of the hundreds of
letters received from Jimmy 5 fans. If there are still

any questions you want answered, we'll be pleased to
hear from you.4U

The lead article on ”Hollywood's newest and greatest

legend“ was entitled "The Boy Who Didn't Die”;

James Dean, so powerful a personality, so moving an
actor in life, is even more magnetic today. Ours is a

troubled world and a lonely world and there is no one in

it who does not find in Dean's restless spirit an echo
of his own.4i

Cross—page was a full—page photograph from the Dennis

Stock collection, showing Dean in his farm clothes posed

against a tombstone in the Fairmount cemetery. 0n the tomb—

stone was inscribed the single word ”Life.“ Over-leaf were

the baby and childhood pictures, the by now familiar high

school yearbook photos. Beyond, the article “What Made

Jimmy Run?“42 by Beverly Linet: What experiences transformed

the Indiana farm boy into “a moody genius?“ Photography,

bull—fighting cape work, the intellectual stimulation of
conferences with writers like Fred Guiol and novelist Edna
Ferber, "in whose Giant he is said to have reached emoting

peak," were pictured. Commentary also included the statement

that it was not true ”that Dean could only play a screen

161

xmmsion of himself: best scene in giant shows him as 50*

year—old,"
The section labelled ”His Searching Heart”?3 cata-

lcgued.Dean's romances, rumored and otherwise: the "platonic——

IKKhing more” friendship with Vampira, the fun and friendship

whfiiNatalie Wood, the confidences of Ursula Andress until
'she switched her affections to John Derek”--yet, "none

replaced Pier in Jimmy's heart.”

Overleaf was a two page spread of stills from Dean's

u $4-

ffilms. These "three monuments” were "His Living Legacy.
Beyond, was “The Real Jimmy DeanH45 by Alice Packard, which
Cbncentrated to a very large extent on a recounting of the
Indiana visit with Dennis Stock, whose photographs illus—
trated this specific article and others throughout the

mmmorial section. An incident described months previously

asenlexample of Dean's sense of humor now takes on mysterious

significance:

Typically, Jimmy dropped by the only undertaking
parlor in the town and climbed in a coffin to be photo—
graphed. He wanted to 'see how it felt.“ In the first
photos he is grinning, kidding himself and his Situ—
ation. In the last one, all the mirth is gone from his
face: with all the intensity of his being, he has felt

the awful foretaste of doom.

"Those Who Loved Him"46 was a series of anecdotes from
his agent, Dick Clayton, and actors Perry Lopez, Natalie
Wood. Nick Adams, and Steve Rowland, “who some say resembles

(Hmiin many ways.” Like his fans, these friends ”saw

through his brusque exterior to the real heart, they

 

162

rmxgnized the talent that will never die.“ Anecdotal ma—

terial concerning giant was featured:

He began to clean off his boots in the bent, tired
way an old man might do it. He was at that moment Jett

Rink at sixty—five. . . .

The final segment of the memorial tribute was en—
titled ”The End . . . or the Beginning?”47 The title Speaks
for itself.

As usual, the concluding sections of the various

48 offering

enticles were framed by numerous advertisements
gfictures, mementoes, etc. Also featured were advertisements
fin other Ideal publications featuring Dean material: ”What

lfim James Dean's Greatest Performance? . . . See May Mgilé

Life!"

Motion Picture for May continued in the establishing

 

tradition of ambiguous titles, featuring on its cover:

"Jimmy Dean IS Not Dead!"
The material inside devoted a full page to the title49 alone,
kmt when the page was turned, the article continued; "to
the endless life of genius we dedicate this article.” Unlike
many other previous Dean features, this article by Jim Cook
was illustrated with only two pictures, both on—set shots of
£333? Cook relied instead on striking literary images.
”Shaking down in a grim circle from a ceiling beam in the
Ikfllywood apartment of James Dean was a hangman's noose,”

the article began, and‘continued that it might have been a

 

 

 

 

 

 

165

”snmfle decoration or was put there by Dean as a symbol of
Ins awareness of the loneliness and briefness of life."
The article was dotted with biographical material and Dean
quations, known and previously published and otherwise.
zmecdotes from anonymous actresses abound, as usual:

Although he wasn't before a camera, he had the

older man's stooped slow walk. I realized it was Jimmy
Dean, but at the same time it wasn't. He was a 50-year-
Old man.

The concluding image concerned an unusual faculty
Cmflcclaimed Dean to have had in an earlier section. Dean
seemed to have little difficulty communicating with children:

Sunlight from an upper window shafted down on them.

The child kept skipping around him and Dean was smiling.
Because She was a considerable distance from them, the
actress could only faintly hear the little girl chant as

she skipped; "Jimmy Dean . . . Jimmy Dean . . . Jimmy
Dean. . . .‘

In the same issue Lori Nelson talked about her many
friends,50 among them James Dean: "For a long time . .
I felt something was going to happen to Jimmy.” Hedda Hopper
muzin her monthly plug51 for Dean through Jane Withers, a
co—star in giapgj who Spoke of Dean's ”wonderful pantomimic

gift . . .a quality and style all his own.”

Reversing a trend. Rave, another magazine of the

Confidential, Whisper variety, followed the path previously

 

trod by fan magazines in featuring on its cover the question:

“Did James Dean Really Die?"52

 

was the explanation of ”why the luscious dolls he left

won't let the handsome ghoul rest in peace.” The

was, of course, publicity. Mentioned and pictured were

Maila Nurmi, Natalie Wood,

an S we I"

lfmlie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor,

Dean was set up as "real

Iksula Andress and Pier Angeli.
tmxflicompetition" for "the world's #1 ghoul-magnet“--

Rmkflph Valentino. Dean may come out ahead since there is

"considerable evidence" Valentino didn't really care for

girls:

The same cannot be said about James Dean.
Though dark, broodsome Jimmy struck out more often
than he scored, strangely enough, it certainly wasn't

from lack of trying.

The concentration on Dean as a romantic figure re-

mwved the sting of publicity-seeking charges against the

hxhes mentioned. Indeed, the article tended to substantiate

some of the publicity stories. The tie-in with Valentino was

mitecome increasingly evident in successive publications.
linkage with the greatest of the legendary film lovers was

to gain considerable attention-—both pro and con-—either side

of the issue being viable publicity content.

_Today's critic, Donald Costello, commented on the
Zkedemy Awards:53 "The late James Dean in East of Eden was

masterful and overshadowed all, but the Oscar will help the

career of Ernest Borgnine, who was, it is true, memorable in

Marty," Mr. Costello further felt that East of Eden was

165

"far and away the best film of the year," Kazan being "the
m direction

fihst director to rework the whole concept of fil

niorder to exploit the wide screen."

Eugene Archer echoedE4 this latter statement, calling

East of Eden "the first distinguished production in Cinema—

scope." He asserted the film" will be remembered as such

lnrfuture motion picture historians," when he assessed the
issue of Film Culture.

career of Elia Kazan in the Spring, 1956,

buy Archer's critique discussed not only Kazan's filmic

techniques but presented a vivid description of how the

actors and Kazan‘s use of the actors contributed to the over-

all effect. Of particular interest was the discussion of

East of Eden. The article opened with a lengthy description.

The camera focuses on a woman walking along the un-

paved street of a small California town. She Is a heavily
veiled figure dressed in black, in ominous contrast to
the subdued pastel backgrounds. The camera follows her
purposeful movement across the street from left to right,
then changes angle to observe gossiping bystanders whisper—
ing behind a Shop window at the woman's passing reflection.
Another cut and the viewpoint is reversed: the camera
pans to follow the woman as she approaches from the right,
then stops abruptly as she passes behind the figure of a
white clad boy. A sudden chord of music, coinciding with
the camera's pause. concentrates the observer's attention
on the boy. He stares after the woman's vanishing figure,
then, unexpectedly, jumps to his feet and runs a few steps
after her——then stops, as suddenly as he began. Cut to a
Close-up of the veiled woman whose movement has not
ceased; she crosses the screen in foreground, while the boy
stares after her, hands in pockets. scuffing at the ground

in an agony of indecision.

Elia Kazan is a director with a distinctive personal
Style and the opening sequence of East of Eden clearly
illustrates its quality. Without a word of dialogue,
conflict has been established and curiosity aroused,

he dark, mysterious, purposeful woman

The contrast between t
hesitant youth is immediately

and the fair, ingenuous,
apparent. The even flow of the movement as the camera

 

166

f011ows the woman is suddenly interrupted by the unex—
pected appearance of the boy; his abrupt actions and
awkward pauses emphasized by the camera and the sound—
track immediately suggest that the conflict is to be a
violent one,= Few films have begun with so vivid an

example of visual symbolism.

Archerfs discussion of the plot treatment was equally

pmmmrating. His analysis showed that the concentration of

mmfimsis on Cal, the part Dean played, was in no small way

responsible for the immediate impact of Dean in his first

starring role:

The film is primarily a character study of its com-
plex central figure. The bewildered adolescent Cain is
presented as the embodiment of the Life Force. When,
grOping for maturity amid the chaos of anguish and hidden
hatreds which constitute his world. he is driven to a
violent revenge against the father and brother who threat-
en his existence, he demands both sympathy and respect.

In this Freudian interpretation of the Biblical legend,
Cain commits fratricide under the strongest of psycho-
logical motivations. His revenge in this context is not
only acceptable but obligatory, and the legendary point
is reversed. A wholly sympathetic Cain is a figure compre—
hensible only to the modern audience to whom this film is
directed, and, for this audience, Cain assumed the heroic
proportions denied to the hypocritical Adam and the smug
Abel. This challenging film places modern psychology in
conflict with orthodox tradition and strongly advocates
the doctrine of survival of the fittest. . . . Ultimately
the film depends upon its central characterization. and
this is completely realized in the performance which

Kazan drew from James Dean.
Archer contended that ”the Actors Studio Method, em—
phasizing intuitional playing with an emotional basis, 18

emunently suited“ to the visual style of Kazan, based as it

is “on theatrical timing and blocking, amplified by a corre—

SPending application of camera technique.“

1"

 

167

William Pepe called his Special release to

the New York World—Telegram and Sun “James Dean Still Gets

Mail.”SS According to Mr. Pepe, the mail falls into two

general categories:

Thousands of people wrote in to protest because he
did not receive posthumously the Academy Award this
year. Thousands more write in insistently inquiring
when his last picture giapg will be released.

Mr. Pepe consulted Henry Ginsberg, giapg producer,

who called the interest ”unprecedented,” unless, of course,

one counts the case of Valentino~~but ‘James Dean was the

lonely, confused boy who affected women in a much different

way.” Mr. Ginsberg admitted that he never knew Dean well,

that Dean ”gave his performance and went away like a

phantom,” and yet:

People simply cannot stop talking about him.
instance, we have a multi—millicn dollar movie,
by a great director from a best selling novel with four

But who are we talking about?

For
made

stars.

The article closed with the announcement that §l§2£
Mpuld not be ready until October Since director George Stevens

hes trying to pare 650,000 feet of film shot to 25,000 for

presentation.

Aline Mosby, United Press Hollywood Correspondent,

had her release in theygew York World Telegram and Sun on

“Actor Has Become Legend. Intense

May 21.. 1956, headed:

Curiosity, Interest, Surrounds Late James Dean."55 Compar-

ing posthumous interest to the previous examples of

Valentino and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Miss Mosby presented the

 

168

.mwwuncement from Bill Self, producer of the "Schlitz Play-

tmuse of Stars,” a television series, that it will broadcast

f

as a re—run the program Dean did for Schlitz on June i.

of letters requesting
by 75 fans. . , . The
re~run in four years.

After hundreds and hundreds
it. . . . One letter was signed

show will be the program 5 only

Miss Mosby noted the Dean life-mask already on display at

Princeton_ and announced the expected publication of two new

tboks on Dean: one by director Nicholas Ray, the other by

Danfis father, Winton. Miss Mosby asserted these new in—

stances of Deaniana have been produced in response to public
interest which brought 5,000 letters to Warners in April.

Warners itself was contemplating a TV spectacular using

(flips and a filmed interview in which ”the actor, killed in

an auto accident last fall, makes a prophetic plea for safe

driving.” This interest——on the part of the fans--was

predicted to reach ”near hysteria, when Jimmy s last movie

giant is released in October.” With Dean described as the

"only actor fo receive a posthumous Oscar nomination "

Miss Mosby concluded, “His fans hope he 11 receive another
next year for giagt,”

A similar announcement about the Schlitz re-run ap~

Peared in other dailies in other cities at about the same

time. A Chicago paper57 said;

In response to requests from James Dean fans all over
the country cSchlitz Playhouse of Stars8 will repeat the
only filmed television drama in which he ever starred.
‘The Unlighted Road‘ . . . The repeat is the first for
the Schlitz series, which for five years has adhered to

a 52 new—shows-a-year policy.

 

169

ikmn was described in the announcement as an actor who “in

ins short career gained an extraordinary hold on the public."

Dean‘s picture?” was used to headline Hedda Hcpper s
Mmmuial Day Tribute in her daily new5paper column.

The ”Readers Inc.":9 column of fan mail in the Tune.

1956, Photoplay contained a letter and a new poem from

 

she said, gained mail

Evelyn H. Hunt. Her previous effort,

frmn as far awa as Finland, Holland, and Korea.” Her latest
Y

Mas called "So Little Time” and was likewise dedicated to Dean.

mithe same page another fan protested Deanis not getting an

Academy Award. The editor‘s ncte said it was "one of many.”

Qlfl- a teen magazine, gave Dean material two spots

hiits June issue. Steve Rowland, actor-turned-columnist,

berated90 the Academy Awards selection: "The people of the
lkedemy goofed, real good.” Rowland went on to tell of his

feelings for Dean, “a truly great friend.“ The editor, him-

self a racing buff, wrote lAnyone Know Fim?"* an account of

ins raCing experiences with Dean. He goes beyond the racing

experiences to a personality analysis, describing Dean as;
Independent. irresponsible off the set, sometimes

immature in actions and unpredictable he often
felt out of his element. [He was] difficult to under—

stand . but he put everything he had into the
business of acting just as he did with his weekend
love of raCing.

Movie Secrets for June, 1956, in its article ”The

Truth Behind the James Dean Stories”5* apologized for what

was regarded as a somewhat critical article it had published

about Dean, ”Double Exposure,“ the previous December.

 

170

excuses were given~~

Since recantation was almost impossible.

not for the article, but for Dean;
James Dean did much during his brief and tragic life

to upset people-~even to make them dislike him. Mostly,

he did it because he was afraid. He was shy and ill at
ease, desperately anXious for affection and approval. and

afraid to let anyone know he needed anyone or anything.

This most conspicuous example of back-tracking is re-

iflected in the spate of fan magazine articles which followed

it. Criticism of Dean, actual or implied, personal or pro-

fessional, becomes virtually unknown and unacceptable as

future fan magazine copy. There seems to be a conscious at-

tempt to approach the Dean image as perfection personified--

or, if not perfect. unfinished. This revelation of perfection

approaches Dean as more than human, as a legend or a myth,

tus accomplishments less human than godly--;mmortal. The

strength of the language employed is exceeded only by the

number of the articles printed, the resulting mass aiding

appreciably in building the promised and expected hysteria

Upon the release of giagt.

Screen Storie§_began its ”Jimmy Dean Film Festival”

”by popular demand.“ The major

as advertised on the cover

action of the plot of East of Edens: was presented, with

Stills from the film. Described action was paced to romance

and violence. The romantic scene between Abra and Cal was

described:

They kissed, With the fierce passion of two who do
not want to be doing what they are but must do it any—

way,

 

i7:

Included, interestingly enough, is a bit of dialogue

ifom a scene that never found its way into the release print:

Without meaning to, Cal bared his heart to his
brother. ’You know perfectly well you‘re the one Dad
lovesl' he cried out. ”He doesnst love me? He never hast:

Stunned by the outburst Aron defended his father.

'What have you ever done to deserve his love?“ he asked.
‘You ve done nothing but resist him and hate him and
snarl at him!” And then he added, cYou can”t win any—
body 5 love by fighting them every minute. You‘ve got
to fight with them. You ve got to show youire on their

side.

This particular scene was to find its way into The lames Dean

§£er almost two years later and labelled as a screen test.

Its appearance there suggests the source of this material as

the studio itself.

In the same issue Mike Connolly s *Last Minute News

From Hollywood“5é revealed? ”George Stevens and Henry

Ginsberg were ecstatic over the first sneak preview in mid—
Zfimil of giant. This looks like the one to beat for next
year 5 Oscar.” The Oscar plug got in. Fine. But if the film

has in condition to be shown, what could be holding up its

release? Especially since the fans were so anxious? Was

nmre time needed to plan a proper campaign to promote the film?

Or was more time needed to allow a campaign already in progress

to reach the proper fever pitch of intensity?

In a later item Connolly said;

Corey Allen, Dean Stockwell, Tony Perkins, Nick Adams,

Dennis Hopper and Rod McKuen are among the lads in the
film colony who have been labeled by their press agents as
“the second Jimmy Dean!“ It won”t work. No actor will
ever be a second Jimmy Dean. There was only one, just as

there was only one Rudolph Valentino.

 

\4
IV

is

On the surface this created a nice eulogistic feel—

img. And the Valentino comparison had been worked in. The
item suggests other possibilities. The James Dean Story of
1957 carried as its major selling point that there was only

cme Jimmy Dean. The Warner TV SpeCial on the life of Dean

anuained some of the elements eventually found in the later

fiction picture. The announcement of the TV Special and this

particular item suggest that perhaps Warners was holding

The Tames Dean Story as a sort of ace—in—the—hole.” If pub-

lic response and expectation of giaflp were not built to the
prOper pitch, the TV Special could be thrown in as coal for

the fire. The James Dean Story was not an expensive under—

taking, certainly in no way comparable to the expensive Cléfli-

That it never reached the public as a TV Special suggests

fluther possibilities. It may have been considered too

’strong,” too overt. On the other hand. circumstances may

not have neceSSitated its immediate use: it could be saved for

exploitation of its own commercial posSibilities.

All of the above is sheer speculation. Ihe_gam§§

Déan Story may not have been prepared, as such. Yet, when

 

considering the chronology of the items and the fact that

When the film finally was released major critical comment

concerned the expansion of the film to feature length though

the materials did not warrant expansion, one is led to

wonder.

175

There is no speculation necessary to see what was

bflund ”Who Can Take His Place?”5‘ in the June Film life.

 

thmxfiithe editors protested the article was written because
'Twndreds of fans of the late James Dean have written in to
amk us this question.“ The answer given was found in the
persons of three Warner BrothersE stars. Cliff Robertson,
{Mnnis Hopper and Sal Mineo. In the case of Robertson. who
"occupies Jimmyls old apartment,” photographic studies of
Iman there were recreated with Robertson as the subject and
the two printed side by side Hopper and Mineo presented

a much simpler case. They worked with Dean in both Rebel
and Qiagp. Stills from the footage of these pictures worked
very nicely.

Constant and continued use of the Dean name as a
touchstone for public acceptance of new screen talent. foreign
and domestic, male and female, was to continue throughout
the succeeding decade.

Movie Life for June. 1955. advertised ”Jimmy Dean

 

Fights Back from the Grave"5i and below this title spread,

Jimmy Dean Isn“t Really Deadl

He Is Dead But Is Communicating With a Medium
From the Spirit WorldE

He Hated His Father And His Fans:

He Deliberately Broke Girls“ Hearts. Was
Secretly Marriedé

Rumors, Rumors, Rumors?

What”s the Truth About Them?
An example typical of the coverage;

RUMOR: Jim was no: killed in that auto wreck,.but
he was so badly mutilated and disfigured that his
family and studio decided that he should be pronounced

 

l74

a patient in a

Jim is, instead,
The boy buried in

dead to the world.
private sanitarium for incurables.
Indiana is a hitchhiker whom Jim and his buddy picked

up enroute.

The answer given in response was. of course, a recita-

tion of the known facts of the accident and the funeral.

Pictured above, to spark the imagination, was a photo of the

wreckage covering a third of the page labelled: ”This is the

death car. Did James Dean--horribly disfigured—~really live

through the crash?“ Also. “discussed“ were the Vampira hexes,

a claimed child, the “cryptic messages.“ and a feud with

George Stevens‘

has said that although at first he

Stevens, in fact,
he was not devoted to him

was deeply disturbed by Jim.
because of his strong sense of fairness and his deep
regard for performance value. Jim‘s scenes in Giant
were not tampered w1th--either by Stevens or by the studio.

.- __ ——-|

Other rumors discussed Dean as ”a Victim of a fiendish

Communist murder plot,” and told of a medium s claim that

Dean discussed his reincarnation with her. The final para—

graph of the answer read.

Whether Jim Will come back in that life twenty,
fifty, or a hundred years hence—-is a question no one
can answer. But the reincarnation of James Dean is a

provocative thought.

Below was a photograph of Dean's tombstone with no
caption other than the inscription on the monument;

James B. Dean 1951—1955.

The same issue listed and illustrated VHollywood’s

Greatest Lovers: These Are the Masters Who Set New Love

Styles."57 They included Valentino, Gable, Boyer, Cagney,

 

l75

Brando and Dean. Dean, it was claimed, ”set a new style in

loving": “Both off screen and on . he was the moody
young lost soul, groping for love and understanding_“ He was

a ”seeker who didn‘t find." and his audiences ”young and old

go away with a sorrowful burden--love and understanding

they cannot ever give to him.”

Movie Stars Parade presented “As You Remember Him”:
“This is your tribute to Jimmy Dean—-an album of pictures to

treasure forever with the words of remembrance that still

live in your hearts."5E All of the captions on the pictures

were excerpts from fan letters;

I think the people who understood him best were

people he never knew . for it was here, on the screen.

he dared to show himself.
In our hearts you re still
He was a symbol of sincerity,

standing.

here.
compassion and under-

Both Movie Life and Movie Stars Parade carried adver-

 

tisements for Movie Life Yearbook with its 46 photo life story

of Dean, recognized already by ‘many of his admirers“ as a

"wonderful memento.”9 Also available from an Ideal sub—

sidiary, Conel, was a *King—Sized“ portrait of Dean.7“

Smaller advertisements offering fan photos included a Dean

photo]?1 The featured advertisement in the Ideal publications

was for The James Dean Album With 175 pictures and 66 pages:

“a terrific album for those who loved and admired Jimmy Dean.

the boy who canlt die——available from the newsdealer or by

mail after May 15.”72

 

176

The James Dean Album proved to be a compendium of

Ideal's James Dean material to date, published for his fans

who "all . . . wanted some way to keep his memory alive."

The introductory article, entitled "The Boy Who Refuses to

Die,"73 cited the interest that ”hasn't stopped . . . the

people do not speak of Jimmy as if he were dead." Captions

fln'pictures surrounding the articles were brief excerpts

from fan letters reflecting this basic idea.

Slightly expanded and with enlarged photographs, the

foundation of the Album was the Movie Life Yearbook_#22

pictorial biography and the spring Movie Stars Parade Memorial
Issue: included also was the Rowland "What Jimmy Dean Did to

Ikfllywood" from the September, 1955, Movie Stars Parade.

 

Reworking the "Rumor" material in the June Movie Life provid-

ed the basis for yet another section. New material included

his "greatest performance"74--saved for this special and

not given out to the monthlies: the "exclusive" stills from

the Giant banquet scene, in which Dean's performance "far

surpasses all of his previous work and fairly demands a

posthumous Oscar award." The copy further asserted: "Had

he done nothing else, these scenes would have quaranteed

James Dean a place with the movies 'greats.'" The scene il—

lustrated comes at the moment when "Jett learns all his

riches cannot buy what he needs—-love."

There is also "A Salute to Genius"75 from Henry

Ginsberg, Giant producer:

 

177

He was one of the rare people about whom one can
truly say, 'He is not dead.: James Dean and the magic

quality he had on the screen will never be forgotten.

Ruth Rowland added a new article “What Jimmy Dean‘s

Death.Did to Hollywood”76 and added to the collection of

contenders for the ”second Jimmy Dean” title. Some new photo-

graphs found their way into the collection, including those

of a life mask by Ken Kendall, now ”in Lawrence Hutton Hall

of Fame at Princeton.” The final page of the Album was a

"fact sheet“ on Dean. The points it covered ranged from

mundane details of dates and physical characteristics to

”Favorite writers——Jean Genet. Curzio

curiosities like:

Malaparte, Gerald Heard."

Walter Lassally‘s ”The Cynical Audience”?7 in the

Summer issue of Sight and Sound was his assessment of the con-

temporary cinema scene. Mr. Lassally made the pOint that

'Jt is the atmOSphere of contemporary America-—impatient and

cynical, with overtones of hysteria—-that will at the moment

most strongly influence mass audience taste, tending in many

ways to depress it.” He further contended that film pro-

ducers follow the public taste rather than leading it,"so
the films produced today are a reflection of contemporary

audience taste~—notably of the ideas and standards held by

the younger section of the audience--and this, in turn, is

partly a reflection of contemporary American attitudes.“

To appease the ”fickle and cynical” audience, an audience

 

 

 

178

'mwre knowing and hardened in its reactions to the whole

luminess of being entertained,” film producers appear to

rely increasingly on "gimmicks and phony, tricked up situ-

ations." Many offerings exhibit an "overworked neuroticism":
This neurotic tendency can originate in the script
itself or in the treatment, manifesting itself alike in
neurotic characterisation and performances or a neurotic
striving for effect on the part of the director. East of
Eden, which imposes its Specifically contemporary brand
of neuroticism on a 1915 story, is a particularly strik—
ing example, when compared with films set in about the

same period but produced in the 'thirties or I'forties
which seem to derive from a conviction that today's

audiences simply will not take a straightforward drama
dealing with the lives of reasonably average men and

women .

Though he does not mention it by name, Lassally could

have been talking about Rebel Without a Cause when he made

the point that even the "sociological film” has become full

of "violent surface action” and the films, themselves, and

the publicity campaigns for them ” have thus become more

overtly sensational, so that the underlying purpose-—making

an audience aware of, or angry about, a social evil——is almost

completely lost.“ That such films "should often be un-

questioningly accepted as serious exposes of their subjects”

is "a sign of the times.” Rather than risk box office

failure, films “flagrantly and deliberately exploit the worst

in human nature."

Mr. Lassally concluded:

The reSponsibility connected with the purveying of
mass entertainment in our time is enormous, yet it is
scarcely ever acknowledged by those upon whom it squarely

rests. It is inevitably easier to be cynical than to be

179

constructive, and in these days of great emphasis on the
rights and privileges of free individuals it is all too
easy to forget the collective responsibilities which any
society must place upon those individuals if it wishes to
call itself civilised.

As promised, TV's “Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" pre—
sented "The Unlighted Road"78 on June lst, a year after its
:first presentation. In practices unprecedented to ballyhoo
a re—run, large advertisements appeared in local neWSpapers
anxwmcing the showing. The commercial interests of tele-
vision were certainly not above capitalizing upon the effects
of the.Dean publicity. As is true of many later contributions
to the Dean legend, offerings were taking advantage of
previously released material to insure an audience and, simul-
taneously, contributing to the overall mass of information
presented. The general consistency of the materials in depth
and breadth aided immeasurably their capacity for being ab—
sorbed by the bulk of material presented and by the audiences
intended to receive this material” ‘Yet, perhaps the greatest
consistency exhibited by the multitudinous and multifarious

profusion of material was its commercial viability.

The great audiences hit by the fan magazines found
their counterparts in the tiny audiences reached through more
Specialized sources. The recently organized local New York
bi~weekly Off—Broadway, which dealt ”principally with New York's

Off—Broadway Theatre," used Dennis Stock's "Life“—monument

 

180

gucture for its June 15th cover. The magazine was distributed
primarily to actors and New York theatre devotees and had,
therefore, a very limited and focused audience. Reviewer

Nmrc Edwards79 commented that "a little over a year ago" his

review of Eas§_of Eden noted "Dean has one of the greatest po—

 

tentials in motion picture history. You have truthfully never
seen anything like him before." Edmonds added that his review
MES written prior to Eggnfs premiere and was “probably the
first written about the picture.“ Putting aside "the rabid
teenagers who make up a large part of Dean's following"

Edwards, coldly looking at the "record,‘ the "truly monumental
East of Eden and “the slighter but still brilliantly acted"
Rebel Without a Cause, concluded that "Dean would have become
that great of greats, “The Actor‘s ActorI . . . Like Brando,
he managed to take the best from the Actors Studio, and leave
the rest for the imitators and half talented." Overleaf, a

double page centerfold "sketchbook portrait of Dean" by artist

Dick Francis was presented as "a farewell nod."

With such variety of notice and widespread acclaim it
vas almost inevitable that one or another of the national news
magazines should soon comment on the interest. Newsweek
answered the call with "The Star That Won't Dim,"80 calling
Dean a “lonely young man" who "attracted more teen-agers than
any other star." The international scope of this interest was

hinted with the announcement that: "In London the British fan

 

181

negazine Picturegoer announced that Dean had won its poll for

 

the leading screen actor of 1955 on the basis of his per—

fbrmance in East of Eden."

 

Though foreign materials were generally even less
available for research study than American sources, it seems
safe to surmise that the typical foreign publicity campaigns
touting the Dean image were patterned after and modeled upon
selling techniques utilized in the United States. Often,
fOreign publications would print verbatim articles previously
printed in American sources, translating as necessary. An
example of such a case was the: reprinting of George Stevens‘

"A Tenderness Lost"81 in the July, 1956 issue of Cahiers du

 

Cinema. The reprinting of fan magazine pap by one of the most
respected of the critical film publications proves to some
extent the level and degree of French involvement with the

Dean image.

Closer to home, film magazines continued amassing
[man material and comment. Virtually any and every occasion
to recall or call upon his name was utilized to keep that
name in the public eye, often to the commercial advantage of
others. Mike Connolly offered two bits of linkage in his

Screen Stories column in July. Carroll Baker was soon to

 

 

appear in Kazan's Baby Doll. Kazan brought Brando and "the

late, beloved Jimmy Dean to stardom.“ He will see "that

182

1:82

Carrolleakes it too. Cleo Moore, back from a personal

emmearance tour with her picture Overexposed said "that many

 

fans had asked her to autograph photos of Jimmy Dean . . .
satisfied to have the photographs autographed by someone who
"83

had known Jimmy.

The Screen Stories feature article, advertised on the

 

cover as "The Jimmy Dean Film Festival: the second of Jimmy

Dean's three great films," was the picture story rendition

"by pOpular demand'l of Rebel Without a Cause.84

 

5

Hedda Hopper‘s July column8 in Motion Picture com-

 

mented on the fact that “Jimmy Dean is way up at the top of
all magazine polls" and that "teen—agers want to build a
memorial to him. They write as though he were still living.“
Also noted was the fact that Pier Angeli was the ”one he
really gave his heart to.“ This ”hardest working actor" had
left "not only a host of friends, but millions of fans
throughout the world.“

Some ”hundreds” of those fans came to a New York
Gallery to see a collection of Dean portraits filling a full
Mundow on Broadway, as described and illustrated in the

New York Sunday News on July 8, 1956.86

 

And on July 11, a considerably more concrete expres-

sion of interest was announced in The New York Times.87 With

 

a million dollar goal, a James Dean Memorial Foundation was
initiated with a kick—off meeting in New York. Designated as

a memorial “to aid in every way possible talented persons

183

in all fields of artistic endeavor," the Foundation had a
tmard of directors "composed of the citizens of Fairmount,
Indiana." Headquarters were located in Fairmount and at the
Encelsior Hotel in New York.

Movie Life offered the story of "James Dean's Strange

 

Legacynaa

on its July cover. Part of the legacy, boxed as
mi"Exclusive Special Section" was the "heritage of love and

popularity" he granted Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood by drawing

fans to see them all in Rebel Without a Cause. They and

 

others, like Nick Adams, "have apparently grown in stature"
just by being associated with Jimmy. There are, therefore,
'special articles" on these stars. The rest of his legacy is
what he left with his fans. The "spiritual, personal kin—
ship comparable to none“ he evoked in his fans is evidenced
in the poems, personal letters and "expressions of indignation
that he did not win this year's Academy Award and the great
ever-abiding hope that next year with Warner Brothers‘ Giant
he will be honored.” Some of these letters are printed
"because of the great and growing wave of admiration and de—
sire that his memory be perpetuated that has welled up
Spontaneously throughout the whole country." This "saintly
boy," as one group of more than thirty fans termed him,
remains an inspiration "to countless thousands." One reader,
Anthony Giannone, contributed his second poem, "Haunted

Eyes," A previous work was published in The James Dean Album.

184

The columnist for Movie Life, Dick Williams, an—

 

nounced89 that Nicholas Ray's book about Dean would be pub—
lished late that summer, and Beverly Linet's article "Strange
Imwelations of the Stars Rival Bridey Murphy"90 gave fan
negazine readers a dose of the pseudo—scientific occultism
popularized by the widely publicized Bridey Murphy "case.”
ZXfull page study of Ken Kendall's Dean mask illustrates a
section of the article telling how "Jim's 'lost' horoscope
{moved too dreadfully accurate.” This particular issue also
catches up with the "newest dreamboat," Elvis Presley, though
no particular linkage is hinted or established with the

James Dean image in these initial eXposures. The usual Dean-

illustrated advertisements were in evidence.

Movie Stars Parade printed the first part of a two

 

part offering entitled "Secrets from Jimmy Dean's Past” by

Evelyn Washburn Nielsen91

of Fairmount, Indiana. The author
states the article was published because the Marcus Winslows,
who raised Jimmy Dean, “were so unhappy" about much of his
publicity. Mrs. Nielsen intends to stress in ”the beautiful
tale" of this "completely normal boy who grew up with wonder-
fUl people—-his own people" his love for his family, his
kindness, skill, determination, keen intelligence, sense of
lUStice, power of concentration, hard work, and not leaSt,

his bubbling laughter and vital awareness to life and interest

in it. The story of Dean's early years accented his happy

185

early relationShip with his mother and the continuation of

'Uus relationship with the Winslow family. According to the

author, the "mysterious" Jimmy Dean was so called because his

"pattern for life was not Hollywood's" but the "Inward Light"

oflfis Quaker upbringing: "'That of God' in every man" which

"instructs and transforms the conscience."

Jeanne Balch Caper's "The Strange Revival of James

Eman"92 was carried in the widely syndicated American Weekly

(HiJuly 29, 1956. The article was based on, or had the same

 

 

initial sources as, Aline Mosby's United Press release in

buy, as witness the comment in virtually the same words:

"When his last film Giant is released this fall, Warner Bros.

mujcipate near hysteria from his most devoted followers"

The article noted the April fan mail of 5,000 letters, the

.mxfience Awards poll, the forty baskets and bouquets at
Dawns grave on his birthdate, the comparisons to Brando, the

lflack magic influences of Vampira, the planned one—hour TV

special on Dean's life; most importantly, however, the article

reported once again, or repeated once again, the "fantastic"

rumors :

Strangest of all, there is a cult of Dean fans who
stubbornly cling to the belief that he was Spirited out
of his coffin, still alive, and that he is not dead at
all . . . that Dean was not killed in the crash, but was

so badly burned that his studio and family decided to
tell the world he died while he lives out his days in a
sanitarium.

Screen Stories stopped its "James Dean Film Festival"

wuthout explanation, after running two consecutive issues,

186

tending the release of Giant. James Dean was not to dis-
appear altogether from between the covers of the August issue.
MHGEConnolly noted93 how "ironically" Montgomery Clift‘s
automobile accident coincided with Warner's "decision to film
ElTV Spectacular of Jimmy Dean's life story":
It will conclude with a recorded trailer that Jim
had made Shortly before his tragic death on a lonely

California highway. In the trailer Jim made an appeal
for safe driving.

Connolly also mentioned that Winton Dean "is writing
almwk about his son."84 In a later item Connolly had
vampira declaring “You're the only one who's been nice to me
since Jimmy Dean died"95 to Liberace, who signed Vampira for
appearances with his night club act.

Letters from fans were included in the same issue and

”96

presented as “Orchids for our Festival. One fan in Belgium

admitted to seeing East of Eden twenty-eight times.

In Hollywood Stars David Eardly contributed an article,

 

featured also on the cover, describing Steve Rowland as
"Hollywood's Next Jimmy Dean."97 Dean was depicted as "the
creator of a new acting technique." Brando may have been the
:fixst to bring to the Screen "the off-beat, moody, intense
Personality," but because Dean was younger than Brando, “he
typified youth":
The teenagers understood through him their own
frustrations, loneliness and problems. Dean was their
idol! Never in the history of motion pictures has one

actor influenced so many in so short a time.

An actor in this "traditibn" and "most often mentioned“ in

187

fan's letters was Steve Rowland. Like Dean, Rowland was
described and pictured as a "jazz expert" and "a natural
athlete.“ He, too, was "moody and intrOSpective." To con—
Sider Rowland in the Dean tradition was not insulting to
Dean because Dean "will always live in the inspired work of
other actors." Mr. Rowland commented:
You know, Jimmy can't really be gone! He must be
around someplace. Anyone who has been such an important

influence on so many as he was just keeps on living.

Movie Life for August featured as "A New James Dean

 

Bonus Feature“ Beverly Linet‘s article "The Secret Happiness

Ci Jimmy Dean"98 on its cover. The article was written be-
cause "there is a side of James Byron Dean that has been
neglected“: "the legend is . . . lOpSided." The article
stressed how "Jim could create laughter from any situation"
in interviews with Adeline Nall, Fairmount Speech teacher,

and Billy Gunn, Dean‘s understudy in the Broadway play

_he Immoralist. Anecdotal material using direct quotations

 

gave the story an immediacy. Concluding sections were

framed by the usual Dean—illustrated photo advertisements as
lel as by the advertised promise that a forthcoming issue
would contain "a fascinating story" on Dean by Nick Adams:
"Jimmy Dean-—Why We Loved Him." For those Dean fans who
couldn't wait, the current Movie Stars Parade offered the
answer to "What Can Jimmy Dean's Home Town Now Reveal?” The

t

answer was, of course, revealed in the second installment99

of Evelyn Washburn Nielsen's series of photographs and

188

anecdotal material from family and friends in Fairmount to
combat the "almost pure fake" press image. Besides enlarg-
ing upon Dean's character by describing the man upon whom
Dean "patterned his life"—-an unnamed but "renowned and in-
fluential" Quaker in Indiana, the article included a “flat
statement" disclaiming any possibility of suicide in Dean's
accident: "Jim would not conceivably have harmed his friend

nor dented his prize possession."

An item also in this issue worked in the fact that

Cliff Robertson had "rented Jimmy Dean's old apartment."loo

Motion Picture for August, 1956, announced an article

 

"Hollywood's Untold Love Stories"101 on its cover, "Revealing

Jimmy Dean's Unknown Romance," a starlet, Eileen Forham, who
loved Jimmy, but "he didn't want to be tied down.” After

his death "She faded out of the picture to grieve over him
quietly, the way Jimmy would have grieved. Alone."

”Rendezvous with Danger,"102 illustrated with a Dean photo and
citing him as an example, quoted an unnamed studio executive
Who discussed studio legal plans to "curtail dangerous
activities" by stars under contract: "But before they had
come up with anything constructive, James Dean was dead, almost
by his own hand." Natalie Wood, interviewed because she
"knew Dean well," cited Dean‘s fatalistic attitude, his love
for activities involving "an element of danger" in “trying

to run away from his tensions." Miss Wood also "wrote" her

own article "It‘s a Wonderful Whirl" about her social life.

189

A still of Miss Wood with Dean from Rebel Without a Cause

 

mes used to illustrate the article. In the article Miss Wood
told of a Chinese restaurant rendezvous in New York with Sal

bhneo, Nick Adams, Richard Davalos and his wife on the night

Dean was killed: ”And we realized that while we had been
talking about him, he was dead." Miss Wood discussed Dean as
“sensitive, thoughtful," shy, and "genuine." The concluding

section of her presentation was boxed by the feature "My Star

Twin“103 in which was a picture of Dean and a picture of
Eddie Bodzioch, who "acts and has the same features as James
Dean," declared a friend. The editors concurred: "The re—
semblance Eddie . . . bears to the late, great James Dean
is truly striking.”

Sheilah Graham104 rebelled in the same issue against
"those would—be imitators of the late, great Jimmy Dean who
are determined to mold themselves into his model and likeness."
She was talking about other actors who lose their own
"individuality." In conversation with one, she said, "I told
him, as I will tell all those who try to fill the shoes of

the Giant, that those shoes were buried with him and cannot be

filled."

This attempt to equate the Dean image with the title
of his film is somewhat abortive, but the ploy receives fur-
ther attention later from other sources. It is an interesting

effort and not without its results. Despite the fact that the

 

«_‘

 

 

190

rmvel was widely read in its various editions, even today,
ere than a decade later, the title of the film is often
mustakenly referred to, in conversation or communication

among Dean fans, as The Giant, probably in the belief the

 

title refers to Dean. Also, through repetition, the rhyming
mxuunction of the descriptive adjectives "late" and "great"

tecome a common usage when related to Dean.

Motion Picture promised an “exciting book length bonus

 

feature . . . 'Jimmy Dean's Authentic Life Story'" in its
éfikh Anniversary issue the following month.

A new magazine,Hear, The Voice of Hollywood, featuring

 

clip out plastic coated recordings of interviews, graced its
kick-off number with a "Special Feature" on Jimmy Dean, but
prefaced it with the comment in Jack Martin's gossip column
that "Jimmy Dean is still drawing more fan mail than most of
Hellywood's big names."105 The feature was "We'll Never
Forget You . . ." by Carol Archer Sturmond.106 The picture-
Prose-poem eulogy centered on "that last great moment in
giant where you sit so symbolically, alone in the great
kmnquet hall. . .. Was this your life you were acting?" The
selection was set off by being printed on paper of a differ—
ent size, quality and color from the rest of the magazine.
It is further enhanced by some previously unpublished photos
Of Dean wy Wilson Millar, who took them on Dean's first try

at Hollywood when Dean was still in his teens. Millar offers

191

these "exclusive formal portraits" in an advertisement further
in the magazine.

An article advertised on the cover of WhisEer in
August as “James Dean's First Love" and also called "The Girl
James Dean Left Behind"107 was written by Sam Schaeffer,
after "weeks of research and gumshoeing." The article is
based on fact, James Dean's relationship with Christine White,
but clever manipulation of detail, eSpecially concerning
Dean's "badly groomed quality," makes the article fit the
more standard Dean image while at the same time adding a new

variation not hitherto exploited.

August saw the beginning of a rash of indicting news-

paper items. Hy Gardner108

illustrated his point concerning
teen-age hero mania by telling of a girl who ran away from
home to see Elvis Presley. Gardner maintains that the Dean
"mania" is even stronger and that “the blame lies with a group
of greedy movie and sensational pulp magazine publishers who'd
do anything for a dollar--even stoop under the gutter to fan
the flame of desire in teenagers by publishing articles pur-
porting to come from Dean himself——from another world.“

Gardner described Dean as "an unaffected Simple young
man who was pleased but not swelled up about his sudden
success," and continued:

Exactly why he should be made the pivotal point of

a mass movement that borders on psychotic morbidity is
one of the more sordid of mentally deficient maneuvers

192

and should be stopped before it makes otherwise normal
teenagers potential patrons of the Bellevue Observation
Ward.

At about the same time Dorothy Kilgallen109

was pull—
ing even fewer punches and being far less vague. Labelled
variously "Legend of Dean Kept Alive" and "Macabre Buildup

cflfJames Dean," the nationally syndicated column read:

James Dean, the young actor who lived intensely and
died violently continues to star as the hero of a mount—

ingly fantastic Hollywood saga. Veteran movie press
agents are spending long hours conferring in ultra-
private sessions on the best methods of keeping the Dean
vogue 'hot'

until his final movie, Edna Ferber's Giant,
has reaped the anticipated number of millions.

All kinds of gimmicks from fan magazine spreads to
pilgrimages to his grave will be utilized in the campaign
to preserve the dead youth's box office value. AS a

macabre example of how the screen publications are going
along with the master plan, the November issue of one

magazine will feature an article on Dean written entirely
in the present tense, as if he were still alive.

Though these indictments stand as critical exposes,

they are also contributions to the Dean image, doing little
in and of themselves to shake-the steady and building follow-

ing of the dead star. The similarity of attack in manner and

chronology could lead one to suspect that even the exposésw

uey be part of some "master plan." Like the criticism of the

Dean "rumors" in the fan magazines, items like the above fan

the sparks and give added publicity through repetition and

announcement.

Helen DudaS' story for the New York Post on August

19. 1986, "The Legend of Jimmy Dean,"ll°also used mention of

Elvis Presley and his effect on many an American adolescent

195

girl as an introduction to the topic at hand. Miss Dudas
described the "fierce and occasionally morbid concern“ with
Dean as "almost a cult," and told that the "rustic Quaker"
town of Dean's youth, Fairmount, Indiana, "has become a
tourist center," if not a "shrine," with the local cemetery
(flaiming thirty visitors a day during the summer; "the post-
humous tribute is not confined to one sex or age group or
to the continental limits of the U. S."

The article found the Warner Brothers' reaction
"curious,“ with rather “the fastidious air of an Episcopalian
minister whose grandchildren are dabbling in the occult

sciences":

Aside from taking considerable advantage of the
huge demand for re—release of his first two movies,
the company drumbeaters have kept the skins conspicuously

reticent on the subject of Dean.
An interview with the head of the United Fan Mail
Agency, Claire Rochelle, reported no studio or agency recog—
nition of fan clubs, and that requests ("We get lots of
letters.") for pictures of his gravestone were denied: "It's
too morbid."

The article noted in passing the rumor "that he did
not die but was so scarred by the accident that he has re—
tired from the world.“

The author felt the interest in Dean bore little re-

lation to the Valentino interest, which was a "middle aged

woman‘s passion":

On screen and off, Dean appears to have Spoken
graphically to and for the mid—century teenager:

194

In both pictures, he was the rejected, tormented, lonely
and rebellious youth——a set of symptoms that symbolizes

the state of mind if not the behavior of most adolescents
The author recognized that the youthful adulation of Dean had

a "clinical logic in a time when home life and national life

have an unsettled appearance." Her interview with Dr. Adolpho

Zier, Manhattan neuropsychiatrist and psychotherapist, quoted

him as saying:

Rebellion is one of the key elements involved.
Whether it is only in thought or in behavior, the teen—
ager is rebelling. He is also guilty about the things
he does or thinks that do not conform. And he wants to
identify with a figure who rebels successfully. By
identification, you can justify your own actions. And
Dean was successful--in his career, in his personal life,
as far as adolescents are concerned, even in death. The
death is lamented--yet in some unrecognized corner of
their minds, he died for their cause--driving a car at a
forbidden high Speed. Nor is there any danger, now that
he is dead, that he will change or betray their cause.

The article noted further manifestations of the Dean

interest in the fund—raising foundation, the recordings, the

persistent fan magazines, but quoted George Stevens, pro-
ducer and director of Giant, as saying that he "is determined

that the film be sold on its own merits and that the pro—

motion make no contribution to the myth." Accompanying the

article was a still from Rebel Without a Cause labelled simply

“Rejected, Tormented, Lonely“ and another "With Liz in Giant,

His Last Movie."

An Associated Press release of August 22111 disclosed
that the Dean estate was being sued for $100,000 by Rolf

Wuetherich, the mechanic—passenger in Dean's car at the time

195

of the crash, who said Dean "was driving too fast and with
venton disregard for the safety of his passenger."

Bob Thomas wrote the syndicated article "Dean's Still

Alive in Death to Fans"112 as published on August 26, 1956,
calling the Dean interest a "cult." He figured the fan
letters at over 8,000 a month and quoted the defensive re—
actions of the unidentified fan magazine editor: "We have
to run a story on him every two or three months.“ (From the
evidence, a gross understatement.)

Steve Brooks, head of magazine publicity at Warners

declared:

We do what we can to help but it‘s difficult,
especially since some of the people who knew Dean have
clammed up. . . . It seems to be a sense of identifi-
cation on the part of young kids in America. . . . They
are confused and mixed up and with good reason——What do
kids of today have to look forward to?

George Stevens echoed, scoffing at the comparison of

Dean with Valentino, whose appeal was to more "mature women":

Jim is much closer to his audience. His is the . .
rebellious personality that the young people of today
know so well. They understand him because they feel the
same way about things.

Joan Dickinson contributed "The 'Rebel' Who Invented

a New Cult-—After Death";L13 . . . "The Strange Story of James
Dean, Whose Private Life Has Made Him a Symbol for Today's
Restless Youth," syndicated by King Features, August 26, 1956.
The living Dean was described as "intense, emotional, ob-
sessed with acting; rushing, racing was "an outlet for his

pent up emotions and frustrations"; "whatever he did, he had

to win."

198

Since his death, I'Dean has been on more covers than
any other male star in history." Cited were five magazines
"devoted entirely to him," and note that avid fans manifested
their devotion, which was "unbelievably intense," by collect-
ing these memorabilia—~because as they said: "He's natural,
like our friends."

The article contrasted the Dean furor to that exhibited
over Valentino, which "ebbed once he was entombed":

Partly because Rebel was not released until a month
after his death, partly because his two movie roles were
deeply moving and they dealt sympathetically with the
turbulence of youth and the problems that many young
people are forced to face. But mostly his fame is due to
the way he lived his private life, a representation of the
great restlessness that engulfs the present generation.
Dean typified their longings and plans for reaching the
top in a rush.

The article featured an almost full tabloid page
tinted photograph of Dean in his red jacketed Rebel costume
standing in front of his dressing room door. A switch blade
knife, "symbol of teenage turbulencef'is sticking in the name
plate of the door. There was also a picture of the members
of Brooklyn's "Dedicated Deans," a Dean fan club. Wearing
their club jackets embroidered with Dean's name,they displayed
his picture.

The reference in Jim Scovotti's critique114 of

Warner's Somebody Up There Likes Me in Films in Review de-

 

clared that Paul Newman in the role “which the late James
Dean was to have played . . . combines slovenliness, energy,

bombast, humility and sensitivity, in a wholly convincing

197

Emmermance." Newman was already typed by the fan magazines
and the columnists as a ready contender for the now vacated
Dean acting honors. The role of the rebellious boxer, driven
lnrhate and redeemed by a woman's love, was tailor—made for
the type he represented. Another Scovotti comment about Pier
Angeli, who co—starred with Newman in the same film, concern—
ing her ability to "project the valor of the child—woman . . .
the one thing She does best," tells something about her role
in the film and also offers a clue to the reasons for the
continuation of the Dean—Angeli stories years after their
romance was over. The stories fit the single image Miss Angeli
vas allowed to project, whether in publicity or in films.

Roles such as her part in Somebody Up There Likes Me put her

 

into perspective with Newman and kept her in perspective with
Dean. The fact that Warner Brothers chese to also star Sal
bfineo in the film, though the role he played was comparatively

Humor, makes the linkage develOped virtually complete.

Exploitation of the Dean image was further developed
in extensive publication of "one—Shot" magazines in which the
entire content was devoted to Dean material. More often than
INK, material used was repetitious of previously published
material, and sometimes it was the same material, reprinted--
thus consolidating the previously established image.

The Real James Dean Story, like The James Dean Album,
was really a series of reprints, this time from Fawcett Publi-

cations, notably, Motion Picture. It contained reprints of

 

198

LHJICOOk'S "Jimmy Dean Is Not Deadf‘all-of the Hedda Hopper
column puffs dating-from November, 1954 and appearing almost
monthly to July, 1956. Clever manipulation of verb tenses
to give the properly posthumous feeling permitted the re—
publication of Lori Nelson's "The Jimmy Dean I Dated." Word
manipulation seemed to be the forte of Fawcett since the book
also contained "James Dean's Life Story . . . In His Own
Words."115 The selection begins: "This biographical stuff,
the kind of baloney the columnists thrive on, is one thing I
can't stomach." Deciding to try his luck as an actor, con-
trary to the advice of his father who had "seen too much
Ikfllywood garbage and thought I‘d be wasting my time," Jimmy
tells of his early Hollywood career:

I contacted an agent and got a handful of small parts
in movies like Has Anybody Seen My_Gal? It was one of
those frothy family—type musicals. In that one I had a
line or two as this fresh kid who comes into a drugstore
where Charles Coburn is filling in behind the fountain.

I was supposed to give him an elaborate description of an
ice cream sundae I wanted. . . .

Then there was Fixed Bayonets, a Korean war picture.
There we were, all crouched down behind this hill,
covered with dirt and sweat. And it was night, raining,

real Hollywood, you know. I had exactly one line. It
went: 'It's a rear guard coming back.“ What a part.

 

The facts are authentic, but the language and the
interpretation of those facts was a carefully faked and
managed "gimmick." Between quotations previously ascribed to
Dean during his lifetime and possibly authentic were quo-
tations like the above, which point out the writer as properly
modest and having a cavalier, if not rebel-like attitude

toward the Hollywood tradition and its movies, a presentation

199

thoroughly consistent with the Dean hitherto portrayed in
previous publication.

Beyond the statements was a rationale:

But George Stevens, for my money, is the greatest
director of them all—-even greater than Kazan. This
Stevens was born for the movies. He's so real, so
unassuming, and he doesn't miss a thing. Also we've
got a wonderful script for Giant. You know, when it
wants to, Hollywood can accomplish tremendous things.
And this movie might be one of them. I sure hope so.

"James Dean's Life Story" was an elaborate plug for
Giant.

A following segment, "The Man Behind the Legend,"116
was an extended variation on the Byronic image, capitalizing
on Dean's middle name, utilizing various anecdotal material
and following the theme:

Jimmy, like Byron, Shelley and all other romantic
heroes,was a fighter——a fighter with an ideal. Perhaps
it is this quality which was the secret of his magnet-
ism and charm.

Other articles were "My Friend, Jimmy”117 by Bob

Efinkle, dialogue coach for giant, and "The Dean I Knew"118

by Sal Mineo, "as told to Larry Thomas." Mineo's article
used anecdotes revolving around the shooting of Rebel and the
corresponding friendships with Nicholas Ray and, especially,
Natalie Wood, but Since Mineo also appeared in Giant, the
latter sections are concerned with that picture. His
"message" comes through. The article closes: ". . . Jimmy

Dean, a guy whose heart was as big as the state of Texas.

That was the Dean I knew."

200

A picture series involving Elizabeth Taylor, Pier
Angeli, Natalie Wood, Maila Nurmi, Jane Withers, Terry Moore,
Pat Hardy, and Lili Kardell was called "The Women in His
Life":

They were sleek; they were sultry; they were
glamorous. But, save for one, no woman ever captured
James Dean's heart.119

“The Star They'll Never Forget"120 was about Dean fans.

Besides printing the now usual poetry and letters, the maga-
zine contacted three Mount Vernon, New York, girls who were
specially interviewed and photographed with Dean material.
One said:

. . Nobody knew much about him or talked about him

until we saw East of Eden. We never had any special movie
star favorites until then.

 

Another told of their reactions on seeing Rebel:

We all went to see it three times. We cried all
through the movie, not because it was a sad picture but
just because Jimmy looked so alive. I hope our theater
will play it again. It would be wonderful if they ran
both East of Eden and Rebel at the same time. It makes
him come to life all over again.

 

The same girl said:
I hope he's happy . . . He didn't seem to be eSpecially
happy when he was alive. I felt truly sorry for him when
his romance with Pier Angeli was broken up.

The article stated:

All three girls agreed that Jimmy Dean should have
gotten an Academy Award last year and they fervently hope
that he will be given one this year.

The statements were probably authentic; they were also

Probably, in part, directed. In any case, they could be

accepted by other Dean fans as natural and typical expressions.

201

The statements would seem to point up the immediacy of the

impact of Dean's films and the published material, in terms
of the establishment and maintenance of the Dean image.

The establishment of Dean as a "special movie star favorite"
seems from their statements to run concurrent with the re—

lease of East of Eden and the beginning of his notice by the

 

fan magazines, long after he had appeared in several starring
roles on national television. Though the Pier Angeli romance
had terminated months before the release of Eden, the state-
ments indicate an immediacy of feeling upon reading the revela-
tions, resulting in compassionate and possibly jealous feelings

of pity. The wish-statements about running East of Eden and

 

.Eflfifl;together were eventually answered by the studio; the
statements may have been printed as "feelers" to evoke re-
Sponse from other fans. The immediacy of the impact of seeing
Dean on the screen, the resurrection qualities of the films,
taken in conjunction with the Academy Award statement point
the interest in the still unreleased Giant, and score the
article as yet another subtle advertisement.

"This Was His Greatness”121 began with stills from
Dean's television and stage career and continued with lengthy
picture-stories of all his films, including Giant. Dean was
Characterized as "a lonely, misunderstood boy“ in Eden, a
"friendless and lonely,” ”inarticulate youth" in Rebel.
Giant contained "Jimmy's final and greatest performance“ as

a "rebellious young ranch hand." The series was followed

202

vuth a two page Spread of on-the-set Giant studies, which
were also used extensively throughout the book.
The eulogistic qualities of Ernst Jacobi's "The

Lonely One"122

were almost explained in the title: "It's
always a lonely life when you are ambitious, when you feel
you are singled out for greatness."

123

Jimmy Dean Returns was published by Rave, one of

 

the Confidential-type magazines then popular, and it presented

 

vmat might be expected: "Read His Own Words From the Beyond—-"
And there, issuing from the mouth of the blue—tinted cover
portrait of Dean: "How I found a new life beyond death

through one girl's love. . . ." Called a "true story," the

68 page book tells of a "destined" love: ”Nothing--NOTHING——
could ever part them. Not even death." The object of Dean's
affections remains anonymous "to avoid possible embarrassment
to her family and her employers." There is, however, a photo—
graph of "an 18—year—old model who bears a marked facial

resemblance" to the authoress—love. The publishers also

 

noted: “It will be remembered that the name of Morey Bern—
stein's hypnosis subject, 'Ruth Simmons' in The Search for
§£ldey Murphy, is not her true name." The many pictures

 

 

Scattered throughout the book are advertised as "the only
pictures of Jimmy that have never been published before."
They constitute folios of work by Roy Schatt of New York and

Frank Worth of Hollywood and they run the gamut of moody,

205

introspective bearded portraits of Dean by Schatt, probably
taken in the early 'fifties, to more recent on the set Shots
of 2:22.:-

The authoress heroine is called ”Judy Collins," a
nice all—American name, rather euphonious when coupled with

"Jimmy, and, co—incidentally, the first name of the heroine

of Rebel Without a Cause. To this Judy, as well as to the

 

Judy of Rebel, "Jimmy was Simply the perfect sweetheart and
lover-~charming, thoughtful, attentive, considerate, tender."
Their ”idyllic" lovelxxfiniin 1951, and ended only when Jimmy

left for Hollywood. It was marred by a dream Jim had of an

automobile crash just before he left. Judy felt "a new
urgency in his embrace“ as he left, saying, "Remember, I'll
come back to you." When Jim was killed in the automobile

crash, Judy suffered feelings "of guilt and irreparable loss"

until a friend gave her a copy of The Search For Bridengurphy.

 

The book itself had not basically changed her feeling, but it
brought her "out of the rut of apathy" into which she had
sunk. Further reading, the ringing of an unset alarm clock

(a gift from Jimmy), and the peak incident, an experience of
Spirit writing, confirmed Judy's belief that James Dean's
Spirit lived on. Jim's life in heaven, or wherever he was

out of "the old world," was not lonely. He said "I heard

a voice calling my name and I seemed to be a small boy again,
hearing my mother call me. . . ." He repeated his love to

JUdy, happy to have the opportunity:

204

But I needed your belief to do it. Your belief is
like a magnet, giving me the force to be able to speak
to you. If your belief ever faded, I would have to be
silent again.

Commercialism had turned James Dean into a latter—day

Tinkerbell.

The James Dean Official Anniversary_Book, published
somewhat prematurely by Dell, was divided into two parts:
original articles and reprints. "The Man Behind the Legend,"l‘24
the opening article, recounted the furor over his death, noting
the "more than 50,000 fan letters"the studio has received
Since Dean's death, an "isolated case" of attempted suicide,
the projected publication of books by Nicholas Ray and Winton
Dean. The editors stated:

The type of brooding, sensitive, aloof young outcast

who is capable of great warmth and compassion despite
the tragic conflicts of his inner life, has been por—
trayed on the screen with greater authority and under—
standing by Dean than by any actor of our times.
They felt that although Dean ”brought a new and vital energy
to the motion picture," ”the growing legend of Jimmy Dean is
not based solely on his accomplishments as an actor." The
Editors believed that Dean's acting "was greater than the
techniques brought to it," and that “Jimmy's immense identifi—
Cation with his screen characters was possible because he
realized how much he was like them in real life." In his
roles, as in life, Dean's "task” was "the desire and pursuit

0f love." As the editors stated the case: "For the first

time, America's youth has chosen the figure of a disturbed

205

man to represent their longings and their struggles." But

as they continued:

It is not the memory of a figure rushing toward death
with arms outspread that this book seeks to embellish.
It is to the striving, tormented young man who,
a short, intense life,
the living.

doomed to
created out of himself a symbol for

The embellishment was initiated with the presentation
of separate folios of Dean portraits by Roy Schatt, Dennis
Stock, and Sanford Roth. The Schatt album125 is dated 1955,

"when Dean left UCLA and went East" (Actually, it was some

three years earlier), perhaps in an attempt to contemporize the
Schatt studies with the others presented, perhaps to gloss
over Dean‘s early failures,

perhaps to make Dean seem younger

than he was. The Dennis Stock126 photos at Fairmount were

said to capture "the humor and the warmth" and also "the

dark undercurrent of molancholy which James Dean carried with
him through all his days." Sanford Roth127 evidently wrote
his own copy to accompany his collection of Giant set shots,
which is twice as large as those of either of the other two
photographers. Roth tells of Dean's enthusiasms: the classic—
al music of Bartok and Schonberg, motorcycles, jazz, bull-
fighting, and "the writers he'd recently discovered-—Jean

Genet, Curzio Malaparte and Gerald Heard." Roth has heard

all of the many descriptions of Dean: "a meteor, a Great

Dane puppy, a crazy—mixed-up—kid, a poet. He Was all of

these things and-—at the same time none of them." Rather

than becoming deliberately explicit himself, Roth repeated a

 

208

description he again mistakenly ascribes to Hedda Hopper,

who "really loved Jimmy":

He was like quicksilver. He had a sure instinct for
drama. Yet, what I remember most is the little boy
quality shining from behind those thick glasses of his.
The segment following the photography was labelled
"Jimmy Dean‘s Journey Toward a Place Called Love."128 The
opening sentence told the whole story; "Jimmy Dean loved
only two women, for certain, in his life: his mother and
Pier Angeli." The rest of the article was a well and often
traveled road: ”The Girls Who Followed in the Wake of Love.”
Natalie Wood, Ursula Andress, Lili Kardell; "And Those Who
Keep His Memory Bright“: Lori Nelson, Katy Jurado, Liz
Taylor and Jane Withers. The section ”We Who Live On“'129 was
a continuation of anecdotes and eulogies from various people,
most of them connected with the Warner Brothers Studio and/or
Qggng. Further anecdotal and picture selections illustrate
Dean‘s varied interests and versatility in many areas, as do
the photographs of Dean's scrapbooks, showing some of his
original designs and drawings, pictures and clippings: "Rest,
rest on mother‘s breast; father will come to thee soon."

The next segment was called “The Footprints of a
Giant,"130 an obvious play on the movie title: "Jett Rink
was a small man with an idea big enough to make a Giant."
The pictures illustrating the article were from the unre—

leased film; the captions were more familiar:

Alone and bitter, all Jett had was a dream . .
Jett cried his terrible defiance to the hostile world.

207

The body of the article was less about Dean than it

was about the movie, although George Stevens related once

again how he saw Dean on television and noted his performance
"months prior" to Signing him for Giant. ”All stops were

pulled . money was no object" in getting this story to

the Screen. But this particular story, or at least this

version of it, was somewhat lopsided: "It is the story of

Jett Rink. . . ." This film ”was Jimmy‘s opportunity to Show

himself as something more than a personality." This, "Jimmy's

final film, turned out to be his finest“:
If Jimmy Dean had given the world nothing else,

would remember him for his creation of Jett Rink.
Once a giant walked in our land.

it

O 0

There followed "Dell's Record of Jim's Career,"131

a compilation of all the material published by Dell in their

several magazines since March, 1955. Material included comes

from Screen Album, Modern Screen, Hollywood Romances, Screen

Stories, and Hollywood Life Stories, an indication of the

SCOpe of operation of a single publishing company in the area

Of movie fan magazines. Not included in the list are the

Dell publications Who's Who in Hollywood and Hollywood Year—

 

book.

A "slightly abridged“ chapter of director Nicholas

RaY'S projected study Rebel: Life Story of a Film (entitled

"Story Into Script"132L written in collaboration with Gavin

Lambert,

a regular reviewer for the publication, appeared in

208

the Autumn, 1958, issue of Sight and Sound. This British

 

publication gave further insight into the manner in which the

Dewiinege was shaped by his role in Rebel Without a Cause,

 

and, even further, how Dean himself helped to Shape it.

Ray, shunting the "drawing room anthropologists“
aside, felt that “though the parallels with initiation cere—
ronies in Polynesia may be exhausted, personal experience has
still something to tell" about Hollywood and its workings.
Warner Brothers had acquired the rights to Robert Lindner's

figbel Without a Cause and suggested it as a subject to Ray.

 

Ray, however, was more interested in “something that would
dramatise the situation of ‘normal delinquents'“ and proposed
a story outline of his own. “The Blind Run.“ The studio
accepted the proposal, allowing Ray to choose his own pro—
ducer. Ray chose David Weisbart, a former film editor and
now contract producer, for the contributions he might make to
the film. Weisbart was the youngest of the available pro-
ducers, with two teenmage children himself. Ray also expected
and needed someone who could ably run interference between
the director and the “desk set” concerning this "potentially
explosive“ story, or as Ray put it himself, “less a story at
this stage than an idea."

Ray followed with a discussion of “over—written” films.
AS a former camera man, he felt that there were ”many writer-
directors whose films are unsatisfactory because they over-

estimate the writer and under-estimate the director."

209

Ray argued for the ”visual conception." feeling that “the
dialogue has got to go.“ He argued that "only the director
is in a position to help the actor" in the nuances of the
actor‘s portrayal, giving "dramatic meaning” to "the most
apparently banal line of dialogue." In keeping with a “funda—
mental tenet of Stanislavsky's system“: "Out of the inner
moment, the state of being and the urgent need, comes the whole
accent of what is said or done.”
Ray could count on his own talents and the talents
of his actors for the accents. What he needed was a writer,
and according to Ray‘s account, there were "two false starts"
in finding a writer;
'The Blind Run' was an original idea for a film,
without dramatic structure but with a point of view.
The problem in developing it was to create situations
and dialogue that reflected this point of view.
Neither the writings of Leon Uris nor of Irving Shulman re—
flected Ray's point of view. Initial research at Juvenile
Hall, in the courtrooms, at interviews with young delinquents,
Provided two recurring impressions:
What they did had a terrifying, morose aimlessness
. . . what they felt, when asked about their families,
was a bitter isolation and resentment.
In the case of Uris, the screenplay took an epic turn, concen—
trating on a community. To Ray this was out. Shulman's case
seemed more complex. An ex-high school teacher, Shulman “was

also deeply interested in Sports cars, which suggested a

Promising point of contact with Jimmy Dean."

210

Ray had seen East of Eden,

had met Dean, and knew he

vas the ”ideal actor for Jim Stark."

Ray said there were

difficulties, however,

in being certain Dean could be or
kuld be cast for the part:

One side of the difficulty was personal.
ning to know him a little,

successful collaboration,
climate.

Since begin—
I had realised that, for a

he needed a special kind of
He needed reassurance, tolerance,

understanding.
An important way of creating this climate was to involve
him at every stage in the development of the picture.

Shulman's talent for inventing or remembering inci—

dents led to the "chickie run.‘I

as based on a factual news—
paper account, which was substituted for the "original blind
run through a tunnel”; the character of Plato began to evolve.
But though developments were achieved, "they did not reach the
heart of the story." Ray had a conviction that only "the

classic form of tragedy," with the unities maintained, with

overtones of Romeo and Juliet,

"the best play ever written
about “juvenile delinquents,'” could achieve "the more violent
statement,

the more sweepingly develOped conflict" he wanted
and needed.

Returning Plato to the Planetarium, the site

previously used for the "vision of the end of the world,"

seemed to fit Ray's tragic vision. Shulman did not agree.

Also, the initial meeting between Dean and Shulman

was not successful. The hoped for rapport did not material—
ize. "Suspiciously, rather menacingly," Dean withdrew.

Both Dean and Leonard Rosenman, who was chosen as composer

for the film after Ray saw East of Eden, sided with Ray on

the planetarium episode. An "issue" develOped, and Shulman

211

withdrew. AS the brief preface of the article noted:

"Stewart Stern was finally assigned to the screenplay."

The less aesthetically involved American film publi—
cations relating to Dean were concerned with the more mundane
matters of image building and maintenance, a janitorial

service they fulfilled with relish. Movie Show for September,

 

1956, featured “The Man They Won't Let Die“:133 "How true are
the rumors that Jimmy Dean is still alive?" on its cover.
Inside, an editorial—article with that title was critical
of the ”circulation—hungry magazines" which dared to use such
cover lines as "James Dean Is Not Dead," noting that recently

waiter Winchell "had to take to the air" to say:

I never. at any time, said that the late James Dean
was still alive. This message is addressed to his fans,
who have deluged my office with hundreds of letters and
telegrams wanting to know whether I said this and whether,
if I did, James Dean still lives. I never said it.

James Dean—-the physical James Dean-—is dead.

The article further recognized that what Dean stood
for:
Eternal and embattled youth, fighting all of youth's

bewildering battles as he fought his own battles for
happiness, recognition, friendship.

can never die, and "we, all of us,“ will "never let his spirit
die." “This is how we think of James Dean—-young and vital
and alive——knowing that his body, not his genius, is dead" was

among the legends accompanying the six page photographic

Spread.

n..~

"~.

 

212

Lori Nelson, worked previously into Dean material, pro—
vided new fodder for the gossip columns. Appearing in the

new production Hot-Rod Girl, she had bought a Porsche and in-

 

tended to race it. "It was a Porsche in which Jimmy Dean lost
his life . . ."134 the columnist added. The same column also
noted the "blasts" the Motion Picture Academy was getting

from Dean fans: "The red—faced Academy quickly released a
statement that they'd do right by Jimmy next year."

The cover of TV and Movie Screen featured "James Dean:

 

The Story He Wanted to Tell,"135 as written by Richard Heller.
Though "thousands and thousands of stories" had been written
because "many of you reading this article now, feel so deeply
in love with him for his great acting ability, his handsome,
Munsome face and his genuinely shy, yet oddly open personality,"
this story, "if Jimmy had a premonition of death and the
stories that would have been written about him afterwards,"
would be the one "he would have wanted to tell." The "story"
was merely that great credit is due the Actors Studio in
New York for making ”Jimmy Dean look deep inside himself to
find out who he was and what he was, and it was this look,
this constant soul searching, that made Jimmy into one of the
great stars of all time."

The same issues's column called "The Reader's Corner"136
Contained a letter from one Chaw Mank of Staunton, Illinois:
"We are trying to help Jimmy Dean's name, in doing good

deeds." Mr. Mank runs a profitable mail-order photo supply

213

agency. His dedication to the Dean memory is unfortunately
typical.

As a "Bonus Feature" for the September issue
Photoplgy offered the "complete book length" beginning of
"There Was a Boy. . ."l37 by William Bast, who was identified
as a TV script writer and formerly Dean's college roommate.
This section was a fairly detailed account of Dean's early
California years, before New York. Details were given con—
cerning Dean's performance in a college production of Macbeth,
the Whitmore classes, Dean's first television stints in com-
mercials and in "Hill Number One." Also chronicled were
Dean's bit parts in films, adding the Lewis and Martin
Sailor, Beware to the list. A brief allusion was made to
Dean's interest in Beverly Wills, daughter of comedienne
Joan Davis. Generally, in this printed form, the article was
sketchy and provided more questions than answers, but in the
magazinefis quest for more and more Dean material, it provided

a new source of information.

Mgtion Picture featured "James Dean's Authentic Life

 

 

Story!”138 in ”book length“ in a single issue. Aljean Meltsir
called her story "James Dean——His Life and Loves." Photo-
graphically and literarily, it recapitulated previous studies
and added some new material. There were photographs by
Sanford Roth, including "The Last Photograph Taken of James

Dean," as well as studies by Roy Schatt and some Fairmount

214

tmby pictures. The twelve—odd three—columned pages of closely
packed print devoted almost half of the material to Dean's

last hours; included also were accounts of fans' adulation,

and an explanation:

For a generation born during the uneasy years between

Black Friday, 1929, and the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor—~James Dean is a symbol of their own frustration
and confusion and groping attempt to make contact with
the world. Always searching, never finding, he is the
restless emblem of a restless generation.

There was an obvious attempt to appear objective; the
article was not entirely eulogistic. Meltsir had access to
letters Dean wrote to his family, as well as to his friend
and mentor, Rev. James De Weerd, and she sprinkled quotations
from them liberally throughout the article. Other material
revealed here does not always tally with the more laudatory
puffs. Meltsir disclosed a high school record of four D's
and, with the exception of Art, generally average grades and
1.0. Evidently through interview, Meltsir recorded that
Dean's high school acting class considered him "disgusting
and temperamental" on the stage:

He refused to take direction. He had a savage

drive. He preferred character parts and acted them the
way he wanted to act.

Similar comments came from fellow members of the
U.C.L.A. Macbeth company, and director Daniel Mann of
Ihe Immoralist company was quoted:

Jimmy could never be told anything. Our play was

ensemble and the actors had responsibilities to each
other. But Jimmy had no graciousness, or politeness,

or concern on stage. And yet at the same time he had
flashes of real brilliance.

215

Nor was criticism limited to professional conduct.
Dean's relationship with his step—mother was described as
resembling an "armed truce“; also there was a Hollywood
anecdote:

Crossing the Warner lot one day with Stewart Stern,
the author of his second picture Rebel Without a Cause,
Jimmy was stopped by Warner executive Steve Trilling and
another man.

'Here's somebody I want you to meet, Jimmy,'Trilling
said.

Jimmy shuffled his feet, slouched in his typical way
and acknowledged the introduction by taking five or six
pennies out of his pocket and dropping them in front of
Trilling. Then he walked away.

 

In an assessment of Dean's art, Meltsir said:

In front of the cameras he knew who he was and he had
enormous stature. Totally photogenic, he could give the
impression of slicing away his flesh and laying open his
soul. All of the things that he had remembered in his
24 years, all of his fears and bitterness and strong joys
went into the creation of a character.

She quoted George Stevens as saying, "He used himself as a
kind of clay. . . . It was his finest art!"

As epitaph, Miss Meltsir suggested:

The look on a young girl's face as She leaves a
movie theater and the words, 'I understand him.‘

It was what he was searching for.

The issue concluded with an almost half—page adver-

tisement for The Real James Dean Story with its "more than

 

160 pictures."

The concentration of material, however objective,
repeating biographical facts, giving minute details of how
Dean lived, what he said, what he wrote, how he thought, when

Coupled with the amazing array of photographic studies

218

available, only served to further document a "living" Dean,
ready as his fans were, for anything and everything that
would keep Dean from fading into an indistinguishable mass
of ectoplasm. The biographic and photographic documentation
served this purpose in making Dean seem more imperishable,
making him seem more concrete. That some accounts seemed

to be growing less than laudatory concerning Dean's personal
life, playing up the "genius" of his professional abilities,
may signify a publicity back—tracking to avert too great a
personal fanaticism on the part of the die-hard enthusiasts.
Interest should and would be maintained, but the interest
preferred was professional—~and commercial. Since the source
of most of the material would seem to be studio inspired,

and some of it exclusively 50. including the less than
complimentary accounts, one can only conclude, considering
the generally great control the studios were able to exercise
over such material, that it was preferred, whatever the
reason, that information with such a tone be released at this

particular time.

Screen Stories for September, 1956, released the

 

third offering in its "James Dean Festival."139

To compensate
for not giving the still unreleased Giant, a narrative ren—
dition of the ”Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars" play "The

Unlighted Road" was presented, as adapted by Marcia Lawrence.

The approach to the plot was encapsuled in the accompanying

 

‘v

 

 

217

blurb: "Jeff was a wanderer, looking to find himself. In his
stumblings he was ensnared by three cunning crooks——and freed
by a girl."

The Screen Stories version of Giant was announced to

 

appear in the issue following, the November issue, on sale

October 9th.

.1140

Armand Archerd's "Confidential Gossip in Screen

Stars for September contained the apologia:

As we were informed by none other than Motion Picture
Academy President George Seaton, there's a rule (made by
the members themselves) that no one who is nominated for
an award is eligible to be given an honorary award.
However, this year the academy can withdraw his [Dean's]
name from competition. In other words, make him ineligible
to be nominated for the 'best actor' category for his job
in Giant. And then, they can award a special posthumous
Oscar in James Dean's memory. Of course, there is also
the possibility that George Stevens, who made Giant, will
not permit his name to be taken off the eligible list.
Stevens may feel that Dean should be given the chance to
win the "Best Actor Oscar“ in this, his last film.

A cover feature of Screen Stars for September was

 

“The James Dean I Knew"141 by Nick Adams, printed in reSponse
to the “overwhelming" number of requests. An unusual illus-
tration for this article was a still from Dean's first
dramatic telecast in 1950, “Hill Number One." Adams, who
identified himself as having appeared with Dean in an even
earlier TV spot, a Pepsi—cola commercial, told that "more

than anything else in the world" Dean wanted to do the roles
of Hamlet and Billy the Kid. Adams compared Dean's popularity
with Valentino's, but said that "no one has affected or crept

into the hearts of so many in so short a time." Adams

218

recounted his several meetings with Dean, the last at Dean's
funeral and added that "somewhere, someplace" Jimmy may be
readying for the next scene.

Nick Adams further contributed "Jimmy Dean, Why We

"1.42

loved Him to the September Movie Life, covering, probably,

 

much the same territory.

Joe Hyams' feature story for Redbook: The Magazine

 

for Young Adults received stellar billing on the cover of

 

the September issue. Called "The Fgll_8tory,"l43 it was said
to be "a reporter's dramatic search for the meaning behind

the brief life of a stormy young man"; the subtitle inside
said: "His brief life reflected the doubts and dreams of

his generation." A note from the editors added that to find
the "unusual meaning for young people" Dean's death had,

Hyams "traveled 8,000 miles and interviewed 159 people."

Hyams was further identified as the Hollywood columnist for
the New York Herald Tribune, "probably the only newspaperman
whom Jimmy knew intimately and reSpected." Photo credits
included more studies from the Dennis Stock series, a child—
hood study, a newsphoto of a date with Pier Angeli, and stills
from all three of his films, the largest, by far, being the
one from Giant, which is still further differentiated from
its companion picture on the page, a scene from Rebel, by the
captions. The Rebel caption said that though Dean's perform—

ance as "a misunderstood adolescent" added to his reputation,

a...l

 

 

-.

 

219

“some critics commented that he was 'just playing himself.'”
The giggg caption showed Dean as "drunk and totally defeated
in middle age."

Though Hyams labored the sentimental in his study,
teginning and ending with scenes in the Fairmount cemetery at
the grave of Mildred Dean, he seems to try to be fair and to
cover as fully as his purposes allow the material available.
His coverage of Dean's early years in Fairmount concentrated
on the influence of Dr. De Weerd to whom "Jimmy poured out
his belief that he must be evil, or his mother would not have
died, and his father would not have sent him away." In New
York Hyams found that "Jimmy was close to only three people,"
Arlene Lorca, a young actress; Jane Deacy, his agent; and
Leonard Rosenman, a young composer. Hyams seemed to get
much of his information from Miss Lorca. Her reactions were
poetic and memorable:

What was it like to be with him? When I was in a
room with him, I always had the feeling that I Should
open the windows and say, 'Fly, bird!‘

These reactions were used in much the same way, and

in much the same words, in the 1957 release The James Dean

 

§£9£y, the picture expanded from the Warner Brothers' pro—
jected TV Special of 1956, warranting Speculation about the
ultimate source of the material, not to mention the impetus

for its writing. In all fairness, it should be noted that

the Dean interest was now blown to such considerable proportion

that artificial props employed by studio interests, if any,

..~

—

L.

p b

 

 

220

could now be removed, allowing that public interest to carry
along the available material, reinforced by private com—
mercial concern, to the ultimate goal, the release and public
acceptance of Giant. Hyams' interest in Dean, though com-
mercial, may have been personal and private. His execution
of his interest was rewarded, in time, by his appointment to
the public relations executive staff at Warner Brothers.

The Hyams' account was not all sentimentality and
poetic fancy. There were moments when he hinted at the harsh
and sometimes ugly reality existing in the workaday world of
the theatre:

Jimmy's big problem during his early days in New York
was learning how to adjust to what he saw about him with-
out losing his self-respect. Because he was an attractive,
almost beautiful boy, he was sought by homosexuals. They
sent him gifts and offered him entree for jobs.

Issues and instances are skirted, however, by pussy—footing
and hewing to the established Hollywood line, rather than
revealing, or at least seeking, the truth. AS an instance,
this is the Hyams' version of how Dean was able to get his
first Broadway role:

He got his first Broadway role himself by talking
himself into a crewman's job on a yacht. One night he
told the skipper that he really wanted to be an actor.

The Skipper had a friend who was casting See the Jaguar,
N. Richard Nash's play.

 

Hyams glossed over Dean's reputed perverseness with
directors. He quoted Kazan:

I chose Jimmy . . . because he yg§_Cal Trask. There
was no point in attempting to cast it better or nicer.
Jimmy was it. He had a grudge against all fathers. He
was vengeful; he had a sense of aloneness and of being

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

221

persecuted. And he was suspicious. In addition, he was

tremendously talented.
Nevertheless, it was revealed that during the filming
of Eden Kazan kept a closed set, and Hyams hinted

of East
"conflicts" between Dean and George Stevens.

further at the
had his own explana—

like most other writers,

Hyams,
why and how he "came to mean so

tion for Dean's popularity,

much to so many people":
he had the in—

Perhaps it is because in his acting,

tuitive talent for expressing the hopes and fears that
Perhaps it is because

are a part of all young peOple.
in his personal life, he was continually struggling with
a universal conflict. On the one hand, he wanted to

Yet, he couldn't quite

experience all there was to life.
face life; he remained an adolescent to the day he died,

unsure of the way others felt about him, afraid to form
any lasting alliances, unwilling to accept tragedy with-

out self—pity.

James Dean didn't have time to find the answers to
his problems. But he managed to dramatize brilliantly
the questions every young man and woman must resolve.
article is particularly noteworthy in that

The Hyams'
with the publi-

it was also printed, translated into Japanese,

cation in Japan of Dennis Stock's portfolio of Dean material

called ”Portraits of a Young Man."144 The photo studies,

Stock's own article concerning the taking of the pictures,
and this biographical article

some Japanese fan letters,
collection

constitute a complete, or at least representative,
in color and content, not unlike

of Dean material, in appeal,

the general mass of material published in the United States

for American fans. Stock dedicated the collection:

. To young people who always pursue the answers
I pray that their sincere

understanding, love, and re-

to their life's problems.
endeavors will win adults'

Spect.l45

 

222

Filmland featured a full color portrait of Dean on

the cover of the September, 1956, issue, with the caption:
cry

"The Search for James Dean"——"'Don't say he's dead!‘

nullions of fans." "The Insider" in his column "Hollywood
"Glowing Tribute"—-148 a paragraph

Tattletale" teased with a

noting the "pronounced hold" of Dean on the public, the

’dmpressive" number of letters to fan magazines and to Dean‘s
studio expressing "keen" interest in the yet unreleased Giant.

The columnist added that preview reports have listed it as

'The finest acting job in his short—lived career" and pre-

dicts that Dean's ”final performance——his greatest—~will be

honored with an Oscar."
The keynote story147 was prefaced with comment concern—

ing the “weeping, wailing and moaning" of Dean's "inconsolable

fans." Overleaf, a full page study from Giant was labelled
"This Is No Ordinary Man." The copy began:
'Dean dead? No! No! No!‘ cry his countless fans.

'Here are pictures to prove that he's alive; that he
these are pictures

talks and walks and breathes!‘ Yes,
of James Dean taken Shortly before Death took him by the

hand and led him away.
The article paints a rather dramatic picture of the

fan reaction to Dean's death:
. Every day there is evidence at the grave of James

Dean where young people gather and throw themselves on the
they ask him to listen,

ground, whispering, crying his name;
An incredible story? No doubt

listen to their voices!
about it, but the fact remains that man's utter faith in
Such scenes

the hereafter has become literally stronger.
He cannot hear

are being repeated day after day. . . .

the anguished cries of his young friends to come back.
They collect at his quiet grave

Yes, they cry in anguish.

223

and their pleas fill the air. The Shocking truth is that
several teen-agers have tried to end their lives at his
grave so that they could join him.

"Some psychiatrists" are quoted as saying that Dean
had a death wish because he could not find "inner peace," but
the article leaves the question open, noting instead Dean's
love of children and his wishes for a "family of his own."
Lacking this family, Dean left something else behind:

James Dean left something behind him that will live

forever-~his brilliant work in Giant will be a monument
to his great talent. He could not have asked for any-
thing more. Should you?

One of the prize letters in the column “Filmland Forum"
was a compliment to Hollywood which "really Showed what a warm

heart it does have, by writing such wonderful stories and

articles about Jimmy."

Further and continued interest from national news
magaZines was evidenced in Timg's "Dean of the One—Shotters,148
a covering of the "special" Dean magazines, finding their
total sales "well into their second million" by the first
week in September. Alluding to the "Bridey Murphy" phenomenon

among adults, Tim§_further called the mention of Dean a "must"

in every movie magazine, noting its branching out to other
literary fields, including the love—lorn columns of Dorothy
Dix which carried a letter asking advice from a girl who
described herself as "fifteen and in love." Her problem was
that she was in love with Dean, and he was dead. Miss Dix's

reply was quoted as, "Time heals all wounds,“ Time also

224

catalogued the personalized letters addressed to Dean,

refusing to believe he was dead, and fixed their arrival at

the rate of 1,000 a week. Included in the article was the

Time analysis of Dean's appeal:

Dean not only appeals to a 'mother complex' among
teen—age girls, but his roles as a troubled, insecure
youth prompted many young movie fans to identify with

him.

The following week, The Chicago Tribune Magazine

featured a full color tabloid Sized portrait of Dean on its

cover. Inside was the article “The Truth About James Dean"

by Evelyn Washburn Nielsen,149 described in prefacing re—
marks as "a neighbor and intimate friend of Dean's family."

The preface recounted that to "thousands of young Americans

he continues to live as a symbol of tortured youth," that

his studio still gets letters, and now the estimate is

"between 5,000 and 6,000 . . . a week":

A surprising number of these letters ignore his

death and address him as if he were still alive. The
author of this article . . . has been unaffected by

this pall of mysticism that lately has enshrouded his
memory.

The mysticism of the Dean image may not have affected

Mrs. Nielsen, but the image had, certainly, its effect:

The stories Hollywood inspired about him during his
spectacular rise to stardom made good reading for many,
but they sickened those closest to him because the
adolescent outcast of those stories was not Jimmy Dean-—

not the Jimmy we knew in Indiana.

Mrs. Nielsen glossed over Dean's life and career, concentrat—

iNg on his "cheerful disposition and his infectious laugh,"

225

"anxious always" for the approval of those who brought him
up, and looking forward to his every return. The article was

suitably illustrated with the Dennis Stock Fairmount Studies.

The interest in Dean could be seen to be approaching
its most hectic moments, as pictures from Giant150 began to
appear in the newspapers with announcements heralding its
opening. The Dean material branched more and more, seeking

new audiences, trying new and different appeals.

Ezra Goodman wrote "Delirium Over Dead Star"151 for
the Lifg issue of September 24, 1956. The table of contents
asked a question and then answered it:

Who is the most popular star of Hollywood? An

actor who does not live there or anywhere else. He
is Jimmy Dean, who was killed a year ago.

The article described this "posthumous phenomenon" as
a "morbid craze" and proved it by publishing an almost full
page picture of artists in a studio putting the finishing
touches of paint on the spongy, life—sized Dean masks of
“Miracleflesh,” which were "produced at the rate of 500 a
week."

Goodman naturally referred to the Valentino craze,
cited fan mail figures, now "up to 8,000 letters a month,"
and quoted from them. Goodman also noted and quoted the
"only Slightly exaggerated“ headlines in fan magazines.

Goodman Opinionized that in his two early films "Dean was

226

pretty much playing himself, a moody, insecure youth in
search of understanding and love" and backed up the thesis
with biographical information. He followed this with his

own assessment of the Dean appeal:

Dean's personality, offscreen and on, struck a tre—
mendously responsive chord. Boys made him their teen—
age champion, while adolescent girls reacted with a
powerful combination of maternal and other urges
Older men and women wanted to adOpt him.

Dean's popularity was evidenced by recounting the
number of special magazines (“total sales . . . are approach-

ing the two million mark"), songs and recordings, artifacts and
magazine articles dedicated to and expected to benefit from

the Dean appeal, which was so widespread it even included
"James Dean's Last Ride" in an unidentified "sports car
publication.“

Goodman also stated:

Several movie versions of Dean's life are contem—
plated, and Elvis Presley, another teen—age idol, has
been mentioned as a candidate for the role of Dean in

one of them. But many Dean fans consider Marlon Brando
the best actor for the part.

Accounts of seances were balanced against Goodman's

account of ”the widespread theory that Dean did not really

die in the autocrash . . Spurred on by the fact that Dean

was laid to rest in a closed casket." Further interviews
noted the unhealthiness of the interest: George Stevens

was threatened by mail with dire consequences if he dared to
cut Dean scenes from Giant; Nick Adams needed police pro-

tection for his personal collection of Dean memorabilia.

o.-

 

227

George Stevens was further quoted that "They're trying to
make a Bridey Murphy out of him," though Goodman cited the
'Bizarre death wish there" which "runs through the Dean
legend." Whichever tack the reader chose to take, he could
find accompanying pictures to back him up: a photo of
Dean's headstone, which "attracts up to 500 visitors a day,
mostly teen-aged girls but with many middle aged women among
them"; and a shot of Dean, his face framed in a noose.

Peripheral gains were noted by Nick Adams, who
mentioned the many letters he received asking about his work
vdth Dean in Rebel. Not finding time to answer all these
letters personally, he said:

I wrote an article in a fan magazine addressed to

all of Jimmy's fans. When the story came out, my mail

went up 200 letters a week with more questions. I wrote
another article.

Joseph R. Marshall's INS series "The Life and Legend
Of James Dean"152 was widely syndicated and no doubt received
initial front page treatment and red banner headlines from

many papers, as it did in Chicago's American. Marshall Spoke

 

Of the myth growing around the ”blue—eyed, bushy-haired young
man of great acting ability" which said that he "was more
than a good young actor of promise“:

Like most myths, this one begins with some truth-—
his acting ability. But it exaggerates and minimizes
the facts to come up with the story the myth makers
really want.

The myth portrays Dean as the teenage archetype, a
born genius, a poor, lonely, troubled, mystical youth who

228

wore T—shirts, rebelled against authority, suffered from
a 'death wish,‘ had a great musical talent, a desire for
speed and independence.
The article cited Dean's impressive fan mail total of
”more than 5,000 letters a month,” offered private eulogistic
quotations from fans (including a "Mrs. Therese J. Brandes,
in her 20's"), as well as citing, once again, the more public
eulogies printed in magazines or recorded. The account was
climaxed with the note of Academy Award expectations for 1956.
Victor A. Selby Jr., "president of the Fairmount
Citizens Bank and a lifetime friend of Dean,” was quoted as
calling Dean "a symbol of his generation," though Mr. Selby
added that the fact Dean was killed when he was "actually
added to his impact. If he had gone on living, that impact
might have been lessened.”
The picture accompanying the article on page one was

a still from East of Eden labeled simply ”James Dean——A

 

Legend Now.“ The continuation contained a still from giant

with the more elaborate:

How James Dean might have looked in later years is
indicated in this photo from his yet to be released
film Giant. He is made up as a much older man.

The following day's continuation153 described "the
boy who became actor James Dean, a generation's symbol and
a legend after death.” Dean was further described as being
“as typical as the teen—agers who revere him," except for

the fact, perhaps, that he was born the son of a "strangly

romantic farmer's daughter" who named her son after the

 

229
"great romantic poet—hero, George Gordon, Lord Byron." The
second day's installment concentrated on Dean's youth in

Fairmount, quoting his teachers' opinions in elementary school:

"extremely lovable." High school teachers had about the same

reaction: "Everybody liked him, especially the girls." To

prove the point, the illustration showed Dean entertaining

Elizabeth Taylor "with characteristic change of pace humor

on the set of their film Giant." Following installments con—

tinued this version of the story of Dean's career, carefully

larded with direct quotations from fan magazine sources.

For all the talk of setting records straight and myth-

exploding, these accounts, like many preceding and many

following, continued to perpetuate and, indeed, intensify

public reaction by adding to the overall mass of Dean material,

usually with little or no original comment or incident, em—

ploying the means and often the quotations and "facts”

previously employed by fan magazine sources. Their chief

advantage as publicity is that the critical appeal is aimed

at the wider audience. The critical approach, besides provid-

ing points of controversy, will enable the same basic material,
material previously aimed at teenagers through the fan maga—

Zines, to reach the greater audience of the neWSpaper syndi-

cates and the national magazines.

250

Another insight into the varied commercial possibili»

ties of the Dean image was provided by Egg, a New York enter—

tainment magazine, which featured Dean on the cover of the

September 29 issue, as well as Tim Taylor's article “His Name

Was Dean,”154 an account and recount of ”the fantastic phe—

nomenon of James Dean,“ concentrating on the "dirges," "the

dozen or more musical tributes to the late James Dean that

have been recorded in recent weeks." The title of the

article was gleaned from the lyrics of one such ”dirge"
written by "professional tunesmith" Eddie Stuart:

A star went out one lonely night,

He was so young, he was so bright,

So clean, and his name was Dean.

Taylor gave account of other opportunistic business

men who Specialize in magazines and photographic stills, as

well as the movie house operators who "have found it profit-
able to team up East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause.“

With the announcement of the opening of Giagg at the Roxy

Theatre in New York on October 10, the article paused to note

that ”there is little reason to doubt that the film will do

well financially." Further catalogued was the complete line

of Jimmy Dean clothing-—T-shirts, blue jeans, boots, etc.—-

"being prepared for market." Added was the “rumor" that

"a switchblade knife bearing Dean's simulated signature will

be put on sale in time for the Christmas rush."
The article continued with Dean's fan mail score of

5,000 letters each month, as well as the quotation about the

 

 

 

 

 

231

nmrbidity of the fan mail pleas for pictures of Dean's tomb-

stone, as requested "a lot." There were quotations from

Dean fans and the information that on some days ”as many

as a hundred of Dean's fans and the curious" gather at his

grave site--seldom ”less than thirty people visited the

actor's unpretentious grave.“

In explanation of such phenomena the article stated

that ”most psychologists" agreed that "the key word is re—

bellion":

The youngsters, according to the advanced theory,
identify themselves with this young rebel who defied
most of the rules of society and still emerged vic-

torious.

Kitty Hanson wrote a two part series for the New York

Daily News called “Jimmy Dean: They Won't Let Him Rest in

Peace."l55 She called the cult—affair a ”hoax . . in the

name of a fast buck.‘l Miss Hanson found that "within the

Space of three blocks and in less than twenty minutes” she

was able to buy sixteen magazines featuring James Dean on

their covers, publicizing him as "Jimmy the rebel. the mixed

up kid, the reckless, defiant, wistful boy whom every girl

wants to mother; a symbol of today's youth, with an aura of

doom and mysticism about him."

She quoted a Patti Magda, Bronx president of the Dean's

Teens Fan ClubIaS saying:

Right after the accident we felt pretty bad . . .
but then we got over it——until all this started up again.

Now we like him twice as much.

252
Besides the national publicity, Miss Hanson recorded

the response felt on the local level in New York.156 A disc

jockey, utilizing some of the recordings recently issued,

gave "A Tribute to James Dean”: "Teen-age response to the

program has prompted the deejay to repeat the tribute several

times since."

Other "gimmicks” for prolonging the money—making on

Dean included “tying the most pOpular dead teener‘s idol

with the most popular living idol.” Miss Hanson did not be—

come more Specific and limited her comment to practices by

magazines.

NeWSpapers, however, were not above indulging also.

- - is7 - - -
Chicago's American reported a verbatim conversation With

Elvis Presley:

The Caddie 5 back in Memphis. Tough to park here.
James Dean was the greatest—~You hungry yet?

Movie Secrets'lSBthree part article was printed in

response to the fan letters that demand 'Keep him alive for

us.“ "As You Remember Him" described Dean as “youth's

Spokesman,“ ”a figure with whom all youth could and did

identify,” so popular that “many teenagers” sit through his

early pictures ”three or more times." "As His Friends

Remember Him" told of his "gloomy silence," his “sudden,

almost shrill laughter," his "terrible, haunting loneliness.”

Then came the clincher, "AS You Will See Him":

f\,
O;
(N

To be released this Fall, giggg is the last picture
Jimmy made. Many think it is also his best. Again
Jimmy plays a rebel a tribute to his geniuS*-
because it was that.

‘I attempt was made to relate Dean's role in giagg, not only

to his former screen successes, but to his life:

In giggg, as in real life, when the success and riches
of which he dreamed finally came to him, he finds himself
as alone as ever. With his money he can buy everything

but the love of the woman he hoped to win.

Modern Screen for October tried the new and unusual

 

"159

because, for Dean, "even a great story is not enough.

that was sought was something “that will endure--like your

memory of Jimmy. Something that you can keep always,

long after the pages of this magazine have yellowed and aged."
The answer they came up with was a "James Dean Memorial

Medallion" which readers could get by sending in a quarter.

To be on the safe Side, the issue included a "great story,"

too: “Jimmy's Happiest Moments”leo by Nick Adams. Adams

Stated that “the everyday Jimmy was mostly a happy Jimmy,"

and illustrated the statement with several anecdotes, includ-

ing an instance which demonstrated how Dean was able to get

his “kicks“ even from his work; the incident revolved around

the decision to use a real knife in the knife fight scene in

BEEEl.Without a Cause:

All we had to do was catch the look in his eyes as
he stared in protest at us, to know that a prop would

be too dull, let alone unrealistic, as far as he was
concerned.

So he might get cut. So what?
So he did get cut——and he was delighted with the

feeling of satisfaction that came to him, a feeling based

234

not only on the fact that he had llififi his role more than
he had pretended it, but that there was a 512k to this
way of acting, as there should be to everything a fellow
pitches in to do-—and no matter what the cost.

Reporting the incident added little stature to Dean‘s
professional reputation as an actor, though it may well have
been a real experiment not unlike others Dean reportedly
practiced in the process of refining his art and adapting it
to screen techniques. To the non—professional reader of fan
magazines, it stood as a pat testament to Deangs "honesty" as
an actor, and, even worse, as reported, is a witness to a
philos0phy of life based on “kicks,” a fun philosophy advo-

cated by Adams and guaranteed to appeal to the adolescent mind.

Movie Mirror issued a ”Special Message to James Dean

 

"161 who wanted to do ”something Special“ that would be

Fans
"a lasting monument for Jimmy.” Suggestions for that ”some—
thing special" were purportedly suggestions from other
readers; they included helping to establish a Jimmy Dean Day,
which could be “celebrated on the thirtieth of September in
Indiana, Jimmy‘s home state." Since hundreds of letters were
needed, the writer of the letter urged other readers to write
to Indiana‘s Governor George N. Craig, asking him to make

the official proclamation; ”As this was done years ago in
honor of another man from Indiana, James Whitcomb Riley, we
see no reason why Jimmy should not be similarly honored."

YEt another task would be to write to Warner Brothers and

Contact local theatre managers urging reissue of East of Eden

and Rebel Without a Cause. A final gesture would be to make
a donation to the James Dean Memorial Foundation, designed
”along the lines of the Damon Runyon Fund.“ The money would
be “carefully invested,” and the profits used to support ”by
cash grants or gifts” talented young actors and actresses.
The money would also be used to build a James Dean Theatre,
math adjoining “trOphy room.“

The article concluded:

Doesn‘t it sound eXCiting? And how thrilled and happy
Jimmy would be could he see his cherished dream turned

into such wonderful reality.

A similar plug for the James Dean Foundation could be

found in Motion Picture: ”You Can Make Jimmy Dean Live For—

 

ever"162 by Marcus Winslow, as told to Aljean Meltsir.

Movie Spotlight‘s offering, as featured on the cover,

 

was “Last Unpublished Pictures of Jimmy Dean,”l6:3 the basis
of yet another selection from the Dennis Stock collection,

With other photographersc photos sandwiched in, notably the
Sanford Roth photos from the QLEEE shooting. the picture in

Which "co—stars say Jimmy reached acting peak.”

_Movieland offered ”Jimmy Dean: The Star Who Never

 

Died"l€4 on its cover. The article was illustrated with

Sanford Roth photos and was prefaced;

. but with death, as we measure it, Jimmy Dean
suddenly achieved the very thing he had sought so long
and so unsuccessfully-—his own and rightful place in
the hearts of friends and fans throughout the world.

The article suggested as that quality of Dean‘s soul young

Americans found so appealing an ”aura of mysticism that hung

236

about him." Whatever struck ”that responsive chord,“ its
power was not limited by national boundaries or age. Accord—
ing to the article there were three hundred James Dean fan
clubs in Japan alone. And Americans made pilgrimages to
Indiana and Hollywood and "caravan the 90 miles to Santa
Barbara to see the horse that was Jim‘s pride and joy,“ The
Disneyland souvenir counter sells Dean pictures ”1,000 to 1
of any other star." To compare Dean to Valentino was sense—
less since Valentino‘s appeal was to ”women beyond their
teens, and sometimes far beyond." Dean‘s appeal was not
limited by age, but Dean‘s main fans were teenagers "who saw
in Dean, who felt in Dean and recognized in Dean, something
of themselves."

Movie Life continued in October its two—part story

 

p r:
h -"

“Why We Loved Jimmy Dean“l' by Nick Adams. A color picture
on the cover advertised “What Jimmy Dean Told His Best
Friends.” As in his other articles, Adams emphasized Dean‘s
sincerity-—personally and professionally quoting Dean as

saying:

If you give an honest performance and don‘t pull any
tricks, the peOple will believe you because you believe
yourself.

Movie Stars Parade offered a new 8x10 color photo of

 

Dean for only fifty cents, as well as the “King-Size" portrait
for thirty—five cents. Readers were also given, in October,
an Opportunity to vote on the issue ”Should Elvis Presley

Play Jimmy Dean on the Screen?”166 The accompanying article

257

claimed “your letters suggested it” because of the “many
points of Similarity." with the "official“ ballot was a

series of comparison photos, showing Dean and Presley in

matched moods: “intense, hard to know,” ”family comes first.’

etc.

This particular bit of linkage was evidently just
that and only that; hitching the Presley image to the Dean
image in an attempt to get a free ride to popularity.
Presley's film debut was to be more auSpicious.

William Bast‘s ”There Was a Boy . . . " was con~
tinued in the October Photoplay, advertised on the cover as
“The Early Years That Led to Tragedy.” Bast‘s article was
preceded by an item in Cal York‘s ”In51de Stuff”;

Date With Fate: Ironic, isn‘t it, that two major

studios would like to film the life of James Dean. The

fabulous young actor was just beginning to live when he
came to a tragic endfif’8

 

Bast‘s article was prefaced by a resume of the

previous installment which concludes; ”. . . even though

Jimmy made progress, the thread of loneliness was ever—present,

connecting the past with the present, sowing the seeds of his

personal tragedy “

The article proper began With Dean‘s arrival in
New York City in late 1951, and is concerned with his activi-
ties, personal and professional, in that City until he left

to make Eden in Hollywood. The New York photos of Roy Schatt

Were used to illustrate the article.

i

258

East stated that Dean was introduced to Lem Ayers,
the producer of Dean‘s first Broadway play, by Rogers Brackett,
a radio director friend from Hollywood. After having spent
several week-ends in the Ayers“ home, Dean was invited on a
ten day cruise to Cape Cod, the inVitation "stipulating that
he was to act as a member of the crew.” Alec Wilder, another
member of “Jimmy‘s special circle of friends," was to compose
the music for Ayers“ production. Dean, too_ won a role in
that play. See the Jaguar. Further elaboration was missing,

and how Dean won his role in The Immoralist was not detailed.

 

Bast also stated that Jane Deacy‘s methods of conning Elia
Kazan into thinking that her client was right for the role in
his projected film "shall remain a professional secret.” But
the beginning seemed clear enough”

'3 “C

An Associated Press dispatch”°‘ on October l, 1956.
reported that three thousand people attended graveSide
ceremonies in Fairmount commemorating the anniversay of Dean‘s
death. Mention was made of the large floral piece from West
Germany, and the fact that many fans came from distant places
for the ceremony, Also released was a photo of Nick Adams

1

PlaCing a wreath on Dean‘s grave) as teen agers watch.”l7o
The New York papers started to carry large advertise—

ments for Giantfl7l NeWSpapers in other cities, too, were

Preparing for the opening. Articles by and interviews with,

eSpecially, George Stevens heralded the event. One, ”How to

259

re (1. '79

Age a Movie Star “ told how the young stars of Giant were
”made” to age. Concerning Deancs character. there was ”no
problem at all.” The personality was essentially static,

bad traits merely deepening: to turn him from “a stripling"
to a ”tragic boor” required only "sideburns, different clothes,
less hair at the temples, and a swashbuckling air, with a

collar that choked his jowls.”

More personal was the interview with Tribune Press

Service correspondent Harold Hutchings “73 Stevens depicted

Dean as:

Half adolescent and half genius, a skillful actor
with a brilliant future . . , though his accomplishments
alone had not warranted the amount of attention paid him
in the last year.

Stevens further identified the character Dean played

in Gia t with Deangs personality by reporting that ”no test

M-..“

was necessary“: “There is a lot in this character of Jett
Rink that Jimmy Dean presumed himself to be,” Getting back to

the ”real” Dean, Stevens declared:

Jimmy was a peculiar boy, and I didn‘t quite under—
stand him. He was not bitter, but he had a focus on the
activity of his profession that not many have. He was a
combination of conflicting characteristics, He was less
than his years in some ways, but he was far beyond his
years in others-~he had a rather mature philos0phy, He
seemed to practice, or emphasize the immature aspects of
his nature-~perhaps with mature design.

In the October Cosmopolitan, Elizabeth Honor, reporting

 

on “Hollywood Tragedies,”l74 traced some “memories into legend”
outside of the United States. She reported that ”in France

the legend of James Dean is growing," and that Dean had been

240

awarded “The Crystal Star" by the French Film Academy as the
year's best foreign actor. She further reported;
Now the rumor is spreading that James Dean is not

dead but still lives. Maybe, in a way, like those others
who are remembered, he does.

The "official“ Warner Brothers publicity campaign for
ggfmg was outlined in the Giapt Press Book,175 which ran some
forty—eight pages. A big picture called for a big campaign:
The "official“ campaign was touted to exhibitors as reaching
an estimated readership of "101,145,756 people."

The approach was almost dramatically simple. Giant
was to be advertised as a George Stevens“ Production, giving
equal emphasis to the three major stars; Hudson, Taylor and
Dean. Advertising captions told that "The Time Has Come For
giant” :

A picture of proud people, a love story, a cavalcade—-

a conflict of creeds—-a personal drama of strong long—
ings——a big story of big things and big feelings——This
15 9.2.5119!

Taylor‘s role of Leslie, the romantic interest, was
encapsuled with ”——Whether you loved her in the open or hid
it inside you--you hungered. . . .” Dean‘s Jett Rink "was
made of laughs and lies and loving looks; he was made to
98t to the tOp——so he could have the fun of falling all the
way down. . . ." Further romantic development was explored

in the captions accompanying stills:

Jett Rink's shack. No one has ever set foot in it—-
and then, suddenly, Leslie. . . .

 

 

 

 

241

Jett Rink, the outsider——and Leslie, wealthy and

beautiful.
Certain of the advertisements using the above captions

featured the three stars in equally large pictures, but ac—

companying pictured scenes, though smaller, seemed to concen—

trate more on the relationship between Leslie and Jett. One

such example, a posed shot never utilized in the released prints

and indicative of no scene in the film, shows Leslie kneeling

at the feet of Jett, his arms poised over the rifle across his

shoulders, a Magdalene at the feet of the Christus.
All advertisements featured the captions mentioned;

the only variations, to be released nationally after the

New York run, listed rave quotations from New York and national

magazine reviewers. Certain minor emphasis was also given to

the introduction of Carroll Baker, the appearance of rising

Sal Mineo, and the musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

Warner copy on Dean ignored any mention of his death

and hewed closely to the lines already explored in the fan

publications, establishing a further rapport between

Dean and the character he played, calling him "one of the

most varsatile actors of the Warner Bros. troupe.” Dean was

able to master ”almost anything new he attempted," according

to Alexander Scourby, a Giant featured player quoted in the

COPY, which then went on to list a few of Dean‘s recently

accomplished talents:

Dean learned to roll a cigarette with one hand (either
one); he learned to play a guitar and sing western tunes,
something that was to occupy him during many of his free

242

hours; to ride and break broncos, so well that he entered
into a rodeo as a rider; to rope and brand calves; and,
perhaps most cherished of all, he learned a trick with a
rope that enabled him to put a knot in the rope with a

flick of his wrist.

It was noted that Dean worked this latter trick into

his portrayal of Jett Rink, the "violent," "hardworking," and

"ambitious young ranch hand," whose “sheer energy and determin-

ation," whose "reckless and relentless drive for success," won

him "an oil empire worth millions." Director George Stevens

was quoted as revealing "that throughout the shooting of the

film, Dean always managed to bring something fresh, something

inventive to his characterization." Further copy called Dean

"one of the screen's most dynamic and extraordinary per-

formers,” and an “actor's actor":

A performer, who when on stage, is observed and ad-
mired by other actors for his ability to bring consistent—
ly a never ending inventiveness and freshness to his role
and performance. Dean himself summed it up. He never
referred to his art as acting, but rather as living.

Dean‘s personal approach to his craft and his role was

quoted:

An actor should thoroughly understand the character
he is portraying and there is no better way than trying
to be that person in the hours away from the camera . .
I develOped a program of understanding Jett and of doing
the things he'd be likely to do. I didn't want any jar-
ring notes in my characterization. Jett was a victim of
his position in life. I want to play him sympathetically.

As the fan magazines noted long ago, the "official"

COpy repeated, ”When producer-director George Stevens shouted

'Cut' after a take . . . Dean continued to talk, live and

dress like a Texan." The product of such concentration was

described as "reportedly Dean‘s finest portrayal."

245

The publicity regarding the use of music in the pro—

duction cited the music "played on the set to establish tempo"

or for use in deeply emotional scenes "to get the stars in

the proper mood." The "special" score by Dimitri Tiomkin

featured two songs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster which
were designed for and lent themselves easily to further pro—

motional push, having been recorded by a total of sixteen

artists. A sound track album was also presented.176 A feature

of this latter presentation was the "Theme of Jett Rink,"
Vduch musically "describes an ambitious and willful young

cowhand.“ All record promotion featured the names and, when

possible, the pictures of the stars. Special full color

window displays with full credits were dispatched to record

dealers who had been alerted and awaited a ”call to set up

co-op displays and promotion campaigns." Additional plugs

featured pictures of the three stars on the sheet music covers.

Book marks and special pocket book promotion featuring

Stills from the film were proposed as tie-ins. Life sized,

full-color "standees," pasteboard figures, were offered, as
well as materials for tie—in sales with department stores

(“Giant" values!), and just about every possible merchandizing

linkage possible from Hollywood Bread to Lux Soap. This was

indeed a ”Giant" advertising campaign-

A separate and special edition of Ferber‘s Giant was

PUblished by Pocket Booksl77 featuring the names and pictures

244

of the motion picture stars. The copy next to the Dean picture

read: "Jett was a poor boy who got rich on oil, whose wild

ways made him a legend and who never got over his love for

Bick's wife." As with the copy in the "official" Warner

Brothers campaign, the imagination was only slightly stretched

in applying the general characteristics of the character Dean

played as described in the various promotional copy to what
was known of Dean the man.

Giant178

(Not for Publication)

Bick Benedict (ROCK HUDSON), the young owner of a
half-million acre cattle ranch in Texas, comes to Maryland
to buy a magnificent black stallion. He meets, falls in love
with and quickly marries Leslie (ELIZABETH TAYLOR). Though
they are much in love, there are many clashes of tempera-
ment at their vast Reata Ranch, so different from Leslie's
home in Maryland. Leslie is shocked at the status of the
Mexican ranch-hands who are under paid and under-privileged.
She takes matters into her own hands by providing medical
care for them. A stubborn spinster, Bick‘s sister Lux [sic.]
(MERCEDES McCAMBRIDGE), runs the house. Her unreasonable
rule over the Reata Ranch is ended when she is killed in a
fall while riding. In her will she leaves a small piece
of her land to Jett Rink (JAMES DEAN), a violent young ranch
hand who continuously quarrels with Bick While dreaming of
the day he will make his own million. He is convinced that
his new property is the beginning of his fortune, and his
dreams will soon come true. He strikes oil and goes on to
great riches. Leslie and Bick have three children, who when
grown up, all go against the wishes of their parents. Their
son, Jordy, announces his marriage to Juana, a beautiful
Mexican girl who is studying medicine. Bick is dismayed
at the idea of having a Mexican girl as Mrs. Jordan Benedict,
III. Reluctantly all the Benedicts accept an invitation
to the elaborate opening of a new hotel owned by the now
fabulously wealthy Jett Rink. Bick is furious to discover
his daughter Luz as Queen of Jett's spectacular rodeo
parade. When Juana is refused service in the beauty Salon
lsicJ of the hotel an enraged Jordy looks for Jett, who
[fiigJ he considers responsible for the insult to his wife.
He finds him in the banquet room as Jett is about to deliver

245

his dedication speech. Before Jordy can land a punch,

two henchmen pin his arms back while Jett knocks him out.
Bick then challenges Jett to a fight outside, but Jett is
so drunk and helpless that Bick leaves him in disgust.
Later Jett passes out cold on the speaker‘s dais before he
can deliver his Speech. Young Luz is angry at Jordy and
Bick for the way she thinks they have disgraced the family
and ruined Jett's big evening and goes to the darkened
banquet room where the still drunk Jett is delivering his

speech to an empty room. Completely disillusioned, Luz
returns to her parents. Bick and his family drive to Reata.

In a mood of relief and good cheer, they stop by a roadside

diner on the highway. A burly young man eyes Juana with
distaste, and shortly afterwards orders some impoverished
Mexican travelers out. Bick fights them [sig.],but is no
match for the much younger man and ends up on the floor.
Back at Reata, Bick grumbles to Leslie that he has been a
failure, that nothing has worked out as he planned it.

In Leslie‘s eyes Bick was at last fighting for fundamental

justice and tells him [sic.],‘after a hundred years the
Benedict family is a real big success.‘

Running Time: 198 Minutes

As may be seen in the “official" synopsis, Giant was

far from being the story of Jett Rink, as the fan magazines

claimed. In terms of lines, scenes, time on the screen, etc.

Dean's part might even be considered as minor, compared to the

Taylor and Hudson roles. Yet, it is surprising how the Dean

presence tended to dominate the screen while he was on, and

the Rink influence to steer the plot when he was not. Some

Of this power came from Dean‘s acting skill, some came from

the directorial choice of pictorial elements, some came from

the script.

The screen play for giant, written by Fred Guiol and
IVan Moffat--with Edna Ferber acting as advisor--tightened
the relationships between the characters in the novel, while

at the same time it increased the importance of the character

246

of Jett Rink, making him more sympathetic. Many of the obvious
additions and changes in the dialogue and action as depicted
in the novel come about as a result of the attempt to make
Rink more sympathetic. The character of Judy Benedict was
invented to couple with Bob Dace, leaving the character of
Luz II free for a deepened relationship with Rink. Rink's
amatory hi-jinks in the novel as well as his overt involvement
in the death of Luz I were left out of the film so that a more
sympathetic, if ambiguous, relationship with Luz I might be
established. Jett‘s initial land holdings then came to him
as part of her bequest, rather than, as in the novel, as a pay—
off from Bick for the disappearance of his poaching father
While on Benedict property. Though his essential nature was
changed, Jett was still a romantic character involved in
some sort of amatory relationship with each of the leading
female characters, Leslie, Luz I, and Luz II——though the
first was already married, the second described by the script
as "old enough to be his mother," while the latter was young
enough to be his daughter.

Despite the variety of his amatory pursuits, the film's
Jett had romantic qualities not so open and overt and "knowing"
as they appeared in the novel. Jett, not unlike Cal in
Efigt of Eden and Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, was a
sensual enigma, providing more promise than fulfillment, more
reaction than action. The film‘s Jett diSplayed his romantic

appeal through erotic posture and revealing costume. There were

__ ,_,__..___.._..._._.._..s . ._._.—._._.- _ .2 as.

247

no love scenes, as such, and he had no obvious physical con—
tact with any of the objects of his affections. His approach
relied mainly on shy, tentative, verbal gropings. This boyish
quality coupled with the more obvious erotic physical qualities
displayed served to provide an overlay, a "mystique," to the
character.

Much of this mystique was heightened by the directorial
approach to the character. Stevens utilized some of Kazan's
technique by keeping Dean's face in shadow or half shadow most
of the time. In the early scenes the shadow was often provided
by the loweslung hat. In later scenes dark glasses were often
employed to give the character a remotely sinister aura.

Every attempt was made to create the impression that Jett was
"different"-—a "loner"--not quite like everybody else. And he
wasn't.

The character Jett appears only after some twenty
minutes of the film have elapsed, almost concurrently with the
appearance of the Texas scenery and the first appearance of
Mercedes McCambridge as Luz 1. After twenty minutes of pretty
pictures of pretty peOple at fox hunts, in the ole manse, etc.,
the joint appearance of these two rugged individualists comes
as a welcome relief. The relationship betweenythese two
characters remains ambiguous. Though Jett later becomes in-
volved with Leslie‘s daughter, it is obvious she is merely a
substitute for Jett‘s love of Leslie, a love which comes at

first sight—~in more ways than one.

248

Jett's initial appearance comes with the entry of
Ieslie and Bick at the ranch. After long scenic passages of
driving through Open spaces, the newlyweds' car pulls up in
front of the ranch house. A long shot spots them when they
drive up, also catching Jett tinkering with the motor of
another car in the background. As Jett looks up, the camera
reverses to get his View of the scene. Music, a nostalgic
lOpe-along harmonica tune from then on to be associated with
Jett, accompanies his view. A close-up of Jett, his hat down
and almost hiding his eyes, his cigarette dangling, catches
the flicker of his smile of approval of Leslie. The camera
reverses for a rear view of Jett and the scene as a whole as
he leans over, the tight jeans accentuating his buttocks as he
postures over the car, shifting his weight, readjusting his
hat for a better View.

This projected sense of dormant physical lustiness,
passion, and animal power is complicated a few minutes later.
Jett's introduction to Leslie comes jointly with his being
"bawled out" by Bick. Jett's muttered, thick drawl of excuse
is replaced by a shy smile, a stiff-legged hesitating walk
forward, as he wipes off his hand on his pants, half-extend—
ing it in welcome. Then, in equally shy consternation, he
retreats backward, almost falling off the porch steps. When,
later, he does manage to talk directly to Leslie, rather
hesitantly complimenting her, her voiced reaction is her in—

tention to tell her husband about the “nice" compliment.

249

ilsingle instance here can best contrast the~differenees~be--
tween the novel's Jett and the Jett in the film. In the
novelerrber describes Jett's reaction to Leslie's announce—
ment:

Boldly, deliberately, he turned to face her.
“No you won‘t,‘ he jibed.179

The film‘s Jett becomes almost comically upset, his stuttered
and broken remonstrances and thrashing around carry him back—
wards almost jJfiK) the camera. Leslie, rather than repelled
by Jett‘s lustiness and greed, as she is in the novel, is
charmed by the boyish flavor, the determination for self im—
provement, that temper the cinema Jett. His jealousy of Bick
and the Benedict fortune is still evident but understandable
to her, and she finds his interest and attention flattering.
And, since his attentions are so covert, he can be easily held
in check. Her reaction, like the audience's, is one of sym—
Pathy. Like the audience, she is charmed—-Jett's attentions
go no further than serving her a cup of tea and asking if she,
has any sisters a "pore" boy might have a chance with. She

is charmed, but only to a point.

That point is reached when Jett strikes oil, and
covered with the black proof of his new wealth, comes roaring
in his rattle—trap truck over the well—cropped Benedict lawns
to the white house with its equally white people to make his
announcement. Drunk with liquor, wealth, and power, Jett makes
his move. After staking his claim to wealth greater than the

Benedicts‘, he turns to Leslie, and with a sly remark that she

 

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250

looks good enough to eat, his hand comes up, and in the pro-
file camera angle, seems aimed directly at her breast.
Disappointingly, it grasps a porch pillar, instead. That‘s the
closest to direct physical contact Jett seems to be able to get.
But Bick and Leslie grasp the situation with shock. A well-
placed knee and flailing arms give Jett his opportunity to
make his escape. He retreats to a life of lonely riches.

Whether audience reaction matches the effect on the
Benedict participants is debatable. To audiences Jett‘s violent
physical outburst might come as a surprise, but it is not a
shock. Throughout the early part of the picture Jett was more
physical than verbal, but he was usually more appealing.
Perhaps this was because the character was more involved in
reaction than action. Though other characters had the lines,
Dean's playing, his more natural—seeming physical reactions,
stole attention from the studied assurance and designed
characterizations of most of the other major players. His
flickering tongue, his too obvious hunched-up concentration
on something else, his swallows, had a fascinating cinematic
appeal and natural quality. In the early scenes where Dean‘s
approach to Jett was deliberately physical, in sometimes brief,
wordless scenes, came Dean‘s greatest appeal, and in these he
scored his most impressive character effects.

Sometimes, too, the director forced audience attention
to the physical Jett. Shortly after Leslie arrives at the

ranch, her neighbors treat her to her first real Texas Bar-B-Q.

251

From miles around they come to welcome the fragile newlywed.
we see Leslie almost frightened and certainly bewildered by
the raucous good humor of the shouting Texans surrounding her.
And we see Jett reacting to Leslie and the scene as a whole.
Like his introductory scene, his appearance is wordless, but
telling. Jett is as physically alone as Leslie is spiritually
alone. It is his music and interSpersed shots of him that act
as a foil to Leslie‘s reaction. He watches her, he wants her,
but he cannot "belong." The camera first catches Jett'peering
around the rump of a horse, patting it; his caressing hand
strays down the back of the horse to the tail, which he holds
as he moves to a car parked nearby. He is well beyond the
edge of the celebrating group. He leans on the car, pats it
too. The camera then proceeds to shoot past him to catch his
View of the crowd. When the camera returns to Jett, he is
sitting in the back seat of the open car in acted majesty,
lacking only a chauffeur-—a loner among the shouts and yells
of the celebrating crowd. He slowly and regally crosses his
legs lifted to the back of the front seat, puts his hat on
the toe of his boot. As the camera turns from him, "his" music
carries his influence over the remainder of the scene. It is
not necessary that he be seen again to know he is there.
Another most effective scene is completely without
dialogue. After Luz's funeral and the announcement of her
bequest, Jett is seen, again alone, jumping over the mesquite.

Then the camera takes a slow pan with his figure pacing off

252

his newly acquired land, kicking a can here, tightening a

Wire there, he is a slim silhouette against the sky as he
swings his arms and digs his heels into the earth like a little
boy showing off. The camera follows him as he climbs a wind-
mill; he hunches down on the top platform, happy, the master

of all he surveys.

Certainly Dean is more effective in these early scenes
in the film, but his later "aged" scenes, though often roundly
criticized, were no less effective than those of Hudson or
Taylor. Perhaps too much was expected of him. The extreme
penetration of the camera and the static qualities of the
character in the script left little room for dramatic artistry.

Evidence of the tautness and design of Dean‘s acting
deportment may be seen by contrasting parallel scenes drawn
from the two periods of Jett Rink's career. Both scenes take
place in Bick‘s office at the Reata. In both scenes Bick and
Jett are in the process of making a deal.

In the first, the ranchers are with Bick discussing
Luz‘s bequest of a small plot of land to Jett. Through the
Window we see Jett fiddling with his rope—-his coat too big,
shirt and tie mismatched, gloves hanging out of his pocket.
Furtively he sneaks a drink to brace himself for the suspected
coming ordeal.

The gracelessness of his interview with the conning
ranchers as he sits on the edge of his seat, hat off; ankle

braced on his knee, whistling, feigning gaiety as he seems to

253

go along with the ranchers' plans, winking, giggling,
‘stumbling over his words--all the nervous little tricks be—
come less obvious as he gains command of the situation with
the announcement that, contrary to their plans, he is going
to “keep what she give me." The rope he plays with knots,

he smiles, more openly and directly now——and the flick of his
hand as he leaves the room is as much a challenge as a fare—
well. At his exit his hat is so low over his eyes he has to‘
tilt his head to see where he's walking. It, too, stands as
a gesture of defiance. He does not change it.

The above scene may be contrasted with the later
Christmas interview as the Benedict ranch is absorbed into
Rink‘s Jetexas oil combine. Now Jett is dressed meticulously
in Homberg and Chesterfield coat. He leans back in his chair
as he talks, jauntily but neatly crossing his legs. His gaze
is direct and he discusses his plans with full confidence.

What should have been Jett's most effective and sym—
pathetic scene seems oddly lacking in power. This same scene
was widely touted in the fan magazines as the climactic apex
of Dean‘s acting career, the drunken speech to the empty
banquet hall. Whether Dean was "experimenting," and his fatal
accident precluded re—recording, or whether, as later reports
seem to indicate, Dean was not entirely alone to blame in the
matter, the sound—track of the release print is so slurred
and muffled that, though the scene retains a certain physical

power and volume appeal, the intellectual and emotional appeal

d-u

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254

of the words is virtually lost. The Speech, as presented,
has its effect, and, happily, the desired effect, but it
just misses the point. Since this particular scene was in-
vented for the screen play and does not appear in the novel,
there is no printed form to compare it against. With it,
Jett stands, however unsteadily, a rebel to the end; he has
fought and worked for everything he had, and for all his
bigotry and lust, remains a sympathetic rather than a hateful
figure, as worthy of reSpect as the equally bigoted Bick with
all his inherited wealth, and certainly more pitiable.
Jett's speech to the emptied dining room runs:
This is America-—Ol‘ Mother Texas——What she give

to me? Not a God—damned thing! You work and you sweat

and you take it from her. I got mine—-right out of the

ground. Poor Jett! Fighting for what‘s good. Lucky——

lucky for Bick Benedict—-her husband. Pretty Leslie!

Pretty Leslie! Pretty Leslie! Poor Jett! Wonderful,

beautiful girl bride-~poor boy——rich, rich Mrs. Benedict!

She's beautiful, lovely, a woman a man loves. . .

A woman a man's gotta have, too. . . .
and with a muttered exclamation, followed by, "You know what
you can do. . . ." Jett collapses completely. And thus ends
Dean‘s part in the picture, and, for all practical purposes,
the picture itself. A tacked-on denouement uses violence in
place of dramatic appeal to wrap things up in a pat, faked

conclusion redeeming Bick, which, like much of the rest of

the picture, is overdone and obvious.

The part of Jett Rink is probably Dean‘s most overtly

physical, if not sexual, role. It probably is also his most

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255

"human" role. Rink's failings are delineated in terms of
foibles rather than as neurotic manifestations. Technically
Jett is the villain of the piece, but as projected, the sym—
pathetic portrayal Dean was quoted as aiming at was achieved——
to the extent that the "real" hero, as well as most of the other
characters, have the appeal of so many pasteborad figures set
in the barren exteriors and lush interiors of Steven's highly
praised "epic" environment. Indeed, by allowing the portrayal
of a basically sympathetic Jett, the creators of the film
have vivified a thematic Frankenstein monster whose mere
presence negates some of the values the film supposedly tries
to illustrate. Dean not only dominates the screen with his
playing, but his conception of the character threatens to
dominate the film. The fan magazines may not have been so
wrong with their claims that Giant is the story of Jett Rink
after all.

The further extent of Jett's influence, as played by

Dean, is explored in critical studies later discussed.

Giant opened to a benefit at the Roxy Theatre in
New York City on October 10, 1956. Reviews of Dean‘s per—
formance were immediate, but not necessarily ecstatic. Alton
Cook180 described Dean‘s character as a “weakling," ”an
enigmatic character played in eccentric style." Kate Cameron181

thought Dean gave a "fascinating slant to the character."

Bosley Crowtherlaa said Dean's portrayal of "the malignant

 

 

 

256

role of the surly ranch hand" made it "the most angry and
corrosive in the film":
Mr. Dean plays this curious villain with a stylized
spookiness--a sly sort of offbeat languor and slur of

language—-that concentrates spite. This is a haunting
capstone to the brief career of Mr. Dean.

3 contributed: ”It is James Dean who

Herbert Kupferberg18
gives the most striking performance and creates in Jett Rink
the most memorable character in Giant." Mr. Kupferberg, like
Mr. Crowther, recognized the fact of Dean's death in his
review by adding that the performance ”makes the most sedate
onlooker understand why a James Dean cult ever came into
existence."

The weekly magazine reviews also started to roll in.

The October 15 issue of the Saturday_Review carried a full page

 

cover picture of Dean and the review of Giant.184 Hollis Alpert
called her review “It's Dean, Dean, Dean" but devoted a good
deal of space to praise 9sensitive, honest and thoughtful"
George Stevens for the rhythms, the ”pattern of movement,"
exhibited in this long film, "one of the half dozen or so
longest ever made." Alpert's concentration on Stevens may

have been an attempt to set the record straight, for it was
noted that "it is the late James Dean . . . that audiences

Will be watching, . . . many . . . with fascination and love."
Because of "a mass hysteria at least equal to that caused by

Valentino," Giant, which contained Dean's last performance,

Would be guaranteed financial success. Alpert hoped this

 

 

257

fact would not obscure also the fact that the film contained
some of Stevens best work.

Alpert believed the Dean hysteria to be a natural phe—
nomenon, and ruled out the probability of "a clever campaign"
by the studio:

The thing happened and its own momentum has carried
it along. . . . Articles about Dean in half the nation‘s
magazines are not plants by a publicity department; it
is more likely, particularly in the case of the movie
fan magazines, that they are in reSponse to anguished
demands from readers.

There is a good deal of morbidity in this interest,
as a recent Life article indicates, but it may not be all
morbidity.

It was noted that Dean was "already an accomplished,
thoughtful actor," and "his three movie roles (including his
last one in Giant) established him as a certain kind of
personality.“ The explanation of Dean's appeal continued:

In each he played a young, tortured rebel, a renegade
who was basically good, who got into trouble with his
environment because he was incapable of conforming.
Underneath it all was a gentleness and an artisticness [sic.
which probably triggered the national cascade of motherly
feelings. It also got him the heartfelt sympathy and
swooning worship of hundreds of thousands of teen—agers.
Perhaps they saw mirrored in him their own problems, and
perhaps, also, Dean provided a symbolic channel for their
own rebellions against pressures of conformity, lacks of
love and feeling.

 

Alpert's personal estimation of Dean‘s performance in
Giant as "sometimes highly effective, sometimes too mannered"
was reinforced. with a quotation from George Stevens:

He had the ability to take a scene and break it down;
sometimes he broke it down into so many bits and pieces
that I couldn't see the scene for the trees, so to Speak.
I must admit that sometimes I underestimated him, and
sometimes he overestimated the effects he thought he was
getting. Then he might change his approach, do it quick,

258

and if that didn‘t work, we'd effect a compromise. All
in all, it was a hell of a headache to work with him.
He was always pulling and hauling, and he had developed
this paitivated, designed irresponsibility. It‘s tough
on you, he'd seem to imply, but I've just got to do it
this way.

From the director's point of view that isn't the most
delightful sort of fellow to work with. Anyway, he de-
livered his performance, and he cracked himself up, and
I can't say I‘m happy about all that's happening about it.
There are some peOple involved in it who don't Show up
too well.

Accompanying the Alpert review was a "Gallery of the

Kings of Movieland: Amour and the Man,"185 featuring photos
and a breakdown of the appeal of earlier film idols like
Francis X. Bushman, Wallace Reid, Valentino, Gilbert, Gable,
Olivier, Grant and Brando. Of them all, Wallace Reid, who
died of drug addiction, "in his style and self destruction

was strikingly similar to James Dean." The explanation of

the Method accompanying the Brando piece may have also con—
tained a sly dig: "The secret of the Method is that the actor
identifies himself with the part he‘s playing; it works best,

of course, when a neurotic youth plays a neurotic youth."

One teen—ager's response186 to the critical estimates
of the Dean appeal appeared in the October 15 Life as a re-
action against the Ezra Goodman article:

To us teenagers Dean was a symbol of the fight to
make a niche for ourselves in the world of adults. Some-
thing in us that is sat on by convention and held down
was in Dean, free for all the world to see.

The front cover of Look for October 16, 1956 bore a

full page, full color photograph of Dean as Jett Rink cap—

tioned: "The Story of the Strangest Legend Since Valentino."

259

Inside was George Scullin's "James Dean: The Legend and the

Facts,“187 listed in the table of contents as part of ”The

National Scene" rather than as "Entertainment."

Scullin traced the rise of Dean's popularity but with

difficulty, because "so interwoven are the myth, the legend

and fact of his life that they can only be separated by calcu-

lated guess work":

The change first became evident at Warner Bros. along
about the first of this year. Back in September of 1955,
they had lost James Dean in an automobile accident, and
for a few weeks, the office had been swamped with letters,
a large portion of which expressed an almost hysterical
resentment at an untimely death. Then had followed a lull
which Hollywood had come to recognize as the prelude to
obscurity. Instead, December saw an upsurge in the volume
of mail, and a change in the tenor of the contents. January
brought in more than 5,000 letters with money enclosed for
photographs of Dean. By the end of July, when requests for
photographs with payments enclosed had risen to 7,000 for
the month, there could no longer be any doubt. This was
not a requiem to a dead star. It was a tribute to a living

legend.

Scullin accepted Dean‘s popularity as a result of
identification by teenagers with Dean as a figure "who appears

to conform, yet rebels successfully against conformity and

gets away with it." Scullin accepted further teen identifi—

cation with Dean'S screen roles "in both of which he was a tor—

tured, confused, rebellious growing boy (like most teenagers),"

and only "that accident of talent . . sets him apart from

his worshippers." However, Scullin gave a more than Slightly

critical account of Dean's life, calling him "impossible,"

and "a bum"—-his "eccentricities, exhibitionism and downright

bad manners" gave his directors headaches, and created a

260

publicists‘ field day. Part of this behavior came as a direct

result, according to Scullin, of Dean's deliberately trying to

"outdo" his "herofl'Marlon Brando.

This same Week Dean hit the television Spotlight once

again. A "feud" had developed between NBC'S Steve Allen and

CBS's Ed Sullivan, national contenders for audience favors in

the prime time Sunday night Slot, over who was to do a James

Dean Memorial Show, with whom, and when.188 Allen charged

Sullivan "pirated" the idea for earlier use, and that he was

 

building his show around a record album titled The James Dean

Story that he had recently recorded and was soon to release.

Sullivan, on the other hand, got the rights to the opening of

Giant and a bit of film and was doing what amounted to a

serious parody of an Edward R. Murrow documentary. The charges

and counter—charges were certainly not designed to harm either
program's rating—-eSpecially when Steve Allen moved up his

”Tribute" from the let to the same day Sullivan scheduled

his "Tribute," October 14.

Large advertisements189 were taken in local daily

papers announcing the event. A Steve Allen advertisement, for

instance, was ten inches long, with a full face portrait of

Dean taking up most of the Space, promising "films of some of

his outstanding performances and interviews with members of

his family"

John Crosby, television critic,190 said later:

261

I can't help feeling that this rush to get in on the
slightly sensational and morbid interest in a dead star
will not go down as one of television's most illustrious

evenings.

Crosby's personal reaction to some of the material used

in the "Tributes" was not particularly enthusiastic:

I remember seeing the original and not thinking very
much of it as drama without being exercised about Dean's
performance one way or another. And for good reason.

Dean went through several metamorphoSes of acting style
after this phase in which he seemed to be under the influ—

ence of Rod Steiger.

Interestingly enough, Rod Steiger was also linked to

Dean in an enthusiastic Giant review in Time. Timelei re—

ported that Dean‘s performance ”clearly shows for the first

and fatefully the last time what his admirers always said he

had: a streak of genius." The Time review continued:

He has caught the Texas accent to nasal perfection,
and has mastered the lock—hipped, high heeled stagger of
the wrangler, and the wry little jerks and smirks, tics
and twiches, grunts and giggles that make up most of the
language of a man who talks to himself a good deal more

than he does to anyone else.
. . . In one scene, indeed, in a long, drunken mumble

with actress Carroll Baker in an empty cocktail lounge--
the actor is able to press an amazing variety of subtle—
ties into the mood of the moment, to achieve wnat is cer—
tainly the finest piece of atmospheric acting seen on the
screen since Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger did their
‘brother scene' in On the Waterfront.

Perhaps the most scathing of criticisms of Dean and the
Dean craze appeared in the syndicated article by Maurice
Zolotow192 released October 28, 1956. Headlined "Jimmy Dean
Should Be Nobody's Idol—-Late Actor Was Sadistic, Uncouth, Arro—

gant, Cruel and a Filthy Slob," Zolotow didn't mince words.

262

Zolotow described teenage adulation of "this second-rate

actor" as "shocking," "based almost entirely on lies and

shabby nonsense." He said"the romantic imagination of teenage

girls was being exploited by the publicity men promoting

James Dean‘s last movie Giant. . . .

Zolotow added that "reckless driving and cruelty to

women" were two of Dean‘s "favorite activities" because he

was "emotionally immature, sexually sadistic, uncouth, ill-

mannered, cruel, arrogant, and anti-social," as well as being

"sullen, surly, ill tempered, brutal . . . without any ele-

ments of kindness, sensitivity, consideration for others,

or romantic passion in his character"-—“a boy who looks and

smells like a filthy slob."
Rock Hudson was quoted as saying that Dean "was nasty,

mean. If I said hello or good morning, he snarled at me."

And a Kazan quotation was added for good measure: "I've

known many actors who have been twisted up in their sex lives

but never anybody as . . . as . . . I guess, unhealthy is the

Word—-as sick and unhealthy as Dean.”

Zolotow said his reason for attempting_to destroy the

myth was so the legend could not "infect the characters of

the living.” His stated aim was to present the facts and let

American youth "use itscommon sense and inherent good taste

to decide."

It is difficult to believe that civic responsibility

could inspire such a string of invectives, especially from a

265

writer who makes his living from the film industry. Without

the help, if not the blessing and the inspiration of the

studio, Zolotow would hardly dare write such an article.

The other side of the coin was revealed to an audience

with more professional interests. Another chapter from

Nicholas Ray's Rebel, Life Story of a Film appeared in Variety

on October 51, 1956.193 This chapter was devoted in its

entirety to James Dean.

Ray saw in Dean "someone who seemed to symbolize the

aspirations and doubts of his generation." Letters Ray re-

ceived from fans evidenced to him "expressions of a personal

loss." He felt the fans equated the Jim Stark of Rebel With-

_pt a Cause with James Dean as "one and the same person."

 

Dean was mourned "through the image of Jim Stark, whose escape

was the one he really hoped for, constantly searched for--a

full, complete realization of himself." Dean "shied away

from social convention, from manners, because they suggested

disguise. He wanted his self to be naked." Ray considered
Dean as having had "no hard professional shell; lack of sym—

pathy, lack of understanding from a director or any of his

staff disoriented him completely." Such reaction, according

to Ray, was the basis for Dean's reputation as being

"impossible." Ray noted that Kazan termed Dean so, that Kazan

and Dean had quarreled during East of Eden, but that Dean

retained a respect for Kazan and "would have been flattered

264

to work for him again." Ray also noted, indirectly, some of

his own difficulties:

There were probably very few directors with whom
Jimmy could ever have worked. To work with him meant
exploring his nature, trying to understand it; without
this, his powers of expression were frozen.

He retreated, he sulked. He always wanted to make
a film in which he could personally believe, but it was
never easy for him. Between belief and action lay the
obstacle of his own deep, obscure uncertainty.

Part of Dean's talent was "an immediate response to
vital rhythms." To Ray, this was one reason Dean was attracted
to bull fighting--the physical grace employed and necessary.
Ray felt Dean had an "instinctive grace of movement" which
he developed and refined by attending Katherine Dunham's dance

classes; he utilized this "practiced control of his body"

in his screen portrayals. Related to this, Ray cites also

Dean's "profound'I gift for mime, describing Dean's portrayal

of a fox at an Actors Studio session:

He didn't imitate; the stealth, the beauty and
the menace of the animal seemed to enter into his

body. He was the fox.

Yet beyond the obvious concentration and absorption

there seemed, to Ray, a lack of personal involvement:

The pain that can come out of human relationships
was a risk he was not prepared to take: safer to love
a fox, to be a fox, or Tati, or Chaplin. He became
other people with obvious passion and relief. 'If I
were he] he would say. This was part of his magic as

an act or .

Ray saw Dean's personality as the key to his acting success:

Because he was not selfrpitying, he looked at the
same time out from as well as into himself. Every day
he threw himself hungrily upon the world like a starving
animal that suddenly finds a scrap of food. The intensity

265

of his desires, and his fears, could make the search at

times arrogant,egocentric, but behind it was such a
desperate vulnerability that one was moved, even fright-

ened.

Val Adams' New York Times television news column kept

close tabs on the Sullivan—Allen controversy early in the

month and now194 it revealed that three plays featuring Dean

would be repeated within a period of six days in November.

The column noted:

The filmed revival of the dramas by three different
series of programs within the same week appeared to be a
coincidence. The development probably is not unre—
lated, however, to the fact that Mr. Dean has been made
into a mythical hero in recent months.

The November cover of Rave featured a full page color

picture of Dean with the caption: "James Dean Tells His

Life Story—-In His Own Words-—50 Thrilling Pages."195 The

cover picture was especially interesting in that it was a re-

worked still from Rebel Without a Cause of Dean holding

Natalie Wood in his arms. The figure of Miss Wood had been

painted out, and another female figure, an artist‘s conception

of a more universalized, less identifiable female, had been

painted in.

The article said it attempted to create through inter—

views "the framework on which to build a three dimensional

Person"--"an unusual person":

His talent-—which might well have blossomed into
genius had he lived——made him that. He cannot be under—
stood without his gift, nor can he be understood solely

266

in terms of it. His gift interacted on his personality,
and his personality shaped his gift. Part of his dilemma
was to effect a fusion of the two so that his spirit

could be at peace.

The body of the article was a biography written in the
first person to give the effect of autobiography. A group of

Roy Schatt photos served as the foundation of the accompanying

illustrative materials. Because of the nature of the magazine,

the conception of narrative style of the article, which pur-

ported to be "the true story that's never been told," tended

to be overly introspective, allowing the narrator much room for

soul searching, overdramatizing even the simplest factual event,

leaving plenty of room for supposedly authentic Opinionated

comment:

A lot of people say it was Nick Ray who ruined the
Rebel script, made it only a mediocre picture when it
could have been a great one. I don't know. All I know
is that I didn't get much direction from him. He let
me do practically what I wanted, and while at the time I
thought this was fine, I realized what a real director
can make you do when I went to work for George Stevens

in Giant.
The narrating “Dean” paid particular attention to and

made particular comment about the "big scene" in Giant, "the

only scene [which] ever really satisfied me." the banquet

hall Speech:

I worked on that scene harder than I did on anything
in my life. And Mr. Stevens did it over and over again

until he got exactly what he wanted.

Movie Life's "Jimmy Dean's Farewell to You—-Special

Photo Bonus,"196 as featured on the cover, proved to be a

267

photo Spread on “one of the most beloved actors of all time
in his last——and greatest--performance as rebellious Jett

Rink in Giant." The entire five page photo series was the

plot of Giant as illustrated with stills and told from the

point of view of Jett. Editorial comment added:
If you feel the pathos of this screen villian, if
your heart goes out to him, and if he reminds you, just
a bit, of the boy who acted out Jett's life, just before
his own tragic death—-then you will know why these pictures
moved us, and why we are so proud to bring them to you.

Dean was also mentioned in the same issue in the

article on Paul Newman, "Call Him Tiger." Newman was described
as having an "intensity and that feeling of brooding, pent up
The

violence that makes Shivers go up and down your spine."

fact that Newman was currently co—starring with Pier Angeli

made it all the easier to add, "In personality he‘s often com—

pared to Jimmy Dean." Pier Angeli was described as no longer

"nervous” during love scenes.

Back pages of the magazine still offered the Special

color photos of Dean, and an advertisement advised that

The James Dean Album was in its third printing. An advertise—

ment for the November issue of the sister publication Movie

8 rs Parade promised not only "Where Would Jimmy Dean Be

__

Today?“ but also “Should Elvis Presley Play James Dean?"——
"Your last chance to vote!" and another spot announcement in—
formed readers that the new Ideal publication Hollywood Love

23d Tragedy would offer a "Special double-length story".

 

"The Hidden Heartaches of Jimmy Dean."

.-

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CD

The article promised,l97 in the advertisement and on

the cover with a half—page color portrait, was actually

entitled "Jimmy Dean's Hidden Heartbreaks" and was written

by Benjamin Lewis. That Dean was featured on the cover was

editorially explained "because he symbolizes the greatest

tragedy that has ever befallen Hollywood." According to the

article, Dean's hidden heartbreak occurred when he came to

realize that popularity in Hollywood was based on one's
celebrity value. Accompanying the article was a picture study

called "Jimmy Dean‘s Last Miles"198——a photo record of "the
path Jimmy took to death“-—pictures taken along Highway 466

and at the accident intersection. To complete the photo

record were photographs of the mortuary and even the hearse

that was used to carry the body.

Screen Stories advertised "Jimmy Dean in His Last and

 

Greatest Film" on its cover, but prefaced the Giant story with

brief and contradictory mentions in the fan letter column

”It's Your Screen."199 Of the eight fan letters published,

supposedly concerning all aspects of the film industry and

the magazine's coverage of same, four letters mentioned Dean.

These letters covered most of the publicity bases then cur-

rently evident. One reader was shocked that anyone could see

a resemblance between James Dean and Elvis Presley; another

reader suggested ”Dean's fans would be grateful if you could
give them all you could concerning him"; two letters sug—

gested that Dean publicity was being run "to the ground,"

269

and that "they" should "let the dead be with the dead."

00 Dean appeared in

In the photo coverage of Giant,2
the majority of the pictures and was the only one of the
stars granted a full page to himself in the entire Spread.
Copy was a fairly realistic account of the full plot of the
movie, unlike the coverage in other fan magazines, though
the headlines tended to focus on Dean and the character he
played. Jett Rink was depicted as a combination of cynicism
and crudeness—-an "odd sort."

This issue featured an advertisement for "The James
Dean Fan Club.”201 A column wide, the advertisement ran the
length of the page. At the top, "In Memoriam" in Old English
type was superimposed over a black background from which,
haloed, rose the face of Dean. Below, a scroll read,

”To perpetuate the memory of a great actor." Copy added,

"To all of us who admired the talents and dynamic personality
Of James Dean his sudden and tragic death was felt as a

great personal loss." Readers were offered a variety of
Photographs and a "membership card“ upon payment of the fee.
This particular “club“ was actually a fan photo agency which
changed its name but not its address as the opportunity
arose--often in the same issue.

In the later pages of the giapp story copy, was ano-
ther Dean mention: a boxed estimation of "The Actor Jimmy
Dean,"202 an extension of George Stevens' remarks printed

earlier about Dean's using himself as a kind of clay:

270

. . . he could mould psychological impediments into
his speech and into his movements. This was his finest
art. Instinctively he seemed to understand all the
impediments people have when they try to communicate
with each other.

Dean's ability as a single actor Stevens did not
denigrate, especially since he admitted he thought "physically
and temperamentally Jimmy Dean was wrong for the part of Jett
Rink"--but as an actor acting in concert with others under a
director, Dean received Stevens' criticism:

Jimmy was never a courteous actor. If he had a big
scene, he would do his best to throw the actors playing
with him. This was not because of a desire to star. It
was because he felt the scene belonged to his character.
Jimmy would also seduce the other actors in a scene into
playing their characters the way he played his.

According to Stevens Dean was too "calculating" as
an actor to "lose himself in his part”: ”If the scene were

. . rehearsed eleven times, you could count on Jimmy to do
exactly the same business with exactly the same timing in
each rehearsal."

Overleaf appear two more "memories"203 of Dean from
a high school friend and Dean‘s landlord, indicating the

bottom of the memory barrel was being pretty well scraped.

Such explanation will not do for the Stevens' interview.

After the release of Giant, especially, Stevens'
interviews critical of Dean and his work began to appear.
Often the thoughts and the verbiage quoted are so similar
(if not the same) one wonders if there were not mass inter-

views, or a prepared copy distributed for ”interviewers"

271

to use. Stevens would have more than civic responsibility

at stake in defaming Dean. His profits as producer—director
of Giant hung in the balance. It might be supposed, however,
that by now as far as Hollywood, Giant and Stevens were con—
cerned, the Dean adulation had served its purpose. The
success of Giant seemed pretty well assured. For the sake of
Stevens' reputation and his further career as a Hollywood
director, it was time to start a campaign designed to make
people think about George Stevens' pictures, rather than
James Dean's pictures. This did not mean that Dean publicity
could not be, would not be, was not, subsequently released.
Stevens' move was merely a slow application of the brake, a
gentle turning of the wheels in the proper direction. The
omnibus of publicity was carrying more than the weight of
Giant now. The Stevens' ploy was an important move, a necessary
move, for him, but it was far from being the only change or
shift in direction the Dean publicity was to endure in

succeeding months.

Alyce Canfield's "Intimate Hollywood,"204 a gossip

column in Screen StarsJ gave Nick Ray's "Dean" book a plug:

 

“James Dean fans take notice." Though she said the book
"could be in the book stores by the time you read this," the
book was never released.

Screen Stars major Dean offering in November was

"The Immortal Dean"205 advertised on the cover as containing

272

"Newly Discovered James Dean Photos." The article was pre-
faced with two definitions:
Immortal: Destined to live in all ages of the world
. having unending existence . .

having unending fame.

Star: a person of brilliant qualities who stands
out pre—eminently among his fellows.

The first sentence of the article read: "James Dean
IS a great star." The present tense was used, the article

explained, because “It is not proper to refer to immortal

beings in the past tense.“ In answer to the question of what
gave Jimmy his immortality, the article cited; "God—given
talent, man-made luck and YOU . . . YOU the public who have

said to us in your thousands of letters, wires and calls
‘JAMES DEAN LIVES.”' To prove the point, all picture captions
in the five pages of photos, mostly stills and set-shots from
Giant, featured present-tense verbs. The article concluded;
YOU CANNOT REACH UP AND DIM A STAR IN THE SKY . .

YOU CANNOT EVER SNUFF OUT THE BRILLIANCE OF JAMES DEAN--
THE IMMORTAL.

TV Star Parade for November, 1956 advertised "Rare

 

Television Photos of Jimmy Dean,‘ and in the photo-article

"206

"Television Memories of Jimmy Dean gave the names and

general dates of some half-dozen of Dean's pre—East of Eden

 

television appearances. Citing the paradox of violence and
tenderness which gave Dean's acting “such impact," the
Selection presented an after-the-fact summary of Dean's tele—

vision career which was disturbingly consistent with publicity

273

current in the year after his death. The brief summaries

of plot coincided, of course, with the emphasis generally on
violence and tenderness, but other elements suggested in some
of the photo captions: the "torment," a search for a father

image, a "yearning to belong to someone,‘ lead one to believe
that Dean was either a single type actor throughout his public
career, or that a definite attempt had been made to fit, even
force, the account of his television projection into the
currently popular image.

EEEE for November promised a recording of Dean's voice

in a future issue.207

The recording was being withheld be—
cause Warner Brothers "doesn‘t want any of Jimmy‘s fans to
feel as though his untimely and unfortunate death is being
taken advantage of" in order to publicize Giant. The editors
agreed.

Jimmy Fidler's "Hollywood Exclusives“ in EEEEFOB told
of "secret reports spilling out of United Artists that a
film about the life of James Dean is now being prepared.“
Fidler said that he personally doubted a Dean look—alike
With Dean's talent could be found. Fidler further reported
the French Film Academy's Crystal Star award to Dean:
“Something even our Academy hasn't done . . . yet!" The
Fidler item concluded with a suspicion Dean would be so
honored because "He‘s just sensational in Giant."

Various other gossip features mentioned Tony Perkins,

comparing him to Dean. He was reputed to have the Dean

274

"fire and Spark”208 and "the same kind of screen charm and
teenage identification that made James Dean a star overnight."210
An "exclusive" color photo of Dean by Wilson Millar
was presented, along with Millar's advertisement later in
the issue for those who wanted to pay for more of the same.
A featured article, Carole Archer Sturmond'S "Holly;

wood's Greatest Tragedies,“211

was graced with a full page
photo of Dean, the only actor mentioned in the article so
honored. Dean, his name ”more legendary than Valentino's,"

was presented as a "symbol" of "that unexplained, unexplainable
phenomenon which plagues our Hollywood, our land of make-
believe. Tragedy.”

Herbert Mitgang wrote "The Strange James Dean Death
Cult"212 for Coronet's November issue. Prefacing headlines
announced “now thousands of teen—agers have made a religion
of his memory-—and many even believe he'll be 'resurrected.‘"
The article was nothing more than a re—hash of others cover-
ing similar material. It concentrated on the more sensational
aspects of the Dean syndrome, repeating the rumors while at
the same time castigating the rumor mongers, bringing in the
comparisons with Brando and Valentino, quoting fans for
Comment, quoting unnamed psychologists for explanation of
the phenomenon. There was a concentration on numbers: 5,000
fan letters a month; 600 peOple at Dean's funeral——and 3,000
waiting outside; there is a 16 year-old president of a fan

club with 200 members, 14—17. And all of this is mildly but

275

decidedly critical, written probably to interest the adult
audience the article was aimed at-—by alarming them.
Another variety of criticism was exhibited when

Alfred C. Roller, staff writer for the New York World-Telegram

 

and Sun contributed "The James Dean Myth Blows Up"213 to

that newspaper's Saturday Magazine on November 5, 1956. The

 

article was another version of an interview with George
Stevens, who deplored the "nonsense" currently circulated and
wished "to separate the fact from the fiction." Although
Stevens called Dean "an excellent and skillful actor—-a great
mechanic," he felt Dean was ambitious and calculatedly so:

"He had a goal and he was determined to reach his goal of
being a top-notch movie star at any price." Dean's "concrete
plan" included working hard to get publicity and photographs.
The consistent nature of Dean's screen roles and Dean's own
interest in publicity while he was still alive fostered and
created the Dean craze: "All these pictures are crOpping

up now and that's what's making the Dean legend." Stevens

was explicit about the "why“ of the Dean legend but rather
vague about the "who": “You can be sure that someone's making
a pile of dough out of this morbid Dean business and that‘s
one reason they're working so hard to keep it alive." Stevens
regretted Dean‘s "surprise" death, yet "it is this one tragic
event that really made the legend of James Dean." He was

also irritated by the "so-called friends who want to cash in

 

276

on Dean's popularity":

There is a lot of morbidity in this Dean business
and there are a lot of people who aren't showing up too
well. So far as I am concerned, I was only interested
in Dean as an actor. He delivered his performance and
I'm more than satisfied.

23.4

John Fick's TV column in the Chicago Tribune men-

 

tioned that "among the guest artists coming up on TV within
the next week“ would be the late James Dean in three filmed

215 that all three shows exploited

shows. Time reported later
the Dean legend for frankly commercial purposes. On Monday,
November 12, Dean appeared with Dorothy Gish and Ed Begley
on "The Robert Montgomery Theatre" in ”Harvest.“ Dean's
portrayal of a young sailor coming back on leave to his farm
home rated only a featured billing in the initial presentation.
This time around Dean was a star and the show achieved a 24.3
Trendex ratings?16 The following Friday the ”Schlitz Play—
house" production "The Unlighted Road," in which Dean played
the young vagabond duped by a high—jacking gang, was run for
the third time, the second time since Dean's death. The fol-
lowing Sunday ”The General Electric Theatre" took advertise—
ments217 announcing that Dean's appearance in "I'm a Fool,‘I
based on a story by William Faulkner, would be a "repeat of
his finest performance in a television play."

Like "The Unlighted Road," “I'm a Fool" fitted in
easily with the established Dean image. In it Dean plays a

young, romantically ambitious race track stableboy. The boy

277

is 19 and experiencing his "first love" and the "world is so
full of beauty you can hardly stand it.“ Convinced that if
one can "put up a good front . . . the world is yours," the
off—duty stableboy adopts an assumed name and tries his
romantic luck. He puts up too good a front and loses the
girl.

Dean's nasal twang, his nervous laugh, his loose
physical playing, were well adapted and suited to the social
climbing country boy, ill at ease in his starched collar and
badly fitting derby. There were also the more universally
employed acting tricks of the jumpy walk, the noseabrushing,
the back-scratching, the cast—down eyes; and one could see
the hunched shoulders of the opening scenes of Eden in the
final crying scene, and the arms akimbo defiance of Rebel.
Projecting into the future, there was even the trick of hang-
ing his hat on his foot used in Giant.

The totality of the Dean acting techniques, the associ—
ations linked with Natalie Wood who played the girl, the
whole idea of the lost love with its resultant estrangement
and sadness, even the melancholy nostalgia of the harmonica
background music--all fitted in with and reflected the estab—
lished Dean tradition very nicely. That the film received no
further replays may be accounted for by the fact that it was
"experimental," utilizing stylized acting techniques among
some of the minor players and non-realistic constructivist

painted and projected scenery and properties, all of which

278

were somewhat at variance with the by-now fairly well—
established realistic techniques almost universally employed

in the television medium.

Photoplay_for November contained a color photograph

 

218

preeview of Giant. The issue continued and concluded the

serialized biography by William Bast, "There Was a Boy . . .“3219
added an article by Laura Lane, "Why the Rebel Craze Is Here
To Stay,“220 with, as a fillip, ”The Truth Behind the Rumors

James Dean Committed Suicide."221

Though the Lane article
explored the ”rebel instincts in the young" and their sense
of identification with Dean, the other articles tended toward
morbidity. The Bast selection leaned toward ramification of
presentiments of death by Dean while he was living, describ-
ing his sentiments as almost a preoccupation, quoting Dean as
saying, "Death is the only thing I respect." The latter
article continued in a similar vein, reporting the reactions
of an acquaintance:

They gave me the creeps. They were all about death
and dying——poems and things he just made up——about what
it feels like to die and how it would feel to be in the
grave.

This latter article presented a re—hash of some of the more
sinister anecdotes connected with Dean, including the Vampira
"Darling, Come Join Me” episode, among others.

Giant continued to do exceptional business and was

given wide newspaper publicity and coverage,‘222 despite some

not entirely glossy reviews for the picture and Dean's

279

performance. Witness Courtland Phipps‘s appraisal223 in

Films in Review for November. Phipps felt the picture doomed

from the start because of the "speciousness of Miss Ferber‘s

synthetic novel." Dean was not only "unsuitable" for the role,

according to Phipps, but his employment handicapped the plot
development and hindered character differentiation. The
playing of the role by Dean gave further evidence of his “one
and only successful acting style--the loutish and malicious

petulance which present day teenagers profess to admire."

Such playing, said Phipps:

. made the young Jett Rink such a boor not even
a wife more neurotic than the one Miss Taylor was
portraying could have thought him attractive. Since
Dean is dead, I shall say nothing about his attempt to

portray the mature Jett Rink, except to say it is em-
barrassing to see.

The end of November found the emergence of James Dean
between hard covers as James Dean: A Biography by William
Bast.224 Published by Ballantine Books, the biography was

a somewhat developed version of Bast's Photoplgy series

"There Was a Boy . . ." though the Ballantine Newsletter225

to bookshop owners described it as "the first mature approach

to the troubled life and great artistry of the brilliant

young actor":

James Dean has become a Twentieth Century legend and
the legend is growing. A whole generation of young
people have detected in his life and roles a symbol of
their own rebellion against constituted authority and
the restrictive demands of adult behavior.

James Dean was—-and remains—-a major phenomenon of

the 1950‘s.

280

Concurrently, Ballantine published a paperback edition

which commented on the cover as a sales blurb:

Here is James Dean as he really was-~a restless,
enigmatic artist in a passionate search for fulfillment,

a reckless youth in a fatal race with destiny.

Cover photos for both editions were by Roy Schatt.

The Bast booka26 went into considerably more biographic
Especially

 

and interpretive detail than the Photoplay series.

evident was the naming of names and the detailing of events

and reactions beyond those probably of interest to the
There was evidence, too, of a

average fan magazine reader.

greater chronological tightening.

East detailed Dean's professional career from the first

of Dean's Malcolm in the UCLA Theatre Arts Department

moments
7

performance of Macbeth, replete with its "garbled” dictiong2
and equally bad reviews, to the final plans for the projected

Dean television performance in The Corn Is Green. Although

 

the book was unfortunately remiss regarding the revelation of
specific and exact dates, the reader was still given some idea
of Dean‘s early career not to be found in most other bio-

graphical sources.

According to Bast when he first met Dean,
but Dean "lacked

not only

was the actor's diction and vocabulary poor,
a good amount of basic knowledge."228 Dean had his short-

but Bast felt drawn to him because he sensed that

comings,
"had about him an air of a man who is quietly determined

Dean
H229

to grow, to develop, never to stOp, always to go on trying.

281

Through Bast, Dean began work with the CBS Radio Workshop and
with the classes of James Whitmore.
Bast related that because Dean thought "formal edu-

d"230 and because

cation was only a superficial means to an en
of his disappointment in not receiving a coveted role in the

Theatre Arts Department‘s production of The Dark of the Moon,
Dean dropped out of school to pursue more actively his acting
career. ‘

Dean‘s performance in "Hill Number One" for the Fair—
banks Studios, where he earlier did the commercial with Nick
Adams, was evidently good enough to bring him his first fan
following with "the formation of a fan club by a group of
"231

girls from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles

Who "had been required to watch the film and had discovered

a new movie idol in John the Baptist [sicJ."232

Through Rogers Brackett, a radio director at CBS with
whom he then lived, Dean further continued to broaden his
social, philosophical, and professional horizons. Through
introductions and recommendations in Hollywood and, later,
New York, Dean furthered himself and his career toward the

eventual goals he seemed to have in mind:

He sapped the minds of his friends as a bloodsucker
saps the strengh of an unsuspecting man. Almost fanatic—
ally he approached each person he met, whether prominent
or obscure, with the same attitude: I will draw from
him all he knows and pass on to the next. Yet his ap-
proach was not so clinical that he did not become per—
sonally involved, often emotionally involvedésén the
lives and problems of those he was studying.

282

and often through Brackett or Brackett contacts,

Eventually,
a lead on the radio

Dean was able to get jobs on television,

program Theatre ggild of the Air, and, most importantly,

through Ralph Levy (another directorl an introduction to
It was also Brackett

Jane Deacy at the Louis Shurr Agency.
34

who produced Dean's first

who introduced Dean to Lem Ayers,2

Broadway play.
That further details were not given may be due to

several reasons, one of which, probably, was the fact that

East did not know very much:

I had learned that it was natural for him to avoid
direct discussions of his private activities, since he
had a guarded, almost protective, attitude toward his
career aims and goals and the methods he used to attain

them.235
Bast gave this account of Dean‘s initial Broadway

stage appearance:
I had watched Jimmy play a role so convincingly that

I had not been able to identify him as a person I knew.
I was stunned by the realization that at no time during
the performance had I been aware that I was watching my
friend James Dean.236

Bast gave particular attention to an effective scene

occurring toward the end of See the Jaguar when Dean's

character comes to a realization that he has been betrayed by
At this

his friend into the hands of his present captors.
his arms extended

point Dean sank to his knees in dejection,
from his sides by the men holding him, in the attitude of what
Bast described as "Christ on the cross."237 Even at this

or was made aware,

early stage in his career, Dean was aware,

V7,"

«~—

.A.

(II

3: .

283

of the effectiveness of pictorial representation (This par—

ticular pose may also have been at least a partial inspiration

for the Giant still by Sanford Roth).

See the Jaguar brought offers of a screen test from
MGM which, according to Bast, Dean refused. A screen career

came only after The Immoralist and through Jane Deacy:

him immediately as Cal Trask,

psyche, a boyish exuberance, a deSperate need, an infinite
longing for love and acceptance. So, in her own style she
gave Fate that gentle nudge and nursed the situation, con-
vincing all concerned that Eden was the perfect vehicle
for Jimmy‘s talent anEBEhat Jimmy‘s talent was perfect

She knew him well enough in a personal sense to see
a lad with a disturbed

for the role in Eden.
Though Bast had enlarged on the material in the Photgplay
Mrs. Deacy's methods

 

articles, he bacame no more specific.

remained her secret.
Dean‘s difficulties with directors Bast described as

"having little or nothing to do

based on artistic principles,
however, the

"239 Bast did ascribe to Dean,

with temperament.

characteristic of attempting to achieve a father—son relation-
Bast saw

When Dean was with Kazan,

ship with his directors.
"no evidence of the usual director—actor relationship, but
”240 They became

that they were old friends.

felt, instead,
for Dean to urge Kazan

close enough, evidently——or outwardly,
to let Dean's friend Leonard Rosenman write the background
a function Rosenman was also to perform for

muSic for Eden,
though Bast is curiously reticent about the Nicholas

Rebel,
Dean‘s association with George Stevens

Ray—Dean relationship.

284

came about as part of a “calculated plan of attack" as

"Jimmy set to the challenge of snaring the juiciest role in
d."‘241 Stevens

the hottest picture being planned in Hollywoo

was.not unaware of the professional and commercial potentials

of having Dean in Giant and thus made a ready and willing
but when the shoot—

target. Dean got the role without a test,
the relationship soured somewhat. Dean dis-

ing started,
covered for himself the Stevens "technique“ of shooting "round

the clock” and beginning "each day's shooting without any

real plan”:
fkatakesall that film and shoots every scene from
every possible angle and when he's through, he
gets himself the best editor in town. Then they Spend
a year, sometimes more, selecting from miles and miles
of film the best shots and the best scenes.2 2

Dean resented what he considered a ”general

According to Bast,
"24:3

lack of the use of true creativity.
Bast said that at the time of Dean's relationship with

Stevens, Dean had reached a second and ultimate stage of
Earlier in New York Dean had cultim

personality develOpment.
vated his natural responses to a point where "self discipline

"244 He experimented with life

became a synonym for hypocrisy.
Bast quoted Dean as saying:

and with himself.

Nothing should be more important to the artist than
not even the ego. To grasp

life and the living of it,
the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to
interpret it, his problem; and to express it, his dedi-
cation.245

After Rebel, Bast declared, Dean became an advocate of
What was described as "Letterism": "A philosophy that vaguely

285

defined the most disgusting and obviously absurd behavior as
unique and self-expressive."246 At times "drinking heavily,"247
Dean experimented with all of the roles it is possible for a
human being to play in life or in drama. His psychiatric
visits served only, according to Bast, to further befuddle him
since he already knew that his "great insecurity" was "brought
on by his mother‘s death and his father's absence from his
life."24‘8 So, "dogged by an undefined, obscure obligation to
his departed mother," he raced through life, eventually to

his death.

Evidently to uphold Bast's thesis that he was trying
to present a humanized picture, an unvarnished account, cer—
tain evidences were presented at face value, such as the
description of an early Dean painting, "a caricature of a

man as a great round ash tray."249

The reader, whose only cue
is Bast's comment that Dean painted to shock, is left to his
own interpretation, Freudian or otherwise. In many other
instances, however, when it comes to evaluating anecdote or
experience, the analysis told more about Bast than it did
about Dean.

Bast‘s analyses and conclusions may or may not be
valid, even according to his observations and direct record
of sometimes too pat reconstructions. One wonders, for in—
stance, to what extent Dean's use of the word "Mom" in direct

address or in referring to many of the older women he met

throughout his life came about as a result of true feeling,

286

or to what extent it was part of the "bluff" at which Dean

was so adept to gain his particular end. Certainly all of
women could be regarded as mother substitutes (Dean's Aunt
Ortense, Bast's mother, Jane Deacy, and others), but where

did obligation lie? From whom should it be expected? And to
what extent? The problem of Dean's personality assessment may
not be as easy as Bast attempted to make it. His report may
be an effort to make his version of the Dean image fit more
closely the already published observations, because the truth

was unknown or could not be revealed.

Filmland in ”The James Dean Story—-Can It Be Told?"250

 

was concerned not with the story, but with the film: "All
Hollywood is wondering how the fans will feel about a screen
biography of their idol." The article:agreed that anyone who
played the role of Dean "would be making his own career,“

but argued:

No matter how brilliant his portrayal, the fans would
think him presumptuous, and even if they went to see him
in this one production, they would never want to see him
again. For no one can EVER take the place of JAMES DEAN.

But, for the sake of argument, a poll would be taken: the
"official" ballot to be filled out was attached to the article.
It was supposedly an attempt to assess fan reaction "before
breaking ground on such a controversial production.“

Again, this article seemed to be a case of attempting

to engender enthusiasm through controversy. It might be

287

considered as directly related to the reports of consideration
of Elvis Presley for the suggested role, inviting the readers
to take sides.

The article also kept the idea of a Dean filmed
biography in the public mind, a subtle preparation for the

eventual release of the long planned James Dean Story starring

 

James Dean. Considering the scope and intensity of the Dean
craze, the commercial possibilities of several such biographical
films may have been considered but such possibility is unlikely,
considering the record of similar projects.

Confirming to an extent such reaction was the announce-

ment‘251 in Movie Life's gossip column by Elvis Presley that he

 

would not play the Dean role in the life story:
It still just wouldn't be right . . . I couldn't do
it and I wouldn't do it. But I do admire him. I've
seen Rebel over and over again.
The same issue's article on Nick Adams, "That Terrific
Nick"252 added that it was James Dean who "started it all" by
using that appelation for Adams. Natalie Wood's "I Can't

Forget Jimmy"253

used anecdotes and Shakespearean quotations
("This was a man . . .“) to remind her and us of Dean. She
reiterated these thoughts in Alice Packard's article about her,

"254 in the December Movie Stars Parade.

"These Men Excite Me
The gossip column in that issue currently linked her with
Elvis Presley, whose "mountain of mail" was "bigger" than

Dean's.255 Dean was here identified as an "early crush" of

Natalie Wood. The trend toward polls continued, but the

 

'fiv.

POOA

a.--

«w, _.

 

288

question now asked was "Must We StOp Writing About Jimmy

Dean913256

The results of the previous poll "Should Elvis
Presley Play Jimmy Dean?"257 could be expected the following
month. A review of Giant258 added that the picture "will rate
special attention as Dean‘s last and most brilliant chore
before his untimely death." An attention—getting photo of
Elvis Presley had replaced the usual photo of Dean in fan
photo offers,259 but a new enterprise by the Giant Mail Order
Company offered “Jimmy's Memorial Record-—'James Dean, the
Greatest of Them All'"260 with his picture, memorial ribbon,
Road Race game and two free song books for a dollar. A later
picture caption noted that Dean Stockwell "resembles James

Dean, has same acting spark."

The December issue of Motion Picture carried the

 

double-page Giant advertisement, as did most of the other
current fan magazines. In this particular case it was con—
veniently placed next to Hedda Hopper's ”last interview"281
with Dean, a recap of his early life and his expressed hOpe
for a future writing career. Erskine Johnson's column262
reported that advisors were telling Elvis Presley not to play
the Dean role in the film biography because they were neither
look—alikes nor personality doubles. Johnson added "It‘s
dangerous for a star to play another public favorite.“ The

record review column "Listen With LOpez”263

reported on "the
current rash" of Dean recordings available as "worthwhile

mementoes for his many fans“:

289

Outstanding among them are Coral's album The Story
of James Dean narrated by Steve Allen and Bill Randle,
and MGM's Music From Motion Pictures Starring James Dean. . .
Other records about this pOpular young actor are
available such as Nathan Russell's folk—style rendition of
"His Name Was Dean“ (Forest label), a rock‘n'roller called
"I Miss You, Jimmy" (Groove label), and "A Tribute to
James Dean (Imperial label).

 

 

 

The recognition by the record manufacturers of the
steadily rising market for teenage record materials was re—
flected in these Dean recordings. Some records like the MGM EP

of Music From Motion Pictures Starring_James Dean264 were

 

merely re—issues of recordings of the old movie themes now
dressed up in special Dean jackets with photo studies, stills,
etc. as selling gimmicks. Other recordings used the photos
and jacket "Tributes" as an excuse for unloading selections of
stock arrangements of standard ballads, adding perhaps a single
piece of special material to warrant the release of the album
as a memorial tribute. Such an album was Music James Dean
Lived By (Unique label).255
The album liner noted that James Dean was celebrated
for his "honesty and sincerity" and had come to symbolize
"the constantly searching and often confused teen-age gener-
ation that has grown up in the last ten years." Though the

notes suggested Dean did not have a happy life,' the happiness
he did find was linked closely with music.“ Therefore, the
album presented "music that suggests the man. . . . To under-

stand his measure of greatness and to share his happiness,

this album is conceived and is sincerely dedicated."

290

With the exception of the opening selection entitled
"The Story of James Dean" and the inclusion of the themes of
Dean's pictures, this album might stand as a fairly repre-
sentative collection of love songs. But with the liner notes
and the initial selection setting the tone, if not the mood,
of the album as a whole, the songs selected and their lyrics
take on new meaning: "I'll Close My Eyes," "Misunderstood,"
"Give Me a Moment," “We Could Make Such Beautiful Music To-
gether," "There's Never Been Anyone Else But You," and
“Dream Lover." Sobbing strings, enhanced at times by an
organ or a soaring echo-chambered and wordless soprano voice
typified the arrangements.

The single piece of Special material was not typical
of the album as a whole. "The Story of James Dean" had
pretensions of sounding like a semi—authentic folk ballad of
the "Cry of the Wild Goose" genre, with solo verse and choral
refrain:

James Dean, James Dean,

Hear the story of James Dean.

He is gone, he is gone,

But his memory lingers on.
The initial verse is preceded by the keening echo—chambered
soprano, and each verse is followed by the rather nervous
beat of the chorus. The verses celebrate the physical
characteristics as well as the personality of Dean:

His hair was fair,

His smile was rare,
His eyes a haunting blue;

291
He dressed in jeans like the seventeens,
And did the things they liked to do.

. . He was born to be
Like all great men—~misunderstood.

Even Dean's films had been worked into the lyric "In one year's
time/ He had made his climb,/ A Giant now was he. . . ." The
dramatic qualities of the song were enhanced by a ludicrous
arrangement which included a tympany thump when "Fate stepped

in--and struck him dead.”

Of quite another character was The James Dean Story

 

(Coral label)266 It had the added prestige of the name of
Steve Allen who wrote the material for the album, after a
conception by disc jockey Bill Randle, possibly the same disc
jockey who initiated the radio tributes previously reported.
Together, Allen and Randle shared the narration which con-
nected the separate elements which make up the album. Several
of the individual songs had evidently been in previous circu—
lation as single records.

This album, too, capitalized on the country-style
ballad, and, in fact, used name Western singers like Jimmy
Wakely in performance. Country music was, perhaps, a last
outpost for the ballad style; it also reflected the farm
background of Dean; it could also be construed as a subtle
reference to Giant. Unlike the album previously discussed,
13$ James Dean Story_was seldom a silent meditation; it was a
Communion. Steve Allen and Bill Randle were the High Priests

leading the action and reaction.

a.ah

 

292

With a subtle and melancholy guitar plucked in the
background, Steve Allen leads off the recording by recalling
his first impressions of a Dean performance on television.
Allen considered Dean "50 good, so realistic" he didn‘t think
Dean was an actor: "I thought the director had picked up
some kid off the streets." This honesty in a Dean performance
is further amplified with the revelation that Allen was
“moved . . . to tears" by Dean's performance in East of Eden.
The audience is exhorted not to feel sorry for Dean: "Feel
sorry for yourself because Jimmy could have brought you a
great deal of entertainment"; he was ”one of the best." The
album, then, says Allen, is “for the benefit of the living,
not the dead." He notes in closing, "You miss James Dean;
I'm with you. . . ." At this point the orchestra launches

into a full violin treatment of the lullaby theme from

Egst of Eden.

 

Bill Randle takes over from there, introducing him-
self as a disc jockey: "Young people write to me.‘' These
letters have led Randle to believe that young peOple "seemed
to identify" with Dean, that Dean was able to "express some—
thing personally meaningful to the young." With all his
"naturalness" Dean was "the personification of what any teen-
age boy wanted to be, the dream any teenage girl might dwell
on. . . ." And another song begins:

Jimmy, Jimmy,

All of us miss you so-

We only knew you from afar;
We never spoke——and yet—-
We‘ll never forget you.

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293

Commentary by Randle preceding the Rebel Without a

 

gggge theme echoes the "official" Warner Brothers publicity
blurbs, that Dean played in that movie "a young boy caught
in the maelstrom of problems that beset many of today's teen-
agers." Further later commentary informs the listener that
Dean was "typically American," though his "struggle for recog-
nition was an epic one," his “battle against loneliness was
never won." Such comment precedes another song, "His Name
Was Dean,“ one of those previously noted as having been re—
leased before the Giant opening. The song concludes:

So beat the cymbals and blow on the horn;

Up in the sky a new star is born.

The little Rebel heard his call;

Now he'll be acting for us all

In dreams—-so goodnight, goodnight, James Dean.

In the next narrative section of the recording, for
variety, a new voice now takes over. Gigi Perreau, a young
actress, reads Carol Archer Sturmond's "We'll Never Forget
You," the prose-poem study featured in Hggg, The magazine
reference is not given, and the writer is identified as a
"sixteen year old . . . who never met James Dean." The added
poignancy and sense of listener identity with the voice of
the young girl recalling the "searching eyes, knowing yet
bewildered," ”the brilliance and the magic that is Jimmy Dean,"
makes one almost forget that it is Gigi, not Carol, saying
that Dean was “all peOple . . . part of the universal longing
for love, for understanding, for compassion." Like Dean's

fans, the narrator senses these qualities through Dean's roles

on the screen:

r. ..
..,— ‘—

...

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...- s4.
. ..
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294
I knew your gentleness. I saw your genius. Why

can't I forget your loneliness?
The concentration in the material identifies Dean's life and
personality, especially, with his role in Giant, and prepares
the listener for Randles' extended remarks on Dean's personal
qualities. Comment that Dean was "sometimes violent, some—
times shy," that he had "tensions" which were part of his
"moody and pensive nature” and part of “his drive toward per—
fection" prepare the listener for the pathos of the next
musical selection:

James Dean, James Dean. . .

A face so fair and eyes so blue—-

Oh so young, oh so young. . .

A gentle smile that seemed to touch you—-

Oh so young, oh so young. . .

The content of the material in the recording has in—
cluded mention of Giant but the dramatic structure now further
builds and climactically points to the Dean performance in
Giant, noting:

Giant was James Dean's last picture, some say his

best. He had for the first time the complete freedom

of expression an actor lives for.
And the orchestra launches into the most romantic of the Giant
theme melodies, "There‘s Never Been Anyone Else But You."

As denouement, Randle says that if asked to explain
"what an American teenager is really like" he might very well
answer, "Like James Dean." Though content is loaded with
subjunctives, the conclusion "James Dean really was American

Youth personified" is eventually, if circuitously, reached,

With the possible added appelative "World's Greatest Actor"

295

waiting in the wings, so to speak, setting the stage for the
final musical offering:

Farewell, 0 Prince of Players,

Now the curtain's down.

Life is but a stage they say--

To greater heights you're bound.

May the angels bid you welcome,

As we bid you goodbye . . . Goodbye, my Jamie boy.

The last is probably in reference to a dialogue note struck

by Plato in Rebel Without a Cause when he conjectures to Judy

 

that Jim Stark is "Jamie” to those he is closest to.
Steve Allen returns for a curtain call and for a final
redefinition of the content and purpose of the album: "The

living gather to comfort each other.”

flgtion Picture‘s "That Shy Smile" by Bill Tusher267

 

was a deliberate comparison of the rising young actor Tony
Perkins with James Dean:

He gives off the same air of troubled loneliness
that goads bobbysoxers to premature rampages of maternal—
ism; he is of the same school of acting; his shy retiring
manner and his habit of lowering his head and scuffing his
feet as he Speaks also calls Jimmy Dean to mind. And, like
Dean, he has no intention of being intimidated by con—
vention.

Tusher‘s comparison allowed Perkins to improve on his
Dean-like qualities and on Dean:

He does not seek to prove his individuality by trying
to impress people or shock them, as Dean did. He gives no
evidence of having either Dean's neuroses or compulsions,
and he is quite content to let off most of his steam in
acting. Although he has a nice appreciation for privacy
as Dean did, he has an even nicer realization, as Dean
didn‘t, that it is unrealistic for an actor to expect the
public to be moved by his performances and indifferent to
his personal life.

3

296

Similar, if less deliberate, was Donald Costello's

comment in Today in reviewing Friendly Persuasion:

Perkins does not exhibit the presence or voice of a
great stage actor, but he does Show a plastic, sensitive
face and intense expression much like that which was the
hallmark of James Dean.268

Movieland reported269 the $100,000 suit by Rolf

 

Wuetherich against the Dean estate. The happy but cryptic com—
ment was that "with so much money at stake," the facts of the
accident "will obviously be brought to light,” which left,

at this stage, the "rumor" stories still unresolved, at least,
according to the item. Cross—page, All—Star Pix,270 a fan
photo agency, featured a Dean photo among its many offerings,
but those of both Elvis Presley and Sal Mineo were larger

and more prominently placed. Dean may have been fading, but
he was not forgotten entirely.

Ruth Rowland wrote for this same issue "How Jimmy

Dean Still Works Miracles For Others."27l Her first example
concerned how photographer Frank Worth gained his new
Cadillac:

Because we were friends before Jimmy became a
success, when he did get to be a star, he let me Shoot
all kinds of pictures in his home and at the races in
Santa Barbara where I could get exclusive stuff. . . .

He helped build a whole career for me. . . .
Listed also were other more obvious recipients of
the Dean "magic": producer David Weisbart, director Nicholas

Ray, and writer Stewart Stern of Rebel; stars Natalie Wood,

Sal Mineo, Nick Adams, and Dennis Hopper.

297

Movieland's 1957 Annual was released about this time,

and in the lead editorial, "Hollywood IS For the Young“272

suggested that Hollywood was "frantically searching for a

successor to James Dean" and tagged Tony Perkins "as the most

likely candidate":

Tony is a perfect example of how a performer today——
even a newcomer——can become well known to the public and
achieve the status of star before he‘s seen in a movie.
These days, publicity in columns and magazines almost

makes it impossible for an unknown to stay unknown.
the old days,

Today,

In
the build—up of a star took several movies.

the actors and actresses find their faces are
known long before their first film is released. Magazines

like Movieland help make this possible by introducing and
pOpularizing these newcomers.

 

The article "Does the Legend Betray the Man?"273 said

it was trying to tear down the "legend," but in the process

repeated all the rumors and the honors connected with the man

and the name, and added, regarding his talent and association

with his roles, that "Dean made such roles believable through

sheer projection of his acting talent. . . . The association

of himself with these roles was of prime concern to Dean, and

had he lived, he planned to separate himself from them."

In a more personal sense, an unnamed actress is quoted to the

effect that Dean himself revealed to her that his eccentric
dress was a conscious "gimmick" employed to gain attention.
All of the posthumous attention paid to Dean moved Natalie

Wood, who felt she "must Speak out against some of the cheap

and phony publicity."

298

Movie Life Yearbook_#23 featured Dean on the cover

with Elvis Presley and Natalie Wood. Inside the front cover

was a full page portrait of Dean. Also, there was in the

magazine the article "In Loving Memory . . . The Jimmy Dean

Saga-—A Story Without an End!"274 The article began with

baby pictures and closed with a picture of Dean's grave.

Yet, stated the article, "He lives in the hearts of millions."

Why?

Giant is his greatest triumph of all. . . . He turned

in one of the most respected, most talked-of performances
of our day, a performance which Should win him an Oscar.

Whisper for December featured "James Dean YE- Elvis

Presley"275 because:

Today in the United States there is a huge population
of teenagers hungry for an idol.

They are starving for someone to guide them,
tern their lives on, to dream dreams about.

To millions of these kids, Dean became such an idol.

Now, however, someone else has emerged to compete
with him for the teenagers adulation.

to pat—

The newcomer was Elvis Presley who "in November, 1955 came
bumping and grinding out of the west." The article portrayed
Dean as, unlike Valentino, "a plain-looking American kid,"
appealing “largely to the maternal rather than the romantic
instinct," adding that it was easier for fans to identify

with someone like Dean rather than "with a star who's com-

pletely poised and perfectly groomed at all times." The

Presley section of the article was completely derogatory, and

deliberately so, to provide fodder for further material.

A.Whi8per trick was to antagonize readers to excite comment

299

and controversy, a formula found successful with other

figures and with other articles.

Further Presley—Dean linkage occurs with the publication
of a "Double-feature" one shot, Elvis and Jimmy,276 published

by the teen magazine combine The Girl Friend-The Boy Friend

Corporation. The first half of the magazine was a photo

article describing "how it feels to be Elvis":

For the next hour, you are going to be Elvis Presley,
living Elvis“ life, thinking Elvis' thoughts, finding out

just what it means to be the most famous man in America
today.277

The latter half of the magazine was the picture story

"The Tragedy and Triumph of Jimmy Dean,"278 a comic book

"picture drama" by artist Lou Cameron:

No photographer was there to film these intimate

moments of Jimmy's life. But here you will see them in
all their drama.

The illustrations were often poorly executed copies
of photographs and were meshed with accompanying captions

and comic strip "balloon Speeches." Content tended to gloss

over East of Eden and denounced Rebel as "phony" with "some-

thing missing at the heart of the movie——something that didn't

ring true." Whatever the faults of Rebel, they were not

Dean's: "Although the picture was a jumble of ideas that

never quite meshed into an effective whole, Jimmy's part in

it was a triumph.“ Concentration was on the Giant role as

the apex of Dean's career. And, he had the added advantage of

working with George Stevens, a "meticulous craftsman" who

300

as a father might

“counseled him wisely and sympathetically,
"a kid

Dean,

have-—the father Jimmy had never really known."
' his

with genius," poured "his whole heart into his role,‘

"mystic vein" having convinced him this was his "last big
chance as an actor." The final illustration caught a pensive

study of Dean peering out of the clouds:
You've gone to a rendezvous you always
But those who die

Goodbye Jimmy.

sensed was not very far away.
young are always beautiful in the memory of those who
they are blessed.

loved them, and in that way, perhaps,

The magazine as a whole provided a commercially viable

the Dean section, which found

link between Presley and Dean;
added a handy advertise—

its real life in the reel life of Dean,
especially, Giant.

ment for the Dean films, and,

There was linkage, too, but of a different nature in
The Crazy Mixed Up Kinds Take Over"279

Gerald Wales's”Movies:
in The Reporter for December 13, 1956. Walesksarticle announced
of the immature has finally hit Hollywood".

that "the apotheosis
The new hero in his purest form can be seen in the
Jimmy Dean roles in Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden:
essentially they are the same character. Reduced to his
simplest terms-~and such is the method of the movies-—the
character in both films is suffering from something that
In both films

probably could be called father failure.
but the bulk of the

the boy works his way toward maturity.
film Shows him as a weak, dependent child, who needs

coddling and Spoiling to keep him from flying into a temper.
It is unlikely that the appeal of the films lay in the way
put upon,

It was Jimmy Dean, confused, hurt,
that gave the two

they ended.

not James Dean heading for manhood,
movies their popularity. . . . The image is not that of an
adult hero to be emulated but an extension of all the con—
fusions of adolescence, the concretizing of immaturity until
it becomes a swagger, a boast, a sudden explosion.

301

The appeal in the films was compounded by personal

publicity when "the fan magazines played the 'tragedy' for

all it was worth, lamenting the waste but in the lamenting

exalting the death into something beautiful." The result was

the "posthumous James Dean cult."

Wales considered the development of the "sad—bad boy"

which "has taken over popular culture" part of a "kinship

between him and the times in which he operates.“ His appeal

is not limited only to teenagers. The trend toward the new

cultural hero had appeared earlier in literature in the writ—

ing of McCullers and Salinger, in television, and in maga—

zines. The "latest, most grotesque form," Elvis Presley,

was likened by Wales to "an obscene child, a too sensuous

adolescent." Wales‘s estimation of the situation saw Presley

only as the product of a long evolving process:

The movies have just gone the process one better.
They have taken the sensitive child and added a little
left-over violence from old gangster movies and dressed
him in an acting style that is full of identification

marks.

 

Penelope Houston reviewed Giant280 for Sight and Sound.
Her review found consideration of Dean's playing of Jett Rink
an important factor in an appreciation of the film as a satis—

factory dramatic and cinematic achievement:

Dramatically the story loses through the failure to
bring Jett Rink sufficiently close to the centre of the
action. At the outset, Rink is sullen, wary, restless.
The script presents the character through a series of
but James Dean's performance is a matter of

Statements,
suggestions of neurotic stresses and

implications,

302

The delicate little scene in which he enter-
the shots of the ranch
glorying
In the

tensions.
tains Leslie Benedict to tea,
hand pacing out the boundaries of his property,
in the fact of ownership, are beautifully managed.
later scenes, though, Dean for the first time in his
tragically short career had to go beyong the characteriza—
tion of the young rebel; and his technical resources fail
to see him through. His relative failure (and it is only
relative) throws some incidental light on Stevens' di-
rection of his players. . . . Putting it very approximately,
one might say that Kazan works through his actors, while
Stevens prefers his actors to work through him. . . . The
value of the performance, in other words, is essentially
its contribution to the mood and temper of the individual
scene. A somewhat limited player, such as Elizabeth
Taylor, can appear at her best in a Stevens' picture; an
actor like James Dean seems to be putting more into the
part than the director needs for his own purposes.

Though the Method actor and his control were not men—
tioned as such in the Houston review, Tony Richardson attempted

an assessment of Method contributions in another article in

the same issue.281 The Method "school” of acting was receiving

particular interest in Britain which had long been used to a

more "classical" acting style. Richardson's conception of the

social implications of this new, impressive mode of acting

were rather muddily expounded in "The Method and Why." The

article was prefaced with large pictures of Marlon Brando and

Dean and the following quotation, among others:

The play is dedicated to the thought of James Dean.
There is no other actor, and there never has been since
the end of the war, who has so wholly represented my
generation, here in England, but strangely he is an
American. This play in its entirety, I give to Dean.

But he is dead now.

The quotation was identified as playwright Michael Hastings'

dedication to his play Don't Destroy Me.

303

Richardson's remarks echoed Hastings' to the extent
that Dean would seem to be a Western personification of a
world—wide search for a hero, "the personal embodiment" of a
"need for romance." Juvenile unrest in societies as dis—
parate as those in Russia and Japan presage this search, which
has no geographic dimension and assumes many forms: "Whatever
his surface may be, belligerent, neurotic, self-pitying or
frustrated, our hero is always deeply malcontent with the
set up as he sees it." The "most emulated” hero figures
among actors, Brando and Dean, are:

protesting against a stereotype, the practical, self—

assured, materialistic success boy of American society.
Their rebellion shows the misfit, inarticulate in Speech,
confused in gesture: the essence of this protest has
been what is critically labelled the Slouch and slur.

The article was written, said Richardson, "to assess
how far this image has been conditioned and determined by the
method in which both Brando and Dean have worked, and to which
popularly they are so inextricably linked."

For Richardson, the most significant contribution of
the Actors Studio "is the creation of a committed state of
mind about acting——committed about its relevance to con—
temporary life and its seriousness as a craft." The results
to be found ”in a whole corpus of forthright and sound pro-
fessionalism,“ and he listed East of Eden as an example, have
"no parallel anywhere in the West," though Richardson admitted

that “verse speaking, classical comedy, the oratorical style

are outside the Studio's normal demands . . . and when they

304

are attempted, Studio members prove inadequate." Richardson
feels that the key to the power of the Actors Studio Method
is "Externalisation":

Nowhere is this tendency more apparent than in the
work of James Dean, partly perhaps because he was the
most talented, sensitive and poetic of the Actors Studio
members, partly because he was its spoilt child. His
performances in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause
are a broken tasselation of shrugs, grunts, hesitations
and retreats . . . a calculated and indulgent effect.

 

 

Richardson quoted GeOrge Stevens' remarks about Dean's
breaking up a scene, his "pulling and hauling," his "culti—
vated, designed irreSponsibility." He noted from them: "It
is this element of the personally conscious, the calculated
rebellion, that one most suspects in Studio—trained perform—
ances." Richardson further felt that the stress on the ex-
ternal, though rich in detail, may be ultimately self-defeating:

Acting, like all creation, is ultimately private,

and rehearsals are wisely behind closed doors. When
self-problems are dramatised they tend to become exhi—
bitionist; when individual technical difficulties become
the rule (as both from report, and from evidence of the

Brando/Dean performances), mannerism alone can result.

Again, Richardson cited the Dean performance in East of Eden

 

to illustrate the above and to illustrate a Kazan quotation,
"Direction finally consists of turning psychology into
behavior."

In action, with action, accepted as heroes, actors
like Dean, Brando, §£_§l., "touch the fear, the loneliness,
the pallid sexual ambiguity, the vague religious yearnings of
their admirers.“ AS an example of the effect, Richardson

quoted "Daniel Winter, a young man who thinks he is James Dean

,»~.’-

.a...»

tKJ

305

reincarnated“ in a statement given "in a recent series of pro—
grammes on BBC Television":

Now Dean'sgone who's going to eXpress our frustration?

I used to watch him on the screen and think, that's my
frustration he's expressing. It was like looking on the
face of God.

Richardson acknowledged Dean's publicized personal
life as providing direct contribution to the rise of Dean
popularity to cult proportions. He concluded:

Dean himself is partly responsible: to a large extent

he played up his own myth. His choice of the misfit, the
rebel, was in part an indulgence and a retreat into his

own weakness. Yet on the other hand, latent in the very
choice of the role was also a quite genuine, if inarticu—
late, social protest. . . . However much one may criticise

or make qualifications about detail or individual dis—
tortion, affirmation of any sort, even if it takes the
form of negation and protest itself, is too rare to be ig—
nored.

Whereas fan magazines had equated the roles Dean played
with his personal life, Richardson tried to equate the acting
style as manifested in those roles with a form of social pro-
test, seeing in the way the roles were played, evidently re—
gardless of content, literary or dramatic, a personal philo-
sophic discontent. Richardson may have been quite correct, but
his arguments were too personalized to bear the weight of his
generalized conclusion.

In France, Cahiers du Cinema gave a joint Christmas
salute to both Nicholas Ray and James Dean with the publi-
cation of "Portrait de l‘acteur en jeune homme: James Dean,"282
a French translation of the October American publication of

that segment of Nicholas Ray's projected book dealing exclusive-

ly with Dean.

I

(who

.--v.

ap-

306

Further analysis and reviews of Giant appeared in the

more serious American film magazines. Jonas Mekas283

criticized the "sketchiness“ and "lack of structure“ in Film

Culture, while in the same issue an extended breakdown of the

284:

film by Andrew Sarris showed the subtle influence of the

character Dean played on the internal structure of the film:

The most fascinating performance in the film is given
by James Dean as Jett. He first appears on the screen with
his face Shrouded in a low slung ten gallon hat, glowering
and muttering in the background. Stevens tends to keep
Dean in semi—obscurity through the remainder of the film,
picking him up at odd moments for a brief wordless sug—
gestion of character. The high points of Giant can all be
attributed to Dean and Stevens acting in concert for off—
key effects.

Dean's best scene as an actor occurs in a room full of
tense ranchers, jovially advising him to sell the land he
has just inherited. Dean builds up the suspense with a
fluttering series of chuckles, winks, and minor movements
of his head. This is straight "method” acting, and the
only occasion in the film when Dean's playing is not sub-
dued by Shadowy camera effects. Elsewhere, it is Dean's
sensual presence that Stevens exploits to enrich the tex-
ture of the central marital situation.

While critical estimates continued, so did the picture

plugs in the newSpapers.‘285

The grosses on Giant continued to
multiply.286 In this I'trial" year of 1956, with thus far only
limited runs, Giant was proving to be the greatest block buster
of the season. Eventual gross rentals proved Giant to be
among the top dozen money making films of all time.

While the money was rolling in, Dean's name was being
entered into the annals of his times. The encyclOpedia year-

287

bookshad.but modest mentions, and those concerned his death.

More often than not, a Simple obituary was listed, citing the

307

bare facts of his birth and his death and his occupation:

"American film actor." The Americana AnnualgE38 went so far

 

as to include also a brief biographical article which men—
tioned Dean's acting specialty, his playing the "shy, moody,

inarticulate" adolescent.

10.
11.

12.

13.
14.
15.
16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

CHAPTER IV-—NOTES

"Modern Screen Silver Cup Awards," Modern Screen, January
1956, p. 25. [Fragment--private collection.]

"Photoplay Gold Medal Awards Ballot," Photoplay, Vol. XLIX,
No. 1 (January, 1956) p. 6.

Janet Graves, “Let's Go to the Movies," Photoplgy
(January, 1956), p. 21.

Evelyn H. Hunt, "To James Dean," Photopl§y_(January, 1956),
p. 50.

Cal York, "Inside Stuff," Photoplay_(January, 1956), p. 17.

Hedda Hopper, column item, Motion Picture, January, 1956.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Story (Greenwich,
Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956), p. 60.

George Stevens, ”A Tenderness Lost," Motion Picture,
Vol. XLV, No. 541 (January, 1956), pp. 55ff.

Henry Holt, ”Ten Best," Films in Review, Vol. VII, No. 1
(January, 1956), pp. 1ff.

 

 

Eugene Archer, "Generation Without a Causef Film Culture,
Vol. II, No. 1(7) 1956, pp. 18ff.
Picture, ”Tense Scene in a knige fight," Chicago's American

 

January 15, 1956, p. 41.

Picture, The Saturday Evening Post, January 28, 1956.
[Fragment—-private collection.]

Hedda Hopper, column item, Motion Picture, February, 1956,
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stogy (Greenwich,
Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956) p. 60.

Sam Schaeffer, ”James Dean's Black Madonna," Whisper,

Vol. X, No. 2 (February, 1956), pp. 12ff.

Seymour Korman, ”The Last Hours of James Dean," Chicago
Tribune Sunday Magazine, February 5, 1956, pp. 18ff./

Francois Truffant, “Les Haricots du mal," Cahiers du Cinema,
Vol. X, No. 56 (February, 1956), pp. 40ff.

This item is from a personal scrapbook. It amply illus—
trates not only the youth of Dean's followers, but
their depth of feeling.

Frank O'Hara, ”For James Dean," Poetry, Vol. LXXXVII, No. 6
(March, 1956), pp. 339-341.

"Goodbye, Jimmy," Modern Screen, March, 1956. Reprinted in
The Official James Dean Anniversary BoQk(New York:

Dell Publishing Co., 1956), pp} 66ff.

Anne Higginbotham,, "The Best IS Yet to Be," Photoplay,
Vol. XLIX, No. 5 (March, 1956), p. 55.

Edith Gwynn, "Hollywood Party Line," Photoplay(March,

1956), p. 28.

308

21.
22.

23.
24.

25.
26.

27.
28.

29.

30.

4

.L.

32.
33.
34.
35.
36.

37.
38.

39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.

47.

309

Emma Woolen Dean, "James Dean—-The Boy I Loved,"
Photoplay (March, 1956), pp. 56 ff.

Penelope Houston, "Rebels Without Causes," Sight and Sound,
Vol. XXV, No. 4 (Spring, 1956), pp. 178ff.

"All Time Box Office Films," Variety, January 6, 1965, p. 67.

Hedda Hopper, column item from Motion Picture, March,

1956. Reprinted in The Real James Dean Story
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.,
1956), p. 60.

Warner Brothers Studio Press Book: Rebel Without a Cause.

Army Archerd, column item, Variety, dated March 8, 1956.
Drama Collection,New York City Public Library.

Emily Belser, "Oscar Awards," Chicago's American, March
19, 1956, p. 1.

Hedda Hopper, column item, Motion Picture, April, 1956.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Story (Greenwich,
Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956), p. 60.

”The Deepening Mystery of James Dean,” Movie Stars Parade,
Vol. XVI, No. 5 (April, 1956), pp. 42ff.

Ruth C. Rowland, "The Lady They Call Tiger," Movie Stars
Parade (April, 1956), pp. 40ff.

Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (April, 1956), p. 76.

Ibid., p. 72.

Ibid., p. 63.

"Movie Life of James Dean," Movie Life_Year Book #22
(New York: Ideal Publishing Co., 1956), pp. 94ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture and caption, "Movie Life of Pier Angeli," Movie
Life Year Book_#22, p. 16.
Picture and caption, "Movie Life of Elizabeth Taylor,"

Movie Life Year Book #22, p. 31.

"In Loving Memory," Movie Life Year Book #22, pp. 44-45.

"James Dean's Fans Speak Their Minds,“ WhiSper, Vol. X
No. 3 (April, 1956), pp. 44ff.

"The Late James Dean,” New York Sunday News, April 1,
1956, p. 17.

"From Our Readers," Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XVI, No. 6
(May, 1956), p. 16.

"The Boy Who Didn't Die," Movie Stars Parade (May, 1956),
pp. 27ff.

Beverly Linet, “What Made Jimmy Run?" Movie Stars Parade
(May, 1956), pp. 30ff.

"His Searching Heart," Movie Stars Parade (May, 1956),

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pp. 34ff.

"His Living Legacy," Movie Stars Parade (May, 1956),
pp. 36ff.

Alice Packard, "The Real Jimm Dean," Movie Stars

 

Parade (May, 1956), pp. 3 ff.
"Those Who Loved Him," Movie Stars Parade (May, 1956),
pp. 43ff.
“The End . . . or the Beginning," Movie Stars Parade
(May, 1956), pp. 45ff.

 

 

310

48. Advertisement featuring Dean pictures on pp. 56, 60, 64,
and 72, Movie Stars Parade (May, 1956).

49. Jim Cook, "Jimmy Dean Is Not Dead," Motion Picture, Vol.
XLV, No. 545 (May, 1956), pp. 17ff.

50. John Keller, "When Love Takes Over," Motion Picture (May,
1956), pp. 44ff.

51. Hedda HOpper, "Under Hedda's Hat," Motion Picture (May,
1956), p. 6.

52. "Did James Dean Really Die?" Rave, Vol. II, No. 4 (May,
1956), pp. 24ff.

53. Donald Costello, "Too Much Decorum," Today: The Catholic
Youth Magpzine, Vol. XI, No. 8 (May, 1956), pp. 22—23.

54. Eugene Archer, “The Genesis of a Style," Film Culture,
Vol. II, No. 2 (8) 1956, pp. 5ff.

55. William Pepe, "James Dean Still Gets Mail," pr York World—
Telggram and Sun, dated May 3, 1956. Drama Collection,
New York Public Library.

56. Aline Mosby, "Actor Has Become Legend," New York World—
Telegram and Sun, dated May 21, 1956. Drama Collection,
New York Public Library.

57. Larry Wolters, column item, Chicago Tribune, dated May 21,
1956. [Fragment-—private collection.]

58. Hedda HOpper, "Looking at Hollywood," Chicago Tribune,
dated May 30, 1956. [Fragment-—private collection.]

59. "Readers Inc." Photoplgy, Vol. XLIX, No. 6, June, 1956,
p. 32.

60. Steve~Rowland, "Glitterville Scene," DIG, Vol. I, No. 2
(June, 1956L p. 52.

61. [Frank Campbell] "Anyone Know Him?" QIQJ(June, 1956),
pp. 36~37.

62. “The Truth Behind the James Dean Stories," Movie Secrets,
Vol. II, No. 3 (June, 1956), pp. 46ff.

63. "East of Eden," Screen Stories, Vol. LV, No. 6 (June, 1956)
pp. 34ff.

64. Mike Connolly, "Last Minute News From Hollywood," Screen
Stories (June, 1956), p. 12.

65. "Who Can Take His Place?" Film Life, Vol. I, No. 5 (June,
1956), pp. 28ff.

66. ”Jimmy Dean Fights Back From the Grave," Movie Life,
Vol. XIX, No. 7 (June, 1956), pp. 24ff.

67. "Hollywood's Hottest Lovers," Movie Life (June, 1956)
pp. 34ff.

68. "As You Remember Him," Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XVI, No. 7

' (June, 1956), pp. 23ff.

69. Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (June, 1956), p. 60.

70. Ibid., p. 67.

71. Ibid., pp. 61, 68.

72. Ibid., p. 68.

73. "The Boy Who Refuses to Die," The James Dean Album
(New York: Ideal Publishing Corporation, 1956),
pp- 4ff-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u v

I

74.

75.

76.

77.
78.
79.

80.
81.

82.
83.
84.

85.

86.

87.
88.

89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.

98.

311

 

 

"James Dean's Greatest Performance," The James Dean Album
(New York: Ideal Publishing Corporation, 1956),
pp. 30ff.

Henry Ginsberg, "His True Greatness,“ The James Dean Album
(New York: Ideal Publishing Corporation, 1956),
p. 39.

Ruth Rowland, "What Jimmy Dean's Death Did to Hollywood,"
The James Dean Album (New York: Ideal Publishing
Corporation, 1956), pp. 46ff.

Walter Lassally, "The Cynical Audience," Sight and Sound,
Vol, XXVI, No. 1 (Summer, 1956), pp. 12ff.

“Schlitz Playhouse of Stars": "The Unlighted Road"
(Chicago TV, June 1, 1956).

Marc Edmonds, "James Dean," Off-Broadway, June 15, 1956,

 

 

 

p. 7.
"Star That Won't Dim," Newsweek June 18, 1956, p. 122.
George Stevens, "James Dean,” Cahiers du Cinema, Vol. X,

 

No. 61 (July, 1956), pp. 3ff.
Mike Connolly, "Exclusive Report From Hollywood,"
Screen Stories, Vol. LV, No- 7 (July, 1956), p. 6.
Mike Connolly, ”Last Minute News from Hollywood,"
Screen Stories (July, 1956), p. 12.
"Rebel Without a Cause,” Screen Stories (July, 1956), pp.
29ff.
Hedda HOpper, column item, Motion Picture, July, 1956.
Reprinted in The Real James Dean Stogy (Greenwich,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956),
p. 60.

Picture and caption, New York Sunday_News, July 8, 1956,
p. 10.

"Memorial Set Up," New York Times, July 11, 1956, p. 18.

”James Dean's Strange Legacy," Movie Life, Vol. XIX, No.
(July, 1956), pp. 37ff.

Dick Williams, "News, News, News," Movie Life (July,
1956), p. 10.

"Strange Revelations of the Stars Rival Bridey Murphy,”
Movie Life (July, 1956), pp. 27ff.

 

 

 

 

 

Evelyn Washburn Nielsen, "Secrets From Jimmy Dean's Past,"
Movie Life (July, 1956), pp. 46ff.
Jeanne Balch Caper, "The Strange Revival of James Dean,"

American Weekly, July 29, 1956, pp. 4ff.

Mike Connolly, “Exclusive Report From Hollywood,” Screen
Stories, Vol. LV, No. 8 (August, 1956), p. 6.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 8.

”It's Your Screen,‘ Screen Stories (August, 1956), p. 18.

David Eardly, “Hollywood's Next Jimmy Dean," Hollywood
Stars, Vol. VII, No. 5 (August, 1956), pp. 40ff.

Beverly Linet, "The Secret Happiness of Jimmy Dean,”
Movie Life, Vol. XIX, No. 9 (August, 1956), pp. 21ff.

 

 

 

 

 

99.

100.
101.

102.

112.

113.

114.

115.

116.

117.

118.

119.

120.

312

Evelyn Washburn Nielsen, "What Jimmy Dean's Home Town
Can Now Reveal," Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XVI, No. 9
(August, 1956), pp. 28ff.

Picture and caption, Movie Stars Parade (August, 1956),

Alyce Canfield, "Hollywood's Greatest Untold Love Stories,"
Motion Picture, Vol. XLV, No. 548 (August, 1956),
pp. 21ff.

Helen Louise Walker, ”Rendezvous with Danger," Motion
Picture (August, 1956), pp. 38ff.

"My Star Twin," Motion Picture (August, 1956), p. 62.

Sheilah Graham, "Sounding Off,“ Motion Picture (August,
1956), p. 57.

Jack Martin, "Hollywood A. M." Hear The Voice of Holly-
ypgd, Vol. 1, No. 1 (August, 1956), p. 11.

Carol Archer Sturmond, "We'll Never Forget You. . . .“
Hear The Voice of Hollywood (August, 1956), pp. 46ff.

Sam Schaeffer, "The Girl James Dean Left Behind,"
Whisper, Vol. X, No. 6 (August, 1956), pp. 8ff.

Hy Gardner, ”Coast to Coast," New York Herald Tribune,
August 8, 1956, p. 12.

Dorothy Kilgallen, ”Macabre Build Up of James Dean,"
Chicagp's American, August 10, 1956, p. 23.

Helen Dudas, "The Legend of Jimmy Dean," The New York Post,
August 19, 1956, p. 6M.

Fragment——Associated Press Release from The Los Angeles
Times dated August 23, 1956. In Warner Brothers Studio
Publicity Collection.

Bob Thomas, "Dean's Still Alive in Death to Fans,"
Florida Times Union, August 26, 1956, p. 31.

Joan Dickinson, "The 'Rebel' Who Invented a New Cult——
After Death," New York Sunday Mirror, August 26, 1956,
pp. 4-5.

Jim Scovotti, Review of Somebody Up There Likes Me,

Films in Review, Vol. VII, No. 7ETSeptember, 1956),
pp. 344f.

"James Dean's Life Story . . . In His Own Words,“

The Real James Dean Story (Greenwich, Connecticut:
Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1956), pp. 2ff.

Kathryn Tate, ”The Man Behind the Legend," The Real
James Dean Story (Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett
Publications, Inc., 1956), pp. 6ff.

Bob Hinkle, “My Friend, Jimmy," The Real James Dean
Story (Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications,
Inc., 1956), pp. 10ff.

Sal Mineo, "The Dean I Knew," The Real James Dean Stogy
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.,
1956), pp. 18ff.

"The Women in His Life," The Real James Dean Stogy
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.,
1956), pp. 24ff.

"The Star They'll Never Forget," The Real James Dean Stopy
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

121.

122.

123.

124.

129.

130.

131.

132.

133.
134.

135.

136.
137.

138.

139.

140.

313

"This Was His Greatness," The Real James Dean Story
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.,
1956), pp. 30ff.

Ernst Jacobi, “The Lonely One," The Real James Dean Story
(Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, Inc.
1956), pp. 46ff.

Jimmy Dean Returns (New York: Rave Publishing Company,

 

 

 

1956).

"The Man Behind the Legend,“ James Dean Official Anni—
versary Book (New York: Dell Publishing Company,
1956), pp. 4ff.

"Portrait of the Actor in a Big Town," James Dean Official
Anniversary_Book (New York: Dell Publishing Company,
1956), pp. 8—92

"A Boy at Homefl'James Dean Official Anniversary_Book
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956), pp. 10—11.

"The Actor at Work. . . ." James Dean Official Anni—
versary Book (New York: Dell Publishing Company,
1956), pp. 12ff.

”Jimmy Dean‘s Journey Toward a Place Called Love,"

James Dean Official Anniversary Book (New York: Dell
Publishing Company, 1956), pp. 16ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We Who Live On," James Dean Official Anniversary Book
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956l, pp. 21ff.
"The Footprints of a Giant," James Dean Official Anni—

 

 

versary Book (New York: Dell Publishing Company,
1956), pp. 37ff.

"This Is How the Legend Was Made: Dell's Record of
Jim's Career," James Dean Official Anniversary Book
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1956), pp. 41ff.

Nicholas Ray, Gavin Lambert, “Story Into Script,"

Sight and Sound, Vol. XXVI, No. 2 (Autumn, 1956),
pp. 70ff.

”The Man They Won't Let Die," Movie Show, Vol. III, No. 1
(September, 1956), pp. 38ff.

Helen Limke, "Hollywood Talks," Movie Show, (September,
1956), p. 13.

Richard Heller, "Jimmy Dean, The Story He Wanted to Tell,”
TVLMovie Screen, Vol. 111, No. 6 (September, 1956),
pp. 34ff.

"The Reader's Corner," TV—Movie Screen,(September, 1956),
p. 57.

William Bast, "There Was a Boy,“ Pt. I, Photoplay, Vol.
L, No. 3 (September, 1956), pp. 39ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aljean Meltsir, ”James Dean, His Life and Loves,“
Motion Picture, Vol. LV, No. 549 (September, 1956),
pp. 34ff.

Marcia Lawrence, "The Unlighted Road," Screen Stories,
Vol. LV, No. 9 (September, 1956), pp. 39ff.

Armand Archerd, "Confidential Gossip," Screen Stars,

 

(September, 1956), p. 50.

314

. Nick Adams, "The James Dean I Knew," Screen Stars,
(September, 1956), pp. 40ff.

142. Nick Adams, “Jimmy Dean, Why We Loved Him," Mpyie Life
September, 1956, as advertised in Movie Life,

Vol. XIX, No. 9 (August, 1956), p. 68.

143. Joe Hyams, "James Dean," Redbook, The Magazine for
Young Adults, Vol. XVII, No. 5 (September, 1956),
pp. 28ff.

144. Dennis Stock, "Portraits of a Young Man,” (Tokyo:
Corner River Bookstore, 1956).

145. Translations from the Japanese by Paul Shimokubo grate-
fully acknowledged. Copies of part of the trans—
lationsare now'in the library of the photography
collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.

146. "Hollywood Tattletale," Filmland, Vol. XI, No. 5
(September, 1956), p. 12-

147. "The Search for James Dean" Filmland (September, 1956),
pp. 23ff.

148. "Dean of the One—Shotters,” Time, September 3, 1956,

p. 54.

149. Evelyn Washburn Nielsen, "The Truth About James Dean,"
Chicago Tribune Magazine, September 9, 1956.

150. Picture, New York Daily News, dated September 16, 1956.
Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

151. Ezra Goodman, "Delirium Over Dead Star,“ Life, September
24, 1956, pp. 75ff.

152. Joseph R. Marshall, "The Life of James Dean," Pt. I
Chicago's American, September 26, 1956, p. 1.

153. Quotations from succeeding installments were taken from
fragments in the files of Warner Brothers Studio
Publicity. There are copies also in the Drama
Collection of the New York City Public Library.

154. Tim Taylor, "His Name Was Dean," Egg, September 29, 1956,
p. 11.

155. Kitty Hansen,"Jimmy Dean: They Won't Let Him Rest in
Peace,” Pt. 1., New York Dailnyews, September 28,
1956, p. 34.

156. Kitty Hansen, ”Jimmy Dean: They Won't Let Him Rest in
Peace,” New York Daily News, September 29,

1956, Pt. 2, p. 14.

157. Atra Baer, ”Elvis Presley Tells on Elvis," Chicago's
American, September 30, 1956, p. 13.

158. “James Dean," Movie Secrets, Vol. II, No. 5 (October,
1956), pp. 22ff.

159. David Meyers, "Your James Dean Memorial Medallion,“
Modern Screen October, 1956, p. 27. [Fragment——
private collection.]

160. Nick Adams, "Jimmy's Happiest Moments," Modern Screen,
October 1956, pp. 28ff. [Fragment--private collection.]

161. "A Special Message to James Dean Fans," Movie Mirror

OctOber, 1956, pp. 30ff. [Fragment—-private

collection.]

F)
gs
F3

 

 

 

 

 

173.

174.
175.

176.
177.

178.

179.

180.

181.

182.

183.

184.

315

. Marcus Winslow, as told to Aljean Meltsir, "You Can

Make Jimmy Dean Live Forever," Motion Picture, Vol.
LV, No. 550 (October, 1956), pp. 52ff.

"The Last Unpublished Pictures of Jimmy Dean," Movie
Spotlight, Vol. VII, No. 5 (October, 1956), pp. 28ff.

”The Star Who Never Died," Movieland, Vol. XIV, No. 10
(October, 1956), pp. 40ff.

Nick Adams, "Why We Loved Jimmy Dean," Movie Life
Vol. XIX, No. 11 (October, 1956), pp. 38ff.

"Should Elvis Presley Play Jimmy Dean?“ Movie Stars
Parade, Vol. XVI, No. 11 (October, 1956), pp. 27ff.

 

 

 

 

 

'. William Bast, "There Was a Boy. . . ." Pt. 2, Photoplay,

 

Vol. L, No. 4 (October, 1956), pp. 48ff.

Cal York, "Inside Stuff," Photoplay,(October,—1956), p. 18.

"3,000 at Graveside for Anniversary of James Dean's
Death," New York Post, dated October 1, 1956, from
Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

AP Wirephoto, date approximate, fragment from Drama
Collection, New York City Public Library.

Advertisement, New York World—Telegram and Sun, dated
October 6, 1956 from Drama Collection, New York City
Public Library.

George Stevens, “How to Age a Movie Star," The Chicago
Tribune Magazine. [Fragment, date approximate,
private collection.]

Harold Hutchings, "Stevens Gives His Opinion of Jim
Dean," Chicago Tribune, October 14, 1956.
[Fragment--private collection.]

Elizabeth Honor, "Holl ood Tragedies," Cosmgpolitan,
Vol. CXLI, No. 4, October,1956),pp. 38—39.

Warner Brothers Studio Press Book: Giant.

Giant. Capitol Records W773.

Edna Ferber, Gigpp (New York: Pocket Books Inc., 2nd
printing, July, 1956). COpy quoted appears in the
fly leaf of this edition.

Warner Brothers Studio Press Book: Giant.

Edna Ferber, Giant (New York, Pocket Books Inc., 1956),
p. 200.

Alton Cook, Review of Giant, New York World-Telegram and
§Efll dated October 11, 1956. Drama Collection,

New York City Public Library.

Kate Cameron, Review of Giant, New York Daily News, dated
October 11, 1956. Drama Collection, New York City
Public Library.

Bosley Crowther, Review of Giant, New York Times,

October 11, 1956, Sec. 2, p. 1. '

Herbert Kupferberg, Review of Giant,New York Herald
Tribune, dated October 11, 1956. Drama Collection,
New York City Public Library.

Hollis Alpert, "It's Dean, Dean, Dean," Saturdanyeview,
October 13, 1956, pp. 28-29.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

195.
196.

197.

198.
199.
200.
201.
202.
203.
204.
205.
206.
207.
208.
209.

210.

316

 

“Amour and the Man," Saturday Review, October 13, 1956,
p. 29.

Letter, Life, October 15, 1956, p. 19.

George Scullin, "James Dean: The Legend and the Facts,"
Look, October 16, 1956, pp. 120ff.

See Val Adams, "Tribute to Actor Starts TV 'War.‘"

New York Times, October 4, 1956, p. 66 for a dis-
cussion of this activity.

 

. Advertisement, New York Times, Sec. 2, p. 16.

 

John Crosby, column item in New York Herald Tribune,
dated October 17, 1956. Drama Collection, New York
City Public Library.

Review of Giant, Time, October 22, 1956, pp. 108-110.

Maurice Zolotow, "Jimmy Dean Sould Be Nobody's Idol,"
Omaha Sunday World Herald, October 28, 1956, p. 14f.

Nicholas Ray, "From Rebel, Life Story of a Film,"
Variety, October 31, 1956. Reprinted in Hello,
Hollyyood ed. Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr (New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962), pp. 514ff.

 

 

 

 

. Val Adams, ”Reruns Scheduled for 1“! Plays Featuring the

Late James Dean” New York Times, October 31, 1956,
p. 66.

"In His Own Words,“ Rave, Vol. II, No. 6 (November,
1956), pp. 4ff.

“Jimmy Dean's Farewell to You,” Movie Life, Vol. XIX,
No. 12 (November 18, 1956), pp. 18ff.

Benjamin Lewis, "Jimmy Dean's Hidden Heartbreaks,"
Hollywood Love and Tragedy (New York: Ideal Publish—
ing Company, 1956), pp. 36ff.

"Jimmy Dean's Last Miles," Hollywood Love and Tragedy,
(New York: Ideal Publishing Company, 1956), p. 41.

"It's Your Screen,” Screen Stories, Vol. L, No. 11
(November, 1956), p. 20.

“Giant,” Screen Stories,(NOvember, 1956), pp. 24ff.

Advertisement, Screen Stories,(NOVember, 1956), p. 73.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Stevens, ”The Actor Jimmy Dean," Screen Stories,
(November, 1956), p. 84.
"Jimmy Dean: Two Memories," Screen Stories,(November,

 

1955), p. 86.

Alyce Canfield, “Intimate Hollywood,‘ Screen Stars,
Vol. XIV, No. 6 (November, 1956), p. 9.

“The Immortal Dean," Screen Stars, (November, 1956), pp.
13ff.

"Television Memories of Jimmy Dean," TV Star Parade,
Vol. IV, No. 8 (November, 1956), pp. 27ff.

"Listen, Hear," Hear, The Voice of Hollywood, Vol. 1,
No. 2 (November, 1956), p. 4:

Jimmy Fidler, "Hollywood Exclusives,” Hear, The Voice of
Hollywood, section is not paged, follows p. 14.

“Out on a Limb," Hear, The Voice of Hollywood (November,
1956), p. 12.

Joe Hyams, "Private File," Hear, The Voice of Hollywood
(November, 1956), p. 24.

 

 

 

 

211.

212.

221.

222.

223.
224.
225.

226.
227.

228.
229.
230.
231.
232.

233.
234.
235.
236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
241.
242.

317

Carol Archer Sturmond, ”Hollywood's Greatest Tragedies,
Hear, The Voice of Hollywood (November, 1956),
section not paged, follows page 45.

Herbert Mitgang, "The Strange James Dean Death Cult,”
Coronet, Vol. XLI, No. 12 (November, 1956), pp.
110ff.

 

. Alfred C. Roller, "The James Dean Myth Blows Up,"

New York World—Telegram and Sun Saturday Magazine,
November 3, 1956, p. 20.

John Fick, column item, Chicago Tribune, November 8, 1956,
p. 23.

"Dean Cult," Time, November 26, 1956, p. 63.

 

. Ibid.
. Advertisement, New York Times, November 18, 1956, Sec 2,p.14,

 

"Giant," Photoplay,+Vol. L, No. 5 (November, 1956), pp.
50-51.

 

. William Bast, "There Was a Boy. . . .“ Pt. 3, Photoplay,

 

(November, 1956), pp. 52ff.

Laura Lane, “Why the Rebel Craze Is Here to Stay,"
PhotOplay, (November, 1956)1 pp. 56ff.

"The Truth Behind the Rumors James Dean Committed Suicide,"
Photoplay, (November, 1956), pp. 52455.

See, for example, pictures dated November 12, 1956, and
November 18, 1956 from The New York Enquirer and
The New York Dailnyews in the Drama Collection of the
New York City Public Library.

Courtland Phipps, Review of Giant, Films in Reviey,
Vol. VII, No. 9 (November, 1956), pp. 466-467.

William Bast, James Dean: A Biography (New York:
Ballentine Books, Inc., 1956).

"Ballentine Books Newsletter," dated November 29, 1956.
Drama Collection, The New York City Public Library.

Quotations will be from the hardcover edition.

William Bast, James Dean: A Biography (New York:
Ballentine Books, Inc., 1956), p. 1.

rare , p- 11-

Ibid., p. 12.

Ibid., p. 25.

Ibid., p. 39.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibid. (Dean‘s agent, Isabella Draesmer said the role
was actually that of John the Disciple.)
Ibid., p. 62.
Ibid., p. 70.
Ibid., p. 73.
Ibid., p. 86.
Ibid., p. 87.
Ibid., p. 95.
Ibid., p. 85.
Ibid., p. 104.
Ibid , p. 125.
Ibid., p. 130.

 

254.
255.
256.

257.
258.

259.

260.
261.

262.
263.
264.
265.
266.
267.

268.

269.

270.
271.

272.

318

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibid., p. 131.
Ibid., p. 89.
Ibid., p. 96.
Ibid., p. 123.
Ibid., p. 120.
Ibid., PP. 145ff.
Ibid., p. 24.

 

"The James Dean Story——Can It Be Told?" Filmland,
(December, 1956), pp. 28ff.

"Hot Off the Teletype," Movie Life, Vol. XX, No. 1
(December, 1956), p. 7.

"That Terrific Nick,“ Movie Life,(December, 1956), pp.
16—17.

 

. Natalie Wood, "I Can't Forget Jimmy," Movie Life,

 

(December, 1956)J pp. 26ff.
Alice Packard, "These Men Excite Me," Movie Stars Parade,
Vol. XVII, No. 1 (December, 1956), pp. 26ff.
Graham Elliot, "Passing Parade,“ Movie Stars Parade
(December, 1956), p. 8.
“Must We Stop Writing About Jimmy Dean,“ Movie Stars
Parade (December, 1956), p. 51.
Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (December, 1956), p. 60.
Rose Gordon, Review of Giant, Movie Stars Parade
(December, 1956), p. 58.
Advertisements, Movie Stars Parade (December, 1956),
pp. 56, 58, 60, 70.
Ibid., p. 61.
Hedda Hopper, "Under Hedda's Hat," Motion Picture,
Vol. XLVI, No. 551 (December, 19567, pp. 7ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erskine Johnson, "Overheard in Hollywood," Mption Picture,
(December, 1956), p. 10.
Vincent Lopez, "Listen With Lopez,” Motion Picture,

 

(December, 1956)! p. 19.
Tribute “U3 James Dean——Music from Motion Pictures
Sparring James Dean, MGM K12312-EP. See also
Tribute to James Dean, Imperial LP9021.
Music James Dean Lived By, Unique LP—109.
The James Dean Story, Coral CRL57099.
Bill Tusher, "That Shy Smile," Motion Picture,(December,
1956), pp. 33ff.
Donald Costello, "The Gentle People," Todgy: The Catholic
Youth Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 3 (December, 1956),
pp. 24—25.
"Inside Hollywood," Movieland, Vol. XIV, No. 12
(December, 1956), p. 10.
Advertisement, Movieland, (December, 1956), p. 11.
Ruth Rowland, "How Jimmy Dean Still Works Miracles for
Others," Movieland,(December, 1956),PP. 40ff.
"Hollywood IS for the Young," Movieland's 1957 Annual
(Dunellen, New Jersey: Movieland, Inc., 1956),
pp. 6ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

319

273. "Does the Legend Betray the Man?" Movieland's 1957 Annual,
(Dunellen, New Jersey: Movieland, Inc., 19563,pr. 9f.

274. "In Loving Memory,” Movie Life Yearbook #23_(New York:
Ideal Publishing Co., 1956), pp. 16ff.

275. Sam Schaeffer and Tina Morris, "James Dean yg. Elvis
Presley," Whisper, Vol. X, No. 8 (December, 1956),
pp. 14ff.

276. Elvis and Jimmy (New York: The Girl Friend-—The Boy
Friend Corp., 1956).

277. "How It Feels to Be Elvis," Elvis and Jimmy. pp. 5ff.

278. ”The Tragedy and Triumph of Jimmy Dean,” Elvis and Jimmy,
pp. 33ff. .

279. Gerald Wales, "Movies: The Crazy Mixed Up Kids Take Over,"
The Reporter, December 13, 1956, pp. 40-41.

280. Penelope Houston, Review of Giant, Sight and Sound,

Vol. XXVI, No. 5 (Winter, 1956), p. 48.

281. Tony Richardson, "The Method and Why," Sight and Sound,
(Winter,1956L pp. 132ff. ._-

282. Nicholas Ray, "Portrait de l'acteur en jeune homme:

James Dean,” Cahiers du Cinema, Vol. XI, No. 66,
(December,1956),pp. 4ff.

283. Jonas Mekas, “Editorial,” Film Culture, Vol. II, No. 4
(10), 1956, p. 1.

284. Andrew Sarris, Review of Giant, Film Culture, Vol. II,

No. 4 (10), 1956, pp. 23ff.

285. Picture, New York Times, December 23, 1956, Sec. 2 p. 7.

286. "All Time Top Box Office Films," Variety, January 6, 1965.

287. Obituary, Britannica Book of the Year, 1956-—Events of
1955, ed. Walter Yust (Chicago: Encyclopedia
Brittannica, Inc., 1956), p. 510.

Obituary, World Book Encyclopedia 1956 Annual Supplement
Reviewing Important Events and Development of 1955
ed. J. Morris Jones (Chicago: Field Enterprises,
Inc., 1956), p. 77.

Necrology, Collier's 1956 Yearbook, An Encyclopedia Supple—
ment and Review of National and International Events
of 1955, ed. William T. Couch—TNew York: p. F. Collier
and Son Corp., 1956), p. 484.

288. “James Dean," The Americana Annual, 1956y An Encyclopedia
of the Events of 1955, ed. John J. SmithOYNew York:
Americana Corporation, 1956), p. 201 (obituary, p.
517).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER V

1957--APOTHEOSIS OF THE IMAGE--A "SYMBOL" IS SHAPED:
THE JAMES DEAN STORY

 

A January, 1957 copy of the British Photoplgy read

 

like a resume of previous Dean publicity in America. It

presented the same material, often written by the same

writers. Cal York1 said that Tony Perkins, who has "more
talent than anyone Since Dean," was getting a "reputation
for eccentricity . . . like the late James Dean." "The

Rebels"2 acclaimed Elvis Presley as "another Jimmy Dean,"
and, like him, like all the young rebels in Hollywood
(Brando, Mineo, etc.L was "hardworking, churchgoing, home-
loving, and ambitious.” Dean was labeled a "complete con—
formist" whose rebellion took the form of competing, of
determining to be better than anyone else at everything.

The "exclusive” story “Suicide? I Say No . . .
And Here's Why"3 was uncredited but was evidently written
by William Bast, drawing upon material from his Dean biography,
adding material from more recent publications, "to add up
to a picture of a man who might have decided that death
would be simpler to face than life” while insisting "the
chances are pretty good that the actual accident Egg an
accident." Bast mentioned "the Academy's desire to grant
him [Dean] an award next March."

320

321

The ambiguity, the linkage, the false leads are all
there. Fan material didn't seem to differ much from

country to country.

American publication for the year 1957 opened with
an assessment of cinematic virtues of the past year with the

Modern Screen Silver Cup Awards, as presented by Ed Sullivan

 

on his television Show the month previous to the publication
date.4 Featured in the January issue were articles on the

stars of Giant, rated by Modern Screep_as the "Best Film of

 

the Year," as well as an article on Tony Perkins, the "Male
Star of Tomorrow" which promised to reveal what ”makes him
such a moody rebel.”

Mike Connolly's article "The Meaning of Jimmy Dean's
Last Message"5 revolved around Connolly's interpretation of
an inscription on a photograph Dean sent him:

Two Babies in search for the world. Not every man
hears the same drum beat. I can't play your cadence,
Mike, but I can offer you some counterpoint.

Connolly related that though such interpretation might
be contrary to popular opinion, the quotation illustrated
Dean's simplicity of nature: "He wasn't really a legend at
all, but a simple none-too—complicated person who was very
easy to figure out if you took the time and trouble to do it."
Figuring in Connolly's memories were Dean's teasing of Taylor

on the Giant set, his monumental curiosity about "everything,"

his philosophy of self expression. The photo—inscription

322

served as a reminder of an argument Dean had with Connolly
over a theatrical issue; it was sent to Show Dean bore no
grudge, proving he was not ashamed nor hesitant in expressing
his differences of opinion:
It's a reminder of a great human being who dared to
express himself in the face of every obstacle thrown in
his way—-and there were plenty of them . . . obstinate

directors who refused to recognize his genius, who refused
to acknowledge that his way was the best way of portray-

ing any character he chose to play . . . bullheaded writers
who refused the kind of dialogue Jimmy knew was best for
Jimmy.

The more SOphisticated reader might not accept the piece as
the wholly laudatory article it pretended to be. But how
sophisticated is the average reader of a fan magazine?

A "TV Talk" column6 later in the issue advised of
Jimmy's interest in and appreciation for music, sitting
“quietly in a corner by the hour, just listening." For the
reader with an interest in more active Dean pursuits was the
announcement that the succeeding issue would carry a story on
"7

”Jimmy Dean's Daredevil Drive.

Movie Life may have featured "Jimmy Dean's Untold

 

Love Story" on its cover, but the face there belonged to
Elvis Presley. Dick Williams' gossip column8 added to the
"folklore" about Dean with the report that "actress-mother”
Barbara Wall, after an auto accident while she was pregnant
received a telegram from Dean: "I am sad but have admiration
for woman's continuous share of suffering in respect of your

sex." There was no further explanation.

323

Nell Blythe's article "The Untold Story of the Love
Jimmy Lost"9 told how Dean conquered his "childish and in-
excusable" rebellions "through Pier‘s love." Because of his
emotional and career insecurity Dean felt he could not yet
marry and he therefore lost her. And he cried "as he stood
alone across the street from the church." He "became afraid
of love,“ settling for friendship [Ursula Andress], "palship"
[Natalie Wood], and the "fast . . . hard . . . chicks who had
been around." Though he felt himself unloved, the author
concluded, "he was so terribly, terribly wrong."

The issue advertised, as usual, other Dean offerings
of Conel and Ideal publications, including the color photos
of the "brown—haired, blue-eyed, rugged yet sensitive," the
"one and only" Jimmy Dean, and advised fans of the other

magazines featuring Dean articles, some ten in number.

Movie Stars Parade offered as promised on its cover

 

and in its advertisements "What You Told Us About Jimmy
Dean--We Couldn't Believe It," and "it“ proved to be the

tally on the fan voting concerning the selected issue

"Should Elvis Presley Play Jimmy Dean?"lo as presented in
October and November of the previous year. The final choice,
"of course,“ will rest with Elvis, but "he's being guided

and influenced by new friends Nick Adams and Natalie Wood,“
Who "knew Jimmy well, loved and respected him.“ Some of
the "best letters" were printed to prove "there was no maybe

. . . only a violent Yes or No," depending on whether you

g .

324

were a Dean fan and felt his memory insulted, or a Presley
fan and didn't "want Elvis to begin by becoming his [Dean's]
prototype." One fan commented:

In a lot of magazines nowadays we read that the
reason teenagers are so crazy about Jimmy is that they
see themselves in him. I think that is true, but I also
think that Jimmy's lovers (like myself) are attracted by
something that comes from his heart and feelings and is
expressed vividly in his eyes, lips and actions.

Elvis was ticked off by this fan as "a great guy, but all he
has is a bunch of sex appeal."

Another fan who identified herself as a grandmother
thought the DeanePresley combination would be good "since
Presley's favorite actor was Jimmy Dean, and he is like him
in many ways." A Younger fan accepted the combination be—

cause Presley, like Dean, was "searching for something in

his life that he has not yet found.”

Featured on the cover with a color photo of Dean was
"Exclusive: How Rock Met the Challenge of Jimmy Dean"—l——
a selling point for Jane Ardmore's one shot photo-biography
Rock Hudson. According to this presentation Dean, the "thin
unpretentious chap who could on the instant throw out Sparks,
could walk into a scene and make it magic,” had caused no
little tension in the Giant family:
Everyone on the set was keyed up, tense, waiting.
They all knew Jimmy. They knew there was bound to be
tension between Jimmy and anyone he worked With, even
though they might have the instinct to harmonize, be-
cause Jimmy was unaware of the needs of other actors.

He was a lone wolf before the camera as he was away
from it. Unconsciously, this slight, studious looking

325

boy had a way of focusing attention on himself, not only
the attention of the audience, but of the other players.
There'd been scenes in Jimmy Dean pictures where every—

one started acting like Jimmy Dean, mesmerized.

Even Hudson, when involved in the bequest scene in
Giant,

found himself hypnotized, watching the hoop of rope,

forgetting himself, falling under the Spell of a superb
performance, as if he himself were nothing, as if he
were just there to feed lines to Jimmy, to watch the
fellow's magic. Only an instant, then he realized that
the lariat had nothing to do with the part, that no one
had told Jimmy to use it, that it could throw the whole
scene out of kilter.

Jimmy may have been "the best damned actor he's ever
met," but Hudson had been able to match "the tour de force
quality of Jimmy's talent," according to the article. They
were never personally close. Elizabeth Taylor was “the only
one on the picture who'd gotten to know him really well."
Yet, as stated, Hudson and Dean had much in common. They had
"similar beginnings": a divided home, the lack of a father,

a farm background. Jimmy ascribed to his grandfather's

Philosophy of "give an honest performance and don't pull

tricks . . . the public'll believe you because you believe
yourself." Rock felt “exactly" the same way. They were each
sensitive. Rock's sensitivity made him "friendly and Open,"

but because Dean was "a little afraid of people, he didn‘t
quite trust them.”

The publication of the magazine set off and con-
trasted the two prospective contenders for the Academy Awards,

with Hudson possibly in the lead, Since he was still around

326

and living and was far less complex and mysterious. In any
case, Hudson's professional relationship with Dean was good

publicity fodder for the sale of the magazine.

Literary Cavalcade, a high school youth magazine,

 

previewed The Young Stranger,12 John Frankenheimer's entry

 

in the youth film sweepstakes. The hero, Hal Ditmar, is

described as being no "rebel without a cause" because “he's

a basically co—operative boy who wants his parents' approval."
An interview with young James MacArthur who made his

film debut as Hal revealed that MacArthur did not think of

his role as "a symbol of today's teen—agers":

There are so many different types of teen-agers.
Some people visualize all of us as hot—rodders or misfits

 

or rebels of some kind. James Dean in Rebel Without a
Cause played such a character. That kind of 'rebel'

is hardly typical of most high school students. I think
the character Dean played has become a symbol of a type
of wild, misunderstood kid. But I think Hal is just one
particular boy, rather than a symbol of a type. Perhaps
just because he isn't a 'type,‘ he seems to me more
representative of more young people that I know.

In this interview MacArthur chose to pit himself

against Dean, as Dean once was pitted against Brando. There

may be an element of validity in all of the comparisons, and,

right or wrong, they do get the accomplished press space.

Somewhat less esoteric in treatment and design was

Lynne Carter's "I Was a Friend of Jimmy Dean"13 in the

January, 1957 issue of Rave. Hardly a vehicle for under-

statement, Rave chose such a title with deliberation. There

was little choice, however, Since no matter what Miss Carter‘s

327

intended relationship had been, as She related the story,

"Jimmy wasn't ready for love when I knew him.“ Perhaps as
compensation, Miss Carter rationalized that Dean "was tor-
mented by insecurity and attempted to conceal it with an air

of superiority." Pride in her own evident and bountiful
charms, which amply illustrated the article, prompted her to
declare further, "If he felt in love, he would have been

afraid to declare it for fear of being rejected." Miss Carter
met Dean during the Philadelphia previews of The Immoralist

and noted even then his "habitual boots” and his "constant

use of four-letter words." Regarding her later visits to
Dean's "pad" on the top floor of 19 West 68th Street in

New York City, She related how impressed she was by the candle—
lit atmosphere and the "several shelves full of books on
acting, bullfighting, and philosophy, plus some foreign
publications." In keeping with the general tone of the pub-
lication and to prove her asserted intimacy with the actor,
Miss Carter told Dean‘s story of his reactions to a proposition

from a homosexual producer: he "cut out."

Early 1957 brought also an issue of Movie Album
virtually devoted to Dean material. The issue asserted that
Dean should be considered as one of the "All-Time Greats"14
and ranked him with the "Kings" of Hollywood: Alan Ladd,
William Holden, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, and Burt Lancaster.

Like theirs, his "name on a marquee Spells box office."

328

In fact, as the cover heading further proclaimed, with Dean

"15 To do his artistry justice the

"A Tradition Is Born.
magazine admonished fans that despite the I'most selfish,
vulgar, cold-hearted publicity exploitation," the "pseudo-
mournful, dishonest eulogies," the ”ghoulish . . . spirit
speaking" and "distorted versions of him as a kind of demi-
god"--"if our affection for Jimmy is honest"--"we all can and
must" remember the ”real" Jimmy——"rediscover the great actor
as he really was, and as he must be remembered if he is to
take his place among the ranks of film immortals." "The
restfl'said the article,was up to Dean's direct successors,
the young actors and actresses "who felt his impact and
Shared his dreams." A large portrait of Dean illustrated the
article. Surrounding Dean and the copy of the two—page spread
as marginal satellites were pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Tony
Perkins, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Carroll
Baker, Cliff Robertson, Nick Adams, Natalie Wood, etc.

The article asserted that to find the "real" Dean
was “not hard." "All we have to do, to find a clear, true
picture of him," is to go back to his early films:

Even though he was playing a part, we saw him freely,

intimately . . . because in a way that is easier to feel

than to explain . . . Jimmy was the boy we saw on the .
screen, and being himself, he became part of all the kids

who saw him, all over the world.

In East of Eden ”critics said he swallowed his words . . . but

 

the effect was crystal clear, overwhelming, unforgettable.”

"Rebel was the story of all kids . . . and Jimmy Dean became

329

their symbol." As for Giant, "the end and the beginning,"
which "gave us just a glimpse of his potential versatility,"
his role was ”big” not because of its size, but "because of
the startling impact of his personality.”

An illustration for the Giant segment was a version of
the "Christus" pose of Dean with Elizabeth Taylor used in the
advertising for Giant. AS previously noted this juxtaposition
of people as characters never appears in the released print
of the film, nor is it a candid set shot. That it was pre-
conceived, perhaps with the "Christus" image in mind, is
testified to by the fact that there are several extant versions
of the shot, with minute changes-—such as the sunglasses Dean
wears in this version, which he does not in the others. It
is a powerful picture and a good selling instrument.

The remainder of the piece reminded the reader of
Dean's omnipresent sincerity and honesty as illustrated in
contrasting candid photos. A candid shot of Dean catching
him off-guard while on a date with Terry Moore was labeled
"the face of a boy who couldn't fake his feelings.“ Another
photo showing Dean with Pier Angeli and taken under probably
happier conditions was called “the face of a boy in love."
There were further reminders of Dean's ”marvelous sense of

humor," and his "tenderness, his “way with children."
"The Search for Mr. X,"16 Jimmy Dean's successor,
considered Elvis Presley, comparing and contrasting the lives

and temperaments in pictures and story of the "immortal Dean

330

and the sensational Presley," considering eSpecially Elvis'
"desire to play the life story of James Dean." Also con—
sidered in the "Mr. X" running were Tony Perkins, Paul

Newman, Sal Mineo, Cliff Robertson, and Don Murray. Even the
ladies, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, "are dedicated beauties
who have inherited the richness . . . and responsibility for
keeping alive the kind of acting Jimmy lived for." The Dean
tradition of artistic excellence with ”no studio build up

no phony glamour" was linked to stars like Debbie Reynolds,
Pier Angeli, and George Nader.

"This Is How It Started"17 considered the methods and
workings of the Actors Studio-—the start of that "certain
fabulous quality that Jimmy Dean had. . . .":

The method stresses knowledge of inner self, knowl-

edge of what the character you are portraying had for
breakfast, before the curtain went up. How did he be-
come the person he is? How? Why? What?

The New Generation”18 stressed that utilizing such
techniques, Dean "proved with shocking drama and intensity
that you can be young and terribly mixed up, but still have
a great and beautiful talent." Moreover, the article claimed,
Dean's motion picture appearances opened a whole new field of
motion picture interest and achievement:

One of Jimmy's major achievements was to open the way

for serious young stars to dramatize the hopes and prob-

lems of youth, and make them part of a whole new, en-
larged scope of movie making.

The title of the final segment, "And Now . . .

Tomorrowe-Will James Dean Live On?"19 spoke almost for itself:

331

Will the tradition live on? After Giant has played
the last theatre in some far flung corner, will Jimmy
Dean still be alive in the hearts of his fans? We can
only say that as far as tomorrow is concerned . . . well,
that's up to YOU.

Enhanced by the full page color photo of Dean adver—
tised on the cover, William F. Nolan's "His Love Destroyed

Him"2O appeared in the February, 1957 issue of Modern Screen.

 

Less romantic than might be expected, the article recreated
the events and emotions of a particular race at Palm Springs
in ”late March of 1955" when Dean proved to veteran racing
drivers he "was Simply a natural." The article then pro—
ceeded to give a motorized biography of Dean, tracing his
career on wheels from the Whizzer motor bike he received on
his thirteenth birthday, through the motorcycles and the used
MG, to the racing Porsches, concentrating, of course, on his
last and fatal trip. A boxed brief commentary on the final
page of Nolan's story labeled "Was Jimmy Dean's Sports Car
Jinxed?"21 related the story Gil Stratton, CBS-TV sports-
caster, told on the air of how one man was seriously injured
and another killed in racing cars using salvaged parts from
Dean's car: ”Was there some fatal jinx or hoodoo following
James Byron Dean and his passion for speed . . . even beyond
the grave?"

The Modern Screen article "How Natalie Handles Boys

 

and Older Men"22 illustrated Natalie necking with and nuzzling

Nick Adams, among others, but the article quoted her as saying

332

of Dean, "I can't forget him . . . and sometimes I wonder

if I'll always have this feeling." She told that She still
“carries a snapshot of his headstone in her wallet" to
"remind her not to drive too fast, to remind her of a rich—
ness and a loss"—-a loss reflected in her story of one rainy
night when they were alone together on a Hollywood hilltop:
"His voice had been soft, and he'd recited a mile of poetry,
and most of the words she's forgotten--but not the night, not
his face."

An article on new and rising Cliff Robertson equated
the theme of the article about him, "The Struggle to Grow
Up,"23with the fact that "in Hollywood he lives in Jimmy
Dean's old Sparsely furnished place."

Movie Stars Parade promised "Jimmy Dean's Fight to

 

Live"24 on its February cover, but asked inside, ”His was
the Spirit indomitable, but can even Jimmy conquer death?"
A prefacing caption noted that Giant "may yet" get him the
Oscar "many fans thought he deserved last year" and asked
concerning the announced film biography, ”who could ade—
quately portray him?" As to whether Movie Stars Parade
Should continue printing Dean stories, the article stated
that the affirmative letters received "were overwhelming."
The article cited the ”professional tribute" offered by the
TV networks, which "have begun a consistent policy of re-

showing his video films," and by Warner Brothers, which has

"proudly presented his final movie, Giant, and will for many

333

years to come make East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause

 

available to the theaters." Fan response was called even
"more moving." The article printed some of the letters
received, promising more "in the months to come." The article
described the basis of the current selection: "For now we
must be content to reproduce the ones that seemed most to

echo the common thought."

Reproduced were letters from various fans "who love
him as no other actor in history has been loved. . . . They
love him for what he did on the screen and what he repre—
Sented off." There was a letter from a thirteen year old
girl who called Dean "our star, our sweet prince"; a writer
who tells of a correspondent in Israel: "Jimmy has fans
everywhere!"; a "wife and mother" who wants her son "to grow
up and have someone to idolize and hero—worship and there
isn't anyone I would rather have him follow than Jimmy."
Those who said the articles on Dean Should stOp "said so with
a deep feeling of love and sorrow": "It hurts just a little
more every time I see his picture." The article concluded
With the statement that through all the letters, "firm and
clear," ran ”the love that means Jimmy has won his fight to
stay alive in our hearts."

Graham Elliott's "Passing Parade" gossip column pro—

vided linkage with Dean for Carroll Baker.25

Carroll Baker
was described as "unknown" though She appeared in Giant.

Miss Baker was to make her big Splash in Kazan's Babproll;

 

..r

334

the director's name provided an obvious bridge for linkage
with both Brando and Dean.

Movie Life mirrored the linkage and the morbidity

 

afforded by its sister publication. Its gossip column offer—
ed the "Horror Story of the Month":26 Vampira had appeared at
a costume party "with a young man dressed as the late James
Dean” and "to complete the gruesome effect, his face was
completely covered with bandages." Though the column edi—
torialized that the incident was "not a funny stunt," it did
manage to give Vampira the publicity she evidently desired.
An article on Carroll Baker, "Your Favorite Newcomer,"27
noted that Carroll "has been called a female James Dean."

The Dean article, featured on the cover with a color picture,
was entitled "Will They Cheat Jimmy Dean Again?"28 It drama—
tized "Jimmy's Last Chance for the Oscar He Deserves" and
urged readers to "write today" to the Motion Picture Academy
to "make sure." Cross—page,newcomer Rod McKuen was pictured

9 This material

and captioned as "said to resemble Jim Dean."2
was surrounded by the usual Ideal offerings in advertisements
of Dean material. A later page in the magazine carried a

t30 offering for fifty cents ”a tender,

new advertisemen
beautiful large size photo of Jimmy's resting place for a
lasting memory in your heart."

Screen Album featured Natalie Wood, but in the

 

article31 on Miss Wood's romantic life and what she learned

from her beaux, her picture with Dean was the largest of the

n——

v
~\

-

335

eight illustrations. The caption noted that Dean "tried to
teach her to be an individual, to maintain her integrity."
Dean was also among the stars covered in the five page picture

spread "When They Were in Their Teens.32

Though Kim Novak,
Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando were also pictured, Dean was
the only actor afforded a full page picture. The accompany-
ing caption noted that Dean himself admitted that high school
cyrstallized his abilities. He was said to have cited the
"encouragement and understanding" of "a frustrated actress,"
Miss Adeline Nall, one of his teachers, who sensed "the flame

of emotion that burned in Jimmy and brought it out into the

open."

The February issue of Inside Story carried as its
headline story "The Amazing James Dean Hoax"33 by Lisette Dufy.
Dean's picture was featured on the cover. The article started
by cataloging the effects of "Dean devotion,” the 5,000
letters a month, the big box office, the magazines, the
records, and declared them to be "as spontaneous as a Hydro—
gen bomb test":

James Dean was 'reincarnated' deliberately and as

a result of careful, long range planning. The whole
crazy 'rebirth' program was Simply an ingenious device
to rake in a fortune at Giant's box offices!

The article cited the"$5,000,000 investment" in a
picture which "would take nearly a year“ to be made ready for

motion picture theatres, noting the fiascos made by Harlow

and Lombard pictures released after their deaths. "Officially,”

336

the article said, the Warner Brothers studio "piously" kept

out of the picture:
But at the same time, a highmpriced, independent

public relations expert was secretly hired to plan and
promote the program with every gimmick he could dream

up.

A "host" of fan club presidents were flown to Holly—
wood by the press agent "who identified himself only as an
organizer of a James Dean Memorial Fund.” It was this man
who "convinced them to keep going 'as a mark of respect for
the young man‘s talent.'" The article further stated that
the "teaser” items in Broadway columns of rumors that Dean
wasn't killed were planted by this same agent. The revived
interest brought out "Jimmy Dean stories by the bale” and
"each new story encouraged Dean fans-—both old and brand new-—

to jump on the 'he's alive' bandwagon,i inspiring a neurotic

"fanaticism" among Dean's fans.

And among these fans arose a new breed "Born 1930:
The Unlost Generation,“34 the hipster. The hipster might be
thought of as a forerunner of the beatnik, who, as such, was
then unknown. Caroline Bird commented that "the late James

Dean, for one, was a hipster hero“ in Harper's Bazaar in

 

February. At this stage the social and literary appeal of the
cool jazz, the narcotinized protest of the hipster world to
the older readership of Bazaar, was lost on the more typical
and younger Dean fan. The activities of the young fans were

far less glamorous, but no less publicity—worthy. The March

Av

\

337

issue of Hep Cat-Review, a teen publication, carried the

 

article "James Dean LivekalIn Our Hearts“35 by Susan Phillips,
one of six girls "who decided to take a trip to Jimmy's home
town." The article was illustrated with many pictures, both
studio photos from gggpp_and Rebel and snapshots taken by
the modern pilgrims——of the town, the house Dean lived in,
and the farm he was brought up on, pictures of Dean's relatives.
These were all overshadowed by the snapshots taken at the
grave—side, Showing the headstone and the girls weeping over
it: "I'll admit that we all cried although we were not
hysterical as we were told some have been." Included, too,
were pictures of an attractively fronted brick building shaded
by an aluminum awning, the James Dean Memorial Foundation:
An automatic public address system continually plays
recordings which tell you a complete story about James
Dean . . . from birth to death. Just about every photo—

graph that was ever taken of him areISitu] mounted and
framed on the walls, while counter and wall diSplay cases

are filled with trophies, plaques and awards . . . most
of them coming too late to have ever been seen and
accepted.

If some American fans were satisfied and ecstatic
feeling so close to their idol, elsewhere there was evidence
of some dissatisfaction. Francois Truffaut,36 so enchanted

with Dean's performances in East of Eden and Rebel (known in

 

France as Fureur de vivre), found the flame of Dean's talent

 

in Giant "singulierement en veilleuse." The film as a whole
Truffaut rated as "stupide et solennel," and Dean's brief

role was thought somewhat less than satisfying in more ways

than one:

338

Stevens a renoncé a le diriger et jamais l' on n' a
senti si nettement dans un film le mépris reciproque d' un
réalisateur et d' une vedette, alors que tous les acteurs
sont dirigés au millimetre, bien ou mal, mais fermement.
. . . En tant que producteur, maltre de son montage,
Stevens a garde le moins de plans possible sur James
Dean comme le prouve cette scene du discours ou la
camera ne quitte pas le visage de Carroll Baker tandis
que Dean parle en 'off! Geant est le seul film de James
Dean que je n'irai pas revoir.

If Dean's trans—Atlantic love affair was on the wane,

in America an old love affair was being revived. Modern Screen

 

featured a photograph of Dean and a girl on its March cover
captioned ”1 Almost Married Jimmy Dean——Who Am I?"37 The “I"
was Beverly Wills, daughter of comedienne Joan Davis, due
soon to revive her own career as a comedienne. The publicity
would not hurt her career and the article answered the relent-
less call from magazines for more and more new material on
Dean. A "little boy" image of Dean runs through Miss Wills‘s
article: Dean kicked at some stones ”like a little boy,"

he "even laughed like a little boy." The image she creates
and maintains is that of the “bashful boy behind horn—rimmed
glasses," poor but idealistic, moody-—with the "knack of
putting his worst foot forward when he was in the mood.
There is also an undercurrent of mysticism and a premonition

of death.

Alyce Canfield's "Intimate Hollywood"38 in the March

issue of Screen Stars commented on the "great injustice" if

 

Dean does not win an Academy Award for his "swan song" in

Giant. The same column also commented on the tremendous

339

impact Elvis Presley is making in Hollywood, likening it to
the sensations created in "the early days of Marlon Brando
and Jimmy Dean."39 The column stated that "what Elvis Presley
really wants is to act," noting that some of Elvis' “intimate
friends . . . swear that he has the qualities-—the great
dramatic qualities—-of the late James Dean.“ It seemed that
Elvis would like to make films, "even, perhaps, portray the
life of this great but luckless actor."

A reflective, almost full page photo of Dean on the

"40 which the cover an-

title page of "Leave Him to Heaven,
nounced as “James Dean's Last Story” was captioned only with
the opening words of The Lord's Prayer. The approach of the
opening page was reflected in the content of the article.
Dean's rise was credited to his playing in Rebel:

He became a symbol——a symbol of today's youth crying
out for acceptance but finding only rejection (at least in
their own minds). He became the hero of every gangling
boy with a cowlick that wouldn't stay combed. He became
the symbol of every lonely girl who wanted to shout 'love
me . . . love me' but who could only hide behind the
shallow faqade of adolescence.

Dean did not win an Oscar, the article asserted,
because "the majority of the Academy voters felt that Jimmy
was certain to get a special award"; this fact, the loss of
the Oscar, ”made Jimmy that much more of a martyr—-a further
symbol of all the hopes and dreams and fantasies that teen—
agers feel deeply, but cannot express." And ”the legend of

James Dean grew from a national movement into an international

one": ”His death is a tragedy of great magnitude."

340

The article added that "for his bravado and love of danger
Jimmy paid a very high price."

The pictures illustrating the article were mainly
on-the-set shots or publicity photos from Giant, notably the
"Christus" shot, described as "a tender scene.“ Below it an
almost double page spread pictured some of the “thousands"
at Dean's graveside: "Can they learn to mourn in solitude?
Can they leave Jimmy to heaven?”

Armand Archard's "Confidential Gossip"4l revealed
that the new western The True Story of Jesse Jameg was
being directed by Nicholas Ray who “says this is the most
exciting thing that has happened to him since directing the
late Jimmy Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.“ After noting how
"pleased" Ray was by the "wonderful reaction to Jimmy's great
performance in Giant," Archer said that Ray in his new picture

was attempting "to Show how these young men, James and his

gang, were the misunderstood juveniles of their era.” And
Archard commented, "Just as he had Dean portray [gig ] in
Rebel."

Jerry Asher's article on Tony Perkins, ”Just a Home-

body at Heart"42 in Movieland, said that Perkins may have been

 

described as "a young Jimmy Dean“ but this lasted only until
his picture Friendly Persuasion established him as an

"individualist."

3 41

pr§_carried a color picture of Dean on its cover
with the legend "He Taught Girls All About Sex.” Sharing
the cover were Joan Collins, Elvis Presley, and Natalie Wood,
all subjects of feature articles. Needless to say, the Dean
name and pictures popped up throughout most of the issue.

"43 presented companion photos

"How Elvis Milks Teen-Age Morons
of Dean and Presley sharing their limelight with ”pal” Nick
Adams: "Wherever he goes, pal Nickie is sure to chum along—-
a public service pal Nickie also performed for Elvis' idol,
Jimmy Dean.“ The romantic photos of Elvis with Natalie Wood
and accounts of her much publicized trips to his home town.
though not reflecting the Dean image by name, certainly
carried its overtones and, in any case, made "lovely c0py.”
Elvis' "idol,” Dean, from the tone of the article inSpired in
Elvis more than just adulation. After revealing that Elvis
made "a thorough study of the dirty—shirt school of actors”--
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean, Paul Newman, and the like——the
article presented what purported to be Elvis' own summing Up
of his "merchandising technique”:

If you want to attract teen—agers and bobby—soxers
you can't smile. The girls like me to look sullen,
brooding, somethin' of a menace.

The Dean article was an encore by Lynne Carter called

"I Learned About Love From Jimmy Dean”:44

it featured bigger
and better pictures of ”the shapely photographer's model"
than it did of Dean. The article was set up as a letter in

answer to the "ignorance and pettiness“ evidenced in letters

\u

ur

as

“v

 

342

from the "illiterates" who wrote to Miss Carter after publi—
cation of her previous article. Some of the letters were
printed prefacing Miss Carter's. The Carter letter presented
no really new material; it was basically a recapitulation of
the earlier article with a suggestion that the Bast biography
presented an "even more detailed account." A liberal sprinkling
of Bast quotations made up the remainder of the article.

The article on Natalie Wood, "Red Hot Rebel With a

"45 commented on what it considered Miss Wood's basic

Cause,
needs: "publicity and excitement"—-especially concerning the
Wood relationships with Presley and Dean. Dean's initial
reaction to his young co-star was described:

He thought her a hopeless adolescent and avoided her
as best he could. 'Man, that chick is a flip,‘ was his
comment.

As for Miss Wood's public comments otherwise, the

article said:

After Dean died, Natalie gave the whole episode
another look and dramatically told reporters that her
heart was broken as a result of it. She hinted that She
and Jimmy had an affair without saying it. For a time
you couldn't pick up a screen magazine that didn't con-
tain a Natalie Wood-Jimmy Dean story that made Romeo
and Juliet sound like platonic friends.

The concluding article in the issue,46 called "Why

Jimmy Won't Win Any Oscars," was presented to expose "the
hoax that will rob him." The article called the Motion
Picture Academy Awards "one of the phoniest spectacles in

America"; the Academy's "devotion to art is pure humbug.“

An example of humbuggery given was the granting of Oscars

343

to Marty: “It cost $343,000 to produce Marty—-peanuts as movie
budgets go——but its hucksters Shot $350,000 to ballyhoo it
into the stratosphere of Oscardom." The Oscar was rated as
"so much box office," and the article stated that Dean, dead,
was rated as out of the running by the Academy, despite his
performance in Giant, ”the greatest movie acting job in years,"
the role that proved he was an "authentic genius." If Dean
were alive he would not count losing the Oscar a great loss:
"Not for him the glycerine tears, the drunken shouts, the
hypocritical applause. . . ."
There was no advertising in prp_except for plugs for
its own related publications, including the sixty—six page
Jimmy Dean Returns. A photo survey of the covers of back
issues printed revealed to the interested reader that four of
the last five issues of prp_carried at least one article on

Dean.47

Movie and TV Album featured a color photo of Dean on

 

its cover in April captioned "Jimmy Dean Didn't Want It This
Way."48 The article stated that because "he hated the glare
of publicity“ in his early days in Hollywood, because he was
labeled an “eccentric"--a "'character‘ who was often seen
prowling the streets alone or with drinking companions best
' Dean, himself, is partly to blame for the

not mentioned,‘

current "craze“:

344

Often in restaurants, when he sought attention
(attention, not service), he would beat out a tom-tom
solo on the table, or start a small fire, or toss
salt. . . .

Only later came his consuming urge to be known as an
actor, first and foremost: "We think you can help Jimmy if
you realize that the biggest thing in his life was work."
Sngoested activities, according to the article, include
writing to Dean's studio to urge that his pictures "be
released yearly," suggesting the films be sent to the archives
of the New York Museum of Modern Art, contributing to the
James Dean Memorial Foundation, forming theatre parties to
see Dean films ("You can invite all your friends to join
you") . . . "This we feel is the way Jimmy would have wanted
it."

The issue also included linkage between Dean and

Montgomery Clift with the revelation that Clift, "like . . .
the late Jimmy Dean,"49 wanted "to write, direct, and perhaps,
eventually to produce ” Later pages included several full

page photo advertisements and "Hollywood's Newest Rage," a
"Lucky Charm Calendar picturing Elvis Presley, James Dean

and You!"50

Donald P. Costello reviewed GiantSl for Today, calling
it "the best of the year" and ”indicative of a trend” toward

"big movies“ in subject matter and length,l turned out by
"fine directors with a realization of both the potential and

the limitations of the camera,“ who have "finally learned to

345

produce movies of big scope, big theme, and big screen with-

out submerging human values or dramatic structure." From

Dean, for Costello, there came ”the expected magnificent

portrayal."

Eugene Archer presented an extended analysis of Giant
in his lengthy study "George Stevens and the American Dream,“52

In this Film Culture article Archer pinpointed the domination

assuming

 

of the film by Dean through character and style,

this domination to be intentional and concurrent with the

designs of the film's creators. Archer's analysis approached

Giant as a tri—sectional analysis of changing social tradition.

Because he found the more obvious heroic figures beyond belief,

Archer evidently sought an anti—hero in the film, and he found

such in the character of Jett Rink:

The dominant figure in Giant and its true hero is
the outsider who observes this social pattern and de—
termines to change its structure. It is through the eyes
of Jett Rink that the Benedicts acquire their Significance,
for to him, functioning to the audience as the catalyst,
these figures represent his ultimate aspirations.

The ”different" quality of Dean's playing is approached

Stevens' approach which,

as an asset, rather than a defect.

in part, at least, may have been exigency in coping with the
interpretations of his intractable young star, is accepted

as purposive and powerful:
This role is fortunately played by the late James
Dean, the actor best capable of conveying the inarticulate
yearning and intensity of the outcast American youth, and

through his interpretation the saga of the Beneditts
acquires an unexpected mythical imagery. Hovering about

346

the outskirts of the story,

but dominating each crucial
episode,

Dean is presented in a deliberately muted and
elliptical manner which adds to his effectiveness and

increases the impact of both the role and the film.
Observing from the sidelines, standing beside a car or
horse, his face in shadow, moving slowly and sensually,
the actor suggests the suppressed energy of a dynamo in
suspension, constantly overshadowing the action,

ready to
explode into raw emotional fury when the moment is pre-
pared.

Ignoring any possible commercial inadvisability of
making Dean's character the complete villain the novel pre—

sented, Archer accepts the cinematic Jett Rink, not as a half-
hearted villain, but as a tragic hero:

The character has the potentialities of tragedy in

his admirable struggle for a power which he is tempera-
mentally incapable of realizing,

and in this carefully
designed performance his destruction,

a maudlin outcry
against the fates which have placed his aspirations
beyond his grasp,

has a kind of epic grandeur.

Archer applauds Stevens' use of the Dean performance
to “keynote his conception," and notes in descriptive detail
the scene of the legacy with the ranchers and the pacing off
of the land as an illustration of the "ambition of the

effects toward which Stevens aims in Giant and its complete

success is a major directorial achievement." Archer's labored
approach could probably find in Claudius the real hero of

Hamlet.

The international power of the Dean image was

gathering impetus. In Sight and Sound English critic Kenneth

Tynan rated Giant and Rebel among the recent films he found

"particularly stimulating."53

In the same issue, a

347

QuestionnaireS4 concerning

the social relevance of the
arts“ sent to people whose main professional concern is not
with cinema," mainly writers and literary critics

asked,
among other questions,

"Do you regard Marilyn Monroe and

James Dean as Significant symbols of the 1950 s?" The question
may have been rather ambiguous and somewhat premature but
the forthright and sometimes wry answers elicited from the

objects of the inquiry are indicative of the scope and the

varied nature of the impact of Dean on this segment of

Western culture at least

From Peter Rawlinson, M.P.,

came a strong "No." Critic John Berger found them "as sig—
nificant as they are depressing They represent a trend that

would crown the jackal instead of the lion as king of the

jungle. Author John Wain found Monroe not to be a signifi-

cant symbol except as illustrating changes in sex fashion.

As for Dean, ”Yes, in a not very interesting way. Kenneth
Tynan thought the Monroe and Dean cults represented “a re—

treat, on the part of people at large, to emotional im-
maturity. Monroe's appeal was a passive irresponsibility.

Dean's was "active":

His fans like him best when he is behaving most un»
accountably-—snickering, wriggling,

apparently sending
up script, director, and cast alike, twitching author-
ity's beard and getting away with it

Quite apart from
their talents, in both cases considerable

” “roe appear to their publics as intuige;zb e c ‘

- .~qfrre.s
in a jungle world (cf. the bears and squirrels routine
in Lao . Back in Anger).

DBSl and

348

Author Kingsley Amis thought yes, "but no more significant"

than many other public figures,

famous and infamous. Writer

Spike Milligan thought Monroe ”an attraction of the mammary

in full flood" and, in that reSpect, "a symbol of the

'fifties." Her artistic contributions to the cinema were

rated as "nil." On the other hand, Milligan thought that

Dean, had he lived, might have been capable of combining the

“brooding“ technique of the method school with the "more

classical approach of the British Stage." Dean's death

terminated "what seemed at the outset a bright prospect in

the cinema world." Colin Wilson asked, "Significant of

what?":

I suppose Rudolph Valentino was a significant sym-
bol of the 'twenties; but then so were The Waste Land
and Ulysses. Figures like Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn
Monroe, only interest me because they give me an idea
of the state of the age I am addressing. Dean seems

more significant than the others,because he was a half—
baked outsider.

John Osborne found that both Monroe and Dean ”personalize the
inadequacies and dissatisfactions of millions,

just like Jesus

and the Queen." He added, "I Should have thought that was

significant."

Penelope Houston's "Hollywood in the Age of Television"55
in the same issue of Sight and Sound, analyzed the techniques
employed by Hollywood to hold its head above the financial

waters, recounting three recent trends: the "blockbuster“

designed to appeal to everyone, an attempt to regain the mass

...-

a.
p.
!
n
p
o

.1.—

349

audience of yore; the "'adult' exercises in degradation and
misery," and the "heavy assault on that section of the
audience on whom it [Hollywood] can still most consistently
count: the teenage public." Cited was Rock Around the Clock,
which cost about $300,000 and is “likely" to gross eight times
that amount. There were also "equally evocative titles":
Rock, Rock, Rock; Don't Knock the Rock; Rock, Pretty Baby--

all, generally, object lessons from a forerunner, Rebel With—

out a Cause:

 

It was the teenage audience that made Rebel Without
a Cause one of the major box office successes of last
year, and it was this film that led to the posthumous cult
of James Dean, the hysterical identification of a dead
actor with the Spirit of a generation. The unhappy
adolescent, the science fiction monster, the heroic
rock'n'roller: these are the recurring symbols of the
contemporary cinema, and they are there because American

teenagers will pay to see them.

Dig, a magazine "For Teenagers Only," offered a full

color reproduction of an original oil painting of James Dean

on its April cover and advised it could be won ”free in this

issue." The only requirement for consideration of winning

the painting was answering two pages of "very simple

questions"56 concerning personal tastes and home responsi-

bilities, aspirations—-and other interesting and more lead—

ing questions concerning parental occupations and income,

tempting one to question the given motives of the publishers

who attested to the fact that they were asking such questions

only "to improve the magazine." In any case, whatever the

350

motives, the portrait was a good lure. To point up the
felicity of owning such a painting, the questions were pre—
faced by several pages57 of Dean material, including a blue-
washed full page sketch accompanied by an anonymous prose-

poem that described Dean as "quiet, brooding, intense, with

a great zest for living." The poem mulled over Dean's
insecurity, reflected in his "ever—changing moods," calling
it "the insecurity of youth . . . of a changing world . . .'

of the Atomic age":

The longing to belong,
To belong without conforming,
Conforming to a pattern

long—held,
Saying what has been said,
Doing what has been done,
Thinking as we are expected to think,
Society demands it of us all,
Society demanded it of Jimmy
But Jim was a rebel.

Overleaf, Dig asserted it preferred to "sidestep" the

“usual and weird tales,“ and "let the many exaggerated stories
remain untold, at least by us." Instead, Dig approached

Dean as “an actor's actor”:

. . a student of the Stanislavsky School of acting
which taught that the way to be a good actor was to 'live'
the part, believe in it, be transformed, if only tempor—
arily, into the person whose part you play. For only
through genuine suffering and genuine emotion, can you
project to an audience the character you have adopted.

The "utter conviction" of Dean's playing was ex—

hibited in Rebel:

Who didn‘t live the part with him and feel the same
frustration that he felt in that excellent movie? He
was the symbol for many teenagers and only a teenager

351
can really know and understand the difficult part he
played and appreciate the quality of that performance.

A plug for Giant "where his role was just as believ—

able though he played a very different part" followed, and
the article concluded:
His acting, as recorded on film, will serve as the
finest Memorial to James Dean and he will be remembered
long after many of the great names of today have been
forgotten.
Nine photographs accompanied the article, five
portraits, a date shot with Terry Moore, and stills from
the three films, including the "Christus" shot from gigpp.
Next, another page and a half of photographs, including one
of the wrecked car and another of Dean's monument, accompanied
a reprint of ex—editor Frank Campbell's appraisal of Dean's
talent and Campbell's personal knowledge of Dean's racing
skills. A brief prefatory paragraph noted: "Frank Campbell,
like Dean, was killed in his sportscar.“ Qggfs record column
"Herrmen's Platter Pad" advised of a new record by "hip"
comedian Lord Buckley called "James Dean's Message to Teen—
agers." The column said the record was an account of Buckley's
meeting with Dean in a cafe: "Lord Buckley plays it straight
. . . describes his conversation with Dean."

Though ng_generally followed the line hewed by the
fan magazines, it was more adamantly a "teenage“ publication,
antipathetic if not antagonistic to adult values as opposed

to those of the teenager. This was the magazinebimajor sell-

ing point: "No adults allowed on these pages under any

352

circumstances for these pages are reserved for teenagers
only." The pages were devoted to teenage interests and
teenage rights—-and this magazine presented James Dean as one
of those teenage rights. James Dean, too, was “reserved

for teenagers only.“

The Dean memory must be preserved and protected from
adults who didn't understand, who couldn't understand what
Dean meant to the teenagers. The critical studies printed
in the larger mass publications,even the Academy Awards, could
be considered, by extension, plots against the Dean memory,
plots against teenagers. For those who wanted it and

accepted it, the rebels were being provided with a cause.

More material was added to the Dean archives with

the paperback publication of 1, James Dean by T. T. Thomas.58

 

What the book added in bulk it lacked in originality, re—
flecting in pictures and copy the previously published
material. Attractive color studies of Dean by Sanford Roth
on the covers helped to sell the book, as did the cover-
advertised sixteen pages of photographs. The cover blurbs
asked:
Which was the Real James Dean? Tormented Genius
. . . Reckless Rebel . . . Hollywood Playboy . . . Or
Angry Man?
The book was said to answer these questions and to

uncover "the hidden terrors and triumphs, the frustrations

and fulfillments, the conscious longings and unconscious

353

compulsions, that propelled him to the glittering heights,
then swept . . . to dark destruction . . . this tormented
youth who became a legend within days of his death." The
cover blurb was almost a paraphrase of the Giant publicity
copy.
Thematically and biographically the book followed
the lead of previously published biographical studies. It
seemed to owe a special debt to the Bast study. Each chapter
was prefaced with a brief paragraph-essay written in the first
person and, supposedly, in Dean's own words: "I was the
hopes and dreams of my farm-girl mother."59 Like the Bast
book, this study considered the maternal influence of
crucial importance. Of Dean's mother's death the book says:
And at that moment of his life, the icy fear in
Jimmy Dean's heart froze solid, fixing him permanently
at that phase of his emotional development. There he
stayed, a boy unable to resolve the tragedy that had
befallen him, fighting it all of his life, but never
getting beyond it. All his remaining years, his be—
havior, his goals, and his personality were an out-
growth of this fact. He remained an emotional Peter
Pan, unable to grow up.60
With the general facts, the names, the dates, the
places, now fairly common knowledge, the only room left for
expansion of material was in analysis. The most commercially
viable form of analysis had already proven to be "self—
analysis." The final paragraphs in the book have Dean,
Supposedly, summarizing his "own" conception of himself:
Do not judge me as James Byron Dean. I am the man
you dreamed me to be. I am the parts I played through—
out my meager yesterdays. I am the young and the lonely

and the lost. I am a part of every one of you who
know me.61

354

An advertisement advising that application would be
Open for the James Dean Memorial Theater School in Fairmount,

Indiana appeared in the April 17 issue of Daily_Variety.62

 

And although the April issue of Personal Romances offered the

 

enigmatically titled "I Was Jimmy Dean's Wife,"63 and the

May TV and Movie Screen featured "Jimmy Dean's Happiest

 

Night,"64 these articles could not be found for reference.

One can presume they were not related.

A comment in Peer J. Oppenheimer's "Hollywood IS
Talking About . . ."65 gossip column noting that Mercedes
McCambridge "barely avoided" killing herself on the anniver-
sary of Dean's death acted as a fitting preface to Miss

1:66

McCambridge'S own article "In Defense of Jimmy Dean in the

 

May Movie Mirror. A brief statement was made that the story

was "written while Jimmy was still alive,' but not received
until "shortly after his death." Since, the editors noted,
"his shining genius is now accepted and recognized as some-
thing that will never die," the story can be published.
Miss McCambridge carped at the destructive fabrications
printed about Jimmy and sought to set the record straight,
"track them down to their false foundations." Some of the
more destructive articles were laid at the doorstep of
"thwarted, frustrated“ fan magazine writers who could not
succeed in getting a Dean interview. Miss McCambridge pre—

ferred to reveal Dean's "soft side . . . his sentimental

side, as well as . . . his almost fierce honesty" in several

355

anecdotes connected with the shooting of Giant, offering

excuses for Dean's temperament and even for his "few not

very carefully chosen words." Further comment on the Pier

Angeli romance and Dean's treatment of the Hollywood hangers—
on pointed up his sensitivity and his hatred Of deceit and
false front. Dean's "drive toward perfection" and his

“boyish" qualities received a strong play; his shortcomings

were laid to his early and frequent setbacks: ”He's afraid

of being hurt, and we should remember he's been hurt often."

Movieland presented a most original offering in Vi

 

Swisher's "Thanks For Everything . .“67 a study of the

friendly relationship between Dean and Kira and Robert Appel,

the Special feature team for France-Soir. Kira Appel

became engaged in the relationship betause of Dean's interest

in the style and career of Harry Baur, the almost legendary

continental film great:

That was how our friendship began . . . with James's
questions. And that's how it continued and developed.
Always questions--about art, about life, about death--
searching, intelligent, sometimes profound questions.

The article focused on an unusual evening Dean spent

at the Appels' in company with pianist Walter Gieseking:

"They were basic people——homespun human beings who didn't

have to pretend simplicity." The article further revealed

that Dean "boned up" on his role in Rebel by attending "some
meetings of a pretty rough high school club and nobody knew

who he was. They just figured he was a new kid and he got

by with it":

556

Sure he did. Because besides studying those stu-
dents, he put himself in their place. He not only acted
like one of them, for the time being he was one of them.
By means of his own unique magic he was, somehow, every
one of them. It's possible that Jimmy's fabulous excit-
ing acting was in some measure Self—hypnosis. Certainly
it was crowd hypnosis of unequaled power.

Alyce Canfield called Nick Adams "the late Jimmy Dean's
best friend"68 in her gossip column, and, in testament of

this fact, Nick Adams wrote "Hollywood's Mixed Up Blabber—

mouths"69 for the May issue of Screen Stars. Adams' own

excuse for writing the article was that he "frankly didn't
know how to cope with the unkind remarks concerning [his]
genuine friendship with the late Jimmy Dean." After recapitu-

lating his relationship with Dean, Adams insisted that his

several stories about Dean, and later, those about Presley,

came as a result of friendship and not publicity--"for the
Simple reason that it wasn‘t me who was being publicized":

All I got was an author's by—line and the satis—
faction that I had done a few editor—friends a good

turn . . . I had no selfish motives.

Joe Hyams' ”This Is Hollywood" column70 on May 1,
1957 proved that he had relented in his decision "not to
write" any more Dean material because the "legend had taken

an unhealthy turn." The column was devoted to an explanation

and an exegesis of the James Dean Theater School "to be
conducted in Fairmount, Indiana, his [Dean's] home town,
under the auspices of Earlham College." From the 48 students

aged 16-24, whose only requirements would be a high School

diploma and the tuition of one hundred and twenty dollars

357

(though twenty tuition scholarships were available), would

be chosen the recipients of two two—year scholarships at

the Neighborhood Playhouse School in New York. Hyams quoted

Les Johnston, Executive Secretary of the James Dean Memorial

Foundation,as saying:

We‘d like to think of it as a monument to him. We'd
like people to stOp thinking of him as a crazy mixed up
kid and give him credit as a remarkable young actor.

The Dean enthusiast, if bi—lingual, would find ample

fodder for his particularized enthusiasms in currently avail—
71

able French materials in May, 1957. Edgar Morin's Les Stars

contained a chapter devoted to Dean and a French translation
of Nicholas Ray's account of the birth of the Rebel scenario

was published,72 in slightly expanded form from that previously

presented in Sight and Sound, in the May 15—31, 1957 issue of

Arts. A week later the same publication reviewed73 Yves
Salgues' James Dean ou le mal de vivre. Since Ray's material

had already been published and the Morin Dean chapter was

to receive American publication shortly, concentration now

will be on the Salgues' book. (The Arts review was written

by Raymond de Becker, who was asked to comment on "la Sig-
nification de cet hystérie collective" in America which the
Salgues' book presented to the French reading public.)

The Salgues book74 as a whole might be considered

a French equivalent of some of the American publications

which were still appearing. Its publication came with the

358

Paris opening of Giant when French interest in Dean was

approaching a peak. The one could not but help the com—

mercial success of the other. The system worked in both

directions:

Dans un style alerts at somptueux, a l'heure mgme
ou Le Géant sort sur tous les ecrans de France, le jeune
remancier Yves Salgues nous raconte la vie et la mort du
heros dont toute l'Amerique fleurit la tombe et pour
lequel vivre ne fut pas une 'fureur' mais un mal
fantasque et merveilleux.7S

 

The cover blurb quoted above did not point out that
Salques' comments on "le cas du siecle"76 followed, almost
point by point, the more typical American publications.

Most of his material would seem to have come from fan sources,

though Salgues' prefatory statement noted:

L'auteur remercie les services d'Information de
l'Ambassade des Etats-Unis, le Bureau de Documentation
Americain, les journaux Paris-Match, Marig-Claire, Life,
Colliers ... et la Warner Bros [sic.] qui ont bien
voulu mettre a sa disposition leurs reportages et leurs

archives.77

A quotation from Ernest Hemingway, ”Ce garcon jouait

dans la salle, il descendait parmi les Spectateurs,"78 and

some personal comments from Elizabeth Taylor would seem to

form the bulk of Salgues‘ original research.

Magnum, Rapho and Warner Brothers were credited for

the photographs illustrating the book. The front cover
featured a color portrait by Sanford Roth; the inside illus—
trations appear to be mostly stills from Dean films, Sanford
Roth's Giant shots, and Dennis Stock‘s Fairmount and New York

studies. The pictures are not individually credited, but

359

one rather interesting page reproduces a portion of a photo—
grapher's roll of film labeled "fantaisie pour une carte
d'identité."79 On it are twenty variations of a character-

istic and popular pose of Dean, chin in, head down, eyes

peering up and out.

The written material in the book was equally inventive
and equally a series of variations on a theme. It copied
exactly the exaggerations of American fan magazines in the

creation of imaginary dialogue and comment. Dean was quoted

as saying that "Giant sera le film le plus merveilleux du

. \ . . \
Siecle."80 George Stevens was noted as pOInting out "la scene

la plus dure qu'ait tournee un acteur depuis que la cinema

existe."81 He was Speaking of'hhifameuse sequence du banquet,

point culminant du Géant."82 If Hedda Hopper got a Dean

interview, it was only because "Miss Parsons insistait."83

If American fan magazines said Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Nick
Adams, and Richard Davalos were together in New York talking

about Dean the night he was killed, Salgues added Julie Harris

to the group for good measure.84 Fan material was accepted

as literal truth, broadened and exaggerated further for

effect. A new girl friend, ”l'exquise Judy Collins . . .

une grande passion chaste,"85 sent Dean a telegram when

See the Jaguar opened, but it was to his dead mother he

 

\ I
prayed for success——“elle se consacre toute a Jimmy."86

The extracurricular relationship between Dean and James

Whitmore was stated like this in the French version:

360

A la rentree de Pagues, le comedien James Withmore
[sic. ] fut désigné pour remplacer a la chaire d' art
dramatique le professeur precedent atteint d' une grave

maladie.87
The name the date, the relationship were incorrect.

When Salgues interpreted, he interpreted in keeping
with his material, but along lines more understandable to
his French public:

James n 'est certes pas méchant——il est beaucoup

plus pres de Jean- -Jacques Rousseau ou des adolescents de
Dos Passos que de ceux de Cocteau, ou de Sartre--il est
indifferent, formidablement indifferent.88

When Salgues did not interpret, he evoked an air of
dark mystery, pregnant with unstated meaning. Dean was said,
for instance, to have obtained his job in See the Jaguar
through' 'un marin d' un soir" ;89 the two later "se baignaient
ensemble a Fire Island (soeur cadette et voisine de Long
Island, a tres mauvaise reputation)-"90 Pier Angeli's
mother was said to have suggested: "Apres tout, pourqoi
James Dean ne serait-il pas un de ces indéterminés quo,
affectivement, sexuellement, n'a pas encore trouvé sa vraie
voie?"91

The best that can be said for the Salgues' work is
that it was dramatic in effect. It even had a theme song,
"Nature Boy," hummed, whistled and sung by Dean at odd and
even moments throughout the biographical sections and
eventually said to have been sung by a choir at the opening

Of Giant in New York at Radio City92 (It's better known

and bigger).

361

Yet, only after the account of Dean's death did the
author really hit his stride. He quotes, he says, an

American headline:

Dénouement tragique a La Fureur de vivre:
James Dean-—le Géant--meurt A l' est d‘ Eden.93

A few months later, and he stated the date exactly, May 20,

"94-

"une rumeur lancee par nul ne saura jamais qui raised

James Dean to the god—head:

La petite histoire devint la grande légende.
Désormais qui prononcerait le nom de Jimmy Dean dirait

equivalent de Dieu.95
The recorded results included the comparisons with Valentino,96
the one—Shot magazines, ”les cent et quelques chansons,"97

the attempted suicides by devoted fans,98 and fan club

membership listed by Salgues as:

Dedicated Deans 430,615
Dean's Teens 392,450
Lest We Forget Club 376,870
James Dean Memorial Club 328,590 99

Malgré le meilleure volonté du monde, ni Warner Bros,
ni "Movie Stars Parade' '—-1' organisms le plus puissant de
Hollywood car il patronne toutes les manifestations publi-
citaires concernant les étoiles dites de premiere
grandeur—~n' ont pu parvenir a leur fin : le controle
absolu de ces fan clubs qui, au total, groupent 3 millions
800. 000 adherents, soit un Americain sur dix, autant dire

toute la jeunesse.loo

The James Dean Memorial Foundation was depicted as
"une institution d'Etat au mSme titre que l'American

Legion"101 and Dean‘s pictures were described as being on

schoolhouse walls alongside those of Eisenhower.102

I

362

Salgues generally absolves Warner Brothers from
any undue participation in the whole mad business, but he

does note a vested interest:

La Warner s 'était tenue a l' écart de ce battage
insensé. Elle ne fit que suivre 1e mouvement, pour la
bonne raison que le freiner eut été aller a l' encontre
de ses intérets: Jack Warner et George Stevens avaient
investi trois milliards et demi dans Le Geant, et plus
on parlerait de Jimmy, donc du film, mieux cela vaudrait.

103
Salgues repeated all of the publicity motifs on which

American film magazines concentrated. Since the Salgues

figures on fan club membership would seem to be unique, there

is no total to match them against. The validity of the fig—

ures is doubtful, but the effect of the figures mirrored

another publicity ploy of the American publications: the

idea that "everybody's doing it." The copying of American

customs in France was enjoying a period of being a la mode

 

at this time. That Americans were interested in something
was a recommendation of sorts in itself to many French young
peOple.

There were dissenters though, too. Social psycholo-
gist Raymond de Becker,-when he reviewed the Salgues book
for Arts,called his review "James Dean trahit l'Amerique'f:104

L' Amerique découvre son ombre ... Face au visage

souriant, pieux, heroique et activiste de l' Amérique
officielle se dresse le visage tourmenté, sournois,
cynique et nonchalant d' une autre Amérique qui est la
compensation de la premiere et sa profondeur.

The Dean image, reflected in his films, his life, his worship,

was one critical of the American "way of life" and of the

prestige of the self-made man. De Becker saw Dean as the

563

apotheosis of a critical tradition reaching back on the
screen to Chaplin and the comedies of Frank Capra. It had
been seen in the plays of Tennessee Williams, also.

De Becker found this critical tradition reflecting a social

and a sexual revolution which was seen clearly, for the first

time, in Dean.

And in Britain critic Lindsay AndersonlOS found tele-
vision a great influence on American films, reflecting the
directorial techniques of imported television material on
cinematic forms. He compared Rebel Without a Cause with

The Young Stranger, a previous television success. Anderson

 

remarked:

From certain points of view Ray's film is 'better‘:
more assured, more powerful, more personal. But it is an
obsessed film, in which the artist remains completely
identified with his subject, unable to show it in any sort

of perspective.

Peer J. Oppenheimer's "Is Natalie Wood Betraying
Jimmy Dean";06 was featured on the cover of the June Movie

§tars Parade. An editorial note quoted fan reaction to the

"new" Natalie with her recently acquired gamine coiffure and

her penchant for posing in a modified bikini. Natalie seemed

certainly a far cry from the unsophisticated teenager of

Rebel Without a Cause. A stark juxtaposition of a bikini shot

and a still with Dean is captioned:

He once gave her his trust--and his love.
But could his heart accept her as she is today?

564

The editor's comment:

Theirs was a deep friendhip; fine and sensitive
himself, he found beneath Natalie's gaiety an answering
seriousness and an understanding heart.

Oppenheimer's article attempted to assess whether or
not Miss Wood retained these qualities. Interestingly, the
body of the article contained not a single reference to Dean.
The editors adopted the fairly straightforward character sketch
of Natalie Wood to the more commercially suitable Dean material

by the addition of the preface and a conclusion:

This is the Natalie of today. Always on the go but
not always sure where she's going. Naturally, because
she moves so fast, she sometimes makes mistakes. But the
first to understand this would have been Jimmy Dean.

Who knew better the agonizing drive to find yourself that
haunts the late teens? Who understood more the burning

ambition to make your mark by being different--even
daring? . . . Jimmy would never betray Natalie just as she
is not now betraying him. In this period of confusion, ‘
what Natalie needs so desperately is not the censure of
her fans but the understanding she lost when we all lost

Jimmy Dean.

The urgency of filling in the gap made by the loss of
Dean prompted the publication of articles like that on Dean
Stockwell, "A Boy Who Needs a Bride,"107 by Timothy Michael
in the same issue of Movie Stars Parade. Michael hit all
bases in an attempt to draw a parallel between the two actors.
He commented on acting ability: "Dean Stockwell‘s the most
electrifying actor to hit the screen since Jimmy Dean."

Michael noted other similarities as well:

Not since the days of James Dean, to whom he is
often compared both as to looks and personality, has such
a restless spirit stirred in filmdom. . . . Though he's
been wearing glasses for five years, he's abruptly stopped

365

donning them since someone pointed out they heightened

his resemblance to Dean.
He shares two of Jimmy Dean's hobbies. He is an
expert amateur artist and a speed demon whose next wish

is to pilot a plane.

A later page of the magazine offered special mail
order privileges for the previously sold—out April issue of

Personal Romances:

Liar, Devoted Wife, Tramp, Lucky Girl, Ghoul——
These are just a few of the names readers had for the
author of "I Was Jimmy Dean's Wife." So great was the
controversy over this startling story that Personal
Romances for April sold out at once. Since then, thousands
of true James Dean fans who missed it have demanded more

copies.108

 

Ideal also offered TV Star Annual_#5 with "a great bonus

story“: "TV Memories of Jimmy Dean."109

These back pages included an advertisement for "The
lethecord James Dean Ever Made,"110 consisting of "an actual
Jam Session" as "he talks and plays conga drums along with
noted Jazz flutist, Bob Romeo" with "intimate details of the
ad-lib music session." The record is described as a "truly

limited collector‘s item."

1

Though the photograph used on the album11 was one

of the Sanford Roth Giant location shots, the album cover
blurb stated the record was taken from "an unrehearsed ‘home'
tape recording" made one night at a Sunset Strip nightclub
called "Tablehoppers." The brief conversation included in
the recording more accurately noted the time as "almost

four o‘clock.“ Dean "cuts out" because he has an "early call."

566

What conversation there is, though promised, was held to a
minimum. This is essentially a musical recording. The initial
selection, when Dean was asked to ad-lib a "slow, beautiful,
moving thing," was called for the recording "Dean's Lament."
The reverse side, complete with wild grunting, was called
simply "Jungle Rhythm.“ The record evidenced a fair artistic
quality but a poor technical quality, with obvious indications
of some tape splicing. Though it was not bad, it lacked the
polish of a standard recording, but then, the record never
claimed to be that. As a whole, the effort stands as a

unique fixture in the accumulation of Dean memorabilia appear-

ing on the market for obvious commercial reasons.

Just as photos of Elvis Presley steadily supplanted
photos of Dean in the fan photo advertisements, so, too, did
Elvis get the emphasis in the sales pitchlla for Ideal‘s

Hollywood Rebels, though the advertisement promised an article

 

“Why Parents Fear Jimmy Dean." The emphasis on Presley in
the advertisement was a commercial cover not reflected in the
actual publication. In Hollywood Rebels Dean received the
majority of emphasis and was credited with being “The Boy
Who Started It All."l13 Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood, Marlon
Brando, Dean Stockwell, and, in fact, most of the younger
stars received some sort of coverage under the overall title

of "Hollywood Rebels":114

367

On the surface they have everything. . . . And yet
because of the times in which they live, what lies
behind them and what they fear may lie ahead, these
young stars are in revolt.

They were said to mirror "the rebellion that is in young
people everywhere." The advertised article, featured also on
the cover, "Why Parents Fear Jimmy Dean,"115 claimed that
adult objections to Dean and what they took him to stand for
were based on a misconception:

Can it be possible that this acting genius is the

root of all the evil grown ups see in the younger
generation? . . . if he had not been such a hit, there

wouldn‘t be so many off beat types around and idolized
now . . . [who] laugh in the face of convention while

they sell two-beat sex.

The difference, the article claimed, between Dean and some
of his successors was that Dean ”was an honest ARTISTIC
rebel" who, though'he felt a need "to be true to himself,"
retained a ”compassion for the needy, sick and troubled."
Dean‘s many eccentricities, his sloppy clothes, ”slurry
Speech, mixed up manners," "were only surface signs of his
rebellion. Today's teenagers, recognizing this, have made
him a symbol of their own inner conflicts." The article
attested that teen adulation of Dean, when kept "within
bounds . . . has done much good." The article claimed as
assets of the adulation the establishment of the James Dean
Memorial Foundation and the improvement of teenage reading
habits, generalizing that Dean's publicized interest in the
playing of Hamlet drew many teen readers to a renewed

interest in Shakespeare. Moreover, the article claimed

368

teenagers had good reason for "rebelling against the mess
their parents left them; they need an emotional outlet."
So, the article asked, "Why should mothers and fathers try
to stop them?" And it offered some advice:

Parents should, instead, try to understand this

devotion. In time they may even learn to love, not
fear, the memory of James Dean.

Movie Screen Yearbook commemorated116 the passing of
James Dean and Humphrey Bogart, "flamboyant, headline making
personalities," as "tragic losses to the hundreds of thousands
of people throughout most of the world who had grown to love
these actors as though they, too, were personal friends."
"Unfortunately," Dean never lived to see the recognition of
Academy nomination given him posthumously for Giant, but
"he is still very much alive in the thonghts of his many
friends."

The magazine also carried "James Dean: A Special
Message to Hisfkuufll7——and who, according to the magazine,
wasn't a fan?: "To have seen Jimmy Dean in a picture was
to love him." Announcement was made of the James Dean
Memorial Foundation "to perpetuate his name in years to come."
The Foundation had a Board consisting of Fairmount, Indiana
locals "who have known Jimmy since he was a baby“ and a
Board of Advisorsrincluding Sammy Davis, Skitch Henderson,
Dimitri Nitropoulos, Lurene Tuttle and Stewart Stern, Who

"will decide the distribution of funds." The Foundation was

369

likened to the Damon Runyon Fund; its donated moneys were
to “be invested" and "used to help young actors, actresses,
and writers through endowment organizations and scholarships."

A photo illustrating the article showed the "simple
stone" that marked the "last resting place of the famous
actor." The accompanying caption added that "weekly,
hundreds of his fans, young and old, visit the grave leaving
flowers."

The fans could and probably would remember Dean, but
Hollywood had to move on. In a later article118 in the maga-
zine Tony Perkins, in print, stood up for his rights as an
individual actor. Though he was often, by others, "dubbed a

combination of Brando, Dean and Gregory Peck . . . he wants to

be himself." And a Special concluding section,119 an account

of and a commentary on the validity of the Academy Awards,
noted and pictured the Dean nomination for Best Actor with
the other nominees: Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, Sir Laurence
Olivier, and Rock Hudson. The concluding comment was that
"newcomer” Yul Brynner, in winning the top award for his

performance in The King and I, proved "that talent counts the

most" in winning an Oscar.

In Hollywood Romances under the title "The Year‘s
Strangest Love Stories,"l‘2O the Dean name found its way into
the love lives of Elizabeth Taylor and, of course, Pier Angeli.

Taylor was depicted as playing "the role of maternal

370

confidante" to Dean. As for Pier Angeli-«"Like Jimmy, Their
Love Was Doomed"-—Pier was shown now as another victim of
Dean‘s testing:
The truth was that he'd wanted Pier to marry him,
and run away to New York without telling anybody. When
she said she couldn't do that—-to her mother, or her
studio—~Jimmy retreated into his role of self—pity.
“Then you don‘t really love me,‘ he'd said. 'Let‘s for—
get it.‘
Among "Hollywood Love Legends” with Valentino, Harlow,
Gable and Lombard was “Jimmy Dean and the Women Who Won't Let

u l 21

Him Die, prefaced:

Here is a plea for an acceptance of Jimmy Dean's
death that will free us to respect his memory as we did
the man. This is not, like so many recent articles, an
attempt to destroy Dean‘s character in order to destroy
his legend. It is an appeal to reason.
A feature article was called "He Wasn't a God, He
Was a Man——And He Died.“122 The article reproduced as
figurehead titles of previously published Dean articles:
"You Can Make Jimmy Dean Live Forever," "Jimmy Dean is Not
Dead," ”Delirium Over Dead Star." These titles, the article
said, were devices used by "some magazines“ to send "their
circulations soaring." This cashing in on the "anguished
appeals from girls who fell in love with his image" created
a legend: "What began as a memory enshrined in the hearts
of those who loved him has become a morbid legend that refuses
to let him die." ”Current attacks" like George Scullin‘s
in ngk_or Maurice Zolotow‘s ”dirty, cruel, and sadistic"

comments are "designed" to ”destroy” the "cherished legend."

The "recent disparaging estimates" may be "untrue" or “only

371

the vicious expressions of outraged individuals," but "if
even fractions of these criticisms are true, they will shed
a sobering light" upon "the absurd cult" of Dean hero wor—

shippers,and the public will have a more "realistic image."

The James Dean World Wide Club started in the Summer
of 1957. With its headquarters in Britain the club ran until
1960. The beginnings were slow and localized, but with the
passage of time membership mushroomed, and the club was able
to live up to its name. The common interest in Dean was used
by the membership as a stepping—stone to establish pen-pal

communications and contacts.

In America the “craze" over Dean seemed to be dying
down by the summer of 1957, supplanted as it was by the furor
created over Elvis Presley and the brief but numerous spottings
of various other young Hollywood hopefuls as Dean‘s successors.
If interest in Dean was soon to receive new impetus, it was
not evident in certain periodicals. Mary Ann Watkinsl article

"In Defense of Natalie Wood"123 in the July Movie Mirror de-

 

fended Natalie against attacks that she used her well pub-
licized romances to further her career. Regarding Dean, the
author said that there are those in Hollywood who knew Dean
but who do not publicize their knowledge, and though this
attitude may sound ”noble" it is actually "selfish." Dean
fans wish to know all. Miss Wood "feels that everything she

knew and felt about Jimmy should be shared with everyone who

372

loved him, and if she's to be criticized for it, so be it."
Unless one counts the commercial advertisements, the
above was the only mention of the Dean name in an issue
featuring articles concerning Sal Mineo, Elizabeth Taylor,
and Tony Perkins, all previously used as ample sources of
linkage and publicity. The commercial possibilities of the
Dean name, for the moment, at least, seemed to have reached

a plateau.

Yet, even the brief lull was to have its publicity

value. Movie Life for July advertised "James Dean: Why They

 

Want to Forget Him" on its cover but titled its article "Why

They Want You to Forget Jimmy."124
"Memories of James Dean are personal and private,

and no one, no one at all, has the right to take them from

us, exclaimed the headline of the article. The insults to
Dean‘s memory, the lull, were the results of a "conspiracy

in Hollywood,“ "an unspoken agreement among a whole community
with this in common: they all stand to lose by a continuation
of “The James Dean Boom‘”--as evidenced by the ”snub to

Dean‘s magnificent performance in Giant." According to the
article the studio wished to rid themselves of the imitators,
to develOp new personalities; the actors who voted in the
Academy Award balloting disliked what they considered to be

unfair competition with an actor who can never have a bad

performance. Some actors, and the article noted Dean Stockwell

373

in particular, go out of their way to avoid comparisons.

The article stated that it would be fitting for the fans to

ignore these snubs:

True greatness such as Jimmy‘s, not only of acting
talent but of Spirit, is bigger than a gold statuette
known as Oscar. Jimmy will have all the reward he wants
if his fans find in him a good example, if they imitate
his ambition and sincerity—~and all the qualities of
inner beauty that made us love him. The chain of influ-
ence he could therefore inspire, contrary to a metal
statue, can ney§£_be lost, stolen or tarnished.

Interestingly, the same issue changed the sales pitch
for the Hollywood Rebels advertisementslaS and was now concen-

trating on a Dean selling point:

Is it a crime to be young? Jimmy Dean was called a
Rebel, but all he did was to be true to himself and
those who loved him. What do parents have against his

memory?

A Dean influence might have been noted, too, in the pictures
of Sal Mineo playing conga drums and fraternizing with a high
school car club, supposedly in preparation for his starring
role in Dino.126

Sidney Skolsky‘s "The New Look In Hollywood Men“127

in Photoplay for July, 1957 attempted to assess the current

 

casting situation. placing particular importance on and

paying particular attention to the Dean image. Skolsky‘s

overview included:

The current movie heroes are boys trying to do a
man‘s work. Most of them are adolescent, and this applies
regardless of age. These heroes include boys who‘d like
to be men. Some play tough guys like Paul Newman and
Marlon Brando. Some are rebels like the late James Dean
and the current Sal Mineo and Elvis Presley. Others like

Tony Perkins play it shy and boyish.

374

Tracing the emergent hero types through the decades,
Skolsky commented on the "garish and giddy" “twenties with
sleek Valentino; the 'thirties and the grim depression
needed two—fisted types like Cagney and Gable: "realists in
a rough world"; the war—torn “forties offered ”escapism" in
the "elegance and sophistication” of Melvin Douglas and
David Niven; the 'fifties brought the new look: "Then
abruptly during the early years of postwar confusion a strange,
new movie idol appeared." Clad in T—shirts and blue jeans,
serious, moody, individualists to the core, Marlon Brando and

Montgomery Clift emerged, "mumbling, brooding, scratching,

sexy, and confused," and from ”off the Broadway stage" came
"the first of the modern movie heroes." The ‘fifties belonged
to this new kind of hero——; "To the rebels and the teenagers--

on waves of teenagersc adulation, Jimmy Dean became a cult,
and singing idols——Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Tab Hunter,
Tommy Sands——were carried to stardom."

In explanation of the changeover, Skolsky character-
ized the audience as ”still sporting a colossal hangover of
postwar readjustment, still groping”; this audience, with the
war won, had "little use" for physical heroes. Their,at—
tention, focused by the “sensitive, intelligent" returning
G.I.°s was fastened on the ”inner life." Concurrently, an
acting method arose to serve this interest and this need.
Skolsky quoted Lee Strasberg, whom he acknowledged as the

founder of the new acting techniques:

375

I stress the difference between the actor who thinks
acting is an imitation of life and the actor who feels
acting is living. Unless the actor on stage really comes
alive, really lives a character, he can‘t give anything
but a superficial interpretation. We deal with an actor‘s
inner life. Our emphasis is laid on thought, sensations,
imagination, and emotion.

Skolsky noted the success of Dean on the Broadway
stage, his winning of the Donaldson and Perry awards,128 and
said: ”It is significant none of the alert New York drama
critics commented that Dean was similar to Brando." Skolsky
regarded the oft—mentioned imitative qualities of the Dean
performance as inventive and deliberate, yet individualistic.
Because Dean was ”sensitive, poetic and individual," "more
than enough of Jimmy Dean emerged to overpower both the Brando
and the Method influence." With Dean, the type he represented
had grown more and more firmly established, and while romance
wasn‘t exactly in bloom during his lifetime, Dean°s perform—
ances made it possible to grow later:

The content of Dean‘s movies brought the type more

clearly in focus. The leather jacket brigade were given
a label: Rebel. They were suppliefiwith a cause. They
were strongly told they were not responsible for juvenile
delinquency. According to the movies, their parents were
to blame. Seeing is believing! A new mob of boys ap—
peared on the screen——and a new one in the audience. The
new group would have walked out on Andy Hardy. Times had
changed and so had its [sic.] hero.

As for later manifestations of the type, their imi—

tative careers stem back to Dean's initial appeal:

Elvis is a natural actor, and he is always acting.
He knows what he‘s doing every second of every wriggle.
Elvis confided to a friend that he had studied Jimmy
Dean. He decided to be Dean with a guitar and a song.
Elvis knew he couldn‘t carbon copy Dean in appearance,

but he had learned a basic requisite which appealed to
teenagers.

376

When Elvis sang, he "closed his brooding eyes and shook his

body," giving the effect that when he sang, he sang only to

"suit himself,” seemingly giving little care to others and/or

their reactions:

This projected the feeling that he was poised on
the brink of self—destruction. Teenagers got the message.

Elvis got the millions.
Other young actors were equally image conscious and

often the image they projected, or wished to project, matched

that projected by Dean. Skolsky noted Tony Perkins, who

played at "being a character," but did ”his best acting off-

screen," pretending he didn‘t want publicity but managing to

meet the columnists. Skolsky stated, ”Perkins was discovered,

publicized and pushed into stardom by columnists (I was a

chief offender) and movie magazines."

Skolsky“s comments on Dean's Hollywood heritage were

echoed in The New York Times which made comment on other

Dean heirs. On July 26, 1957 an AP release129 noted the win—

ners of the acting grants awarded by the James Dean Theater
School to the Neighborhood Playhouse: Richard Kulney of
Clifton, New Jersey and Leon Embry of Steff, Kentucky. This
was the last time either of these names reached any sort of
national recognition and publicity.
Movie Teen Illustrated in August featured on its

cover "Why Are Jimmy Dean Fans Switching to Tony Perkins?"130

The answer given was that the fans wished to satisfy that

377

"dull, aching emptiness in the heart of America‘s youth.“

When James Dean died, “it was as if a part of each of his

fans had died along with him “ The universality of Dean“s

appeal was appraised;

The quiet, erratic rebel from the Mid—West was a
walking, talking, symbol of unrest and commotion that
bubbled inside the teenager's body. What brought
him so close to everyone was his depth and awareness
of all the problems that bother all youngsters in the
troublesome process of growing up, He lived the diffi-
culties. breathed the problems and fought to be free and
honest with himself and not be subjected to the whims
of a stiff-backed society that frowned on off—beat
behavior. Simply, he wanted to do what he wanted when—
ever he wanted Dean wanted to be understood, yet
he resented anyone prying. He wanted to be popular and
likeable but he resisted if anyone tried to force him
to smile politely at a certain moment. You knew this.
You could see it by the way he sat and sulked and bit
out salty comments that his acting reflected his general
attitude on life. Teenagers saw this and felt better.
He was someone you could suffer with, someone who had
the same problems and was fighting the same battle.

This article served the double purpose of keeping

Dean as a ”symbol” foremost in the public eye while at the

same time suggesting a possible and likely successor to all

that Dean symbolized, or was said to symbolize.

The article "Jimmy Dean Returns"l3l commented on

Dean‘s return to the motion picture screens; Dean "will soon

be playing himself“ in The James Dean Story. Producer George

W. George and director Robert Altman are credited with saying

that they “figured it was the only honest way to tell a
biography“:

378

He Worked and Starved to Become a Star.
His Big Desire Really Was to Find Himself.

Young, Sensitive Girls Understood Exactly the Suffering
and Torment That James Dean Endured.

It was noted that the narrative sound track ”will be

translated into fifteen languages, including Russian, Iranian

and Egyptian,"

Ann Remington‘s "James Dean: The Tragedy That Lives

OnML32 featured some new pictures, bare-chested stills of
Dean from an old”Armstrong Circle Theater"presentation of
1953.

The old ideas took a somewhat different twist also:

"The first shock of grief has turned to a morbid fear of a

strange jinx." The crashes involving injury and death to the

drivers of cars containing some of Dean“s Porsche‘s parts,
the explosion and fire at ”the house where Jimmy once lived,"
even the "tragedy and bad luck“ of not being recognized at
the Academy Awards were considered part of that jinx.

All of the jinx repetition and comment was a lead—in

to a commercial for the James Dean Memorial Foundation

Scholarships, the sort of recognition Dean would have

cherished, "a living, creative memorial." The fears and jinxes
were said to be built by "a few morbid thinkers” from
“coincidence into something supernatural—-and false."

According to the article Dean“s ”great“ heritage is healthy

and inspirational and “ours to remember forever."

In this same issue of Movie Stars Parade the Ideal
subsidiary, Conel Books, continued to offer Dean photos in

two large and separate advertisements and the James Dean on

379

Conga Drums record advertisement had been increased to a full
page, the copy expanded; "This is the real Jimmy Dean as he
was——no directors, cameras, or scripts to follow, just Jimmy
"133

and his friends, having a session.

Debbie Dougan°s "Platter Patter"l34 in Song Craze

 

devoted one—quarter of its full page to various Dean
memorabilia. One item mentioned a lé—year—old French admirer
who ”grieved herself into a state of unbelievable illness,"
and "dashed to the waterfront, onto a wharf and threw her—
self into the Mediterranean.” Another, rather late, noted
auditions for the James Dean Theater School. Interested
readers were instructed to "write directly to Fairmount."
A last item, the only one even remotely connected with music,
commented on the theme muSic of the new Dean film and reckoned
it to be a "best bet for the future." The columnist asked,
"How can it miss being a 'hit‘ with a title like 'Let Me Be
Loved“?" Adjacent to these column items was an advertise—
ment for "Hollywood Photorama" offering a ”Flash! New Dis—
covery!" in Sixteen new poses "taken for Jimmy‘s personal
use”' and "released to us exclusively.”

The magazine also contained the double article135
"Why Dean Died“ and “Female Jimmy Dean” which drew a parallel
between Dean‘s death and the recent automobile crash of
Francoise Sagan in France.

A rather extended Dean biography compounded of

previously published quotations and anecdotes was prefaced

380

with a commentary linking Dean to a syndrome postulated by

Dr. Lawrence L. Le Shan as "accident—prone” and "to some of
the finest psychological Opinion” that ”James Dean was the
kind of neurotic who is driven by an unconscious wish to die."
The emphasis on popular psychology was repeated at the end

of the piece when the article closed with comment from "a
noted psychiatrist”:

He was an adolescent, even to the day he died. He
couldn‘t quite face life; he was uncertain about how
people felt about him; in short he was a vivid symbol
of all the hopes and fears of all young people.

In that way, too, young peOple readily identified
themselves with him. Even in death, I should guess he
gives his young fans a delicious taste of tragedy.

It nourishes them when they feel sorry for themselves
as they so often do——as Dean obviously often did.

The companion piece on Sagan equated her “accident-
prone" quality with Dean's, citing the "inner turbulence,"
and "boredom or rebellion," the "unrest” that drove her to
fame and almost to death. Dean‘s life and his fatal accident
were offered to her as a horrible example to "slow down."
That the Dean episode may have served a similar purpose in
the past is the ”fact" noted, if true, that ”the California
police gathered together the twisted pieces of metal that
had been a gleaming Porsche Spyder racer and began to exhibit
it by turns in a number of high schools in the Los Angeles

area."

The August, 1957 Motion Picture in its series

 

"Especially for You,”l'36 which presented self-selected

favorite pictures of the stars, added Dean°s picture, said

381

to have been picked by his ”closest friends‘ as "the portrait
they felt most captured his Spirit. We print it with his

I!

signature, in memory and love, especially for you. .

Arthur Knightla? reviewed The James Dean Story some

 

weeks before it appeared in most areas. Of the post—war
screen hopefuls, said Knight, ”none has succeeded as com—
pletely“ in capturing the imagination and affection of our
own ”lost generation" as had the late James Dean: “In a way
that transcended mere acting. he seemed to typify their own
rootless, questing, tormented selves." Knight felt the Simi—
larity of Dean‘s roles, "unloved, misunderstood, rebellious,"
made identification easy, but, “more important, Dean actually
lived the life that he put on the screen.” Knight proceeded
to recapitulate the Dean craze in terms of commercial

Speculation, wondering whether The James Dean Story was a part

 

of all this. wondering whether it was “simply a shrewd
exploitation piece or a sincere tribute from the company for
which he worked.” Knight°s conclusion; ”Perhaps it is a
bit of both."

In concert the ”pictorial documentation” and the
interviews, said Knight, draw a portrait ”of a shy, earnest,
intractable, young man, walled around with the suSpicions of
his own inadequacies and his defences against their discovery."

When the “sententious bits of Corwinesque prose" of script

writer Stewart Stern were added, new concepts formed “that

382

Dean blamed himself for the untimely death of his mother.
that he sought the well springs of his talent in past
generations of Deans, that his life was a constant struggle

for an identity that he could recognize, accept, and live

With.“

Knight felt that a ”more penetrating psychologist”
could have found more, ”the reasons behind his drive toward
self—destruction, for example.“ In any case. for Knight:

There is enough here in terms of guilt, ego, and
the need for understanding and love to explain not only
Dean, but many of his blue—jeaned contemporaries. The
film 18, in Its strange way, a soc1a1 document that
deserves careful study by an audience far beyond the
Dean idolators.

Accompanying the Knight review were three pictorial

"facets” of James Dean: as a boy: “self-portrait in sculpture."

a faceless agonized figure; ”moody, rootless“ young man,
the stern turtle—neck sweatered study by Roy Schatt used in

most advertising for The James Dean Story.

 

On August 13, 1957 the picture opened with great local
hullaballoo at the Paramount Theater in Marion, Indiana near
Dean‘s birth-place. By the end of the month it had played
Chicago and was moving on to New York.

.1.

Press book publicityTB“ for The James Dean Story ran

 

to only eight pages, the shortest of Dean picture campaigns.
The main selling point of the picture was the Dean name and

the Dean face;

383

James Dean Plays Himself in The James Dean Story!
The Real Story of the Most Talked About Star of Our Time!
—~Was He a Rebel?
——Was he a Giant?
A Different Kind of Motion Picture!

 

Minor selling points involved young singing star Tommy
Sands who was listed as singing the James Dean theme "Let Me
Be Loved." Young Sands, who had recently made quite a splash
on television in "The Singing Idol," was currently being
touted as a rival to the already popular Elvis Presley and the
fast—rising Pat Boone. Script writer Stewart Stern was also

credited as the writer of the screen play for Rebel Without a

 

£29.22.
The major tie—in for the film was With Capitol Records,
which was distributing both the single 45 R.P.M. ”Let Me
Be Loved” and the LP soundtrack album, and, according to the
Warner Brothers release to distributors, was "conducting one
of the largest consumer and trade advertising campaigns in
their history":
Warner Bros. fieldmen and the Capitol Field force
are working together to plug the film on the local level.
They are arranging Special screenings for DJ‘s~-l0.000

have the album—-to secure radio and TV plugs for the
picture.

Available were give—away snap—shot size fan photos of Dean

for the record sellers and an 8x10 “etching in bronze,” ”the
most attractive fan photo ever made," for theatre give—away——
“the one the kids will all want?” The photo used on the

Capitol album counter and window displays and for the record

dealer“s fan photo give-away was the same photo used as the

384

basis of the "etching in bronze" the theatre owners were

offered.

A different Roy Schatt photo of Dean was used in all
James Dean Sto£y_posters. The angle at which the photo was
taken (looking up at the subject), the somber facial ex-
pression, and the severity of the dark turtle—neck sweater
tend to give the face an almost monolithic quality, especially
impressive in those posters where the full face took up some
90% of the advertisement or poster area. Variations involving
crOpping or direction were employed, but this particular
image was evidently meant to be most closely associated with
the picture. Other less frequent variations included the
photo of Dean walking alone in the rain in New York and the
shot of Dean playing on the floor with his young cousin from

the Dennis Stock Indiana—New York portfolio. A copy_vari—

ation in the posters used a lengthy dedication adapted from

the narration of the film:

The faces change because the fans change the faces.

In a time of high living, they made Valentino. In a time
of tension, they made James Dean. They made him and they
wouldn't let him go. If he had shown up for his own
premiere of Giant, few would have been surprised. To keep
him close, they wove a legend around his name. They
needed him. They defended him. He was the personal
friend of everyone who happened to be young. He seems to
express some of the things they couldn't find the words
for. Rage. Rebellion. The lonely awareness that grow—
ing up is pain. Hope.

They wore what he wore. They walked as he walked.
They played the parts they saw him play. And they
searched for the answers they thought he was searching for.

Youth mourned itself in the passing of James Dean.

Because he died young, every girl could feel he belonged to
her alone. A hero made of their loneliness. A legend

385

woven from their restlessness, their energy, their
deSpair. To those who made their hero James Dean this

picture is dedicated with affection--with hope.

George W. George and Robert Altman, who produced and

directed the film were listed as "close friends" of Dean's

in some of the publicity releases. As the publicity itself

noted, "Much has been written in magazines, in newspapers, and
emphasis was placed on the

in books." Because of this fact,

new, the "never-before—seen":

Included . . . is his screen test for East of Eden.
Also shown for the first time is some of the actor's art,
sculpture, and poetry. A small statue sculpted by Dean
and entitled 'Self‘ is shown. It is a carved faceless
figure of a man, withdrawn and in meditation.

The film contains a tape recording made in secret by
Dean himself. The tape records a conversation between Dean
and his grandfather, during which the young actor, one of
the most talked about stars of our time, tries to discover
the source of his acting talent. Dean is told about his

great—grandfather, an auctioneer.

Further publicity related that the film

... traces his life and the moments of Dean's life which
were most memorable to the star. His passion for speed
and music,

manifested itself in his love of racing cars,
too, was an important part of Dean's life. The tape re-
cordings he made of his own bongo playing are heard in the
film. The quiet moments of his youth brought Dean back
often to his home in Indiana where he tried to recapture
that happiness by playing with his young cousin Marc.
Then back to New York and his greatest love, the theater,
from which came stardom in Hollywood.

To accomplish such a presentation, the film noted in

its introduction:

The presence of the leading character in the film you
are about to view has been made possible by the use of
existing motion picture material, tape recordings of his

386

voice, and by means of a new technique: the dynamic

exploration of the still photograph.

Panning and zooming within the still photographs to—

gether with montage effects kept the picture moving, and, at

times, became quite exciting. Witness the film's partial

exploration in pictures, sound, and narration of the Dean

personality as exhibited in his various and frenetic pursuits:

ALL THE ELEMENTS WE HAVE SEEN: JIM
WITH HIS BONGOS - JIM RACING - JIM'S
HORSE — JIM PHOTOGRAPHING - IMAGES OF
BULLFIGHTING - JIM CLOWNING - ALL THESE
BECOME A WILD MONTAGE, WILDLY CUT,
WILDLY PHOTOGRAPHED AND ANGLED.

MONTAGE:

THE MUSIC MUST BECOME HYSTERICAL - A
SOUND COLLAGE OF DRUMS AND MOTORS AND
LAUGHTER WHICH BUILDS CRAZILY UNDER
THE PHOTO AND FILM MATERIAL.

SUDDENLY IT ALL SPINS OR SPIRALS OR
DISINTEGRATES AND WE ARE LEFT WITH:

PHOTOS OF JIM, BROODING AND ALONE
JIM'S FLUTE MUSIC
NARRATOR:
But these were only echoes of the thing

he never found--the thing which kept
eluding him--the thing that had no face.

SUPERIMPOSE STATUE OF 'SELF'
IT COMES TOWARD US SMALL OUT OF DISTANCE AND FILLS THE

SCREEN, BLOTTING EVERYTHING OUT.
AS IT APPROACHES THERE IS A FINAL RATTLE OF THE

BONGOS. THEN SILENCE.
NARRATOR:

Himself.

The existing still photographic material was further
augmented with atmOSpheric motion picture shots of pertinent

locale and with filmed documentary—style interviews with the,

by now, familiar figures in the James Dean history. Included in

r.“

n“.

,r .
~\b

387

the interviews were the Indiana relatives, friends, and

teachers; Arlene Lorca and Chris White in New York, Lili.

Kardell and other friends in Hollywood. Also pictured or

named were other familiar figures: Kazan, Brando, Pier Angeli.

The further treatment of the various elements might be best

shown by yet another excerpt. In this treatment of Dean's

death the dead seagull and the tree were symbolic elements

previously used to express, respectively, Dean's compassion

and his introspection:

NARRATOR

'That guy's got to stop,‘ he said.

AS OTHER CAR TURNS IN, SCREEN CLOUDS

SOUND OF COLLISION
SCREEN CLEARS AND WE ARE CAREENING INTO DITCH

FLUTE MELODY BREAKS SUDDENLY BUT FLUTE CONTINUED
ON A SINGLE. SUSTAINED NOTE LIKE A STUCK AUTO HORN.

NARRATOR
Then he broke his neck and died.

EMPTY SKY. CAMERA PANS DOWN BUT DOESN'T REACH HORIZON
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

DEAD SEAGULL IN THE SAND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING
CLOSEUP - MARCUS, AS HE LOOKS UP SUDDENLY

ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

CLOSEUP - ORTENSE, AS SHE LOOKS UP SUDDENLY

ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

CLOSEUP - MARKIE, AS HE LOOKS UP SUDDENLY

ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

MOTHER'S GRAVE

ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE — SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

388

STATUE OF 'SELF'
ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

TREE

ECHO CRASH SOUND

FLUTE — SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING
SUPERIMPOSE FRONT—PAGE OBIT HEADLINES

NARRATOR Tquietly)
Headlines in Los Angeles.

SUPERIMPOSE FRONT PAGE FAIRMOUNT PAPER - MEMORIAL ISSUE

NARRATOR (quietly)
Headlines in Fairmount.

SUPERIMPOSE N.Y. TIMES PAGES BEING TURNED

NARRATOR (quietly)
Page four in the New York Times.

WARNER BROS. GATE - FLAGS FLYING AT HALF—MAST

ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

NARRATOR (quietly)
They lowered the flags at Warner
Brothers. A gesture of respect for
a boy who had seemed to reSpect no one.

PHOTO OF PEOPLE AT A DISASTER - HORROR AND DISMAY - FOCUS
FIRST ON WOMAN SCREAMING, THEN EXPLORE OTHER FACES.

ECHO OF CRASH SOUND PUNCTUATES THIS.

FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

NARRATOR
The sound of his accident circled the
world like a twenty—one—gun salute.

CAMERA RETURNS TO SCREAMING WOMAN
ECHO CRASH SOUND
FLUTE - SINGLE NOTE CONTINUING

NARRATOR
But as the months went by, people
passed a sentence. James Dean must

live forever.

389

WE ARE IN CLOSE ON SCREAMING WOMAN.

FLUTE STOPS. A MOMENT OF SILENCE. THEN FLUTE PICKS
UP ITS MELODY ONCE MORE - A MUSICAL RESURRECTION.
THE CANNONADE IS NOT HEARD AGAIN. WE PULL AWAY FROM

WOMAN UNTIL SHE IS LOST IN CROWD.

MARQUEES SHOWING 'EAST OF EDEN' - 'REBEL WITHOUT A

CAUSE' - 'GIANT'
JIMMY'S THEME BECOMES ORCHESTRAL

After further documentation of the death an apotheosis

when “the music swells” and "the theme finds its lyric“ indi-

cates the final level of treatment:

Let me be loved. Let me be loved.

Let someone care for me.

Let someone offer her hand,

And, please, let her heart understand.

Once someone smiled -

The tattered child —

And love was there to see.
Life was so wonderful then.
Let me be loved again.

The attempts to create a feature length production
from scanty or over-familiar material became labored at times.

Also, though sometimes Dean was pictured, at other times the

camera represented Dean, or partial figure shots and long

shots of an unidentified young man evidently meant to repre—

sent Dean were used. The shift in point of view became dis-

concerting. The melifluous voice of narrator Martin Gabel

was ostentatiously proper, but after an hour and a half became

monotonous.

The picture was never too successful. Director Robert

Altman retained rights to the film for a number of years in

the hopes that one day it might be revived with more success

and profit. He "lost plenty on that one." Altman felt that

390

"the people who came because of the title were disappointed;
those who Should have come were kept away by the title."139
One might also add that the film was released at a time when
Giant had absorbed the greater part of the Dean fan interest.
All that was left for The James Dean Story was the settled
residue. The film was drawn out, over-embellished, and some-

times maudlin, but it did exhibit some imaginative and effective

filmic treatment, and its script was, in large part, a labor of

love.

With national distribution of The James Dean Story,
advertisements as described in the press books appeared in lead—
ing magazines, eSpecially teen magazines and fan magazines.
Feature articles appeared in local outlets to hypo the box
office. Sometimes, as in William Leonard's Chicago Tribune
"140

"Hoosier Home Towns Re—live James Dean's Story, reports

of one local hypo were used to hypo another locality. Leonard

reported to the Chicago area that "A World Premiere with the
Hollywood Touch Brings Worshippers of Late Movie Idol to

Marion and Fairmount, Ind.":

The air was filled with the screams of sirens as a
motor cycle police escort led an automobile cavalcade of
celebrities, press, radio and television folk back and

forth between the towns.

Their path, the road between Fairmount and Marion, had been

renamed "James Dean Road."

Traveling on that James Dean Road was a familiar

figure. Nick Adams, "one of his closest pals in Hollywood.“

391

flew in for the event to present to the James Dean Memorial

Foundation "various foreign awards given to Dean posthumously,

which had been gathering dust in Hollywood." These awards

were to be kept in "the Dean memorial museum, a converted

Fairmount store already bulging with mementoes of the short-

lived actor."

Other celebrities were involved:

Howard Miller [Chicago disc jockey] flew in on a
special plane, did a network radio broadcast from the

museum, turned the first Spadeful of earth for a pro—
jected monument for Dean in the cemetery where he is

buried, and winged back to Chicago.

When real celebrities, no matter how minor, were not in evi-

dence, they were created, including one local girl who "dis—

covered she had been named 'Miss Fairmount' only when someone

asked her to don a ribbon which said that on it.“ Pictures

were taken for later release——in publication such as in the

Leonard article-—and "next day life resumed its even tenor in

Grant County, Indiana."

And there were pictures galore. Pictures of local

residents posed outside the "museum," next to the road sign,

"spending the night outside Marion theater waiting for the

premiere," in the "equestrian section of the parade“-—all

found their way into print. There were, naturally, pictures

distributed of Dean and the Marcus Winslows, "Dean's foster

parents." And there was another interesting photo captioned:

The moon and auto headlights outline girl visiting
grave of film star James Dean near Marion, Indiana.
Among teen—agers of the area, these night visits are

common a

392

The James Dean Story was released in time to cash in
on the second anniversary of Dean's death, with the expected
accompanying ballyhoo for that event such as the September

Movie Life's color cover photo of Dean inscribed: "In Loving

 

Memory: Two Years of Sorrow."

"141

Dick William's "Hollywood Dateline previewed the

film, called it "brilliantly integrated" and informed that it
"avoids sensationalism,” is "a most offbeat and different
picture--and best of all, it is a tasteful salute to the
memory of Dean.” A possible, and probable, item on the film's
genesis was also revealed:
Originally, there was only a little film footage of
Dean at a Palm Springs racing meet, but now that Warner
Brothers have taken over the picture for distribution,

“various tests and unused scenes from his Warners' pictures
have been incorporated into it.

"In Loving Memory"l42 was written by Jane Williams,
described in an editorial note as "one of Hollywood's finest
Writers," whose task-was “to ask Jimmy's friends to share
their:finukxfi:memories and final tributes." The editorial note
proclaimed that some of those asked refused at first because
"much that had already been written about Jimmy was absurd,
and that were he alive, he'd be very angry." Others were re—
ticent because they had been misquoted so many times. “Only
With Jane's promise, and ours, that their words and memories
would not be altered, did Jimmy's friends consent te«spe&ke”
The interviews, all given by rising young players or support—

ing actors, were generally less anecdotal than thesistic.

393

Represented were Lili Kardell, Corey Allen, Jane Withers,

Dennis Hopper, Steve Rowland, Natalie Wood, Nick Adams, Sal

Mineo, Mercedes McCambridge, and a lone non-professional, Patsy

D'Amore, owner of the Villa Capri, a Dean restaurant hangout.
A repeated idea was one expressed by Kardell: "It is time now
to let the poor guy alone and for all the hysteria to die

down"——and by Allen: "Let‘s not make a big thing of it."

Withers, too, "disapproves of the hoopla surrounding his death,

and Steve Rowland said, "Now we should have compassion for him
and let him alone." The Adams section was less tribute than
apologia for the previously printed Adams-Dean stories which
were said to have been written "out of respect for his friend-
ship with Jimmy and in the interests of truth." Sal Mineo

concerned himself with Dean's acting techniques:

He never repeated himself. If he did five takes, he
did five interpretations. Whoever was playing opposite
him had to be on the ball. He was always improving and

changing.
McCambridge praised Dean's "sureness of performance and how he
stood up to director George Stevens, within the bounds of

respect for his unquestionable abilities, on points of dif-

ferences of interpretation." HOpper and D'Amore considered

their memories of the "real Dean." Perhaps the key to the en-

tire article lay hidden in the Natalie Wood Section where she

complained about Dean imitators: "There was only one Jimmy

Dean . . . no one should copy him":

Natalie is very pleased with The James Dean Sto;y_
(released this month by Warner Bros.) and thinks it in
excellent taste and a wonderful tribute to him. She

394

feels it's wonderful everyone remembers him and sug-
gests that everyone view this movie as the final
memoriam [sig3].

Dee Spencer wrote "Ready for Love?"143 concerning Dean
Stockwell in the same issue. Stockwell could surely not be
accused of being a James Dean imitator according to the con—
tents of this article. If Dean Stockwell is having some of
the same kinds of troubles in his life that James Dean had, can
he be blamed if they manifest themselves in similar manner—
isms? Even though he—talks and walks like Dean, is "quiet and
moody" ("so was Jimmy Dean"),and owns a Porsche ("the same
kind of car in which Jimmy Dean was killed"% the article had
one of Stockwell's “current dates," an anonymous young starlet,
declare:

But I‘m sure he's not trying to imitate Jimmy.
I think it upsets him when he's accused of that.

Jack Shafer's "What Jimmy Dean Believed"144 told of a
radio show Shafer did with Dean during the run of See the Jaguar.
After the program, in private conversation, he and Dean were
prompted to a discussion of fatalism sparked by a book on
the Aztecs which Dean brought with him. According to Shafer,

Dean remarked that he wished "to live as intensely as I can."

Other publication included an unusual feature in Hear
magazine. Some months back the editors had nOted that they
possessed a recording of Dean's voice but in compliance with

the wishes of Warner Brothers they were withholding it for a

395

more appropriate release date. The time was now evidently
ripe. An added narration set the scene and struck the mood:

NARRATOR: This is your Voice of Hollywood, bringing
you out of time the voice of James Dean.
Not too long ago, as time is measured,
Jimmy shuffled off the sound stage to the mike,
his hair tousled and his sweater wrinkled, his
eyes-bright, as he talked to_Hollywood'S famed
Shirley Thomas.

THOMAS: When you first read a script does it end
up pretty much the same when you see it on the
screen? '

DEAN: Oh, no, no, not at all! The character
does many things the character shouldn't do
and you have to select.

It should remain in your mind where your
faults are——what your problems are—-where you
constantly fall back on the securities that made
you famous or successful, helped you gain any
prestige--Rather than to fall back on those
securities or tricks of an actor, to go ahead
and to attempt and to try. For instance, today,
my emotional apparatus is, I don't know, plugged
up or something. I'm stretching and pushing

and passion pumping. It's not coming easy for
me.
THOMAS: I think they are calling you, Jimmy Dean.

NARRATOR: Yes, Jimmy, you did have to go before your
time. Goodbye again from all of us. yfsmiss
you. This is your Voice of Hollywood.

The reverse side of the recording featured Tony Perkins telling

Why he should not be compared to James Dean.

The rationale of Bob Thomas' New York Post article

. . "146
"Knock James Dean and You'll Find He Still Has Fans was

not heeded by the editors of Rave--or else they were counting

—————

On those fans to snap up copies of their magazine as a

396

defensive measure to find out what all the Shouting was about.

"1 47

The article "Why Jimmy Dean Is a Living Lie in the

September issue described Dean alive as "hostile, unshaven,
in need of a haircut, and wearing a sweaty, smelly sweater."
Peer J. Oppenheimer called the September, 1957
Compact selection "A Last Tribute to James Dean."148 Oppen-
heimer considered this ”actor, friend, and fine young man"
was "far too complicated to be understood by any one person,"
and so presented a "composite picture" derived from reports
by several anonymous friends, and by Natalie Wood, Bob
Hinkle, Nick Adams, Joe Halpern, Chill Wills, Nicholas Ray
and Elizabeth Taylor, all of whom can be identified as having
some connection with Warner Brothers or giang, most often,
both. The article placed emphasis on anecdotes concerning

Dean's compassion and excitement and concluded:

Looking back on this story and on James Dean's life,
I realize that both are incomplete, their promise only
partially fulfilled. The greatest pity, perhaps, is that
in his lifetime James Dean never overcame the feeling
that people could not like him for himself alone and
consequently never realized how pOpular he really was.

From abroad, reactions to The James Dean Stogy were

similar to those already noted in the United States. Evidently

no reviewer could consider the film without a personal analy—

sis of the social situation which gave rise to its production.

David Robinson's review149 in Sight and Sound attempted to

explain the "strange proportions":

K

....

397

The excesses are not entirely explained by the purely
romantic interest of the actor——his indefinite sexiness,
his violent and youthful death--nor by his undeniable
talent. It was more that Dean found a striking sympathy
between his own temperament and background and the parts
he was called upon to play; and through them he was able
to strike, very accurately, some characteristics of his
whole generation.

Robinson felt that this movie evolving from the Dean "idolatry"
was ”both a contribution and a stimulus to the legend."
Robinson noted that as a film biography it "breaks new ground
by its purely documentary approach." Though he found the *‘
staged details "unsuccessful," he thought the major weakness

of the film arose from the attempt to spin out detail,

"enough for a good thirty minute short," to feature length.
The "few concessions to the fan following," "the reasonable
tact," convinced the reviewer that this film was:

a serious attempt to probe the character of this
extraordinary, talented, and undoubtedly tormented young
man, with his self-confessed longing for someone to love
and for deprivation. If it rarely gets further than a
lot of words, it is probably because Dean's real problems,
socially and psychologically, were at once too involved
and too familiar for this sort of discuSSion.

The Dean reaction in Britain, as well as the box office,

was hypoed by articles similar to those printed in the States.

A three part Picture Post feature,150 undoubtedly published in

 

conjunction with the local release of The James Dean Stogy,

concluded:

's is where Dean worship in England takes its
mostASSrpgising and sinister twist. The Simple fact that
Dean managed, partly by the details of his own life,
partly by his first-rate playing of teen—age roles—-to
touch some chord of sympathy in the average teenager of

398

today needs no proving. But as against the largely
emotional reactions in America and elsewhere, Dean has
also hit the British youngster and his intellectual

funnybone. And most of the reaction is male, and comes
from those who have never written a fan letter in their
lives.

A young Briton was quoted as having said:
PeOple just don't have any ideas any more . . .
There's no philosophy, nothing new at all. Everybody sub-
consciously waiting for the big bang that'll end it all.
Dean knew this, I'm sure. He expressed it.

Another Briton, Colin Wilson, in his second philo~

sophical study,Religion and the Rebel, equated his Outsider,

 

"the frustrated man of genius,‘ with "the same type as the
angry and frustrated young man whom James Dean has made

fashionable in the 'fifties."151

Jane Williams' "Did Jimmy Dean's Spirit Haunt the

Studio?"152in Movie Life for October, 1957 was featured on the

 

cover of that issue: "They didn't want to believe it——but too
many strange things happened." Prefacing the article was

the full page portrait used to publicize The James Dean Story--
which gave that particular picture two full page reproductions
in the issue, Since it was the basis for the advertisement of
the film on a preceding page. The copy of the article quoted

George W. George, producer—director of The James Dean Story:

 

After a while it almost seemed as if the spirit of
James Dean was hovering over every step we took, watch—
ing, waiting, you could say almost haunting everything
we did.

Coincidence and pure fabrications involving strange shadows

and the profile formed by the outline of a tree were the

399

basis for this fantastic story. And when invention failed,
the Vampira grave photo-—now inscribed "Wish you were here"--
was recalled.

A boxed insert at the conclusion of the article re—
vealed "News From Dean Foundation"153 listing July 21 as the
date 48 students were graduated from the James Dean School,
August 13 as the date the Dean monument was dedicated, August
21 the winners of the Neighborhood Playhouse scholarships
were announced. A concluding note listed September 30 as the
date for "religious services at the grave—site," and added

that "last year attendance exceeded 5,000."

The New York opening of The James Dean Story caused

 

reviewer Kate Cameron154 to reflect: ”Two years after the
film star's death one wonders if the boy is still remembered
by some of his erstwhile most ardent fans." Other reviewers,
like Archer Winston,155 accepted the film as a "fairly

straightforward document."

PhptOplay_carried a full page advertisement156 for

 

the picture, reviewed it, and offered some special Dean
articles in answer to fans' pleas: “We haven't let you down."
Janet Graves' review157 called the film "very good," "fresh,"
and she felt that ”only toward the end does the narrative veer
toward the maudlin." The "Readers Inc. . . ."158 column
printed a letter from a James Dean fan in Germany and another
letter from a Minnesota fan who "laments" a vacancy "no one

can fill."

400

The two-pronged tribute "In Memory of Jimmy" was a
biographical piece by Elizabeth Sheridan,159 New York friend
of Dean's introduced in William Bast's biography, and a
Special "review" of The James Dean Story by Natalie Wood.160

The Sheridan biographical study covered much the same
ground as the Bast book. Even the reactions were similar:

When I first met Jimmy, he looked like a straggly,
hungry kid who needed a friend. Later, I found he always
looked that way.

Sheridan noted a change in Dean after the opening of See the
Jaguar: "The way he talked it was so hard and his gestures
and everything were hard and sort of I—don't—give-a-damn kind
of thing." This change was due, according to Sheridan, to
the fact that Dean "felt the business of show business was
degrading.“ Yet, to get ahead, Dean "would hang on to any—
body":

Anybody that he felt he could get something out of——
not money—wise or material-wise. He felt that any
knowledge he could gain from anybody was valuable.

As a matter of fact his time was valuable. He seemed
to be in a hurry about something. I don‘t know what.
Maybe a feeling that he wasn't going to live very long.

I don't know.

Natalie Wood's "review" was actually a bouquet to the
picture, which she found "beautifully done in the best of
taste," not in the least attempting to "distort or change the
Jimmy that we knew." According to Miss Wood, the picture "was
designed like most movies: to make money," but even though

the "legend would have been the practical reason for making

a profitable picture about Jimmy . . . the picture destroys

401

that reason." Again, according to Miss Wood, the film
"separates the legend from the real Jimmy Dean . . . and, at
the same time, it shows us both." Miss Wood hoped—-or,

perhaps, hinted—~that the release of The James Dean Story
would "encourage more re-issues" of Dean's earlier films.

As a teenager, Miss Wood felt her age influenced her high
opinion of the film since she considered it “the story of a
unique young man——but he was like the rest of us in a good
many ways. Looking at him so closely we may understand our—

selves better."

Later in the magazine appeared an advertisement for

the Capitol recording of the soundtrack from The James Dean

 

l 6]. 62

The cover of the album1 reproduced a sketch by

Story.
David Stone Martin derived from photographs by Dennis Stock
Of Dean playing with toy cars on the floor with his young

cousin Markie in Indiana. The point of view of the sketch

and the facial expression were evocative of the feeling ex—

pressed in the title shots of Rebel Without a Cause. In stark

 

black and white, the picture showed its only touch of color
in the blood red of the tiny toy car.
The brief album notes repeated lines and phrases from

publicity releases concerning The James Dean Story. Almost

 

two-thirds of the Space on the back of the album was devoted
to photographs of Dean by Globe, Frank Worth, Dennis Stock

and Roy Schatt. As a whole, the music in the album, with its

402

"beauty, savagery, and pathos,“ attempted to tell "the story

of a young man in search of himself——the story of a lonely

boy grown into a lonely manhood, of a quest for discovery and
meaning, of a great talent and zest for creative expression,
and of a tragic end which brought more questions than answers."
The music was composed by Leith Stevens, previously associated

with the score for Brando's film The Wild One. By employing

 

off—beat instruments like the recorder, the harmonica and bongo
drums utilized in a jazz idiom, Stevens attempted to depict the
"loneliness and frustrations, the fury and tenderness of
James Dean's life and the world in which he lived," and he
produced music "with dynamic personal identification, not only
for James Dean, but for every boy who's ever worn a leather
jacket and for every girl who's ever danced without her shoes."
As for the selections individually, "Who Am I?" was said to
depict "the young Dean groping for self—identification; "Lost
Love" was a "painful portrayal of a romance without a happy
ending"; "Testing the Limits of Time" was "a brilliant montage
of the moods and actions which Dean experienced in his last
few months." Other selections included "Rebel at Work,"
"Success—-and Then What?" and, of course, the end title, the
theme "Let Me Be Loved."

World Pacific Records released its "musical tribute
to the genius of a young man who had brought the promise of

Ill 63

beauty to so many. The "tribute" was a jazz version of

the theme music from The James Dean Story featuring Chet Baker

 

403

and Bud Shank, exponents of the starkly lyrical "West Coast"
style then popular. The instrumental artists were far from
unknown to jazz buffs. Baker had recently placed first in

both the Metronome and Downbeat polls. Capable as the soloists

 

might have been, the album notes outlined quite a task for
them:
The moody warmth and freedom of a young man's longing.
The search and uncertainty of a rebel. The rich beauty of
a desire to belong. The sensitivity and understanding of a
great artist and actor. The excitement and conflict of a
star's life. These were James Dean's and belong to his
music.
The arrangers were credited with working directly with Leith
Stevens for a "closer understanding of the composer's intent"
and their orchestrations were credited with providing a
"Showcase" for "the James Dean spirit." The jazz idiom
initially employed was interestingly reworked into a pure jazz
style which is oddly satisfying for its genre. The album has
survived several reissues.
Dennis Stock and Roy Schatt photos illustrated some
two-thirds of the rear cover. The front cover was the mono—

lithic Dean portrait used for The James Dean Story posters

and advertisements.

Modern Screen's editorial comment164 in the October

 

issue told how the editor at first refused to print any more
stories about Dean until he realized the very special quality
of the story in this issue. An interesting commentary on

the editor's aesthetic sensitivity is the fact that the

404

background picture illustrating the editorial was the "bronze

tone etching" circulated as a give—away during the run of

The James Dean Story. The article in question was called

"Death Drive“l‘35 and was "the only eye-witness account“ by

Rolf WUtherich, Dean's mechanic and "the man who was with him

at the end." The facts of the story were already generally

known; the story then presented itself as a variation of
known material printed to keep the name in the eye of the

audience——and to sell magazines—-hewing to already established

lines:

I tormented my memory to recall those few seconds

before Jimmy's death. . .
Was there an instant before he died, when he knew

that he was dying?

Did he know pain?
I do not know. The only thing I can remember is the

soft cry that escaped from Jimmy . . . the little whimper—
ing cry of a boy wanting his mother-—or of a man facing

his God.

Hollywood Love and Tragedy #2 featured a Dean color

portrait on its cover and inside "Jimmy's Film Farewell“:166

When all the shouting had died down and all the votes
were in, the actor picked to portray the title role in
The James Dean Story_was undoubtedly the only one for the
part: Jimmy Dean himself. His fans didn't want an imi—
tation, they wanted the one they loved and that's what
they're getting.

Stills from the film illustrated the article, the labels

covering all bases, from his "inner brooding nature . . .

withdrawn . . . lost in private thoughts and dreams that

turned to dust"-—to claims that in bringing "his unique real

personality to the screen" Dean "revolutionized acting."

405

A further article, "StOp Those Attacks on Jimmy's

Memory,"157 castigated the false rumors, the seances:

He is gone now, but what he was and what he did will
live forever in our memories. We owe it to him not to be
tricked, for his name will always stand for truth.

Truman Capote's profile168 of Marlon Brando in the

November 9 New Yorker included some interesting comments on

and additions to the Dean image. Prompted by a remark made

by Brando, Capote explained who and what Dean was:

[He was] promoted throughout his phOSphorescent career
as the All-American 'mixed-up kid,‘ the symbol of misunder—
stood hot—rodding youth with a switch blade approach to
life's little problems. When he died, an expensive film
in which he starred, Giant, had yet to be released, and the
picture's press agents, seeking to offset any ill effects
that Dean's demise might have on the commercial prospects
of their product, succeeded by 'glamorizing' the tragedy,

and, in ironic consequence, created a Dean legend of
rather necrophilic appeal.

Capote said that many critics saw a "plageristic" re—

semblance in acting mannerisms between Dean and Brando, and

that like Brando, Dean ”tore around on motorcycles, played

bongo drums, dressed the role of rowdy, spouted an intellectual

rigamarole, cultivated a cranky, colorful neWSpaper personality

that mingled to a skillfully potent degree, plain bad boy and

sensitive Sphinx."

Brando revealed that he had been asked to "do the

narration“ for the James Dean documentary by "a friend of

mine"—-“I'm really considering this Dean thing. It could be

important." Brando's reasons did not involve any friendship

with Dean. In fact, according to Capote, he "seemed surprised“

406

at any question of close association with Dean:

I hardly knew him. But he had an idée fixe about me.
Whatever I did, he did. He was always trying to get close
to me. He used to call up . . . I'd listen to him talking
to the answering service, asking for me, leaving messages.
But I never Spoke up. I never called him back. . . .

No, when I finally met Dean . . . it was at a party
where he was throwing himself around, acting like a madman.
So I Spoke to him. I took him aside and asked him didn't
he know he was Sick? That he needed help? . . . He listened
to me. He knew he was Sick. I gave him the name of an
analyst, and he went. And at least his work improved.
Toward the end I think he was beginning to find his own
way as an actor.

But this glorifying of Dean is all wrong. That‘s why
I believe the documentary could be important. To show he
wasn't a hero; Show what he really was--just a lost boy
trying to find himself. That ought to be done, and I'd
like to do it——maybe as a kind of expiation for some of my
own sins. Like making The Wild One.

 

While adults were treated to such fare, the teen maga-
zines went on their way adding to the Dean legend in their own
.169

inventive way. Dig printed a "Life of James Dean",

_§§yenteen contributed "Bigger Than Life"170 featuring a double

 

tabloid page portrait; and for the younger set, 16 Magazine
featured on its cover "Newly Discovered Pics——New Truths About
His Life—-How Great Is He (2 Years Later)? How Would He Rate
Against Sal, Elvis, Pat, Tommy, Ricky?"171 concerning the
article about the "legendary genius of make believe who still
lives in the hearts of young America":

In all its years of movie making the film colony had
never seen his equal. He was fire and ice, moody and in—
finitely disturbing . . . yet touching, too. In him
every girl and boy recognized the loneliness, the deSpair,
the agonized yearning for love and understanding that are
the Hallmarks of growing up. He was a symbol of a new
Lost Generation . . . and in losing him, America's youth

lost something of itself.

407

On a professional plane, the article commented:

As an actor, he possessed techniques so outstanding

that he brought about a minor revolution in acting. His
acting techniques are recognized in Europe and the Orient
as the criterion by which others are judged.
transcends the language barrier.
Honorable Dean San,

outside the Emperor.

His appeal
In Japan he is the
the highest accolade accorded anyone

Continuing the "universal" theme, the article further

claimed:

Anna Magnani, recent Academy Award winner, and
Tennessee Williams, famous playwright, said jointly in

Rome recently that James Dean was the greatest actor of
our time.

The article went on to list the Dean achievements in

the almost thirty page section, covering, unfortunately without

dates or credits, two radio Shows, ten TV shows, two Broadway

plays, the starring roles in three movies and appearances in

two others. The article then listed the honors awarded to

Dean for these achievements by "the press, the public and

the professionals"-

Daniel Blum Award Most Promising Stage Personality

1953—54
Antoinette Perry Award "Tony" Best Supporting Actor

on Broadway 1953-54
Filmdom's Famous Fives Award

 

1955
Motion Picture Academy of Art and Sciences
Nomination (Best Actor in East of Eden) 1956
Nomination (Best Actor in Giant) 1957

Photoplay_Award for outstanding performance

in East of Eden and Rebel 1956
Modern Screen Special Achievement Award 1956
Filmdom's Famous Fives Award 1956

Audience Award Nomination Most Promising

New Male Personality 1956
Audience Award Nomination for Best Actor 1956
Audience Award (Best Actor) over 15,000,000

plurality 1956
French Film Academy Award as Best Foreign

Actor (East of Eden) 1956

408

French Film Academy's Highest Award
The Crystal Star 1956
English Academy Award—-Best Actor 1956
French "Winged Victory" Award for Best Actor
(Giant) 1957

The "Pierre" by 260,000 fan club members
as Best Actor 1957

Voted "World's Favorite Actor for 1956" by
the Hollywood Foreign Press Association 1957

Voted "Top Foreign Actor" for his starring

 

role in Rebel Without a Cause by the
Tokyo Movie Fan's Association 1957
Voted 1956 Million Pearl Award as the top
foreign actor by Japan 1957
Best Male Star TrOphy 1956 by Yokohama
1957

Movie Circle Council
Award Certificate of Merit by Yokohama Movie
Circle Council (Best Foreign’Actor) 1957

Diploma——Best Male Performer—-Cine-Revere
Brussels, Belgium 1957

Awarded a Statuette by Elokvva Journalist,
1957

Finnish Film Journalists

Whether or not all the claims are authentic, the list

is rather impressive.

Frank Worth in ”Don‘t Print That Photo"l72 commented

that "Jimmy hated to have his picture taken"——and that when

pictures were taken, Dean sometimes would not approve their

release. Dean was quoted in a specific incident:

It makes me look like a kid, a helpless kid who just
got his finger banged or his best toy busted, and he wants
his mother. It makes me look like I'm hurt and I'm cry-
ing out--not out loud——but just crying out for someone to
come and help me . . . I don't want people to see me that
way . . . Maybe later, much later, you can print the
picture. But not for a long, long time.

The Saturday Review printed a picture173 of Dean with

ltS review of Max Lerner's America As a Civilization,174 which

had recently been published. In the book Lerner cited the

409

“strength and confusion" of American pOpular culture as

"flowing from the nature of the Open class system,"175 from

"a people in constant motion, physically and symbolically

requiring arts that are swift, brisk, and cohesive."176

Since “traditional heroes are not readily available to tie

these groups together, the need for new ones is more urgent."l77

The hero of popular culture “may be called the vernacular here

in the sense that he comes out of the everyday life of the

since he serves as a bigger—than~

people, or the archtypal hero,

life figure around whom young Americans weave their wish-

fulfillment fantasies,”178 going to the movies as they do,

according to Lerner, ”not so much to get a compensation for

what they have lost emotionally, as to get a surrogate for

what they have not achieved but know to be possible in their

world."179 In this sense Lerner labels the movies ”a crucial

American pOpular art” because "they alone deal in a sustained

way with dreams and fables.“180

Lerner noted the search for heroes and their quick

transition from one to another:

In the 1950's the Davey Crockett hysteria was followed
by a teen agers' cult of James Dean, a movie star who had
died in an auto crash only a few months earlier but was
quickly given immortality by a young generation which
formed 'James Dean Clubs' and refused to believe that their
hero was dead. The true nature of these booms must be left
to the social psychologist who studies fads and social
hysterics as well as legendry, and the clue to them must
probably be sought in the psychic hunger for a compassable
legendary figure in an era of the mechanical and impersonal.181

A few pages later Lerner cited, as "an illustration of how hungry

the public is for a HOllywood image to worship," the case of

410

the curious cult that developed after his death around
James Dean (as it developed around Valentino), although
Dean starred in only three pictures before he was killed
in a racing car on the California roads. With a wild

but still unformed talent, he was a searching, puzzled,
unhappy boy: his meteoric rise and his death were a life
symbol, pheonix-wise, for many young Americans, who shared
his frustrations as well as his dreams.182

Lerner seemed to have fallen in the publicity ditch,
accepting at its face value the publicity image of Dean,

though he realized the figure on the screen is not the end

product of the audience imagination, nor its end result:

The great movie figures know how to act, but they
don't have to know, since the character each creates is
not something out of a script, but himself. It is with
him, and not with the character he portrays that the
audience identifies itself. . . What the movie screen
adds, with its annihilation of time, its illusion of
space and its selective reading of dreams, is an emotional
identification through the star with those dreams and
with the magical world spun out of them.183

To this end, Lerner said that he suspects "that the movies
stereotype not only the solutions but even the problems, and

that young peOple who see them get even their dilemmas from

them. "184:

Movie Stars Parade offered in November a portfolio of

photographs taken from and offered as an unabashed tribute to

Ebe James Dean Story: "To Treasure Always."185 Captions

described Dean as "a genuis with a gamin grin . . . a bongo

player with a poet's soul."

The close of 1957 found the Dean influence broadening

and deepening in SCOpe. From the generally narrow confines

411

of motion pictures and motion picture magazines, the Dean

figure and its influence, which had already moved across

national boundaries and to other communication media, con-

tinued its outward flight to other modes of representation.

In America, Clifton Fadiman's new anthology of his

collected writings, Any Number Can Play,186 included a com-

ment in the prefatory piece on the automobile accident of

Francoise Sagan, with the additional note that many young

moderns attempt to get through life deluding themselves in

that they "mistake motion for emotion":

The case of James Dean is similar; and it is more
than a coincidence that he should be the cult object of

the most profoundly bored generation of youngsters in
all history.

Mr. Fadiman did not choose to limit his comment to

American youngsters, and rightly so. The Dean influence was

burgeoning and receiving increased international publicity.
Charles Robinson reported his observations of a meeting of
a James Dean fan club in Britain in The New Statesman.187

Besides communion with their idol via pictures and recordings,

the group, on this particular occasion, was graced with the

demi—presence of "Their Great Original," one James Byron

Dean II, an almost middle—aged man who professed to believe

he was the reincarnation of the American Dean. Mr. Robinson

commented that the British Mr. Dean (he had legally changed

his name) would be shortly off to Fairmount, Indiana, “the

Birthplace,“ where:

412

He hOpes to open a home for juvenile delinquents. About
fifteen years older than his namesake, with a shock of
bright yellow hair, Mr. Dean is not a person one forgets
easily.

With such exhibitionist practices and practitioners,
it was not surprising that the Dean cult should receive at—
tention from other media in Britain, as it had in America.
Penelope HoustonlE38 reported a television program "about
the cult of James Dean” when "a boy solomnly announces that
he admires Dean not because he was a nonconfirmist (sic) but
because he didn't confirm." Of equal importance were the
fact of the television production and the report of at least
some of the proceedings. As was the case with some American
youngsters, British fans felt Dean's appeal as a half—baked
socio—philosophic impetus toward rebellion, often incorrectly
stated, and, more often, impetuously acted upon.

Dean's international appeal, however, was not limited
solely to rebellious youth. That Dean's appeal to youth was
recognized as such by the adult world gave him a certain
appeal for them, also.'

Heinrich Fraenkel's Unsterblicher Film,189 a 1957
history, spoke of Dean's performance in East of Eden:

James Dean in der Rolle des Jfingeren Sohnes sein
ganze Generation symbolisiert hat und Millionen von
Alters genossen ansprach,die durch den Krieg um
Kindheit und Familienleben betrogen wurden, um das
Geborgenheits gefuhl, das ein Kind braucht, um zu
gesunder Reife zu gedeihen.“90

For Fraenkel, Dean "ein Kind jener Zeit war, ein

H191

einsamer und zerrissener Mensch, who didn't have to act

413

to play the role- Dean's ”Schauspielerkunst"192 was proved
later in his playing of Jett Rink. An illustration in the
Fraenkel book was captioned;
Das Lachein tauscht, denn dieser nette Junge ist
ein kreuzunglficklicher Mensch. Das war der vielgeliebte
und frfihvollendete James Dean auch in Leben, und so
erklart sich wohl seine erschfitternde Eindringlichkeit.193
Interestingly enough, the film which seemed to have
brought Dean his greatest fame in America and in most other
western countries had evidently not been shown in Germany
at the time of the writing of Fraenkel's history. Dean's
reputation as "ein Spiegelbild fur eine Generation" was based
on Dean's roles in East of Eden and Giant and the publicity

about his private life.194 There is no mention of Rebel

figthout a Cause. East of Eden, to Fraenkel, "gewinnt besondere

 

Bedeutung durch die darstellerische Leistung des jungen Dean,
der damit seine meterohafte und allzu kurze Karriere beginnt."195
Another motion picture history, The Movies by Richard
Griffith and Arthur Mayer196 gave Dean a full page and also
spoke of his "meteoric'I rise in Hollywood, describing him as
"moody, intense," "reminiscent of Brando but with a sensitivity
and capability to express emotion distinctly his own.“ The
authors added that Dean became "an idol and symbol of a rest—
less, confused, but fundamentally idealistic younger generation."
A later entry197 described Dean, along with Brando, Monroe and
Kelly as among the "few young and exciting stars" the Holly-
wood studios were able to flourish in the Fifties to "lure"

teenagers and their elders from their TV sets.

414

Enshrined now in international film history, Dean

was also covered with an article in the Collier's Encyclo-

 

pedia Yearbook for 1956,198 the year following Dean's death.
The Collier's Yearbook article spoke of Dean's "remarkable
apotheosis“ after death as the object of "a distinct teenage
cult, particularly just before the release of Giant." This
Dean cult was said to have been ”capitalized upon by pub-
licity men, publishers of teenage magazines and television
producers." A description of Dean and his attractive qualities

followed:

Dean was short in stature, nearsighted, and not at
all athletic. However it has been suggested that his
young admirers saw in him their own adolescent rebellious—
ness, loneliness, and uncertainty. In his first two
pictures he played misunderstood sons—-surly, but with
great capacity for tenderness and humor. . . . He was
considered to have considerable talent.

Collier's Encyclopedia Yearbook saw Dean more than a year after

his death as one of "The Year's Personalities."

F.)

\i O)
9 t

10.
11.

12.

13.

14.

15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

24.

CHAPTER v--NOTE§

Cal York, "Inside Stuff, " Photgplay (British) Vol. XIII,
No.1 (January, 1957), p. 6

"The Rebels" Photoplay (British) (January, 1957), pp. 8ff.

{William Bast] ”Suicide " Phothlay (British) (January,
1957), pp. 32ff.

”Ed Sullivan Presents Modern Screen's 1956 Silver Cup
Awards " Modern Screen. Vol- VI, No. 1 (January, 1957),
pp. 18ff.

Mike Connolly, "The Meaning of Jimmy Dean's Last Message,”
Modern Screen (January, 1957), pp. 30ff.

"TV Talk” Modern Screen (January, 1957), p. 74.

Advertisement, Modern Screen (January, 1957), p. 56.

Dick Williams, ”News! Newsf News!" Movie Life, Vol. XX,
No. 1 (January, 1957), p. 10.

Nell Blythe, ”The Untold Story of the Love Jimmy Lost,"
Movie Life (January, 1957), pp. 48ff.

"Should ElViS Presley Play Jimmy Dean,“ Movie Life
(January, 1957), pp. 36ff.

Jane Ardmore, "How Rock Met the Challenge of Jimmy Dean,"
Rock Hudson (New York: Star Stories Inc., 1956), pp.
46ff. (Issue is stamped January 29 by newsdealer.)

“Interview with James MacArthur," Literary Cavalcade
(January, 1957), pp. 26ff. [Fragment-—private
collection.]

Lynne Carter, "I Was a Friend of Jimmy Dean," Rave, Vol. II,
No. 7 (January, 1957-, pp. 30ff.

"All Time Greats,” Movie Album, Vol. I, No. 6 (New York:
Vista Publications, Inc., 1956), p. 6. [Issue was
not released until 1957, dated in hand stamp on the
cover.]

"A Tradition IS Born," Movie Album, pp. 11ff.

"The Search for Mr. X” Movie Album, pp. 18ff.

”This Is How It Started“ Movie Album, pp. 36ff.

"The New Generation” Movie Album, pp- 50ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"And Now . . . Tomorrow-~Will James Dean Live On?“
Movie Album, pp. 72—73.
William F. Nolan, ”His Love Destroyed Him,“ Modern Screen,

 

Vol. LI, No. 2 (February, 1957), pp. 33ff.

“Was Jimmy Dean's Sports Car Jinxed," Modern Screen
(February, 1957), p. 66.

"How Natalie Handles Boys and Older Men," Modern Screen
(February, 1957), pp. 50ff.

"The Struggle to Grow Up," Modern Screen (February, 1957),
pp. 57ff.

“Jimmy Dean's Fight to Live," Movie Stars Parade
(February, 1957), pp. 39ff.

415

35.

36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.

45.
46.

47.
48-

49.

51-

(“Leave Him to Heaven,“ Screen Stars (March, 1957),

416

Graham Elliott. "Passing Parade_" Movie Stars Parade
(February. 1957), p. 18.

“Hot Off the Teletype,” Movie Life, Vol. XX, No. 2
(February. 1957). p- 8.

"Your Favorite Newcomer," Movie Life (February, 1957),
p. 20

”Will They Cheat Jimmy Again?" Mov1e Life (February.
1957), pp. 40—41.

Picture and caption, Movie Life (February, 1957). p. 66.

Advertisement, Movie Life (February, 1957). p. 56.

Picture and Caption, Screen Album No. 78 (February-April,
1957), p. 54.

"When They Were in Their Teens.” Screed Album No. 78
(February—April, 1957), pp, 46ff.
Lisette Dufy, "The Amazing James Dean Hoax.” Inside Story,
Vol. III, No. 3 (February, 1957). pp. 14ff.
Caroline Bird, ”Born l930: The Unlost Generation.
Harper s Bazaar, February, 1957. [Fragment——private
collection.]

Susan Phillips, ”James Dean Lives On In Our Hearts."
Hep Cat Review, March 1957. [Fragment——private
collection.]

Francoise Truffant, Review of Giant, Arts, March 20-26,
1957, p. 3.

Beverly Wills, "1 Almost Married Jimmy Dean," Modern Screen,
Vol. LI, No. 3 (March, 1957), pp. 52ff.

Alyce Canfield, ”Intimate Hollywood,” Screen Stars,
Vol XV, No. 2 (March, 1957), p. 10.

Ibid.. p. 13.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pp. 17ff.

Armand Archerd, “Confidential Goss1p,“ Screen Stars
(March, 1957), p. 72.

Jerry Asher, LJust a Homebody at Heart “ Movieland, Vol. XV,
No. 3 (March, 1957). pp. 33ff-

"How Elvis Milks Teen-Age Morons “ Raye. Vol. XI, No. 8

(April, 1957), p. 11. . H
Lynne Carter, “I Learned About Love From Jimmy Dean,

Rave (April, 1957). pp 24ff.
"Hot Rebel With a Cause.” Raye (April, 1957). pp. 34ff.
“Why Jimmy Won't Win Any Oscars,” Raye (April, 1957).

pp. 58ff. .
Advertisement, Egye_(April, 1957), p. 66.

"He Didn't Want It This Way," Mov1e and TV Album,

Vol. I. No. 2 (April, 19577, pp. 40ff.|
”Now You See Him,” Movie and TV Album (April, 1957),
pp. 32ff.

Advertisement,
Donald P- Costello, ,
Catholic Youth Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 7

1957), p- 27.

 

Movie and TV Album (April, 1957), p. 58.
”Tale of Two Friends ” Today: The
(April,

417

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

52. Eugene Archer, ”George Stevens and the American Dream "
Film Culture. Vol. III, No. 1 (11), 1957, pp. 2ff.

53. "Replies to a Questionnaire." Sight and Sound, Vol. XXVI,
No. 4 (Spring 1957), pp. l80ff.

34.‘lbid.

55. Penelope Houston, “Hollywood in the Age of Television ”
Sight and Sound (Spring, 1957), pp. 175ff.

56 "Win Painting of James Dean,” 219‘ Vol. 1, No. 12 (April,
1957), pp. 26-27.

57. “James Dean ” Qig_(April, 1957), pp. l3ff.

68. T. T. Thomas. 1, James Dean, The Real Story Behind
America‘s Most Popular Idol (New York: Popular
Library, 19573.

59..Ibid,, p. 9,

60. Ibid., p. 29.

61, Ibid., p- 128.

62. Advertisement, Variety, April 17, 1957. [Fragment in Drama
Collection, New York City Public Library.]

63 ”I Was Jimmy Dean‘s Wife,” Personal Romances (April, 1957),
advertisement in Movie Stars Parade, Vol- XVII, No- 7
(June, 1957), p. 55.

64. "Jimmy Dean‘s Happiest Night,” TV and Mov1e Screen (May,
1957) in Margie Miller. ”The Mail Bag,” Movie Mirror
Vol. I, No. 6 (May, 1957), p. 51.

65- Peer J. Oppenheimer, ”Hollywood Is Talking About. . "
,Movie Mirror, Vol. I, No. 6 (May, 1957), p. 11.

66. Mercedes McCambridge, ”In Defense of Jimmy Dean,“

Movie Mirror (May, 1957), pp. 44ff.

67. Vi SWisher, I‘Thanks for Everything," Movieland, Vol. XV.
No. 5 (May, 1957), pp. 32ff.

68. Alyce Canfield, ”Intimate Hollywood,” Screen Stars,

Vol. XV, No. 3 (May, 1957), p. 13.

69. Nick Adams, ”Hollywood‘s Mixed Up Blabbermouths,“
Screen Stars (May, 1957). pp. 24ff.

70. Joe Hyams, ”This Is Holywood,” New York Herald Tribune.
[Fragment, undated, in Drama Collection, New York
City Public Library.J

71, Edgar Morin. Les Stars (Paris: Editions Seuil, 1957).

72, Nicholas Ray, “Rebel,” EELE! ,May 15-21, 1857, p. 8.

73. Raymond de Becker, “James Dean Trahit l‘Amerique,“

Arts, May 29—June 4, 1957, p. 6.

74. Yves Salgues, James Dean ou le mal de vivre (Paris;
Editions Pierre Horay, 1957).

75. Ibid , rear cover.

76. Ibid.

77. Ibid., p. 7.

78. Ibid., p. 196.

79. Ibid., photograph between pages 96 and 97.

80. Ibid., p. 23.

81. Ibid., p. 27.

82. Ibid.

83.___

84.
85.
86.
87.
88.

89. _

90.

91.. __

92.

 

 

 

95. ____

94

do.

96. _

K‘. ‘

98.

99.
100,
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.

106.

418

9/. _

 

 

Ibid., p. 28.
Ibid , p. 171.
Ibid , p. 105.
Ibid , p. 59.
‘Jbld , p. 91.
lag, p-T&
Ibid , p. 119.
Ibid

Ibid , p. 147.
1.2121. , p. 188.
Ibid , p. 177.
Ibid , p. 183.
Ibid , p. 184.
Ibid , p. 195.
Ibid

Ibid , p. 192.
1919 , p. 185.
lb:d., p. 186.
Ibid., p. 186.
Ibid., p- 187.
_lbid., p- 184.
De Bec er, op. cit.

Lindsay Anderson, “Ten Feet Tall," Sight and Sound,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. XXVII, No. 1 (Summer, 1957), pp. 34ff.

Peer J. Oppenheimer, "Is Natalie Wood Betraying Jimmy Dean,“
Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XVII, No. 7 (June, 1957), pp.
58ff.

Timothy Michael, “A Boy Who Needs a Bride,” Movie Stars
Parade (June, 1957), pp. 42ff.

Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (June, 1957), p. 55.

Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (June, 1957), p. 60.

Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade (June, 1957), p. 64.

"James Dean on Conga Drums,” Romeo Music Recording C101.

Advertisement, Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XVII, No. 7
(June, 1957), p. 64.

Picture caption, Hollywood Rebels (New York; Ideal
Publishing Company, 1957), p. 2.

"Hollywood Rebels,“ Hollywood Rebels, p. 3.

 

 

"Why Parents Fear Jimmy Dean,” Hollywood Rebela, pp. 54ff.

“Hollywood Will Never Forget " Movie Screen Yearbook 3;
(New York; Sterling Group, Inc., 1957), p. 35.

"James Deans A Special Message to His Fans,"

Movie Screen Yearbookafl3, pp. 36ff.
"Friendly Persuasion," Movie Screen Yearbook £3, p. 49.

“Hollywood's Academy Awards,“ Movie Screen Yearbook £3,

pp. 71ff.
”The Year‘s Strangest Love Stories,

Vol. I, No. 11 (1957). pp. 9ff. . .
"Jimmy Dean and the Women Who Won‘t Let Him Die,

Hollywood Romances, pp. 42ff. .
"He Wasn't a God, He Was a Man-—And He Died," Hollywood

Romances, pp. 42ff.

“ Hollywood Romances

419

123. Mary Ann Watkins, "In Defense of Natalie Wood," Movie
.erggg, Vol. 11 No. 1 (July, 1957), pp. 16ff.

124. "Why They Want You to Forget Jimmy,” Movie Life, Vol. XX,
No. 8 (July, 1957). pp. 37ff.

125. Advertisement, Movie Life (July, 1957). p. 64.

126. Pictures, Movie Life (July, 1957), pp. 19ff.

127. Sidney Skolsky, “The New Look in Hollywood.Men,”

Photoplay. Vol. XII, No. 1 (July, 1957), pp. 41ff.
8. This claim has not been verified.
”9. Two James Dean Grants Given to Young Actors.
New York Times. July 26, 1957, p. 9.

130. “Why Are Jimmy Dean Fans Switching to Tony Perkins,"
.Movie Teen Illustrated, Vol. I, No. 3 (Fall, 1957).
pp. SOff.

131. "Jimmy Dean Returns,” pp. 8ff.

132. Ann Remington, “James Dean; The Tragedy That Lives On,"
MOVie Stars Parada.VCl.XVII,No. 9 (August, 1957),
pp. 32ff.

133. Advertisement, Mov1e Stars Parade (August, 1957), p. 74.

134. Debbie Douga, ”Platter Patter,h Song Craze (August, 1957),
p. 8. [Fragment-~private collection.]

135. "Why Dean Died -Female Jimmy Dean," Song Craze (August,
1967), pp. 15ff. [Fragmentw—private collection.]

136. "Especially for You,“ Motion Pictuga, Vol. XLVII, No.
559 (August. 1957), p, 41.

137. Arthur Knight. “Celluloid Monument_” Saturday Review,
August 3. 1957, p. 20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

138. Warner Brothers Studio Press Bookr The-James Dean Story.
139. Conversation with Mr. Robert Altman, August 18, 1959.
140. William Leonard. ”Hoosier Home Towns Re—live James Dean's

Story,“ Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, September 29,
1957. pp. 8f. ‘

141. Dick Williams. ”Hollywood Dateline " Movie Life. Vol. XX.
No. 10 (September. 1957), p. 14.

142. Jane Williams, “In Loving Memory,” Movie Life (September,
1957), pp. 23ff.

143. Dee Spencer, ”Ready for Love," Mov1e Life (September, 1957).
pp. 44ff. . .

144. Jack Shafer, “What Jimmy Dean Believed.” Motion Picture
(September, 1957), p. 24. [Fragments—private
collection-]

145. "An Intimate Visit with James Dean,” Hear, The Voice of
Hollywood, Vol- II, No. 2 (September, 1957),
insert recording on cover.

146. Bob Thomas, ”Knock James Dean and You“ll Find He Still
Has Fans,“ New York PosgL dated September 30, 1957,
from Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

147. "Why Jimmy Dean Is a Living Lie,” Raga. September, 1957,
pp. 16ff. [Fragment——private collection.]

148. Peer J. Oppenheimer, “A Last Tribute to James Dean,"
gompact (September, 1957), pp. 63ff. [Fragment——
private collection.]

 

 

 

149.

}_3
(fl
0

158.
159.

160.

161.
162.

420

David Robinson, Review of The James Dean Story.

Sight and Sound. Vol. XXVII. No. 2 (Autumn, 1957-,
p. 93.

Fragment from the Warner Brothers Publicity Files from
(Ricture Post dated October 22, 1957, p. 35.

Other articles were noted as having been printed on
October 8 and October 15.

Colin Wilson, Religion and the Rebal (Cambridge,
MassaChusetts' The RiverSide Press, 1057—, p. 254.

Jane Williams, “Did Jimmy Deants Spirit Haunt the Studio,
Movie Life, Vol. XX, No. 11 (October, 1957). pp. 23ff.

"News From Dean Foundation,” Movie Life (October, 1057),
p. 58,

Kate Cameron. ‘Review of The James Dean Story_” New York
Ba11YgNeWS' dated October 19. 1959 from Drama
Collection, New York City Public Library.

Archer Winston, ReView of The James Dean Story.

New York Post, dated October 20. 1957 from Drama
Collection. New York City Public Library.

Advertisement, Rhotoplay, Vol. XII. No. 4 (October, 1957),
p. 21.

Janet Graves, ”Let‘s Go to the Movies,” Photoplay
(October, 1957), p. 24.

“Readers Inc,“ Rhotoplay (October. 1957), p. 28.

Elizabeth Sheridan, “In Memory of Jimmy,” Photoplay
(October, 1957), p 70.

Natalie Wood. Review of The James Dean Story, Photoplay
(October, 1957), p, 72.

Advertisement, Rhot0play (October, 1957), p. 108.

Music from the Soundtrack--The James Dean Story,

Capitol Records W881.
Theme Mus1c from The James Dean Story. World Pacific

Records P2005
David Myers. editorial. Modern Screen (October, 1957),

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

p. 29. [Fragment-~private collection.] _
Rolf wutherich, “Death Drive,” Modern Screen (October,
1957). pp. 30ff. [Fragment-—private collection.]

"Jimmy‘s Film Farewell,’ Rollywocd Love and Tragedy_#2
(New York: Ideal Publishing Company. 1957), pp. 34ff.
”Stop Those Attacks on Jimmy‘s Memory.“ Hollywood Love

and Tragedy £2, p. 30ff.

 

 

Truman Capote, "The Duke in His Domain," New Yorker,
November 9, 1957, pp. 53ff. .
"Life of James Dean.” Rig. November. 1957, as advertised

in _D__i_.g_. Vol. vi. No. 6 (August, 1961), p. 57.
”Bigger Than Life.” Seventeen. November. 1957-
[Fragment——private collection.]
“Tribute to James Dean,” 1R, Vol. 1, No.
1957), pp. 4ff.
Frank Worth, ”Don‘t Print That Photo," 16. (November,

1957), pp. 29ff.

4 (November,

F>H
\)-\J
m

H>

P}~‘§-‘F‘F“H
mmCDCI-lN'NNN'xl
"-ri-AOCOOD‘\IO3U—l

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421

Picture, Saturday ReView, November 30, 1957, p. 14.
Max Lerner, America As a Civilization (New York: Simon
and Schuster, 195/)-

Ibid. p. 787.
léiéz- p- 788-
ipag., p. 807.
laid., p. 800.
.lélé‘: p- 820-
lpid., p. 821.
i§LQ-' p. 803-

laié-! pa 182:

£bid., p. 826.

Ibid., p. 831.

"To Treasure Always,” MOVie Stars Parade (November, 1957)
[Fragment-—private collection].

Clifton Fadiman, Any Number Can Play, (Cleveland:
The World Publishing Company, 1957), pp. 15—16.

 

 

Charles Robinson, “Their Great Original,“ New Statesman,
December 21, 1957, p. 849.
Penelope Houston. "Captive or Free,“ Sight and Sound,

 

Vol. XXVII, No. 3 (Winter, 1957), pp. ll6ff.
Heinrich Fraenkel, Unsterblicker Film (Munich; Kindler
Verlag. 1957).
lb;d., p. 171-
. Ibid.
. Ibid.

. Ibid I p. 358_

Ibid-. p. 358.

. Ibid., p. 439.

Richard Griffith and Arthur Mayer, The Movies (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1957), p. 423.

. 1219-: p. 428.

. “James Dean.” Collier‘s 1957 Yearbook, An Encyclopedia
Sgpplement and ReView of National and International
Events of 1956 ed. William T. Couch (New York:

R. F. Collier and Son, Corp., 1957), pp. 693—94.

 

CHAPTER VI

1958-—THE "SYMBOL" AS BEAT: ADOPTION AND
ADAPTATION——FACT AND FICTION

A mystical note began 1958. From France came

1.

American Kenneth Anger‘s analysis of movie gods and the

effects they had on their fans:

Au fond de son coeur le masse des fans souhaite 1e
sacrifice de son dieu, espere cette communion sanglante
qu' operent dans la violence—-l accident ou la guillotine—~
1e sein dénudé, la gorge offerte, 1e coeur palpetant au
soleil. Lorsque le hasard lui accorde (combien rarement!)
une pareille apotheose, par example la mort de James Dean
ou de Valentino, elle fait montre d une gratit.ude fervente
et, dans l' adoration, d' une fidelite a toute epreuve.

Pour ces dieux héroiques emportes a la fleur de 1' age elle
éleve des autels, organise un culte, chante des hymnes.

La mort de la vedette est la communion des fans, une
possession mystique sans hosties; grace au sacrifice 1e
dieu communique son energie magique a tous ses fideles.

In America the Confidential approach2 was more

 

mysterious than mystic. The cover featured a picture of Dean
inscribed: "Proof! In his own handwriting . . . James Dean
Knew He Had a Date with Death!“ Inside, copy noted that the
"reams upon reams" of Dean material covering the "meteoric
career" and the "violent end“ of the young actor often
mentioned the rumors that he "still lives" or that he had had

premonitions of his swift demise. Confidential announced

 

that “in the last month, solid, documentary evidence of James

Dean's preoccupation with death has come to light."

422

423

"The facts" offered were the underscorings in Dean‘s copy
of Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. Dean used
a color code covering death, disability, disfigurement, and
degradation, and inserted a marginal note; "God gave James
Dean so many gifts to share with the world, has he the right
to throw them away in the bull ring?" The author of the
article drew a parallel between Dean's interest in bull-
fighting and his fascination with auto racing, noting that
"it is no small coincidence that man seems to be extremely
expendable in both of these sports." The author further
noted that the underscorings in Dean's hand "were reserved
only for violence," concluding that to have had this pre-
occupation, Dean must also have had a strong premonition.

Reproduced with the article were the handwritten
"facts" and pictures of Dean doing capework. Another portrait
was labeling: "He loved violence—~and died violently."

The conclusions of the article could be argued,
and one might question whether the emphasis on violence was
more Dean's than Hemingway's, but the story fitted neatly
into the interest in the supernatural revivified by the
publicity for The James Dean Story,

David Robinson's comment3 about The James Dean Story

 

in Plays and Players reiterated the conviction that the film

 

would be both "a contribution and a stimulus to the legend."

There was repetition, too, in the Time—Life coverage

 

of the career and capture of the teen aged mass murderer

424

Charles Starkweather. Life4 said that Starkweather “looked
like a cross between James Dean and Elvis Presley" with his
"shaggy sideburns, . . . moody cryptic gaze, . . . sensual
mouth,“ Besides his poor eyesight and an interest in car
racing, Starkweather's sister was quoted as saying:

He used to pose like James Dean. . . . He'd stand
there with a cigaret hanging from out of the front of
his mouth. You know, with the lips apart so his teeth
would show.

TimeS added:

At 19, Charles Starkweather still seemed to grasp
only simple things. Guns, guitars and hot rods were
good; snakes, schoolbooks and recurrent headaches were
bad; the right trim to his long copper hair and the
proper cant to his cigarette made him look like James
Dean. Beyond these, Chuck Starkweather accepted just
two constants: 1) the world was against him 2) when
somebody's against you, fight back.

Dean had been again associated with a fight against

the world and society, and this time with more than usually

ominous overtones.

In this same month of February John Clellon Holmes
wrote "The Philosophy of the Beat Generation" for Esguire.6
As early as 1952 Holmes wrote an article "This is the Beat
Generation" which Esguire said articulated "an attitude that
was to sweep the nation in the next five years." The cur-
rent article further explored the phenomenon of "the hipster
and his preoccupation with speed, sex, drugs, jazz and death,"
for "now the Beat Generation is formed, its heroes defined,

its writers published." The sobriquet "Beat" applied by

425

Holmes meant, for him, "not so much being filled up to here,
as being emptied out":

It describes a state of mind from which all un—
essentials have been stripped, leaving it receptive to
everything around it, but impatient with trivial ob-
structions. To be beat is to be at the bottom of your
personality, looking up; to be existential in the
Kierkegaard, rather than in the Jean-Paul Sartre, sense.

Holmes used as his literary touchstone the Jack

Kerouac novel On the Road and its depiction of the ”quest” of

 

its characters which Kerouac insisted was spiritual in

nature. Kerouac's own explanation quoted by Holmes was that

"the Beat Generation . . . is basically a religious gener-
ation." Kerouac equated ”Beat” with "beatitude, not beat up."
Said Kerouac, “You feel this . . . in a beat, in jazz—-real

cool jazz, or a good gutty rock number."

Holmes acknowledged the surface absurdity of claims
of religiosity, in the light of reactions of the older gener—
ation who have most often been "amused, irritated or down—
right shocked" by the excesses, social irresponsibility, and
delinquency they believe they see in the younger gener—

ation:

They have been outraged by the adulation of the late
James Dean, seeing in it signs of a dangerous morbidity,
and they have been equally outraged by the adulation of
Elvis Presley, seeing in it signs of a dangerous sensu-
ality.

They see no signs of a search for spiritual values in
a generation whose diverse tragic heroes have included
jazzman Charlie Parker, actor Dean and poet Dylan Thomas;
and whose interests have ranged all the way from bebop to
rock and roll; from hipsterism to Zen Buddhism: from
vision inducing drugs to Method acting.

426

Holmes claimed a difference, little noted, between behavior

and attitudes behind that behavior, formed, as the present

generation was, in the violent historical climate of wars,

hot and cold, accompanied by the atmosphere of an atrophied

private and public morality. Holmes stated that though

"older generations may be distressed or cynical or apathetic"
or "somehow adjusted"--"the Beat Generation is specifically

the product of this world" and was simply "altogether too

vigorous, too intent, too indefatigable, too curious to suit

its elders." The older generation in seeking answers to
"How are we to live?“ assumed "that only answers which

recognized man as a collective animal have any validity" and

did not "realize that this generation cannot conceive of the

question in any but personal terms, and knows the only

answer it can accept will come out of the dark night of the

individual soul."

Holmes sought to investigate the "whole reality" of
the Beat Generation in "the image they have of themselves,"

and the investigation, for Holmes, showed that "a large

portion of this generation lived vicariously in the short,

tumultuous career of actor James Dean." Unlike other movie

idols like Valentino, who was "more attractive, mysterious,
and wealthy" than his fans of the Twenties, or Gable,
“a virile man of action" with whom fans could "fancifully

identify to make up for their own feelings of powerlessness"--

Dean presented to his fans the image of:

427

... a wistful, reticent youth looking over the abyss
separating him from older people with a level, saddened
eye; living intensely in alternate explosions of tender—
ness and violence, eager for love and a sense of purpose,

but able to accept them only on terms which acknowledged
the facts of life as he saw them.

Holmes said that in Dean the young people saw "themselves."

In Dean‘s "mumbling Speech, attenuated silences, and rash

gestures" many older people saw what they thought to be "the

ultimate in empty mannerisms," but the younger generation,

said Holmes:

knew it was not so much that he was inarticulate or
affected as it was he was unable to believe in some of
the things his scripts required him to say.

knew he was lonely, they knew he was flawed, they knew
he was confused. But they also knew that he 'dug,' and

they delighted in his sloppy clothes and untrimmed hair
and indifference to the proprieties of fame.

. . . They

He was
not what they wanted to be; he was what they were. He
lived hard and without complaint, and he died as he
lived, going fast.

This “need for mobility" which Holmes described as "one of

the distinguishing characteristics" of the Beat Generation,

he also called a search. Holmes said that "only the most

myopic" could view it as "a flight."
Holmes saw Dean, too, as a ”product of an acting

discipline known as The Method." The primary concern of

The Method, according to Holmes, was "to find the essence of

a character, his soul, and the actor is encouraged to do this

by utilizing emotions in his own experience that correspond

to those in the script." Utilization of The Method can re-

sult in "such startling jets of emotional power that the

audience is left shaken and moved as if it had overheard a

428

confession." The"interiorization"of the playing via The
Method can result in a physical statement of the proposition
"Man is not merely a social animal, a victim, a product; at
the bottom, man is a Spirit.” Holmes said, "As a theory

of acting keyed to this proposition, The Method is pre—
eminently the acting style of the Beat Generation."

The acceptance by young people of unflattering images
of themselves—-unflattering by adult standards, that is,
which were described as being based on unrealistic social and
moral values—~Holmes considered as being manifestations of
"the will to believe even in the face of the inability to
do so in conventional terms." As an example Holmes gave the
"portrait" of youth presented in Rebel Without a Cause,
which young people "saw and approved," even though "they
laughed at the social worker motivations for their conduct"
that filled the script. Holmes said that "one can only con-
clude that what they see and what adults see are two different
things."

The current spate of seemingly unmotivated and un-
justifiable juvenile murders Holmes described as "specifically
moral crimes," ”neither insane, nor perverted." These were
crimes "which the cruel absence of God made obligatory if a
man were to prove that he was a man and not a mere blot of
matter." These were "spiritual crimes, crimes against the
identity of another human being, crimes which reveal with

stark and terrifying clarity the lengths to which a deSperate

429

need for values can drive the young." These crimes signify

a "longing for values" born from "a conviction of the

creative power of the unfettered individual soul," a con—

viction essentially "asocial, not anti—social." This con-

viction is illustrated by Dean, Thomas and Parker:

All three went their own uncompromising way, listen-
ing to their inner voices, celebrating whatever they
could find to celebrate, and then willingly paying the
cost in self-destruction. But if young people idolize
them, they have no illusions about them as martyrs, for
they know (and almost stoically accept) that one of the
risks of going so fast, and so far, is death.

Holmes thought this new conviction, this way of life,

was fast taking hold on American youth, on youth all over

the world:

Everywhere young people are reacting to the growing
collectivity of modern life, and the constant threat of
collective death, with the same disturbing extremity of

individualism.

The same month Herbert Gold wrote "The Beat Mystique"

for Playboy.7 Gold, too, went back to the hipster for the

origins of the Beat. Gold found the origins of hipsterism

in "a complex effort of the Negro to escape his imposed role

of 'happy—go—lucky animal'" which began when "a few highly

self conscious urban Negro men sought to imitate 'white'

diffidence, or coolness, or beatness," by developing "a style

which was both a criticism of their Bible—shouting and jazz-

loving parents and a parody of the detached, uninvolved city

ofays." Building upon this image, the modern hipster “takes

one of his chief public models from the most authentic

American source, the movies":

430

The Stanislavsky hipsters scratch as if their souls'
unease were actually juicy fleas, slouch as if leaning to
catch Marlon‘s word from earth or James' from vaulted
heaven. The movie shadow of Dean or the Brando of
The Wild One is a part of the image of the hipster.

 

Unlike Holmes, Gold was critical and saw the modern

hipster as ”the true rebel without a cause" who was "afflicted

with the great triumvirate disease of the American male:

Passivity, Anxiety, Boredom."

The modern hipster worshipped "the purple fantasy of
torn-tee-shirted masculinity created by Tennessee Williams,

William Inge and others who have invented a new theatrical

type--the male impersonator." The type idealized was "adorably

brutal, stripped of the prime attributes of manliness, intel—

ligence, purpose, control." In death James Dean was one who

had reached the apotheosis of this form of hero:

Having died, James Dean and Charlie Parker are de—
fined as immortal. The strong silent hero must also be

weak and pretty.

Gold concluded:

When Yeats looked into the future to find a terrible
savior, an evolution up from animality into something

strange and wonderful:

‘What rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?‘

--he did not mean James Dean. Perhaps as they claim, the
tunneling hipster's avoidance of feeling can lead to a
new honesty of emotion. Perhaps a groundhog might some—
day learn to fly, but man 0 man, that will be one strange

bird.

Robert Brustein articulated his thesis concerning

"America's New Culture Hero: Feelings Without Words“ in

431

mementary.8 Since Brustein was more academically oriented

 

than either Gold or Holmes, his approach found its basis on
more scholarly grounds, but his observations and the conclu—
sions he reached were similar to the popular interpretations.
Though Brustein saw the “immediate origin" of the "neurotic
and conformist"hero in Brando's Kowalski in Williams'

Streetcar Named Desire, the impetus was traced back still

 

further to Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape (1922) as part of

 

the search by American writers to find an expression for the
problems of the victimized "man of lower birth-—of Northern
urban or Southern rural origin—~who was denied the language
and manners of his more cultured countrymen." Less noble
than the heroes of Steinbeck, less articulate than the heroes
of Odets, and less political than either, the present mani-
festations of the "ignoble savage" reached their current form
through the Group Theater and the Actors Studio, and "it is
in the Actors Studio that most of today's proletarian heroes
are being Spawned, products of a period of prosperity and
political conformity."

Brustein claimed the Actors Studio "has managed to
wield more influence on acting style and playwriting material
than any other single organization," and he challenged the
narrow scope of the current theatrical scene as the result
of a "power of a school of acting and production techniques
to impose a special kind of theater" on a whole theater-going

public. In his analysis of the then-current theatrical scene,

432

Brustein found an overemphasis on the action, an anti-
intellectualism, an over-concern with the subtext of a play,
which were the results, said Brustein, of an approach in
which “the actor ignores the playwright's meaning, substitut-
ing the feeling he himself finds to be more compelling."
In effect, then, according to Brustein, I'the actor becomes
a creator rather than an interpreter, seeking the clue to
his performance in his own experience instead of in the
experience of the character he is supposed to be playing."
In the transition of the new hero to film and in
further manifestations,"although the hero maintained, in
almost every case, his identification with sexuality and
violence, he could no longer be accused of cruelty or

brutality." As a movie figure he is invariably an outcast
or a rebel,“ and his character is "emphasized by his shabby,
careless appearance." His clothing becomes a symbol of
“alienation and rebellion.” (Brustein cited two of Dean's
roles as examples of these characteristics.) Concentration in
the films has often revolved around the family situation or
has been manifested as a "disguised family romance," in

which "social and political rebellion have turned to

Freudian protest." The film hero's redemption is accomplished
generally through his girl friend who "is frequently an
adolescent and invariably virtuous and understanding."

She is also verbal, "accepted" by her family and friends,

and "most significant, she exhibits a maternal protectiveness

433

that belies her adolescent appearance and tends to make the
hero extremely dependent on her." Such a "disguised family
romance usually found in these movies becomes, in Giant, more
explicit." The antagonism which the boy feels toward society,
convention, law and order, is, according to Brustein, "merely
an extension of hostility toward his father." Brustein re—
called all of Dean's films as showing examples of this, and
noted thatmthe-alienation arose out of a misunderstanding, and
the conflict was caused "by a failure in communication."
In the end "the greatest reward the hero can achieve is

acceptance by the group and the love of the father." To

achieve this end, the hero must usually undergo some physical

punishment, in expiation of his “unnamed sin . . . the sin
against the father." After expiation the hero finds his
way home, "not to independent manhood but to the kind of

security which precedes conformity and complacency."

Brustein called the above "a classic juvenile dilemma"
and noted "how effectively adolescents have been able to
pursuade our culture to conform with their views of it."
Currently popular films, songs, plays "derive their success
from catering to the anarchic impulses of the young,"in
which both they and we find "consolation in raw feeling

in mindlessness, and in self-indulgence."

9

In contrast, Jack Kerouac extolled the “special

spirituality" of the American Beats prophesying a “new style

for American culture" to rival that of post-war France with

434

its Sartre and Genét. Kerouac's article was printed in the
March Esguire as a follow-up to Holmess article the previous
month. Kerouac traced the history of the Beat movement to
the intellectual search, both here and abroad, immediately
after the second world war. The initial early gropings in

America died out on the surface, but

by some miracle of metamorphosis, suddenly the Korean
post-war youth emerged cool and beat, had picked up the
gestures and the style; soon it was everywhere, the new
look, the 'twisted' slouchy look; finally it began to
appear even in movies (James Dean) and on television

. . and the Beat Generation, though dead, was resur-

rected and justified.

March also brought two bits of Dean linkage less
literary and more conventional. A Newsweek cover articlelo
declared Tony Perkins to have "an ability to play young men
at the brink of maturity without delivering either of drama-
turgy‘s current stereotypes—-the comical puppy or the darkling
member of the ‘beat generation.'" The latter most certainly
refers to a Dean type. Further linkage occurs when the
article stated that Perkins won his first break "after an un-
successful audition before Elia Kazan for the part James Dean
eventually won in the movie East of Eden." Eleanore Harris
gave the public, via a cover story for RppRJll a new Rock
Hudson "born out of paradox":

In the past few years, too many actors have been

sensitive and spooky like Jimmy Dean; the public got
tired of decay. So now here's Rock Hudson. He's

wholesome. . . .

435

April and spring brought a rebirth to the world in
new forms. Among them was James Dean, revivified in various
and diverse shapes. Dean‘s first dramatic telecast, "Hill
Number One," was re-run as an "Easter Special” on April 6,
1958.12 Louis Marcorelles' article on "French Films: The
Old and the New" in Britain's Sight and Soundls called atten-
tion to similarities between Roger Vadim‘s Et Dieu Créa la
Femme and Nicholas Ray‘s Rebel Without a Cause, and, by
extension, Brigitte Bardot and James Dean—-by virtue of the
"justice of the picture" they give "of a certain section of

. youth" in their abilities to catch "the vibrance and

incoherence of life."

Movie Fan presented a series of photographic studies

 

of Wes Bryan and the article "Is His Face His Fortune?"l4

commenting on the "amazing resemblance to tragic James Dean.‘

The article further noted:

Ever since Wes had a slight motorcycle accident a
few months ago and a photographer snapped a shot of him
which was sent over the wire services, Wes has been the

center of tremendous publicity.

To bolster his claim as "the latest 'new‘ Dean"
Bryan went to Dean's hometown to meet Dean's grandmother:
"She said it was amazing how similar the quiet moody Wes was
to her grandson.“ Though the article gave him coverage as
something Special, Wes Bryan never made the grade as star

material. The article itself, unwittingly, gave part of the

reason:

436

After all, the fans are tired of hearing who is the
latest 'new' Dean. Many don't want someone to take their
idol's place and resent anyone who tries.

The Chicago Review celebrated "Ten San Francisco
Poets" in its Spring, 1958 issue, covering the same ground
and many of the same writers as an Evergreen Review issue de-
voted to the San Francisco Poets. "San Francisco Poet" was
a literary euphemism for those who were more popularly
labelled "Beat." In the Chicago Review collection appeared
Philip Whalen's "10:X:57, Forty—five Years Since the Fall of
the Ch'ing Dynasty"ls which commented on the vulgarization
of modern society:
Where nobody can see me
I read all about Jimmy Dean with 16 photo—
graphs and more than a hundred pages of
vulgar prose.
Whalen protested the "self—destructive" impulses of
modern society, but the criticism was levelled at society,
not at Dean. The idea implied was that society vulgarizes

and uses for its own purposes elements in it that were once

noble and beautiful.

The most complex literary reincarnation of Dean came
with the publication of Herbert Ross' The Immortal.18 Ross
was identified as "a full time public relations executive"

in the cover notes. This was his first novel. The synopsis

on the flyleaf read:

437

Johnny Preston was born into the crazy, mixed-up,
beat generation. Soon his ability to convey emotion on
a movie screen made him one of its leading representa-
tives. Only, adulation wasn't enough for Johnny. He
had to move faster and live wilder than everyone else.
He had to drive his car hard and fly a plane carelessly,
for kicks--and one day that was the end of Johnny

Preston.
With a major film starring Preston still to be re-

leased, the studio wasn‘t talking much about the ghoulish
publicity that it was getting gratis from the teen—agers,
who stomped around his grave chanting that Johnny wasn't

dead.

A prefatory note stated: "This story is not about
any real people, alive or dead." Ross further disguised
incident by projecting the story into the future and using
as his introduction a fictional AP wire storyl7 describing
the invasion of a small New York town by hundreds of "leather
jacketed and blue jeaned teen-agers from at least six States."
After using the main street for drag racing their hot rods and
motorcycles, they speed off to the local cemetery, perform a
blood-letting ritual with "Johnny's knife" over the Preston
grave, beat up the caretaker, and steal Preston‘s body.

What started as pure fiction became less so as the
novel continued. Following, was a transcription of a con-
versation between an AP correspondent and a producer from
Preston‘s studio informing him of this development. The pro-

ducer's statement was:

I know nothing about it. The studio wants no part
of such publicity. . . . This is a real phenomenon, a
very neurotic thing, in my opinion.18

The producer also described Preston's appeal:

438

Maybe it's electricity, maybe chemistry. He had
star quality . . . women, especially, love this boy.
To the young he is obviously a symbol of themselves,
to the rest a reminder of what they had or what they

missed.19

Preston is a fascinating character and doubly so since
he retains so many Dean characteristics—-in dress, in Speech,
in manner, in background: he "asks questions"; he arrives
late on the set and is "bawled out" by his director; he has
"a sense that, well, he wasn't long for this world"; "some
don't like the school of acting he comes from"; he is raised
by foster parents; he starts with motorcycles and moves on to
racing cars; he is an amateur artist; he competes with Marlon
Brando; he is encouraged by a teacher, whom he rewards with a
watercolor sketch; he dates foreign actresses; he is short
of stature and not the typical Hollywood type; his career
generally follows the Dean pattern; the roles he plays are
much like the roles Dean played; he says, "If I live to be
a thousand, I couldn‘t do half the things I want," he once
portrays a fox hunt from the point of View of the fox; he
works out with a real juvenile gang to prepare himself for a
role; after his death in an accident, his portrait bust is
placed in the Hall of Fame and he is voted a box office
favorite; he is nominated for a posthumous Academy Award.
In short, there is so much of Dean in Johnny Preston, the
only problem facing the reader is at what point can one
divide the fictional Johnny Preston from the "real" James

Dean.

439

As Whitney Bolton in reviewing the book for the

New York World-Telegram‘?O said:

And if it is not about James Dean, or at least didn't
find its inspiration in the life and death of James Dean,
I don't know a hawk from a handsaw. But Mr. Ross has
written out the few words of denial, all by themselves on
a whole white page, and who am I to say, Oh, come on

now. . . .
Whitney Bolton said that he knew "that one distress—

ing thing that Preston does in the book was done by Dean

while on location." He was one of the few who knew, he said,

because those involved told him. He added:

by Mr. Ross that he had Dean in

No amount of denial
It could not be just

mind could erase my conviction.
coincidence.

Mr. Bolton did not elaborate, but the incident he referred
to was probably the time when, while rehearsing with his

feminine co-star, Preston "opens his pants and pees right on

the ground."21

The book was, as Bolton noted, "not precisely for

those of delicate and easily shocked mind," yet he stated

"if you were patient and used your skills as a reporter,

that
and some of

you could get close to the truth about Dean,
that truth would be almost exactly the truth attributed to

Preston in the book."22
Mr. Bolton gave no clue as to where that truth would
stop and the fiction would begin.‘ Mr. Ross disclaimed all

responsibility from the beginning. The guessing game of

the who and the what in the Johnny Preston story can only be

carried so far into the Dean history, for contrary to

440

Mr. Bolton's claims, beyond hearsay, the truth of the matter

is not so easily arrived at, and the difficulty of reaching

that truth is inherent in the nature of the material.
Preston was depicted in Rossfisnovel as a talented

male whore, who "held himself so cheap that he could let his

body shill for his career.“‘23 To advance his career when

he heard that producer Charles Lucas "needed a sailor for

his yacht,"24 he took advantage of the situation, even though

"25

he was warned that "Lucas eats little boys like you.

Preston said:

There are no accidental discoveries in this business:
you discover yourself and you sell yourself and the
minute you stop sellingr—well, you're better off dead.
You are dead.26 -

Intriguing as the question is of how much the Preston methods

reflect those of Dean, the question must, for the moment,

remain unanswered and unanswerable.

Rossusanalysis of publicity methods used for Preston

are more revealing. In the beginning the plan was
to start building Preston as a new James Dean or Brando
in the columns. He [the public relations man] wanted
us to work up a whole lot of items about how Preston
played the drunk, like Brando, and drove a racing car,
like Dean, and how they both had the same acting style.
And so forth. Then after a while, he wanted to start
a feud. We should start planting items about Preston
calling Brando a has-been, and Preston saying that Brando

was imitating him, and so forth.27

Preston helps himself out, too, by cultivating people on the

Life staff. A friend comments, "I'm not implying that he did
it for the publicity, but let me put it this way: he was not

unaware of the benefits of the Life connection."28 Preston‘s

441

romance with a young foreign movie star is credited with

being "as much as anything . the beginning of the

Preston legend."29

A final section of the book was labeled "Confidential

Files":30

By careful handling and spotting him in certain
kinds of roles, the studios and networks have created a
public image of this boy that is at complete variance
with real self. We have exploited his delinquency, at
the same time made a hero of him, S.O.P.; but when image
we create becomes a cult, and cult glorifies self-
destruction, or general destructiveness and antisocial
attitudes, it is to best interests of juveniles, audience

and studio to destroy or change the image.31

Preston is a good actor. In my opinion that is the
only thing that kept him from being a criminal. He had
every aspect of criminality: the antisocial attitude,
the terrible egocentricity, the moral blind spot, the
death or suicide wish. Fortunately, he was able to fuse
most of these into his acting and to sublimate them in a
socially acceptable form of behavior-—which excused most
of his antisocial behavior--which made him a great deal
of money.

But perhaps while fortunate for him, his acting career
is not good for other juveniles. In some way, the r '
criminality in Preston persists and nourishes the crimi—
nality in others like himself. They know him only as a
glamorous being, a handsome boy who played parts in which
they could see themselves. They look up to him, revere,
imitate, immortalize this sick shadow.3

Rosss analysis of the image and his presentation of

its rise are interesting on several counts. That the title

of the book mirrors the title of a 1956 fan magazine article

about Dean could be pure coincidence. The presentation could

be a fictionalization of carefully studied facts and pub-

licity relating to Dean, propped up with some lucky guesses,

and larded with rumor and "inside" show business gossip.

The jacket did, after all, reveal that Ross was a "public

442

relations executive." What the jacket did not reveal was

that for a time Ross was part of the Warner Brothers'

public relations crews"3 and could well have had dealings

with Dean and/or a knowledge of the facts behind the rise

of the Dean public image.

Initial publicity releases in bookstores‘ advertise—

ments were quite open about the novel being "reminiscent of

the life and death of screen idol James Dean."34

In the May Modern Screen Louella Parsons35 indulged

in a double image-saving service by revealing that a fan

was "shocked" over the report that Marlon Brando dodged a
personal meeting with Dean: "Andy says, ‘what an insult to

the late, great Dean.'" Louella answered:
I think Marlon was as upset about that interview

as you are. He has since said he was speaking off

the record.

There was linkage, too, in the June Photoplay article

George Christy wrote about Dean Stockwell,36 comparing him

to James Dean "in the sense that he is overly shy and sensi—

an unhappy mixed-up sort of person." In a teen age

tive,
magazine for girls, Miss,37 Christy performed the same
function, calling Stockwell "the new Jimmy Dean" and the

actor whom the fans "have been waiting for since Jimmy‘s

tragic death." The latter article quoted Stockwell as

saying:

Jimmy really went right to your heart in his acting.
He had so much to give. He seemed to have such a deep

443

understanding of life and peOple, and he realized this

in his acting.

In another quotation Christy had Stockwell rationalize com—

parisons and give himself a pat on the back:

I usually played kids my own age—-which is 21——or
younger; and because I believe in honest acting, not the
skimmed milk variety where you masquerade the emotions
and never really let go, people began to say I had a

Jimmy Dean quality.
Both articles attributed to Stockwell a nice regard for the

Dean image and the Dean memory, while at the same time

"beefing up” Stockwell's own claims for acting honors. Such

an approach would not discredit Stockwell in the eyes of

Dean‘s admirers.

John Gillet38 in Sight and Sound revealed that
Rebel Without a Cause had been released in Britain only after

five minutes had been cut from the film "by the distributor

or the censor (or a combination of both)." Cuts included part

of an early scene with Dean and the probation officer and the

knife fight.

Report from abroad came, too, in Pierre Emmanuel's

article "Is France Being Americanized?"39 for the American

Atlantig in June. The author found the European interest in

Dean broad enough and important enough for comment:

The James Dean craze that swept so many European
countries did not make French youth hysterical. Young
people were interested because it made them think:
they found in Dean's pictures a spirit of rebellion
which they do not ignore but are stable enough to keep
in check. Excessive romanticism does not appeal to
them. By contrast, it is significant that for Polish
or Hungarian youth James Dean has become a mythical

444

figure of the times (a Yugoslav writer told me that
Russ1an film critics had made the trip to Belgrade
espeCially to see one of Dean's pictures).

The comment about ”excessive romanticism" did not
seem to apply to the popular French film by Marcel Carné,
Igfi Tricheurs, in which Dean is quite openly and often re—
called by the characters as an idol, and the heroine chooses
to "live fast and die young, like James Deanfl'and loses her

life in a sports car crash. The picture was released later

in Britain and America under the title The Cheaters.

From France, too, came "The Case of James Dean" by
Edgar Morin,4O a segment of Morin's study Les Stars, which
had been published in Paris the previous year. The Dean
chapter, in translation, was published in America in
the Evergreen Review, which, with its concentration on the
new Beat writers, had become a sort of Beat Bible. The issue
carrying the Morin article had Dean's portrait on the cover,
a study by Sanford Roth.

Morin approached Dean as an archetypal figure,
patterned after The Hero of Lord Raglan‘l“l or the "monomyth"
of Joseph Campbell,42 encompassing the basic figural

characteristics of the mythological hero in birth, destiny,

labors, love and death.

Morin said that Dean was "a pure hero of adolescence,’

a model and a "typical expression (both average and pure) of

adolescence in general and of American adolescence in

445

particular.“ Dean was of particular importance since "it is
only recently that adolescence has become conscious of
itself as a particular age-class, Opposing itself to other
age—classes and defining its own imaginary range and cultural
models.“ "Heroes bearing the new message of adolescence"

had appeared increasingly and "decisively, in recent years"
in literature and in the cinema.

Dean's physical type was "a physiognomically dominant
type" and "further, the mobility of his expressions admirably
translates the double nature of the adolescent face, still-
hesitating between Childhood's melancholy and the mask of
the adult . . . the ever-changing landscape in which can be
discerned the contradictions, uncertainties, and enthusiasms
of the adolescent soul." Morin noted it was "understandable"
that this face should have become "an insignia [a;a.], that
it is already imitated, especially in its most imitable
features: hair and glance."

In clothes, too, Dean was said to have defined "the
panOply of adolescence," the "ostensible signs . . . of a
resistance against the social conventions of a world of

adults":

James Dean has invented nothing; he has canonized
and codified an ensemble of sumptuary laws which allows
an age—class to assert itself, and this agefclass Will
assert itself even further in imitation of its hero.

Morin saw Dean living a "double life"; both on and

off the screen he expressed the "needs of adolescent

individuality which by asserting itself refuses to accept

446

the norms of the soul-killing and specialized life that lies
ahead." In the French and English titles of one of Dean's

films, La Fureur de Vivre and Rebel Without a Cause, Morin

 

 

saw "two aspects of the same virulent demand, in which a
rebellious fury confronts a life without a cause."

In all his films Dean expressed "the rebellion against
the family," and in Giant "The framework exploded "to include
rebellion against a family exterior to himself, and by ex-
tension . . . [a rebellion against] all social norms":

But in all three of the films appears the common
theme of the woman—sister who must be snatched from some-
one else's possession. In other words, the problem of
sexual love is still enclosed within a sororal-maternal
love, has not broken out of this shell to launch itself

in a universe of pin-ups external to family and age-
class alike.

Balanced with this movie love is the love, "also mythical,
perhaps," Dean was supposed to have felt in life for the
"ingenuous, sister-madonna," Pier Angeli.

For an expression of the contradictions facing the
modern adolescent, Morin bowed to Francois Truffaut who, he
said, "expresses it perfectly":

In James Dean, today's youth discovers itself. Less
for reasons usually advanced: violence, sadism, hysteria,
pessimism, cruelty, and filth, than for others infinitely
more simple and commonplace: modesty of feeling, con-
tinual fantasy life, moral purity without relation to
everyday morality but all the more rigorous, eternal
adolescent love of tests and trials, intoxication, pride,
and regret at feeling oneself 'outside' society, refusal
and desire to become integrated and, finally, acceptance—-
or refusal--of the world as it is.

Morin felt the "essential contradiction is the one that links

the most intense aspirations to a total life with the greatest

447

possibility of death." Morin found this linkage the equivalent
of the “virile initiation“ rites of primitive societies,
usually effected in the more advanced societies by war and
revolution, and, lacking these, "must be sought in individual
risk":

The adult of our middle-class bureaucratized society
is the man who agrees to live only a little in order not
to die a great deal. But the secret of adolescence is
that living means risking death; that the rage to live
means the impossibility of living. James Dean has lived
this contradiction and authenticated it by his death.

These themes of adolescence appeared with "great

clarity" at a period, said Morin, "when adolescence is
particularly reduced to its own resources, when society allows
it no outlets by which it can engage or even recognize its
cause."

Opposed to the "ideological lie" of contemporary

society" which pretends to be "harmonious, happy, and uplift—

ing,‘ Dean, as "model and example," has recovered "the for—

gotten prestige" of the movie stars of an earlier "great
epoch," but, unlike them, is "within reach of mortals"
rather than the ideal of a dream. Dean is "the perfect star:
god, hero, model“:

But this perfection, if it has only been able to ful—
fill itself by means of the star system, derives from
the life and death of the real James Dean and from an
exigence which is his own as well as that of a generation
which sees itself in him, reflected and transfigured in
twin mirrors: the screen and death.

In the same issue John Rechy's first published work,

N43

"Mardi Gras, a story of male hustlers, "queens," and the

448

back—wash of society, followed the lead of Kerouac's "epic"
travels, bringing one through Monterey "and the shadow of

James Dean because of the movie."

With the advancing recognition of the Beat Generation
in America and the Angry Young Men in Britain, it was not
long before a dual anthology appeared to concretize the
respective images they diversely presented. DeSpite the
fact that Dean was not mentioned in The Beat Generation and

phe Anggy Yougngen, embedded into the foundations of the

 

literary movement was the Dean image via the review of the
book by 2222244 When Kenneth Rexroth discussed "Disengagement:
The Art of the Beat Generation"45 in the book, he named two
“ruined Titans" who "deliberately destroyed themselves,"

46 Time makes of them a

Charlie Parker and Dylan Thomas.
triumvirate by adding Dean.
Rexroth's commentary may shed some light on less
obvious and perhaps unintended reasons for Tapa's inclusion
of Dean's name. According to Rexroth,47 for both Thomas and
Parker "against the ruin of the world there is only one
defense" and that was the "agony and terror" of the creative
act. They were both “fluent," with "enchanting utterance"
within their respective areas of creativity, but had
"relatively little content,“ seldom going "very far beyond a
sort of entranced rapture of creativity.". Beyond their
resemblance in theme, attitude, life pattern, Rexroth stated

H48

an "obvious technical resemblance. Neither Parker nor

449

Thomas were "technical innovators." Parker‘s music with
its musical ornamentation of older jazz absorbed into the
"basic structure, of which it then becomes an integral
part . . . the beat shifting continuously . . . so that it
becomes ambiguous enough to allow the pattern to be domi—

nated by the long pulsations of the phrase or strophe" is

equated with the "syntactical effects . . . actually orna—

ments . . . which become the main concerns of Thomas' poetry."
The "uninhibited lyricism" of Parker and Thomas was
considered by Rexroth to be "the one technical development
in the first wave of significant post—war arts."49 He said:
Ornament is confabulation in the interstices of
structure. A poem by Dylan Thomas, a saxophone solo
by Charles Parker, a painting by Jackson Pollock--

these are pure confabulations as ends in themselves.
Confabulation has come to determine structure.SO

Could not Dean and his acting style-—and his life—-
be equated with this "bijouterie" and its "uninhibited
lyricism," its ornament of ambiguities, its sprung rhythms?
Was not a Dean performance part of "the revolt, the re-
jection of classic modernism in the arts?" Rexroth's article
was reprinted from an earlier collection, New World Writipg
£31, published the previous year. The rise of the Dean
image may have been too recent for Rexroth to consider for
inclusion in his study. It may also have been too degagé.

He did not include Dean, but Time did.

Time51 approached "the central Beat character that

unintentionally emerges" from the writing in the collection

 

450

as "a model psychopath.“ The writing, said Elma, helped

to "illuminate such post war phenomena as the James Dean cult,
the Elvis Presley and rock‘—n-'roll crazes, and the gratuitous
ferocity of juvenile delinquency" in that its philosophy
"treats self as the only reality and cultivates sensations

as the only goal." The Beat is a disengaged "rebel without
a cause" whose rhythm of life is methodically stepped up until
"it becomes the rhythm of madness and destruction":

The future of the Beat Generation can be read in its
past—-the James Deans and Dylan Thomases and Charlie
"Yardbird" Parkers-—and the morbid Speed with which its
romantic heroes become its martyred legends.

On July 4, "The Unlighted Road"52 played the nation's
television screens once more. Later in the month, the world
moved on apace with the AP announcement53 that Natalie Wood
was no longer “the teenager's teenager." The AP article said
that Natalie "got the title when she became the living symbol

of the James Dean cult" in playing the romantic lead in

Rebel Without a Cause. The usual unidentified Warner execu-

 

tive was quoted:

After that picture we found Natalie‘s name on the
marquee sold tickets. She outdrew some of our biggest
stars.

The Hollywood publicity hacks continued on their way

54 of one Joe Gersh who "has

with Louella Parsons' mention
been tested for an important role." Louella said, "They
tell me he‘s the nearest thing to James Dean since James

Dean." And that was the farthest he ever got.

451

A British film fanSS wrote a tribute to the new
Method actors, including Dean, Brando, Newman, Gazzara, and
Franciosa "through whom the screen has finally come of age."
They provided "the climax, the evolution, the finished,
polished result of the past years of spade work by the Tracys
and the Rains, the COOpers and the Laughtons."

The fan may have been using a fresh memory in speak—

ing of Dean. In Britain, as in America, East of Eden and

 

Rebel Without a Cause were still receiving regular showings,
often forming the basis of a double bill and hailed as "film

classics."

Sam Boal, wrote "The Up Beat Generation"56 for the
August, 1958 issue of Raga. Boal noted in defense that "the
current crop of those growing up these days can find only a
few ways to express their feelings of protest." Boal called
the dissenters "rebels without a cause" and added that it
was not "without significance that a movie which examined
some of these kids' problems bore just that title."

The new hard cover magazine Horizon in its inaugural
presentation offered an article by Robert Brustein, "The Cult
of Unthink,"57 about the Beat Generation, its origins and
its heroes. Brustein reiterated his thesis concerning the
origins of the current cult centering around an ideology
where "the intelligence is suspended in favor of intuitions,
feelings, impulses." The cult was personified in the Brando

interpretation of Stanley Kowalski in the then eleven year

452

old Streetcar Named Desire. The shadow of Kowalski, for

 

Brustein, fell across literature, painting, poetry, movies,
popular music, and the city streets. The "new hero" was
"hostile to the mind, petulant toward tradition, and indif—
ferent to order and coherence" and was "concerned chiefly
with indulging his own feelings, glorifying his own impulses,

securing his own 'cool kicks." Since Speech was, in itself,

"an instrument of control,‘ the new hero was basically
inarticulate: “His most characteristic sound is a stammer

or a saxophone wail; his most characteristic symbol, a blotch
and a glob of paint." The new hero, though "outwardly
individualistic and antisocial," was "inwardly conformist,"
traveling in "packs," adhering to the "ethics of the coterie,"
establishing "group heroes like the late movie star James
Dean." Brustein noted that "the conformity of the memorial
cult that developed after the death of James Dean had no
program except 'togetherness.'" The total reverence for life
claimed by the Beats was, to Brustein, a "disguised disgust"
and boredom with life. Brustein claimed, in fact, that the
Beats celebrated "the attractiveness of death" as a new and
final "kick." Identification with dispossessed minorities,
another form of the Beat hipster's “escape from the self,"
was called an effort "to adopt a ready—made motivation for
his rebellion.“ Brustein also found the new writing per—
sistently "anti-intellectual,“ with its "hallmark" an

"indiscriminate accumulation of details."

453

A picture of James Dean was one of the illustrations
for the article, and the accompanying caption declared that
Dean “became a teenage idol through his projection of

inarticulate youth in Rebel Without a Cause." The picture, a

 

still from that film, showed Dean with Natalie Wood, and the
caption added "typically, the hero is submissive only with
his girl friend." Though the copy called Dean only a Brando
"imitator," a basis for imitation was declared in the
favored acting technique:

The famous Method of the Russian director Stanislavsky,
as presented in this country, exalts the actor's person—
ality over the written word. That is, the actor imposes
his experience on the part rather than—-like, say, Sir
Laurence Olivier—-subordinates himself to it. The person-
ality of many Method actors, however, rather than being
an individual expression, is often a parody of Brando's
playing of Stanley Kowalski. The result of this imitation
is a culture hero with easily distinguishable traits.
Important among them is that he is usually a delinquent of
some kind and that——for all the dependence of his media on
language--he cannot talk. ‘

With an imposed lack of verbal expression, the hero's
popular means of expression is through rcoolness," rejecting
communication with the outside world, and through violence--
both of which expose his antisocial nature. Brustein recog-
nized that in films the juvenile-like delinquency of the new
hero may be converted, finally, to righteousness “for the sake
of appearance," but it is his violence and his delinquency
that are exploited by the film makers. In noting that "the
inarticulate hero never makes the lonely step to maturity,“

Brustein cited Dean's role in Giant where maturity meant only

"some powder added to his hair."

454

Brustein called the modern rebel a "rebel without a
cause" since his rebellion seems so unmotivated; the modern
rebellion "no longer has any political or social relevance,"
and it is obscured by the evident inability of its adherents
to define their own values or even those values of the
authority they reject. Brustein deplored the popular interest
in such muddled thinking and expression noting that "a declar-
ation of rebellion in America today carries with it not

obscurity and poverty, but immediate attention and adulation."

For Dean, there were evidently still faithful fans
ready to give adulation. Their number was not limited to
America. Hedda HOpper58 told of one, a Japanese writer,
Kazuko Komori, who was to arrive in America shortly to "visit
the grave of James Dean and see his grandparents in Indiana.“
Hopper quoted a letter from Kazuko:

Jimmy had thousands of fans in Japan, and one of
them who lives in Hokkaido sent me a check for $280 to
help me with this visit. Some sent flower seeds and
memorial things. And one a St. ChristOpher medal to
wish me a safe journey.

Hopper noted that when she talked earlier to Kazuko about
Dean "she cried as though her heart would break.“

But no fan could match the dedication of Douglas
Goodall, a British truck driver who was "convinced”" he was
another James Dean. A photo-essay on Goodall was featured

in an American magazine59 published about this time. Who

can say what combination of mental aberration and desire for

455

publicity could give impetus to such a manifestation. but
Douglas Goodall's was not a unique case. Goodall was prob—
ably the same James Dean II reported at the British Dean fan
club meeting; he allegedly had his name changed legally to
James Byron Dean and copied "his idol's mannerisms, clothes,

and interests,‘ collecting books, magazines, and photos to
enable him to better reproduce facial expressions, carriage,
etc. The photo coverage of Goodall's emulation was more than
a little sad. The proliferation of fan magazine material,
much of it not American, surrounding Goodall in one of the
pictures testifies to the extensive coverage of Dean abroad.
The pictures of the aging double (he claimed to be in his
thirties, though he looked older) almost coquettishly aping

the mannerisms of his more youthful but possibly less dead

idol show at least one result of the coverage.

Movie columnist Joe Hyams branched out in his writing

to present "The Good-by [sic.] to the Beatnicks!" in This Week

 

for September 28, 1958.60 Hyams' Hollywood interests were

not completely overlooked, however, since the article revealed
Hollywood's plans to cover in films the Beat phenomenon.
Asserting Hollywood's claim to Beat-dom, Hyams declared that
“members of the Beat Generation . . . idolize James Dean,

the late movie star who was killed at 24 while Speeding in
California."

Movie Life for October celebrated the anniversary of

 

Dean's death with several pages of pictures: "James Dean:

456

Three Years of Sorrow-—Never Forgotten—-Never Replaced."61
The six “never—before published pictures" promised were
stills taken from the telvision performance the previous

July of "The Unlighted Road." Summing up the current state
of Dean affectivity, the brief article read: "No more tears--
only bittersweet memories for faithful fans who keep Jimmy

in their hearts." Celebration of memory was evoked, too,

by the Movie Stars Parade October presentation "Six Unsolved

 

Mysteries of Jimmy Dean's Death,"62

which was basically a
repetition of the most popular stories "so persistently
rumored" since Dean's death, notably the rumor that has
Dean "so disfigured in mind and body" that he is “hidden
from the eyes of the world." A less obvious play on fans'
memories occurred when the Dean image was used in an illus—
tration for a short story in the October issue of Today.63
The story, "The Threat," though based on the theme of obli—
gation and responsibility, had no direct relationship to
Dean. The simple ink sketch, with no identification of the
subject or the artist-—just the well known face and the
equally well known brooding expression, peering at an angle—-
had an effect not unlike that of meeting the name as a
literary or poetic image.

John Dos Passos made such a use of the Dean image in
his article "The Death of James Dean,"64 which was featured
in the Silver Anniversary issue of Esquire. Dos Passos'

approach to Dean was as symbolic of what the writer saw as a

larger political and social evil, "the sinister adolescents,

457

class of '58, as seen through the newsreel style of the
author of U.S.A." He saw Dean, "three years dead," still
reflected in the "boys in jack boots and the leather jacket,

the boys in the skin tight jeans,‘ lined up in the rest
rooms after a Dean movie to comb their hair, the boys who

make big eyes at their eyes in the mirror,

pout their lips in a sneer,

the lost cats in love with themselves,

just like James Dean.
And Dean was reflected, too, in the girls——“dizzy with wanting
to run their fingers through his hair, to feel that thwarted
maleness; girl-boy almost, but he needs a shave. . . ." And
there were the "older women" who struggled from their seats,
wet-eyed with wanting "to cuddle, to mother (it's lack of
mother love makes delinquents), to smother with little atten—
tions the poor orphan youngster, the motherless, brotherless,
sisterless, lone-wolf brat strayed from the pack, the poor
mixed up kid."

Dos Passos noted that what we knew of Dean we knew
through press agents and movie magazines, and "the teenagers
approve: Everything he said was cool." Dean was a product
of a modern society with little or no responsibilities for
its young, a society which offered plenty of commercial
titillation "for kicks" instead. "Kicks are big business”
for adults as well as kids, said Dos Passos——and the kids
had a right to be resentful:

Their fathers won a war, but weren't men enough to

keep the peace; they let the pundits and the politicians

wheedle them into defeat; they let the goons pilfer their
pay checks, too busy watching TV to resent oppression.

458

Dos Passos launched into a full biography of Dean,
interspersed with news headlines and news items of teenage
crimes, his "newsreel." The biography was larded with Dean
quotations which Dos Passos described as being derived from

. . . a lingo
out of tearoom talk about be—bop and Bach
and stale shards of Freud,
existentialism,
and scraps out of translations of Jean Genet
sold under the counter:

"Our Lady of the Flowers"

include me out: self expression.

Dean was described as "demonic, but lovable under it all"
and commercial, because the "sinister adolescent" was "box
office." In Hollywood "he goes on playing the part he plays
on the screen." Then he was "dead at twenty-four." Dos
Passos recounted the various commercial enterprises which
appeared after Dean's death. He told the rumors, also—-which
the fans accepted, at first:

They found it hard to believe that James Dean was
dead. There he was right on the screen when they saw
his old pictures. The promotors had been struggling
hard to blow up the story that millions wouldn't believe
he was dead, but when they released a picture on his
life nobody went to see it. When a man's dead, he's
dead. His competitor, Elvis Presley, continues the
rage, bumping his guitar with his rump.

until his draft board one day
drafted him into the Army.

U. S. CAN HIT MOON IN '58 OFFICER SAYS

The sinister adolescents come to various
ends: sometimes they grow up.

On the fan magazine scene Jim Hoffman contributed

"Can Dean Stockwell Shake Off the Jimmy Dean Jinx?"65 to the

459

November PhotOplay, Besides the oft—repeated general compar—

 

isons (denied, as usual), the article capitalized on Stockwell's
recent automobile accident in his Sports car. The white
lettering of the copy and title on a black background further
set off the biggest picture on the page, a photo taken shortly
after James Dean's accident, in probably its first major
publication. A superimposed white arrow pointed to what seemed

to be Dean's head on the ground next to the mangled Porsche.

A symposium sponsored by Brandeis University at the
Hunter College Playhouse concerned the topic "Is There a Beat

Generation?" Presented on November 6, 1958, the event was

6

covered in The Village Voice.6 Jack Kerouac was quoted as

saying then:

What is called the beat generation is really a revo—
lution in manners . . . being a swinging group of new
American boys intent on life. James Dean was not the

; first to express this. Before him there was Bogart
L and the private eyes.

Kerouac's remarks were countered by those of another partici—

pant, Ashley Montague:

James Dean symbolized the beat generation. His
death was consistent with the beat generation phiIOSOphy--
life is like Russian Roulette. Their only conformity is
non-conformity. The beats give personal testimony to
the breakdown of Western values.

Herbert G. Luft‘s article "George Stevens” in

Films in Review in November, 195857 noted that Stevens had

 

actually Spent three years working on Giant and that the

performance of James Dean "as the young ranch hand was

460

believable but left something to be desired as the middle-
aged millionaire of the late part of the film." If it
seemed that Time had finally allowed the fresh breeze of
objectivity to blow away the extravagant claims of earlier
publication-—that depended on who was doing the blowing,
and where. Hedda Hopper wrote on the "Changing Styles of

68 Her survey started

Hollywood Love" for Motion Picture.
with silent films and worked up to include James Dean and

Natalie Wood "as inarticulate teenagers of Rebel Without a
Cause [who] summed up young peOple's problems of misunder—
stood love." Hopper declared it to be "a tentative sort of

teenage love with almost no passion,‘ and went on:

But Jimmy was one of the most passionate fellows I
ever knew. He tried hard to conceal it, but no man was
ever more tender or understanding. He seemed ashamed
to display passion both on and off the screen. We'll
never see his like again. He had everything, as did
Jack Barrymore.

That the Dean name still retained at least a "human
interest“ appeal might be noted in the Associated Press re-
lease from Hollywood on November 20, 195869 which linked
Dean to Tom Pittman, a young and unknown actor who was killed
in an automobile crash. Through linkage with Dean, Pittman
gained more fame in death than he ever received in life; his
death received nationwide coverage through the wire services.
The release said that Pittman, "like Dean, . . . loved
speed,” and noted that he, "like . . . Dean, was considered

one of Hollywood‘s most promising young actors," adding that

“like Dean, he was moody, a habitue of coffee houses."

461

From abroad in Charles Bitsch's "Entretien avec

N. Ray"7o in Cashiers du Cinéma director Nicholas Ray spoke

 

of using improvisational techniques during the shooting of

Rebel Without a Cause: "La scene entiere ou Jimmy rentre

 

chez ses parents apres la catastrophe fut improvisée un soir
chez moi. Le planetarium, les gosses en auto, beaucoup
d'autres scenes ont été égalemant improvisées."

Further detail concerning the shooting of Rebel was
revealed in the autobiography of Jim Backus, the actor-
comedian who played Dean's father in that film. Backus'

book, Rocks on the Roof, had an entire chapter devoted to

 

Dean.‘l

Backus spoke first of the volume of personal mail
he received concerning Dean, and the "literally roomfuls and
roomfuls" of mail received at the studio. Backus cited the
international appeal of Dean, noting eSpecially how "very
Dean conscious" France was. According to Backus, the Dean
worship was "the current topic of conversation in Hollywood,"
and he added that "next year, the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences intends to give him a posthumous Oscar."
Though others were described as explaining the Dean phenomenon
as the result of "utter self-identification, a rejection of
the father image, and the projection of a bewildered gen-
eration seeking a symbol," Backus chose to think of the

Dean worship as the result of Dean's "great talent." Backus

described his first meeting with Dean on Thanksgiving, 1954

at Keenan Wynn's home. Backus "felt sorry for this strange

462

kid because he seemed ill at ease." Four months later Backus
was signed as the father in Rebel Without a Cause:

Before we started the actual shooting of Rebel With—
out a Cause, Nick Ray got Jimmy and me together and we
spent a lot of time discussing the relationships between
the father and son and analyzed the motivation of each
scene, rather than simply going over the dialogue. We
studied the entire script in continuity instead of the
usual movie practice of learning isolated scenes as they
come up in the shooting schedule. The picture was shot
that way too . . . from beginning to the end, in sequence
whenever it was economically possible.

Jimmy Dean worked very closely with Nick. May I say
that this is the first time in the history of motion
pictures that a twenty year old boy, with only one movie
to his credit, was practically the co-director.

 

Backus stated that it was Dean who insisted on utter
realism, so "the knives were the real McCoy . . . doubles
were never used." Dean was said to have "had the greatest
power of concentration I have ever encountered. He prepared
himself so well in advance for any scene he was playing that
his lines were not simply something he had memorized--they
were actually a very real part of him." Backus described
Dean's preparation: "Before the take of any scene, he would
go off by himself for five or ten minutes and think about
what he had to do, to the exclusion of everything else. He
returned when he felt he was enough in character to shoot the
scene." Backus said that on those occasions when Dean had to
go into a scene "cold” that he would "key himself up” by
vigorously jumping up and down, shadow boxing, or climbing
up and down a fifty foot ladder that ran up to the top of
the sound stage. For the difficult and violent scene in the

police station Backus related that Dean kept the entire cast

463

and crew waiting for "one whole hour":

Jimmy spent the hour preparing for his scene, sitting
in his darkened dressing room with a record player blast-
ing out the Ride of the Valkyrie [aap.] and drinking a
quart of cheap red wine. When he felt ready, he stormed
out, strode Onto the set, did the scene, which was prac-
tically a seven minute monologue, in one take, so
brilliantly that even the hard boiled crew cheered and
applauded. He played that scene so intensely that he
broke two small bones in his hand when he beat on the
desk, which he practically demolished.

Because of Dean's "tremendous intensity" people got

the impression he was "rude, ill-tempered and surly,’ Backus
said, though he, himself, found Dean "very shy, although
essentially a very warm person." Because he felt he knew
Dean, and because Dean "had the greatest control over his

body of any actor I have ever known,’ in scenes of violence,
Backus said, "I had to remain completely passive and put my
trust in Jimmy. If I, for any reason, got tense, we both
could have been severely injured or even possibly killed."
In closing the chapter, Backus noted that the "real
ambition" of the "vital" and "talented” young actor was to
become a "baggy pants comedian" and that, at the time of his
death, Dean was "quietly working on a night club act." With
Dean's death, Backus stated, "the entertainment world has

lost the greatest young actor of our time, and I have lost a

friend."

There was concentration on Rebel Without a Cause on

 

 

other fronts, too. Harrison Salisbury's study The Shook-Up

Generation saw the source of adolescent rebellion "within the

 

464

social situation itself" but added that he subscribed to the
belief held by "educators" who "feel that movies like

Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without a Cause and a host of

 

cheap imitations have played a role in establishing stereo—
types of adolescent behavior."72 But by this time Rebel

Rithout a Cause had already been released from the limited

 

bondage of film presentation. A three act play adaptation
by James Fuller73 was published by The Dramatic Publishing
Company and was snapped up by little theatre and youth
groups for public presentation, often with local publicity
centering around the motion picture and the Dean name.

A news release74 for the production by the Deborah Boys'
Club in Chicago identified their presentation as "this very
well known story which so aptly portrays the feelings of
todays Iaig,] young people . . . the same story which brought
national recognition and a state of hero worship to the late

James Dean."

Dean's name had also become firmly entrenched in
the Beat movement. Willard Goodman's "Ballin' Through
Endsville"7S in the November Raga included Parker, Dean
and Thomas as "three people who are the greatest" in Beat
circles. Norman Podhoretz's "Where is the Beat Generation
Going?"76 in the Christmas issue of Esquire blamed not only
the San Francisco "renaissance" but hipsterism in general,
as well as juvenile delinquency and youthful drug addiction,

on the moral "spinelessness of contemporary American middle

465

class culture . . . it has grown defensive and timid about
its (liberal and enlightened) values and has therefore
proved unable to assert its authority over the young."
Podhoretz recognized the "new culture hero" of Brustein, and
deplored the situation. He especially deplored the "image
of masculinity and sensitivity" expressed by Marlon Brando
and by "James Dean, whose inability to speak is taken as a
mark of spiritual superiority" by the Beat followers.

Edmund Fuller's more lengthy assessment of Man in

Modern Fiction rejected Beatness and hipsterism as "the great

 

ll 77

American goof—off, as a source of pride. Fuller rejected

also Norman Mailer's thesis about being "doomed, willy-nilly,

to conform if one is to succeed,‘ citing the large sales of
Kerouac's first novel and the "enormous successes" of "such
hipster prophets and saints as the late James Dean and the
early Elvis Presley." Fuller commented that "hipsterism
appears rather to be a short path to fabulous overnight

”78 Fuller rejected also a claimed

success, fame and fortune.
near universality of Beat appeal and instead spoke of a
"beat pap within a generation," "a minority phenomenon—-
no less meaningful, ominous and dangerous for all that."79
Fuller deplored the uni-dimensional and deformed wonder of
the Beat's goal of total sensation, their living "in the
present exclusively (characteristically, he may insist that
the dead James Dean is still alive)":
,Though I reject the sweeping assertion of necessity
or inevitability of this phenomenon, I agree that there

are elements in our culture that contribute to and nur—
ture it and that these urgently need study and cure.

466

Though I reject the assumption of near universality of
these patterns among a generation, I agree with alarm
that the influence or taint from the concentrated center
of the hipster world reaches out through mass media and -
personalities to touch a dangerous number of adolescents.8“

Kenneth AllSOp‘s literary study The Angry Decade:

 

A Survey_of the Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen-fifties81
concentrated on the manifestations of revolt in Britain, but
many of Allsop‘s observations would seem equally true for
America. Allsop included the Actors Studio, Marlon Brando

and James Dean as among the "social phenomena of the Fifties,"82
and the protest of our Beat Generation could be equated with
the anger of Britain‘s "angry young men"——which Allsop de-
fined as "a sort of neurological masturbation," a "textbook
psychotic situation" when "the emotional deadlock in a person
is caused by the general conviction that certain major man-
made problems that man is facing are beyond the capacity of
"as

man to solve.

Allsop told of Michael Hastings' play Don't Destronge

 

which was dedicated to James Dean and received performance

4 Allsop said that Hastings'

in August of 1956 in London.8
talent was widely bruited about and projected ”at just about
the same time as Tommy Steele and other golden calves of the
rock and skiffle underworld, when James Dean had just killed
himself in his Porsche and was busily being converted into
a legend by the studio publicity boys, and the crazy, mixed

up kid cult was at its vibrant pinnacle." Hastings‘ writing

was called typical of the writings which "bottle up the

467

spirit of frustrated, glum adolescence, exactly the lowering
leather—jacketed look which Dean raised from the sulks into

an art form. . . ." Its popularity and acceptance were
ascribed to the fact that "in a full employment economy with

a vast, monied juvenile market, youth is cultivated, flattered,
and pampered and bestowed with a glamor it has never pre—
viously had."

Allsop quoted Colin Wilson as declaring that the
basic human craving for a sense of purpose reasserted itself
as a desire to recreate the heroic.85 Wilson felt his
"Outsider" was accepted by the public as "a catchword, a
symbol, such as James Dean has provided in the Fifties, or
Rudolph Valentino in the Twenties":

Yesterday I bought a magazine on James Dean and
meditated on this peculiarity of our age . . . the
hysteria and success worship which has made me so
successful, as it made Dean. . . . Interesting this

Dean worship. I've always wanted to be worshipped.
But I‘m not willing to pay the price of death. 6

Wilson was not essentially a novelist, but in fiction,

too, Allsop noted a Dean influence:

A drab sort of personality cultism has become
fashionable in the Fifties and, while apologising for
bringing the name up again, it is depressing to see how
the half—baked symbolism of that broody bravo James
Dean has soaked through into the serious side of the new
literature--the same suppurating exhaustion of a
spiritual deadbeat on the road to nowhere. Of course,
that is the vital problem of our present civilization.87

The classic literary struggle of the previous generations
between the artist and the bourgeoisie had degenerated now,

Allsop felt, to "the struggle between the psychopath and the

brainwashed."

468

Malcolm Boyd in Christ and Celebrity_Gods: The
Church and Mass Culture88 duly covered the Dean worship from
the point of view of modern Protestant church doctrine and
practice, looking upon such phenomena as a challenge to
Christian leadership. He cited Dean as a star who "scored
an outstanding success in his first film," whose renown was
"one of growing legend," and quoted a Newsweek (June 18, 1956)

description of Dean:

Dean was not a happy young man. He was spiritually
lonely and tumultuous, a somber—eyed young romantic who
seemed to be fighting something all by himself. What—
ever it was about him that attracted young movie—goers,
they evidently saw something of themselves in him,
thought of him as 'one of us,‘ and have now made him an

idol after death.89

Boyd said that the relationship between a mass idol
and his followers can be "strong, almost religious" in nature,
"because it is linked strongly with the audience's desire and
need to identify": "This certainly has been the case of the
great film personalities: Chaplin as The Tramp, . . . Garbo
the Mysterious, . . . Dietrich Who is Glamor, Sinatra Who
Needs Love, Brando the Unpredictable, Dean the Rebel."90
Boyd noted that for this reason "little attempt is made to
portray celebrities as 'nice' people: their mistakes, their
tragedies, are whoppers and are portrayed thus."91 Dean
was pointed out as an individual figure who, "in our age
demanding conformity, pursued individuality even to the point
of self destruction, yet who was not rejected by society but

rather lionized by it."92 Boyd added a touch of the mysterious

469

by identifying the star personality as generally represent-
ing "a strange combination of mystery, talent and an unknown
'X‘ factor which may be the result of genes, drives, re-

pressions, frustrations, setbacks and determination." Boyd

added:

The personality which is described, publicized and
made into a legend by the mass media may, ironically,
never exist. Such a personality is, in addition to
everything else, created by the mass media (this being
prior, of course, to the metamorphosis into legend).93

Though the problem of the creation of such a personality is
a problem for the publicists and a problem for the stars,
whose existence has become schizophrenic, for Boyd the
problematic aspects of the situation did not end there:

The problem is a real one, too, for the observer—-
the fan, the autograph hound, the idolator who is in love
with an illusory and synthetic 'being.‘ This relationship
of love is intricate. It is based upon a mass media act
of 'creation,‘ but also upon the idolator's own psycho-
logical needs and pattern of identification with the
personality who does not really exist.94

Among some films Boyd selected for critical appraisal

was Giant. In his analysis of Giant Boyd said that Dean

scored a posthumous ”critical and box office triumph":

It is ironical that the Dean legend, even the Dean
cult, ensured box office success for this off-beat
artistic film which might otherwise have failed to earn
back its considerable investment. Dean offered in this
film one of the outstanding screen performances of the
year. Consequently, the film had both mass appeal and
appeal for an elite, for sharply differing reasons.95

Boyd's analysis of Dean's screen character echoed the

generously religious nature of the generality of his content:

470

The film Giant quite obviously deals with the gulf
that lies between material success and success in terms
of personal growth and development. Mr. Dean portrays a
frightened, lonely, rejected youth who longs for a great
fortune. He believes that if he will assert himself and
make his detractors eat their words, he will have security.
Mr. Dean makes his fortune but becomes a drunken bum. .
A drunken scene of excessive vulgarity in which we see
the moral collapse of the strikingly powerful character
that Dean plays offers us the film‘s implicit moral
message. Unmistakably, the message is simply that secur—
ity means more than money, bought friendships and unassail-
able status-position. Security is not earned, but (in God's
grace) is a freely offered gift. . . . We are called upon
to love the rebels who strongly identify with the personifi—
cation of the unlovable offered us by Mr. Dean, yet never
forgetting for a moment that we, too, in our own way,
are unlovable and that God alone transcends all such man-
made labels as lovable and unlovable.96

Moved by the ambiguity of the role and of the per—

formance, Boyd sought a hero in Giant and found, instead, an

anti-hero. To Boyd Giant was the story of Jett Rink. But

within the context of his frame of reference there is a certain

validity in his findings. Boyd found in Dean the fascination

Milton found in Satan, and, after all, wasn't Adam the first

anti-hero? Boyd said:

Millions of young persons, identifying Mr. Dean's
rebellion with what they honestly call their own feelings,
were somehow experiencing someiof the unsteadiness, the
loneliness, the devil-may-care slothfulness, which Mr.
Dean portrayed on the screen. Society must be concerned
with this davelopment. Even more so, must the Church be

concerned.9'

With all of the Dean films released, material on

Dean in 1958 tended toward being literary and sociological

commentaries on the influence of the Dean image. Such

analysis was to continue in the years to come as the experts

471

and the better known writers continued their examination of

the Dean phenomenon as a social influence or as a social

reaction. Their continued scrutiny served to further embed

the Dean figure in the general consciousness by widening the

audience. What started out as an item or two in the motion

picture fan magazine gossip columns, aimed primarily at the

adolescent mind, was now struggling to embrace writings

covering virtually every aspect of literary and social activity.

The fan magazine items would continue, of course. Dean was

not only a social force, he was a merchandizing commodity.

The name was probably no longer popular enough, in and of

itself, to sell magazines, but as an easily recognizable image,

it made a convenient hook upon which to hang other personalities.

CHAPTER VI--NOTES

1. Kenneth Anger, "La Dieu aux Enfer," Cahiers du Cinema,
Vol. XIII, No. 79 (January, 1958), p. 28.
David Browne, "James Dean Knew He Had a Date with Death!“
Confidential, Vol. V, No. 6 (January, 1958), pp. 12ff.
David Robinson, Review of The James Dean Story, Plays and
Players, Vol. V, No. 6 (February, 1958), p. 93.
John McDermott, "Teen—Ager Becomes a Mass Killer.
Life, February 10, 1958, pp. 20ff.
5. "Even with the World," Time, February 10, 1958, p. 21.
6 John Clellon Holmes, "The Philosophy of the Beat Generation,"
Esguire, Vol. XLIV, No. 2 (February, 1958), pp. 35-38.
7. Herbert Gold, "The Beat Mystique," Playboy, Vol. V, No. 2
(February, 1958), pp. 20ff.
8. Robert Brustein, "America's New Culture Hero,"
Commentary, Vol. XXV, No. 2 (February, 1958), pp.
123ff.
9. Jack Kerouac, "Aftermath: The Philosophy of the Beat
Generation," Esguire, Vol. XLIX, No. 3 (March, 1958),

 

 

CNN

Why?"

I}:

 

pp. 24—26.
10. "Tony Perkins: Shooting Star," Newsweek, March 3, 1958,
pp. 47ff.

11. Eleanore Harris, "Rock Hudson: Why He Is No. 1," Look,

March 18, 1958, pp. 47ff.
12. "Family Theatre"- ”Hill Number One" (Chicago TV, April

6. 1958). '
13. Louis Marcorelles, "French Cinema: Old and New,”_§ight
and Sound, Vol. XXVII, No. 4 (Spring, 1958). pp.

190ff.
14. "Is His Face His Fortune?" Movie Fan, Vol. II, No. 2

(April, 1958), p. 37.

15. Philip Whalen, "10:X:57, Forty—five Years Since the Fall
of the Ch'ing Dynasty," Chicagg_Review, Vol. XII,
No. 1 (Spring, 1958), pp. 23-24.

16. Walter Ross, The Immortal (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1958).

17. Ibid., pp. 1ff.

18. Ibid., p. 6.

19. Ibid., p. 8.
20. Whitney Bolton, Review of The Immortal by Walter Ross,

New York World—Telegram and Sun, dated April 1, 1958.‘
Drama Collection, New York City Public Library.

21. Ross, loc. cit., p. 13. See also William Bast, James Dean:
A Biography (New York: Ballentine Books, 1956).

hardcover edition, p. 125.

 

 

472

473

22. Bolton, loc. cit.
23. Ross, loc. Cit. p. 238.
24. Ibid. p. 123.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25. Ibid., p. 224.
26. Ibid., p. 124.
27. Ibid., pp. 50—51.
28. Ibid., p. 53.
29. Ibid., p. 55.
30. Ibid., p. 229.
31. Ibid., p. 234.

 

32. Ibid., pp. 240—241.

33. Interview with Mr. Ted Ashton of Warner Brothers press
relation staff, July 9, 1959.

34. Advertising leaflet, Kroch's and Brentano's "Book Guide,"
Summer, 1958.

35. Louella Parsons, "The Letter Box," Modern Screen, Vol.
LII, No. 4 (May, 1958), p. 18.

36. George Christy, "Exposed," Photoplay, Vol. LIII, No. 6
(June, 1958), pp. 40ff.

37. George Christy, "One Dean on the Subject of Another,“ Miss,
Summer, 1958, pp. 30ff. [Fragment--private collection.]

38. John Gillett, "Cut and Come Again," Sight and Sound, Vol.
XXVII, No. 5 (Summer, 1958). pp. 258ff.

39. Pierre Emmanuel, "Is France Being Americanized?" Atlantic,
Vol. CCI, No. 6 (June, 1958), pp. 35ff.

40. Edgar Morin, "The Case of James Dean," trans. Richard
Howard, Evergreen Review, Vol. II, No. 5 (Summer,
1958), pp. Sff.

41. Lord Raglan, The Heroy_A Study in Tradition, Myth and
Drama (New York: Vintage Books, 19567.

42. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (New York:
Meridian Books, 1956).

43. John Rechy, “Mardi Gras," Evergreen Review (Summer, 1958).
p. 60.

44. "The Disorganization Man," Time, June 9, 1958, pp. 98-102.

45. Kenneth Rexroth, "Disengagement, The Art of the Beat
Generation," The Beat Generation and the Angry Young
Map, ed. Gene Feldman and Max Gartenberg (New York:
Citadel Press, 1958). Quoted from Dell Edition, 1959.

pp. 350-367.

 

 

 

 

 

46. Ibid., pp. 351-352.
47. Ibid., pp. 352f.
48. Ibi ., pp. 353f.
49. Ibid., p. 354.

50. Ibid.

 

51. “The Disorganization Man," Time, June 9, 1958, p. 98-102.

52. ”The Unlighted Road" (Chicago TV, July 4, 1958).

53. "Natalie Wood, Queen of the Warner Lot," Chicago's
American, July 13, 1958, p. 9.

54. Louella Parsons, column item, Chicago's American, July 14,
1958. [Fragment--private collection.]

55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.

61.

62.
63.
64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.
70.

71.

73.

74.
75.

76.

77.

474

"Brando to Cassavetes"--letter, Films and Filming, Vol. IV,
No. 11 (August, 1958), p. 3.

Sam Boal, "The Up Beat Generation," Dude, Vol. II, No. 7
(August, 1958), pp. 30ff.

Robert Brustein, "The Cult of Unthink," Horizon, Vol. I,
No. 1 (September, 1958), pp. 38ff. ——___—_

Hedda Hopper, column item, Chicago Tribune, September 26,
1958, Sec. 3, p. 1.

Fragment-—private collection, possibly gap, September,
1958, pp. 36ff.

Joe Hyams, "The Good-by to the Beatniks," This Week,
September 28, 1958, pp. 4ff.

"James Dean: Three Years of Sorrow-—Never Forgotten--
Never Replaced," Movie Life, Vol. XXI, No. 11
(October, 1958), pp. 48ff.

“Six Unsolved Mysteries of Jimmy Dean's Death," Movie Stars
Parade, Vol. XVIII, No. 11 (October, 1958), pp. 47ff.

Illustration, Today: The Catholic Youth Magazine, Vol.
XIV, No. 1 (October, 1958), p. 36.

John Dos Passos, "The Death of James Dean," Esguire,

Vol. L, No. 4 (October, 1958), pp. 121ff.

Jim Hoffman, "Can Dean Stockwell Shake Off the Jimmy
Dean Jinx," Photoplay, Vol. LIV, No. 5 (November,
1958), pp. 62ff.

Mark D. Schliefer, "The Beat Debated," Reprinted in
The Village Voice Reader ed. Daniel Wolf and Edwin
Fancher (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1963), pp.
238ff.

Herbert G. Luft, "George Stevens," Films in Review,

Vol. IX, No. 9 (November, 1958), pp. 486ff.

Hedda Hopper, “Changing Styles of Hollywood Love,"
Motion Picture, Vol. XLVIII, No. 574 (November,
1958), pp. 42ff.

"Like James Dean, He Loved Speed," Chicago's American,
November 20, 1958, p. 1.

Charles Bitsch, "Entretien avec Nicholas Ray,” Cahiers
du Cinema, Vol. XIII, No; 89 (November, 1958), pp. 6ff.

Jim Backus, Rocks on the Roof (New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons, 1958), pp. 150ff.

Harrison Salisbury, The Shook Up Generation (New York:
Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1958), p. 164.

James Fuller, Rebel Without a Cause, adapted from the.
screenplay by Stewart Stern (Chicago: Drama Publish-
ing Company, 1958).

Undated "news release," private collection.

Willard Goodman, "Ballin' Through Endsville," Raga,

Vol. II, No. 11 (November, 1958), pp. 34f.

Norman Podhoretz, "Where Is the Beat Generation Going,"
Esguire, Vol. L, No. 6 (December, 1958), pp. 147ff.

Edmund Fuller, Man in Modern Fiction (New York: Random

House, 1958), p. 152.

 

 

 

 

 

 

78.
79.
80.
81.

82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.

89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.

Ibid

Ibid.
Ibid.
Kenneth Allsop, The Angry Decade:

 

475

.. p. 156.
. p. 157.
. p. 162.

A Survay of the

Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen Fifties (New York:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

British Book Centre, 1958).

Ibid., pp. 32-33.

Ibid.. pp. 20—21.

Ibid., pp. 132—133.

Ibid., pp. 165—166.

Ibid., p. 169.

Ibid., p. 197.

Malcolm Boyd, Christ and Celebrity Gods (Greenwich,
Connecticut: The Seabury Press, 1958).

Ibid., p. 9.

Ibid., p. 12.

Ibid.

Ibid., pp. 88-89.

Ibid. pp. 13—14.

Ibid. p. 14.

Ibid., p. 88.

Ibid., pp. 89-90.

Ibid., p. 90.

 

CHAPTER VII

1959--ANALYSIS: THE TASTE MAKERS TAKE OVER
WHERE THE IMAGE MAKERS LEAVE OFF

A new Ideal publication geared to the needs and wishes
of the teenage fans also mirrored the fast rising abilities
of the television medium to build and supply its own popular

idols. TV—Movie Men typically presented "Must the Hottest

 

Lovers Be Bachelors?"l presenting "the swoon kinds of the last
fifty years." Fairbanks, Bushman, Valentino, Barrymore,
Gable, and Peck were covered in pictures. A brief illustrated
essay followed which traced the rise of Marlon Brando to the
point where "a blond kid from Indiana . . . stole the master's
crown":

[He was] a soul—searching, emotional little guy

named Jimmy Dean. His sensitive acting was reminiscent
of Brando's, but he had other qualities very much his
own. He was as individual as Brando, but unlike him,

Jimmy was as real as the guy next door. The dream of
being his girl began to seem more plausible than catching
the erratic Brando.
A long photo caption noted Dean's attachment to Pier Angeli
and added that Dean's "sensitive performances had special
appeal to teenagers who saw in him their own frustrations,
hopes and deSperate strivings for order in a chaotic world."
Though at his death "all dreams perished"——"his memory will

live forever." The article went on to discuss Elvis Presley

as the new Valentino and "unquestionably today's king."

476

 

477

The Photoplay Annual for 1959 was concerned only

 

with the current favorites. The best they could manage for
James Dean was to say that Dean Stockwell was "often" tagged

as a Jimmy Dean type.2

3 of criticism

Esguire printed in January a letter‘
for the Dos Passos article from a soldier—fan of Dean's who
called it "the most unflattering and confusing treatise" on
Dean he had ever read. The letter writer pointed out that
there were some Dean fans who were "quite usual . . . with
usual tastes and behavior . . . and with a distinct and fond
memory of the acting and personality of James Dean" He found
Dos Passos' "Kerouac—type wanderings" “nauseating."
ESpecially confusing for him was the "ridiculous ending“ when
Dos Passos brought Elvis Presley "into the picture“ and

"thoroughly" made "a mess of things.“

February's Movie Life carried articles about Natalie

 

Wood, who had found a new love, and about Nick Adams, who
hadn't; both had previously been rich sources for Dean
material. This time they were going it alone. There was,
however, wide coverage of Dean's successor, Elvis Presley,
as he left for his army hitch, and waiting in the wings for
the throne, coverage of the essentially non—movie personalities
Dick Clark, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, and Rickie Nelson.

The recent break—up of the Pier Angeli-Vic Damone
marriage prompted the publication of "The Ghost Who Wrecked

"4

Pier Angeli's Marriage in the February Motion Picture.

 

478

The ghost provided "the strangest love triangle Hollywood
has ever known." To disallow any misconception as to whose
ghost was being spoken of, the lead illustration was the
Dean photograph used on the cover of the paperback edition of
William Bast's biography, and overpage a superimposition of
Dennis Stock's Ra§a_portrait in the cobweb-filled attic
glared, hovering over the smiling faces of the ex—married
couple. Copy described Dean as ”a golden youth--talented and
doomed" and "in love with death." Pier, too, was given cer-
tain mystic qualities; she "knew Death, not she, would win
Dean . . . long before his fatal accident."

The mystic quality was initiated by an opening
quotation from Death Takes a Holiday and continued in re-
counting Dean's preoccupation with death and death symbols:

"He belonged to another world even as he raced through this

one." Dean's fatal "aura" made him "all the more fascinating
to women'Hu-so fascinating, "that Pier never stopped loving
Dean, even after her marriage, is more than possible.” As

for the story of Dean's presence at the church on the day of
Pier‘s marriage, Dean's "crytic" comment was quoted as "It
could have been.“

Dean's abilities and professional practices also re-

ceived comment:

He defied all the tenets of his craft. No director
could direct him. Nick Ray, completely frustrated in
his efforts to make him follow direction in Rebel With—
out a Cause gave up at last when time and the budget

defeated him. Even George Stevens, a peer [sic.] among
directors, concluded that the undirectable Dean was so

 

 

 

479

brilliant in his own interpretations it was expediant
to let him have his head in Giant.

He broke every rule in the actor's book of sportsman—
ship. He distracted other players with weird noises and
strange antics during their important scenes. He con—
sistently adlibbed his lines and stage directions, thereby
robbing the other actors of their cues and putting them
at a disadvantage.

And the article claimed all this was done because Dean had a
premonition that he "was building no future.” When "his ardent
courting of death” met with success, Dean became “a sort of

vagabond of space, haunting the hearts of troubled teenagers

who look to him as their patron saint."

Robert Brustein wrote "The New Hollywood: Myth and
Anti—Myth" for Film Quarterly, Spring, 1959.5 Brustein‘s
essay contrasted the appeal of the active romantic hero with

that of the passive, "realistic,' anti-hero currently popular.
For adults, said Brustein, the realistic heroes are interest-
ing because of their "distance from everyday life." The un-
paralleled prosperity of the times gave the anti—myth mythic
proportions with "images almost as exotic as Hollywood's old
close-ups of spotless clothes and faultless features." For
the adolescent audience,enxi Brustein recognized in them the
majority of the modern motion picture audience, there was a
quite different sort of appeal:

The appeal of the realistic film is immediate and
direct . . . the heroes of the realistic film are in-
variably involved in conflicts with their parents and
hang on to their girls for dear life. . . . For his
relations with his parents provide the crucial dilemma of

the adolescent's life. It is hardly a coincidence
that actors like Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean and Anthony

480

Perkins--the mainstays of the realistic film-—have
become the central heroes of adolescent culture.

Zola realism, whether aimed directly at adolescents
or not, is admirably suited to mirror the problems of
the young because it offers a youthful rather than a
mature picture of the world. Like the hero of the
realistic film, the adolescent feels himself a victim of
forces beyond his control. Like his hero, he feels
manipulated against his will into situations he does not
desire and traumatized by a world he never made. In
limiting its world to the domestic scene, the realistic
movie provides the adolescent with scenes that he can
recognize. In centering on delinquents, addicts and
escapists, it gives him a perfect expression for his own
feelings of rebellion and isolation.

Brustein felt the popularity of this genre would be
shortlived and "merely another peg on which Hollywood hangs
its commercial hat." The Spate of realistic films were
already lacking in variety and had "now settled into rigid
formulas, no more true to life than the formulas of the

western andaagoodmdeal more restricting to the imagination."

The rise of Negro singing star Harry Belafonte to
popularity was determined, said TV director Don Bedford in
an interview for a Elma cover article,8 by his personality:

Behind him is this hard core of hostility. Like

Brando, Jimmy Dean, Rod Steiger, he's loaded with it.

The quality lends a demon drive to Belafonte's career
and immense conviction to his work.

Not much later, Mike Connolly‘s daily newspaper

column7 announced a new television series for Nick Adams who

would play Johnny Yuma in VThe Rebel.“ Connolly said that
"Nick's character will be based on that of his own personal

acting idol, the late Jimmy Dean. This series will spotlight

Nick as a teenager in The Old West."

481

V. S. Pritchett wrote a combined review of Morin's

"The Case of James Dean" and Robert Lindner's Rebel Without

a Cause for the New Statesman of March 28, 1959.8 The re-

viewer cited the interest in both as indicative of a trend

which stipulated that "adolescence is the thing,“ manifested

also in the literature of Francoise Sagan and in the theater

of West Side Story. Morin's coverage of Dean was called "a

standard adolescent fantasy," but it mirrored the problems

presented in Lindner's Rebel Without a Cause. The social

problems depicted in the Lindner book, the burgeoning urban

centers, vacillating parental figures, help to illuminate,
said Pritchett,

the creation of an idol like Dean. He saw

the problems as not exclusively American, but becoming more‘

and more a world—wide concern.

The Spring issue of Daedalus carried a symposium on

‘Myth and Mythmakipg in which Jerome Bruner commented on the

difficulty of creating a myth and emulating it at the same

time.9 He saw Dean, Kerouac,

the hipsters and the angry
young men as "mythmaking in process," declaring that “even

the attempted myth must be a model for imitating, a prag-

matic drama to be tried on for a fit." These current mythic

manifestations were, however, "packaged" identities, "

terms of the unbaked myth."

in
True myth Bruner characterized as
”the externalization of inner impulse" providing a basis for

a sharing of inner experience in which sharing the myth be-

comes a work of art that "has as its objective to contain and

482

cleanse the terror from the impulse". "The myths that are

the treasure of an instructed community provide the models

and the programs in terms of which the growth of the internal

cast of identities is molded. . . ."10 Bruner felt that our

present lives provided a period of "mythic confusion that

may provide the occasion for a new growth of myth, myth more

suitable for our times."ll

In the same issue Richard M. Dorson12 disclaimed a
direct relationship between the hero of oral folk tradition
(like Paul Bunyan) and the idols of teenage mass adoration

(like Dean, Brando, Presley), though he accepted both types

as mass culture heroes.

April 1, 1959 brought to symbolic life the opening

chapter of The Immortal with the Associated Press announce-

ment13 that the head of the bust of James Dean at the

cemetery at Fairmount, Indiana had been "cut off with a

hacksaw."

European interest in Dean was met by extensive and

intensive local fan magazine coverage, rivaling that seen

in the United States. Sanford Roth, the American photographer,

was credited for the four-part series printed in the German

fan magazine Bravo.l4 Roth's article, "Der Tag an dem

James Dean starb," contributed and commented on "der Mythos“

of the "unvergessen und unvergesslich" Dean.

483

Britain's Fans' Star Library #1615 was an issue de—

voted in its entirety to "The Late James Dean.“ Like

American and Continental publications, the issue included

a sentimentalized biography, liberally Spiced with pictures,

and aneaqually sentimentalized personality assessment:

There was his deep kindness to less fortunate people
than himself. There was his fierce impatience.
was his instant sympathy for anyone in trouble. There
was his hatred of convention. And, finally, there was his
intense hatred of being treated like a star.

There

Later sections concentrated on the "sensation mongers, those

who sold admissions to see the "death car," the "dozen women"

who claimed to have been married to Dean, the neWSpaper

articles which tried to prove "Jimmy had been decadent. un—

natural, perverse," the "suicide threats." Note was also

made of the success of Dean films in Britain and Australia.

A comment added: "It's difficult to judge talented, out-of—

the—ordinary people by our everyday standards. No normal

person could have done what James Dean did flawlessly in so

short a time.“ His memorial was "up there, on the Screen,

and in the hearts of his fans everywhere." Reports of fan

and fan club activities included report of an anniversary

"pilgrimage" to St. Anne's Church, Soho "in Jimmy's honour“

by "a hundred English teenagers."

In America the May issue of Esguire published a series

of letters from Elia Kazan to his collaborators in the pro-
duction of J.,_B,.18 commenting on his conception of the lead—

ing characters of Nickles (the Devil) and Zuss (God).

484

To playwright Archibald Macleish Kazan wrote:

Nickles above all is an intellectual. He has a
strong desire to play the part . . . to Show "them" how
it should be played. In fact he is more of an intel-
lectual than he is an actor; c.f. some Actors Studio
people . . . it is beneath his (Zuss's) dignity to play
or argue with this third rate Jimmy Dean (Nickles).

To designer Lucinda Ballard, Kazan described Nickles as:

The Devil as Beat'
The Devil as Jimmy Dean
The Devil as Angry Young Man

A newspaper "filler" iteml7 quoted TV director Robert

Stevens, who formerly directed the TV "SuSpense“ series: "Dean

seemed to me to be very ambitious and intense, but he didn't

strike me as being a very good actor. That just proves how

wrong I was."

Dean's acting techniques were commented upon, too, by

Sasha Gilier18 in his article on "Acting and the Method" in

the L.A. summer issue. He called Dean "a highly talented

actor" who shared a "magnetic quality“ with Marlon Brando

which made them both idols of their fellow actors. A utili-

zation by other actors of the Brando-Dean mannerisms and

eccentricities "to cover up a lack of talent" was deplored,

as was the whole "Sick and slightly weird" approach of the

Actors Studio, which Gilier called "an enormous psychiatrist's

couch.“

The publicists of Edd Byrnes were busy pumping up his
appeal through TV, through recordings, and through column

"plants." Mike Connolly's column19

made the first comparison

of the "Dean legend with Byrnes' present popularity" and,

485

t20 reckoned

later in the month, a local Chicago columnis
Byrnes‘ fan mail at "more, mind you, than Jimmy Dean got at
the height of his popularity." This particular columnist
added: "Oh, well, I hope the people who feed me these items
are not exaggerating—~at least beyond the call of duty."

Another "filler" item from UPI21 quoted Wendy Sanford
of the CBS production staff,who had worked with Dean on
"Studio One" and "Robert Montgomery Presentsf‘as saying that
Dean's look "of great concentration and emotion" was due to
the fact that “he was nearsighted.” She also said that she
had "the weirdest feeling something was going to happen to
him" because he "was driven."

Mike Connollyaa then announced that Edd Byrnes was to
star in a new film as a character "based on the ex—Warner
contractee, the late James Dean." It could be that the
filler items from the wire services were supplied to keep the
Dean name in the public eye, to run in conjunction with the
Byrnes' popularity notices, as preparation for the casting

announcement and the eventual release of the film.

The pocket edition of Walter Ross's The Immortal

 

received publication in June of 1957.28 The jacket blurbs
called the hero, Johnny Preston, "a combination of James
Dean, Marlon Brando and the Devil." An inside review
quotation said the novel had "the added fascination of re—
creating a character at least similar to the real actor

James Dean." But it was the cover illustration that told

486

the real story. The face of the central character, dis-
torted with emotion, could have been almost anybody, but the
hair, the red, zippered jacket and the blue jeans of the
bongo playing young man left no doubt as to just whom he

was meant to represent.

France seemed to be coming again to the fore during
this period of the Dean cycle. Simone de Beauvoir's article
"Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome" was published in
Esguire.24 De Beauvoir viewed Brigitte as a mergence of the
"green fruit" and "femme fatale" types, creating a new
image, a necessary combination of types most suitable for
the contemporary American male. The distance of the motion
picture screen and the ambiguity of the projected image
made Brigitte a new version of the desirable woman, the
eternal woman:

To dwell in eternity is another way of rejecting

time. She professes great admiration for James Dean.
We find in her in a milder form, certain traits that
attain, in his case.a tragic intensity——the fever of
living, the passion for the absolute, the sense of
the immanence of death. She, too, embodies more
modestly than he, but quite clearly, the credo that
certain young people of our time are opposing to soft
values, vain hopes and irksome constraint.

Edward Lyndoe's "Death, His New Nativity" was

featured with a portrait of Dean on the cover of the Astro—

logical magazine Prediction.25 Lyndoe's article presented

 

an astrological explanation of the "amazing cult" and it also
contained some rather interesting comment, eSpecially concern—

ing a new "contrived tyranny" in the form of “the person who

487

has the ability to amuse, to play up to popular escapism,
and to be (however fictitiously) someone who does glamorous
deeds." Concerning the social conditions which could give
rise to such a figure, Lyndoe noted that our present "time
of disillusionment," with its ”quality of uncertainty about
the futurefl'was "such that only the insouciant could essay
an interpretation":
The social system creaked as delinquency of one
form or another Showed forth. Therefore the figure of
James Dean had appeal. It does not by any means appear
that it was of the same intensity that the dead Dean
possesses, but it had the essential qualities from which
this other could be created.
pa magazine included "A Tribute to Jimmy" in the
September, 1959 issue as an anniversary gesture.26 The offer-
ing was composed mostly of pictures of Dean illustrating,
alternately, “a tender quality" and "his brooding hostility."
The brief c0py added:
The world cannot forget Jimmy. It is as though he

is watching from somewhere in the Great Beyond, defying
the fates that took his life before it had really begun.

Defying them to make him die. . . . As we look at these
pictures of Jimmy now, he seems once more to move among
us.

The copy was an extension of the opening headline which

stated: "The memory of his gifts and his stirring person-

ality lives on."

A report from Paris in the New Yorker27 commented on

 

the Parisian street gangs known as “Les Blousons Noirs,“ who

were "also devotees of the late James Dean.“ The author

488

claimed they blamed their acts of delinquency and violence
on the fact that they were "bored." And at almost the

same time a news report28 from Paris described the beating
of police "in a dozen incidents" by French teens, and added

that "American movies such as Rebel Without a Cause and

 

The Wild One" were being blamed for inspiring the gangs,

 

which were said to be composed of "idle daydreamers . . .
frustrated by the disproportion between . . . desire and
reality."

American Kenneth Anger's November publication in

Paris of Hollywood Babylone29 declared the Dean image to be

 

close to that of a has been. Though previously celebrated
by threatened teenage suicides and general revolts against
authority, the allegiance sworn forever was diminishing, and
already teenagers were searching for new idols, new cults.
All that was really left of Dean worship survived in the
more perverted forms:

Jimmy était aussi pleuré par la Pedale, ui, a cru
reconnaitre un des Siens, et surtout regrette par le
Chapitre Sadomasochiste qui affirmait que Jimmy
n‘obtenait sa jovissance qu‘avec courroies, coups de
cravache et savantes brulures de cigarette: d‘ou son
sobriquet Le Cendrier de Chair.

Sal Mineo said “I Still Remember James Dean" in the

30

November TV—Movie Screen. He was bolstering his own now

 

flagging career as a film star with mention of Dean: "Yes,
the legend of James Dean still stirs memories the world
over at the most fleeting mention of his name. . . . We all

remember-—and revere the memory of—-James Dean." Mineo‘s

489

remarks defended Dean's character against the charges of a
"purple past" by concentrating on his courage and humor,
his confidence, and his individuality. Mineo claimed that
Dean's past "wasn't wild" because ”he had nothing to hide,"
and that if anybody would know about such a thing, he would,
since he and Dean "Spent all of our time together and got
to know each other quite well." Mineo's remarks were pur—
portedly made "to create an accurate image of the idol . . .
to separate fact from fiction."

There was a Dean reflection, too, in the "Alcoa

"31 the story of

Theater" TV presentation of "Small Bouquet,
the unearthing of the secret love life of an idolized young
singer killed in an auto accident on the threshold of his

career. TV reflections of Dean were brought out also in

John Keating's November Cosmppolitan article ”Tempers,

 

"32 which discussed, among others, the

Tantrums and Feuds,
feud that developed between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan over
their respective television memorials to Dean in October,
1956, giving accounts of the charges and counter—charges of
pirating which flew back and forth as the two entertainers
jockeyed for the most favorable position to take advantage of
the greatest example of "mass necrophilia since the demise of
Rudolph Valentino." Their manipulations finally resulted in
the quoted Sullivan statement: "I think a Dean tribute is in
very bad taste. I think there are easier ways to make a buck

than exploiting a dead kid." Sullivan thought of his program

as a tribute to Giant.

490

Hedda Hopper devoted a full column33 to Jim Backus,
perhaps as a help in plugging his autobiography. She noted
Rebel was "still playing in Paris in both English and French,

also in Japan. . .

In this month of November RCA started to play up
strongly the career of young singer Rod Lauren, reportedly
Spending $100,000 to "make him a star,” concentrating on a
Dean linkage. Lauren's first recording was "If I Had a Girl,"

34 to sing it with

and he was reported by columnist Hal Boyle
"the same look of suppressed, Sleepy—eyed excitement that
stirred girlish hearts to thunder over the late James Dean."
Boyle added, "He even looks considerably like Dean.” Dorothy
Kilgallenss reported that Lauren had already "been inter—
viewed by more than a dozen fan magazines, and a national
weekly attached a photographer to record his hour by hour
movements." The following month, during Lauren's personal
appearance on a local Chicago TV Show,36 Lauren was described

from his "fact sheet" as a "moody, young Singer-actor," and

"the greatest thing since James Dean."

And in the December, 1959 Motion Picture Sal Mineo

37 Sal wondered in the article

again related himself to Dean.
"What Sal's Secret Diary Says": ”Why do some fellows like
Rick, Elvis, Jimmy Dean and Brando suddenly hit it so big--

and I keep plodding along?" Mineo was placing himself in

the underdog position and his comment was an appeal for

491

sympathy and understanding, an oft—proven lure for fan
appeal. In Mineo's case, the multiple linkage was a gimmick

to achieve greater fan attention and interest.

A lengthy critical estimation of the Dean appeal by

d.38

Peter Dyer began in Sight and Soun Though this was

 

heralded in its initial appearance as a three part epic en—
titled "Youth and the Cinema," the third part, a promised
professional appraisal by a social-psychologist, never did
appear. Dyer claimed that the Dean image was the first of
those of the public idols that could claim "to be Speaking
for and in the idiom of its own generation." Previous
images of youth, the Dead End Kids, for instance, were ex—
amples of "the breast-beating self-recrimination of the
Depression Years":

Their world was an adult world, their place in it
strictly defined; their idol and the audience's idol, was
not one of their own kind, but the disillusioned older
woman, the gangster, and the fighting priest.

Later manifestations, like Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney,
Jackie Cooper, were called "ignominious diminutives":

And that is exactly what they were: parental fan—
tasy—children, dreamed up by adults to please adults.
There were child stars and there were adult stars; there
was as yet no real sense that the teenager might demand
something separate for both.

Dyer noted that "transiency, poverty, mass communi—

cation and the dissemination of gang mores" reflected "in

adolescent activity - . . the atmOSphere of the adult world"

and were social factors "which led to the inevitable emergence

492

of the teenager as a staple Hollywood character in 1949."

Dyer added that "as a result almost every symptom of post—
war adult tension, from drug addiction to murder, was
reflected eventually in teenage films." The interest pro—
duced a surge of films, many independently produced as small
scale experiments showing the influence of Italian realism.
Dyer said that these films were an important adjunct to and
in some cases a part of "a promising movement of much wider
scope and constructive, temporary regard." But "within a
year the movement was almost dead." Dyer said that "hit by
McCarthyism, Hollywood lost its nerve, retreated for a time
from themes of social awareness." Tentative gropings for a
re-establishment began with the psychological thrillers,
passed through a stage of passionate self—identification, and
ended in caricature. Films were started with good intentions,
ostensibly realistic with valid documentation, often embody—
ing the thesis “that, given certain circumstances, American
adolescents who voluntarily enlist in uniformed gangs or
cliques begin by searching for that authority and stability
lacking in their own environment, and end by violently im—
posing their own authority on society—-in other words in
fascism." But these films were highlighted with violence;
they lapsed into romanticism and contrivance; they "parodied
the teenager with a savagery that bordered on hysteria. And
behind that violence could be sensed an atmOSphere of re—

signed conformity or blind hatred." The concentration in

493

these films "on the fractional aSpect of juvenile delinquency
built on authentic news story adaptations but offering no
positive approach" lent an air of defeatism to the whole
Situation. As Dyer stated: "When defeat is in the air,

the line between 'It can't happen here‘ and 'Let‘s hope it

happens here‘ tends to disappear altogether.
And from all this sprang the legend of James Dean:

A promising career cut short at 24; a powerfully
obsessed film Rebel Without a Cause, whose unhappy and
frustrated hero, unable to find any help from the
adults surrounding him, can only act blindly and often
brutally; a teenage public crying out for an idol in
whom they could identify their own disgust, nervous dis-
satisfaction and inexpressible longings; a battery of
unscrupulous fan magazines; such is the context of
today's legends.

Dyer saw the results of the Dean legend running far and deep:

There is barely a teenage film made over the past
three years which does not reflect in some degree the
Dean legend; just as there is barely a film industry
outside Hollywood which does not have its own James
Dean star. With his death, screen teenagers everywhere
closed their ranks . . . the teenager had become an
inhabitant of a private world, heavily defended against
the community of adults.

Dyer pointed to Hollywood's lack of conscience "over
its part in this" as exhibited in the production record for
1957:

Rock All Night "Some have to dance . . . some have

to kill"
Reform School Girl "Boy hungry wildcats gone mad"

Teenage Delinquents "Jive mad, Speed crazy, thrill
thirsting"
I Was a Teen Age Werewolf

By the end of 1958, "the year that seven Egyptian Dragons

killed a 15—year—old polio cripple, 19-year—old Charles

494

Starkweather shot, stabbed, or clubbed eleven peOple to
death, and two 12—year—old boys held up and murdered a Shop—
keeper, his clerk and a customer," Dyer pointed out that
“films of teenage violence amounted to 25% of the total U. S.
release," which proved for Dyer that "Hollywood had gained
by example a fuller awareness than ever before of the enor-
mous potentiality of the teenage market, but not the
responsibilities concurrent to it."

Dyer believed that Hollywood has helped to crush

the enthusiasms of young people and has often corrupted the
visions of young people. He saw an element of hope if
Hollywood could help to restore a "genuine optimism" and

"a sense of proportion"—-but to Dyer the future looked dark.
The gulf between teenagers and adults was firmly established
and likely to remain so:

There are vested interests on both sides who would
prefer that the gulf remained. It is much easier to
make pictures within the circumscribed limits of the
supposed teenage cult than really to look at the prob—
lems, diSpassionately,from all sides. Teenagers find
comfort and satisfaction in the illusion that their
world is their own and private.

The closing of 1959 brought the publication of Louise

Tanner's Here Today . . .39 Here Today . . . presented Dean's

 

 

face squarely in the center of the dust jacket, surrounded

by Lindbergh, Shirley Temple, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edna St.
Vincent Millay-—each of whom “reached renown or notoriety
when he or she was very young." The jacket promised that the

book would reveal "how each one reacted in later years to the

495

impact of early prominence." That would be a nice trick
in the case of Dean.

Mrs. Tanner approached the figures by viewing them
as "shifting archetypes" affected by the ”turning points of
the twentieth century.”40 Among those social characteristics
affecting the Dean image might be the political and sexual
conservatism of the returned G.I., mirrored in his "ideal
standard bearer,"41 President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The
political conservatism was "accompanied . . . by a growing

mistrust of the intellect."42 The wave of anti-intellectual-

ism which swept the country was tied up in the very real
security problems caused by the rise of Russian power. The
fall of Germany caused a Simultaneous postwar interest in

the fate of minorities. The first Sputnik on October 4, 1957

"4:3

caused "a wave of revulsion against Deweyism in the schools.

The "egghead was once more respectable":

Never had the challenge to democracy been so tre-
mendous. Never had it been more difficult to prepare for
it. Values had been in a constant state of flux, a vast
social leveling had taken place. A moral revolution had
run its course. Science had released a Pandora's boxful

of horrors.44

"In the shifts of public opinion which took place some young
people achieved precarious eminence" as "children of the

moment," representing "a state of mind which was briefly

either popular or notorious."45 Dean was one who "came along

in the backwash of the Jazz Age" and "carried the protests

of the twenties to a logical conclusion in a thrill packed

moment behind a Splintering windshield."‘i6

496

Mrs. Tanner‘s biography of Dean as an archetypal

figure was drawn from Life, Look, Photoplay! Whisper, and

 

 

 

other fan publications, and from fan letters received by
Warner Brothers. Noting eSpecially the penchant to indulge
in "lay analysis" which "made movie magazines read like
copies of a psychiatric review," Mrs. Tanner commented on
the more unwholesome aSpects of the Dean cult:
It was a face that had a Special message for the
lonely ones: for the squealing adolescent outside a
movie theater; for the faithful in the medium's parlor;
for the browser in those secondhand magazine stores
which are the stamping grounds of the furtive smut
seeker.47
For Mrs. Tanner,Dean held up a mirror "to the face of a

frightened people who were collectively undergoing a dark

night of the soul."

The year 1959 saw the greater recording of the world-
wide Dean influence. His appeal seemed to be universal, yet,
in America, when his characteristics were ascribed to others
who, on the surface would seem to have even more appeal, the
project didn't seem to take with the young public. They
didn‘t react. Was there something unrecognized missing in
the new young stars offered in lavish publicity campaigns?

Was there a mystique”about Dean himself? 'Did he have a
certain indefinable something that set him apart as a star?
Or had the time and the need for a James Dean in the lives

of American adolescents come and gone?

10.
11.
12.

13.

14.

15.
16.
17.

18.

CHAPTER VII --NOTES

"Must the Hottest Lovers Be Bachelors?“ TV-Movie Man,
Vol. I, No. 1 (January, 1959), pp. 46ff.

Picture caption, 1959 PhotOplay Annual (New York:
Macfadden Publications, Inc., 1959), p. 94.

Letter, Esguire, Vol. LI, No. 1(January, 1959), p. 10.

"The Ghost Who Wrecked Pier Angeli's Marriage,"
Motion Picture,Vol. XLVIII, No. 577 (February,
1959), pp. 17ff.

Robert Brustein, ”The New Hollywood: Myth and Anti—
Myth," Film Quarterly, Vol. XII, No. 3 (Spring,
1959), pp. 23ff.

"Lead Man Holler," Time, March 2, 1959, pp. 40ff.

Mike Connolly, column item, Chicago Sun-Times, March 6,
1959, p. 44.

V. S. Pritchett, "The James Dean Myth," New Statesman,
March 28, 1959, pp. 448-449.

Jerome S. Bruner, "Myth and Identity," Daedalus, The
Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 2 (Spring, 1959). Quotations
taken from reprinting in Myth and Mythmaking, ed.
Henry A. Murray (New York: George Braziller, 1960),
p. 284.

Ibid., p. 286.

Ibid., p. 285.

Richard M. Dorson, "Theories of Myth and the Folklorist,"
Daedalus, The Journal of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 2 ISpring
1959). Quotations taken from reprinting in Myth
and Mythmakingy ed. Henry A. Murray (New York:

George Braziller, 1960), pp. 85-86.

"Head Missing from Bust of James Dean," Chicago Tribune,
April 1, 1959, p. 3.

Sanford Roth, "Der Tag an dem James Dean starb,“ Bravo,
No. 21, May 24, 1959, pp. 12 ff. Also No. 22, May
31, 1959, pp. 12 ff; No. 23, June 7, 1959, pp. 12 ff;
No. 24, June 14, 1959, pp. 12ff.

The Late James Dean Fans Star Library_#16 (London: The
Amalgamated Press, Ltd., 1959).

Elia Kazan, "The Staging of a Play," Eagaaga, Vol. LI,

No. 5 (May, 1959), pp. 144ff. .

"Future Stars Often Hard to Recognize," Chicago Tribune,
May 31, 1959, Pt. 3, p. 9. .

Sasha Gilier, "Acting and the Method," The OutSider,

Vol. I, No. 7 (Summer, 1959), pp. 10ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

497

19.
20.

21.
22.

23.

24.

25.
26.
27.
28.
29.

30.

31.
32.
33.
34.
35.

36.
37.

38.

39.

40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.

498

Mike Connolly, column item, Chicago Sun—Times, June 8,
1959. [Fragment——private collectish.]

Ann Marsters, column item, Chicago's American, June 24,
1959, p. 19.

Fragment, Chicago Sun-Times, June 19, 1959, p. 30.

Mike Connolly, column item, Chicago Sun—Times, June 30,
1959, Sec. 2, p. 12.

Walter Ross, The Immortal (New York: Pocket Books,
Inc., 1959).

 

 

 

Simone de Beauvoir, "Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita
Syndrome," Esguire, Vol. LII, No. 2 (August, 1959),
pp. 32~38.

Edward Lyndoe, "Death, His New Nativity," Prediction,
Vol. XXV, No. 8 (August, 1959), pp. 8ff.

"A Tribute to Jimmy," 1Q, September, 1959, pp. 10—11.
[Fragment-—private collection.]

Genét, "Report from Paris," New Yorker, September 5,
1959, pp. 95-96.

Chicago Tribune Press Service, fragment, Chicago Tribune,
September 7, 1959, Pt. 2, p. 3.

Kenneth Anger, Hollywood Babylone (Paris, Pauvert, 1959).
p. 11.

Stephen Kahn, "Sal Mineo: I Still Remember James Dean,"
TV-Movie Screen, Vol. VI, No. 12 (November, 1959),

 

 

 

 

 

pp. 10ff.

"Alcoa Theatre": "Small Bouquet" (Chicago TV, November,
16, 1959).

John Keating, "Tempers, Tantrums and Feuds,” Cosmapolitan,

 

Vol. CXLVII, No. 5 (November, 1959), pp. 52ff.

Hedda Hopper, "Backus Has Many Irons in Hollywood Fire,"
Chicago Tribune, November 3, 1959, Pt. 3, p. 5.

Hal Boyle, column item, Chicago's American, November 27,
1959, p. 59.

Dorothy Kilgallen, column item, Chicago's American,
November 30, 1959, p. 26.

"Marty Faye Show" (Chicago TV, December 7, 1959).

"What Sal's Secret Diary Says,” Motion Picture, Vol. XLIX,
No. 587 (December, 1959), pp. 42ff.

Peter John Dyer, "Youth and the Cinema, Pt. I,"
Sight and Sound, Vol. XXIX, No. 1 (Winter, 1959).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pp. 26ff.

Louise Tanner, Here Today . . . (New York: Thomas Y.
Crowell Company, 1959).

Ibid., p 1.

Ibid., p. 3.

Ibid., p. 4.

Ibid., p 7.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid., . 8

 

221.

'O'U

Ibid.,

 

CHAPTER VIII

1960--SOME REVELATIONS AND MORE ANALYSIS

Sidney J. Harris reviewed Louise Tanner's Here Today.
in the Saturday Review of January 23, 1960.3" Harris decided
the author's statements about "archetypes" reacting upon and
with a "collective unconscious” and declared her choices to
be the result of "the author's affection or repugnance or
Simply her curiosity." He called her interpretations
"individual insights" which ”do not (and perhaps cannot) com—
bine to give us any meaningful mosaic of an era":

The thirty years from The Great Gatsby to the great

James Dean are still too close for us to discern the
figures in the carpet; history is made in days, but it
can scarcely be understood in decades and it is pompously
foolish to pretend otherwise.

Movie Life Yearbook, in an article about Nick Adams,2
revealed that "after Dean's death, Nick dubbed [the] voice
for [the] Giant drunk scene.” If the claims concerning
Adams' dubbing were true, and later bits of information would
seem to indicate they might well be, this situation must
have been generally known in the industry circles of
Hollywood. It would explain why, despite grandiose pub—

licity claims of Dean's genius as an actor, with Special

and particular mention of his artistry in this particular

499

500

scene, the industry did not choose to recognize that genius
with an Academy Award.

Not long afterward Alan Levy's Operation Elvis dis—

 

closed a double linkage service performed, probably by Adams
when he toured with Presley in the teen concerts of 1956.
Levy described a moment typical of one of those concerts:

Finally the stage darkened. A Spotlight picked up
a solitary figure onstage——but it was still not Elvis.
It was a thin young boy clad completely in black except
for a pure white tie upon his tormented, twitching
chest. The master of ceremonies explained that this
boy had known the late James Dean! There was applause,
a moment of reverent silence, and then shouting, whistling
and more applause.3

The beginning of the Sixties brought an assessment

of "The Fabulous Fifties" by David Myers in the January issue

4-

of Modern Screen. Dean's name was featured prominently in

 

the middle years as one of the "hottest box office attractions,
and as "the loneliest beat" whose death set off ”a mass
hysteria of juvenile mourning. And the influence of this
moody, introspective young idol is to live on after him.

He was perhaps the first of the angry young men and the

beatnik type."

Louella Parsons' daily column5 announced "Dean Film
Planned" in a headline, revealing that MGM had secured the
rights to film Walter Ross'sThe Immortal. George Hamilton
was "to portray the moody, intense young Dean, who tragically
died in an auto accident." Producer Paul Gregory already

had Charles Kaufman working on the script.

501

This was the first of several such claims. The

property may well have been bought, but The Immortal was a

 

touchy subject, and quite possibly legally dangerous. It
was to be demonstrated that the Dean estate was quite astute
about looking after its interests. It would have an interest

in theifihmhxaof The Immortal for perhaps more than one

 

reason. The Immortal was never screened.

 

John Ciardi's "Epitaph for the Dead Beats" in the

6

February 6 issue of The Saturday Review commented on the

 

flagging public interest in Beat—dom, which for Ciardi was
"expected," Since he believed the Beat philosophy found "its
basis in illusion rather than in reality." Ciardi brought
up a description of Dean as "most nearly a middle ground
between the Beats and the leather jacket hoods . . . who

finally found the big crack up he had long been looking for.“

Art Buchwald sent his daily column from Paris and
entitled a particular one "America Growing Up?“7 Buchwald
devoted the entire column to an assessment of Raymond de
Becker's new cinema study From Tom Mix to James Dean which
Buchwald said tried to prove, in its analysis of American
screen idols, that "America is still tied to its mother's
apron strings" in its "acceptance of the domination of
women." Buchwald said that Brando and Dean were used to

represent "the new generation who were neurotic and took

pleasure in defeat and death."

502

De Becker's study De Tom Mix a James Dean8 actually
was an enlargement upon ideas expressed in his 1957 review
of Yves Salgues' James Dean. He looked upon Brando and
Dean, in that order, as part of a natural progression reflect-
ing and indicative of a social and moral revolution in
America. They and the generation they were said to repre-
sent were not considered as final products but "en raison de
la plasticité de leur age, sont des figures de transition
sur lesquelles apparaissent encore les nostalgies et debombres

du puritanisme autant que le courage et les possibilites d'un

A "9
age nouveau .

De Becker's study as a whole comes to certain definite

conclusions:

Ce qui s ‘y révele a l' evidence, c 'est la fin d‘ un mythe

de l' homme dont on a vu qu 'il était solidaire d' une cer-
taine attitude morale et religieuse ainsi qu d' un complexe
maternel généralisé. Ce qui S 'y revele encore c 'est

1' assomption de forces d' ombre qui s 'opposent a l‘ ancienne
conception puritaine de la vie, l' apparition de ce que

nous avons appelélfhomme inférieur qui apporte avec lui

les exigences d' une sexualité et d' une violence primitives
autant que des aSpirations religieuses de caractere dy-
onisiaque. Le conflit entre le passe puritain et les

forces d‘ ombre ayant éclaté depuis la guerre provoque une
névrose qui peut aussi bien etre le chemin vers des

formes nouvelles d' existence que la route vers l' échec

et la catastrophe. Sous le masque de l' optimisme officiel
americain et du fameux sourire qui est cense 1' exprimer,
notre enquete dévoile une tendance a l' échec, des sentiments
de culpabilité et un instinct de mort qui démontrent a quel
point 1' Américain supporte mal ses succes et hésite devant
les responsabilités temporelles que la puissance implique.lo

De Becker found in Dean's career the clearest defini-
tion of the above traits, which were but sketchily traced in

the careers of the other stars used in his study. De Becker

 

503

drew heavily on the Salgues book for material on the influence

of Dean in America, which lends a certain disproportion to

his conclusions, since the Salgues information was based

heavily on fan magazine sources.
De Becker suggested Similar studies of the cinema of

other countries. Rather ominously, he suggested, especially,

a study of the Soviet cinema: "Au stade present de nos

observations et de nos connaissances, il est permis de parler”

d'une certaine feminite [sic.] de la psychologie americaine.
L'analyse du cinema sovieteque revelerait—elle des tendances

analogues ou opposées?"ll De Becker thought one would prob-

ably find the latter.

In February publicists capitalized on a new basis for

linkage of Troy Donahue with Dean. Troy received his first

screen test break from a "Mr. Sheldon." The article in

Photaplayla quoted Troy as saying to himself: "The name

 

Sheldon rang a bell: this was the man who had discovered

Jimmy Dean." (Film and television director James Sheldon

worked with Dean early in his career.) Association was con—

tinued as the article revealed that Troy was unable to keep

his initial appointment because he was involved in a sports

car accident.

March brought repetition of Dean material previously

presented. Louise Tanner's Here Today 2 . . was condensed in the

March issue of Coronet.13 further decorated with pictures.

504

A pocket book collection called The Beats14 repeated the

"15

remarks on Dean made in Herbert Gold's "The Beat Mystique

and John Clellon Holmes's”The Philosophy of the Beat

Generation.“ls The collection also included Dan Propper's

poem "The Fable of the Final Hour," a Beat conjecture on

the end of the world, which read, in part:

In the 43rd minute of the final hour
James Dean appeared in the dreams of

40,000 Americans, smiling softly--
speaking gently of insurrection.l7

Thomas B. Morgan's "Teen Age Heroes: Mirrors of

Muddled Youth" in the March Esguire18 commented that we were

"in an era in which communication between generations has all
but broken down," noting that adolescents "feel and are made

to feel (no doubt by articles such as this) that they are a

race apart, a minority in an alien land".

Thus they cling with fierce pride to a private set
of folkways that seem mysterious and confounding in the
extreme to outsiders. These folkways create pressures
to conform and inhibit the individual as insistently as
those in the adult world, but they give the teen—ager
an illusion of choice. Paralleling the adult world,
teen land is built upon insecurity and its greatest con—
cern is for safety. The cost of safety is uniqueness
of personality and the measure of it is membership in

the herd.

Morgan's assumption was "that heroes directly and

indirectly reveal much about the hero-worshipper's values.“

The teen hero was "their outlet for vicarious sex and real

violence, those primitive means of self—expression to which

one turns when prouder means--ambition, creativity, ability,

the sheer desire to change the world have been denied,

505

devalued or have failed." The sexiness of teen heroes was
modified by their accessibility, as demonstrated in an
often monumental ineptness which Morgan described as the
process of mediocrity falling "in love with its own image“:
Teen agers make virtues of conformity, mediocrity
and sincerity. It's a simple matter of survival:
there's safety in the crowd. They can express themselves
through the safe-sex heroes . . . it's sex but it's safe.
Without leaving the warmth and security of the crowd,
you can say what you want to say to the world.
Morgan said the current heroes were invariably pop singers
and male ("both sexes accept the choice . . . of one sex,
and the weaker sex at that"),as opposed to those of "a few
years ago" when "the movies supplied most of the heroes for
adolescent Americans": "Marlon Brando and James Dean were
two, but the former's receding hairline and the latter's
death disconnected them from the young. Chances are they
would have failed anyway because rock-and-roll was bigger
than both of them.”
The present manifestations not only demonstrated that
their followers were "rebels without causes," they pointed
to "a generation with nothing to say": "All that seems real
about teen age self expression through the safe-sex heroes is
their dedication to unreality, to songs of watered-down, self-
pitying blues—that-aren't—blues, and to aimless hostility."
The unexpressed tone pointed to the teen ager taking refuge
in "a pseudo world that is Spoiled and banal and hypererotic

and in headlong flight from reality and easily fooled and

commercialized and exploited and fatuous."

506

The interest in teen heroes was covered, too, in

Popular Screen in April, 1960.19 An article there perhaps

 

ill—advisedly revealed that teen Singer Johnny Restivo,
"Italian, good build, nice smile," was a "manufactured" hero
built by two Boston University seniors on the basis of some
3,000 interviews to determine what would sell. RCA recordings
was supposed to be interested (in a few months unsold Restivo
recordings were piled up on the dealers' shelves).

James Baldwin, though speaking of “The Precarious
Vogue of Ingmar Bergman" in the April Esguire,20 told of
finding familiar sights on his trip to Stockholm. The
"Americanization" of Western EurOpe was in full swing. There

were juke boxes and jazz joints-—:

And the ghost-—one is tempted to call it the effigy—-
of the late James Dean, complete with uniform, masochistic
girl—friend, motorcycle or (hideously painted) car, has
made its appearance on the streets of Stockholm. These
do not frighten me nearly as much as do the originals in
New York, since they have yet to achieve the authentic
American bewilderment or the inimitable American snarl.

The sight and the uniform were not limited, certainly,

to Stockholm and New York. Peter Dyer's second installment
of "Youth and the Cinema" in Sight and Soundgl declared that
"there is probably hardly a teenage cult or sect in the
cinema—going world whose style of dress isn‘t influenced

to some extent by the American cinema," with "Brando's

motor cycle kit or James Dean's nylon windcheater from

Rebel" the favored garb.

507

Such influence "percolated across the porous fron—
tiers of the Fifties, leading to the next step in the global
stereotyping process: the manufacture of prefabricated

answers, in the studios of France and Britain, Germany and

Italy, to the emotional needs (gauged by feed-back control)

of Europe's teenagers":

AS a result, you get a James Dean star Springing
up within a few years of Deantsdeath in Poland
[Zbygniew Cybulski], West Germany [Horst Buchholz],
England (David McCallum) and France (Gerard Blain); a
James Dean fan club in Paris which meets once a month at
the Fleche d'Or in the Rue du Faubourg-—St. Martin; and
you get a reflection of American teenage hysteria in
the recent neWSpaper report of two German students bent
on joining Dean, throwing themselves to their deaths

from a window.

Earl Leaf in the May Teena2 saw the reflection of
Dean in many of the young Hollywood actors. Dean‘s ”private

hate on the public and press who wanted to spy into his

private or professional life," his rudeness to press and fans

alike, was said to have been successfully practiced "because
he was Jimmy the genius." Leaf said "the whole corps of

young actors" who sought to emulate him made "more trouble

for themselves than anyone else."

If English writers saw Dean in Paris, and American
writers saw Dean in Stockholm or Hollywood, French writers
saw Dean all over America. Paris—Match, in a June publi-

cation,23 offered a photo of American motorcyclists labeled:
Ces blousons noirs, tels que Marlon Brando ou
James Dean les ont representes, traversent toute
l:Amerique sur des motos de course. Ce sont des
revoltes sans cause.

508

Nick Adams' representation of Johnny Yuma, "The
Rebel,“ the TV series previously described as being
patterned after Dean, was now being sold to the public as
representing "a symbol of all the youths who ever went-
around skinning their knuckles against the world's inequali—
ties, looking for some place to Sink their roots down."24
A bare-chested Adams illustrating the publicity article in
the Chicago Tribune snarlingly declared "I am a Rebel"~-
a "rebel against being poor and a nobody.”

Jack Gould announced on July 24, 1960 in his

New York Times television column25 that Warner Brothers had

 

recently sold a quantity of late films to TV. The recency

of the films meant an unusually good profit margin was

achieved: Warner Brothers was to get"$100,000 per film plus

5% of [the] profits after distribution." The James Dean

Story, A Star is Born, and East of Eden were among the few

listed as most worth mentioning.
Varietya6 announced that a new television Special,
"Hollywood and the Movies” would feature Dean along with

Jean Harlow, Lillian Gish, John Barrymore, Garbo and Monroe

"to show that Hollywood, deSpite the onslaught of conditions

that would have proved disastrous to most other professions,

has survived its many crises." This Special degenerated

into a regular series, Hollywood and the Stars, which ran
as an extended commercial for the various Hollywood products.

the pictures and the stars, throughout the next several seasons.

509

Dean's name was to be often used as a linkage factor in

promoting the various examples of film fare discussed.

With the recent demise of the "James Dean World Wide

Club" in Britain (the leadership branched out to include

various fan services), in America a new group was started

by Mrs. Beatrice Johnson, formerly the American representa-

tive for the British group. She called her club "The James

Dean Memory Ring Around the World."‘27

And the James Dean memory was still ringing around

the world. Variety called its September 27 article "James
Dean Echoes Still: Mexico May Not Renew “Rebel Without a

Cause'"28 and noted that Dean's film may be banned from

showings in Mexico ”not so much for content as use of the

title in identifying ‘mixed up' youth." Variety said that
Mexican authorities were hOping to discourage the nationwide

publicity given to real life "rebels without cause“ who

aped Dean as their idol.

Josanne Mariani, the French ex—fiancee of Marlon
Brando, revealed in a syndicated article28 that Dean "was the

only man who could throw Marlon off his stride”:

He seemed to worm through the defences Marlon always
built up against the outside world. One night at a party
given by Eva Marie Saint, Dean got Marlon and took him
into another room. When they came out, I could see Marlon
was agitated, almost trembling.

I asked him what was wrong. He just said,
is very Sick. He should see a psychiatrist.‘

‘This boy

510

Joe Hyams brought another French woman into the Dean
picture in his article "What French See in Brigitte,"30 He
declared of Bardot:

On screen she is the magic mirror in which French
youth sees itself. Her personal idol is the late James
Dean and her own fans, male and female, seem to identify
with her as closely as American youth identified with
Dean.

Donald La Badie in his piece on Kazan in the October
§hgw§l mentioned Dean first among those stars Kazan had
introduced, the "striking new personalities." Dean was men—
tioned first, too, in the title of a sermon presented by
Richard DuBois: "Why I Know James Dean and Tyrone Power Are
in Hell."32 Dubois, a good looking former "Mr. America,"
added to his public appeal by including such titles in his
much advertised revival meetings as he toured the country.
An audience of some eight hundred peOple filled the church in
Chicago the night that sermon was presented. They ran the
gamut from leather—jacketed teenagers to mink-clad matrons.
Curiosity rather than religiosity certainly prompted the
attendance of some, but perhaps that was Mr. Du Bois' goal.

The thesis of his sermon was that James Dean was in Hell

because of his unholy interest in the occult.33

Variety on October 5, 1960 featured a Dean portrait
in the full page advertisement for Seven Arts Associates,34
who were releasing the Warner Brothers movie package on

television.

511

An Associated Press release, sometimes accompanied
by a photo of Dean, notified his public that the "James

Dean Foundation Goes Broke."35 Contrary to the opinion of

Victor Selby Jr., Fairmount, Indiana banker and one of the
directors of the Foundation, who said, "I don‘t think the
memory of Jimmy Dean has slackened off a bit," the article

claimed the Foundation died of malnutrition, prompted by a
disgruntled landlord who closed its doors because of out-
standing debts. The James Dean Foundation was said to have
lasted eighteen months but "after the posthumous release of
his film Giant, nothing remained to rally his young fans and
they transferred their attentions to Elvis Presley and other
favorites."

The Associated Press release noted Dean's stylistic
resemblance to Marlon Brando and pointed out "the naturalism
that made it seem he was living his roles instead of acting
them." Also pointed out was the nature of his first two
roles, in which Dean played a "confused youth, railing at
his parents and trying desperately to establish his identity
in an alien world." It was declared that these roles helped
to “rally a young, restless generation to his support."

The article further claimed that "Giant marked the high point

in his popularity" and that the documentary, The James Dean

 

Story, "did disappointing business." Another director of the
Foundation, Lewis Crist, was quoted in closing: "Our dream

is gone. We had something, but we lost it.“

512

Internal friction, abandonment by the big names
once associated with it through the entertainment industries,
and a creeping commercialism, when coupled with a general lack
of interest, or at least only a passive interest in Dean as

a social or histrionic curiosity, spelled doom for The James

Dean Foundation.

The degenerating and the degeneracy of the Dean appeal
could be noted in the column item86 of a local Chicago source:
"Nutty new fad among the beatniks: seances to communicate
with dear departed idols Jimmy Dean, Charlie Parker, Dylan
Thomas, et al. The fad has the late born spook-groups joining

hands all over the Near North Side."

Literary critic David Leitch in his article ”The
Salinger Myth"37 in Twentieth Century, November, 1960 drew
the Dean image into his appraisal of the Salinger characters
with their fear of the adult world and their "rapid withdrawal
into fantasies of childhood.“ Both were considered part of
the strong appeal of the "unfallen preadolescent hero" which
had become especially strong “in the last few years."

Leitch noted that Dean "was worshipped by his fans with a
religious love that has been accorded to no one else except
Valentino.“ Leitch felt that Dean‘s appeal was "not as a
lover, but as a close childhood friend." The "strongly
underplayed" sexual aspect of Dean's appeal was illustrated

by the "playing at families“ incident in Rebel when Judy,

513

Plato, and Jim indulge in their "brief idyll" in the old
mansion, “a game infinitely preferable to the real thing“-

0

Jim, like 'the catcher,‘ is a big brother and pro—
tector. In his mannerisms——the disconnected, hesitat-
ing speech, his slouching walk and unexpected whimsy
gestures--he expresses a childhood uncertainty—-a con-
fusion similar to that suggested by Holden through
language. Above all, Jim is good.

Another literary critic, the French writer Genevieve

38

Serreau, in a discussion of the works of Arrabal in the

Evergreen Review commented that "our international James
Deans will probably identify themselves with his heroes whose
very existence is a challenge to the established moral values,
to the order which sets up the sclerosed structures under

which our civilization is gently collapsing."

Clark Gable‘s death in November, 1960 was mourned
in a Life editorial39 which compared Gable to “the whole
Marlon Brando—Jimmy Dean age" of actors,to the latter‘s dis-
advantage. Gable was declared more versatile in that "he
was father image, brother image, lover image, all mixed up
in one." For those who didn't need versatility, the Dean
image did not seem lacking in its viability——or, at least,
its linkage power. A Film Quarterlyreview“O of a new
Polish film,See You Tomorrow,identified its star, Zbigniew
Cybulski, "as the Jimmy Dean type resistance fighter in
Ashes and Diamonds.“ And the new import Horst Buchholz was
called “a German combination of Tony Perkins and James Dean"

in the November Cosmopolitan survey of new Hollywood talent,

514

"The Men."41 The linkage in the Photgplay_Fiftieth Anniver—

 

sary Issue for December, 1960 concentrated on Elvis Presley,
the current hero, comparing him to Valentino and Barrymore,
but Dean was remembered in the Sara Hamilton history42 of
Hollywood as part of the "new sweat-shirted school of acting
. . . with Marlon Brando as its leader and James Dean as its
young hero." Miss Hamilton added: "The entire world was
shocked by Jimmy's tragic death in a sports car crash."

In the same issue a Troy Donahue interview43 noted that Troy
would like to have met Dean because "he was a very big in—
fluence on me as an actor——not in how he did things, but in
what could be achieved." (Troy thus placed himself in
relation to Dean in the same position Dean had once been in
in relation to Brando. Linkage was sympathetic and appealing

and a lure to fan response.)

Edward Fischer's study of The Screen Arts mentioned

 

Dean only as one of the popularizers of the Method—~a method
actor "does not want to act the part, he wants to be the

part."44

5 who went on at length concern-

It was Parker Tyler4
ing Dean's personality as the key to his acting success and
public acclaim. Tyler's book The Three Faces of the Film
Spoke about the "unique child"46 of American films, the

depiction of juvenile delinquency and the publicity which

"glamorizes it and compensates its members for a lack of

515

natural human charm."47 Tyler considered Dean's appeal in
such parts as greater than Brando‘s since he was younger
and slighter in build, but both actors were ”ideal" for
showing the neurotic trends in delinquency since both were
"naturally infantile types and their acting styles grew out

of unabashed infantile intuitions of reality":

It is the actual personality of Brando and formerly
that of Dean on which interest should be focused rather
than on the films themselves. For the self evident true
temperaments of these actors show the psychological basis
in society for what, in individuals who lack talent for
a profession or the normal will to work and play, tends
to function in idle, undisciplined, and often destructive
ways. Ironically, perhaps acting is the only profession
which could have adjusted both young men to the regular
occupation of working}8

Their good looks (Tyler said Dean had "a rosebud mouth"49)

sacrificed "the social moral of juvenile delinquency .

. . in
their cases, to aesthetic pleasure," and juvenile delinquency
became only "grist for entertainment,“ arousing "mere melo—

dramatic emotions that are easily purged without leaving

behind a moral sediment."SO

Leslie Fiedler‘s No! In Thunder commented on the “myth

common at the moment to much of our society from its scarcely

literate to its almost highbrow limits": "the New Good-Bad

u 51

Boy. The new cultural hero was represented on the screen

in the persons of Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Marlon Brando:

The corn pone Romeo (with his dry orgasms below the
semi-paralyzed face), the refugee from Broadway (half
Tennessee Williams dream boy, half stage proletarian
salvaged from the abandoned props of the Group Theater),
the homemade Hollywood legend in jeans and hornrimmed

516

glasses (taught to mumble with the best by the old
master, Elia Kazan) are all Boys together, pinned side
by side on the walls of fourteen year-old girls and in-
distinguishable from their dreams.52

These screen heroes and their TV and literary counterparts

"53

blend "the dream of violence and the fact of security.
Interest in these heroes is multiplied because "everywhere,
Popular Culture begins to live parasitically on its own
past . . . everyone, and not the least the highbrows, wants
to ggad about popular culture."54 The current spate of

social commentary reflected:

. . . a growing awareness on the part of us all that
our society has tended (at least aspired) to become not
the conspiracy against the child against which our
ancestors raged--but a conspiracy in his favor, against
the adult. Certainly in a permissive, family oriented,
servant-less America whose conscience is forged by
popularization of Freud a new tyranny has become pos-
sible. . . . We begin to feel that we are the slaves

of our anxiety about our children, guilt-ridden by our
fear of rejecting them, not giving them enough security
or love.55

Under the impossible burden of wisdom and love de—
manded by the marriage of Freudianism, philistinism and
Puritanism, a generation of middle aged Americans have
staggered and slipped. . . in their almost neurotic in—
sistence u on their reSponsibility and the innocence of

the young. 6
The Good—Bad Boy was regarded by Fiedler as "America's
vision of itself . . . crude and unruly in his beginnings but
endowed by his creator with an instinctive sense of what is
right; sexually as pure as any milky maiden, he is a rough—

neck all the same, at once potent and submissive."57

517

Historic Decade 1950-1960 listed Dean, oddly enough

 

only as a "prominent personality" (others noted were Aly
Khan and the Marquis de Portago) who lost his life in a

58 The balance of Dean mentions in

sports car accident.
publication were repeats. _ngt£y_1gg§:1§§959 presented

the Dean poems of both Phillip Whalen60 and Frank O‘Hara.61
The collection was published by the Evergreen Press, which

also gave full publication in English to Edgar Morin's

The Stars,62 with its chapter on Dean previously published

 

in the Evergreen Review. George Amberg62 said in the Saturday
Review of Morin‘s book that one must accept "on faith" Morin‘s
thesis that "considered as a total phenomenon, the history of
the stars repeats, in its own proportions, the history of

the gods," but Amberg added that the "long essay on James

Dean . . . alone makes it worth owning."

Repetition and a consequent broadening of communi—
cation media seemed to be the key trends among the Dean
mentions in 1960. More and more, the repetition of works
previously presented to the public was represented: articles
and poems became parts of collections, hardcover publications
became paperbacks, and when it was announced that Dean's films
were to become television programs, the circle seemed com-

plete.

 

CHAPTER VIII --NOTES

1. Sidney J. Harris, "The Fizzling Fame,’ Saturday Review,
January 25, 1960, p. 53.
2. "The Kid'll Need New Clothes," Movie Life Year Book,
Vol. I, No. 27, 1960, pp. 28ff.
. Alan Levy, Operation Elvis (New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1960), p. 27.

5
4. David Myers, "The Fabulous Fifties," Modern Screen,
5

 

 

 

Vol. LIV, No. 1 (January, 1960), pp. 55ff.
Louella Parsons, "James Dean Film Planned," Chicago's
American, January 6, 1960, p. 25.
6. John Ciardi, "Epitaph for the Dead Beats," Saturday
Review, February 6, 1960, pp. 11ff.
7. Art Buchwald, "America Growing Up?" Chicago Sun-Times,
February 17, 1960, Sec. 2, p. 10.
8. Raymond de Becker, De Tom Mix a James Dean (Paris:
Librairie Artheme Fayard, 1959).
9. Ibid., p. 268.
10. Ibid., p. 269.
11. Ibid., p. 271.

 

 

 

 

12. Marcia Borie, "Sixteen Minutes after the Picture was
Taken," Photgplay, Vol. LVII, No. 2 (February, 1960),
pp. 42ff.

15. Louise Tanner, "The Best Years of Their Lives," Coronet,

Vol. XLVII, No. 5 (March, 1960), pp. 74ff.

14. Seymour Krim (ed.) The Beats (Greenwich, Connecticut:
Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1960).

15. Ibid., pp. 154—164.

16. Ibid., pp. 15-26.

17. Ibid., p. 52.

18. Thomas B. Morgan, "Teen Age Heroes: Mirrors of Muddled
Youth," Esguire, Vol. LIII, No. 5 (March, 1960), pp.
65ff.

19. "Johnny Restivo,‘ POpular Screen, Vol. I, No. 7 (April,
1960). PP. 34-55.

20. James Baldwin, "The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman,"
Esguire, Vol. LIII, No. 4 (April, 1960), pp. 128ff.

21. Peter John Dyer, "Youth and the Cinema, Pt. 2,"

Sight and Sound, Vol. XXIX, No. 2 (Spring, 1960),
pp. 61ff.

22. Earl Leaf, "My Fair and Frantic Hollywood," Teen,

Vol. IV. No. 5 (May, 1960), pp. 44—45.

23. Picture caption, Paris-Match, June 25, 1960, p. 98.

24. "I Am the Rebel," Chicago's American, ”TV Pictorial,"
July 5, 1960, p. 4.

 

 

 

 

518‘

25.

26.
27.

28.
29.

51.
32.
53.
34.
55.
56.
57.
38.
39.
40.
41.

42.

43.
44.
45.

46.
47.
48.
49.
50.

51.

52.
53.
54.

519

Jack Gould, column item, Chicago's American, July 24,
1960. [Fragment-~private collection.]
"Hollywood and the Movies," Variety, July 26, 1960, p. 1.
Correspondence with Mrs. Beatrice Johnson, dated
November 6, 1961.
Fragment, Variety, September 27, 1960 [private collection].

 

 

Josanne Mariani, "My Life With Marlon Brando,"
Chicago Tribune Magazine, September 11, 1960, pp. 16-17.
Joe Hyams, ”What French See in Brigitte," Chicago Sun—Times,

 

September 28, 1960, p. 26.

Donald W. LaBadie, "Movies," Show, Vol. I, No. 1
(October, 1961), p. 25.

Advertisement, Chicago Sun—Times, October 2, 1960.
[Fragment--private collection.]

Richard Du Bois, "Why I Know James Dean and Tyrone Power
Are in Hell," Sermon delivered at The Good Shepherd
Bible Church, Chicago, Illinois, October 9, 1960.

Advertisement, Variety, October 5, 1960, p. 45.

"James Dean Foundation Goes Broke," Chicago Tribune,
October 16, 1960, p. 52.

Irv Kupcinet, ”Kup's Column," Chicago Sun-Times,

November 5, 1960, p. 52.

David Leitch, "The Salinger Myth," Twentieth Century,
Vol. CLXVIII, No. 1005 (November, 1960), pp. 428—435.

Genewieve Serreau, "A New Comic Style: Arrabal," trans.
Richard Howard, Evergreen Review, Vol. IV, No. 15
(November, December, 1960), pp. 67—68.

"Gable," Life, November 28, 1960, p. 55.

Norman C. Moser, Review of See You Tomorrow, Film
Qparterly, Vol. XIV, No. ZITWinter, 1960), pp. 51—52.

Stephen Wilkinson, "The Men," Cosmgpolitan, Vol. CXLIX,
No. 5 (November, 1960), pp. 56ff.

Sara Hamilton, "Thanks for the Memories . .
Photoplay, Vol. LVIII, No. 6 (December, 1960), pp.
54ff.

Charlotte Dinter, ”Trapped,‘
pp. 60ff.

Edward Fischer, The Screen Arts (New York: Sheed and
Ward, 1960), p. 69.

Parker Tyler, The Three Faces of the Film (New York:
Thomas Yoseloff, 1960), p. 127.

Ibid.

bi .

Ibid., p. 128.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Leslie A Fiedler, No! In Thunder; Essays on Mygh and
Literature (Boston: Beacon Press, 1960), p. 272.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 179.

Ibid., p. 184.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photoplay (December, 1960).

 

 

 

 

H
O;

 

 

 

 

 

 

520

H
O;

55. bi ., p. 290.

56. Ibid., p. 226.

57. Ibid., p. 265.

58. Baldwin H. Ward (ed.) Historic Decade, 1950-1960
(New York: Year, Inc., 1960), p. 244.

59. Donald M. Allen (ed.) The New American Poetry, 1945—1960
(New York: Grove Press, 1960).

60. Ibid., pp. 292-295.

61. Ibid., pp. 259ff.

62. Edgar Morin, The Stars, trans. Richard Howard (New York:
The Grove Press, Inc., 1960), pp. 121ff.

65. George Amberg, "The Flood of Film Books," Saturday Review,
December 24, 1960, p. 55.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX

1961--FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT REVIVAL--TELEVISION
TAKES OVER

Shortly after the first of the year, Sal Mineo
appeared on the popular Jack Paar TV show1 and commented
that teenagers were “the same" all over the world, adding
that “throughout Israel and EurOpe James Dean is still the
biggest star, and it's five years since he passed away."
Elia Kazan appeared the following month on local Chicago

2

television plugging his latest film Splendor in the Grass.

 

In discussion he revealed that he did not have a "high re—
gard" for Jimmy Dean; he said that he thought the cultivation
of narcissism was great in Hollywood because of the fantastic
pressures "to become nuts" put upon stars and star material
when they‘re not ready——"like making a kid the President of
the United States." Writer Bill Davidson added that the
stars had become a kind of royalty, and ”there's no training
for royalty in this country." Shortly thereafter, TV‘s
Twentieth Century3 featured a documentary on "France in
Ferment," commenting on the crises rocking the French nation

since the rise of the Algerian question. "A kind of James

Dean" was interviewed, "brooding in a rooftop hideaway.“

521

522

The narrator said that because "a man can't be free without

hope, the young man indicated lived ”in the chains of
despair." Television was doing its share in keeping the

Dean image alive.

The literary event of the early part of the year

was the publication of John Dos Fassos' novel Mid-Century.4
The novel contained a segment previously used as the basis
for the Esguire article "The Death of James Dean,” printed
first over two years previously. There were few changes in
the reprinting as part of the novel, but the Dean episode5
was used as an interlude to balance the part of the novel's
narration of the escapades of an adolescent character indulg-
ing in a cross—country spree on stolen credit cards. Harry

6

T. Moore's review for The New York Times commented about

 

the inclusion of the "teen-ager's fetish, the late actor James

7

Dean." Fanny Butcher's review in the Chicago Tribune was

 

graced with a portrait of Dean, along with those of John L.
Lewis, MacArthur and Eleanore Roosevelt (who were also covered
in the novel's interludes). Butcher described them as
representing to the novelist "powerful influences for either
good or evil on the midcentury way of life."» Butcher said
that the book as a whole illustrated the thesis that ”today‘s
youth is growing soft, that there are greed and corruption

abroad in the land."

 

523

Norris Houghton in reviewing a Moscow performance of
Hamlet8 in the February Theater felt the Dean name well
known enough and illustrative enough for him to describe the
characterization of Edward Martsevich in the title role as

"a cross between Jimmy Dean and Fairbanks."

In March singer Johnny Tillotson was reported to be

9 He was said to

a "great admirer" of the late Jimmy Dean.
have "many pictures of Jimmy in his New York apartment."

Another Dean admirer, broken by her recently shattered

marriage,was quoted by a columnist as saying, "I'm still crazy
about the only man in my life, James Dean . . . though he's
gone." The woman quoted was Pier Angeli.lo

Dean's influence in another woman‘s life was re-
counted in John B. Allen's biography Elizabeth Taylor.ll

"12 whose "attitudes

Allen described Dean as "a scenery chewer
of Plutonian indifference to studio moguls, the public, his
own skin and everything else except acting and driving cars
at high speed . . . strengthened . . . and excited“l3

Elizabeth Taylor. On Dean's death she was supposed to have

"14 She "stayed at the Warner Bros.

gone into "hysterics.
studio until after nine in the evening, phoning frantically
to the police and to various neWSpapers,trying to prove that

“.15

it was a false report, that Dean wasn't really dead.

Meanwhile, the advertisements for Mid—Centugy were

 

featuring a portrait of Dean with the review blurb from

524

Time: "To relive history, as John Dos Passos makes clear,
is not all pleasurable nostalgia; it is also to feel the

pain of an intolerable madness."16

A ngk breakdown on Natalie Wood17 called her a
”teenage tiger in Rebel, who was "idolized and envied by kids
her age because she played the late James Dean's girl." She
was now characterized as a "versatile veteran of Beauty and
Violence." If the article on Natalie Wood called up ghosts
from her past, the same function was provided for Marlon
Brando by Hollis Alpert. Alpert's article "Marlon Brando
and the Ghost of Stanley Kowalski"18 called Brando the symbol
of his generation, with Dean considered only as part of the
"whole assortment of itchy, incoherent young mammals who
substituted slobbism for suavity," and who came in Brando's
wake. Alpert thought it "significant" that "when James Dean
first adopted the Brando pose for his own methods, Brando
himself began appearing in public in business suits," on at
least one occasion "cautioning the younger actor against
motorcycling on the grounds that an accident might ruin his

greatest asset, his face."

Similar linkage to the past and to Dean was provided
for Lili Kardell,19 long ago Dean date. Lili‘s short—lived
engagement to Troy Donahue provided a handy bridge to Dean

linkage for both of them. As Photoplay in May, 1961 stated

 

the situation, Lili doesn't talk about Jimmy because "it

525

hurts.“ The article noted her appearance in The James Dean

 

Story, but added that Lili had never seen the picture

because "it would bring back too many memories."

The romance in the air that May assumed international
proportions with Dorothy Kilgallen‘s May 8 column item?O
Miss Kilgallen linked Pier Angeli's name to that of James
Dean with the note that Pier's current "Roman favorite . .

bears a resemblance to the late James Dean."

The article on "The Japanese Revolt"21 in The American

 

Weekly had little to do with romance, but it was related to
the above on two counts: internationalism and James Dean.
The article cited a strong Dean influence in the Americani—
zation of Japan. Dean was "still a hero" to Japanese youth
for whom he had provided "a big influence on their style of
dress.“

A publicist's idea of linkage publicity, repeated
several times in several columns,22 had Carroll Baker
criticizing the Actors Studio as having become a "social
affair" and losing the flavor it once had when it produced
stars like. . . . Dean's name was among those listed,
naturally.

Mary McCarthy in "Realism in the American Theatre"23
in the July Harper's Spoke ambiguously about "whiSpered

stories of stars deliberately broken by a director" as a

means of asserting the director's "absolute power."

526

Named as examples of such victims were James Dean and
Brigitte Bardot.

Cinémonde24 had Elia Kazan calling Warren Beatty,

 

"Mon nouveau James Dean." What could be eXpected from Beatty
was revealed by David Boroff's comments on "Sex: The Quiet

Revolution"25

in the July Esguire. Boroff said that our
"highly sexualized culture was mirrored in the stridently
phallic heroes of today. Even James Dean, who set the new
vogue, for all his dark and moody sensitivity, had a kind of
sullen but demanding eroticism."

In discussing his latest effort in fiction, The New

York Timesae described Walter Ross as "once a press agent

 

for Warner Bros. .. .[He] also wrote The Immortal, a novel

 

the central character of which was reminiscent of the late
James Dean, which Metro Goldwyn Mayer acquired but has not

yet filmed.“

Both Time27 and Modern Screen28 linked Horst Buchholz

 

to James Dean. Actor Grant Williams29

spoke of the other
actors copying Dean's acting style on television's "Here‘s
Hollywood." Even the popular Ingmar Bergman's early film

Hets (Torment) was described as being about a "teen-age

 

"30 The same article called director Bergman himself

rebel.
'a “Rebel With a Cause." Such tricks of linkage were too
sketchy for the teen magazine Dig. The August issue31 spoke of
the many ("too many") who tried to fill the "empty Space"

Dean left: "We resent it. . . .":

527

But there's something we do want. We want someone
to care for the way we cared for Jimmy. We want some—
one with warmth and strength, someone who can make us
laugh and cry, someone who can belong to every teenager
in the world. We want someone who is a little bit of
every one of us all put together.
And in three pages of pictures gig presented its own candidate

to fill that ”empty space,’ a remarkable Dean lookwalike,
Jack Chaplain, who was identified as “a protege of Nick Adams"
working under a personal "SO—50" contract.

If American teenagers, according to Dig, sought a
Dean replacement, European teenagers, according to Louella
Parsons‘32 didn't need a replacement. They were satisfied

with the original. Louella spoke about the "James Dean Myth"

being "revived with a vengeance" on the reissue of East of Eden

 

in Europe: "The teenagers send flowers to the theatre in

Dean's memory."

Report from abroad, too, came in the Autumn issue of

Sight and Sound. The issue featured an interview with

 

Nicholas Ray,33 then currently the pet of French film circles.

In the interview Ray said that he considered Rebel Without a

 

Cause to be his best film. The writers considered it the film
that brought about Ray's "Spectacular comeback“ as a leading
director. The film also illustrated Ray's chief concerns:
"Violence fascinates Ray as the unpredictable factor in human
personality. He's equally concerned, though, with the pre-

cise planning of a story, its degree of documentary truth."

528

Ray cited James Dean as "one of the most stimulating"
of the actors he had worked with,in that with Dean ”he was
able freely to improvise, something he regards as an essential
element in his style":

He quoted the quarrel scene in Rebel Without a Cause
when the boy comes home after the chicken run. The
sequence was causing trouble and Ray one evening asked
James Dean to come to his house and work on it there.

He himself would play the father; and he stationed him-
self before a television set, switched to a black screen,
so that he could watch Dean unobtrusively as he roamed
around, snatched up a bottle of milk from the refrigerator,
thought himself slowly into the situation.

' When the scene was right, in Dean's and the director's
understanding of it, he got the set designers to come

over to his house so that the living room set could be
replanned on the lines of his own room. The point,
essentially, was the working out of a mood in terms of a
particular setting.

 

The same issue of Sight and Sound editorialized34 on

 

the "dignified bewildermentfl'of Warner Brothers' advertise—

ment in The London Times which "acknowledged receipt of

 

flowers from admirers of the late James Dean, but regretted
to inform correspondents that portraits of Dean and East of
Igggg posters were not available for purchase."

The editorial noted the crowds and the flowers, ”the
drawings handed in at the theatre with their forlorn
messages ('James Dean Lives Forever')” and stated that “cor-
rupted though it has been by imitation and excess, this
legend, with all its sad lures toward identification, seems
still as persistent as ever." The editorial implied that

both Warners and the editors were "a bit uncertain as to

529

whether these were old admirers taking up where they left
off, or, already, a new generation discovering a myth for

themselves."

Walter Winchell35 reiterated Dorothy Kilgallen's
comments regarding Pier Angeli and Dean as her "real torch"—-
that he was her "great love," "the only one that ever really
mattered," etc. Winchell was also careful to mention the

name of Miss Angeli‘s current film.

The October, 1961 gig continued that magazine's
Jack Chaplain plugs. Besides a long biography, "The Jack
Chaplain Story,"36 which stressed the Middle West small
town background of the young actor, the issue's gossip
column37 linked Chaplain with Buchholz and both with Dean
as "actors, not matinee idols." The column stated that on

a recent Hollywood showing of Rebel Without a Cause on

 

television, the "late, great" James Dean proved once again
"that acting is still a form of art and not just a showcase
for a goodlooking face.“

Warren Beatty, the new Kazan star who was also being
linked romantically with Natalie Wood, received Dean linkage

38

in the October Silver Screen mentioned as having inherited

 

Dean‘s "masculinity . . . virility, or pure, sheer maleness.‘

He was described as being "already a rebel with a cause.“

A printing of Leslie Fiedler's "The Fear of the

"39

Impulsive Life in Perspective was accompanied by a

 

530

picture of Dean captioned "The Tragic Hero of the New Youth.“
Fiedler stated that no matter "how statistically insignificant
the Beats may be in the official census, in the cultural
history of our time, they stand for the young." The Beats
"became the mouthpiece for the teenager in general" and
"played a decisive role . . . in creating out of adolescent
discontent a cult of the adolescent," a counter movement
stirred by what Fiedler called "the Fear of the Adult."

The spokesmen for the new youth were as various and devious
as Kerouac, Salinger, Elvis Presley, and "James Dean, the
tragic hero of the New Youth-~identified in his life and
death with the role he performed in Rebel Without a Cause“:

They are the nearest thing to a contemporary youth

movement whose motto is ‘Don‘t bug me, Dad.‘ The
hagiography grew astonishingly in the years just after
Dean‘s death; and in the hands of tens of thousands of
kids, pictures of him at the Bongos, or leaning against
a piece of abstract sculpture, or dead in his shattered
Porsche (dead for the sake of all those to whom suicide
seems the only pure protect) became holy pictures.

It was Dean and his inarticulate followers who
instigated "the nightmare of the teenage revolt, which
troubles the sleep of a generation proud to have granted its
young rights beyond anything to which the young by themselves

would have been able to aspire, a generation which has loved

youth almost to the point of idolatry."

A local television first—showing in Chicago of Rebel

Without a Cause was widely advertised in neWSpapers as "the

 

picture about youth and parents that made Dean unforgettable”4O

. . "that made Dean immortal."4‘l

551

The November Cosmopolitan, probably cashing in on

 

the revived Dean interest stirred by the television showings,
offered the comment that "A Via Veneto spectator swears he

saw . . . five James Deans Sitting Side by side in the Cafe

u 42

Carpano. The major Cosmopolitan offering that month was

 

“Foreverness in Hollywood"“"‘3 by Gail Greene. The article
related that "fans still write [Dean] 100 letters a month.“
Other manifestations of fan adulation shortly after Dean‘s
death made the Valentino incidents seem "almost sophomoric."
It was pointed out, however, that though Dean‘s studio was
"left holding the bag" with Giant still unreleased at Dean‘s
death, "the Dean Death Cult began in the Charles Addams“
hearts of some of his friends, and possibly even with Dean
himself.“ The article then recounted the Fairmount casket-
mortuary scene between Dennis Stock and Dean and related,
once again, the old Vampira predictions. "Egged on by the
hucksters and the fast buck boys," the cults sprang up:
Most tragic of all was the incredible cult that
Sprang up at a Los Gatos, California high school, under
the name ‘The James Dean Death Club.‘ Two seemingly
bright and stable youngsterS--a boy and a girl-—reportedly
members of the club, died in separate accidents a few
weeks apart, each driving a car at top Speed into a tree.
Jack Chaplain‘s television appearance on "G. E.
Theatre"44 featured him as a "nice kid“ from a “nice family“
who is picked up by the police and put on probation after a
joy ride escapade. It was certainly a role patterned to take

advantage of Chaplain‘s strong resemblance to Dean, but it

didn't seem to be enough. Chaplain never really had much

532

of a career. The Dean resemblance, the built—up publicity
image, even the roles, didn't seem to be enough in his case.
Dwight MacDonald45 seemed to think Warren Beatty had about
the same sort of problems, in his review of Kazan‘s

Spendor in the Grass: "I hear he is being groomed for the

 

new James Dean and under Kazan‘s artful hand he is as
inarticulate as Dean was (though he lacks Dean‘s peculiar

intensity)."

Arthur Knight‘s appraisal of "The Faceless Hero,"46

the "harmless, neuter, undemanding, unpossessive pretty boy
who seems to be the dream lover, or the wish dream of today's
moviegoers," struck out at the "astonishing blandness” of the
"species." Knight said that "cuteness seems to have become
the Sixties‘replacement for sex appeal, boyish charm a sub—
stitute for mature masculintiy." Knight noted how young the
new crop of heroes was, and noted, too, that often they were
called upon to play roles which depicted them as even younger
than they were. Because he felt movies "have reflected the
changing patterns of love more incisively, more acutely,
than any other medium," Knight was concerned that this new
hero suffered from such "complete sexlessness": "The boys are
the seduced, not the seducers."

In relating the historical background of this
phenomenon, Knight equated the post-war Beats with the

flapper generation, each of them "uncertain in its values,

535

its direction, and its destiny." The older stars still
dominated the motion picture screens immediately after the
war, so "little of this feeling" got across until Brando, in
whom the Beats found "an eloquent, if inarticulate spokes-

l

man; and then another in the late Jimmy Dean) and "youth
responded to its own image with an unprecedented intensity."
Knight contended that "the emergence of today's new stars
not merely reflects but is a reflection upon today's movie
audiences." With teenagers representing "the largest and
steadiest Single contingent of customers in the country,"

Knight felt the motion picture industry could not afford to

ignore their tastes, but he deplored the situation.

Fabulous Yesterday: The Coronet Twenty-fifth

 

Anniversary Album included Herbert Mitgang's “The Strange

 

James Dean Death Cult" from Coronet‘s November, 1956 issue as

"47 illustrating

part of the section "The Cult of Personality
a trend during the past generation emerging concurrently with
the growing powers and technological advances in the mass
media:

What the advertising industry had achieved for the
corporation, the publicity merchants began to do for the
personal client. Thus this became the age of the press
agent, the ghost writer, the public relations consultant,
a corps of experts whose job it was 'to get their man
across.‘

Such activities were not limited to celebrities and enter-

tainers. "Make-up, when to kiss babies, what to do with one‘s

hands on the platform, and when and to which Side to slant

534

the profile for the camera" became important political
problems: "And almost everyone agrees that the personality
contest on TV between Nixon—Kennedy swung the election to
the latter." The Dean article itself was prefaced:

The war years did something to those who were too
young to fight. This ‘Shook-up' generation, bubbling
with rebellion, fascinated by violence, Speed, raw
sensation, took up as its symbol a wild one who re-
flected its restless mood. Psychologists sought clues

to adolescent behavior in their weird worship of a
dead boy's memory.48

49a

Cynthia Lindsay‘s The Natives are Restless,
tourist'S eye View of Southern California, spotted and noted
a new breed, "the Schwabniks": "a Special group, huddled,

conversing sotto voce, eyes furtive, uniformly clad: leather

 

jackets, blue jeans, sweatshirts, their unshorn hair down to

their collars, a covey of imitators of their master, the late

James Dean."

Ezra Goodman‘s study The Fifty—Year Decline and Fall

Of H01LYWOOd covered a vast panorama of subjects and areas

 

related to the motion picture industry. Included was a re-
vised re—statement of Goodman's 1956 iiig article on Dean,50
some eight full pages devoted to Dean and the Dean image.
Among other related materials came the bit of news that George
Stevens, who was always "astute at public relations," had

"three different sets of publicity experts working for him

on Giant.“51

535

The Funke—Booth survey called Actors Talk About

 

Acting included an interview with Shelley Winters. Miss
Winters went on at some length concerning the Brando—Dean
influence on acting and on juvenile culture. She called

them "spokesmen for their generation."52

Bill Davidson‘s The Real and the Unreal, another

 

Hollywood study, did not dwell at any length on Dean except
to use Dean's death as an illustration of Hollywood‘s general
attitude toward the mundane. According to Davidson‘s report,
when Dean was killed,”a tOp movie executive jumped up and
down in his office and roared, ‘How could he do this to me
after all my work to build him up into a big star?”53

1354

Davidson called Dean "a genuine rebel, as opposed to some

of his latter day imitators.

The Jazz version of The James Dean Storypscore55 was

reissued under a cheaper label, termed a performance of

music that was "immortalized" as part of the film's score.

By 1961 American interest in Dean had degenerated,
it seemed, into Specialized investigation or a rather morbid
curiosity. The previous intensive publicity had given the
Dean image a still strong linkage power, which became even
stronger through repetition, but general interest was not
focused on Dean, as it had been previously. "Like James
Dean" became merely a serviceable label for ready identifi-

cation of a set of personality traits, actions or mannerisms.

536

The Dean image was no longer individualized; it was a type.
Interest abroad, from statements and publications

of the year, seemed as high or higher than ever. European

teenagers and teenagers throughout the world were evidently

beginning to discover they had a power and an influence

that American teenagers had discovered long ago. The dis—

covery of this power seemed to run concurrently with interest

in and adulation of Dean as a symbol of that new-found

strength.

mrot~

(DU!

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

21.
22.

23.

24.

CHAPTER IX~-NOTES

"Jack Paar: Tonight Show” (Chicago TV, January 3, 1961).

"At Random" (Chicago TV, February 24, 1961).

"Twentieth Century," "France in Ferment" (Chicago TV,
February 26, 1961).

John Dos Passos, Mid—Century (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1961).

Ibid., pp. 479-486.

Harry T. Moore, "Proud Men in an Age of Conformity,”

New York Times Book Review, February 26, 1961, p. 51.

Fanny Butcher, Review of Mid—Centuiy by John Dos Passos.
Chicago Tribune Magazine of Books, February 26, 1961,
p. 1.

Norris Houghton, "Moscow's Bobby-Sox Idol,“ The Theatre,
Vol. III, No. 2 (February, 1961), pp. 22-23.

Dick Klemer, "Johnny's Lonely Road," TV Star Parade,

Vol. VIII, No. 12 (March, 1961), p. 16.

Dorothy Kilgallen, column item, Chicago‘s American,
March 28, 1961, p. 9.

John B. Allen, Elizabeth Taylor (Darby, Connecticut:
Monarch Books, Inc., 1961).

Ibid., p. 92.

Ibid., pp. 92—93.

Ibid., p. 93.

Ibid.

Advertisement, Chicago Tribune Magazine of Books,

April 2, 1961, p. 5.

"Natalie Wood," Look, April 11, 1961, pp. 105ff.

Hollis Alpert, "Marlon Brando and the Ghost of Stanley
Kowalski," Cosmopolitan, Vol. CL, No. 5 (May, 1961),
pp. 19ff.

”Troy—Lili," Photoplay, Vol. LIX, No. 5 (May, 1961),
pp. 55ff.

Dorothy Kilgallen, column item, Chicago's American,

May 8, 1961, p. 7.

"Japanese Revolt," American Weekly, May 28, 1961. pp. 8-9.

Hedda Hopper, "Baby Doll Grows Up," Chicago Tribune
Magazine, June 4, 1961, pp. 28ff. See also,

Joe Hyams, "Actors Studio on Decline," Chicago Sun-
Times, June 14, 1961, Sec. 2, p. 13.

Mary McCarthy, "Realism in the American Theatre,"

Harper's, Vol. CCIII, No. 1334 (July, 1961), pp.

45ff. ’
"Mon nouveau James Dean,“ Cinemonde, July 11, 1961, p. 17.

 

 

 

 

 

 

537

25.

27.
28.

29.
30.

34.
35.

36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.

50.

538

David Boroff, "Sex, the Quiet Revolution," Esguire,
Vol. LVI, No. 1 (July, 1961), pp. 96ff.

A. H. Weller, "By Way of Report: Tycoon," New York Times,
July 1, 1961, Sec. 2, p. 5.

"The Teutonic James Dean," Time, August 4, 1961, p. 52.

"Horst Buchholz,” Modern Screen, Vol. LV, No. 8
(August, 1961), pp. 48ff.

"HerefisHollywood" (Chicago TV, August 11, 1961).

Carl Anders Dymling, "Rebel With a Cause," Saturday
Review, August 27, 1961, pp. 23ff.

Janey Milsted, "An Open Letter from the Editor,“ Dig,
Vol. VII, No. 4 (August, 1961), pp. 10ff.

Louella Parsons, column item, Chicago‘s American,
August 29, 1961, p. 13.

Penelope Houston and John Gillett, "Conversations with
Nicholas Ray and Joseph Losey," Sight and Sound,
Vol. XXX, No. 4 (Autumn, 1961), pp. 182ff.

”The Front Page," Sight and Sound (Autumn, 1961), p. 159.

Walter Winchell, column item, Chicago‘s American,
September 25, 1961, p. 17.

"The Jack Chaplain Story," Dig, Vol. VII, No. 6 (October,
1961), pp. 10ff.

Dick Strout, "Draggin the Strip," Dig (October, 1961), p. 60.

 

 

 

 

Favius Friedman, ”Is He the Sexiest Thing Around?"
Silver Screen, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 (October, 1961),
pp. 4ff.

Leslie A. Fiedler, "The Fear of the Impulsive Life,"
Perspective, Vol. X, No. 10 (October, 1961), pp. 4ff.
Advertisement, Chicago‘s American, October 20, 1961,
. 36.
AdveEtisement, Chicago's American, October 16, 1961, p. 24.
Geoffrey Bocca, "The Roman Orgy of Movie Making "
Cosmopolitan, Vol. CLI, No. 5 (November, 1961),

pp. 43ff. .
Gael Greene, "Foreverness in Hollywood," Cosmopolitan

(November, 1961), pp. 75ff.

“G. E. Theatre": "We‘re Holding Your Son” (Chicago TV,
December 3, 1961).

Dwight MacDonald, "Films," Esguire, Vol. LVI, No. 6
(December, 1961), pp. 63ff.

Arthur Knight, "The Faceless Hero," Rogue, Vol. VI,
No. 12 (December, 1961), pp. 25ff.

Lewis W. Gillerson (ed.), Fabulous Yesterday: The Coronet
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Album (New York; Harper
and Brothers, 1961), pp. 201ff.

Ibid., pp. 248ff.

Cynthia Lindsay, The Natives Are Restless (New York:
The New American Library, 1961), p. 48.

Ezra Goodman, The Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of
Hollywood ‘(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961),

pp. 288ff.

 

539

. Ibid., p. 165.

Lewis Funke and John E. Booth, Actors Talk About Acting
(New York: Random House, 1961), p. 315.

Bill Davidson, The Real and the Unreal (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1961). Quotations are from
the Lancer Edition, 1962, p. 66.

 

 

.Ibig., p. 75.

Swinging_Soundtrack, Kimberly Jazz Series 11016.

 

CHAPTER X

1962--TELEVISION AND THE BIG
PUSH—~AND A BIGGER FALL

In 1962 pOpular interest in Dean hinged upon his
television appearances in film re—runs. Initial interest,
capitalized upon by television advertising, was high.

A few magazines made an abortive attempt to review even
more interest, repeating the old game of exaggerating exist—
ing interest, Speaking of Dean as a symbol, even recalling
the old rumors that he might still be alive. But as the
films were run and re-run, interest declined. Dean‘s was
now a voice out of the past and could not be heard among

the many others. There were now too many other favorites,
still living, who cried for attention. That the Dean type
remained popular is evidenced by the recurrent linkage

practices.

Since the Winter, 1961 issue of Daedalus was devoted

to Youth: Change and Challenge, it was not surprising,

 

in the light of claims of Dean‘s influence on youth made in
pulp magazines, to see the Dean name pOpping up in not one,

but several of the articles contributed.

540

541

Reuel Denneyl said that "a young actor such as James
Dean could say more about post—war youth than most young
peOple themselves or their parents and teachers." Denny
considered it Significant that "one of the scripts through

which he Spoke, Rebel Without a Cause, dealt with a middle

 

class, father-son relationship that was unsatisfactory because

it was marked by Slackness rather than moral tension."
Lawrence Wylie2 used exactly the same illustration

and for exactly the same reasons, noting especially the

scene where the young hero, played by Dean, asks his father's

counsel and is put off and left to his own devices: “It is

painful for American fathers to witness this scene for we

as a group are committed to Jimmy‘s father's position."
Similarly, Kenneth Keniston3 lamented the "absence

of paternal exemplars,' citing Augie March, Holden Caulfield,
the heroes of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, and

Dean‘s character in Rebel Without a Cause as pOpular examples

 

of those who lack "a father who can act as a model or, for

that matter, a target for overt rebellion.”

TV Guide for January 13 carried ”She Remembers James

Dean,“4

an interview with Christine White, who was now getting
some starring roles on television. Miss White may be re-
membered as Dean's partner during his Actors Studio audition,

and in this interview the story of that audition again pOpped

into print, at a time when press coverage of Miss White‘s

542

activities, present and past, could be most beneficial to

her career.

Tony Wall‘s "The Natalie Wood Story”5 was designed
to appeal to the feminine romantic nature. According to the

article,the remnants of the "deep, personal relationship"

Natalie had with Dean were tucked away in her heart ”in a

place reserved for all the men you have loved in your life."
Natalie said, "I think other women will know what I mean."
Dean linkage was not limited solely to Natalie. Her latest
romantic conquest and recent co—star in Splendor in the Grass,
Warren Beatty, was said to bear such a "striking resemblance"
to Dean that "some of Natalie‘s friends are wondering if, in

Warren, She‘s trying to recapture the past."

Past and present were linked to Dean‘s name by
Val Adams,6 television columnist for The New York Times,
who noted in the column for January 14, 1962:

Televised motion pictures starring James Dean, who
had only three major movie roles before his death, seem
to have a great influence among dial twisters.

Last Sunday evening WOR-TV presented Rebel Without
a Cause and obtained the highest Nielsen rating of all
New York stations during the two-and-a—quarter hours
the movie was on. Last fall WNBC—TV presented East of
Eden, another Dean movie, on the premiere of its 'Movie 4‘
series on Saturday nights. No other movie on the series
has obtained so high a rating as East of Eden, a WNBC—TV
spokesman said.

All this recalls an appearance by Mr. Dean in the
early Nineteen—Fifties on 'Robert Montgomery Presents'
over the NBC network. He had a role in a Montgomery
drama before he became famous, and he was paid $500.
After Mr. Dean's death, Mr. Montgomery decided to repeat
the drama, which had been recorded on film. The Dean

543

estate first asked for $10,000 as a re-run fee and
finally settled for $7,500.

Probably to prepare for the initial local Chicago

television Showing of East of Eden, the Chicago Tribune‘s

 

 

7 commented on the "high

television columnist Larry Wolters
ratings" Dean‘s films had been winning in New York City.
Wolters‘ article was a reworking of the same Dean material
contained in the Times' column above, only Wolters went

Adams one better: "Today his estate gets $7,500 from a

single New York station to re—run each of his pictures."

Other local Chicago entertainment columnists did

their bits to bally the East of Eden promotion. Apropos of

 

8 announced that "a sixty minute film on

nothing,Ann Marsters
the life of the late James Dean, produced by George W. George,
will be offered as a TV Spectacular.” Herb Lyon,9 who had
branched out to become a variety Show television performer,

noted in his neWSpaper column that his program "follows the

excellent East of Eden flicker, with the late James Dean."

 

Lyon‘s concentration on the Dean name was not happenstance.

AS was true of the previous Showing of Rebel Without a Cause,

 

promotion for the East of Eden telecast concentrated on Dean

 

as the starring figure. Some advertisementslo listed his
name alone as casting credit. All the daily advertisementsll

featured his portrait in the advertising block.

544

Radio-TV gagman Jack Douglasla included a brief
chapter on Dean, "The Day That Jimmy Dean Died," in his

autobiography A_Funnnyhing Happened to Me on the Way to the

 

 

Grave. The chapter was related to Douglas' hobby of sports
car racing. Douglas had, after all, met Dean only twice.

The first time, at a race, he recollected Dean "blaming him-
self" for the mechanical failure of his car. The second meet-
ing was at the time Spoken of in the chapter title. Douglas
let his general reaction to Dean's death be summed up in the
remarks of their mutual friend Vampira: ”It was the first
time Jimmy ever trusted anybody, and ihig is what happens "
Douglas regarded the crash as a "senseless and stupid”
accident, with the other party and not Dean in error.

Douglas also commented about the "righteous stink“ raised over
Dean's having received a traffic ticket Shortly before the
accident: "In Bakersfield, if you drive a sports car,

they‘ll give you a ticket for backing pp.”

More pedestrian was the linkage employed exploiting
Natalie Wood‘s impending marriage by recalling her old love
affairs in Jim Hoffman's article "Wedding Bells for Natalie"‘13
in the February Photoplay. The article revealed that in
Natalie's younger days, "the happiest day of her life" was
the day she played her love scene with Dean in Rgpgi. Dean‘s
death brought a "nightmare” of memories——but Natalie had a
"a love bracelet around her ankle." Natalie was quoted

token,

as saying, "Jimmy Dean gave it to me . . . I never take it off.”

545

The "Candid Conversation"14 with Elia Kazan in the

February issue of Show Business Illustrated had Kazan

 

denying the influence of the Actors Studio on Dean. Kazan
said:

Dean was there two or three times. He sat in a sort
of poutish mess in the front row and Scowled . . . you
know, active narcissistic and so on. He was never
really there.

Kazan admitted that both Brando and Dean "mumbled

5

scratched a little." In an interview1 with Robin Dean in

the March issue of Films and Filming Kazan added:

I was never very appreciative of Jimmy Dean becom-
ing an idol, he‘s not an idol of mine, and I didn‘t
particularly like what he was. .. . I think I told the
truth about him in East of Eden or rather a character
like that, but I didn' t like the result which was to
blame your parents for everything, to blame the way you
were brought up and say 'I‘ m bad because.

I don' t go for that.

 

The increased interest in Kazan revolved around the
recent release of his film Splendor in the Grass. Attention
was focused, too, on the film‘s stars, Natalie Wood and
Warren Beatty. Hedda Hopper's article "Is He Really That
Good?“6 was paced to find out if Beatty fit "the mold of
James Dean and Marlon Brando." Local Chicago movie columnist
Sam Lesnerl7 described Beatty as a "Brando—Dean combination,"
and used the opportunity to retell the "apocryphal story"
about Dean "madly" playing the drums at a party while Brando
remarked, "That was my last year‘s attention getter."

A later Lesner article18 said that,like Dean, Beatty was also

"a difficult young man" who was "deeply troubled." To bring

546

the linkage unit full circle, Lesner added that “Beatty
nursed the hope that he would make a movie with Natalie Wood

after seeing her in Rebel Without a Cause."

With all this publicity still fresh, another Dean

television film Showing was presented in Chicago: Rab l

(Iv

Without a Cause was offered again. This time around, though

the advertisements19 continued to capitalize on the Dean
name and picture, the copy followed the "official” line of

publicity presented when the film was first Shown in theatres:

"A dramatization of a boy caught in the undertow of today's

juvenile violence."

April's Movieland article "Today's Young Lovers"20
offered several bits of Dean linkage involving several of the

pOpular young Hollywood leading men. Warren Beatty, like

Dean, buries his hands in his pockets, peers intently through

his glasses, stands stOOp shouldered. But, said the article,
these are "minor mannerisms“ that "lots of young men exhibit,"
so "the comparison is unjustified." Richard Beymer was said
to have the "sensitivity without the vulnerability of a
Warren Beatty or a James Dean." Horst Buchholz was noted as
having been called an "imported James Dean," and the article
further cited his "striking facial resemblance," his liking
for fast sports cars. Horst was described as being sensitive,
"broody," "electric," and "agonized . . but as a man, not

an adolescent":

547

The latter sounds like an implied criticism of
Dean—~it isn't really. That wouldn‘t be fair. James
Dean died when he was just twenty—four, after barely one
year in the movies and just three films, of which only
the first two were meaningful in terms of his great

talent.

There were further bits of Dean linkage in April, at
home and abroad. Joe Hyamszl gave a Vampira-Dean plug in his
Show Business Illustrated column, noting that Vampira was
now "earning her living" as a Hollywood clairvoyant. Hyams
gave as one of her "mystical bits of advice" her remark to

Dean: "Don't race." The British publication Film, The Maga-

 

zine of the Federation of Film Societies22 identified
Zbigniew Cybulski as "the best known Polish actor, if only

because of the label 'the Polish James Dean‘ and his dark

glasses."

The British seemed to like to call people "James
Dean." Claudia Cassidy23 noted that a British dance critic
had called ballet star Rudolph Nureyev the "James Dean of the
Dance." American linkage copy seemed to be more constant
and consistent. Movie Album fig gave Dean linkage to the
familiar Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. The Natalie Wood
article24 called Dean Natalie's "idol" before She ever met
him. She was said to have identified with his "restlessness”
and the "forces which drove him to prove himself," his
"search for understanding and security." When Natalie finally
played opposite Dean in Rebel, She herself became a "female

symbol of frustrated youth, restless, hungry for love."

 

548

Warren Beatty's working thesis "Keep Away from My Life"‘25

equated him with Marlon Brando and James Dean:

The public recognized in these men not only talent,
but a certain kind of dignity. A personality that said:
‘If you don't meet my demands, I‘ll take myself out of
your life altogether.‘ And rather than see these stars
disappear from the screen, they granted them privacy.

A featured article of that same issue of Movie Album

 

was "The Deathless Legend of Jimmy Dean"26 with its seven
pages of "unusual pictures." A brief preface noted that
though “dead for seven years, Jimmy Dean still lives in the
hearts of millions. In this section you will read how what
he believed and stood for keeps his memory alive." Dean‘s
influence “transcends the grave," according to the article,

and "he remains the symbol of a generation demanding accept-

ance." As "a symbol, a hero," Dean "today . . . Speaks as
clearly and distinctly as he did when he was alive.” More-
over, the article stated, “he has become a legend to be

passed down to a generation too young to have ever seen him
on the screen." Dean represented, and still represents, the
article said, "the symbol of today's youth crying out for
acceptance-—but finding only rejection." Dean was "a symbol
for those who had not made the world——and were powerless to
change it. A symbol for the frustration of youth, for those
who could not come to terms with life as they found it."

The article noted the drawing power of Dean's tele—
vision film appearances and said that he garnered "most of

the sets in the country“ on a recent Rebel Without a Cause

549

showing. Though his personality and his talent were unique,
Dean was like everyone else, he was "representative for a
generation":

Many have tried to take his place, seeking to carry

the crown of representative for a generation on their
own heads.

Marlon Brando was once thought to have succeeded——
but only for a year or two, and Warren Beatty is now
being talked [of] as a successor to James Dean. Whether
he can be or not, only time will tell. But Jimmy will
not be forgotten-~not as long as there is anyone left
alive who has felt the power of his personality.

As proof of the power of the "new" James Dean, once

again the fan—photo sponsored "fan clubs”27 offered the usual

pictures and "membership."

Walter Winchell‘s June 5 column28 had Warren Beatty
"playing old Jimmy Dean type roles in his flickers“ as a

"rebel without a cause character."

Chicago TV columnist Terry Turner29 introduced a
forthcoming television production on the "Du Pont Show of the
Week"with producer Lewis Freedman's description; "The story
dramatizes the enormous complicated reaction to the death of
a super celebrity . . . 'The Movie Star‘ deals with the
destructiveness latent in great power." Turner added that
the show was “adapted from material originated by William
Bast, who wrote ‘Jimmy Dean——a Biography.‘" TV Guide's Bob
Stahl30 further related that the Show was adapted by Robert

Green from a play by William Bast and was originally

550

"a film produced three years ago by the BBC in London."
Stahl said the play was "based on the home town reaction to

James Dean's death."

"The Movie Star"Bl was not about James Dean, but the
material was certainly inspired by James Dean's death, and
perhaps his life, too. The dead hero of "The Movie Star"
was Singer—actor Billy Allen, "the greatest movie idol Since
Valentino," who died accidentally in a fire "seven months after
the death of Jimmy Dean." Allen's popular songs of "youth
and rebellion“ earned for him the name "The Lost One."

After his death, Billy's body was Shipped home to
Charity, Kansas to be buried by his family. With his body
came Billy‘s young wife, his press agent, his champion
Hollywood columnist (her voice, her hats pointed to a certain
real life counterpart), and Billy's many fans.

The play was a complicated melodrama involving
jealousy of various kinds and Hollywood and home town
venality-—all set to a rock-and—roll beat and accompanied by
the screams of fans, those "people with nothing to believe
in so they turn to some dead movie star who couldn‘t take
care of his own life." Billy's wife, who loved him as long

as he let her and then ”mothered him,‘ said to the crowd of
fans: "Don't try to make him into something he wasn't.
If you turn to him for love, he can only fail you. Go home!"

But the crowd was caught up once again in the hero—building

speech of the Hollywood columnist, anxious only for personal

551

aggrandisement, who was pushing for a Memorial Fund "dedi—
cated to help young deserving peOple." The final words in
the play, Spoken by Allen's press agent, who knew Allen for
what he really was, were: "Nothing can stop it now. Let

them worship him if they have to. . .

A UPI release32 printed the day after the showing
called the production "unfortunate melodrama," but said "it
had the powerful virtue of uncompromising anger over the
tribute paid to false gods and their cheapening values.“
The reviewer thought the "tastelessness and revulsion" of
fan behavior "were not exaggerated."

Bill Irvin,33 local Chicago television columnist,
thought the Show "a thinly disguised recap of the hysteria
that engulfed the teen age world when Jimmy Dean died at the
height of his career." Irvin found "the overall picture
close enough to the truth to be frightening." He noted that
among the characters in the Show, "brazen as the teen agers
were, they were models of decorum compared with some of the
grownups who diSported themselves more like vultures than
mourners."

Paul Malloy,34 another local Chicago critic, titled
his review "Play's Single Blessing: Hero Dead at Start,"

finding the whole business unwholesome.

Variety in terms of source of communication was pro-

vided with the publishing of "The Enigma of James Dean“35

552

in Delta, the journal of Sigma Nu fraternity. The article
promised "a probing analysis of a one—time Sigma Nu pledge
and the symbol he has become." Through interviews with
Sigma Nu men who were active members while Dean was a pledge,
the article revealed that Dean had "difficulty adjusting,"
that "he Spent much time in his room, producing Salvador
Dali—like Sketches." One member's analysis was that the
drawings were "indicative of the fact that he Spent a great
deal of his time in individual endeavors, rather than taking
part in any cohesive activities."

The article further recounted the numerous examples
of Dean ideography still manifest, including "nearly fifty
highly active fan clubs," the fan mail, the songs, and the
poetry ("Goodbye, My Jamie Boy" and Frank O Hara‘s "To James
Dean" were used as examples), noting that "the generation
that raised up the somber-eyed young actor as their idol has
found no need to replace him as the object of their passionate
devotion."

Dean‘s popularity was said to be based to a large
extent on his screen portrayals:

Dean always portrayed the mixed up kid who could not
determine between right or wrong. The Dean image (the
slurred Speech, the dangling cigarette, the half amused
smile) became the accepted passport of the directionless
rebel. He was an exaggerated reflection of the habits
and attitudes of his generation. In each of his movie
roles he played the tortured renegade, who was basically
good but got into trouble because he chose to rebel

against pressures of conformity, lacks of love and
feeling.

553

The article said that Dean's popularity was absorbed
as memory, and "refined now so that it hardly resembles the

real life Dean,‘ providing "a symbolic channel for rebellion
and search," "part of a constant struggle for an identity

that can be recognized, accepted, and lived with."

George Spelvin's "Who Snatched Frankie's Oscar?"36

in the June Confidential Spoke about Frank Sinatra‘s stolen

 

Oscar and James Dean's rumored possession of an Oscar
statuette, in a long, involved, theft-upon—theft series of
episodes, concluding finally with: ”Vampira and an unidenti—
fied companion . . . roared off in a white Porsche

after stealing . . . from the thief. . . ."

The pocket edition of John Dos Passos'Mid—Century37

 

was published in July, 1962, and another familiar author in

a new source of communication of the Dean image was revealed
in the publication of "Jimmy Dean: The Assignment I'll Never
Forget"38 by Sanford Roth in the July issue of Popular

Photpgraphy. Roth revealed that a trans—Atlantic call from

 

George Stevens himself brought Roth to Hollywood for the

Collier‘s assignment. The remainder of the brief article

 

covered remarks previously made elsewhere by Roth about the
"irrepressible young actor, who had won Hollywood fame but
not happiness." Reproduced also were the Roth Giant photos
(including the bongo—playing shot used on the cover of the

Romeo EP recording).

554

A column item39 in the July Movieland said that a

 

film of Dean's biography was "being scripted for a movie
with Rod McKuen in the starring role." That was the last

that was ever heard of that film.

Movie World offered "The Ghost of James Dean,"40

 

calling it "The Memory That Cannot Die" on its cover. This
photo—documentary was concerned essentially with the activities
of the James Dean fan clubs still active. Despite claims of
vast activity, this article documents only two clubs in
America.

The opening photo—montage centered around a poem,
"The Beauty of His Soul" by Beatrice Johnson, who was heading
"The James Dean Memory Ring Around the World," an American
adjunct of the recently defunct "James Dean World Wide Club"
in Britain. As American representative of the British group,
Mrs. Johnson had taken over the management of the club's
activities in the United States. The article credited "The
Memory Ring” with some "300 lifetime members" who do
"everything possible, Short of bringing him back to life, to
keep Jimmy‘s memory from fading into obscurity," including
floral and newspaper—advertisement memorials, charity
donations, and mutual correspondence, with an exchange of
letters and collected Dean memorabilia.

The article explained Dean's appeal as "far deeper"

and "far more universal" than Valentino‘s. When Dean died,

555

"males as well as females“ went into "deep mourning,‘ includ—

ing, said the article, one group of boys "who decided to crash
their car at the exact same Spot where Jimmy died because
‘life isn‘t worth living if Jimmy isn't alive.'" This de—
votion was traced by the article to Dean's personality and

a change that took place when Dean turned from the life of

"a carefree student" to become "a moody, introspective young
man who accepted nothing without knowing the reason behind
it." Following work at the Actors Studio, "under Strasberg‘s
hand" Dean "emerged as one of the finest actors of this

century." He was an "immediate sensation" after East of Eden,

 

"without making a single effort in behalf of his own pub—
licity," and "the more uncooperative he became, the more his
pOpularity grew," because his fans ”realized that James Dean
was being himself, showing his personality as it really was,"
“the most magnetic the public and press had ever come across
in Hollywood." "Within two years" his "two more outstanding
performances" made him an ”idol":

His fans revered him.

His individuality, his searching restlessness, his
dissatisfaction with conformity, all expressed the feel—
ings of a million American teenagers. But, most im-
portant, here was a ‘voice' for the nation‘s youth.

And they listened with reverence to everything the
'voice‘ said.

After Dean's death, the activities of "sensation

mongering vultures" and the resulting press charges of

"hysteria and sensationalism bordering on morbidity . . .

did nothing to disband the clubs" which had started to "keep

556

alive all the things that Jimmy stood for." Besides the
American group, "other clubs are active in Belgium, Germany,
the Netherlands, India, and several other countries.“

With the popular television Showings of Dean films,
"the James Dean furor was in full swing again." It was
declared to be not just ”public sentiment," nor a "'fashionable‘
fad,“ but "nothing more [gig.] than an accolade due this
highly unusual person whose influence will be felt for years
to come.”

Following the article were the names and addresses
of two leaders of Dean groups, the already mentioned Mrs.
Johnson and Mrs. Therese J. Brandes of New York. Mrs.
Johnson's name also appeared in the fan club section of the

July issue of Teen.""1

On July 4, 1962 the TV car—racing series ”Straightaway”
featured "To Climb Steep Hills”42 with John Ashley, another
Dean look-alike and star of several of the quickie teen
films in independent production. Ashley played the part of
a young movie star who risked his life to race his car,
over the protest of his studio bosses. The character "lived"
too fast, was in love with a girl named Judy, talked jive
talk, lived modestly over a garage, and was certainly in—

spired by the Dean image.

Jerry Wald‘s obituary43 on July 14 credited him with

"discovering Marlon Brando, the late Jimmy Dean, and other

 

557

stars.“ Death also seemed to prompt Dorothy Manners'44

column item:

The myth that James Dean is not dead persists.

Robert Hinkle, Jimmy‘s friend and dialog coach on Giant,

was interviewed on TV the other night, mentioned Dean‘s

death, and was besieged with phone calls. 'Why don't

you tell the truth that Dean is still alive and too dis—

figured to be seen?‘ was the gist of the onslaught.
i§_magazine‘s "Platter Patter-—The Truth Page"4S repeated
the same rumor, but "only" aS a rumor, and one of “many such"
which Sprang up after Dean's "tragic death."

The Norman Ross Chicago Daiiy News column46 on Soviet
youth cited the writings of poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, whom
Ross described as "bold" and "iconoclastic“ and ”something
of a James Dean to his contemporaries."

Publicity47 for the Motion Picture Wax Museum listed
Dean, along with Valentino, Gable, Power and Monroe as being

figured among the seventy—five "film immortals" in “this

Shrine to the stars."

In August, 1962 a single publisher (with two publish-
ing companies) and a single editor—writer tried to launch
the new James Dean boom in two separate teen magazines.

Dig48 featured a color study of Dean on the cover
and called its issue “A Super Special Collector‘s Edition"
and “A James Dean Memorial Issue." The magazine featured
"The Miracle of James Dean!"

An editorial preface noted that "two months ago the

few photos and a few words about James Dean” elicited a

558

“tremendous response" from "all over the world asking for
more material on Jimmy." The currently published story by
Janey Milsted, Dig's editor, was “a memorial, a tribute, to
the never-ending legend of James Dean."

Miss Milsted said that She "met‘I Dean in a movie

seven years ago. He was on the screen in East of Eden:

Cal was a boy with an incredible desire to be some-
one in the eyes of the people he loved. But most of all
he wanted to be someone in his own eyes. The people
around him gave him the same treatment I was getting from
the people around me. The good, old ‘Poor Sick Child'
treatment.

Miss Milsted was inspired by Dean. She said,"Just to see
someone on the screen who felt the same way I felt about so
many things did me a world of good." Collection of Dean

materials and investigation proved to Miss Milsted that

Dean was ”partialiy_like the James Dean they wrote about in the

 

movie magazines" but "mgpg like the characters he portrayed on
the screen: young, eager, impatient, full of a strange
combination of deviltry and Shyness, curious with an uncon—
trollable urge to live just as much of life as he possibly
could in the Shortest amount of time possible." For her,
"the greatest thing about James Dean is that he was for real.
He wasn't phony or hypocritical or small." Because Dean

"was a plain, ordinary human being with a built in powerhouse
of ability," he was able to give her, as She said, ”faith in
myself, understanding of others, something called just plain
courage." She said that she waited and wished for the

opportunity to tell her story:

559

And I'm glad that you're the part of the world I was
able to tell, because you're truly the ones who need to
know the Sky‘s the limit. You‘re the ones who need to
understand you're not weird just because you happen to
want something that sounds impossible to the people
around you. You‘re perhaps the main reason I wish
James Dean was still alive. You deserve the same kind
of encouragement James Dean gave to peOple who were
young seven years ago.

"49

“The Strange Legend of James Dean was featured on

the cover of the August Modern Teen. Though the magazine

 

was edited by the same Janey Milsted who wrote "The Miracle

of James Dean" for Dig, the Modern Teen article was not

credited. Again, an editorial preface opposite the full—page

color photo of Dean listed reasons for the writing and publish—

ing of the article——not to "flaunt Jimmy‘s memory or to sadden

those he gig ‘happen' to," but "to tell us why he will never

be forgotten so ED [gig,] can be a part of this legend, too."
The article noted Dean's brief period as a "movie

star":

In each movie he portrayed a boy who was frantically
trying to grow up and just as frantically searching for
happiness. He played these parts so well because the
script could have been pages torn from his own life.

Dean‘s fans "knew the searching and the longing and

the confusion of the James Dean they saw on the screen was
for real." He was "alive" and handsome and exciting; he was
“everything they‘d like to have been," but, after his death,
"they stopped being fans and started being grateful that

somebody else in the world had really felt these same

yearnings."

560

According to the article, "The powerful legacy of
understanding James Dean left to the world is unparalleled”:

Before 1955, teenagers didn‘t really exist. Not to
the rest of the world, anyway.

Here were two classifications of humanity. Children
and adults. If you happened to be a thing called a teen—
ager that meant you were floating somewhere in the middle,
and if you had any troubles or dreams or desires, it was
your problem to live with them until you were old enough
to do something about them. . . . James Dean changed that

picture.

The article noted that "after James Dean everyone

realized that right now is just as important to a teenager as

 

any part of the future." Dean was considered to be "an im—
portant part of the most important element in the world
progress“:

His sensitivity and honesty and unashamed eagerness

to find himself was perhaps civilization‘s most important
contribution toward making that individual between child—

hood and adulthood terribly proud to be a teenager.

On August 6, 1962 Studs TerkelSO in his "Wax Museum“
on a Chicago Local FM station drew a parallel between the
lives and careers of screen writer James Agee and Dean in that
"each in his own way was a comment on the values of our
society." Both men were said to have died tragically before

fulfilling their potentials, seeking something they were

unable to find.

The announcement of the suicide—death of actress

Marilyn Monroe brought more Dean parallels in the wire

services‘ releases.Sl Typical was that by UPI‘S Rick DuBrowS2

561

which was headed "Many Big Name Stars Toppled by Tragic
Deaths." DuBrow‘s article recalled Dean as ”a young Indianan

who attracted a cult—like following in his Short tenure in

Hollywood. He was considered the most promising new actor

since Marlon Brando." A local newspaper columnist, Norman
53 -

Ross, said later:

It is a measure of how much greater a hold Hollywood
has on our imagination than does any other entertainment
medium that we care so much what happens to a Harlow,
Lombard, Velez, Landis, Dean, and now a Monroe.

Recollections of the past came, too, in Movieland

 

and TV Time's "The Good Old Days,"54 which pulled into the

 

present the memory that in August of 1955 Dean, "the latest
controversy [gig.], was called a rebel by some, a genius by
others." Press rededication to the Dean memory brought
revitalized interest from other commercial concerns, also.

In the same issue of Movieland,the "My Star" fan photo agency

 

sought, once again, "new members" for their James Dean Club
at a dollar per membership.

John Kerr, young actor interviewed on the ”Here‘s
Hollywood"55 TV series recalled that when he started out
"you had to be a crazy young guy on a motorcycle——you
remember Jimmy Dean? I don't know what the image is now."

Actress Shelley Winterss6 had recollections, too,
and she related them in her article "The Loneliest Years of

My Life" in the September issue of Seventegg. She said:

562

Jimmy was a beautiful young man, extremely talented,
but his opinion of himself and the feelings of unworth-
whileness [gig,] made him value himself and his life
very lightly. If he asked a question or wanted and needed
the attention of someone who was preoccupied, as his
director was, with many problems, Jimmy immediately as—
sumed that he was being rejected, not realizing that the
person was busy and could not gratify his request at
once.

Miss Winters said that Dean‘s "marvelous sense of humor" was
a cover for this "terrible loneliness and intolerable dis-
satisfaction with the world and himself"-—at least in his
personal life. His acting was another matter. It was Miss
Winters‘ Opinion that, as an actor, "you could only be
effective if you abandoned your covering up mechanism and
allowed the world to see your ‘tick'"—-that acting "is only
really good when an actor has exposed some deep level of
himself":
Jimmy Dean was born with that talent and studied
and developed it, and so he was constantly having to use
in his work the things he really wanted to hide from the
world. I think if he had been lucky enough to have had
a teacher or a friend who could have taught him to
tolerate the anxiety his work generated, he would,
perhaps, still be alive. I have never talked about him
before, but because I read so much now about the drop
outs in high school, I think he would want me to. Some—
thing in the torment of his youth made the young of all
countries identify and respond to him, and they still do.

Nick Dennis,S7 character actor who appeared in

East of Eden was interviewed on "Here's Hollywood" and

 

recalled Dean as "quite a boy," if somewhat of a "Jekyll and
Hyde“ who would feel "great one day,“ and "the next day he
wouldn‘t talk to anybody; he was insulting everybody."

To DenniS,Dean was a "boy" who had "a lot of talent," but

"he was a little mixed up in more ways than one."

563

Christine White58 was interviewed on the same
series not long thereafter and she was identified as "very
close to the late James Dean." Once again Miss White told
the story of the Actors Studio audition, describing herself
and Dean during that period as "two young street urchins-—
looking for a way of life."

Memories of an image rather than a person were re—
called in Arnold Shaw‘s59 review of a Charlie Parker biography.
Shaw said that the fact of Parker‘s early death coupled with
the legend of destructive dissipation that he left behind
made of him "a high priest of the hipster mystique and,
together with James Dean and Dylan Thomas, a native hero

of the beat generation."

60

Donal J. Henahan, music and drama critic for the

Chicago Daily News, had a column on dancer Rudolph Nureyev's
“unbridled ways" and found him "seemingly no more rebellious
or uncontrollable than the average adolescent . . . evidently
he is by nature a non-conformist." Henahan said that such
behavior earned Nureyev the title of "European Beatnik of

the Ballet,“ and he "promptly became Ballet's James Dean.“

The coming appearance of East of Eden on Chicago
television once again on October 15, 1962 was advertised on

TV trailers as ”Raw! Real! Robust! The Frankest Motion

u 81

Picture Ever Made. The Dean name and face were featured

564

in the neWSpaper advertising, and, again, he was sometimes

the only cast member credited.62

Hedda Hopper‘s memoir The Whole Truth and Nothing
.EEEBB was then being serialized in McCall‘s magazine. The
section about Dean appeared in the November, 1962 issue,
framed by an almost full page Dean portrait, and retold Miss
Hopper‘s not—too—enthusiastic first impressions of the young
actor and his eventual charming her into still active devotion.
The sections of Miss Hopper's book printed in McCall's
read like a compendium of every column item on Dean Miss
Hopper ever wrote. Included were her comparisons of Dean to
Barrymore and Valentino, her plans for a Dean Special Oscar,

and her recounting of Elizabeth Taylor‘s reactions to Dean's

death.

Movieland's "The Good Old Days"84 series set the
clock back to October, 1955 when Rebel Without a Cause "was
[the] second film, second hit of the rebel of the day,
James Dean." The same issue carried a letter from a Dean

fan in Iran who wished correspondence.

Charles Laufer,65 editor of Tagg, had to set the
clock up a bit. 2233 magazine didn‘t go back as far as
1955--but in 1957 "the deceased James Dean had already be-
come a living legend." Laufer recalled also a Joe Bryant,

winner of a "Teen Magazine James Dean Scholarship“ in that

565

year. Laufer added that "Joe is now married, in the service
overseas and may have given up acting forever. That‘s
life. . . ."

Time66

picked up the foreign and local comparisons

and in an article on ballet star Rudolph Nureyev said:

Pale, hodlow-cheeked, and shaggy haired, Nureyev
radiates a kind of savage excitement that he describes
as ‘a mixture of tenderness and brutality.‘ It has
prompted comparisons with Nijinsky and even with the
late actor James Dean, hero of the beatniks. Nureyev is

like Dean in another reSpect; he is a complex and diffi-
cult animal offstage as he is on.

George Hamilton was a major subject of Richard Warren

Lewis'67 "Hollywood‘s New Breed of Soft, Young Men" in the

December 1, 1962 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Hamilton

was quoted, naming as Hollywood‘s "two top idols" Valentino

and Dean, declaring "the new star must lie somewhere in

between them":

Both had an animal magnetism and yet they were dif—
ferent types of actors and had different ways of life.
They were original, and that‘s what the new star must be.

Movieland offered "Jean—Paul Belmondo: He‘s the

French James Dean,"68 which stated that though Belmondo was
“the non—hero type" and was said to represent "the worst
aspects of hedonism in youth today“ to French intellectual

society, he remained the "most popular male star in EurOpe.”

Douglas Mc Vay‘s "The Brando Mutiny"69 in the British
publication Films and Filming in December discussed the work

and effects of the Actors Studio in films and declared that

566

though "the most substantial exponent of the school has
been Marlon Brando," "the definitive lesson in this physical
identification with the character is given (in the greatest
of all method performances) by James Dean in Rebel Without

a Cause."

The year brought a published collection of commen—
taries on the writing of J. D. Salinger. The collection,

Salinger, included British critic Martin Green's essay

 

"The Image Maker."7O Green discussed ”the image of innocence
in America" as "brilliant" in the "disparate forms it has

taken} including From Here to Eternity, J. D. Salinger,
Marlon Brando, "Billy Budd," Mark Twain, James Dean, Fitz-
gerald, and Henry James. Green saw all in their different

ways as "mourning over the moment of adjustment to the adult

world of compromise and insecurity":
It is the problem of corruption and their relation-
ship to it that tortured James Dean and Marlon Brando
in some of their best scenes. . . . It is the moment
cynicism becomes comfortable and unconscious they are all
weeping over, fighting off, protesting against.
Chris Parker's essay "Why?" was also included in the
Salinger collection. Parker praised thedsometimes irrational

reactions of Salinger‘s characters as "natural": "Like

Jimmy Dean in East of Eden when he shoves ice down the trough

 

and bangs his head against the tree."71 The "phenomenal
success" of Catcher in the Rye among college students was
said by Parker to be "little more than a kind of myth wor-

ship--like Jimmy Dean."72

567

The sections from Leslie Fiedler's No! In Thunder73

 

concerning Dean and Salinger were included in the Salinger

collection under the title "The Eye of Innocence.“

The hero—narrator of Clancy Segal's novel Going Away

 

was a Hollywood writer. Dean was part of the Hollywood
milieu. In the novel when Dean was killed in the crash, a
friend called the hero to ask, "Daddy's dead. What‘re we
gonna do?" The hero doesn‘t quite know "how to appraise the

mocking element in his [friend's] unexpectedly ferocious

sense of humor."74

Later, while he was visiting friends in the East,
a young girl approached the hero and asked if he had ever
met James Dean. He answered that he had, and she left and
returned with some fifteen of her friends. The youngsters
"competed to ask the most questions about Jimmy Dean":

I could have liked a more congenial tOpic than
Jimmy Dean. They all said they would have died for
him. They wanted to know what he really looked like,
what he had eaten, how he had dressed, if he had had
girl friends. I admit I did a little dressing up of
the truth; I mean, I had only met this boy once, but I
put my imagination to it and what I told these kids in
New Erie, New York, was probably not more wide of the
mark than the myth dished up by the Warner Brothers
publicity agents. The trouble was, after a while I was
lecturipg_them. You could see them grow restless and

giggly-

 

. . . I was telling those kids how a myth for the public
is created, how their minds are manipulated, and then I
got on this subject which I thought I was through with,
how the manipulators become, finally, manipulated by the
very lies they tell, how these lies distort their Spirits
more than those of the consuming audience. I went on and
on, . . . and pretty soon I don‘t think anyone was listen—
ing. Well, hell, i didn‘t bring up the subject of Jimmy
Dean.7S

568

There were several repeated publications during the
year. Herbert Gold‘s "The Beat Mystique“ with its descrip—
tion of Dean as the Beat idol was published as "The American

as Hipster" in Gold‘s collection The Age of Happy_ProblemS.7E

 

Ezra Goodman‘s The Fifty—Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood
received paperback publication,77 and Nicholas Ray's

Variety chapter on Dean from the never published Rebel: Life

 

Story of a Film was published in the collection Hello,

Hollywood.78

 

Hollis Alpert's commentary on Hollywood, The Dreams and

 

the Dreamers,v&usa new publication, but the material on Dean
was essentially a re-working of the Giant review printed in
the Saturday Review in 1956. Opinion was less laudatory;
Giant was now considered to be "shallow,“79 its greatest
mistake the attempt to give Jett Rink significance. Alpert
thought, however, that Dean's death "cast a peculiar sickish
glow on the film“ which may yet be dimmed by "the passage of
time" and Giant will "glow more brightly.”80 Alpert added
that "the Warner Brothers publicity (not in the least encour-
aged by George Stevens) made hay out of the tragic event and
tended to cheapen Stevens‘ effort." Stevens' remarks to
Alpert "privately" noted Dean's "cultivated designed
irresponsibility" and commented that there were "some people
involved who haven't shown up too well." Alpert added, "The

last reference was undoubtedly to the publicity handling of

the film."81

569

For "private" remarks, Stevens‘ quotations achieved
wide distribution, and as part of the Giant publicity

campaign.

Another Hollywood study, Richard Schickel‘s
The Stars, mentioned the brief career of the “brooding, with-
drawn, rebellious“ Dean,82 adding that his "sensitive presence
struck a particularly responsive chord during the decade [of

the Fifties] especially among the young audience."

Orrin E. Klapp‘s classification of types with popular
appeal, Heroes, Villains, and Fools, listed Dean,83 along
with Lindbergh, Lincoln, Socrates, Hamlet, and George
Bernard Shaw, among others, as cultural "models who act and
stand alone": "Americans are impressed not so much by the
greatness of achievement as by the ability or will of these
heroes to be different and follow the solitary path.”84
Popular appeal through pathos may even be gained, said
Klapp, by those who "fall and die——alone.“85 Klapp noted
that "vicarious and imitative individualism reflects a world
where conformity is uncomfortable86——that independent
Spirits in our society function more as compensation than as
an expression of individualism.

Dean also functioned for Klapp as a "nonconforming
fool"—-a “character"87--"a civilized compromise which seems
to say, 'all right, if you want to be different, be interest—
use

ing and we‘ll forgive you. Dean was also classified as a

570

“Bohemian"--"an arty screwball akin to the beatnik."89

As such, he"accommodates mobile and sophisticated people to

a world where almost anything is likely," and prompts

“toleration with a smile." As a "rebel" Dean could be

classified as a hero-type. The reaction is ”mixed.” Said

Klapp: “The American social structure is too varied to

condemn rebels consistently."90

10.

11.

12.

13.
14.

15.

16.

CHAPTER X- -NOT ES

Reuel Denney, "American Youth Today: A Bigger Cast,
a Wider Screen," Daedalus, The Journal of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Youth:
Change and Challenge, Vol. XLI, No. 1V7Winter,
1962), pp. 125ff.

 

 

Lawrence Wylie, "Youth in France and the United States,"
Daedalus (Winter, 1962), pp. 198ff.

Kenneth Keniston, ”Social Change," Daedalus (Winter,
1962), pp. 243ff.

"She Remembers James Dean," TV Guide, January 13, 1962.
[Fragment: Drama Collection, New York City Public
Library].

Tony Wall, "The Natalie Wood Story," Photoplay,
January, 1962, pp. 27ff. [Fragment-—private
collection.]

Val Adams, "News of TV—Radio," New York Times, January
14, 1962, Sec. 2, p. 19.

Larry Wolters, "TV Ticker," Chicago Tribune, February
10, 1962, Sec. 2, p. 3.

Ann Marsters, column item, Chicagp}s American,
February 20, 1962, p. 26.

Herb Lyon, "Tower Ticker," Chicago Tribune, February
23, 1962, p. 15.

Advertisement, Chicago Daily News, February 23, 1962,
p. 31.

Advertisement, Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1962, p. 9.

Advertisement, Chicago's American, February 23, 1962,
p. 30.

Jack Douglas, A Funny Thing Happpned to Me on My Way
to the Grave (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1962).
"The Day That Jimmy Dean Died," pp. 110ff.

Jim Hoffman, "Wedding Bells for Natalie," Photgplay.
Vol. LXI, No. 2 (February, 1962), pp. 58ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Candid Conversation," Show Business Illustrated,
Vol. II, No. 2 (February, 1962), pp. 26-27.
Robin Wood, "Interview with Elia Kazan,“ Films and

 

Filming, February, 1962. Quoted in Robin Bean.
“Great Films of the Century: East of Eden,“
Film and Filming, Vol. X, No. 8 (May, 1964),
pp. 36ff.

Hedda Hopper, "Is He Really That Good?" Chicago Sunday
Tribune Magazine, March 11, 1962, pp. 22-23.

 

 

571

17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.

38.

39.
40.

41.

572

 

Sam Lesner, "He Grabs Your Attention,“ Chicago Daily
News, March 12, 1962, p. 26.
Sam Lesner, "Beatty's Rise Spectacular,” Chicago Daily

 

News, March 23, 1962, p. 28.

Advertisement, Chicago Dailerews, April 11, 1962, p. 75.

Advertisement, Chicago's American, April 11, 1962, p. 34

Jean Carney, "Today's Young Lovers,“ Movieland, Vol. XIX,
No. 10 (April, 1962), pp. 16ff.

Joe Hyams, “Our Man in Hollywood," Show Business Illus~
trated, Vol. II, No. 4 (April, 1962), p. 20.

Picture caption, Film, The Magazine of the Federation of
Film Societies, No. 31 (Spring, 1962), p. 25.

Claudia Cassity, column item, Chicago Tribune, May 31,
1962, Sec. 5, p. 1.

"Natalie Wood, Her Life, Her Loves," Movie Album_#8,
1962 (New York: Official Magazine Corporation,
1962), pp. 17ff.

"Keep Away From My Life,“ Movie Album fig, 1962, p. 9.

"The Deathless Legend of Jimmy Dean," Movie Albumi#8,
1962, pp. 61ff.

Advertisement, Movie Album #8, p. 81.

Advertisement, Teen, Vol. VI, No. 5 (May, 1962), p. 86.

Walter Winchell, column item, Chicago's American,
June 5, 1962, p. 14.

Terry Turner, "Drama, Music, Satire," Chicagp Daily News,
June 9, 1962, p. 49.

Bob Stahl, "Reports,“ TV Guide, Vol. X, No. 23
(June 9, 1962), p. 26.

William Bast, "The Movie Star," adapted by Robert Creon

. (Chicago TV, June 10, 1962).

"TV Slap at Idol Worshipers,“ Chicago Daiiy News, June
11, 1962, p. 39.

Bill Irvin, "Death of a Star Wild, True and Scary,“
Chicago‘s American, June 11, 1962, p. 22.

Paul Molloy, "Play‘s Single Blessing: Hero Dead at
Start," Chicago Sun—Times, June 14, 1962, p. 14.

“The Enigma of James Dean,“ Delta, Vol. LXXIX, No. 4
(Summer, 1962), pp. 260ff.

George Spelvin, "Who Snatched Frankie's Oscar?"
Confidential, Vol. X, No. 6 (June, 1962), pp. 22ff.

John Dos Passos, Mid-Century (New York: Pocket Books,
Inc., 1962); see pages 468—475 for Dean Section.

Sanford H. Roth, "Jimmy Dean: The Assignment I‘ll Never
Forget," Popular Photogrgphy, Vol. LI, No. 1
(July, 1962), pp. 71ff.

Fred D. Brown, "Studio WhiSpers," Movieland, Vol. XX,
No. 1 (July, 1962), p. 75.

"The Ghost of James Dean,“ Movie World, Vol. VII, No. 4
(July, 1962), pp. 30ff.

"Fan Clubs,“ Teen, Vol. VI, No. 7 (July, 1962), p. 82.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

42.

44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.

57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.

68.

573

"Straightaway": "To Climb Steep Hills" (Chicago TV,
July 4, 1962).

Obituary: "Jerry Wald Dies," Chicago Daily News,
July 14, 1962, p. 8.

Dorothy Manners, column item, Chicago's American,
July 16, 1962, p. 14.

Paul Platter, "Platter Patter--The Truth Page," ig,
Vol. IV, No. 2 (July, 1962), p. 46.

Norman Ross, ”Soviet Youth Restless," Chicago Daily News,
July 19, 1962, p. 14.

Handout Flyer distributed at this time, Motion Picture
Wax Museum, Buena Park, California.
Janey Milsted, "The Miracle of James Dean,

No. 5 (August, 1962), pp. 20ff.

"The Strange Legend of James Dean," Modern Teen, Vol. V.
No. 1 (August, 1962), pp. 8ff.

Studs Terkel, "Wax Museum" (Chicago FM Radio: WFMT,
August 6, 1962).

"Tragedy Has Struck Down Many Young Stars,
Tribune, August 6, 1962, Sec. 2, p. 10.

Rick DuBrow, "Many Big Name Stars Toppled by Tragic
Deaths," Chicago's American, August 6, 1962, p. 4.
Norman Ross, "Out, Out, Brief Candle," Chicago Daily News,

August 7, 1962, p. 18.

“The Good Old Days," Movieland, Vol. XX, No. 2 (August,
1962), p. 34.

"Here's Hollywood" (Chicago TV, August 10, 1962).

Shelley Winters, "The Loneliest Years of My Life,"
Seventeen, Vol. XXI, No. 2 (September, 1962), pp.
148ff.

“Here‘s Hollywood“ (Chicago TV, September 10, 1962).

"Here‘s Hollywood" (Chicago TV, September 24, 1962).

Arnold Shaw, ”Hipster Supreme," New York Times Book
Review, October 7, 1962, p. 30.

Donal J. Henehan, "Nureyev: Cat on a Hot Career,"
Chicago Daily News, October 11, 1962, p. 36.

Advertisement, Chicago TV, October 15, 1962.

Advertisement, Chicago's American, October 15, 1962, p. 22.

Hedda Hopper, "The Whole Truthiand Nothing But,"
McCall‘s, Vol. XC, No. 2 (November, 1962), pp. 104ff.

"The Good Old Days," Movieland, Vol. XX, No. 5
(November, 1962), p. 17.

Charles Laufer, column item, Teen, Vol. VI, No. 11
(November, 1962), p. 17.

"Troubled Tartar," Time, November 30, 1962, p. 60.

Richard Warren Lewis, "Hollywood's New Breed of
Soft Young Men," Saturday Evening Post, December 1,
1962, pp. 33ff.

"Jean Paul Belmondo: He‘s the French James Dean,"
Movieland, Vol. XX, No. 6 (December, 1962), p. 48.

 

 

 

Dig, Vol, IX,

 

Chicago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

70.

71.
72.
73.

74.

75.
76.

77.

78.

79.

80.
81.
82.

83.

84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
‘SO.

574

Douglas Mc Vay, “The Brando Mutiny," Films and Filmigg,
Vol. IX, No. 3 (December, 1962), pp. 24ff.

Martin Green, "The Image Maker," Salinger, Henry Anatole
Grunwald (ed.) (New York: Harper and Row, 1962),

p. 247.

Chris Parker, "Why?” Salinger, p. 256.

Ibid., p. 258.

Leslie Fiedler, "The Eye of Innocence,‘
pp. 218ff.

Clancy Sigal, Going Away (New York: Houghton Mifflin,
1962). Quotations from Popular Library Edition,
1963, p. 9.

Ibid., p. 380.

Herbert Gold, "The American as Hipster," The Age of Happy
Problems (New York: Dial Press, 1962), pp. 79ff.

Ezra Goodman, The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of
Hollywood (New York: Macfadden Bartell Corp., 1962).

Nicholas Ray, "From Rebel, Life Story of a Film,“

Hello, Hollywood (ed.) Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr
(New York: Doubleday and Co., 1962), pp. 514ff.

Hollis Alpert, The Dreams and the Dreamers (New York:
Macmillan Company, 1962), p. 143.

Ibid., p. 144.

Ibid.

Richard Schickel, The Stars (New York: The Dial Press,
1962), p. 245.

Orrin E. Klapp, Heroes, Villains and Fools, The Changing
American Character TEnglewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1962), p. 43.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 44.

Ibid., p. 45.

Ibid., p. 81.

Ibid., pp. 82’83.

Ibid., p. 81.

Ibid., p. 53.

§aliassrl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XI

1963--HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY--AFTER THE FALL:
DEAN AND MONROE

A recurrent thread running through popular communi—
cations in 1963 linked the James Dean image with the death
of Marilyn Monroe. Television repeats of the Dean films
in individual locales seemed geared to the patterns of
publicity. Continued linkage of various sorts was evident——

as was commentary, in both fiction and non-fiction.

Maurice Zolotow's January, 1963 article in Cavalier,
"The Eclipse of the Hollywood Star System,"l defined the
"star" as the product of a metamorphic process:
The metamorphosis of the actor-—whether talented
or amateurish, whether ugly or beautiful——takes place
when his personality becomes identified with his image
on the screen. His personal traits . . . come to in-
fluence his movie characterization. Likewise, his
film parts Shape his private life. The real and the
unreal, the flesh and blood and the illusion begin to
merge in the life of the actor and in the reaction of
the audience to the actor.
From this merger arises "an emotional rapport that is akin
to falling in love": "The star is born out of this inter—
action between public and larger-than—life fantasy."

Zolotow believed that current industry practices

would not mark the "decline and fall" of Hollywood stars,

575

576

but would only bring about the end of systematized and
deliberate "manufacture [of] stars to satisfy commercial
goals." Zolotow backtracked somewhat when he insisted that
"it was never the studio that made the star in the first
place. The public made its own stars." He thought the
public was now creating a new cinematic ideal, closer to
life, and "in harmony with a profound alteration in the
social substructure." AS an example, Zolotow cited the
public image of the rebel:

The image of the deSperate rebel, the most valid
new screen image of the postwar younger generation, ex—
pressed a mood already in the air, a seething sense
boiling up in young people of an aimless quality about
living, but when Marlon Bando and Jimmy Dean crystallized
this mood, they made it rampant among American youth,
and soon influenced adolescents all over the world.

Zolotow called Dean's Rebel Without a Cause and

Bardot‘s En Cas de Malheur "probably the two most socially
influential films Since the war" in that they exhibited
those stars‘ "expressions of the private will and the free
Spirit." Zolotow reported a comment "that the Soviet Union

leaders were stunned by Russian youth‘s increasing boredom

with communism and admiration for Dean and Bardot."

A growing cult centered around Marilyn Monroe was

 

noted in the Variety January 9 report2 that the London Daiiy
Express devoted a fifth of its August 6 issue to Marilyn:
"She loomed as a sex symbol in the tradition of Valentino

and Dean." Another British influence in American publication

577

was the nomination of actor James MacArthur for the Dean

3

“throne“ reported by Renee Francine in her article on

MacArthur for The American Weekly, but suggested, She said,

 

by "a British film critic."

The January Movie World advertised an "Exclusive” on

 

its cover: "The Secret Rites of the James Dean Fan Clubs,"4
which promised to reveal the "many strange things" that have
happened "in the name of a dead man": "If Jimmy were alive
today, he would condemn those who use him for their own
erratic reasons."

The story opened with a real "clincher": the announce—
ment of the death of James Dean in 1960--and then went on to
recount the death reports, the rumors, the seances, and the
many commercial projects connected with the Dean name. The
“James Dean" who died in 1960 was finally identified as one
"Frank Richards," an Englishman who "decided to become James
Dean," legally,and with painstaking personal care learning
to imitate his idol. Richards was reported to have been
killed in a Sports car accident.

The article decried such imitation: "Live, Live
strongly. And most of all be yourself. That was what Jimmy
Dean stood for.“ It was further stated that:

it is a fine thing to remember him, . . . but it is wrong
to distort his life and turn him into a saintly figure,

a sacred idol. Let him lie in peace. He was a man who
lived a great life. It was tragically cut short, but

every moment of it was lived fully and in the one and
only person of James Dean.

578

It was Vernon Scott in "Elvis, Ten Million Dollars
Later“5 in the February issue of McCall‘s who said that
Elvis had picked up where Jimmy Dean had left off——”a symbol
of juvenile rebellion": Like Dean, he had established a
luster of being secretly bad, with no apparent evidence to
support this mysterious quality." Scott described Elvis as
participating in or reflecting "The Jimmy Dean Syndrome":
Young people realize that he is one of them and
that he belongs to them. . . . He shares their sup-
pressed hostility toward adults, their frustration in
the face of authority. But he is a symbol of achieve—
ment, for he can buy his way free of grown up super-
vision. He is a teen ager's dream come true.
A Warner Brothers announcement6 of an anticipated
re—release of Giant, though it had been appearing regularly

on the nation‘s screens, appeared the day before Rebel With—

out a Cause received another Chicago television showing.7

 

Not long afterward television announcements8 prepared the
reading public for the Chicago Tribune condensation of Hedda
Hopper's autobiography The Whole Truth and Nothing But.
Television advertisements concentrated on the subjects
Marilyn Monroe, Robert Walker, and James Dean asking, ”What's
the secret?" The Dean segment of HOpper's account was
granted separate publication entitled "Dean Disgusts Hedda-—
Then Charms Her."9 It appeared on March 5, 1963, its news—
paper publication paralleling the publication of the hard—

cover edition of the book by Doubleday.

579

The Doubleday version was somewhat franker in
language and contained some interesting sections missing
from the magazine and newspaper condensations. There were

for instance, Dean's statements about Hamlet's youthful

"lo

naiveté being “lost" when 'older men play him. Hopper

said that Dean and Nicholas Ray got along "like a house on
fire" because ”Ray could communicate with him."ll On the
other hand, according to Hopper, Giant "was not right" for
Dean, and he was working under George Stevens, "a martinet,
a slow—moving hulk of a man who tried to force Jimmy to

conform to George‘s interpretation of the role."12

"Tremendous trouble was brewing,‘ said Hopper, and
"the neWSpaper and town gossips" blamed Jimmy after he "went
on strike and boycotted Giant for three days." Dean had
become incensed at having to Sit for hours, made up and ready
to work, as Hopper quoted him, "Like a bump on a log, watching
that big, lumpy Rock Hudson making love to Liz Taylor."13
Hopper smoothed things over, according to HOpper, but Dean
"got even":
I watched him play the climactic banquet scene
where Jett Rink, middle-aged and defeated, is left
alone to get drunk at the top table. He had some

marvelous lines, but he mumbled them so you couldn‘t
understand them. When Stevens realized what had

happened, he wanted to retake the scene. Jimmy refused.
There was no time for Stevens to try to talk him
into it.14

\

The March issue of Movie Stars Parade allowed Rock

l5

Hudson some partial revenge for Dean‘s remarks about him

580

in the Hopper book. It also provided Hudson with some good
linkage publicity in "The Truth about Liz Taylor, Jimmy Dean
and Me.“ According to Rock, Taylor and Dean Spent "a great
deal of time together": "I understand he was pretty mixed
up and she was trying to help him." When Dean was killed,
Rock said that Taylor "went to pieces . . . whether it was
love or not no one will ever know."

6 in March offered

Earl Leaf‘s Teen Gossip column1
for consideration another new James Dean, British actor
Terence Stamp: "Many are claiming he has [the] face [and]

talent of James Dean."

With all the free publicity around, on March 12

East of Eden had another Chicago television showing,l7

 

appearing less than a month after the showing of Rebel Without

 

a Cause.

"The American Cinema,"18 the article in Film Culture

 

by Andrew Sarris, rated Hollywood directors and their
techniques. Sarris found Nicholas Ray‘s "nervous direction,”

his tendency to cut between physical movements, would rank

him a "minor director indeed,‘ if he had not also the grace

of imparting an overall "thematic meaning" to his work:

Ray does have a theme and a very important one.
Namely, that every relationship establishes its own
moral code, and that there is no such thing as abstract
morality. This is made clear in Rebel Without a Cause
when James Dean and his fellow adolescents leaned back
in their seats at the planetarium and passively accepted
the proposition that the universe itself was drifting
without any frame of reference.

581

Sarris found Kazan's "brilliance with actors“ to be
“incontestable,” the "revolutionary performances" Kazan was

able to get out of Marlon Brando and Dean, "irrevocable."

Nelson Algren‘s potboiler, Who Lost an American?,19

 

contained a passage which said more about Chicago columnists
and Algren than it did about Dean. Algren said that column-
ist Irv Kupcinet once "startled his readers by adding, after
reporting the death of the late Jimmy Dean——'a tough break

for the kid.'"

Teen-Age Tyranny by Grace and Fred M. Hechinger

 

lamented "the abdication of the rights and privileges of

adults for the convenience of the immature," stating that

"the teens" should be made once again "a transition period

to full man— or womanhood rather than a tribal ‘Subculture.'"20
The Hechingers related that the death of James Dean was the
best illustration of the "Hollywood way of teen—age life."

The teenagers ”with the help of the mass media" turned the

Dean funeral "into an orgy of mourning, and the star's fame

rose to greater heights after his death." "At least three
television programs modeled after his life,” "numerous cover
stories in mass circulation magazines," and the movie maga-

21 Dean's film roles

zines——all contributed their share.
contributed too. The typical Dean hero acted "alternately

out of weakness and truculence":

582

To conform to the ‘happy end' formula he stressed
reform. If not basic, deep-down goodness at the end, but
the real impact glorifies the anti—social behavior of
rudderless adolescents in a chaotic or ridiculous adult
world.22

Hedda Hopper's article23 in the Chicago Tribune

 

Magazine on April 7 hailed Stathis Giallelis, star of Kazan's

latest film,as "another Jimmy Dean,‘ saying Kazan himself

inSpired the idea.

A Special exhibit of the photographs of Dennis Stock
opened in April for a month at The Art Institute in Chicago.24
The exhibit featured an entire wall of Dean photographs.

The exhibition dates were extended a full two weeks.

5

Liza Wilson2 claimed in The American Weekiy that

 

Horst Buchholz was trying to live down his 1956 “Teutonic
Jimmy Dean” label, though it was admitted that "he does have
the same brooding intensity, the touseled hair, the sex appeal,
the same high Slavic cheekbones, and he did wrap a car around
a tree." The spring months brought a host of other attempts

26 contained the

at linkage. Earl Leaf‘s Taag gossip column
item: "Warners Studio is planning an hour long Rebels Without
Cause [aig.] TV series as soon as they can find a look-alike
to play Jimmy Dean's role. Any suggestions?” Tima's cover—
age27 of jazzman Chet Baker, once soloist in the jazz
version of The James Dean Story score, ignored that fact but
commented that "he looks and acts enough like the late James

Dean to have inherited a vast following of movie—house rebels."

583

Baker was serving a narcotics sentence in EurOpe. Dorothy

Kilgallen28 warned producers of the British film Loneliness

 

of the Long Distance Runner who had changed the title to

 

Rebel With Cause "to get smart and change it again,‘ since

 

"the new title sounds old" and moviegoers were likely to think

the picture to be "a re-run of the old James Dean picture."

The announcement29

of the re—release of Giant on May
26 carried no mention of Dean‘s name, but it did credit
George Stevens‘ Academy Award, adding that the picture had
earned "over 25 million dollars to date, placing it in the

first rank of the world's top money making films.”

Leo Lerman's "The Pashes"30 in the June Mademoiselle

 

included Dean with Gable, Valentino, et al. as the "heart
throbs" of the twentieth century.

John Rechy's scabrous novel City of Night received

 

publication, incorporating many passages previously pub—

lished in the Evergreen Review. Touring bars, looking for

 

pick—ups, the leading character comes across "a young tramp,

drunk-—the mark of premature doom stamped on his face which

"31.

resembles James Dean's. Jack Douglas' A Funny Thigg

 

Happened to Me on MyyWay to the Grave achieved paperback

publication.32

Gene Ringgold's "Elizabeth Taylor," the basis for an

entire edition of Film Careers and probably the result of

584

 

and a contribution to the Taylor Cleopatra publicity,

described Dean as "a young man destined for tragedy."

Ringgold further said:

James Dean displayed an individualism unlike that of
any young actor and the attitude of an angry young man.
His ability to be newsworthy through his independent
philosophy of life was discovered after his perceptive
acting catapulted him to fame quickly and firmly with
his sensational East of Eden performance. Elizabeth
became his soulmate, his champion, his friend.83

A later section revealed that Giant had already been "success—

fully reissued . . . twice . . intact, with no footage

deleted," though "a new trailer was created for the summer

‘63 playdates."34 Illustrations from Giant featured Dean

with Taylor in several of the pictures.

 

Movie Life‘s July coverage of actor Jack Lord devoted

a Special picture section to Lord as "Worthy Keeper of the

Flame,"3‘5 an illustrated commentary on British critic Clayton

Cole's remark that "Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and

James Dean have lighted the way with a blazing torch

the fire of truth has burned brightly." The Dean photograph

used as an illustration was the portrait featured in

The James Dean Story advertisements.

The July issues of the Scandal magazines began to

catch up with the death of Marilyn Monroe. Two Spoke of a

“Marilyn Monroe Death Cult" on their covers. The terms

“death“ and "cult" provided an easy access to "James Dean"

as a thematic source. Kevin Flaherty36 utilized the name

for just that purpose in his article for Inside Story.

 

585

His first sentence read: "James Dean was the only Hollywood

star who was more popular dead than alive." Flaherty claimed

that Dean didn't even become a "full-fledged star" until

"after he was killed," and only then, "suddenly," was he

H

nailed throughout the world as the male symbol of the Beat

Generation" with "millions of teenagers and young adults

engaged in an orgy of mourning." Flaherty Spoke of "thousands

of pilgrims" flocking to Dean's grave, "hundreds of fan clubs

springing up," and "at least fifty suicides, here and

abroad, .

. . attributed to his death." Also detailed was the

“stage seance" held in a New Jersey movie theatre, as well

as the beatnik "‘funeral services' that wound up as a [sic.]

sex and dope debaucheries.“ “The craze . . . continued for

three years before James Dean finally was allowed to rest in

peace," said Flaherty, and "today, there is a new inter-

national death cult" for Marilyn Monroe. Gloria Landis‘37

article in Lowdown spoke of Dean as "the most recent of those

dead that refuse to die" and remarked over Dean‘s "strange

hold" over his fans in recounting the commercial evidences

of articles, books, records, etc. of Dean's continued popu—

larity after death.

August publications continued this theme. Alan

Levy‘s "Requiem for a Sex Goddess"38 in the August Cavalier

told of the "two members of the same James Dean Death Club

[who] . . . died in separate auto wrecks by ramming their

cars into trees."

586

TV and Movie Album's "The Morbid Monroe Madness"38

tried to get a ball rolling using the same ploy as was used

after the Dean death, deploring "the tasteless and unhealthy

exploitation of a lovely blonde" which outdoes the Valentino

hysteria and the Jimmy Dean Death Cults." With so much talk

about death, it seemed about time for another try at resur—

rection of the Dean image. Movieland4O hailed Elvis Presley

and at the same time employed a bit of linkage a la mode in

 

"Elvis Hears from James Dean!":

Nobody but Elvis could fill his Shoes say the fans

James Dean was a one—and-only say others.

Which side are you on?

Elvis was claimed to have inherited Dean's spirit "of youth—

ful freedom and independence." "A force, a way of life

cannot die if one person remembers," and it was claimed that

"Elvis IS Keeping Jimmy's Spirit Alive.” Elvis was quoted

as saying: "The strength of Jimmy Dean was that ability to

hold on to what he believed in and fight for it.

Jimmy meant the freedom to rebel from everything." Like Dean,

Elvis was depicted as "lonely" and trying to be a good

actor, "dedicated to his work, faithful to his fans." For

the fans who can see Dean's Spirit alive in Elvis-—"for all

those people——and Elvis——James Dean still lives."

On Steve Allen‘s network variety Show, in conversation

with a guest about the requisites of good acting, Steve

587

cited ”the utter Simplicity" evident in the performances of

"the great actors like James Dean, Marlon Brando and

. . 'L
Laurence OliVier." 4

Leo Brady‘s "The Man Behind the Method“;2 in Critic

said “The aim of the Method is to produce actors who eXploit

their own personalities to achieve unique characterizations,I

though in practice, ”method actors tend to repeat the same
character over and over." A prototype which Brady called
"the Goon,“ the growling, lumbering,”tornshirt male with

the adenoidal voice and the miniscule brainf'was established
by Marlon Brando and repeated in various versions Since.
Said Brady, "The late James Dean contributed a wiry version
for the films. . . ." The words were different, but the

ideas were not new. Even the words were not new when James

Baldwin's remarks about Scandinavian streetcorner James
Deans found their way into the collection Nobody Knows My

Name43 in paperback publication. Some old ideas crOpped up

also in Gary Jennings‘ popular history of the films,

The Movie Book,"'4 in which it was claimed that “rumors per—

 

sist" that Dean is not really dead but "in hiding.“ Like

Valentino, Dean was said to be “more famous in death than in

life."

Aljean Meltsir‘s "Life After Death”45 in the

September PhotOpiay jumped on the Monroe—Dean parallel bands

 

wagon:

They were killed, but they lived on.
They were buried, but they were reborn.

588

They died. The man in his anger; the woman in her
grief.

It was said that Deanksbody——"so intense a symbol of

20th century passions"—-lies in a hundred-year—old cemetery,

"lies where it must hurt a man the least”: “Yet for eight

years James Dean's death has been denied.” The article

claimed that Marilyn Monroe's passing also "seems now to

become a myth of our time."

Miss Meltsir quoted Dr. Martin Grotjahn, Clinical

Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Southern

California, as calling the Dean—Monroe phenomenon a

“Spontaneous creation of fairy tales": "We need a myth. . .

We live in an age of science and technique. It is no longer

an age of poetry or religion, and we have lost our fairy

tales."
Meltsir stated that "in death, James Dean received

the love that had—-before--eluded him," noting that "in the

past eight years, over 1,000,000 letters to him have been

stacked in the hallways of movie studios and magazine offices."

The many stars who died Since Dean——Power, COOper, Gable,

Bogart, Coleman, Flynn——"are forgotten.” Again Dr. Grotjahn

was called in for an explanation:

Marilyn Monroe and James Dean teach us something
that we don't want to know——that no one is too young to
die. And it is possible our young peOple are more
frightened of the sudden death of all of us than my
generation was. So they try to prove that death can be

overcome .

Meltsir described Dean as the "eternal adolescent":

589

James Dean is caught forever on film as a half—wild
animal—~wounded, driven, relentlessly searching.
Leather jacketed and speed crazy in real as well as reel
life, he is the eternal adolescent. Mumbling, inarticu-
late, he talks with his sleek, mobile body. His rebellion
against authority is all—encompassing. His anger is an
endless roar. . . Dean was hated and his anger was

directed to the world until—~in the end——it, too, turned
on himself and he died in an accident that was as much

a suicide as Marilyn Monroe‘s gentle death.

Dr. Lawrence Greenleigh, a "practicing psychoanalyst,I

was also consulted. Dr. Greenleigh said that Dean died

”young and dissatisfied":

He was the man who was incapable of getting the love
he deserved and there is a little of that in lots of

people. He appealed most to young people: he was mis—
understood and they wanted to mother and give to him.
As these people grow up and find satisfaction in their

own lives, I think they'll drop him.
Meltsir pointed out that "James Dean has already

lived after his death three times as long as his public life

before death" and mused whether perhaps both he and Monroe

“by their early embracing of death" might be "embedded

forever in the mythology of our time.”

Earl Leaf46 complained that Dean fans "blasted" him

for writing about the Warner Brothers search for a Dean

look—alike for their TV series. Leaf relayed the information

that the plans for the series were dropped after the studio

got "the same kind of Sick mail." With no more said about

such plans, the column item may have been a ”feeler"

deliberately designed to test fan reaction to a possible

projected series. Warner Brothers had become very active in

590

the television field, using various series as Showcases
for their new young talent. The column items could also
have been designed to hold the Dean name in the public eye,

the mentions coinciding with the release of Giant to the

drive—in circuits.

Tima added the name of Yujiro Ishihara to a growing
list as "Honshu's Jimmy Dean,"47 noting that "to some degree
he is almost a religious figure" to his fans and followers.
The twenty—eight year old Japanese motion picture actor may
have been buck—toothed, with "eyes like two razor slits,"
but ”he always plays a contemporary youth, romantically
flaming, challenging established authority, and winning the
girls against brutal odds." In one picture inspired by
Steinbeck's East of Eden "he had the same kind of rebel

role played in the American movie by James Dean."

Time seemed devoted to the cause of Jimmy Dean.

Edna Ferber‘s latest volume of autobiography, A Kind of Magic,

 

contained only a brief section on Dean, but Time felt im~

pelled to repeat a Dean incident described in their review

of the book:

During the filming of Giant, the picture‘s co-
producer appeared on the set one day, ashen—faced after
a terrifying drive through the studio back lot with

James Dean. 'Shoot those extra Jimmy Dean scenes quick,‘
he told director George Stevens. ‘He‘s going to kill
:48

himself in that car.

591

Ferber further revealed in her book that Dean would
"absent himself for days, no one knew where," which she
called "the unforgivable crime in the process of filming
a picture.”"‘9 But she found him not without his charm:
Spectacularly talented, handsome in a fragile sort
of way and absolutely outrageous . . . he was an
original. Impish, compelling, magnetic, utterly winning
one moment, obnoxious the next. Definitely gifted.
Frequently maddening. He was James Dean.5
Dean was also for Ferber one of those rare encounters,
"a dazzling human being who is obviously marked for destruc—
tion"—-perhaps, as She said, because of the ”complete absence
of the sense of caution” in his attitude. Ferber thought
Dean "miscast" in Giant, ”cast against type," yet She found

his acting "enthralling."Sl

East of Eden52 received yet another re—run on Chicago

 

television, and CBS chose "The Unlighted Road"53 as the first

of two "fillers" to be used in a prime time Slot until the

network season began.

Earl Leaf‘s Taag gossip column54 reviewed some of
Hollywood's past and noted the decline and fall of actors
Dick Davalos and Scott Marlowe, who had hoped "to become big
movie stars like James Dean by aping him.“ A 2333 Anniver—
sary Special photo—montage of the "Big Moments of the Past
Six Years"55 featured a photo of Dean. A readership of some

20,000,000 readers a year was claimed.

592

Fall of 1963 saw a growing list of items which re—
peated Dean material previously released in some other form.
Hedda Hopper's The Truth and Nothing But received paper—
back circulation.56 At the end of October viewers in the
New York City area were able to see the last of the Dean
films available to television: The James Dean Story.57
The Dean segment of Edna Ferber's A Kind of Magig was
printed in the November issue of McCallis,58 which had been
running a condensation of the book. November also brought
the paperback publication of Clancy Segal‘s novel Going Away.59

A November interview60 with Elia Kazan quoted him
as saying:

Talent is a delicate thing and either it grows or

it fades. What so often happens is that an actor in

New York does one hit and is pronounced great, then goes
to Hollywood and he's a ‘great actor‘ and he tends to
repeat and repeat and be in things that he doesn't believe
in, until finally he becomes demoralized and narcissistic.

Flattery does its job and before you know it, he has not
realized his potential. I saw it with James Dean and with

'Marlon Brando.

Paul Gardner's article ”Finney: Man in Motion“Bl

in The New York Times related that "a few years ago the
magic word was James Dean, who expressed adolescent indi-
viduality" in the films and created a formula for success.
Dean was said to have come from "the New Frontier acting
school," as did Marlon Brando. Now, said Gardner, from
Britain comes actor Albert Finney, who “has the Dean-Brando
ruggedness that men respect and women admire, but he neither

twitches, fidgets, scratches, nor stutters."

593

7

-enel0pe Houston's study -he Contemporary_Cinema

'1

called the Dean cult "essentially and lugubriously a post—
humous one,“62 though a Dean influence was still to be seen
in the performances of Britain‘s Albert Finney63 and Poland‘s
Zbigniew Cybulski.64 They were cited as film stars who

51: Fed their times, as was Dean:

Dean starred in only three films, in one of which
(George Stevens' Giant) he was unsympathetically cast.
But East of Eden and to a still greater extent Nicholas
Ray's Rebel Without a Cause with its feelings for
adolescense as a conSpiracy, its air of special pleading
for a generation, set up an electric current between the
actor and the audience. Dean suggested infinite vulner—
ability: he wore his leather jacket not with defiance
but in a fearful protest. . . . Dean kept the world
warily at a distance, used, repeatedly, a nervous
gesture like that of a shying horse, sat huddled as if

against the cold.65

 

Dean portrayed "the star as victim," "the star as misfit."

As Miss Houston commented, "Society finds, unfailingly, the

particular symbol it needs.”66

Roger Elwood‘s December, 1963 Screen Parade article
linked Dean‘s "devil“ with ”The Devil Inside Terence Stamp.“€37
The young British actor was said to bear a "rough likeness”
to Dean, and there had been other "earlier comparisons,”
but the article stated that "if becoming a legend means an
early death, this Britisher‘s all for letting someone else
have the honor." The article centered around a near—
accident in which Stamp was once involved: "In a flash he

remembered one name--James Dean! This was how he had died,

crushed to a bloody pulp on the eve of greatness . . . on

594

the verge of a brilliant film career." Contemplation led
Stamp to realize "how really unlike Dean he was":

Terry is strong and independent . . . he‘s fully
adjusted to the basic problems of everyday living. He
found himself a long time ago. . . . He‘s all for living.
If there is any devil inside him, it was born of his

rebellion, his desire to make good . . . used right,
that kind of devil is more good than evil . . . certainly

nothing to fear.

In the same issue of Screen Parade Steve McQueen,
rough—hewn motorcyclist—actor, also rejected a parallel to
Dean: "Jimmy had a desire for death. I haven‘t . . . I have

too much to live for.”68

Diiaes reiterated Sister-publication Tima's claim
that Yujiro Ishihara was "Japan's own James Dean" and added
that "with his brusque, devil—may-care manner he is a symbol
for Japan‘s rebellious youth." Diia related that in some
Sixty films "he challenged authority, moved fast with his
fists and with girls and showed his good heart,“ adding that
by ”playing himself, he has become extremely wealthy.”

That same week Tima,7o not to be outdone, brought in
a new comparison, likening the Dean image to the hero of
Vladimir Maximov's novel A Man Survives in that both Spout

“familiar teen age protests," though Maximov‘s hero does

it with a difference:

‘I hate the world,‘ he Shouts at one part. 'I hate
everybody who has the right to bang his fist on the
table, to give marks.‘ But the reader is mistaken who

thinks he is listening in on James Dean complaining to
Dad because he can‘t have the family car for a double
date. Seryosha‘s father has been taken away by the
NKVD and the boy has encountered in Joseph Stalin and

595

the local commissioner a pair of father images worthy
of hate.

A week later Time71 said that in the Franco Zeffirelli pro—

duction of ShakeSpeare's play that "Hamlet looks strikingly

like the late James Dean. He wears tight slacks and a
turtleuneck sweater.” Time saw such a conception changing
Hamlet‘s plaint into a whine: “Nobody loves me or wants me

to make a career in this lousy court."

Lloyd Shearer‘s “Kazan and His Rebels”72 in the

December 29 Parade linked Marlon Brando, James Dean, and
Warren Beatty with Kazan‘s latest discovery, Stathis
Giallelis in that all "are or were rebels of society, non-
conformists, T—Shirt or method actors, strong minded indi—
viduals, seemingly contemptuous of moral behavior "
Shearer‘s description of Dean matched the general conclusion:

Jimmy Dean was a reckless, cultureless, physically
dirty young actor, rude, disreSpectful, snarling, a
chip-on-the—Shoulder rebel, notoriously selfish and
taciturn, who fought with all his directors but was
nevertheless an immensely talented actor. He rode
motorcycles at breakneck speed, disregarded the law
and the advice of elders, and killed himself in a mean-
ingless car accident, defiant to the last.

Such statements were backed up by direct quotations from

Kazan:

I worked with Jimmy Dean only once. Yet they keep
saying Jimmy Dean is my fault. . . . The truth is . . .
that I never liked Dean. He was crude, dirty, unco-
Operative, snide, very bad mannered. . . . I don‘t care
whether Jimmy Dean liked his father or didn‘t like his
father, whether he was surly or impolite, which he was,
it makes no difference to me.

596

Kazan admitted that as a director he performed some sort

of function as a "father image" to Dean: "Dean did do that.”

One of the leading characters in Paul Goodman‘s novel

_Makinngo is a James Dean—type Beat. The character, Terry,

 

is in fact, called "Jimmy Dean" by the narrator for some ten

“J I

pages until his "real" name is revealed.73 The cue for the

nickname came from Terry‘s ”flaming scarlet Windbreaker, in

the style of a juvenile actor of the time named Jimmy Dean."74

There were other similarities. When Terry makes a reappear—

ance later in the story, Goodman describes him:

He had reverted to the red Jimmy Dean and black levis.
He was pretty in the doorway, though not so pretty and
striking as he seemed to imagine. I could see he was in
a panic. . . . His green eyes burned out at me from the

Shadow, beseeching in despair. His way of coping with
this was to leer at me insolently, his posture slouchy,

and flaunting his pelvis in my face.75

Terry was an extreme representative of the Beat

"impossible youth," who

had the courage tolaunch on their own . . . but simply
didn't have enough feel of themselves to sail by dead
reckoning. They went by abstractions, stereotypes out

of their authors. And maybe, in terms of practical
consequences, those authors were also right: that during
the Cold War it was best to be a little hip or crazy.7'6

For Terry being hip was not enough, and eventually he "began

to Split up six ways like a psychiatric classic."77

Dove Jay's Raising Hell was "a contemporary novel
of modern juvenile delinquency told from the standpoint of

the delinquents themselves."78 Part of the "theme song" of

the gang ran:

597

In our
Dungarees and T—Shirts

Just like Jimmy Dean
Standing on the corner
Looking mighty mean.79

One member of the gang said,"I‘m a Jimmy Dean——the heart

man—-myself.”80 This member declared his admiration for

Dean and his own insecurity, Since he was also bothered

"wit" th‘ worries and problems and insecurities we feel

deep inside, but don‘t wanna admit to nobody. He had ‘em

too "Bl

This same character admitted to seeing Rebel With-

out a Cause nine times. He particularly ”loved" the scene

where Jimmy was "fightin‘ like hell to be understood, to

make ‘em understand him." Dean was explained as trying

“to make the world see him as he saw himself."82 Hollywood

was "screwing” Dean in not granting him an Oscar: "Jimmy

was dead so they stampeded over his corpse to dish out the
Oscars to people who was still alive and could cash in on

Iem.ll83

Louise Tanner‘s Here Today . . . reached paperback

publication,84 and the Arthur Schlessinger and Morton White

collection Paths of American Thogght included Daniel Bell‘s

essay "Modernity and Mass Society: On the Varieties of

Cultural Experience," which, in turn, repeated the thesis of

Edgar Morin:

Contemporary mass culture, the French sociologist
Edgar Morin has argued, goes beyond the age—old purpose
of social control. Its essential function is ‘mythic'——
to provide, since religion can no longer do so, a giant

598

stage on which the new heroes and gods can be deployed.
The authentic mythological hero, M. Morin claims, is
the movie actor James Dean. In his brief explosive
life, Dean fulfilled the classic requirements.85
Bell repeated Morin‘s claims of a vast Dean follow—
ing, their visits to his grave and the total fan mail
received in his name. Bell repeated also Morin‘s argument
that “the distinctive feature of modern society . . . is
that it has invented a new age of man-—adolescence . . .
which refuses to be absorbed, and seeks either through
nihilism, delinquency, or beatnikism to drop out of society":
In contemporary society adolescents form their own
world-—elect their own heroes. With its ‘insatiable
demand for personalities, mass culture today feeds upon

this youth culture,.. . . and in doing so it has made
heroes out of adolescent stars.86

10.

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

16.

17.
18.

19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

24.

CHAPTER IX--NOTES

. Maurice Zolotow, "The Eclipse of the Hollywood Star

System," Cavalier, Vol. XIII, No. 115 (January,
1963), pp. 23ff.
"Marilyn Monroe Cult," Variety, January 9, 1963, p. 52.

 

 

Renee Francine, "The Queen‘s Son,” American Weekly,
January 20, 1962, pp. 10—11.

“The Secret Rites of the James Dean Fan Clubs," Movie
World, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (January, 1962), pp. 22ff.

Vernon Scott, "Elvis, Ten Million Dollars Later,"
McCall‘s, Vol. XC, No. 4 (February, 1963),
pp. 90ff.

Joseph Finnigan, "TV Reviews," Chicago‘s American,

 

February 13, 1963, p. 40.

Rebel Without a Cause (Chicago TV, February 14, 1963).

Television Advertisement (Chicago TV, February 25, 1963).

Hedda Hopper with James Brough, "Dean Disgusts Hedda—-
Then Charms Her," Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1963,
Sec. 2, pp. 1-2.

Hedda Hopper and James Brough, The Whole Truth and Nothiag
Dag (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company,
Inc., 1963), p. 171.

Ibid.} p. 174.

Ibid.. p. 175.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 176.

"Rock Hudson Talks: The Truth About Liz Taylor, Jimmy
Dean and Me," Movie Stars Parade, Vol. XV, No. 10
(March, 1962), pp. 28ff.

Earl Leaf, “My Fair and Frantic Hollywood," Teen,

Vol. XII, No. 3 (March, 1963), p. 52.

East of Eden (Chicago TV, March 12, 1963).

Andrew Sarris, "The American Cinema," Film Culture
No. 28 (Spring, 1962), pp. 1-52.

Nelson Algren, Who Lost An American? (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1963), p. 282.

Grace and Fred M. Hechinger, Teen-Agp Tyranny (New York:
William Morrow and Company, 1963). Quotations from
the Crest edition, 1964, p. ix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hedda Hopper, "Beware of Greeks Bearing Talent,"
Chicago Tribune Magazine, April, 7, 1963, pp. 46—47.
Special Exhibit: Photographs by Dennis Stock—-The Art
Institute of Chicago, originally scheduled April 12—
May 19, 1963.

 

599

26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.

32.

33.

34.
35.

36.
37.
38.
39.
40.

41.
42.

43.
44.
45.
46.

47.
48.

49.
50.

51.
52.

600

Liza Wilson," A Star in Any Language,
May 5, 1963, p. 10.

Earl Leaf, "My Fair and Frantic Hollywood,” Teen,
Vol. VII, No. 5 (May, 1963). [Fragment——private
collection.]

"Jazz—~Goodbye to All That," Time, May 17, 1963, p. 52.

Dorothy Kilgallen, column item, Chicago‘s American,
May 25, 1963, p. 7.

"Top Romantic Team Re-Released," Chicago‘s American
May 26, 1963, p. 53.

Leo Lerman, "The Pashes," Mademoiselle, June, 1963.
pp. 86ff.

John Rechy, Citygof Night (New York: Grove Press,
1963), p. 300.

Jack Douglas, A FunnnyhingiHappened to Me on My Way
to the GraveIINew York: Pocket Books, Inc,.
1963).

Gene Ringgold, "Elizabeth Taylor," Film Careers, Vol. I,
No. 1 (Fall, 1963), p. 17. (Released in July, 1963.)

Ibid., p. 55.

"Worthy Keeper of the Flame," Movie Life, Vol. XXVI,
No. 7 (July, 1963).p. 50.

Kevin Flaherty, "The Marilyn Monroe Death Cult,"
Inside Story, Vol. X, No. 4 (July, 1963), pp. 22ff.

Gloria Landis, "The Shocking Marilyn Monroe Death Cult,"
The Lowdown, Vol. IX, No. 5 (July, 1963), pp. 12ff.

Alan Levy, "Marilyn Monroe: Requiem for a Sex Goddess,"
Cavalier, Vol. XIII, No. 122 (August, 1963), pp. 27ff.

"The Morbid Monroe Madness," TV and Movie Album, Vol. I
No. 5 (August, 1963), pp. 62-63.

"Elvis Hears From James Dean" Movieland, Vol. XXI, No. 2
(August, 1963), pp. 16ff.

"The Steve Allen Show" (Chicago TV, August 19, 1963).

Leo Brady, "The Man Behind the Method," Critic, Vol. XXII,
No. 1, (August-September, 1963), pp. 39ff.

James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name (New York: Dell
Publishing Company, 1963), p. 136.

Gary Jennings, The Movie Book (New York: Dial Press,
1963), p. 58.

Aljean Meltsir, "Life After Death," Photoplay, Vol.
LXIV, No. 3 (September, 1963), pp. 40ff.

Earl Leaf, "My Fair and Frantic Hollywood," Teen,
Vol. VII, No. 9 (September, 1963), p. 36.

"Honshu‘s Jimmy Dean," Time, September 6, 1963, p. 57.

Review of A Kind of Magic by Edna Ferber, Time,
September 6, 1963, p. 90.

Edna Ferber, A Kind Of Magic (Garden City, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1963), p. 267.

Ibid.

American Weekly,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_I_bi_d.,p. 268.

East of Eden (Chicago TV, September 7, 1963).

 

53.
54.

56.

57.
58.

59.
60.

61.
62.

63.
64.
65.
66.
67.

68.
69.
70.

71.
72.

73.

74.
75.
76.
77.
78.

79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.

601

"The Unlighted Road“ (Chicago TV, September 17, 1963).
Earl Leaf, "My Fair and Frantic Hollywood," Teen,
Vol. XII, No. 10 (October, 1963), p. 32.
"Great Moments of the Past Six Years," Teen,(0ctober,
1963). p. 59. _
Hedda HOpper, The Truth and Nothing But (New York:
Pyramid Books, 1963).
The James Dean Story (New York City TV, October 30, 1963).
Edna Ferber, "A Kind of Magic-—Pt. IV," McCall's, Vol.
XCI, No. 2 (November, 1963), pp. 128ff.
Clancy Segal, Going Away (New York: Popular Library, 1963).

 

 

"Donald Stewart," An Interview with Elia Kazan,"
Nugget, November, 1963, pp. 30-31.
Paul Gardner, "Finney: Man In Motion," New York Times,

 

November 10, 1963, Sec. 2, p. 9.

Penelope Houston, The Contemporapy Cinema (Middlesex:
Pinguin Books, Ltd., 1963), p. 77.

Ibid., p. 122.

Ibid., p. 136.

Ibid., p. 78.

Ibid.

Roger Elwood, "The Devil Inside Terence Stamp,"
Screen Parade, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (December, 1963),
pp. 32ff.

Tim Burkett, "Steve McQueen," Screen Parade (December,
1963), p. 62.

"Prodigious Output of the East," Life, December 30, 1963,
p. 171.

Review of A Man Survives, by Vladimir Maximov, Time,
December 20, 1963, p. 84.

"Revised Standard Dane," Time, December 27, 1963, p. 38.

Lloyd Shearer, "Kazan and His Rebels," Parade,
December 29, 1963, pp. 8f.

Paul Goodman, Making Do (New York: The Macmillan Com-
pany, 1963). Quotations are from The New American
Library edition of 1964, pp. 36ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibid., p. 36.
Ibid., p. 71.
Ibid., p. 144.

 

Ibid., p. 207.

Dove Jay, Raising Hell (New York: Vantage Press, 1963),
jacket note.

Ibid., p. 22.

Ibid., p. 89.

Ibid., pp. 114—115.

Ibid., p. 91.

Ibid.

Louise Tanner, Here Today_. . . (New York: Dell Books,
Inc., 1963).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

602

85. Daniel Bell, "Modernity and Mass Society: On the
Varieties of Cultural Experience," Paths of American

 

Thought, ed. Arthur M. Schlessinger, Jr. and Morton
White (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1963), p.
420.

86. Ibid., p. 421.

CHAPTER XII

1964--HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY REVISITED—-"JAMES DEANS
I HAVE KNOWN . . ."

The Dean image was becoming less and less particular-
ized. The majority of mentions in 1964 concentrated on
explaining the phenomenon of Dean adulation or explaining
and noting its influences. After a decade of activity there

was little that could be added to the image.

The January Confidential article "Those Hollywood
High Speed Nuts"l linked Dean to the whole crew of Sports
car and motorcycle driving Hollywoodites, claiming that
"speed came to Hollywood when James Dean sped to overnight
stardom." Dick Clark,2 a teenage idol in his own right,
backed up on his radio commentary program the previous Tiga
and Diia claims that Yujiro Ishihara was ”Japan's James Dean."
There was both linkage and commentary in the television broad-
cast of "Hollywood and the Stars"8 which promised to reveal
"the story of the bizarre and bewildering world of the teen—
agers and its idols." Dean was naturally included and his
name was mentioned in the neWSpaper advertisements for the
program. The program narration approached teen life as

"a world all its own . . . a strange and exotic culture with

603

604

its own private language and rituals.“ The illustrative
accompanying film clips showed rock and roll riots at home
and abroad. Their teen age idols were said to "reflect and
influence“ this "generation of the future." Narration
further claimed that the "years of war and prOSperity"
encouraged youthful self—expression and that the young
people formed "a conSpiracy," a revolt, demanding "tailor-
made stars“ since they could no longer identify with "bigger
than life heroes like Gary Cooper and Clark Gable." One
such tailor made star was James Dean:

Then an extraordinary actor, James Dean, gives
voice to and becomes a symbol of the loneliness and
confusion of the modern adolescent. He seems to
share their anxieties and in him they see themselves.

The narration was broken by a filmed sequence from

an early Dean television Show Showing his death at the hands
of the police, laughing and crying: "Go on, you‘re just
like all the rest of ‘em-—all against me!"

The narration continued:

A tormented youth, Dean seems to live the kind of
roles he plays--sportscar racing, outbursts against
discipline and authority—-and at twenty-four he drives
to his death in a car crash. Then something extraordi—
nary happens. A cult forms around James Dean. Teenagers
all over the world begin to write letters to him, refus—
ing to believe that he is dead. It is revealing of this
generation that it identifies with a boy whose unhappy
life comes to a meaningless end.

The narration went on to discuss Marlon Brando,

described as "James Dean‘s idol," and followed with a run down

on all the other young stars who hoped to cash in on the

605

eleven billion dollars annually spent by teens: "The

movies have all but surrendered to the teenage onslaught.
Since they comprise the majority of today‘s audiences, they
virtually dictate Hollywood‘s artistic standards." It was
claimed that the present generation has not rallied behind
the new stars as they did behind Dean and Brando, though
they seemed "to be searching for new leaders.” The present
generation was described as "drifting, complacent, cynical,
apathetic, eager for kicks," and with such a description,
the narration could well ask, "Will the modern world survive

the teenager?"

In its review of Dylan, Newsweek4 regarded the play
as a reflection of the DylanThomas cult—-an adult enterprise,
as opposed to the James Dean cult which "was kid‘s stuff—-
that was its excuse and its explanation." More ”kid‘s stuff"
was revealed in the Diias coveragecnfthe advent of "Beatle—
mania." Beatle—worship was described as a fad, one of
"those goofy, extravagant, uninhibited crazes which suddenly

take over . . . remember Elvis Presley and James Dean?"

In February on a local Chicago promotional television
appearance Kazan6 continued his plugs for his new star,
Stathis Giallelis, and continued his personal battle against
the memory of Dean, who, he said, "got mean and destructive

and difficult to work with--eSpecially just before he died."

606

Kazan said that "Dean couldn‘t stand his old man" and implied
that Dean turned his hatred of his father against society.

Television‘s "Hollywood and the Stars" again featured
Dean as one of "The Great Lovers"7 who "have mesmerized

women audiences from the time of the Silents" and were

"reflections of their times." It was said that Dean‘s "on—
screen and off—screen roles" mirrored each other. Dean was
also said to be "more intense than Montgomery Clift," who

was described as a Dean stylistic predecessor.

Newsweek‘s8 coverage of the Beatles quoted a fourteen-

 

year—old Chicago Beatle fan:

They‘re tough . . . tough is like when you don't
conform. It‘s not hoodlum. A leather jacket that‘s
tailored-—that's tough. Jimmy Dean was in the same
class as the Beatles because he was tough. You're
tumultuous when you‘re young and each generation has
to have its idols.

Britain had already been exposed to the Beatles and

9

FilmsznxiFilmipg‘s Robin Bean noted reactions in the British

 

audiences that would seem to parallel reactions on the
American scene. Bean said "finding out and following up
what will attract younger audiences has always been somewhat

of a blind Spot," citing the successes of The Wild One and

 

Blackboard Juggle,"which were not quite intended for the way
in which they were received" by young audiences. Bean also
noted the more important and late-flowering British success

of East of Eden, success which came only after Rebel Without

 

a Cause and Dean‘s death. All of these films tended to

607

reflect and popularize moods of the times:
. . . The cinema reflection of violence and insecurity
in the mid-fifties only tended to popularize both moods--
those terrible parents who allowed the second world war
to begin took all the blame--life has now settled down
to forget all about the past and follow up the pursuit
of exploiting those with the most money to spend,
invariably the teenagers.

Bean saw the recently reawakened ”genuine trust and belief in
the integrity of the power class, whether politician, employer
or parent . . . all but smashed" with the tragedy of President
Kennedy‘s death. Bean said that only after Kennedy‘s death

did people come to"realize what he was trying to achieve."

Chicago television viewers saw Rebel Without a Cause10
again early in March, and later in the month the network
"Hollywood and the Stars" feature on Natalie Wood11 used the

romantic scene from that film in its resume of Miss Wood‘s

career .

A special issue of Cinema Today, a British film

n12

publication, was devoted to "Living and Loving and

discussed a change in society mirrored in films "from 1956

to the present day":

This change, discernable particularly in the attitude
of young people to living and loving, may, to some extent,
be seen as a youth—authority conflict, but, in fact, it
goes deeper than this, for, for the first time a teenage
generation has become economically powerful as well as
strong in its criticism of political and social life.

The awakening of youth was said to have come after
the second world war when "neither the discipline of a tranquil

education and upbringing nor the cushions of parental and

608

established moral authority“ could bulwark the fears and
insecurities of the young and they turned to "symbolic
heroes" like Dean who "indeed was a symbol of the beat

generation, but a romanticized legend in the real Hollywood

manner." Part of Dean's appeal was said to be his physical
appearance: "Faces are important——they express immediately
the current social preoccupations." "The Dean Look"

became an important part of world cinema, enabling look-alike
actors "to rise to unique prominence by playing rebel—type

roles and being labeled "the James Dean of so—and—so."

Ernest Callenbach's review of Kazan's America,

13

America in Film Quarteriy_cited Kazan‘s ability as an

 

actor‘s director "who gets powerful performances from his
actors, and in Brando and James Dean he has worked with two
of the most striking postwar talents." Callenbach called

East of Eden "under-rated" because "the strong effects are a

 

little too obviously worked for." Kazan was said to be at
his best when "he had a good story and good actors to push

against."

Robin Bean reassessed East of Eden14 in the May, 1964

 

Films and Filmipg_because he felt "it said more for the mood

 

of the fifties than any other film of its time." Bean noted
the contradictions among reports of Dean‘s acting. The
criticisms and evaluations "were mixed with sentimentality

or antagonism." Even reports of Dean's preparational

609

techniques were at odds with each other: Bean noted George
Stevens‘ comments that Dean had every detail of his per-
formance figured in advance and could do a scene ”in exactly
the same manner time after time" and put these remarks in
juxtaposition to Carroll Baker‘s report that "we did the
nightclub scene [in Giant] about thirty times, but he never
did it the same."

Bean repeated the ”skipper and his friends" tale in
his biographical account of Dean‘s early career and re-
explored Dean‘s Hamlet criticisms from Hedda Hopper's book.
Bean's assessment of Dean's appeal in Britain certainly re-
flected American attitudes:

One must remember that he did very much reflect the
mood of youth at the time . . . when growing up and
accepting responsibility had to appeal to youngsters:
authority, whether parental or civil, was weak and un—
certain in the fluctuating post-war years-~and Dean
more than anything else resembled a permanent embodi-
ment and symbol of their frustrations and uncertainties
in life, and like Peter Pan, never grew old. He also
stood for the rejection of psychiatric and technical
forces that were Slowly putting a strangle hold on the
adult world. Basically, too, it was a search for
Simple love that had ceased to exist between generations;
there was a barrier between that both wanted to pene-
trate, but which society had made impregnable.

Bean‘s reassessment of Dean's acting led him to
conclude that "James Dean‘s performance is the most astonish—
ing ever drawn from an actor in his first film." Bean
tempered such remarks with the further observation that
Dean‘s performance came "more out of an affinity of Dean

with the character, and out of his personal questioning on

life, than out of acting technique itself." Dean‘s

610

performance was beyond direction: "He didn‘t represent,

but rather lived the feeling of youth. . . .

15 quoted Julie

Hedda Hopper's daily newspaper column
Newmar as saying that her Actors Studio find, John Robert

Crawford, "was the most exciting actor Since Jimmy Dean."

The summer season brought a repeat of the “Teen Age

"16 and warm

Idols" segments on "Hollywood and the Stars
weather interest in travel brought to light a previously
unknown "quotation" from James Dean in Gent concerning

"Cities That Swing."l7

Dean was quoted as an authority and
as "the patron saint of hipsterism." Dean was supposed to
have said that New York” doesn't really make it as a swing—

ing town."

The July Cosmopolitan spoke of "Teens Italian Style,"

 

who, in the new Italian film Crazy_DeSire, were depicted

 

"Skipping out on checks, jumping from car to car in mid-
road, riding go—carts, twisting and cha—cha-ing, cataloging
their Sins, strumming guitars, making a sexy home movie,

talking of Sinatra and James Dean. . . ."

Robin Bean's "Will There Be Film Stars in 1974?"19

in the July Films and Filming noted that among current

 

favorites Alain Delon had become "the top young actor in

France, once he had "Shaken off the 'French James Dean‘

tag"; Warren Beatty "was a star before he was ever seen on

8

611

the screen" because of publicity relationships drawn be—

tween him and Kazan, Brando and Dean.

Peter Laurie Spoke of the fashionable British “Mods

and Rockers"20

in Vogue the beginning of August. "The whole
'Mod‘ thing" was described as "socially imposed Self-
restraint" and "a reaction from the fifties when teen—agers
just became noticeable." Laurie credited the "teddy boys"

in England, the "halbstarken" in Germany, and "the James

Dean and Brando generation" in America with establishing

"a dark, self-destroying romance of blood-letting and violent
death" in their "menacing leather" and their worship of
Speed. The "Rockers" reflect this mood. The "Mods" are

a reaction to it——an overgentility. The separation of both
groups from the rest of society and their calling attention
to themselves by their dress and their actions are deliberate
actions, said Laurie. Even their recent rioting called
attention to the fact that adult society does not allow them
"to participate in the power, sophistication and vigour that
is the twentieth century technological culture“:

They have to make do with the fringe things—~music,
clothes, style. We piped for them and did not even ask
them to dance. It is not to be wondered at if they go
away and sing their own songs, dance their own dances,
make themselves a culture that brings the excitement of
the civilization that we deny them. Their success makes
me wonder.what couldn‘t we do if they were with us.

A Similar thesis was expressed using examples closer

to home in Jeremy Larner‘s "What Do They Get from Rock ‘n‘

Roll?"21 In the August Atlantic Larner Spoke of the

612

"ill-named ‘teen age rebellion‘" as a desire, a "crying
need,“ for teenagers "to play their own role in the con—
sumption process." Larner said that “rock‘n'roll is the
music of young people who are alternately sullen rebels

and organization men; or perhaps sullen rebels on their way
to becoming organization men, for one may be the other
turned inside out——either Jimmy Dean or Pat Boone or, if

possible, both at the same time."

Polish literary critic Jan Kott in "Hamlet of the

"22

Mid-Century echoed some of Dean‘s own ideas about the

role when in the August Encounter Kott defined his ideal

 

Hamlet:

I prefer the youth, deeply involved in politics,
rid of illusions, sarcastic, passionate and brutal, a
young rebel who has about him something of the charm
of James Dean. His passion sometimes seems childish.
No doubt he is more primitive than all previous
Hamlets. Action not reflection is his forte. He is
wild and drunk with indignation.

Rona Barret‘s gossip column in the August Movie

Mirror23 chose to link Michael Parks, ”the young actor every—
one in town has been clamoring about," with Dean, because
others did it "often." Parks "absolutely refutes" such com—

parisons, but Miss Barret said "the only difference I‘ve
been able to find between the two is that Parks likes to
make the rounds of the Sunset nightSpots while Jimmy liked

staying at home.“

613

t24

A full page advertisemen in The New York Times

Book Review for The Enpyclopedia of Sexual Behavior

 

 

claimed, among other things, to reveal the explanation
behind "the cult of James Dean.“ It was said that "the
intelligent citizen is entitled to this information and
may actually p§§g_it." There was no Dean reference in the
books. The Dean name, as so often before, had evidently

been used as a commercial come-on.

William Lee Jackson wrote "Bye-Bye—Beatty,"25 for

the inaugural issue of Players Showcase. In his article he

 

called Dean Warren Beatty‘s "idol and pattern for his

career":

Surly and rebellious he may be . . . as Dean was.
Nevertheless, the comparison is a joke. Beatty and
Dean, on the surface apparently kindred spirits, are
really quite different. Dean was an authentic.

Dean was passionately involved with life. He was
willing to take risks, to put his neck on the line.
And that quality——that vital zest for living, that
devil—may-care manner-—that quality which was so
genuine it came alive on the screen, is the thing that,
ironically, killed him.

Frank Kermode reviewed Jan Kott‘s ShakeSpeare, Our

 

Contemporary for The New York Review of Books.26 The Kott

 

 

essay on Hamlet was included in the collection and received
Special mention from Kermode, who found that Kott‘s thesis
concerning a Hamlet who was "a bit like James Dean" was

“a harmless fancy, if not involved in some pretentious

philosophical generalization."

614

Hedda Hopper repeated her Julie Newmar-John Robert

Crawford-James Dean plug in her Photoplay column27 in

 

September. What Hedda tried to identify for Americans,
the French also still sought, finding the latest example
of "le James Dean francais" in the pop Singer ”Ricardo."28
English writer Colin Wilson, now a regular contributor to
the American magazine Cavalier, had no new candidates for
the James Dean title, but he did rule out a source.29
Wilson felt that "TV doesn‘t seem to stir the same deep
enthusiasms as the cinema.” He could not imagine, and he
asked if anyone could "imagine television Spawning idols

like Valentino, Garbo, James Dean."

Laurence J. Quirk‘s article on Steve McQueen,

"The Wild Heart,"30 in the November Movie World quoted an

 

unnamed "academician" who stated:
He‘s the logical successor to Jimmy Dean. . . .
The clique that worshipped Dean‘s flounderings and self—
searchings and hostility-sublimations, the crowd that
identified with all that nonsense, has a new Messiah in
McQueen. Luckily, he is living longer than Dean did,
so the cult will have a long, long time to thrive.
Jacques Bartels‘ See article was called "Let's Get
Tough with Teenagers,“31 but the pictures that "sold“ the
article concerned Dean. A matched set showed Dean and
Charles Starkweather, called Dean Starkweather's "idol."

In the same issue, a picture of Dean‘s headstone

illustrated George Burke‘s article "Death on the Highways."32

615

Clement Haney's "The Cult of the B‘s“33 in the
November gap: said that a Brando cult was strong at one
time, but that Brando was "pretty well displaced by the
late James Dean."

Helen Lawrenson‘s article on Leslie Caron's unhappy
marital Situation, WA Song of Love Is a Sad Song,34 saw at
the root of the situation Warren Beatty, whom She described
as "an ambitious and somewhat moody young man whose actions,
both on screen and off, sometimes give the impression that
he views himself as a reincarnation of James Dean, with a
touch of early Brando thrown in."

"35 on television said

A guest on “The Mike Douglas Show
that teenagers were so shaken by the accident—death of James
Dean, feeling almost that they had lost "a member of the

family,“ that several attempted suicide, and "a dozen or so

succeeded."

iiiafs article "The Man Who Plays Adam"36 was an in-
volved attempt at linkage between Dean and Michael Parks,
who had not yet appeared as a star in any films, though he
had been called, already, "the new James Dean." Parks was
claimed to have a "built—in intensity," was socially
“a loner." Said he, "I'm not planted anywhere-—in anything."
His soon-to-be-released film roles would seem to reinforce
the image projected in print. Diia said that in Bus Riley‘s

Back in Town Parks plays ”a confused and complex Navy

 

616

veteran who doesn‘t know what to do with himself": in Fargo

[title was later changed to The Wild Seed] he‘s "a drifter":

 

in The Bible he plays Adam, "the innocent.‘I For one of the

 

illustrations the caption read: "Alone in a lettuce field
in Salinas, California, Michael Parks is an almost ghostly
reminder of James Dean as he recalls his own days as an
itinerant crOp picker." Further copy noted Parks‘ life till

now: "always poor, often hungry."

In its December issue Photopiays7 lamented the fact

 

that Natalie Wood had lost Warren Beatty to Leslie Caron.

Photoplay wondered "from the string of dates Nat had run

 

through before him——from Elvis through Raymond Burr, Jimmy
Dean, Tab Hunter and a score of others" that she would not
have known how to hold on to Warren.

The article supplied its own answer: "Check back
on them and you will see that it was to her publicity ad—

vantage, at the time, to be seen with every one of them."

Joel Meltz‘s "The Non—Hero-—Society‘s S.O.B."38 in

the December issue of Jaguar commented on Dean as "the object

of passionate adulation":

James Dean, the early personification of the rebel
without a cause, departed these mortal coils via a
smashed sports car in the mid-fifties. His popularity,
strange to say, increased wildly after his death, and
today the cult of Dean worshippers is on the increase
still. The hero, non— or otherwise, as dessicated corpse
is nothing new in the annals of religion, but then
again, nothing made by Hollywood ever is new.

617

Time38 blamed the French for the "le James Dean
polonnais" tag on Zbigniew Cybulski when the career of that

actor was covered in the December 18 issue.

Paul Brodeur‘s December Dhoy_article ”The Teen
Scene: A Hard Year's End"4O saw the generation once removed
from the present as "those who were of the James Dean—Marlon
Brando era." An illustration of Steve McQueen on his motor—
cycle was labeled as "the rugged but sensitive successor to

idol James Dean."

Gene Ringgold‘s "James Dean.41 was almost half the

the issue of Screen Facts and it Spoke of "a cinema legend

 

unsurpassed in the history of Hollywood since the death of
Rudolph Valentino” whose name "ten years after his death . .
retains its original magic." The name was still magical
enough to preserve some of the legend and though Ringgold
still Spoke of Dean as a "straight A honor student,“
generally the article utilized most of the recognizable facts
hitherto recorded. Little was glossed over--from mention
of "Dean's counsellors . . . a street corner clan of homo—
sexual would-be actors" to Dean‘s "continual interruptions"
of his directors.

The listing as an appendix42 of Dean's various film
and television appearances, incomplete, incorrect and vague
though it sometimes was, was still the most complete ever

published, and a "Special Acknowledgement" credited

618

Mrs. Beatrice Johnson, President of "The James Dean Memory

Ring" with "helping research this index."

Leslie Fiedler in Waiting for the End43 credited "good

 

publicity for building Jack Kerouac into a "fantasy figure
capable of moving the imagination of rebellious kids with
education and literary aspirations, as his more lumpen
opposite members, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando and James Dean,
were moving their less literate, less ambitious contempor—

aries."

Orrin Klapp‘s Symbolic Leaders Spoke of Dean as
crystallizing a social type in "depicting the rebellious
adolescent in Rebel Without a Cause." Klapp added that "one
of the prime functions of popular favorites is to make types
visible, which in turn makes new life styles and new tastes
visible.“44 According to Klapp, Dean performed this

function also in Mexico, rebelde sin cause coming to stand

for "Juvenile delinquent."4S

On the cinema literary scene Ruth Waterbury‘s

biography Elizabeth Taylor46 mentioned Dean as the new

sensation in the movie business" when he was signed for Giant.
Miss Taylor was said to have been "so hysterical" after Dean‘s

death that "for two days . . . Stevens had to shoot the

4
scenes around her." 7

619

Another book on Hollywood, Richard Schickel‘s
Movies, The History of an Art and an Institution, found
Dean less unique. Schickel Spoke of Dean as one of the
"new heroes" of the screen, "brooding, inwardly troubled,
seemingly inarticulate, absolutely incapable of that sunny
openness of character, that simplicity of motivation and
response which we like to think of as most characteristic
and most virtuous——of the American personality."48 Schickel
saw Brando and Clift as the innovators of the currently

popular style, with Dean only "in the Brando tradition."49

Probably the most unusual item in the Dean annals
is the inclusion of Dean and comment about him in the
children‘s book James—~A Famous First Name Book.50 Surrounded
by names like Madison, Watt, Thurber, Whistler, Dean was
approached as an historically unique figure. Intended for
very young readers (probably eight to ten years old) the
copy read:

James Dean was a fine young actor. He did not live
very long--but even in his Short life, James Dean became
a sort of a legend.

James had something fiery about him. He could act
out all the hot, angry feelings that everyone has inside.
It was all very exciting! Watching James' movies was
almost like living them yourself.

Lots of other actors tried to imitate James. James
wasn‘t always neat--so they tried to be like him by
dressing Sloppily. James wasn‘t always polite—-so they
tried to be like him by being rude. But it didn‘t work.
Because it wasn‘t sloppy clothes and bad manners that
made James important. It was talent and hard work and
a deep love for acting. The rest didn‘t matter. And
that‘s why there has never been another James Dean.

Uer;

\ICD

10.
11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.
18.

19.

CHAPTER XI I--NOTES

Joe Chibit, "Those Hollywood High Speed Nuts,”
Confidential, Vol. XII, No. 1 (January, 1964), pp.
24—25.

"Dick Clark Reports" (Chicago Radio, January 14, 1964).

”Hollywood and the Stars”: “Teen—Age Idols, Pt. 1"
(Chicago TV, January 13, 1964).

"Hollywood and the Stars": "Teen-Age Idols, Pt. II"
(Chicago TV, January 20, 1964).

See also Television advertisement,Chicago‘s American,
January 13, 1964, p. 18.

"Undying Voice," Newsweek, January 27, 1964, pp. 58—59.

George P. Hunt, "Goldfish Gobbling to Beatlemania,"

Life, January 31, 1964, p. 3.

"Irv Kupcinet Show" (Chicago TV, February 8, 1964).

"Hollywood and the Stars": "The Great Lovers"
(Chicago TV, February 10, 1964).

Richard Lemon, ”George, Paul, Ringo and John,"
Newsweek, February 24, 1964, pp. 54—59.

Robin Bean, "Keeping Up With the Beatles," Films and
Filming, Vol, X, No. 5 (February, 1964), pp. 9ff.

Rebel Without a Cause (Chicago TV, March 2, 1964).

“Hollywood and the Stars": “Natalie Wood" (Chicago TV,
March 23, 1964).

"Living and Loving," Cinema Today, Vol. I, No. 4
(Summer, 1964), pp. 2ff.

Ernest Callenbach, Review of America, America,

Film Quarterly, Vol. XVII, No. 4 (Summer, 1964),
. 55.

Robig Bean. "Great Films of the Century: East of Eden,“
Films and Filming, Vol. X, No. 8 (May, 1964).
pp. 36ff.

Hedda HOpper, column item, Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1964,
Sec. 2, p. 4.

"Hollywood and the Stars": "Teen-Age Idols, Pt. I"
(Chicago TV, July 27, 1964).

"Hollywood and the Stars": "Teen Age Idols, Pt. II"
(Chicago TV, August 3, 1964).

"Cities That Swing," Gent Special Edition, July—August,
1964, p. 12.

"Teens Italian Style," Cosmopolitan, Vol. CLVII, No. 1
(July, 1964), p. 12.

Robin Bean, "Will There Be Film Stars in 1974?"
Films and Filmipg, Vol. X, No. 10 (July, 1964),
pp. 9ff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

620

20.

21.

22.

621

Peter Laurie, "Mods and Rockers," Vogue, August 1,
1964, pp. 68ff.

Jeremy Larner, "What Do They Get from Rock‘n‘Roll?“
Atlantic, Vol. CCXIV, No. 2 (August, 1964),
pp. 44-49.

Jan Kott, "Hamlet of the Mid-Century," Encounter,
Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (August, 1964), pp. 55-39.

Rona Barrett, "Private Line to Hollywood," Movie Mirror,
Vol. XIII, No. 10 (August, 1964), p. 14.

Advertisement, New York Times Book Review, August 23,
1964, p. 19.

 

 

 

25. William Lee Jackson, "Bye—Bye—Beatty," Players Showcase,

27.
28.

29.

30.
31.

32.

34.
35.
36.

37.

38.
39.
40.
41.

42.
43.

 

Vol. I, No. 1 (Fall, 1964), pp. 58ff.

. Frank Kermode, "The Shakespeare Rag," New York Review of

 

Books, September 24, 1964, pp. 9—10.

Hedda Hopper, "Under Hedda's Hat," Photopiay, Vol. LXVI
No. 3 (September, 1964), p. 31.

"Les 100 Confidences de Ricardo," Music Magazine #10
October, 1964, pp. 42ff.

Colin Wilson, "Some Entomological Observations on
Beatlemaniacs," Cavalier, Vol. XIV, No. 137
(November, 1964), p. 67.

Lawrence J. Quirk, "The Wild Heart," Movie World,

Vol. IX, No. 6 (November, 1964), pp. 28ff.

Jacques Bartels, "Let‘s Get Tough with Teenagers," Dag,
Vol. XXI, No. 12 (November, 1964), p. 11.

George Burke, "Death on the Highways," Dag,
(November,'1964), p."30.

Clement Haney, "The Cult of the B‘s," Gent, Vol. VIII,
No. 6 (November, 1964), pp. 19ff.

Helen Lawrenson, "A Song of Love Is a Sad Song,”
Cosmopolitan, Vol. CLVII, No. 5 (November, 1964),
pp. 88ff.

“Mike Douglas Show" (Chicago TV, November 25, 1964).

"The Man Who Plays Adam,” Life, November 27, 1964,
pp. 69ff.

“What Leslie Caron Gives Warren Beatty That Natalie
Wood Just Couldn't," Photoplay, Vol. LXVI, No. 6
(December, 1964), pp. 54ff.

 

 

 

 

 

Joel Meltz, "The Non—Hero——Society‘s S.O.B.," Jaguar,
Vol. I, No. 1 (December, 1964), pp. 15ff.

"The Man in the Green Lenses," Time, December 18, 1964,
p. 71.

Paul Brodeur, "The Teen Scene: A Hard Year's End,”
Show, Vol. IV, No. 11 (December, 1964), pp. 48ff.

Gene Ringgold, "James Dean," Screen Facts, Vol. II,

 

No. 2 (Christmas, 1964), pp. 1—29.

Ibid., p. 29.

Leslie A. Fiedler, Waiting for the End (New York:
Stein and Day, 1964), p. 164.

 

44.
45.
46.
47.
48.

49.
50.

622

Orrin E. Klapp, Symbolic Leaders: Public Drama and
Public Men (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company,
1964), p. 38.

Ibid.

Ruth Waterburg, Elizabeth Taylo£_(New York: Appleton—
Century, 1964), p. 174.

Ibid., p. 176.

Richard Schickel, Movies, The History of an Art and an
Institution (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1964),
p. 176.

Ibid., p. 177.

Brenda Forman, James—-A Famous First Names Book
(New York: Arthur Frommer, Inc., 1964), p. 29.

CHAPTER XIII

1965--THE END-~AND A BEGINNING OF SORTS

1965 is to prove to be a mirror for all that has
gone before. There will be a re—working of all of the
previously used strands of linkage and repetition utilized
in keeping the Dean name alive in the popular imagination.
Biography, social analysis, artistic analysis, scatological
comment-—all make their contribution to and partake in the
James Dean image. The end, if there is one, is not yet in

Sight.

Pauline Kael‘s 1965 critical collection I Lost It

 

at the Movies included an unidentified 1955 essay—review

 

concerning the Brando—Dean image. Miss Kael said that "when
the delinquent becomes the hero in our films, it is because
the image of instinctive rebellion expresses something in

many people that they don‘t dare express."l

According to
Miss Kael, only the young seemed to be angry enough, or were
"irresponsible enough to act out a NO to the whole system
of authority, morality, and prosperity."2
For MiSS Kael "Dean‘s acting suggests Montgomery Clift

as much as it does Brando, while his facial qualities suggest

623

624

Gregory Peck."3 The "extraordinary resentments“ expressed
over Dean's supposed imitation of Brando's acting style
indicated, said Miss Kael, I‘the depth of Brando's contact
with some sections of the public."4 She found Dean‘s acting
style exploited to the fullest by clever camera work, his

depiction of "alienation . . . exploited for erotic

gratification":S

The alienated hero acquires a new dimension in
East of Eden. James Dean‘s Cal . . . inarticulate and
animalistic . . . is a romantic figure, decorated with
all sorts of charming gaucheries. . . . At one level
he‘s the All—American boy . . . he‘s not too good at
school, he‘s sexually active, he‘s not interested in
politics, but has a childlike reSponSiveness to
parades, he doesn‘t care about words or ideas.

Yet this lack of intellectual tendencies is pro—
jected as evidence of sensitivity and purity of feeling;
the strangled speech, the confused efforts at gesture
as poetry. This is a new image in American films: the
young boy as beautiful, disturbed animal, so full of
love he's defenseless.6

 

A January Saturday Review travel article7 spotlighted the

 

Movieland Wax Museum, noting, especially, the ”romanticized
Shrine . . . dedicated to Jimmy Dean playing the dream
sequence in the 1955 picture Rebel Without a Cause."

In the January issue of Borderline, an occult publi-

 

cation, Maila Nurmi, "Vampira," wrote her own report on
"The Ghost of James Dean,”8 which related that she "last
heard from him seven years ago."

9 reported on a changing relationship between

Time
the generations. The Time report said that "the Classic

conflict between parents and children is letting up" with

625

the "archetype of the James Dean—style cool youth" giving
way to an even cooler model exemplified in the young hero
of James Leigh's novel What Can You Do? who says:

I‘ve never been able to see the big rebellion scene
in order to prove you‘re an individual. . . . Much less
friction if you just go with it. . . .

A gossip itemlo in February‘s Sound Staga read, in
part:
From Paris comes a report that Elia Kazan will star
a French singer in the biography of James Dean. The
true story of Dean will never be revealed——too explosive.

British critic Robin Beanll in the February Films

and Filming said that he thought Dean Stockwell to be "the

 

finest young actor that the American cinema possesses," and
that he therefore deplored the studio biography which
described Stockwell as bearing "a striking resemblance to
James Dean, but a more distant, cynical, enigmatic James
Dean!" Said Bean: “A fine description, but I‘ve never met
anyone it could be applied to, certainly not Stockwell."
Elsewhere in the Same issbe in a detailed study of
the career of French actor Alain Delon,12 Bean said that
after Delon‘s first film, in which he played a "teenage
Don Juan," publicity tried to make him into a "symbol of
modern youth." This publicity activity and his interest in
cars soon brought him the label "the French James Dean."

According to Bean, Delon "hates" the linkage "for there has

never been any Similarity between the two either on or off

626

screen.‘ Delon23“natural freshness“ in his playing soon
brought him his own fame, "eSpecially as it was at a time
when directors were doing their best to stereotype young
actors in the Jimmy Dean—type self—conscious role."

X

the American publication Parade, and he said that Delon

Lloyd Shearer13

wrote a Similar piece on Delon for
earned his Jimmy Dean title in Japan, where his film Purple
Noog had won a Japanese award as "Best Film of the Year."
About all that seems certain is that someone, somewhere,
called Delon "the French James Dean." Delon, as others
before him, gained even more publicity yardage in denying

any Similarities.

Phyllis Lee Levin‘s "The Sound of Music?"l4 in

The New York Times Magazine claimed there were even some

 

parents who felt that teenagers were bored, and that teens‘
interest in fast cars, motorcycles, and surfing reflected
"the need to heighten life by courting death.” One parent
was quoted as saying: "When teenagers reach the age to

be radical, they find there is not much to be radical about.
This is why the hot rod set, Jimmy Dean, Marlon Brando,

James Bond, are heroes."

In a Similar mood was Stephen Birmingham‘s featured
article in the March Holiday, "American Youth: A Generation
Under the Gun."15 Birmingham quoted an unnamed ”prominent

sociologist" as blaming "the disaffection of much of today‘s

627

youth on . . . ‘the great vacuum of the Eisenhower years
when "there was no one they could look up to . . . no
great wars . . . no causes or crusades that seemed important
to them.“ Birmingham noted that ” it was during the

Eisenhower era, too, that the James Dean film, Rebel Without

 

a Cause, appeared and struck home so truly to teen agers.
Its very title said it all: they wanted to rebel, but

there was nothing to rebel against."

\.
2"

Charles Nuetzel‘s Whodunit? Hollywood Style did little
to enlarge on or reflect the Dean legend. Dean was mentioned
as a member of the Actors Studio16 and the rumor of Dean‘s
escape from death was repeated——as a rumor,17 but an interest-
ing related item told of Marilyn Monroe "flapping her arms
again and again like a crazy duck in a so-called attempt to
relax her nerves and increase her blood flow, hopping about
the set, claiming it was an exercise which she's learned at
the Actors Studio."18 One is reminded of those hard—to—
believe stories of OVer a decade ago—~of Jimmy Dean jumping

up and down next to the camera.

In "The Night Natalie Wood Stole the Show from Liz"19
in the April issue of Motion Picture a linkage established
between Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor when they Spent an
evening at a party together also imparted the information
that "both girls had suffered major crushes over the same

man, James Dean." Natalie Wood now had a new beau, actor

628

and she felt impelled to tell him all, or

 

Tom Courtenay,
so the story went in "Let‘s Go to My Place”20 in the April

Modern Screen. Tom was told about the "gentle, Shy and

intrOSpective" Jimmy because Tom reminded Natalie " of what

Jimmy might have been had he grown up." The article then

proceeded to draw relationships between the realtionships.
/
An advertisement21 in Screenplay in April, 1965

offered the September, 1957 edition of Hear with the James

Dean recording as a "collector‘s item." gThe same issue

presented Alan Webster's “The Story Screenplay Waited Ten

Years to Print."22

Webster stated that Dean first appeared as a hero

of a social revolution, the "teenage revolution," when teen-

agers were just beginning "to assert their individuality

and independence," and were being "permitted to asset

their 'rights.‘" As a symbolic hero of this teenage revolu—

tion, Dean "illustrated their defiance of convention and

authority":

His movies were immersed in teenage conflict and
rebellion. They portrayed the adult world as either
senseless or uncaring. They portrayed the teenagers
as innocent victims of adult stupidity and disinterest.
They made the teenager feel he flag somebody.

Webster said that when Dean died, the teenage world

"needed" the James Dean cult, that "sociologists say it was

a healthy thing.” According to Webster or the sociologists

(he isn't clear) Dean as an idol was harmless "because he

no longer existed" and teenagers were, through using him,

629

able to let off steam, "which might otherwise have been

directed in terribly destructive ways." The Dean image was

then analyzed as a cult figure:

James Dean was eulogized as a super-god, just as he
had been a super—star. But along with the cult came
the James Dean myth. The James Dean who was idolized
had to fit a pattern, had to conform to the image teen-
agers wanted him to be. Thus he was called a rebel.
Thus he was called a genius. Thus he was called many
things which strayed far from the truth, but created

the myth.
accord—

The truth was known, even in those days—-but,

ing to Webster, "it was obviously not appropriate to tell

the truth in an atmosphere of extreme emotionalism, where

the truth could have led to terrifying insecurities and

psychological disasters." Dean was described as an idol

"Suddenly . . . created by publicity and emotional fervor"—-

"all bits and pieces of an incredible fraud."

Webster described Dean as "an ordinary young man

with an extraordinary number of complexes and problems."

AS an actor, he had a "knack," but "that talent never had

a chance to grow, to prove itself." Personally, "he was

terribly timid, terribly uncertain, terribly unsure, terribly
tormented about his own worth and qualities." Dean was not

a rebel Since ”he had never learned even the basic meaning

of social behavior“:

Jimmy had the obnoxious habit of 'relieving' himself

whenever he felt like it and no matter where he was.
His behavior in this was anti-social, but he was unaware

that people were repulsed by it.

Nick Adams was quoted as saying that Dean was "buddy—

buddy" with nobody. Natalie Wood said She was fond of Dean

630

as a person but couldn‘t stand him as a co—worker because

of "his complete lack of professional ethics," distracting

her, making noises, etc. Her report on what Dean did to

Sal Mineo covered about the same territory:

Jimmy would go through rehearsals with Sal letter—
perfect, but when the scene was actually Shot, Jimmy
would suddenly change his lines just enough to throw

Sal off—cue and disorient him, thus discrediting him
with the director.

Dean was described as "an ordinary young man" who, "by

some mystic alchemy, projected a stunningly extraordinary

image on the screen.“ Dean was described as having had

"star quality," and "it had nothing to do with talent."

(Once again the Hollywood mystique has been saved.) Other

implications revolved around speaking of Dean's death as
"a form of suicide"and mentioning that Dean once told a
fraternity brother he "had a way of getting out of the draft.”

In sum, Webster said,”James Dean does not deserve the adula-

tion that is being showered on his ‘memory‘ nor would he

have wanted it."

The James Dean Storya3 finally reached Chicago tele—

vision screens on April 11, 1965. Its showing served to

welcome young Michael Parks, making his starring debut in

films and at that time on a personal appearance tour. Local

newSpaper columnists24 gave him a big play as ”the new James

Dean" and the national magazine reviews followed suit. Time
said that as Bus Riley,Parks "will inevitably be compared to

James Dean."25 Arthur Knight said:

631

Parks plays the kind of young man that Jack Kerouac
liked to write about——unwanted, unattached, uncommitted,
and unwilling to surrender his independence to a society
in which he feels himself alien; and he plays him with a
sensitivity and sureness that wins sympathy for what is

essentially an unsympathetic type. With proper roles,
Parks can become the embodiment of today's ‘beat gen—

eration‘ just as thoroughly as, a decade ago, James
Dean epitomized the 'hot rod‘ set.26

A longer way of saying the same thing.

Probably no performance since Dean‘s has been so

highly evocative of the Dean style as that of Michael Parks

in Bus Riley‘s Back in Town. His Speech, his posture, his

facial expressions have been mannered and stylized so as to

become an almost exact modern counterpart of the approach

Dean employed a decade ago. The role, too, is a Dean type.

The only concession to the modern idiom is the fact that

Parkse Bus is more overtly sexual than any of Dean's roles

ever were .

Parks can complain, the studios can remonstrate, but

the style, the story, the very physical resemblance (down

to the reconstruction of Dean's hair style), lead one to

believe Parks has been set up as a definite and preconceived

"latest Jimmy Dean." He is also the most complete copy-~in

almost all reSpects.

The May 21 issue of Time printed a letter‘?7 from
Michael Parks which commented on the difficulty of ”an actor
today to bring in any kind of contemporary feeling and

not be compared with either Marlon Brando or James Dean.”

632

Parks thanked Time for the April review of Bus Riley's Back

 

in Town and for "pointing out that I may have some entity of

my own."

Mr. Parks would seem to be battling against a strong

tide. His visit to Chicago was commemorated with a full page

cover portrait and an article?8 in the Chicago Sun—Times:

Midwest. Writer Virginia Kay quoted Parks: "I'll never do

another piece with Life magazine. They‘ve got no imagination.

They compared me to James Dean." Meanwhile, the article

noted, "Studio heads stage whisper to their press agents,

who stage whiSper to the movie critics: ‘This kid is the

new James Dean. I‘m telling you-—the NEW JAMES DEAN!'"

A "professional viewer of movies" was called upon for an

analysis, and he pointed out what was considered to be

Mr. Parks's greatest problem:

Universal's putting Parks into a series of out—of—
date beatnik movies, the kind Dean did so beautifully

ten years ago. But they‘re overlooking one thing:

Parks hasn‘t got the talent to carry Dean's leather
jacket.

Elaine Dundy‘s May Esguire article29 on the Actors

Studio revealed that the Studio still maintained a James

Dean Memorial Fund, which Miss Bundy described as Dean's

loyalty to the Studio "continuing beyond the grave."

The lengthy Gene Ringgold biography and analysisso
originally printed at the end of 1964 was reprinted as half

of Screen Legends in the initial issue. Certainly the

633

article was more attractive now than it was in its original
form. There were drawings and more photographs, some of

them in color, and a comely popular star to share the issue.
The repetition reminds one, however, of the full issue study

Ringgold did of Taylor just before Cleopatra was released.

 

The rest of Screen Legends concerned Carroll Baker as a sex

 

symbol. Her most recent film, Harlow, was soon to be re-
leased. A rumored fortune had been Spent and was to be
spent on publicity. The Baker quotation about Dean which
introduced the article about him was not in the original;
there had been no previously known publication of the Dean
quotation introducing the Baker section. Was this just an
artistic ”tying together" or was the entire issue an in—
volved and magnificent bit of linkage, using Dean to sell

Baker?

A survey in Sight and Sound on "The Tone of Time:

 

Notes on Nostalgia"3l did not include Marilyn Monroe or
James Dean because, as John Russell Taylor stated it, they
are ”not nostalgic . . . because the pathos is too easy and
built in." Moreover, said Taylor, their stories have none
of the "mystique" of true nostalgia--"the feeling is not so

strong when we know precisely what happened.“

The Players Showcase summer, 1965 edition contained

 

a letter from Beatrice Johnson32 thanking the publishers for

honoring her favorite actor by announcing a forthcoming

634

article. The article was in the same issue. AS President
of "The James Dean Memory Ring," Mrs. Johnson may not have
been too pleased with Robert Allen‘s “James Dean: Is the
Legend Fading?"33

Allen stated that "many now wonder if his talent was
really worth all the tears" and that the "end could very
well be in Sight." Allen said that Dean's death was "cheap,
insignificant and--peculiarly—-adolescent," but it assured
his two unreleased films "big box office, though neither
matched Dean‘s individual performance nor the overall film

experience of his debut in East of Eden." The furor after

 

his death was added to by the various commercial enterprises
centering around his name, including his three filmed tele—
vision shovs, which, according to Allen, were "frequently
re—run." After Giant, the fans grew less and less interested,
and when The James Dean Storijas released, it had an
"unexpectedly poor box office.” Now, Dean‘s grave was said

to lie alone, seldom visited, only a "passive recollection

of him remains." Allen‘s article justified such reaction,
stating that "Dean was not an actor, he was a type," and that
"all he ever brought to the screen was himself--a self-
pitying adolescent." As "the demands on him as an actor
increased, his ability and desire to meet them sharply de-
clined." According to Allen, Dean had had “no career as an
actor," and as a man, "living the way he did, he was pitiful
. . . and out of touch with the reality, the importance and

the hard work of this world."

\‘5

635

In June of 1965 Kenneth Anger‘s Hollywood Babylon
received its first publication in English. Anger‘s scabrous
account of Dean‘s being called "the human ashtray"

ready to be absorbed by the vast paperback reading public.

The June publication of The Popular Arts Spoke of

 

the Dean influence in Britain as embodying, projecting and

giving "style" to the image of misunderstood youth.35 The

authors saw the success of Rebel Without a Cause in a com-

 

pulsive and hidden quality, due largely to Dean‘s true
dramatic gifts."36 In all of Dean's films he was said to
portray "the ideal of blue—jean innocence, tough and vulner-
able in the same moment, a scowl of disbelief struggling
with frankness for mastery in his face and eyes, continual
changes of mood and expression on his features. . . ."37
The authors further noted that in Britain ”the Dean
films have never left the circuit, playing continuously since

"38 one

his death to teenage audiences at the 10cal cinema.
result of the continual exposure in Britain was a "singing

James Dean," Adam Faith.39

A June review of Michael Parks's second film

he Wild Seed, saw in Parks "a little bit of James Dean, a

little bit of Marlon Brando, and a whole lot of actor."40

A July Movie Mirror double—page spread on Parksél blamed

 

the painful experiences of his personal life for his re-

ported "brooding silence," his "untouchability." Parks‘s

636

personal life would seem to have colored his film portrayals
which were said to have "much of the same brooding quality

that marked the late James Dean‘s performances."

The end of this study rounds off rather nicely with

a look back to the beginning. Dixie Dean HarriS' article
"And This, Dear God, Is What They Read"42 was a survey of
teen and fan magazines and part of the July ESguire issue-
long look at ”How the Teen—Agers Are Taking Over.” The
Harris article spoke of I'two of the biggest events ever to
hit the publishing world: the advent of Elvis Presley and
the demise of Jimmy Dean":

An executive of Kable News Company, a major distributor,

said, 'Presley and Dean started the march to the news-

stands. Kids absolutely flocked to the stands, and

they'd buy anything they saw on Presley and Dean. While

they were there, they saw other magazines and bought

them. In Short, they became conscious of magazines and
we became conscious of a market.‘

\\ 1965 carries on the tradition. There may be many
new ”James Deans," with and without talent, trying to pick
up where he left off. The Dean successors in the pop-music
field, for instance, are taking full advantage of the dis-
coveries made with the adoption of the Dean image by the
teenage public. Last year twenty one Shot magazines on the
Beatles were published, selling an average of a million
copies apiece, at prices ranging from thirty—five cents

43

to a dollar. The Beatles are also active in films and

637

on television; they make records and have a hand in the
distribution of the many commercial items bearing their
trademark. James Dean is not dead. He is still alive in
the many teenage heroes of today.

VJ. The final chapter will examine some of the effects
of a teenage hero, with a particular look at the claims

that James Dean was a symbol of the youthful rebellion of

his generation.

|,_\

a)

11.
12.
13.
14.

15.

16.

17.
18.
19.
20.

21.

'22

23.
24.

\JCBU'HP-CNRJ

CHAPTER XIII--NOTES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline Kael, I Lost It at the Movies (Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1965), p. 46.

Ibi .

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 55.

Ibid.

Horace Sutton, "How to Wax Eloquently in California,”
Saturday Review, January 16, 1965, p. 37.

Maila Nurmi, "The Ghost of James Dean,” Borderline,

 

Vol. I, No. 4 (January, 1965), pp. 19-26.
"On the Fringe of a Golden Era," Time, January 29, 1965,

 

p. 56.
Lorraine Gaugin, "Sound Stage on Stage," Sound Stage,
Vol. I, No. 2 (February, 1965), p. 77.
Robin Bean, "On Location with Rapture," Films and Filming,

 

Vol. XI, No. 5 (February, 1965), pp. 53ff.

Robin Bean, "Reaching for the World," Films and Filmipg
(February, 1965), pp. 9ff.

Lloyd Shearer, "Alain Delon: Idol of Europe‘s Teen Agers,
Parade, March 21, 1965, pp. 8f.

Phyllis Lee Levin, "The Sound of Music?" New York Times
Magazine, March 14, 1965, pp. 17ff.

Stephen Birmingham, "American Youth: A Generation Under
the Gun," Holiday, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 (March, 1965),
pp. 42ff.

Charles Nuetzel, Whodunit? Hollywood Style (Beverly
Hills, California: Book Company of America, 1965),
p. 151.

Ibid., p. 76.

Ibid., p. 151.

 

l!

 

 

 

 

 

"The Night Natalie Wood Stole the Show from Liz,"
Motion Picture, Vol. LV, No. 651 (April, 1965),
pp. 50ff.

Laura Bascombe, “Let's Go to My Place," Modern Screen,

 

Vol. LIX, No. 4 (April, 1965), pp. 34ff.

Advertisement, Screenplay, Vol. XXVIII, No. 1 (April,
1965), p. 78.

Alan Webster, "The Story Screenplay Waited Ten Years to
Print," Screenplay (April, 1965), pp. 36ff.

The James Dean Story(Chicago TV, April 11, 1965).

Sam Lesner, "Hollywood'd Busy Young Men," Panorama,
April 17, 1965, p. 17.

Herb Lyon, "Tower Ticker," Chicago Tribune, April 8, 1965.
p. 24.

Herb Lyon, "Tower Ticker," Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1965,
p. 20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

638

..25.
‘ 25.

27.
28.

29.

34.

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.

43.

639

"Hard Day‘s Knight," Time, April 23, 1965, p. 103.
Arthur Knight, Review of The Wild Seed and Bus Rilayjs
Back in Town, Saturday Reviey, April 24, 1965,

pp. 39-40.
Michael Parks, letter to Time, Time, May 21, 1965, p. 18.
Virginia Kay, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Hip, Young Star,”
Midwest, pp. 6ff.
Elaine Dundy, "How to Succeed in the Theatre Without
Really Being Successful," Esguire, Vol. LXIII.
No. 5 (May, 1965), pp. 88ff.
Gene Ringgold, ”James Dean: His Life and His Legend,”
Screen Legands, Vol. I, No. 1 (May, 1965), pp. 2-33.
Tom Milne, John Russell Taylor, Penelopq Houston and

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Roud, "The Tone of Time: Notes on Nostalgia,"
Sight and Sound, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2 (Spring, 1965),
pp. 86ff.

Beatrice Johnson, letter to the editors, Players Showcase,
Vol, I, No. 4 (Summer, 1965), p. 5.

Robert L. Allen, ”James Dean: IS the Legend Fading?"
Players Showcase (Summer, 1965), pp. 44ff.

Kenneth Anger, Hollyyood Babylon (Phoenix, Arizona:
Associated Professional Services, Inc., 1965).
pp. 180—181.

Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel, The Popular Arts (New York:
Pantheon Books, 1965), p. 283.

Ibi

bi ., pp. 283—284.

Ibid., p. 284.

Ibid., p. 286.

Review of The Wild Seed, Playboy, Vol. XII, No. 6
(June, 1965), p. 28.

"Love—-Stay Away from My Heart, Movie Mirror, Vol. IX,
No. 9 (July, 1965), pp. 48-49.

Dixie Dean Harris, "And This, Dear God, IS What They
Read," Esguire, Vol. LXIV, No. 1, pp. 50ff.

Ibid., p. 106.

 

 

 

 

H
0.:

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIV

CONJECTURE AND CONCLUSION--A NEW BEGINNING

The preceding chapters have tried to Show how, and
to some extent why, the Dean image has been kept alive.
With the construction of a viable set of personality traits
and mannerisms, reinforced through linkage with the public
image of Marlon Brando, a James Dean public image was
established. This image was maintained and further reinforced
in films and in presentations in other mass media channels,
mostly for commercial reasons, achieving through various
linkages and repetitions enough popularity to enable it to
be described as an adolescent symbol of rebellion against
conventional authority, thereby adding yet another dimension
to its appeal. The overall image, including public recog-
nition of Dean as a person, as an actor, as a public symbol,
has retained a viable commercial appeal to the present day,
and, until another public figure comes along with enough
unique appeal to supplant it, it seems the Dean image will
survive as the archetypal "young rebel" of our times.

AS has been suggested previously, it is difficult to
separate the person from the actor, at least as seen through

presentation in the mass media. Also, Since Dean may be

640

641

considered a practitioner of the Actors Studio Method tech—
niques of acting, the separation of man and actor becomes
even more difficult. What biographical material is presented
makes it eSpecially perplexing to tell whether Dean‘s private
life fed upon and received inspiration from the roles he
played, or whether his roles fed upon and received inspiration
from his life. That the two retained a unifying and inter-

acting consistency is an unavoidable realization.

Because all of the roles Dean played were so very
much alike, it is also difficult to assess Dean as an actor.
Even those who knew him and worked closely with him, who
have some reputation in their fields, are not completely in
agreement regarding Dean‘s abilities. One should be re—
minded here that the distribution of assessments of Dean's
prowess as an actor which appeared in film magazines and
other Channels of mass communications Shortly after Dean‘s
death must be regarded, in total, as part and parcel of
Hollywood‘s advertising techniques. The enthusiastic public
witness to an actor's genius——or lack of it-—by a fellow
actor, a director, or a columnist, is the testimony of one
co-worker concerning another. Nothing is so important as

allegiance to the industry.

For a more reliable assessment of Dean as an actor,

it is necessary to turn to those analyses made outside the

642

industry, where publicity has less opportunity to color
impressions. Even these unpublicized opinions are almost
as vague and as contradictory as the more popular assess—
ments.

Isabelle Draesmer, Dean‘s agent in the early days,

once mused:

One wonders what would have happened to him in ten
years. A fizzle? Or, with power, what would he have
done with it? In a way it‘s a pity there was an
East of Eden. Rebel was tailor-made. In Giant, he
was already downhill. . . .1

 

Art Marshall, Dean‘s Hollywood friend, said that, in general,
around Hollywood, Dean was "regarded as a freak . . . a

2

personality . . . NOT an actor." Actress Geraldine Page

said, too, that She was not generally impressed with Dean as

an actor: "I don‘t think he was such a terribly great actor."3
Miss Page was impressed with Dean’s concentration and imagi-
nation-~and with his personality, which tended to color

everything he did. She was mightily impressed with the acting

job Dean did in Rebel Without a Cause, which came across, for

 

her, as an almost "impossible" feat:

Rebel Without a Cause! I think that, more than

East of Eden, caused all the furor, because I keep telling
everybody that I think he did something so impossible——
not impossible—-it's just that people don‘t do it anymore.
It is very hard in the kind of material you have to work
on today to create a heroic figure. In the old days when
they had plays about kings, people very consciously built
heroic images, but I don‘t know anybody who was able to

 

643

do that with the modern naturalistic kind of thing, and
he did that in Rebel Without a Cause . . . in Spite of
all this dreadful exaggeration around it, the character
he created in there with the materials that they gave
him, was the most astounding achievement. The character
loomed to such heroic size. . . .

 

Julie Harris, Dean's co—star in East of Eden, thought

 

him to be a dedicated actor,4 capable of playing different
kinds of roles. Miss Harris, though she did not say so,

evidently preferred to think of acting, per 53, as non—film

 

 

acting:
The parts that he played in the theatre . . . he
played in a play called See the Jaguar and The Immoral—
ist . . . these parts were strange and rather offbeat,

 

and terribly arresting in their very different quality
from most other people, and Jimmy was a very different
sort of boy and a kind of young rebel. It wasn't de-

manded of him to give a sort of formal performance, but
I think, for instance, that if Jimmy had gone on to do

 

things like Hamlet and The Corn IS Green. .. . He would
have been a beautiful Hamlet. He was really a deeply

gifted actor.

James Whitmore, a teacher and mentor of Dean‘s early
career, felt the need to be guarded in his remarks about

Dean because he ”didn't know him that well later on,"5 but

he felt that Dean “was using himself, was using himself fully,‘
despite the roles he played, role types that have "always

been present, always will be." Whitmore said:

Well, I think Jimmy‘s success was so overwhelming,
in its rapidity and in its returns and in its adulation
that it would be almost superhuman for any young actor
. . the thing that he had developed in the later years,
which was to withdraw from it, and negate it, which is an
unhealthy thing to begin with, instead of meeting it for
what it is and assessing it and putting it in its proper
place. Jimmy made of success a kind of Shibboleth, a
thing that he was afraid of desperately. Because he .
wasn‘t in . . now this is pure bargain counter psychi—
atry . . . that he wasn‘t secure enough in what Jimmy

644

Dean had decided was Jimmy Dean. He wasn‘t sure enough
of it. And, therefore, Jimmy had great problems as far
as development as an actor is concerned. Whether this
had been overcome or not, I do not know. . . . you can—
not tell, because you don‘t know what the years would
do to Jimmy, or had done to Jimmy. Certainly good
tutelage always helped Jimmy.

There is little agreement here except in the matter
of potential. What Dean might have been able to do in the
future must remain pure conjecture. From these reports,
from the knowledge of his work, as an actor Dean may be con-
sidered as having had a potential for greatness. What has
survived of his work in film and on television kinescopeS,
though limited in range, is generally regarded as more than
competent work, especially for one so young. From what we
know of Dean‘s techniques of work, his general lack of

co—operation in working in concert with others, it is dif—

ficult to predict how far Dean could have carried this pro-

fessional potential.

The pattern of interest in youthful rebellion is not
exclusively American nor contemporary in its appeal.
America has long had a lively artistic and literary tradition
revolving around the popular concept of the "young rebel."
The writings of Poe, Thoreau, Whitman, Mark Twain, Fitz-
gerald, Hemingway, Salinger, all present within the con-
figurations of their own times a conception of the "rebel"
image. In other countries and in other times there were the

writings of men like Villon, Rimbaud, Goethe, Garcia Lorca.

645

Even in films, there was a John Garfield before there was
a Brando or a Dean. James Dean was not the first popular
rebel. He will probably not be the last. Whether or not
he affected the adolescents of the middle Fifties in such
a way as to be legitimately called a symbol of that gen-

eration is another matter, however.

There is no known Study concerning the effects of
the James Dean image on adolescents. The conjectures about
Dean‘s influence on what has been called the youth culture
may be questioned, as may the entire concept of the exist-
ence of a youth culture or a sub—culture.

The vast campaign to "sell" Dean as a symbol of
his generation occurred first in the fan magazines as part

of the promotional campaigns for giant and The James Dean

Story. The separation of generations has been pointed out
as having a particular merchandizing value. The application

of the "symbol" label inviting adolescents to jump on the
bandwagon would help to insure a necessary large audience
for the expensive pictures. At the same time, the newspaper
and magazine articles and books aimed at an adult audience
could decry the "bad" influence, and audiences would be
further enlarged as adults came to see what the hue and cry
was all about. Selling Dean as a symbol of his generation
may have been the product of publicity feeding upon adult

uncertainty regarding the manner in which their children

were to be "properly" raised.

646

The normal stress and strain of adolescent develop—
ment as a transitional stage of vast physiological and
psychological changes had been greatly increased by the
vascillating patterns employed by adults in dealing with these
changes. Many teenagers‘ problems stemmed from the uncertainty
of adults regarding the role that Young people should be
given in the life of the community.6

The Purdue Opinion Polls studies of 1957 would seem
to bear out the position that adolescents‘ attitudes "are a

reflection . . . of adults‘ thinking and behavior,“7

a posi-
tion further subscribed to by Robert C. Bealer and Fern K.
Willits in their 1961 study8 concerning adolescent rebellion.
Bealer and Willets take the stand that "individual resistance
to Specific authority patterns," especially those concerning
the adult recognition of adolescent maturing, is ”probably
responsible for the popular image of rebellious youth”:

”This type of 'rebellion‘ is as temporary as is the period

of adolescence itself, and rather than a rejection of parental
norms, it is perhaps better characterized as acceptance of

and eagerness to participate in the larger society."9

The vague insinuations that the Dean image may have
been responsible for specific acts of delinquency, violence
and self destruction have never been fully nor accurately
documented and may also have been handy journalistic labeling

or exaggeration to promote "newsworthy" copy. This is not to

647

say that the Dean image was not in some way responsible for
specific acts of individual juvenile violence. The possibil-
ity of "canalizing" by the media of an individual‘s pre—
dispositional modes of behavior has been pointed out by

.10

Klapper. The point here is that there is simply no reliable

evidence one way or the other.

If the youngsters cannot be said to be rebellious as
a generation, as a distinct sub—culture, where then lay the
appeal of the rebellious Dean for the many individuals who
were drawn to the image? The answer might be contained in
Donald Matza‘s theory of the existence of what he called
"The Subterranean Traditions of Youth."ll Matza‘s label
implies that there is "an ongoing dialectic between con-
ventional and deviant traditions and that, in the process of

2

exchange, both are modified.“1 Matza‘s theory leaves room

for the small percentage of "extremist versions of youthful
rebelliousness," while at the same time accepting the
premise "that the great majority of American youth behave

either in a conventional manner or participate in conventional

versions of deviant youth traditions“:‘3

To point to the existence of subterranean traditions
is to suggest that no one in any society is fully
socialized or fully respondent to public expectations;
as a consequence, whenever there are available counter-
themes, there will be varying degrees of indulgence in
these traditions varying from relatively complete im-
mersion to occasional vicarious appreciation.l4

648

Matza‘s theory is also based on the premise that
"there seems no reason to believe that there have been any
long—run increases or decreases in rates of youthful rebel-
liousness during the modern era.“ls

Within the framework of such a theory American teen—
agers could then individually and even vicariously enjoy the
rebellious qualities of the Dean image as something vaguely
"bad" but accepted (according to the mass media) by their
peer group as an "in“ activity. Some might even go so far as
to try to imitate Dean's physical mannerisms, his haircut,
his costume, while at the same time, to a greater or lesser
degree, adhering to the general societal norms of behavior.

Adulation of the James Dean image became a fad, and
one of the initial steps in becoming a fad was for the image

"“6 Recognition

to be labeled as "the symbol of a generation.
and acceptance of the Dean image was not immediate, but a Slow
and growing process.

During this process the image was kept alive through
controversy in the mass media, pitting one generation against
the other, letting the teen audiences believe they had some-

thing of their own” to cherish and hold, something that was,
in its own way, a unique reflection of things the greater
world of adults possessed (i.e. linkage of the Dean image

with Bridey Murphy).

That Dean did not attract the millions upon millions

of people, initially, that recognition and acceptance of the

649

Dean image was an emergent phenomenon, if not Slow, not
fast, in maturing, is pointed out by an examination of the

7 of the buyers for the independent circuits of

surveys1
film showings in the United States which are printed weekly

in the Motion Picture Herald, the exhibitors‘ journal.

 

East of Eden was rated as only an average audience attraction

 

(if not Slightly below average) throughout its initial show—

ings. Rebel Without a Cause was more successful, rating

 

average or above average throughout almost the entire year
it was in general distribution. It was Giant that was the
real box office block-buster, given a majority of superior
ratings throughout most of its initial circulation life.
These figures are reflected in the domestic gross—rental

figures totaled by these films through the years..18

Giant
rates as one of the top-ten all—time film box office

favorites. Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden figures

 

 

are closer to a third of the Giant total receipts, with

possibly much of their total income derived from re—runs.

These box office figures and surveys directly reflect
the degree in scope and depth of the publicity circulated
before the release of each picture. The success or failure
of the Hollywood star might be said to depend on the success
of his overall public image. The survival quality of the
image can also be measured by this initial cohesive appeal.
If the appeal of the image created is unique enough——as

Dean's image was, being aimed directly and distinctly at a

650

teenage consumer public—-its commercial viability can be
stretched beyond the limits of memory. General popular
acceptance of the celebrity as a type, with the passage of
time, de-particularizes the public image, stylizes it, lends
to it the qualities of a symbol. As a type, the symbol—image
will survive until it iS supplanted. The Dean image may

not have been a provocateur symbolic figure for adolescents

 

in 1956, but it iS accepted as such by adults in 1965,

however incorrectly.

To better understand the effects of the Dean image,

one must look at the effects on individuals and on groups of

individuals. One form of group participation in the adulation
of a star is the fan club. Fan clubs are now generally ad—
vertised in the fan magazines and in teen magazines. Modern

film and recording favorites maintain some sort of hold over
their fan clubs through a national headquarters that keeps
individual groups supplied with photos, membership cards,
and information bulletins concerning the activities of the
star, often charging only for the cost of these articles.
Variations of this practice have the stars or their managers

running the fan clubs as a "business,‘ often with surprisingly
high profits. Some fan clubs are a business having no external
relationship with the star at all. Their object is financial
gain. Photo services selling pictures or other mementos at

a profit often use disguised "fan club” advertisements,

issuing membership cards, etc., to find a.ready outlet for

651

their products. Other fan Clubs are run on the sheer devotion
of a single individual or a group of individuals.

Since Dean was dead at the height of his popularity.
there was no possibility of his personal participation in
fan club activities. Reports of studio fosterage of fan clubs
for Dean are too vague for consideration. On the basis of
evidence, Dean fan clubs generally fall into the latter two
categories.

Obviously, the profit-minded business concerns were
active only at the peaks of the star‘s career, following their

publics tastes. AS the star‘s career or popularity waned,
the "official” club interest was Shifted to another person-
ality. Shifting public interest is, of course, a problem for
any fan club, regardless of its inspirational rationale.

An examination of the less obviously commercial fan
clubs proved that the local or distant members of a fan club
have, evidently, a Single object: togetherness. It would
seem that interest in a particular star may only be a cue
for meeting or corresponding with others. Face—to-face
meetings between members of local groups were a typical feature
of local fan club activities. Indeed, one can imagine the
interest in a particular star being only an excuse for groups
being started on the local level. The local groups may or
may not have an affiliation with a larger organization.

Some purely local Dean clubs evidently did exist in the hey—

day of Dean‘s popularity, but their existence was ephemeral

652

and Sporadic. Their activities could not be traced. Of the
larger groups that could be traced, there is little evidence
that membership was as large as the popular press indicated,
nor were they so active. They would seem to be merely a
channelized set of loosely—organized activities, much on the
order of fraternities or sororities, with usually some tokens

of membership, a membership card, pictures, etc.

One such group was the ”James Dean World Wide Club."
Begun in 1958 in London, the group lasted until 1961, expir-
ing, probably, from lack of interest. During its life,
a club journal19 was published almost quarterly. Contrary to
what might be expected, the club journal was not a shoddy
affair. The material presented was limited, relying mostly
on contributions from members, but the overall production
was rather handsome. There were many illustrations and the
whole was professionally printed on glossy paper. A feature
of the journal was a "Pen Pal” list with photos of contribut-
ing members. Members were from all over the world, with the
United States contributing about fifteen new names each
issue. The journal reported several social gatherings be-
tween members of the local group, including a reciprocal
visit from a Belgian Dean club. The 1960 journals mentioned
other Dean organizations, specifically the Belgian club and
the “James Dean Memory Club“ of New York City.

Even by 1960, the end of the “World Wide Club" was

prophesied in the journal, as it began to branch out and

653

include articles on other popular stars. The club was dis-
banded, and the club journal deteriorated into "The Star

Dust Collector‘s Journal" (stamps, cards, books, buttons, pen
pals, etc.), which is still presided over by the former
president of the ”James Dean World Wide Club," Mr. Jimmy

James.

The New York "James Dean Memory Club‘I is still
functioning. The president, Mrs. Therese J. Brandes, may be
remembered as one of the Dean fans quoted for comment Shortly
before the anniversary of Dean‘s death in 1956. The secretary,
Marie Guisti, was once listed in the ”Pen Pal" column of
"The James Dean World Wide Club" journal.

Club mail20 comes stamped "James Dean, the Greatest,“
with the reverse side of the envelope listing the names of
Dean‘s films in Old English type. The form letter the club
distributes advised that there were Saturday night ”get-
togethers," but that those wishing to attend must be personally
screened by the president. Activities for those who could
not attend the ”getwtogethers" included writing to fan
magazines, television stations, the motion picture studios,
and theatres. Beyond distributing Dean material when avail—
able, the club letter said "the club is run by giving donations
to various diseases, etc." Donations could also be made for
"flowers for his resting place” on Dean's birthday and the
anniversary of his death. Donations were to be sent directly

to the president. The letter advised: "You don‘t pay dues,

654

no newsletter. This is a non-profitable organization."

The club slogan: ”Do everything honest and clean in memory
of the late James Dean." Membership was fifty cents, and
you received a membership card and pictures. A note from

Mrs. Brandes said her group has "lots of members, and,

though she's "never counted them,’ each day She receives
~cw letters. Members were also sent a list of other James
Dean organizations in Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Toledo,

Ohio. Mrs. Brandes said, "I believe there are others, but

don't know the addresses."

"The James Dean Memory Ring Around the World" was
started in August, 1960 by Mrs. Beatrice Johnson of Toledo,
Ohio. Mrs. Johnson served as American representative of
the ”James Dean World Wide Club" during the latter part of
1959 and 19602; and no doubt merely took over the American
membership when the latter group folded.

Mrs. Johnson uses colored stationery printed with
photos of Dean on both the letter paper and the envelope.22
She is very careful not to write on the reverse Side of the
photo. The fifty cent membership fee brings no requirements,
there are no obligations: "It is just a Simple lifetime
remembrance club in memory of our beloved Jimmy." Various
Dean mementos are sent in return for the membership fee:

some photos and a wooden disc embossed with Dean‘s likeness

and the name of the club. Mrs. Johnson also has available

 

655

other Dean memorabilia at a nominal price. Mrs. Johnson
says, "I have three hundred members . . . in my 'James Dean
Memory Ring Around the World‘. . . at least half of them
are adults." A letter23 about herself and the club further
reads:

I will have to write some of my poems down for you
(you asked if there were any copies you could see) please
bear with me. Well, about my age, I am Mrs. and my age,
well I am much older than you think, I have a daughter
28 years old. Age (?) Will that make any difference in
you calling me ‘Bea‘? I hope not. Most of all of Jimmy's
fans call me ‘Bea.' I am enclosing a photo of me at
Jimmy's grave for you. Please don't ever destroy it,

Bob, if you don‘t want it in years to come please send it
back to me because so many fans want them and they cost
so much money.

How did I go about starting my James Dean club? Well
first I had negatives made from photos I had of Jimmy so
I could have more photos made. They cost $1.00 each for
negatives. I had the wooden James Dean medallions made,
1000 of them for $30.00 the fact Sheets I added later they
cost 5¢ each. I just went ahead and started it. A person
usually gets permission from the star I guess, but Jimmy
is dead and as I have met his relationsllknew that they
wouldn‘t mind. Oh, it costs an awful lot of money and
time in writing. I had to have a James Dean plate made
for my stationary $11.00 then I have the stationary
printed reasonable because a James Dean fan does it for
me. I had an envelope plate made for $5.00 but have not
had any of those envelopes made yet. My biggest expense
is coming up yet, if I can get the metal James Dean
medallion made. I Shouldlhear.any‘day now. I hOpe it is
not too high. I want to buy a James Dean Bust and present
it to a museum.

The picture Mrs. Johnson sent was Signed and in—
scribed, "Our Beloved James Dean. He is immortal." Mrs.
Johnson is evidently a rarely dedicated person. Another
“Memory Ring" member has described her as "a real hard worker

for Jimmy‘s memory.”

656

The existing Dean fan clubs are generally almost
completely passive in their activities. The greatest reward
they would seem to offer is a sense of ”togetherness." The
suggestion that a large percentage of the membership was
adult leads further to a rejection of any great untoward

influence on teen behavior.

What of those who were not members of fan clubs?
What of the other individuals who were affected? Two Dean
fans, Sisters, illustrate some rather interesting and con-
trasting reactions.24 The elder, Anne, is two years older
than her Sister, La Verne, and has undoubtedly influenced
her. Anne was seventeen when I interviewed her in 1961.
She had amassed a collection of perhaps four hundred items
of Dean material. She remembered the first Spark of interest
which prompted the start of her collection when she read in

a Dorothy Kilgallen column that Dean might not win an

 

Academy Award because he died. She was twelve. She re—
membered waiting for Rebel Without a Cause. She had seen
East of Eden, but it didn‘t move her much. She was really

 

affected by those final moments in Rebel Without a Cause

when Dean was ”lonely" and "because he cried bitterly when
his friend died." She connected Dean's film role with his

own death and ”felt sorry for him." For her, he became

"something that represented everybody that you knew.”

657

When the rumors were circulated that Dean, disfigured,
might still be alive, she believed them, "down deep," because,
as She said, "I didn‘t want him to die.” She still hoped
that he might, somewhere, be alive, even though disfigured:

”I know it‘s very selfish, but I don‘t care.”

Anne said She hated people ”who try to be like him,"
because he was '‘distinct” and "different”: ”There was only
one James Dean. He was alone.” Because of the way he looked,
the way he acted, ”what he really felt, from everything put
together . . . nobody will ever be like him.”

Even then, some Six years after Dean died, Anne said

that She would go out of her way to see new Dean material.
If it were a new photograph, she'd ”want to look at it for
ten or fifteen minutes" to look for something She hadn‘t
"seen before."

Anne said that for years after Dean died she had a

"select number of pictures” which She used to take out to

look at "every night and cry." When She told her feelings

to her mother,her mother said, “Two months from now you won‘t
know who he is." Anne said, "I always hoped it would be true.
It [her feelings] scared me. It made me moodier."

Probably Anne‘s feelings about Dean reached a peak
the night about a year before our interview when Anne attended
a showing of Rebel Without a Cause at the local youth center.
She had seen the picture before, three times before, and She

had cried. This time was different. At the ending of the

 

picture when Dean‘s emotional scene approached and he began
to weep, Anne became hysterical and rushed, crying, to the
screen. She said, "I couldn‘t [bear to] see him crying."
She was eventually calmed. All her friends were there:
”They thought it was funny."

Considering the effects on her feelings Anne was
“glad” that She didn‘t know Dean personally, though she felt
there had been a good result of her interest. She felt She
had "become closer to God." In praying for Dean, She started
"talking to God," and, She said, "It made me feel better."

Anne found my questions "so hard to answer” because
she generally resented inquiry into the matter. People
didn't ”understand." Even Anne herself didn‘t really under-
stand: “It‘S Silly. Even when I think about it I don‘t
know. What is this fascination for someone who died Six

years ago?“

Anne‘s Sister, La Verne, was another matter. Anne
said La Verne went out every night, was very social (Anne
said of herself: "I don‘t need a million people. . . .“).

La Verne said her own Dean interest was almost ”forced” on
her by her sister: "She talked about it constantly."

La Verne helped Anne with her picture collection, but she was
not herself interested in collecting Dean photographs. She
liked the films because ”his motion pictures were more than

a still picture." She enjoyed seeing a Dean performance:

"He put so much into it . . . he looked and acted real."

 

659

La Verne did not consider Dean "handsome." He was "different
looking—~like everybody else, and yet something special.“
And in seeing the pictures, La Verne noted "something alike
in all of them." Dean played the "same part in everything."
Dean "was always the one that was left out. No one accepted
him and they all did things to hurt him.” La Verne proved
her interest by seeing Giant six times and Rebel five times.

She was only nine when East of Eden was released, so she saw

 

that one only once. The James Dean Story was, for her,

 

disappointing.

The pattern of reaction exhibited by the fan clubs
and the individuals would seem to follow variations of the
publicity patterns utilized in setting up and building the
Dean image. The various labels applied to the image were
accepted and individuals reinforced them with their own
experience and emotions, with sometimes deleterious effect.
It must be recalled that these reactions were individual
reactions, even if they were reflected in other individuals‘

reactions to a degree.

If one is to reject the label "symbol of a generation"
when referring to Dean and the kind of influence he exercised,
is there some other label which could be applied? There does
not seem to be a single label which would completely serve.

The Dean image falls somewhere between Orrin Klapp‘s

660

5

"Symbolic Leader"2 and Daniel Boorstin‘s conception of the

celebrity as a living "pseudo-event.“26
Klapp‘s discussion of symbolic leadership takes intQ

7

. . . :3
account the timing,2 color,28 and dramatic appeal“9

necesSery if an image is to affect its audience and a popular
figure is to become thereby a ”symbolic leader." Klapp
also notes the holding power of an image: once the favorite

has been established in a "niche" in society,“successors dis-

place him, but do not replace him.”30

Klapp does, however, present an ambiguous approach

to the mechanics of image building, declaring that the

entertainers, for instance, must depend on "breaks, not

I

knowing in advance which will be their lucky role.3 More-

over, Klapp declares that symbolic leadership "derives from

meaning and meaning is always extrinsic”:32

It is unavoidable that, where drama supervenes,
'reality‘ is not what the hard headed man would like it
to be, nor do events always follow Irma prediction. For
from the moment drama begins, we start to project and
interpret roles and there is an important nexus between
what a thing ‘iS‘ and what the audience sees that is [sic.],
at the same time, the reality and the magic of drama.3§‘_

For Klapp ”the 'magic‘ is an outcome that matter of
fact analysis could not predict-—a ‘sentimental,‘ frivolous,
‘romantic‘ change of status.“34 Though Klapp says elsewhere

3 . .
" 5 his curious

that "a build up can create public images,
back—tracking leaves us with a sort of enlarged Hollywood
definition of a movie star, which is what we had to begin

with.

661

Daniel Boorstin‘s conception of the celebrity is
much more satisfying. For Boorstin, the celebrity is some-
one who "can get in the news and stay there":36

For us, freedom of Speech and of the press and of

broadcasting includes freedom to create pseudo—events.
Competing politicians, competing newsmen, and competing
news media contest in this creation. They vie with
one another in offering attractive 'informative‘ accounts
and images of the world. They are free to Speculate on
the facts, to bring new facts into being, to demand
answers to their own contrived questions. Our 'free
market place of ideas‘ is a place where people are con-
fronted by competing pseudo-events and are allowed to
judge among them. When we speak of 'informing‘ the
people, this is what we really mean.37
The celebrity is a human pseudo—event.38 He is created by
publicity to serve some end, and is discarded as soon as
that purpose has been achieved.39 Like other "news" events
presented in the mass media to entertain, his only real
claim to fame is that he is known/1'O Boorstin calls the
celebrity the modern replacement for the traditional hero:
The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the
celebrity by his image or trade mark. The hero created
himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The
hero is a big man; the celebrity is a big name.41

Boorstin notes that ”celebrities tend to breed more
celebrities,"42 and that even when we know the tricks of
image building, even when we know "about the calculation,
ingenuity, and effort that have gone into a particular image,
the more satisfaction we have from the image itself."

A knowledge of the elaborate contrivance utilized "proves to
us that we are really justified (and not stupid either) in

being taken in."43

662

Boorstin says that the deterioration of the celebrity‘s
public image is brought about through time: "Yesterday‘s
celebrity . . . is a commonplace man who has been fitted back
into his commonplaceness not by any fault of his own, but by

time itself."44

It is in this one point that the Dean image
fails to meet completely Boorstin's specifications for the
celebrity as a pseudo—event. Boorstin‘s vagueness about how
much time may be involved probably negates this as a minor

point. It may also be indicative, however, of a growing power

of the media to sustain celebrity images.

All of the above statements by Klapp and Boorstin
bear some meaning in relationship to the Dean image as a
product of the modern communication systems. The public
admiration of celebrities, the almost religious worship of
the commonplace,has been pointed out by Klapp in his earlier

work, Heroes, Villains and Fools, as having "a debasing effect

 

on American values,” since such estimation is not "based on

real merit or achievement."45 Klapp felt that with their

emphasis on ”entertainment and showmanship,‘ the mass media

6

are influencing other areas of American life.4 They are

failing to hold up higher intellectual, ethical, and moral
types as conduct exemplars.47
Most notable, perhaps, is the influence of mass media

image building in the political arena. The true test of

democracy in action is not a battle of personalities and

663

good looks. Especially important here, also, is the influ—
ence on young people. The miscellaneous and imperfect models
of the commonplace that are held up for their admiration and

emulation cannot but have a deleterious effect. George

Gerbner48

said that current choices offered to young people
by the commercially-minded mass media had but a single
message: “Respond totally in concert with others, and you
can, at the same time, tell off the world if you like."

In accepting this message, Gerbner pointed out, "they are
least likely to find the choice of the citizen: ‘Reflect
upon your world, if you like, and, in concert with others
change it.'" A study of the process of image-building in a
free society demands a re-examination of the responsibilities

of the mass media for maintaining that free democratic state.

But that would be another book.

JJUIhBLAINF3

11.

12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

17.

18.

CHAPTER XIV--NOTES

Interview with Miss Isabelle Draesmer, July 27, 1959.
Interview with Mr. Arthur Marshall, August 1, 1959.
Taped interview with Miss Geraldine Page, November 11, 1960.
Taped interview with Miss Julie Harris, April 3, 1959.
Taped inrerview with Mr. James Whitmore, August 14, 1959.
See Bruno Bettelheim, "The Problem of Generations,”

Daedalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts

and Sciences: Youth: Change and Challenge, Vol.

XCI, No. 1 (Winter, 1962), pp. 68ff.

H. H. Remmers and D. H. Radler, The American Teenager,
(New York: Charter Books, 1962), p. 38.

Robert C. Beales and Fern K. Willits, “Rural Youth:

A Case Study in the Rebelliousness of Adolescents,”
The Annals of the American Academy_of Political and
and Social Science: Teen Aga Culture (ed.)

Jessie Bernard, Vol. CCCXXXVIII, November, 1961,
pp. 63ff.

Ibid., p. 69.

Joseph T. Klapper, The Effects of Mass Communications
(Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1960;, pp.
131ff.

Donald Matza, "The Subterranean Traditions of Youth,”

The Annals of The American Academy of Political and
Social Science: Teen Age Culture (ed.) Jessie
Bernard, Vol. CCCXXXVIII, November, 1961, pp.

 

 

 

 

102ff.
Ibid., p. 105.
Ibid., p. 103.

 

Ibid., p. 105.

Ibid., p. 104.

See Rolf Meyerson and Elihu Katz, ”Notes on a Natural
History of Fads,” Mass Leisure (ed.) Eric Larrabee
and Rolf Meyerson (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press,
1958), pp. 311ff for a discussion of labels and their
relationship to the inception of fads.

See The Motion Picture Herald from May 14, 1955 and
consecutive issues.

See ”Great All Time Rental Earning Pictures in the
Domestic Market," Variety, January 9, 1963, p. 18.
Also, Peter G. Baker, "In Camera: Twenty Most
Successful Films of All Time," Films and Filmigg,
Vol, X, No. 6 (March, 1964), p. 13.

Journals of "The James Dean World Wide Club,“ undated,
but stemming from the Summer of 1959 through the
Spring of 1960. [Private collection.]

 

 

 

 

664

27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.

46.
47.
48.

665

Various correspondence with Mrs. Theresa J. Brandes
and Miss Marie Guisti, dated October, 1963.
Listed as such in journals of "The James Dean World

Wide Club.”
Various correspondence with Mrs. Beatrice Johnson,
1961 and 1962.
Mrs. Beatrice Johnson, letter, dated March 28, 1962.
Taped interviews with "Anne" and "La Verne,”

March 23, 1961. Their names have been changed.
Orrin E. Klapp, Symbolic Leaders, Public Dramas and
and Public Men (Chicago: Aldine Publishing

Company, 1964).

Daniel Boorstin, The Image or What Happened to the
American Dream (New York: Atheneum, 1962).

Klapp, op. cit., pp. 236ff.

Ibid., pp. 215ff.

Ibid., pp. 223ff.

Ibid., pp. 58ff.

Ibid., pp. 36-37.

Ibid., p. 212.

' pp. 250-251.

i p. 251.

Ibid., p. 212.

Boorstin, op. cit., p. 60.

Ibid., p. 35.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H

U.)

H
(LO.

 

H
CT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibi ., pp. 45ff.
Ibid., pp 61ff.
Ibi ., p. 60.
Ibid., p. 61.
Ibid., p. 65.
Ibid., p. 195.
Ibid., p 63.

 

Orrin E. Klapp, Heroes, Villains, and Fools, The"Changing
American Character (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1962), p. 143.

Ibid., p. 144.

Ibid.

George Gerbner, "The Individual in a Mass Culture,”
Saturday‘Review, June 18, 1960, p. 36.

 

 

 

 

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!l!l!!!l!W]!!!"’IHIHHMHI!!!(I!!!