Congrats and happy pub day! I just bought my copy! I’m almost too scared to read the intro (I won’t be able to resist!) because I just KNOW I’ll want to devour the whole book (and now I have to wait for it to arrive 😫). I discovered your substack when I was off on a rabbit hole trying to find the original source for a really lovely Cary Grant quote I read in the Hollywood Reporter that seemed so specifically recollected and just at the cusp of wishful thinking as to be likely apocryphal (would that I could read the notes from that original interview!)— ANYWAY your blog is such a great read for anyone who is a lover of history and old (and new) Hollywood. I was so struck and impressed by your attention to detail and rigor when it came to research and SO delighted when you announced you were writing a Dean book (huzzah!) Many congrats, again! I just cannot wait to read!
I read all your footnotes. Why not include info in footnotes in your text? Although you tell a very compelling story, the book is much shorter than expected. Great use of Dean live tv dramas as chapter headings. Although queer is appropriate term for gay people, that term did not exist in 1950s during Dean’s time he was alive. You as a gay man, certainly know that. So why apply such terms to a period that occurred 70 years ago. That seems to buy into every group including queer and heterosexuals and other groups who all Dean to be what they want him to be, rather than who he was.
The trend in books right now is for shorter books rather than the doorstop-sized ones popular 10-20 years ago. In this case, my book is actually 25-30% longer than the first four biographies of Dean published, though it is indeed shorter than the 1990s-era biographies. As for "queer," the word has a complex history that I tried to honor in my usage. It did exist in the 1950s (tabloid stories of the time make use of it), but primarily as a pejorative. My usage reflects the various time periods' usage.
Read your book. You missed naming or actually naming some people in your book. It is Ralph Levy producer not Richard Levy. Lemuel Ayer’s was producer of See the Jaguar who Dean had an unpleasant sexual experience with. Bill Hickman was with Dean in his date of death. He was an actor and stunt driver famous for car chases in Bullitt and Seven Ups. Lois Smith was actress that Leonard Rosenman had affair with while married during East of Eden filming. Rosenman got soundtrack jobs on Eden and Rebel thanks to Dean. Although talented, he was a jerk for bashing Dean for years after Deans death especially since he owed Dean a lot. Finally your book does break new ground regarding many false representations by other authors. But I am not convinced that Dean was exclusively gay. You seem to downplay all of his heterosexual relationships. He wanted to marry Pier Angeli and weeks before his death he confessed to Joe Hyams that he was father of Piers baby. So he must have had sexual relations with her. There was genuine love between Geraldine Page and Dean manifested in sexual relations. Not one sided by Page only as you imply. Ursula Andress said in porn magazine interview that “Dean had a big cock”. How did she know that? And Dean undoubtedly had sexual relations with Liz Sheridan and Lili Kardell while in relationships with them. His affair with Barbara Glenn had a sexual component and his close friend, Martin Landau swore he was heterosexual. Dean’s sexual relations with Bill Bast were real but many gay relationships were for trade like Brackett and some were lies like John Gilmore. Gilmore like to put himself in situations that he was never in. That is how he wrote. Since Dean died at 24 no one can ever say what his sexual identity would have been. And the way he lived dangerously, even if he was not killed at 24, if he did not reconcile his suicidal tendencies, he surely would not have lived a long life. Finally Dean was very close to his Fairmount relatives who genuinely loved him unlike his father and stepmother who like many others, used him even after his death.
Thank you for reading my book, but I am afraid you have imposed on it an impression of your own unsupported by the text. I do not assert he was gay. In fact, I specifically state up front that we can never know what transpired in his heart and quite clearly state that he had sex with women: "Dean had sexual relationships with both women and men, but his family, friends, and colleagues all came to different conclusions about what, if anything, these relationships meant to him; thus, previous authors who have told his story all depicted him differently, as well. One biographer noted that Dean’s friends and lovers have called him gay, straight, bisexual, and asexual, as have his biographers. Dean himself is no help, once telling the U.S. government that he was a homosexual and the women he dated that he was not. There is no way for us to peer inside a dead man’s heart, and debating whether he would today have labeled himself gay, bisexual, heteroflexible, homoflexible, demisexual, queer, or something else is both irrelevant and ahistorical—a misunderstanding of how men of his time understood sexuality." I addressed most of your other concerns directly in the 500+ end notes to the book, which document the evidence, alternative perspectives, and my reasoning over 50+ pages; e.g., I explain Lili Kardell's sex diary and the sex acts recorded in it.
I have it!! Jason, I truly love it. "Jimmy" is excellent, I knew based on your blog posts that I would be getting a book that was deeply and carefully researched , but what I didn't expect was how emotional I became, especially reading the epilogue and imaging Dean's life had he been able to see and experience a much more open (though, as this current moment attest, still filled with setbacks, bigotry, and reactionary politics and social climate)
The minute I saw that the chapter titles were curated from Dean's TV shows I knew I was in for a treat. I read is the notes first (is that weird?) and the notes themselves- they are a book and an academic study in and by themselves. I'm being honest when I say that the notes alone are more than worth the book.
a few notes on your notes
1). you tried the mayo/dried oatmeal combo? you're brave!! btw what about omelet?
2). I was curious before I read the book what you thought about Alice Denham's book. I tend to believe the essence of what she had to say, mainly because the anecdote she told about Dean holding her after she told him she had been raped isn't really something one would be able to cull if all they read were the books/lit on Dean. Unlike, for example, Lynne Carter's account or Michael St. John's account which very much could be based on Bill Bast's, Vivian Matalon's, and John Gilmore's experiences/published accounts.
3).I had the exact same reaction/conclusion you did to Bob Hinkle's claim in his book that Dean's reaction to the sign at Barney's Beanery was full on proof that he must be straight.
4). Similarly, ever since I read Dalton's book, Elia Kazan has never stood out as a particularly honest or laudatory source about Dean's life. His hate of Dean feels far more bizarre, overdone, and says more about Kazan than Dean, imo... Your book only deepens and confirms my initial impression.
I have more to say, but for now I just want to say how proud of this book you should be, all of the years of research, of challenging decades accepted 'facts' the set backs and the unexpected boon provided by the Deacy papers - it all lead to what I think will be a vital reassessment, and new appreciation of James Dean and his art.
I also want to add that physically the book is gorgeous as well. Your book is such an important counterpoint to recent "serious" books on Dean, such as Donald Graham's 'Giant' and Wes Gehing's book or even that recent book (sorry forgot the name) about method acting and the Actor's Studio. It seems that recently (the past decade -two decades) most of the books on Dean have been very despairing and biased, with Graham and Gehring portraying him as a heterosexual psychopath who faked being gay solely for his own career. And yet, (as you note in your notes) his own family would rather have people think James Dean was amoral (but straight!) than possibly being queer . And the Gehring book I believe was supported by Marcus Winslow!
Your book is always honest about Dean including his faults but there's a respect for him as a person that is very refreshing.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I am grateful that you felt moved to write about how much you enjoyed the book, and there is no greater compliment for an author than to hear that his words have elicited strong emotion.
Literary trends come and go, and it seems that the media's infatuation with antiheroes (c. 2000 to 2020) heavily influenced 21st century authors' depictions of Dean as a psychopathic manipulator as much as the 1970s themes of cultural decay and rot beneath the surface influenced the biographies of that era.
I did indeed try the oatmeal, but I did not eat the omelet. I have my limits!
You're very very welcome! I've been following your journey with publishing Jimmy from way back when I think it was part of an idea to explore Dean and the mid 50s and the UFO phenomenon (apologizing right now if I'm misremembering!). As someone who has read every major biography on James Dean and a lot of the material where he appears as a secondary; your book is exactly what I love - it helps contextualize, ground and correct, a lot of what I read in other books, and it also has new info that I wasn't even aware of - I learned a lot! It's also incredibly well written! I'm already re-reading it :) I know it's already my favorite Dean book.
Ordered :) The introduction has already made me even more excited to get the full copy in my hands. You're an excellent writer.
Thank you for the kind words! I hope you enjoy the book!
Congrats and happy pub day! I just bought my copy! I’m almost too scared to read the intro (I won’t be able to resist!) because I just KNOW I’ll want to devour the whole book (and now I have to wait for it to arrive 😫). I discovered your substack when I was off on a rabbit hole trying to find the original source for a really lovely Cary Grant quote I read in the Hollywood Reporter that seemed so specifically recollected and just at the cusp of wishful thinking as to be likely apocryphal (would that I could read the notes from that original interview!)— ANYWAY your blog is such a great read for anyone who is a lover of history and old (and new) Hollywood. I was so struck and impressed by your attention to detail and rigor when it came to research and SO delighted when you announced you were writing a Dean book (huzzah!) Many congrats, again! I just cannot wait to read!
I read all your footnotes. Why not include info in footnotes in your text? Although you tell a very compelling story, the book is much shorter than expected. Great use of Dean live tv dramas as chapter headings. Although queer is appropriate term for gay people, that term did not exist in 1950s during Dean’s time he was alive. You as a gay man, certainly know that. So why apply such terms to a period that occurred 70 years ago. That seems to buy into every group including queer and heterosexuals and other groups who all Dean to be what they want him to be, rather than who he was.
The trend in books right now is for shorter books rather than the doorstop-sized ones popular 10-20 years ago. In this case, my book is actually 25-30% longer than the first four biographies of Dean published, though it is indeed shorter than the 1990s-era biographies. As for "queer," the word has a complex history that I tried to honor in my usage. It did exist in the 1950s (tabloid stories of the time make use of it), but primarily as a pejorative. My usage reflects the various time periods' usage.
Read your book. You missed naming or actually naming some people in your book. It is Ralph Levy producer not Richard Levy. Lemuel Ayer’s was producer of See the Jaguar who Dean had an unpleasant sexual experience with. Bill Hickman was with Dean in his date of death. He was an actor and stunt driver famous for car chases in Bullitt and Seven Ups. Lois Smith was actress that Leonard Rosenman had affair with while married during East of Eden filming. Rosenman got soundtrack jobs on Eden and Rebel thanks to Dean. Although talented, he was a jerk for bashing Dean for years after Deans death especially since he owed Dean a lot. Finally your book does break new ground regarding many false representations by other authors. But I am not convinced that Dean was exclusively gay. You seem to downplay all of his heterosexual relationships. He wanted to marry Pier Angeli and weeks before his death he confessed to Joe Hyams that he was father of Piers baby. So he must have had sexual relations with her. There was genuine love between Geraldine Page and Dean manifested in sexual relations. Not one sided by Page only as you imply. Ursula Andress said in porn magazine interview that “Dean had a big cock”. How did she know that? And Dean undoubtedly had sexual relations with Liz Sheridan and Lili Kardell while in relationships with them. His affair with Barbara Glenn had a sexual component and his close friend, Martin Landau swore he was heterosexual. Dean’s sexual relations with Bill Bast were real but many gay relationships were for trade like Brackett and some were lies like John Gilmore. Gilmore like to put himself in situations that he was never in. That is how he wrote. Since Dean died at 24 no one can ever say what his sexual identity would have been. And the way he lived dangerously, even if he was not killed at 24, if he did not reconcile his suicidal tendencies, he surely would not have lived a long life. Finally Dean was very close to his Fairmount relatives who genuinely loved him unlike his father and stepmother who like many others, used him even after his death.
Thank you for reading my book, but I am afraid you have imposed on it an impression of your own unsupported by the text. I do not assert he was gay. In fact, I specifically state up front that we can never know what transpired in his heart and quite clearly state that he had sex with women: "Dean had sexual relationships with both women and men, but his family, friends, and colleagues all came to different conclusions about what, if anything, these relationships meant to him; thus, previous authors who have told his story all depicted him differently, as well. One biographer noted that Dean’s friends and lovers have called him gay, straight, bisexual, and asexual, as have his biographers. Dean himself is no help, once telling the U.S. government that he was a homosexual and the women he dated that he was not. There is no way for us to peer inside a dead man’s heart, and debating whether he would today have labeled himself gay, bisexual, heteroflexible, homoflexible, demisexual, queer, or something else is both irrelevant and ahistorical—a misunderstanding of how men of his time understood sexuality." I addressed most of your other concerns directly in the 500+ end notes to the book, which document the evidence, alternative perspectives, and my reasoning over 50+ pages; e.g., I explain Lili Kardell's sex diary and the sex acts recorded in it.
I have it!! Jason, I truly love it. "Jimmy" is excellent, I knew based on your blog posts that I would be getting a book that was deeply and carefully researched , but what I didn't expect was how emotional I became, especially reading the epilogue and imaging Dean's life had he been able to see and experience a much more open (though, as this current moment attest, still filled with setbacks, bigotry, and reactionary politics and social climate)
The minute I saw that the chapter titles were curated from Dean's TV shows I knew I was in for a treat. I read is the notes first (is that weird?) and the notes themselves- they are a book and an academic study in and by themselves. I'm being honest when I say that the notes alone are more than worth the book.
a few notes on your notes
1). you tried the mayo/dried oatmeal combo? you're brave!! btw what about omelet?
2). I was curious before I read the book what you thought about Alice Denham's book. I tend to believe the essence of what she had to say, mainly because the anecdote she told about Dean holding her after she told him she had been raped isn't really something one would be able to cull if all they read were the books/lit on Dean. Unlike, for example, Lynne Carter's account or Michael St. John's account which very much could be based on Bill Bast's, Vivian Matalon's, and John Gilmore's experiences/published accounts.
3).I had the exact same reaction/conclusion you did to Bob Hinkle's claim in his book that Dean's reaction to the sign at Barney's Beanery was full on proof that he must be straight.
4). Similarly, ever since I read Dalton's book, Elia Kazan has never stood out as a particularly honest or laudatory source about Dean's life. His hate of Dean feels far more bizarre, overdone, and says more about Kazan than Dean, imo... Your book only deepens and confirms my initial impression.
I have more to say, but for now I just want to say how proud of this book you should be, all of the years of research, of challenging decades accepted 'facts' the set backs and the unexpected boon provided by the Deacy papers - it all lead to what I think will be a vital reassessment, and new appreciation of James Dean and his art.
I also want to add that physically the book is gorgeous as well. Your book is such an important counterpoint to recent "serious" books on Dean, such as Donald Graham's 'Giant' and Wes Gehing's book or even that recent book (sorry forgot the name) about method acting and the Actor's Studio. It seems that recently (the past decade -two decades) most of the books on Dean have been very despairing and biased, with Graham and Gehring portraying him as a heterosexual psychopath who faked being gay solely for his own career. And yet, (as you note in your notes) his own family would rather have people think James Dean was amoral (but straight!) than possibly being queer . And the Gehring book I believe was supported by Marcus Winslow!
Your book is always honest about Dean including his faults but there's a respect for him as a person that is very refreshing.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I am grateful that you felt moved to write about how much you enjoyed the book, and there is no greater compliment for an author than to hear that his words have elicited strong emotion.
Literary trends come and go, and it seems that the media's infatuation with antiheroes (c. 2000 to 2020) heavily influenced 21st century authors' depictions of Dean as a psychopathic manipulator as much as the 1970s themes of cultural decay and rot beneath the surface influenced the biographies of that era.
I did indeed try the oatmeal, but I did not eat the omelet. I have my limits!
You're very very welcome! I've been following your journey with publishing Jimmy from way back when I think it was part of an idea to explore Dean and the mid 50s and the UFO phenomenon (apologizing right now if I'm misremembering!). As someone who has read every major biography on James Dean and a lot of the material where he appears as a secondary; your book is exactly what I love - it helps contextualize, ground and correct, a lot of what I read in other books, and it also has new info that I wasn't even aware of - I learned a lot! It's also incredibly well written! I'm already re-reading it :) I know it's already my favorite Dean book.