Thank you for refraining (no less than twice) from using the loaded term ‘orally’ in referring to the transmission of Dean’s reputation for certain sexual proclivities. I would have thought less of you if you had. That’s the sort of thing I might do. And I’d hate to see you stoop to my level.
"On the other hand, I am much more amazed that the claim made it into print in 1956, since the standard biographical information claims that the first printed reference was Royston Ellis’s little-read 1962 British biography Rebel (calling Dean a “bisexual psychopath”) and then not again until the mid-1970s"
I don't know if this technically counts because it's a work of fiction, but "The Immortal" by Walter Ross published in 1958 also deals with the rumors about Dean's sexuality. Ross was--IIRC someone who knew Dean from Warner Bros and the main character of John Preston is clearly based on Dean (there are some minor changes, he was raised by foster parents who were not related to him, Preston died in a plane crash, and physically Preston is described as 6'2 and jet black hair), but there are also clear direct parallels and places where the book is a fictionalized biography of James Dean in all but name. The book begins with the story of James Dean visiting composer Oscar Levant and surprising and chatting with his daughter Marcia who was a big fan of his. IIRC in a biography of Levant he talked about the scene in the book--mentioning that it got tiny details about the scene right such as what Dean drank that night (milk) and wondering who told Ross the details. Anyways getting to the point: the Ross book also has a scene where 'Preston' is in bed with an older man who is a mentor and a Rogers Brackett/Lemuel Ayers figure getting caught by his girl friend (who feels like a composite character based on Christine White, Arlene Sachs and Dizzy Sheridan). This was in the 1957/1958 before (I believe) either Sheridan or Sachs went public with any accounts of Dean's involvement with men. The book also mentions allegations that Preston was a hustler, so those rumors involving Dean were at least in the air (at least in the WB suites) a few years after his death.
As for Lynne Carter and her reliability I don't have a strong argument either way. Her portrait of him does feel largely consistent with other accounts (him wanting to get cigarettes with his underwear on and boots and saying 'modesty is for the birds' feels like something he would say/do, lol). But that doesn't mean that she couldn't have stitched together her account based on the first Bill Bast book.
the bevy of increasingly absurd claims from women who told magazines they had been Dean’s secret—and very heterosexual—lovers
Speaking of....the book also contains an article (with no support) about Dean allegedly fathering a child with a carhop named 'Mary B' AND a piece of fan-fiction about Dean proposing marriage to a farmer's daughter (and wanting to raise 10 children AND prunes with the hearty Betty Lou).
I'm not making affirmative comments on the veracity of the allegation but I found it interesting that John Gilmore's updated biography of Dean where he alleged Dean impregnated a girlfriend who was also a non-credited extra on RWAC didn't get more attention, even taking into consideration Gilmore's controversial reputation.
No other book/source mentions this allegation --and one would think that if there was even a minute chance that Dean fathered a child while filming RWAC that rumor/anecdote would spread like wildfire.
In Live Fast Die Young, the alleged girlfriend is given the alias Karen Davis. In Gilmore's first biography of Dean he doesn't mention any pregnancy but a lot of the same quotes/anecdotes applied to Davis is given to a woman named Cathy Danian in his first book. In an interview with a Russian fan club of Dean's Gilmore seemed (from my reading) to not come down hard on any side over whether 'Karen' was pregnant by Dean in contrast to how he writes about it in Live Fast, Die Young. In an interview with VICE Gilmore said that he personally believed Dean was 'more gay than bisexual' *And I should note that Gilmore's account of 'Karen Davis' and James Dean does not come across (at least to me) as trying to 'prove' his heterosexuality, the way some in Dean world had claimed that Pier Angeli's son was fathered by James Dean, despite the fact that the late Perry Damone looked like a clone of his father Vic Damone.
And of course not putting the rumor of Dean fathering a child in the same category of Dean's sexuality! It's well established that James Dean had sexual relationships and involvements with men and women. But as another example of the tabloid afterlife of James Dean.
Thank you for refraining (no less than twice) from using the loaded term ‘orally’ in referring to the transmission of Dean’s reputation for certain sexual proclivities. I would have thought less of you if you had. That’s the sort of thing I might do. And I’d hate to see you stoop to my level.
"On the other hand, I am much more amazed that the claim made it into print in 1956, since the standard biographical information claims that the first printed reference was Royston Ellis’s little-read 1962 British biography Rebel (calling Dean a “bisexual psychopath”) and then not again until the mid-1970s"
I don't know if this technically counts because it's a work of fiction, but "The Immortal" by Walter Ross published in 1958 also deals with the rumors about Dean's sexuality. Ross was--IIRC someone who knew Dean from Warner Bros and the main character of John Preston is clearly based on Dean (there are some minor changes, he was raised by foster parents who were not related to him, Preston died in a plane crash, and physically Preston is described as 6'2 and jet black hair), but there are also clear direct parallels and places where the book is a fictionalized biography of James Dean in all but name. The book begins with the story of James Dean visiting composer Oscar Levant and surprising and chatting with his daughter Marcia who was a big fan of his. IIRC in a biography of Levant he talked about the scene in the book--mentioning that it got tiny details about the scene right such as what Dean drank that night (milk) and wondering who told Ross the details. Anyways getting to the point: the Ross book also has a scene where 'Preston' is in bed with an older man who is a mentor and a Rogers Brackett/Lemuel Ayers figure getting caught by his girl friend (who feels like a composite character based on Christine White, Arlene Sachs and Dizzy Sheridan). This was in the 1957/1958 before (I believe) either Sheridan or Sachs went public with any accounts of Dean's involvement with men. The book also mentions allegations that Preston was a hustler, so those rumors involving Dean were at least in the air (at least in the WB suites) a few years after his death.
As for Lynne Carter and her reliability I don't have a strong argument either way. Her portrait of him does feel largely consistent with other accounts (him wanting to get cigarettes with his underwear on and boots and saying 'modesty is for the birds' feels like something he would say/do, lol). But that doesn't mean that she couldn't have stitched together her account based on the first Bill Bast book.
the bevy of increasingly absurd claims from women who told magazines they had been Dean’s secret—and very heterosexual—lovers
Speaking of....the book also contains an article (with no support) about Dean allegedly fathering a child with a carhop named 'Mary B' AND a piece of fan-fiction about Dean proposing marriage to a farmer's daughter (and wanting to raise 10 children AND prunes with the hearty Betty Lou).
I'm not making affirmative comments on the veracity of the allegation but I found it interesting that John Gilmore's updated biography of Dean where he alleged Dean impregnated a girlfriend who was also a non-credited extra on RWAC didn't get more attention, even taking into consideration Gilmore's controversial reputation.
No other book/source mentions this allegation --and one would think that if there was even a minute chance that Dean fathered a child while filming RWAC that rumor/anecdote would spread like wildfire.
In Live Fast Die Young, the alleged girlfriend is given the alias Karen Davis. In Gilmore's first biography of Dean he doesn't mention any pregnancy but a lot of the same quotes/anecdotes applied to Davis is given to a woman named Cathy Danian in his first book. In an interview with a Russian fan club of Dean's Gilmore seemed (from my reading) to not come down hard on any side over whether 'Karen' was pregnant by Dean in contrast to how he writes about it in Live Fast, Die Young. In an interview with VICE Gilmore said that he personally believed Dean was 'more gay than bisexual' *And I should note that Gilmore's account of 'Karen Davis' and James Dean does not come across (at least to me) as trying to 'prove' his heterosexuality, the way some in Dean world had claimed that Pier Angeli's son was fathered by James Dean, despite the fact that the late Perry Damone looked like a clone of his father Vic Damone.
And of course not putting the rumor of Dean fathering a child in the same category of Dean's sexuality! It's well established that James Dean had sexual relationships and involvements with men and women. But as another example of the tabloid afterlife of James Dean.