James Dean: Fifty Years Ago

This book isn't big on text but it is what it's supposed to be, a hauntingly beautiful black and white photo journal of James Dean in NYC and back at home, on the farm, in Fairmount, Indiana (a few "Rebel Without a Cause" shots, too, in the back). For James Dean fans this book is a treat. Buy it!!

My good friend, Carole, sent me a copy of an official publication from a JAMES DEAN fan club. Inside was a lengthy story she had written recounting the 1988 trip that she and six other "die-hard Dean fans" (including Jimmy's boyhood friend, Bob Pulley) made to California, during which I escorted the group to several of the prominent Dean-related sites in Los Angeles. Happily reliving those days through Carole's recollections, I was inspired to lose myself in my copy of Dennis Stock's JAMES DEAN REVISITED. His JAMES DEAN: FIFTY YEARS AGO is essentially a special, retitled hardcover reissue with the photographs beautifully enlarged, and a few splendid ones previously unpublished now included. My copy - a gift from my employer in 1993 - is inscribed, "To a fellow alien who straddles two worlds...the art is in the living." My magazine-publishing boss bought me the book, but being a major fan, naturally, this essential book for Dean fans was already in my bookcase. I subsequently gave away my older copy and kept his gift. As a wannabe actor fresh out of high school in 1977 (Santa Monica High, coincidentally also known as Dawson High in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE), I discovered Dean at a Fox Venice Theater showing of what I consider Dean's greatest film, EAST OF EDEN. This was before movies were available for purchase and home viewing. I was mesmerized then knocked out of my boots; everything struck a chord of harmony within me: the sense of youthful alienation; the brooding intensity; the moodiness; the frustration; the quest for meaning. I was hooked, and James Dean became my idol. In September of 1980, I took my first extensive solo trip, flying into Indianapolis and then driving to Dean's hometown, Fairmount, for the festival honoring the 25th anniversary of his death. Through happenstance (?), I met Carole and her friend Russ (both would remain my very good friends). I'd heard that Martin Sheen was to attend the festival, and when Russ asked if I wanted to accompany them to the Indianapolis airport to pick up "Martin", I said, "Sure" - assuming that the "first name only" implied that this Martin was famous and a last name was unnecessary. It turned out to be Martin, hard-core fan flying in from England. (I'm still in touch with this non-Sheen "Martin", too.) Well, in the days that followed, my disappointment from the "Martin Mix-up" turned to elation when I discovered how well-connected my new friends were, and I found myself meeting Adeline Nall, Jimmy's high school drama teacher, and then getting a private tour of his boyhood farmhouse conducted by the aunt who raised him, Ortense Dean Winslow. I saw his motorcycle and leather motorcycle jacket, his bongo drum sitting quietly in the corner, and his childhood artwork hanging on his old bedroom walls. Very heady stuff for a young fan! (I've experienced so many strange "coincidences" in my 47 years that I'm not at all convinced this life is "real.") Well, as the years wore on, I surp

Mr. James Dean who is featured in these pictures speaks for himself and what was lost when he was taken to his final resting place in Fairmount and what might have been.

Was about time this book came out. These are some of the most beautiful JD photos. It's all I've got to say

STOCK shot some wonderful pictures of DEAN and this book documents them with little tid bits of the backstory by Stock. STOCK took some of the more artistic photographs of DEAN and this book is well worth picking up. Besides all the DVDs released this year including the AMERICAN MASTERS DVD (Which includes DENNIS STOCK), this book is a MUST HAVE!