The real James Dean

This penetrating little book, published in 1975, during the enormous revival of all things Dean, was author John Gilmore's first effort in addressing the life of his friend, James Dean. While not as lengthy or in depth as his formidable and revealing '97 book, Live fast, Die Young, it nonetheless exhibits Gilmore's talent for memoir-style writing. One reason, I feel, that traditional-minded fans can't stomach Gilmore's accounts of Dean's life is because he never follows the long established blueprint for celebrity biography. As I alluded to in the review for Live Fast..., he's a noir writer, specifically he is a visionary on the nature of L.A. pop culture,Hollywood and the symptoms of fame and, though it hasn't anything to do with Dean, Gilmore is an expert on true-crime. There is no comparison to other bios of Dean, with the exception of his second Dean work, or the progressive, far-reaching books by Val Holley and Ron Martinetti. Aside from John's noir stylings, there is the credential of having known and hung around Dean sporadically from 1953 until Jimmy's death in September of '55. Gilmore's love of the subject and determination to bring the real Dean to the forefront are obvious what with his loving photo captions, vivid anecdotes and the inclusion of historical reviews and the detailed chronology of James Dean's career. It's regrettable that the publisher felt the need to push the sensational envelope with its cover blurb,"..as he (Dean) really was-a lover of men as well as women", which Gilmore had nothing to do with. Compared to Gilmore's second Dean book this is a safe, but fascinating prelude to a longer tale of emotional complexity and restless humanity. After Gilmore had seen and heard about the burgeoning Dean renaissance, by way of earlier books by Dalton, Herndon and others, he decided to stand up and have his own say about a man whom he actually knew. The result is this slim, literary dagger that cuts to the quick much of the over-wrought mythologizing and legend-making that hit the stands in the early to mid seventies. There's an intimacy and gritty clarity to Gilmore's prose and how he presents his memories and the vital anecdotes he obtained. David Dalton did not dig deep enough in numerous ways, for his bio of Dean, but a trivial example might be Gilmore obtaining a photo of Dean's beloved mother, Mildred, which Dalton wrote was unobtainable. Other interesting photos include a shot of Gilmore in the '50's taken by Dean himself, as well as a haunting photo of John's duplicate of the famous Warner Bros. life mask of Jimmy. Also, there's the cool newsphoto of Gilmore, in '75, with Dean's leather motorcycle jacket.Again, not as revelatory as the '97 book, but I applaud his gallant original effort in revealing the turbulent, tortured life of the enduring icon. Paul Waters