James Dean died seventy years ago today. Just thought I’d mention it.
Rilchiam, I’m sorry, this is too cryptic of a title for the Cafe. I’m going to add the James Dean part.
Did you want to add any sort of tribute to him?
Yeah, you’re right; thank you.
I’d like to post a tribute later, when I’ve had time to reflect. Just wanted to get the thread started now!
ETA: I will say, for the record, that the driver of the other car was Donald TurnUPseed. Not TurnIPseed.
I have the opportunity to drive past the accident site several times a year. Attached to a nearby gas station featuring large cut-outs of James Dean are the “James Dean’s Last Stop Nut Shop” and the “East of Eden Fudge” store.
I just want to know why Mr Turnupseed was not vilified by the public in perpetuity. He was at fault in the accident. And the public are a mean and vindictive crowd.
Also, if Dean had lived, he’d have aged into Brando. It is up to the reader to say if that is a compliment or not.
Not a fan of Mr. Dean, his movies or the celebrity death cult that grew around him, but he did have some fine taste in automobiles, most especially the Porsche 550 Spyder – one of only 90 ever made – in which he was killed.
Yeah, that is a mystery. Personal opinion, based on no evidence, is that despite the fact that Turnupseed was at fault, the public perception of Dean might have seemed that he should have been the person at fault.
I remember reading someone asked Turnupseed’s son about the accident some years after Turnupseed’s death. The son curtly replied, “I don’t know. I wasn’t there, and Dad never talked about it.”
I actually mentioned this (JD’s death) to my wife right around the exact time of the crash, which was approx 5:45pm — 80 years to the day, 80 years to the hour. I’m a fan of his Porsches, both his 1955 356 and his fateful 1955 550 Spyder.
About 30 years ago I was passing through Blackwells Corner, CA and stopped for gas. For $1 the gas station sold a photocopy of his speeding ticket he got the day he died. I still have it, somewhere. At least I hope I still do! That was the last autograph he ever signed. He died about 2½ hours later.
I’m sorry, but this is the 'dope.
Ignorance fought! Or rather, more like, stupidity fought!
And believe it or not my degree was a BSci in Applied Mathematics, and I actually did quite well in school. In my defense that was (double checks my maths) nearly 40 years ago.
I used a calculator, just to be sure. The only 'dope thing worse than acting like a pedant and correcting someone over a minor thing, is being wrong when you correct someone over a minor thing!
If Dean survived the crash he’d most likely be dead now anyway. 94! I wonder if he would have had more good films, or simply leveled out into overacting in a lot of average-to-bad films.
“James Dean in The Island of Dr Moreau”
Sometimes the best thing a person can ‘do’ for their legendary status is to die, and especially to die very young.
Along came a Spyder
And picked up a rider
Took him down the road to eternity
James Dean
You bought it, sight unseen
You were too fast to live
Too young to die, bye bye
–Eagles
Don’t think I’d heard that one before.
➜ James Dean (song) - Wikipedia ■
➜ https://youtu.be/tU_rnam0TJk ■
There’s a car museum I like, which is really not a formal museum so much as “this is all my stuff, everywhere. Enjoy!” No signs describing anything. Well, sitting next to a bunch of other stuff, was a little silver open top pedal car, that was dented to hell. I asked the owner if it was the “James Dean Memorial Pedal Car.”