The Myth of James Dean
I came across a 1957 documentary about James Dean’s life that was more art-house film than documentary film. It begins with a sketch of James Dean lying face down and a car whizzing by in multiple loops, then a slightly distorted title that reads THE JAMES DEAN STORY.
When I was a young girl, my mother talked about old movie stars, including James Dean. She told me he drove off a cliff while drinking and driving. I believed this narrative for years and even heard it from others, but the story has been proven incorrect.
The James Dean Story opens with a re-enactment of his death by fatal car accident and leads with a statement by the narrator, “James Dean died today. He had lived with a great hunger.” Cut to footage of the opening of his posthumous film Giant (1955) with stars such as Clark Gable, Rock Hudson, Natalie Wood, and Jane Mansfield in attendance. Shots of an expressive crowd are scattered throughout the clip. Then follows a dramatic description of his affect on his audience. An image of a young female fan pops up on the screen. “Rage!” the narrator exclaims. Then a man’s hand flicking a switchblade appears. “Rebellion!” An image of a woman looking up. “Hope.” An angst-ridden youth who have lost an idol. A generation of seekers a world away from the teenagers of decades past. Rebellious, questioning, wanting, searching, restless. This is the teenage experience of the 1950s.
The film fades in to a Fairmount, Indiana sign. The boyhood town of James Dean. Footage of the small farm town where James Dean lived following his mother’s death from cancer pans across the screen. A local farmer talks about the town with fondness. It was an adjustment for Dean who relocated from Santa Monica, California where his father worked a dentist. But he was not alone. Generations of Dean’s resided in Fairmount, where both of his parents were born. It was a place for him to grieve and build his character. His father, unable to care for the young boy, sent him to live with his mother’s brother, his wife, and young son Markie. The narrator continues in a dramatic tone as he weaves a story of young James Dean dreaming of his mother with the jarring notes of intense music.
Footage of the Winslow farm appears, then a man steps down from a staircase smartly dressed in a button-up shirt and pleated trousers. It is James Dean’s uncle Mr. Marcus Winslow. The narrator speaks in a deep dramatic tone, “Mr. Winslow. How big a farm have you got?”
Mr. Winslow answers “Three hundred and fifty acres.”
“What crops do you grow?” the narrator continues.
Mostly corn, and some oats, and some hay,” Winslow answers matter-of-factly.
The narrator asks Mr. Winslow about Jimmy and whether he was a helpful nephew. He praises his nephew and his ability to assist the family on their farm. James “Jimmy” Dean resided with his aunt and uncle until he was eighteen years old before he headed west again to live with his father and stepmother in California.
Mr. Winslow moves to the living room where is wife is sitting on a sofa. She is a slender woman with neatly styled hair and glasses. She discussed how Jimmy came to live with them following his mother’s death and how happy they were to raise him.
The narrator moves to Charles and Emma Dean’s house where James Dean’s paternal grandparents reside. His grandfather brings out a Japanese doll encased in glass and sits it on his lap next to his wife. They show off James Dean’s fan mail and gifts, then grandma takes out childhood photos of Jimmy, including his high school basketball photo. The film then cuts to Fairmount Highschool where they speak to his former basketball coach who boasts about his athletic skill, not only in basketball, but also in baseball and pole vault. His artistic side shows in the sketches he created in art class.
Next, the narrator interviews Adeline Nall, his high school acting teacher. She expresses that he had a talent for using his eyes to express emotion. A series of shots appear where Dean is using his eyes to express himself. Adeline then shows off a painting of a orchid he made and gave to her.
Mr. Carter, a local motorcycle shop owner reminisces of “One-Speed Dean,” a nickname James Dean inherited while riding motorcycles in Fairmount. “He was really a pistol!” says Mr. Carter. Carter then shows off Jimmy Dean’s first motorcycle that he raced on a local racetrack. His memories of Jimmy are fond and expressed with feelings of joy and excitement.
The narrator interviews Bing Traster, a local nursery operator. He discusses Jimmy’s sense of humor and intelligence.
“How did Jimmy impress you, Dean?” asks the narrator.
“Well, yes. Jimmy had a little something up here (he points his finger to his temple) that the other boys don’t have or haven’t had. I haven’t noticed it in ‘em.” Mr. Traster recalls. “He had spiritual values the other kids didn’t seem to have.”
The narrator askes Mr. Traster about Cal Dean, Jimmy’s great-grandfather, a farmer, and talented auctioneer. He claims the Dean family are all showmen and animated storytellers.
James Dean was a quiet, reflective individual. He loved family, farm animals, gardening, and daydreaming. His soul ran deep, and his character was complex. Following high school, he left Fairmount for UCLA, where he participated in the school theatre. He was serious and driven. He had a plan.
The narrator interviewed a fraternity that he pledged to. It was an endeavor that ended in a fist fight. Although he yearned to belong, authority and conformity turned him away.
The freedom he saw in the creative process of an actor increased his hunger for more. He relocated to New York to immerse himself in the art of acting. 1950s New York opened another door to his experience. Images of street life in New York flood the screen as the narrator describes what Dean might have seen, heard, and felt.
The narrator continues…
“The city showed him its nine million faces and he tried to absorb them all… He tried to feel what he thought they felt. I love… I belong to someone… I don’t belong to anyone… Always the onlooker. Always, just outside.”
Various faces appear following more expressive narrative. Pictures of James Dean in New York flash across the screen.
The narrator interviews two men in Jerry’s Bar, a New York bar Dean frequented, Jerry the owner and Lou, the bartender.
“He liked spaghetti. He was a spaghetti boy!” says Jerry in an Italian accent.
Dean would hang around Jerry’s Bar like it was his second home. It was a refuge from the cold New York winter and a community away from home, a family he could rely on. New York meant opportunity and a chance to feed his soul.
The narrator films Dean’s ex-girlfriend, Arlene Sax. She reminisces when he would read her Le Petit Prince, claiming it was about him. Arlene remembered that Dean seemed far away, deep in thought. No matter how much his mind drifted, he would always write home. He valued his connection to his family and was grateful for the things he had.
Dean was a rebellious and unusual actor. He did things his way. He was a focused actor, a curious actor. He took dance and studied his craft with intention.
The narrator goes on to interview his New York friends and peers who discuss his acting, his sensitivity, and his reservations. Dean was shy, unconventional, and stubborn. He found refuge in the theatre but clashed with the directors. He needed to go his own way and pave his own path.
Dean wrote a letter to his cousin Markie. The director films Markie playing with a toy on his bed. The boy appears to be nine or ten. The narrator goes on to recite the letter Dean writes to Markie and he films the boy looking around a snowy field in Fairmount. Dean’s words reflect an attentive and caring older brother figure who points out the importance of noticing one’s surroundings and seeing beauty in everyday things in reply to Markie’s drawings he has sent Dean of guns, criminals, and jail cells.
While in New York, Elia Kazan chooses Dean for the film East of Eden (1955), and they fly to California to begin filming.
“Jimmy was it. He was vengeful. He had a sense of aloneness. He was suspicious. He let you into a private club that only had a few members.” — Elia Kazan
Dean knew the pitfalls of entering Hollywood. He prepared himself for the risks. He stayed grounded in routine and habitual behaviors. He bought himself a motorcycle and frequented a local bar, Villa Capri. A home away from home. Patsy and Billy at Villa Capri replaced Jerry and Lou.
Jimmy Dean realizes his dreams in the success of East of Eden and falls in love.
The narrator interviews Lew Brakker, a close friend and former roommate of Dean’s in Los Angeles. He goes through a box of Dean’s belongings — some miscellaneous items, letters, bills, new articles about his races, and phone numbers. He discusses Jimmy’s interest in directing and becoming a business owner.
James Dean rode a horse, raced cars, played bongos, sought adventure. His moods were unpredictable. He was private and elusive.
The film goes into a montage of images tempered by a soundtrack of bongos — Dean filming with a camera, racing cars, playing bongos, smiling with friends. A bull and matador accentuate Dean’s flirtation with danger.
Following the success of East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Dean finds himself unsatisfied and returns home to Fairmount to ground himself. Before he departs, he meets a friend who offers him some insight into his existential crisis:
“See, that’s the thing we all have that we don’t want anyone to see. It’s very tender, our secret self, if you want to call it that. That’s the thing we have to protect. Now most of us put a wall around it, mirrors around it. If we don’t trust people, we use them to keep them out, so they can’t hurt us. Like you! Look what you got. Mirrors aren’t enough for you. You got to have this too, a second wall. It’s all covered with thorns, and spangles, and shockers to dazzle people so they say Boy, he’s really a hot apple! Look how interesting he is! Here you meet director you really respect, and you do some darn foolish thing that scares him off. Here you meet and businessman, and you say Gee, I’d like to be a businessman! Here you meet a composer, and you say Man, if there is one thing I wanna be is a composer. So, you’re a businessman and a sculptor, and a bullfighter, and a composer, and all those things, but that’s not you. You never give anyone a chance to really like you or not like you because you never let them in to see the first wall. You never say, hey, step right this way and see the real Jimmy Dean. So, what’s hiding in the middle Jimmy? Why do you shut people out? Why don’t you think you deserve anything? You think you’re so dull, if they get inside, they won’t find anything, and they’ll walk out on you? Is that why you run out on them before they get too close. Do you think you’re empty Jimmy? Is that why you’re so scared?”
Jimmy stepped into his small-town world again. He visited with his family and asked them about his great-grandfather Cal Dean, the auctioneer. His grandfather shows him how to be an auctioneer. They laugh. Dean realizes through his grandfather’s stories, he must be true to himself, be an honest man.
Images of his hometown visit with his family flash across the screen. The narrator digs into the death of Jimmy’s mother and the grief and abandonment he carried with him.
On to his next film. In Giant (1956), James “Jimmy” Dean finally embodies his truth, but he does not foresee his fate.
The narrator takes the audience through the motions of Dean’s last day, September 30, 1955. He goes to Villa Capri the night before for dinner then leaves L.A. the next day for a race in Salinas, California. It is a wide-open stretch of highway surrounded by the Diablo Mountain range. He’s pulled over for a speeding ticket, enters a roadside coffee shop, then finds himself in the path of an oncoming car that suddenly turns left into his lane. His vehicle is totaled. James is dead. His passenger injured. The cliff and drunk driving story is a myth. The other driver was at fault.
The film ends with a scene from Giant.
S. Angell is a published poet, writer, philosopher, and video blogger. She explores various topics, including love, life, death, history, and society from a philosophical perspective. You can find her on Instagram @rainydaypoetess
