Not Rated | 1h 21min | Documentary, Biography | 14 January 1957 (Japan)
This documentary, which was undertaken soon after James Dean's death, looks at Dean's life through the use of still photographs with narration, and interviews with many of the people involved in his short life. Interviewees include the aunt and uncle who raised him after his mother's death (when James was 9), his fraternal grandparents, a cabdriver friend in New York City, and the owner of his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. James's father, who was alive when the film was made, does not get a single mention.
Directors: Robert Altman, George W. George
Writer: Stewart Stern
Stars: Martin Gabel, James Dean, Lew Bracker
This documentary, which was undertaken soon after James Dean's death, looks at Dean's life through the use of still photographs with narration, and interviews with many of the people involved in his short life. Interviewees include the aunt and uncle who raised him after his mother's death (when James was 9), his fraternal grandparents, a cabdriver friend in New York City, and the owner of his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. James's father, who was alive when the film was made, does not get a single mention.
Directors: Robert Altman, George W. George
Writer: Stewart Stern
Stars: Martin Gabel, James Dean, Lew Bracker
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:30James Dean died today.
00:00:59He had lived with a great hunger.
00:01:29His last film was Giant.
00:01:55When it opened more than a year after his death, Hollywood celebrated with the biggest
00:02:26James Dean was billed below two other stars, but the night belonged to him.
00:02:34As the picture opened at the first runs in the neighborhoods,
00:02:39everyone came to take a final look and gave him an ovation each time his face appeared.
00:02:45They had made James Dean and they wouldn't let him go.
00:02:58To keep him close, they made a legend in his name.
00:03:07From Maine to Manila, from Tokyo to Rome,
00:03:10he seemed to express some of the things they couldn't find the words for.
00:03:21Rage, rebellion, hope,
00:03:30the lonely awareness that growing up is pain.
00:03:33They wore what he wore.
00:03:42They walked as he walked.
00:03:45They played the parts they saw him play,
00:03:48and they searched for the answers they thought he was searching for.
00:03:54Some found a kinship they had never known before.
00:03:57Youth mourned itself in the passing of James Dean.
00:04:01Because he died young and belonged to no one,
00:04:05every girl could feel that he belonged to her alone.
00:04:08Because he died violently, every boy could use him as a warning to his parents.
00:04:14If you don't start understanding me, I could go the same way.
00:04:21A hero.
00:04:22A hero made of their loneliness.
00:04:26A legend woven from their restlessness, their energy, their despair.
00:04:32What is the hero to do with James Dean?
00:04:37What is the legend to do with his life?
00:04:41To those who made the hero, to those who wove the legend,
00:04:47this picture is dedicated to them.
00:04:49To those who wove the legend, this picture is dedicated with affection and with hope.
00:04:59If there is an answer, it belongs to them.
00:05:04To separate hero from legend, we must go back to Fairmount, Indiana,
00:05:09the land where he spent his youth.
00:05:19A Hollywood newsman once asked whether Fairmount is a quaint little town.
00:05:25Fairmount is little, but it isn't quaint.
00:05:28It's a useful town, used long and well by useful people.
00:05:35Farmers, mostly.
00:05:37One of them told us,
00:05:39It's a pretty good town.
00:05:41Good place to live.
00:05:43Farmers, mostly.
00:05:45One of them told us,
00:05:46It's a pretty good town.
00:05:48Good place for a boy to grow up.
00:05:54There are two ways of coming to Fairmount.
00:05:58We came by road.
00:06:03Jimmy Dean came by rail.
00:06:06He was nine years old.
00:06:12The body of his mother was on the same train.
00:06:18It was a lonesome way to come home.
00:06:29For the years of his life,
00:06:31Jimmy looked to this town and the farms around it as his source and his beginning.
00:06:37A quiet land to come home to.
00:06:40A quiet land to come home to.
00:06:43A place to replenish himself.
00:06:47The road he traveled that first day became an artery of his life.
00:06:52It lies between cornfields and meadows.
00:06:56Passes close to the Quaker church where he prayed.
00:07:00Passes Mr. Carter's motorcycle shop,
00:07:03where he learned about speed.
00:07:05And the cemetery with its generations of Winslows and Deans.
00:07:11The road comes at last to the heart of his childhood.
00:07:15The Winslow farm.
00:07:17Home of his aunt, Hortense, his uncle Marcus, and his cousin Markie.
00:07:24The farm seemed strange to him at first.
00:07:28And the house seemed very big.
00:07:31He was left by himself.
00:07:33He was left by himself to get over his grief.
00:07:39He woke up crying from a nightmare.
00:07:42He was dreaming of his mother.
00:07:45He would always dream of her.
00:07:51Mr. Winslow?
00:07:53Yes?
00:07:53How big a farm have you got?
00:07:55350 acres.
00:07:56What crops do you grow?
00:07:58Mostly corn and some oats and some hay.
00:08:01And Jimmy was raised here?
00:08:03Yes, came here when he was nine and left when he was 18.
00:08:06Was he much help on the farm?
00:08:08Very good help with machinery and was very good with livestock up to his
00:08:13junior year of high school.
00:08:14When did you first notice his acting talent?
00:08:17Well, I'd say his last year of school when he spoke in the National Forensic League.
00:08:21He won the national at Peru, Indiana.
00:08:23Then he went on to Longmont, Colorado and spoke in the national there.
00:08:27Have you any idea where his talent came from, Marcus?
00:08:31Well, I couldn't say about that.
00:08:33That's just like two south, one having seven pigs and one having 15.
00:08:37Why does it happen?
00:08:41Um, what about this house?
00:08:43Is it old?
00:08:44It was built in 1904 and there's about 15 rooms in it.
00:08:47Would you care to go over and meet my wife?
00:08:54I want you to meet my wife, Mrs. Winslow.
00:08:57Mrs. Winslow, would you tell us why Jimmy came to live with you?
00:09:02Well, his mother died and we had always thought a lot of Jimmy.
00:09:08And when we learned that his mother would not recover, we asked for him.
00:09:14We have read where he was sort of pushed off onto us, but that is not true.
00:09:23That is not true.
00:09:24We, um, we wanted him.
00:09:26We were happy to have him and, uh, he seemed to be perfectly satisfied.
00:09:32The older generations on the other side of town.
00:09:35Grandma and Grandpa Dean.
00:09:39Looky here, what came today.
00:09:42Oh, isn't that beautiful?
00:09:44Where did that come from?
00:09:46Come from Japan.
00:09:49Let's hear what came yesterday.
00:09:51I get so much mail from Japan.
00:09:55Have you any of Jimmy's baby pictures, Mrs. Dean?
00:10:01Here's Jimmy when he was two months old.
00:10:09And then here he is again when he was two and a half years old.
00:10:14And here's a picture of him on a pony when he was six years old.
00:10:21Out in California, he was out in California at that time.
00:10:25And here he is when he was playing in high school on the high school basketball team.
00:10:33And he, uh, that is his third year in high school.
00:10:38And he, uh, that is his third year in high school.
00:10:44This is Fairmount High School.
00:10:47His coach said, Jimmy wasn't too coachable.
00:10:52You had to be careful about changing his style.
00:10:54And I learned not to embarrass him in front of the other boys.
00:10:57He racked up 40 points in three games.
00:11:03He had been an enormous baby.
00:11:05But for some reason, he grew up to be a very little boy.
00:11:09And because he was little, he tried all the harder and made the baseball team.
00:11:15And smashed the pole vault record for Grant County.
00:11:20And quit.
00:11:21Uncle Marcus said, Jimmy broke 15 pair of eyeglasses just trying to be an athlete.
00:11:26He'd break them as fast as I could get them.
00:11:29Once in a while, he had to bring these home.
00:11:32I was called to see the principal so many times, I almost moved into her office.
00:11:38Well, the first time, Jimmy began to show another side.
00:11:44He painted the things he saw and tried to put feeling into them.
00:11:51And he succeeded once when he painted his loneliness.
00:11:57But it wasn't enough for him.
00:11:59He felt more at home on the stage, where he could pretend to be somebody else.
00:12:05Adeline Knoll was his acting teacher.
00:12:08She coached him in forensics.
00:12:10Miss Knoll, what had Jimmy recited at the state forensic meet?
00:12:15Jimmy chose the madman story by Charles Dickens for his reading.
00:12:19What special thing set him apart?
00:12:22Well, Jimmy, as in anything he did, put in his whole heart.
00:12:27He had wonderful use of his eyes.
00:12:32I think his eyes were one of the most effective things
00:12:36that made an impression on the teachers at the meet.
00:12:45He won.
00:12:52I have a picture here of an orchid that Jimmy painted for me.
00:12:56It was the day following the first showing of the junior play.
00:13:00The cast gave me this orchid, or gave me an orchid.
00:13:05And it was the first orchid I'd ever received.
00:13:10Jimmy, who made the presentation then, came over and gave me a kiss.
00:13:13The next day, he came into my classroom and asked for the orchid.
00:13:17I didn't know what the child wanted.
00:13:18He took it to the art class and painted this for me,
00:13:22which I have prized through the years.
00:13:25Then he said, now you can keep your orchid forever.
00:13:29One of my prized possessions.
00:13:32Mr. Carter, who owns this shop, says Jimmy was really a pistol.
00:13:37They called him one speed dean, one speed, wide open.
00:13:44Mr. Carter, would you show us Jimmy's motorcycle?
00:13:49Yes, sir.
00:13:50This motorcycle here is the first one he ever owned.
00:13:52This is a 1947 Czech Jobs, made in Czechoslovakia.
00:13:57It's rated at a horse and a half horsepower,
00:14:00and it will run approximately 50 miles an hour.
00:14:03How old was he when he got it?
00:14:0415.
00:14:05Where did he race his bike?
00:14:08We had a field adjoining the shop here that we got off the neighbor.
00:14:16We rented it, and we built a small track on it.
00:14:19And Jimmy used to go over there and run around this track,
00:14:21which was absolutely no official track, but just something to play on.
00:14:25He used to broadside it around, and we had a great time with him.
00:14:31He at one time came in here, I had a public address system,
00:14:35and he came in here and wanted to know if he could talk on it.
00:14:40And I told him, yes, he could.
00:14:42So he got back in the corner of the shop here and put a speaker outside,
00:14:46and he put on a race, an imaginary race.
00:14:49And he would line the fellows up on the track and tell what kind of motor they were riding,
00:14:53and tell about the takeoff on them,
00:14:56and about somebody broadsiding a little too much in the corner,
00:14:59and look out, they're going to fall, and he'd holler and then laugh.
00:15:02See, down he goes.
00:15:03He was really describing a race.
00:15:07He really had a great imagination.
00:15:11Bing Traster owns his own nursery on the south side of town.
00:15:16He and Jimmy had one thing in common, a sense of humor.
00:15:31Mr. Traster, have you known the Dean family very long?
00:15:34Yes, I was personally acquainted with four generations of the Dean family.
00:15:37Did you know Jimmy Dean?
00:15:39Yeah, I knew Jimmy Dean.
00:15:40He was one of the boys around town and knew them all, of course, naturally.
00:15:44How did Jimmy impress you, Bing?
00:15:47Well, yes, Jimmy had a little something up here that the other boys don't have,
00:15:49or haven't had.
00:15:50I haven't noticed it in them.
00:15:53The old Dean homestead is out here a mile and a half south,
00:15:56where his father was born, and his grandfather also lived there,
00:16:00and his boy, I don't know whether his grandfather was born there or not,
00:16:02but the great-grandfather lived there.
00:16:05And when Jimmy kind of got down the dumps to get the blues,
00:16:09he'd get on his motorcycle and go out here to the old home place,
00:16:11the old homestead, and meditate a while.
00:16:14It seemed to derive a certain amount of comfort from it,
00:16:16being where the ancestors used to live.
00:16:19And he had spiritual values that the average kid didn't seem to have.
00:16:23Is there anything out there now?
00:16:25Shade trees, a few fruit trees, some weeds.
00:16:27The farm's changed hands since the Dean people left, lived there.
00:16:34What about Cal Dean?
00:16:36Well, Cal Dean was an auctioneer.
00:16:38He was a farmer to begin with.
00:16:39He went someplace up here, about Banco,
00:16:41which is in the northern part of Wabash County, to attend a sale.
00:16:45And the regular auctioneer didn't show up,
00:16:47so they called for volunteers, and Cal volunteered and got up and cried the sale,
00:16:52and made a big success.
00:16:54And he was a sale cryer from there on.
00:16:55He was Jimmy's grandfather?
00:16:57No, he was Jimmy Dean's great-grandfather.
00:16:59His great-grandfather, a man about my size, a little larger.
00:17:01He was a little more bare-winded.
00:17:03You think he got his talent from Cal Dean?
00:17:06Well, yes.
00:17:07Jimmy got quite a bit of talent from the Dean family.
00:17:09They were all showmen.
00:17:11Old Cal Dean, the great-grandfather of Jimmy, he was quite a showman himself.
00:17:15And old Cal Dean had a cousin who lived at Somerville.
00:17:20That's a town south about five miles.
00:17:22He was also a sale crier.
00:17:24And he was good getting off stories.
00:17:27Some were a little off-color, and get by with them all.
00:17:28I kept the crowd laughing.
00:17:30And Cal could do the same thing.
00:17:34He seemed to derive a certain amount of comfort from it,
00:17:38being where the ancestors used to live.
00:17:43Season after season, Marcus watched him grow and gathered in his harvest.
00:17:49But of all the harvests his farm had grown, the most plentiful were his children.
00:17:55And he looked upon Jimmy as one of them.
00:17:59He seemed like a happy boy.
00:18:00Not quite like the others, perhaps, but not so remarkable, either.
00:18:06A boy who liked his garden and was proud of the things he grew.
00:18:11A boy who liked to fool around with his little cousin, Markie,
00:18:14who grew up to be his brother.
00:18:17A boy who liked animals, because they accepted him as he was.
00:18:24And they were gentle.
00:18:26And who had a dog he named Tuck,
00:18:28for reasons of his own.
00:18:30But no boy is exactly what he seems.
00:18:34And Jimmy had his own secret world.
00:18:37He left only three doorways for us to look into it.
00:18:42A tree in an empty landscape, which he turned to in his loneliness.
00:18:48A mother's grave, which he turned to in his questioning and in his dreams.
00:18:54And a clipping he saved to trace the steps of his fulfillment.
00:18:59These are the needs, it says.
00:19:03The need for love and security.
00:19:10The need for creative expression.
00:19:15The need for recognition and self-esteem.
00:19:19He made this statue of himself.
00:19:22But it had no face.
00:19:29It seemed like something happened to Jimmy.
00:19:31He started pulling into himself and didn't share things with us anymore.
00:19:37But maybe that's just growing up.
00:19:40Nothing he tried satisfied his hunger.
00:19:44He began to say goodbye to family and friends.
00:19:47Nothing he tried satisfied his hunger.
00:19:50He began to say goodbye to Fairmount in his childhood.
00:19:56Restlessness possessed him.
00:19:59He must move, move somewhere.
00:20:03And motion makes any road seem right.
00:20:07He must find a face for the image he called self.
00:20:18Every block in Los Angeles had more people in it than the whole town of Fairmount and
00:20:24all the farms around it put together.
00:20:27And none of them had ever heard of Jimmy Dean.
00:20:31He could be anything here.
00:20:34He looked down at the city and planned his strategy as he had often looked at a winter
00:20:39field and considered the crops he would grow.
00:20:41Maybe if he behaved like everybody else, he might belong somewhere and become something.
00:20:50And he came down the hill.
00:20:55He registered at UCLA and he began as a model student.
00:21:00He was proud of himself.
00:21:02So he wrote a letter home.
00:21:04Here's a letter I got from Jimmy when he was going to school in UCLA.
00:21:12Out in California.
00:21:14He wrote that he was very busy and working awfully hard.
00:21:17And the semester just ahead was even harder.
00:21:21His grades were fine for a change.
00:21:23Four B's, one C, and an A.
00:21:27He was taking lots of drama in school.
00:21:30And he had just landed a good part in a student play.
00:21:35And he said to his grandmother that he was really finding out one thing.
00:21:40That an actor must be an intellectual, which takes years to develop.
00:21:47If he was going to conform, he'd do it all the way.
00:21:52So he tried to do it royally and joined Sigma Nu.
00:21:56What's your position, Bob?
00:21:57I'm a president of Sigma Nu fraternity.
00:21:59I pledged the house in February 1952.
00:22:03And Dean pledged in 50, I think September 1950.
00:22:06We looked through the files a couple months ago to see whether we had anything from Dean.
00:22:14And this is his pledge application.
00:22:15This is an application to the National in the financial records.
00:22:19We, after his four months of pledging, we noticed that he has a $45 deficit on his house bill,
00:22:25which he never paid, of course.
00:22:28John, when did you meet Jimmy?
00:22:31I first met Jimmy Dean in fall of 1950.
00:22:35And I was quite impressed with him.
00:22:37I talked to him several times during rushing, and he seemed real sincere, though he was quiet.
00:22:43Well, he pledged, and then it became quite apparent after a couple weeks that the controls
00:22:50that are exerted over a pledge were a little bit, he just couldn't accept them, was the main problem.
00:22:57Things like, oh, missing Monday night meetings.
00:23:00He had his original, or his final bit of trouble, I guess you would say,
00:23:05and it ended up in a fistfight between him and one of the pledges.
00:23:09And he walked out in a huff, and that was the last anyone ever saw of him.
00:23:14Who am I, he wondered.
00:23:18I don't want to be alone.
00:23:21I don't want to be different.
00:23:23I need people, but I keep pushing them away.
00:23:30I've got all this love to give.
00:23:36He took his envy to the beach.
00:23:40He looked at the ocean, and he was jealous of its power.
00:23:45He envied the gulls for having found each other.
00:23:51He envied them their freedom, and their solitary flights.
00:23:57Suddenly, he knew.
00:24:01He knew.
00:24:05He knew.
00:24:09He knew.
00:24:12Suddenly, he knew.
00:24:16That as an actor, he could be the ocean, and flood everything with his power.
00:24:26As an actor, he could be a gull, and rise higher than any living thing.
00:24:32He would become an actor, really an actor.
00:24:36He would conquer New York, and press the theater to his feet.
00:24:40Then he would come back, and conquer Hollywood.
00:24:42He would rise so high, he would almost vanish.
00:24:46And everyone would beg him to come back.
00:24:50And he saw a dead bird in the sand, and wept for it.
00:24:58But he was on his way.
00:25:00Jimmy Dean was going to be somebody.
00:25:05He needed car fare to get to New York, so he did his first movie.
00:25:09It was filmed on the merry-go-round in Griffith Park, and Jimmy was an extra.
00:25:13A one-minute commercial for a soft drink company.
00:25:17The ride took him all the way to Times Square.
00:25:28The city showed him its nine million faces.
00:25:32And he tried to absorb them all.
00:25:38He found them on subways.
00:25:42And in the bars.
00:25:46On the waterfront.
00:25:50Greenwich Village.
00:25:52In places where it wasn't safe to go.
00:25:56He tried to feel what he thought they felt.
00:26:01I love.
00:26:05I belong to someone.
00:26:11I don't belong to anyone.
00:26:13Always the onlooker.
00:26:15Always just outside.
00:26:19He began to push at the walls of his own isolation.
00:26:23And break into the lives around him.
00:26:27He would borrow a laugh.
00:26:31A sudden gesture.
00:26:39The droop of sadness.
00:26:43People were his food.
00:26:47And he ate them up hungrily.
00:26:51To help him build his actor's face.
00:26:55His appetites were large, but he was never quite full.
00:26:59He thought sleep was a waste of time.
00:27:03And if he slept, he might miss something.
00:27:07Afraid of his solitude.
00:27:11Afraid of his dreams.
00:27:15He prowled through the nights like a hunter.
00:27:23He'd borrow a paper to see what was playing on 42nd Street.
00:27:28And he'd go to Three Features to stretch out the night.
00:27:40Sometimes he'd register at a small hotel that was left behind.
00:27:44When Glamour moved uptown.
00:27:48And when his money ran out, so did he.
00:27:52But he found a second home.
00:27:56A bar where he was always welcome.
00:28:00The gentleman on the left is Louie.
00:28:04He was Jimmy's favorite waiter.
00:28:08The one on the right is Jerry. He owns the place.
00:28:12How was his appetite, Jerry?
00:28:16Always spaghetti. He was a spaghetti boy.
00:28:20He said, I'm going to be an Italian by spaghetti eating.
00:28:25I taught him once, and he'd follow again and again.
00:28:29He used to laugh every time I looked at him.
00:28:33He could roll the spaghetti just like he was born in Naples, Italy.
00:28:37Care to comment, Louie?
00:28:41Well, I can say plenty about him.
00:28:45He used to come in at times that he didn't have anything.
00:28:49That's when he first started.
00:28:54Did he ask for anything else?
00:28:58Yes, he did. Many times I'd give him rent money.
00:29:02And he always paid me back.
00:29:06Could you tell us about the champagne episode?
00:29:10You mean when he came in with a bottle of champagne that he bought from the outside?
00:29:14Well, he came in that night, he had the champagne wrapped up in a bag.
00:29:18He says, Louie, come in with three other boys.
00:29:22Give me a few glasses here and open a bottle for me.
00:29:26I said, Jimmy, it's against the rules of the house and I can't do that for you.
00:29:30I said, if I do that for you, I lose my job.
00:29:34Because we carry champagne in here and you can't bring it in from outside.
00:29:38He says, buy it here. I said, take that home, will you?
00:29:42Then you buy some here and you drink it up.
00:29:46He opened the bottle, he ran to the beer cooler, and he dumped the whole bottle in the beer cooler.
00:29:51Then after that, he says, well, bring me some champagne.
00:29:55I said, what do you want, a quart, a fifth, or do you want splits?
00:29:59He says, bring us two splits. Then he bought two splits and he says, well, divide it up between us.
00:30:03Did he ever bring his drums?
00:30:07Oh, bongo drums. He used to come in, you know, for a couple of nights, he used to bring it on his back.
00:30:11He used to carry it on his back, you know, with a strap.
00:30:15A lot of people used to ask me in the place, they'd say, who's that boy there?
00:30:19I'd say, he's a good boy, he's going to be a big actor someday.
00:30:23They'd say, you're crazy. I'd say, that's Jimmy Dean, you know.
00:30:27Nobody wanted to believe it, you know. So anyway, he came in with the drums and he started rapping on the drums, you know.
00:30:31He was making so much noise that everybody was getting annoyed in the place, you know.
00:30:35I went over to him, I said, Jimmy, I'm sorry, but you can't do that.
00:30:39And he got peeved again. You know, he was a boy that, I don't know,
00:30:43he was hard to understand, you know.
00:30:48It's a wonderful, generous city behind the brick and mortar, Jimmy said.
00:30:52And it's full of perceptive, wonderful people.
00:30:56People he wanted to work with.
00:31:00People he wanted to know.
00:31:04People he hoped would respect him one day.
00:31:08His names were written in lights, and he wondered how it would feel.
00:31:18Leonard Rosenman was a young composer
00:31:22who later created the music for East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause.
00:31:26To save expenses, they took an apartment together.
00:31:30It was a five-story walk-up
00:31:34with portholes like a ship.
00:31:38Jimmy called it a wastebasket with walls.
00:31:42If he pressed his head against the window in a certain way
00:31:46and squinted through one eye, he had a grand view of Central Park.
00:31:50It wasn't Indiana,
00:31:54but it was full of trees he could sit under.
00:31:58He began to imagine himself as a deep thinker.
00:32:02An actor must know everything about everything, he said.
00:32:06But in his hurry, he settled for less.
00:32:10He stood still long enough to make friends with a girl.
00:32:14Arlene Sachs.
00:32:18I knew him.
00:32:22Once I told him I loved him, but he pretended he didn't hear.
00:32:26Then he said, you can't love me, and I don't think anyone can yet.
00:32:30We listened to music together.
00:32:34Bartok and Schoenberg and Mozart.
00:32:38And he read me The Little Prince.
00:32:42It was his favorite book because it was about him.
00:32:46It told about a little boy who came from a star
00:32:50where he planted a rose.
00:32:54The boy loved to look at the stars because he had faith
00:32:58that somewhere on one of them a single rose was hoping he'd come home.
00:33:02Then the little boy died.
00:33:06Once he was playing his recorder, he hit a wrong note
00:33:10and he burst out crying.
00:33:14That made me cry too.
00:33:18And all of a sudden he'd do something no one ever thought of doing before.
00:33:22So you'd have to laugh at that.
00:33:26Then I'd see his mind go away and hide somewhere and I'd ask him what he was thinking.
00:33:30He'd say, I'm thinking of my mother.
00:33:34And he'd say, come on, let's get a hot dog.
00:33:38And we would.
00:33:42I always had the feeling I should open the window and say, fly bird.
00:33:46He pounded the pavements looking for work.
00:33:50And he wrote letters home.
00:33:54And when he wrote to Aunt Hortense, he always started with
00:33:58Dear Mom.
00:34:02He knew she would be always needing something.
00:34:06But if she was going to send him a Christmas present anyway,
00:34:10he'd rather have the money.
00:34:14And he wrote to them all and said he could never forget what they'd done for him.
00:34:18And that he wanted to repay them by being a big success.
00:34:22And he'd try not to take too long.
00:34:26And he finally made it.
00:34:30I walked in the place and Jimmy Dean, it was a very stormy night outside.
00:34:34It rained. And Jimmy Dean has got a pair of daggeries and a pair of sneakers.
00:34:38All soaking wet.
00:34:42And he's got an open shirt and a lumberjack, non-shaved, uncombed.
00:34:46He's drinking a double scotch.
00:34:50And Louie was serving him. I said, what are you doing? Go to hell yourself?
00:34:54Which was a nice boy, he always took my advice. He says, no poppies.
00:34:58I've got to do something tonight. I want to look very natural.
00:35:02And he would smile at me. I said, what are you going to do? I told you I was going to do something crazy.
00:35:06He says, no, I've got to do something. In a little while, I'll surprise you.
00:35:10So time came. He got up.
00:35:14He said, look, I'm going to be right back and set the television at such and such station.
00:35:18We set the television. He appeared on G-Man in action.
00:35:22He's a drunken waterfront man. Just the way he got up out of my seat.
00:35:26Came back about 20 minutes late. He laughs like hell.
00:35:30Says, now you're going to buy me a double scotch. You'll have one with me. Is that all right?
00:35:34Jimmy developed a reputation
00:35:38as the most troublesome young actor in New York.
00:35:42When he came to rehearsal, his directors never knew from minute to minute just what he planned to do next.
00:35:50Or if he planned to come at all.
00:35:54He said, he plays my nephew.
00:35:58And I'm supposed to say you will forgive him if he acts a little strange.
00:36:02But how can I say he acts a little strange
00:36:06when the son of a gun is crazy?
00:36:10Why do I do these things, Jimmy wondered.
00:36:14And he really didn't know.
00:36:18But he wanted more than television.
00:36:22A small building on an unimpressive street
00:36:26drew him again and again.
00:36:30The actor's studio.
00:36:34Lee Strasberg taught here. So did Kazan.
00:36:38To be the best, he had to learn from the best.
00:36:42He would prepare himself. He tried a new experiment.
00:36:46He got a haircut.
00:36:51And joined a dance class to get his feet out of the furrows
00:36:55and to find an actor's grace.
00:37:07During this time of preparation
00:37:11he met a taxi cab driver, Arnie Langer, who became his friend.
00:37:15The first time I met Jimmy
00:37:19he had a date with a girlfriend of mine.
00:37:23I didn't know who he was.
00:37:27He hadn't been in the movies yet.
00:37:31He was on TV, but I drove a hack at night and I never saw him.
00:37:35So he was just a guy. He came in the house, he was very shy.
00:37:39And didn't impress me.
00:37:43And we went down, we bought some food, which I paid for.
00:37:47And we cut up the house.
00:37:51We ate.
00:37:55It wasn't included. There was four of us and he was out of it.
00:37:59He was always studying people.
00:38:03Taking their physical characteristics and using it in his acting.
00:38:07One night after I met him, he told somebody the next day
00:38:11when he went up for battle cry audition.
00:38:15He was going to make believe he was Arnie.
00:38:19That day he decided he would take certain things from me.
00:38:23Like I used to go like this.
00:38:27He would use that.
00:38:31He used objects beautifully.
00:38:35He had a way of diverting attention from other people.
00:38:39Like if somebody else was reading a line, he'd do something like this.
00:38:43That was part of his sensitivity.
00:38:47He felt he was ready to audition for the actor's studio.
00:38:51So he went to see an actress named Chris White.
00:38:55She was trying for the studio too and he hoped she might help him.
00:38:59I wrote the scene for our audition, which Jimmy promptly rewrote.
00:39:03We rehearsed for two months and he never played the scene the same way twice.
00:39:07Even the day of the audition.
00:39:11It was a terrific improvisation and they let us stay on three minutes longer than anyone else.
00:39:15The letter he wrote home was full of excitement and repetitions.
00:39:19He was proud to announce his membership in the actor's studio, he wrote.
00:39:23It was a great honor to be in a great school full of great people
00:39:27like Marlon Brando and Monty Clift
00:39:31and June Havoc.
00:39:35And he, James Dean, was the youngest to belong.
00:39:39It was great.
00:39:43Lee Strasberg said he was a natural actor, but very shy.
00:39:47Sensitive about people getting too close to him.
00:39:51And when Strasberg criticized the scene he did,
00:39:55Jimmy walked out of the actor's studio and never performed there again.
00:40:03He was offered a contract for his first Broadway play.
00:40:07Mr. Ross was in charge of press relations for See the Jaguar.
00:40:11Well, I'm afraid that Jimmy Dean's
00:40:15first back of fire in the theater wasn't too glorious.
00:40:19The play opened on a Thursday night, seem to remember,
00:40:23and closed on a Saturday night of that same week.
00:40:27The critics didn't like it. The critics didn't understand it.
00:40:31His next performance was in Jeeds the Immoralist by Ruth and Augustus Goetz.
00:40:35Jimmy was part of an excellent cast.
00:40:39Geraldine Page, Louis Jourdin, and David J. Stewart.
00:40:43He played an Arab boy and had to
00:40:47perform a seductive, insinuating dance.
00:40:51The Arab boy lived in a date grove on the desert
00:40:55and came between a husband and his wife
00:40:59and destroyed them both.
00:41:03That night, the critics greeted him as a brilliant and promising young star
00:41:07and he remembered the ocean he had ended
00:41:11and the seagull in its flight
00:41:15and he knew he had found his power.
00:41:19The theater and its people made him welcome
00:41:23but he fought with the producer and quit the show two weeks after it opened.
00:41:27In New York, he had won the reputation of a rebel.
00:41:31He had denied himself all the things he wanted most.
00:41:35He had denied himself the pleasure of his own success.
00:41:43The respect of people who had been his guards.
00:41:47He had denied himself.
00:41:55Why do I destroy the things I build, he asked.
00:41:59And he sat under a tree in Central Park
00:42:03and wrote a letter to his cousin Markie
00:42:07to thank him for some drawings he had sent.
00:42:11But he was really writing to himself.
00:42:15Dear Markie.
00:42:19We asked Markie if he remembered what Jimmy wrote to him
00:42:23and this is what Markie told us.
00:42:27But he had to warn me about something.
00:42:31He said it's easy to draw pictures of soldiers
00:42:35and people shooting guns and jails where they lock people up.
00:42:39But he said I shouldn't draw these things
00:42:43because they aren't good to draw.
00:42:47He told me that I live on a land that God has blessed
00:42:51with trees and rivers and the ocean
00:42:55that I see and houses where people can open the door
00:42:59whenever they want to.
00:43:03He said these are the things to draw
00:43:07and all I have to do is look around to see.
00:43:11And Markie told us how Jimmy had ended his letter.
00:43:15These things are harder to draw because they are harder to grow.
00:43:19My love to you, Markie.
00:43:23And he went off the back
00:43:27to see Jimmy, went to California to make pictures.
00:43:31When was the last time you saw him, Louie?
00:43:35The last time I saw Jimmy is
00:43:39when he went to California, he went to Hollywood
00:43:43to make the big picture.
00:43:47That was the last time and then we had a nice party there for him.
00:43:51A lot of people used to ask me in a place, they say, who's that boy there?
00:43:55I say, that's Jimmy Dean.
00:43:59He was a boy that, I don't know, he was hard to understand, you know?
00:44:03He was flying to his director, Elia Kazan.
00:44:07When he chose Jimmy for the part in East of Eden,
00:44:11Kazan said, Jimmy was it.
00:44:15He was vengeful. He had a sense of aloneness.
00:44:20He let you into a private club
00:44:24that had only a few members.
00:44:28Fly, bird, fly.
00:44:32Fly, bird.
00:44:36He had come
00:44:40to the most dangerous battleground of his life.
00:44:44Suspicious of everyone, he took note of possible enemies.
00:44:48The eye, the listening ear,
00:44:52the audience.
00:44:56Watch out. They can corrupt you.
00:45:00They can pick you apart and put you back together.
00:45:04They can make you change.
00:45:12He moved into his studio dressing room.
00:45:16He kept a revolver, which made him feel safe.
00:45:23But they found it and took it away.
00:45:31He bought a new motorcycle so he could move
00:45:35fast and alone.
00:45:39He dressed as he always had, because old clothes
00:45:43can change things in an unfamiliar place.
00:45:47And he never judged a man by what he wore.
00:45:51But Hollywood did.
00:45:55When he roamed in streets as he had
00:45:59roamed Times Square, Hollywood said,
00:46:03look at those boots. Who does he think he is?
00:46:07Marlon Brando?
00:46:11No more he refused to change.
00:46:15He felt that he owned so little
00:46:19he had to defend it a lot.
00:46:23Possessions were important to him.
00:46:27To be able to buy the things he wanted meant that someone was treating him nicely.
00:46:31Even if that someone was only himself.
00:46:35And when a stranger broke his headlight,
00:46:39he smiled as if he were the one who was injured.
00:46:43The Villa Capri reminded him of Jerry's Bar in New York.
00:46:47He felt safe there.
00:46:51Because Patsy and Billy were almost like Jerry and Lou.
00:46:55They took him as he was and accepted his
00:46:59suspicion without comment.
00:47:03He used to come in most every night.
00:47:07Really after work.
00:47:11He used to dress with overalls just the way you see
00:47:15any man working decades.
00:47:19Nothing fancy. In fact, I never saw him dressed up good, really.
00:47:23Did he have a sense of humor?
00:47:27Very much. In fact, sometimes he'd come in at night and sit down in this boot
00:47:31and talk a few words in Italian. He liked to talk Italian too.
00:47:35No, a little bit. He tried to learn Italian a little bit.
00:47:39And sometimes we don't have a hotel, we were so busy,
00:47:43he used to go eat in the kitchen.
00:47:47And never bothered him nothing. This was a really fine man, a fine boy.
00:47:51Nothing about him. We get most of all the stars in Hollywood.
00:47:55And Jimmy, being here almost every night, used to meet them all here.
00:47:59And he was quite a favorite of these stars.
00:48:03There was a man named Samuel.
00:48:07Sammy Davis Jr.
00:48:11And he tried to believe it when they said they liked him.
00:48:15When he started work on East of Eden, he discovered that a movie actor
00:48:19has to get up earlier than anyone else.
00:48:23He trusted Kazan because Kazan seemed to trust him.
00:48:27And allowed him to pace his own performance.
00:48:31Kazan whistled.
00:48:35And Kazan knew he could begin.
00:48:39Stand by. Action.
00:48:43William Zinser's review in the New York Herald Tribune was not only a description of his role
00:48:47in East of Eden, but also of Jimmy himself.
00:48:51He wrote,
00:48:55Everything about him suggests the lonely, misunderstood 19-year-old.
00:48:59Trying to piece together the shabby facts of his heritage.
00:49:03Occasionally he smiles, as if it's some dark joke
00:49:07known only to himself.
00:49:11You sense badness in him, but you also like him.
00:49:15Before Eden was finished,
00:49:19Hollywood knew that James Dean was the most important new star of the year.
00:49:23It gave him the courage to take a chance on himself.
00:49:27And to fall in love for the first time.
00:49:31She entered his longing
00:49:35and his life, bringing a depth of compassion
00:49:39and a hopeful, half-remembered tenderness.
00:49:43She quieted his violence and he felt himself
00:49:47grow still.
00:49:51And for the first time, he found the timid belief
00:49:55that life was possible.
00:49:59He slept through the nights without dreaming.
00:50:03He began to enjoy.
00:50:07He began to share.
00:50:11It made him very happy.
00:50:15And he found a friend. He said,
00:50:19I have one very close friend and I feel so happy. Isn't that strange?
00:50:23Lou Racker lived in a secure home with a real mother and father
00:50:27and three hot meals a day.
00:50:31Hi, Lou. What's your dog's name?
00:50:35That's Michelina. She's a three-year-old Labrador.
00:50:39And she was about a year old
00:50:43when Jimmy was here. He spent a whole summer
00:50:47trying to get her to dive off the board, but she never would do it.
00:50:51Lou invited us inside to show us some of Jimmy's things.
00:50:55Here's a box of stuff
00:50:59that Jimmy gave to me to keep
00:51:03about two weeks before his accident.
00:51:07It's just personal belongings. Here's a bunch of fan mail
00:51:11that came to him personally. He didn't turn it over to his fan mail service.
00:51:15Here's a couple of snapshots of Jimmy
00:51:19riding on his car before the Palm Springs Road Races in 1955,
00:51:23which was his first road race.
00:51:27Here's a guy that wanted to sell him an oil well.
00:51:31Some phone numbers
00:51:35and a diner's club bill.
00:51:39Here's a little write-up after the Palm Springs races.
00:51:43It says, third spot went to young motion picture actor
00:51:47James Dean driving his first race in a Porsche Speedster.
00:51:51Here's a note
00:51:55from his laundry saying that a sheet was damaged
00:51:59and they couldn't launder it.
00:52:03A bank statement with a telephone number on the end of it.
00:52:07More telephone numbers. Here's something from the screen actor's girl
00:52:11letting him know that his dues are jumping.
00:52:16Telephone number. I don't know how Jimmy ever kept track
00:52:20of his telephone numbers because you never could be quite sure where yours was written.
00:52:24It was the way he used to file things, just throw them in a box.
00:52:28And it might surprise
00:52:32you or the audience to know that
00:52:36Jimmy was fantastically interested in business.
00:52:40He himself always wanted to
00:52:44have his own company.
00:52:48As a matter of fact, he wanted to become a director.
00:52:52He felt that there was more room for self-expression, certainly more freedom
00:52:56of movement in being in direction than in acting.
00:53:00So actually he was learning
00:53:04a little more how to get along with strangers
00:53:08and also the things that
00:53:12he would read about himself hurt him.
00:53:16He would be bothered when someone would say that he was mean
00:53:20and disrespectful because actually he wasn't.
00:53:24They took silence to mean that he cared little or nothing
00:53:28for them. They didn't have the insight or didn't care to
00:53:32exercise their insight in knowing that here was a shy boy
00:53:36that just didn't know how to approach him and instead of making an attempt to approach him
00:53:40they just wrote him off.
00:53:44It seemed that he was always losing the people he cared for most deeply.
00:53:48So it had always been. So it would always be.
00:53:52So be it.
00:53:56He became a
00:54:00night wanderer once again, looking for a place to unload
00:54:04his tenderness in finding none. So he bought a horse
00:54:08and gave it a manger of oats and a measure of love.
00:54:12Lou Bracker has it now. It runs
00:54:16free in Santa Barbara meadows.
00:54:20He found some relief in racing the Porsche car
00:54:24he bought as a consolation prize to himself.
00:54:28In his drums
00:54:44and in occasional people.
00:54:48Glenn Kramer, an actor.
00:54:52Glenn, what happened if no one paid attention to Jimmy?
00:54:56On dates, for instance.
00:55:00Well, I don't know too much about his dating.
00:55:04I know one or two of the girls he had dated.
00:55:08Lily Cardell, an actress. Where are you from, Lily?
00:55:12I'm from Sweden. I was born in Stockholm.
00:55:16What was he like with you? Well, now and then we could go into a restaurant
00:55:20like Villa Capri, for instance, which was our favorite place.
00:55:24We could all of a sudden just leave the table and go away
00:55:28without any excuse or anything and move over to some old buddy of his
00:55:32and start talking about cars or something like that and be gone for half an hour.
00:55:36And he was also very moody.
00:55:40He could one minute be deep in thought about something and just
00:55:44snap out of it and the next minute he could be up on the floor dancing, laughing, making some joke
00:55:48of some kind, you know. And it was just no use of getting mad
00:55:52at him for that kind of thing because that just didn't do any good.
00:55:56You just had to understand that that was the way he was.
00:56:00That was the way he was. Nick Ray, the director
00:56:04of Rebel Without a Cause, knew what Kazan meant when he said
00:56:08Jimmy belonged to a private club that had only a few members.
00:56:12And he had his own way of winning the boys' trust.
00:56:16He took them to meet the rebels.
00:56:20So Jimmy could find the reality of young Jim Stark,
00:56:24the character he was about to play. Rebel Without a Cause
00:56:28was a drama of rage.
00:56:36Of a young man's suffering
00:56:40and his battle to bring comfort to an outcast boy who needed him.
00:56:44And to a girl who had never known love.
00:56:48He could expose through Jim Stark the things he had to conceal
00:56:52as Jimmy Dean. But when the film
00:56:56was finished, Jim Stark was gone.
00:57:00The performance was over.
00:57:04Success was nothing more than
00:57:08the concealing leaf which covered the tree of his loneliness.
00:57:12And after every job
00:57:16the tree was bare.
00:57:20And winter returned to chill him.
00:57:24He knew that he could never hide from pain.
00:57:28But if he kept busy, he might forget it.
00:57:32So he threw himself hopefully at each new day
00:57:36and tried to connect with life.
00:57:40He tried to record life with his camera.
00:57:44He became interested in bullfighting because he fancied himself
00:57:48for Matador. The solitary figure
00:57:52who brought danger to its knees.
00:58:02To test the limits of life he had to approach
00:58:06the borders of death.
00:58:14He beat out the rhythms
00:58:18of his life on a drum.
00:58:22And he laughed.
00:58:26His days thundered
00:58:30with the roar of his experiments.
00:58:34His days thundered with the roar
00:58:38of his experiments.
00:59:04Music
00:59:08Music
00:59:12Music
00:59:16Music
00:59:20Music
00:59:24Music
00:59:28Music
00:59:32Music
00:59:36Music
00:59:40But these were only echoes of the thing he never found.
00:59:44The thing which kept escaping him.
00:59:48The thing that had no face.
00:59:52Himself.
00:59:56The star was rushing home. Before he could go
01:00:00any further he knew he must face himself.
01:00:04And he could only do it in Fairmount.
01:00:08He must know why he found no happiness
01:00:12in his own success. Why he seemed always to lose
01:00:16the ones he loved. A writer friend had spelled out
01:00:20the question for him just the week before.
01:00:24They were having dinner together.
01:00:28No, I can't explain you but I think I can draw a picture of yourself
01:00:32if you don't get sore. See, that's the thing
01:00:36we all have that we don't want anyone to see. It's very tender
01:00:40our secret self, if you want to call it that.
01:00:44And that's the thing we have to protect.
01:00:48Now most of us put a wall around it, mirrors like this
01:00:52see. If we don't trust people we use it to keep them out
01:00:57so they can't hurt us. But you, look what
01:01:01you've got. Mirrors aren't enough for you. You've got to have this too.
01:01:05A second wall. And it's all covered with thorns and spangles
01:01:09and shockers to dazzle people so they say, boy he's really a hot apple.
01:01:13Look how interesting he is. Here you meet a director you really respect
01:01:17and you do some darn fool thing that scares him off. Here you meet
01:01:21a businessman and you say, gee I'd like to be a businessman. Here you meet
01:01:25a composer and you say, man if there's one thing I want to be it's a composer.
01:01:29So you're a businessman and a sculptor and a bullfighter and a composer
01:01:33and all those things. But that's not you. You never give
01:01:37anyone a chance to really like you or not like you because you never even let them in to see the
01:01:41first wall. You never say, hey step right this way and
01:01:45see the real Jimmy Dean. So what's hiding in the
01:01:49middle Jimmy? Why do you shut people out?
01:01:53Why don't you think you deserve anything? You think you're
01:01:57so dull that if they get inside they won't find anything and they'll walk out
01:02:01on you? Is that why you run out on them before they get too close?
01:02:05Do you think you're empty Jimmy?
01:02:09Is that why you're so scared? So Jimmy told
01:02:13his writer friend that the one thing he really wanted to be was a writer.
01:02:17And he flew to Indiana.
01:02:23In Fairmount he put on his
01:02:27farm clothes and listened to the stories people told.
01:02:31Stories about himself as a boy.
01:02:35And the old feelings came back.
01:02:39The empty feeling of being the outcast.
01:02:43He went back to his old high school.
01:02:47To deserve his success he had to believe in his talent.
01:02:51But nothing the critics wrote could make him feel he had the right to be called
01:02:55the genius boy that everyone said he was.
01:02:59Maybe if he could discover some talent in his family he might believe.
01:03:03He made this tape recording secretly.
01:03:07The microphone was hidden in his sleeve.
01:03:11So listen closely.
01:03:15You know I played a grandma
01:03:19I played a character in the
01:03:23movie East of Eden. His name was Cal.
01:03:27I read that just before it came out here. The whole story.
01:03:31I wanted to ask you. I went by the cemetery and there's a
01:03:35name out there. A great granddaddy.
01:03:39Named Cal Dean.
01:03:43It's so funny. I played the character Cal. Cal is your father.
01:03:47What was he like? Did he have any
01:03:51Did he have any interest in art or anything?
01:03:55Was he an arty kind of kid? What kind of guy was he?
01:03:59He was one of the best auctioneers
01:04:03ever I've heard. I've heard hundreds of them.
01:04:07What's it take to be a good auctioneer?
01:04:11He's got to be a good judge of stock. He's got to be a judge of human nature.
01:04:15He's got to have a talent.
01:04:19A little bit. How you do?
01:04:23You say $5, 5 and a quarter?
01:04:27Alright.
01:04:31That's $3 dollars.
01:04:35That's $4 dollars.
01:04:39Laughing
01:04:43I'll tell you what kills auctioneers, if you take a man that talks to the public every
01:04:57day, he'll eventually get too much confidence in himself.
01:05:02He'll pull a lot of stuff and think he's getting by with it, but he ain't, and as soon as the
01:05:08people find out that you are doing it, they'll quit you.
01:05:13That's what kills all of them.
01:05:16That's what kills an actor, too.
01:05:19Same thing.
01:05:20You gotta be an honest man along the way.
01:05:26But it didn't fill his emptiness.
01:05:29When he looked at Markey, he saw his own childhood gazing back at him.
01:05:39And he could give the boy the same affection he wanted others to give him.
01:05:52What's hiding in the middle, Jimmy?
01:05:55Why do you have to shut people out?
01:05:58Why don't you think you deserve anything?
01:06:02Because I'm bad.
01:06:09She wouldn't have died on me if I hadn't been bad.
01:06:13She would have loved me and taken care of me.
01:06:17If she couldn't love me, nobody can.
01:06:22I've been bad all my life, so I've never deserved anything good.
01:06:30But these feelings belonged in his childhood.
01:06:34As a man, he knew that he had never been bad.
01:06:38His mother had loved him.
01:06:40She died because she had to, and it hadn't been his fault.
01:06:48Once he had dared to look at the past,
01:06:52he was able to lay it away with his nightmares
01:06:56in the attic trunk where it belonged.
01:07:00He looked at the statue he had made,
01:07:02and he saw that the face he was searching for had always been right there.
01:07:08A good face.
01:07:11A nice face.
01:07:14He knew he need no longer be ashamed
01:07:18because there was more than emptiness inside.
01:07:22Now it was almost possible to believe what people said of him,
01:07:26and he showed everybody in Giants,
01:07:29showed them that for all is evil,
01:07:32a man can still contain beauty.
01:07:35Showed them the things he had learned as a boy,
01:07:39how to pace off a field,
01:07:42as his Uncle Marcus had taught him.
01:07:45He could accept his stardom now.
01:07:48It was his right to have it.
01:07:55When he came back to Hollywood, he used this new position
01:07:58to make a traffic safety film for television.
01:08:02How fast were your car going?
01:08:04I don't know.
01:08:06I don't know.
01:08:08I don't know.
01:08:10I don't know.
01:08:13How fast were your car going?
01:08:15Oh, in honest miles an hour,
01:08:19clocked at about 106, 107.
01:08:23You've won a few races, haven't you?
01:08:25Oh, one or two.
01:08:27Where?
01:08:29Well, it showed pretty good at Palm Springs.
01:08:32I ran a baker's field.
01:08:35People say racing is dangerous,
01:08:37but I'll take my chances on the track any day than on the highway.
01:08:41Well, Gig, I think I'd better take off.
01:08:44Oh, wait a minute, Jimmy.
01:08:46One more question.
01:08:48Do you have any special advice for the young people who drive?
01:08:51Take it easy driving.
01:08:53Life, you might say, might be mine.
01:08:59And he bought a new car.
01:09:04Jimmy, and I believe it was his mechanic
01:09:07or his other driver
01:09:11were sitting here in the last booth over there,
01:09:15and he was telling me about he's going up to...
01:09:19I don't recall the name of the town.
01:09:21I think it was in Baker's Field or somewhere up in that way
01:09:24for this race.
01:09:26And Carmen, our chef, said,
01:09:28Well, Jimmy, if we won't see you tomorrow,
01:09:30I'll make you something to eat.
01:09:32And the following day, I believe it was Friday...
01:09:35The road to Salinas follows the bottom land.
01:09:40It erodes past the hills of the Diablo Range.
01:09:45Giant was finished,
01:09:47and he was allowed to drive again.
01:09:50He was going to race his brand-new car.
01:10:03A policeman stopped him once for speeding.
01:10:11And he had paused to stretch in the sun
01:10:15and drink a cup of coffee at a truck line cafe.
01:10:20He felt good.
01:10:23He knew someone would feed his cat while he was gone.
01:10:28He knew his horse was out in comfortable pasture.
01:10:33But he couldn't remember if he had made his bed.
01:10:37But he couldn't remember if he had made his bed
01:10:40or left the breakfast dishes in the sink.
01:11:07Traffic officer Ronald Nelson of the California Highway Patrol.
01:11:11He reads his actual report written at the scene of the accident.
01:11:15I received the call at 5.59 p.m.
01:11:19It occurred on U.S. 466
01:11:22at the intersection of 41,
01:11:25Friday, September the 30th, 1955.
01:11:29It was a sideswipe head-on collision.
01:11:33These are official police photos.
01:11:41There were two persons injured
01:11:44and one killed.
01:11:46Number one injured was Donald Gene Turnipseed,
01:11:50driver of vehicle number one.
01:11:52Number two injured was Rolf Witherick,
01:11:57a passenger in the Dean car.
01:12:00The dead was James Byron Dean,
01:12:03DOA or dead on arrival at the hospital.
01:12:09He returned to his source and his beginnings.
01:12:13A quiet land to come home to.
01:12:16A place to replenish himself.
01:12:20Markey said...
01:12:22He came back here about five times,
01:12:25if you want to count this one.
01:12:29The town was silent.
01:12:33The minister said...
01:12:35His brief career was as bright as a meteor
01:12:38which flows like a golden tear
01:12:41down the dark cheeks of night.
01:12:44His pallbearers were his basketball team.
01:12:49Of all the harvests the farm had grown,
01:12:53the most plentiful was the boy himself.
01:12:57What is the summation of this life?
01:13:03The less than 300 months of time it took to spend itself.
01:13:11The 24 Christmas trees it saw.
01:13:17The thousands of mornings it looked out upon.
01:13:22The legacy of art it left
01:13:25stamped with its own signature.
01:13:28What can we say of him?
01:13:33We can say that he despised the things he was
01:13:38and loved the things he was trying to become.
01:13:46We can say that he left two cherished gifts.
01:13:52He was able to do what few in his generation had done before.
01:13:56To reach into a dark theater
01:13:59and let each person know that they were not alone.
01:14:03And he was able to unveil that single quality
01:14:06which most of us conceal.
01:14:09The wonderful sense of our own inexpressible sweetness.
01:14:15He brings us these gifts for the last time
01:14:18in a text which he made for East of Eden.
01:14:21It has never been shown before.
01:14:24Jimmy is deep in the shadows at the start of the scene.
01:14:27Listen.
01:14:29You're the one that Dad loves.
01:14:33He doesn't love me, never has.
01:14:36This is my son.
01:14:39Aaron, that is, thinks I got a great idea here.
01:14:43Listen.
01:14:45Mother's son, Cal
01:14:48who saved his money when we were kids
01:14:50and bought him a beautiful jackknife.
01:14:54And you got him a...
01:14:57a lousy mangy little old dog you picked up somewhere.
01:15:08Well, he loved that dog, Aaron.
01:15:12He didn't even say thank you for my jackknife.
01:15:16Didn't say nothing.
01:15:20What have you ever done to deserve Dad's love?
01:15:25What I mean is...
01:15:30Well, like...
01:15:32like...
01:15:34like...
01:15:36like...
01:15:38like...
01:15:40like...
01:15:42like...
01:15:44like...
01:15:47Well, like, who used to be decent to him
01:15:49and try to make things halfway pleasant?
01:15:57You did.
01:16:03And what have you done?
01:16:06Ever since I can remember
01:16:09you growled at him and snapped at him?
01:16:14You can't win anybody's love
01:16:17by fighting them every minute, Cal.
01:16:20You got to fight with them.
01:16:22You got to show them that you're on their side.
01:16:30Cal.
01:16:32Why don't you give Dad a chance?
01:16:36I don't know.
01:16:39Cal.
01:16:41Why don't you give Dad a chance?
01:16:43Why don't you show him that you love him?
01:16:49How?
01:16:53It's so easy.
01:16:56Just tell him.
01:16:59Show him.
01:17:02Why don't you do something for him?
01:17:09It's so easy.
01:17:12You'll see it's the simplest thing in the world.
01:17:15I know it.
01:17:17I know it is, Aaron.
01:17:20Jay's own words are his best epitaph.
01:17:24I'm trying to find the courage to be tender in my life.
01:17:29I know that violent people are weak people.
01:17:34Only the gentle are ever really strong.
01:17:38Let me be loved
01:17:43Let me be loved
01:17:48Let someone care for me
01:17:57Let someone offer their hand
01:18:05And please let her heart understand
01:18:14When someone smiled
01:18:21Looked at a child
01:18:26And love was there to see
01:18:34Life was so wonderful there
01:18:45Let me be loved
01:18:52Again
01:19:15We hope you've enjoyed the Jimmy Dean program.
01:19:17And when you visit your video store again,
01:19:20look around for Laser Light's other Jimmy Dean videos,
01:19:23plus other special edition classics
01:19:26from the golden age of Hollywood.