Floyd
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Also, Dean (and Brando) came before, or were the start of, the 'teenager' as we know it today.
Up until then ,things had been pretty staid really.
Spooky James Dean
- Thread starter KeyserXSoze
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Up until then ,things had been pretty staid really.
escargot
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Reminds me of what my older sister says about the Beatles; they were so fascinating because at the time there was nothing like them.
Floyd
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It's amazing how many famous musicians say that it was seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964 that got them into doing music for a living.
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Fred Otash again.
by JASON COLAVITO
Now that The Fixer, Josh Young and Manfred Westphal’s biography of L.A. private eye and fabulist Fred Otash, is out, and its claims about James Dean the subject of a People magazine feature, I can add a new detail to the analysis I provided back in January of the many reasons Otash’s story about catching Dean shoplifting caviar at the Hollywood Ranch Market is a likely fake. Be sure to click the link and read through for the details. The short version is that Otash’s published claim is chronologically confused and reflects incorrect information about Dean that was popularly believed in the 1970s but not before or after.
My initial analysis was based on Otash’s 1976 book Investigation Hollywood!, which was ghostwritten for him, allegedly from his interviews and notes. Young and Westphal have collated the text with what they claim were transcripts of Otash’s field notes used in production of the book. But, in the case of Dean, this only made things worse. In his 1976 book, Otash seemingly placed the events in 1954 or 1955, a time when he knew and recognized Dean as a celebrity. We know this because Otash states that he knew Dean was “some kind of idol” and asserts that he was unwilling to charge Dean with shoplifting because “I don’t want to be the guy that killed Santa Claus,” meaning the person who tarnished Dean’s celebrity image. Dean wasn’t a well-known celebrity until the summer of 1954, when he was 23.
However, when collating Otash’s book with his working notes, Young and Westphal produced a different account. According to them, Otash began moonlighting at the Hollywood Ranch Market grocery store in 1950, during a 60-day suspension from the LAPD for gambling. They claim, somewhat incredulously, that within days he had revolutionized store security by installing five two-way mirrors to catch shoplifters, of which there many, and immediately caught James Dean: ...
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/the-fix-is-in
The Fix Is In
A credulous new biography of private eye Fred Otash makes some dubious claims about the detective's likely fictitious run-in with James Dean.
by JASON COLAVITO
Now that The Fixer, Josh Young and Manfred Westphal’s biography of L.A. private eye and fabulist Fred Otash, is out, and its claims about James Dean the subject of a People magazine feature, I can add a new detail to the analysis I provided back in January of the many reasons Otash’s story about catching Dean shoplifting caviar at the Hollywood Ranch Market is a likely fake. Be sure to click the link and read through for the details. The short version is that Otash’s published claim is chronologically confused and reflects incorrect information about Dean that was popularly believed in the 1970s but not before or after.
My initial analysis was based on Otash’s 1976 book Investigation Hollywood!, which was ghostwritten for him, allegedly from his interviews and notes. Young and Westphal have collated the text with what they claim were transcripts of Otash’s field notes used in production of the book. But, in the case of Dean, this only made things worse. In his 1976 book, Otash seemingly placed the events in 1954 or 1955, a time when he knew and recognized Dean as a celebrity. We know this because Otash states that he knew Dean was “some kind of idol” and asserts that he was unwilling to charge Dean with shoplifting because “I don’t want to be the guy that killed Santa Claus,” meaning the person who tarnished Dean’s celebrity image. Dean wasn’t a well-known celebrity until the summer of 1954, when he was 23.
However, when collating Otash’s book with his working notes, Young and Westphal produced a different account. According to them, Otash began moonlighting at the Hollywood Ranch Market grocery store in 1950, during a 60-day suspension from the LAPD for gambling. They claim, somewhat incredulously, that within days he had revolutionized store security by installing five two-way mirrors to catch shoplifters, of which there many, and immediately caught James Dean: ...
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/the-fix-is-in
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Jason finds a rare photograph.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on gathering the photos and other images for Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean. I had just finished collecting what I was able to find and license when I lamented that as important a role as advertising executive and radio producer Rogers Brackett played in James Dean’s life, there were no photos of him as a young man. To the best of my knowledge, the only photograph of him I had ever seen was the one Ronald Martinetti published in his James Dean biography, showing a terminally ill Brackett nearly twenty-five years after he met Dean.
Rogers Brackett (left) with portrait of himself and author Ronald Martinetti
I had scoured archives to see if I could find one that showed him in the prime of his life, but the closest I could come was a 1940s-era newspaper article that ran his photo alongside a piece about his radio and theater work. Unfortunately, that small local newspaper was committed to microfilm half a century ago, and all that survives is a black blob where the dark half-tone image photographed poorly.
You can imagine my surprise, then, when right before my deadline, CBS uncovered a picture of Brackett as he appeared a couple of years before Dean met him. He was the director of and occasional on-air personality on a CBS radio show called Vox Pop and the network commissioned a headshot in connection with that, according to the caption affixed to the picture. CBS digitized the image for the CBS Photo Archive a couple of weeks ago. (As best my research could determine, the copyright was never renewed, as required under the 1976 copyright act, which would make the picture public domain.) As far as I can tell, no other book has published this photo, and mine will therefore be the first.
Rogers Brackett as he appeared in 1946
I found the headshot fascinating because it is so much at odds with how Dean’s other lovers remembered their rival.
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/a-surprising-photo-find
A Surprising Photo Find
A rare photo of Rogers Brackett, James Dean's onetime lover, resurfaces after nearly 80 years.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on gathering the photos and other images for Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean. I had just finished collecting what I was able to find and license when I lamented that as important a role as advertising executive and radio producer Rogers Brackett played in James Dean’s life, there were no photos of him as a young man. To the best of my knowledge, the only photograph of him I had ever seen was the one Ronald Martinetti published in his James Dean biography, showing a terminally ill Brackett nearly twenty-five years after he met Dean.
 |
I had scoured archives to see if I could find one that showed him in the prime of his life, but the closest I could come was a 1940s-era newspaper article that ran his photo alongside a piece about his radio and theater work. Unfortunately, that small local newspaper was committed to microfilm half a century ago, and all that survives is a black blob where the dark half-tone image photographed poorly.
You can imagine my surprise, then, when right before my deadline, CBS uncovered a picture of Brackett as he appeared a couple of years before Dean met him. He was the director of and occasional on-air personality on a CBS radio show called Vox Pop and the network commissioned a headshot in connection with that, according to the caption affixed to the picture. CBS digitized the image for the CBS Photo Archive a couple of weeks ago. (As best my research could determine, the copyright was never renewed, as required under the 1976 copyright act, which would make the picture public domain.) As far as I can tell, no other book has published this photo, and mine will therefore be the first.
 |
I found the headshot fascinating because it is so much at odds with how Dean’s other lovers remembered their rival.
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/a-surprising-photo-find
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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More dodgy claims about Dean.
This week, Factinate put out a YouTube video about John Derek, a mostly forgotten Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s.
For our purposes, the only important information about him is that Ursula Andress broke up with James Dean in early September 1955, began dating Derek in late September, and married him the next year. The video, however, goes rather far in suggesting that Dean stalked Derek and tried to intimidate him into dropping Andress, which is a fairly dramatic story that doesn’t appear in any of the standard Dean biographies.
The video led me back to Factinate’s 2021 article on Derek, which gives a longer account:
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/the-inevitable-showdown-that-wasnt
This week, Factinate put out a YouTube video about John Derek, a mostly forgotten Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s.
For our purposes, the only important information about him is that Ursula Andress broke up with James Dean in early September 1955, began dating Derek in late September, and married him the next year. The video, however, goes rather far in suggesting that Dean stalked Derek and tried to intimidate him into dropping Andress, which is a fairly dramatic story that doesn’t appear in any of the standard Dean biographies.
The video led me back to Factinate’s 2021 article on Derek, which gives a longer account:
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/the-inevitable-showdown-that-wasnt
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Coming soon.
I am proud to share the cover of my new book Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean, out this fall from Applause Books, and imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It was a long, challenging road to develop an attractive cover that captured the feel of the book, but I think this one more than succeeded.
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/unveiling-the-cover-of-jimmy-the
Unveiling the Cover of "Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean"
My new book will be published this fall.
JASON COLAVITO JUN 26, 2024
I am proud to share the cover of my new book Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean, out this fall from Applause Books, and imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It was a long, challenging road to develop an attractive cover that captured the feel of the book, but I think this one more than succeeded.
https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/unveiling-the-cover-of-jimmy-the
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Indeed.
Jason Colavito @JasonColavito
A subtle detail in my book's cover is the choice of photo. It's alluring and attractive but also thematically appropriate. When you watch "Rebel without a Cause," you see that in this still, James Dean is making those eyes at Sal Mineo, not Natalie Wood.
https://x.com/JasonColavito/status/1805964315263983777