The Porthole Windows of James Dean and Marlon Brando
I finally found the picture of Marlon Brando that convinced James Dean to rent an Upper West Side apartment.
When James Dean rented a West 68th Street apartment in New York City, he was very excited that the fifth-floor room had round porthole windows. These reminded him of a round window he had seen in a picture of Marlon Brando that he had saved, and he took to telling people that his apartment had been Brando’s. I looked everywhere for that photo and never found it. Then, today, Pinterest sent it to me in the daily digest of photos I receive despite not having a Pinterest account that I am aware of and never using the site.
After researching the image as best I was able, the caption in one reprint says it was a 1951 colorized photo of Brando on the set of A Streetcar Named Desire that had been published in a movie magazine. As you can see from Dennis Stock’s Life magazine photo of Dean’s apartment, the window is not the same.
Meanwhile, the man who now lives in Dean’s former apartment told the West Side Rag this week that he believes Dean’s ghost haunts the rent-controlled room and moves furniture.
From the linked article: "Larry Gates, who portrayed Polonius in Hamlet at Lincoln Center in 1975, told Aaronson (who worked on the show as a dresser) about a memorable night in the 1950s when Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Dean once gathered on the roof of the 68th Street apartment. “Jimmy was on the conga, and Harry was singing ‘Banana Boat (Day-O)’ — and this was two years before the song was even out,” Gates said. The group enjoyed their music session until three or four in the morning. Dean was known to rehearse on his roof, which has two levels and a view of Sheep Meadow."
Has this been reported/proven any place? I do know about Dean playing the conga, but I've never heard of him playing with Portier and Belafonte for an impromptu roof top concert.
Thank you for sharing! I was just trying to find this photo two days ago, funny coincidence.