WOW. First of all I'm really glad you were able to find these documents and find new information and collaboration for your own research. I've been following your blog and your twitter feed, and the ups and downs of finding publishers, and I really hope this new reveal help you get your book published. It goes without saying, i'd buy it and read it in a heartbeat!
Secondly, it's amazing how much these documents change or give new perspectives on the prevailing narratives in most of the Dean biographies. I could be wrong/misremembering; but while I remember the 'whore' quote and Dean's confrontation with Brackett and Wilder, the direct or indirect implication in the Dean biographies was that he never repaid Brackett for any of the monies. His 'refusal' to pay was used as prima facie evidence of Dean being a user and taking advantage of people and disregarding them once he had success. And yet...his original agreement to pay a little more than half of money Brackett said he owed him(minus hotel bills/stays) seems reasonable to me. Then the court case which was never mentioned by Brackett or Wilder in any of their interviews which gives another angle to the fallout of their relationship and how Brackett and Dean responded. The actual evidence in these records is much more nuanced than how Brackett and thereby most of the Dean biographers have portrayed it.
I'm also really glad that you specifically were able to look at these documents, I've been, like I said, admiring and reading your works for a while now and I appreciate the amount of painstaking unraveling of threads and trying to find specific sources and support for stories which have long been taken for granted as part of the mythologies around James Dean. Your work is greatly appreciated and interesting, best of luck with it.
Really fascinating and well explained - I'll be looking forward to your book!
WOW. First of all I'm really glad you were able to find these documents and find new information and collaboration for your own research. I've been following your blog and your twitter feed, and the ups and downs of finding publishers, and I really hope this new reveal help you get your book published. It goes without saying, i'd buy it and read it in a heartbeat!
Secondly, it's amazing how much these documents change or give new perspectives on the prevailing narratives in most of the Dean biographies. I could be wrong/misremembering; but while I remember the 'whore' quote and Dean's confrontation with Brackett and Wilder, the direct or indirect implication in the Dean biographies was that he never repaid Brackett for any of the monies. His 'refusal' to pay was used as prima facie evidence of Dean being a user and taking advantage of people and disregarding them once he had success. And yet...his original agreement to pay a little more than half of money Brackett said he owed him(minus hotel bills/stays) seems reasonable to me. Then the court case which was never mentioned by Brackett or Wilder in any of their interviews which gives another angle to the fallout of their relationship and how Brackett and Dean responded. The actual evidence in these records is much more nuanced than how Brackett and thereby most of the Dean biographers have portrayed it.
I'm also really glad that you specifically were able to look at these documents, I've been, like I said, admiring and reading your works for a while now and I appreciate the amount of painstaking unraveling of threads and trying to find specific sources and support for stories which have long been taken for granted as part of the mythologies around James Dean. Your work is greatly appreciated and interesting, best of luck with it.