James Dean Read online

  JAMES DEAN

  TOMORROW NEVER COMES

  James Dean became a legend, worldwide. This book tells how he did it.

  COMMEMORATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF JAMES DEAN

  (FEBRUARY 8, 1931-SEPTEMBER 30, 1955)

  ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BLOOD MOON’S AWARD-WINNING ENTERTAINMENT ABOUT HOW AMERICA INTERPRETS ITS CELEBRITIES.

  WWW.BLOODMOONPRODUCTIONS.COM

  JAMES DEAN

  TOMORROW NEVER COMES

  A MYTH-SHATTERING TALE ABOUT AMERICA’S OBSESSION WITH CELEBRITIES.

  DARWIN PORTER & DANFORTH PRINCE

  JAMES DEAN

  Tomorrow Never Comes

  Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince

  Copyright ©2016, Blood Moon Productions, Ltd.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  www.BloodMoonProductions.com

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  ISBN 978-1-936003-49-5

  Front cover design by Richard Leeds (Bigwigdesign.com)

  Back cover design by Tiffany Voorhees

  Distributed worldwide through National Book Network

  (www.NBNbooks.com)

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  A Word About Phraseologies

  Since we at Blood Moon weren’t privy to long-ago conversations as they were unfolding, we have relied on the memories of our sources for the conversational tone and phraseologies of what we’ve recorded within the pages of this book.

  This writing technique, as it applies to modern biography, has been defined as “conversational storytelling” by The New York Times, which labeled it as an acceptable literary device for “engaging reading.”

  Blood Moon is not alone in replicating, “as remembered” dialogues from dead sources. Truman Capote and Norman Mailer were pioneers of direct quotes, and today, they appear in countless other memoirs, ranging from those of Eddie Fisher to those of the long-time mistress (Verita Thompson) of Humphrey Bogart.

  Some people have expressed displeasure in the fact that direct quotes and “as remembered” dialogue have become a standard—some would say “mandatory”—fixture in pop culture biographies today.

  If that is the case with anyone who’s reading this now, they should perhaps turn to other, more traditional and self-consciously “scholastic” works instead.

  Best wishes to all of you, with thanks for your interest in our work.

  Danforth Prince

  President and Founder

  Blood Moon Productions

  ALSO FROM BLOOD MOON PRODUCTIONS—NEW AND COMING NEXT!

  In time for the elections, from biographers who crafted earlier exposés of The Reagans, The Clintons, The Kennedys, and many of the most prominent stars of Golden-Age Hollywood, this is about a campaign that’s unprecedented in the history of The Republic. Breathlessly irreverent, it presents the saga of Trump, Inc. as an “only in America” story within a culture that’s as noteworthy (and bizarre) as its protagonist.

  DONALD TRUMP

  THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

  Softcover, 500 pages, with photos, available everywhere in September, 2016.

  Another proud and presidential addition to Blood Moon’s award-winning Babylon Series.

  ISBN 978-1-936003-51-8

  PREVIOUS WORKS BY DARWIN PORTER

  PRODUCED IN COLLABORATION WITH BLOOD MOON

  BIOGRAPHIES

  Bill & Hillary, So This Is That Thing Called Love

  Peter O’Toole, Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel

  Love Triangle, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, & Nancy Davis

  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams

  Pink Triangle, The Feuds and Private Lives of Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, and Famous Members of their Entourages.

  Those Glamorous Gabors, Bombshells from Budapest

  Inside Linda Lovelace’s Deep Throat, Degradation, Porno Chic, and the Rise of Feminism

  Elizabeth Taylor, There is Nothing Like a Dame

  Marilyn at Rainbow’s End, Sex, Lies, Murder, and the Great Cover-up

  J. Edgar Hoover & Clyde Tolson Investigating the Sexual Secrets of America’s Most Famous Men and Women

  Frank Sinatra, The Boudoir Singer. All the Gossip Unfit to Print

  The Kennedys, All the Gossip Unfit to Print

  Humphrey Bogart, The Making of a Legend (2010), and The Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart (2003)

  Howard Hughes, Hell’s Angel

  Steve McQueen, King of Cool, Tales of a Lurid Life

  Paul Newman, The Man Behind the Baby Blues

  Merv Griffin, A Life in the Closet

  Brando Unzipped

  Katharine the Great, Hepburn, Secrets of a Lifetime Revealed

  Jacko, His Rise and Fall, The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson

  Damn You, Scarlett O’Hara, The Private Lives of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier (co-authored with Roy Moseley)

  FILM CRITICISM

  Blood Moon’s 2005 Guide to the Glitter Awards

  Blood Moon’s 2006 Guide to Film

  Blood Moon’s 2007 Guide to Film, and

  50 Years of Queer Cinema, 500 of the Best GLBTQ Films Ever Made

  NON-FICTION

  Hollywood Babylon—It’s Back! and Hollywood Babylon Strikes Again!

  NOVELS

  Blood Moon,

  Hollywood’s Silent Closet,

  Rhinestone Country,

  Razzle Dazzle

  Midnight in Savannah

  OTHER PUBLICATIONS BY DARWIN PORTER

  NOT DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH BLOOD MOON

  NOVELS

  The Delinquent Heart

  The Taste of Steak Tartare

  Butterflies in Heat

  Marika (a roman à clef based on the life of Marlene Dietrich)

  Venus (a roman à clef based on the life of Anaïs Nin)

  Bitter Orange

  Sister Rose

  TRAVEL GUIDES

  Many Editions and Many Variations of The Frommer Guides, The American Express Guides, and/or TWA Guides, et alia to:

  Andalusia, Andorra, Anguilla, Aruba, Atlanta, Austria, the Azores, The Bahamas, Barbados, the Bavarian Alps, Berlin, Bermuda, Bonaire and Curaçao, Boston, the British Virgin Islands, Budapest, Bulgaria, California, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean and its “Ports of Call,” the Cayman Islands, Ceuta, the Channel Islands (UK), Charleston (SC), Corsica, Costa del Sol (Spain), Denmark, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Edinburgh, England, Estonia, Europe, “Europe by Rail,” the Faroe Islands, Finland, Florence, France, Frankfurt, the French Riviera, Geneva, Georgia (USA), Germany, Gibraltar, Glasgow, Granada (Spain), Great Britain, Greenland, Grenada (West Indies), Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jamaica, Key West & the Florida Keys, Las Vegas, Liechtenstein, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Maine, Malta, Martinique & Guadeloupe, Massachusetts, Morocco, Munich, New England, New Orleans, North Carolina, Norway, Paris, Poland, Portugal, Provence, Puerto Rico, Romania, Rome, Salzburg, San Diego, San Francisco, San Marino, Sardinia, Savannah, Scandinavia, Scotland, Seville, the Shetland Islands, Sicily, St. Martin & Sint Maartin, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, South Carolina, Spain, St. Kitts & Nevis, Sweden, Switzerland, the Turks & Caicos, the U.S.A., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Venice, Vienna and the Danube, Wales, and Zurich.

  BIOGRAPHIES

  From Diaghilev to Balanchine, The Saga of Ballerina Tamara Geva

  Lucille Lortel, The Queen of Off-Broadway

  Greta Keller, Germany’s Other Lili Marlene

  Sophie Tucker, The Last of the Red Hot Mamas

  Anne Bancroft, Where Have You Gone, Mrs. Robinson?

  (co-authored with Stanley Mills Haggart)

  Veronica Lake, The Peek-a-Boo Gir
l

  Running Wild in Babylon, Confessions of a Hollywood Press Agent

  HISTORIES

  Thurlow Weed, Whig Kingpin

  Chester A. Arthur, Gilded Age Coxcomb in the White House

  Discover Old America, What’s Left of It

  CUISINE

  Food For Love, Hussar Recipes from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with collaboration from the cabaret chanteuse, Greta Keller

  AND COMING SOON, FROM BLOOD MOON

  Donald Trump, The Man Who Would Be King

  Lana Turner, Hearts and Diamonds Take All

  Rock Hudson, Erotic Fire

  WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO A CAST OF HUNDREDS OF OTHER PLAYERS,

  THIS BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES DEAN IS DEDICATED TO STANLEY HAGGART, ROGERS BRACKETT, ALEC WILDER, & WILLIAM BAST

  WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO EARTHA KITT & GERALDINE PAGE

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  A HOOSIER FARMBOY WANDERS ALONG HOLLYWOOD’S BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS.

  Rogers Brackett, Joan Davis, Beverly Wills, the pretty boys of Henry Willson’s Dream Factory, John Carlyle, George Cukor, Spencer Tracy, William Bast.

  CHAPTER TWO

  SHACKING UP WITH THE A-LIST LEGENDS OF HOLLYWOOD.

  Clifton Webb, Joan Crawford, Walt Disney, Judy Garland, Cecil Beaton, Roddy McDowall, Cole Porter, Alfredo de la Vega,

  CHAPTER THREE

  A TV PRODUCER AT CBS “ADOPTS” A KID FROM THE STREET

  Jack Benny, Barbara Payton, Hedy Lamarr, Walter Pidgeon, John Bromfield, Vince Edwards, The Bad and the Beautiful, a violent altercation with Humphrey Bogart, and a developing passion for bullfighting.

  CHAPTER FOUR:

  JAMES DEAN AND NICK ADAMS BECOME HOLLYWOOD HUSTLERS BEFORE SETTING OUT TO CONQUER NEW YORK.

  “The Little Prince” tackles Tallulah Bankhead, Peggy Lee, Dizzy Sheridan, Merv Griffin, Martin Milner, Barbara Baxley, Robert Stevens, some casting directors in New York, and, in Indiana, the priest who molested him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SEE THE JAGUAR. THE PLAY’S A DUD, BUT JIMMY’S DEBUT ON BROADWAY GENERATES RAVE REVIEWS.

  Grace Kelly, Sarah Churchill, Stanley Haggart, Lem & Shirley Ayers, Alec Wilder, Christine White, Kim Stanley & Brooks Clift, opera giant Frank Corsaro, a three-way with Jack Cassidy and Tom Tryon, and a “to-the-death” feud with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JIMMY’S AFFAIR WITH STEVE MCQUEEN

  Two ambitious but unknown actors, each a male prostitute, meet in a motorcycle repair shop in NYC. Their competition onscreen and after dark.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  JIMMY’S JAILBAIT. HIS AFFAIR AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH BARBARA GLENN

  He takes her virginity, slaps her around, borrows money he doesn’t return, sends her psychotic love letters, and talks about marriage.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  JIMMY EMERGES AS A STAR IN THE EARLY DAYS OF TELEVISION

  Teleplays for NBC, CBS, Campbell’s Soup, Kraft, Philco, General Electric, Westinghouse, U.S. Steel, and Schlitz. Down and dirty on the casting couch with playwright Bill Inge. Egomania and homophobia from Robert Montgomery, and Dark Dark Hours with Ronald Reagan.

  CHAPTER NINE

  JAMES DEAN VS. MARLON BRANDO

  Rivals on screen, Master & Slave after midnight

  CHAPTER TEN

  JIMMY AFTER DARK AND ON THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN

  Friendships and/or Feuds with Eartha Kitt, Truman Capote, Shelley Winters, Eli Wallach, Patricia Neal, Gary Cooper, and Dance Queen Katherine Dunham. Suicidal Dreams: To the horror of everyone at the Actors Studio, Jimmy slits his wrists onstage. Battle Cry and Dean’s ongoing feud with Tab Hunter. Getting Musical with composer David Diamond. How literary groupie and Playboy centerfold Alice Denham added James Dean to her list of sexual conquests.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  JIMMY’S CONVOLUTED RELATIONSHIP WITH TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

  Auditioning replacements for “The Horse,” he interviews James Dean as his possible new lover, then invites him to be the father of a child he’d adopt.

  Tennessee’s Lost Manuscript: Was it based on James Dean?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  JAMES DEAN’S AFFAIR WITH MONTGOMERY CLIFT

  Rebel actors neurotically feuding on their respective roads to self-destruction. How the millionaire murderer, Libby Holman, contributed to their feud.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  JAMES DEAN VS. PAUL NEWMAN

  Actors of a similar “type” compete, collaborate, maneuver, and scheme for the same roles and the same lovers. How Newman stepped into Jimmy’s shoes, post-mortem.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE IMMORALIST. JAMES DEAN OPENS ON BROADWAY AS AN ARAB “HE-SLUT” WITH A HUNDRED BITCHY TRICKS, INCLUDING BLACKMAIL.

  Geraldine Page interprets James Dean and André Gide. Hatred backstage, as Louis Jourdan and Jimmy exchange venom. Both its playwright and its enraged director agree: “Working with this monster boy was my worst experience ever with an actor.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  EAST OF EDEN. PLAYING THE SON OF A WHORE, A STAR IS BORN

  Jimmy irritates Elia Kazan and infuriates Raymond Massey. His Oscar nomination places him in direct confrontation with Hollywood’s Old Guard.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  JIMMY’S AFFAIR WITH MARILYN MONROE

  Baby Doll, Bus Stop, the Actors Studio, and how a farm boy from Indiana seduced the Sex Queen of Hollywood. From the twisted wreckage of their ashes, icons emerge to enchant the world.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  TALES FROM THE FBI: J.EDGAR HOOVER, HOT ON JIMMY’S “TAIL”

  How Jimmy got caught shoplifting and “red-handed,” and how he managed to avoid getting blacklisted and the Red Channels list.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  JAMES DEAN AND HIS AFFAIR WITH THE WOOLWORTH HEIRESS, BARBARA HUTTON

  How he rejected her offer to make him her all-expense-paid “Toy Boy,” and how he séguéd their association into a friendship and love affair with her son, Lance Reventlow.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE BEAUTY AND THE BILLIONAIRE: JAMES DEAN “AVIATES” WITH HOWARD HUGHES AND TERRY MOORE

  America’s richest eccentric demonstrates what unlimited money can do in Hollywood. In and out of bed with “The American Emperor.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  JAMES DEAN & PIER ANGELI

  A tangled web of Hollywood affairs. Everybody sleeping with everybody else’s lovers. Vic Damone, Marisa Pavan, Marlon Brando, Natalie Wood, and John Derek. Changing partners with Ursula Andress.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  JAMES DEAN VS. VAMPIRA, EARTHA KITT & THEATER MOGUL ARTHUR LOEW, JR.

  How Vampira, the weirdest TV personality of her era, lured and later cursed Jimmy with Black Magic. How Sammy Davis, Jr. pulled Jimmy toward Satanism, the occult, and a fascination with coffins. Jimmy’s affair with Toni Lee Scott and America’s (male) sweetheart,” Van Johnson. Inconclusive interludes with Tony Perkins, Lilli Kardell, and various “Unsavory Aliens of the Night.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE

  How a low-budget experimental film ignited the angst of teenagers everywhere. The murky sexual dynamics of Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, and Nicholas Ray. How Jayne Mansfield, Jack Simmons, Dennis Hopper, Johnny Weissmuller, J. Paul Getty, Grace Kelly, and Alan Ladd contributed to the offscreen dramas. And how Nick Adams’ self-anointed role as a Hollywood gopher for newbie Elvis Presley eventually led to his murder.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  GIANT

  How a short, nearsighted farmboy from Indiana became the biggest tycoon in Texas; and how a lesbian author, a gay leading man, a sultry, bed-hopping beauty, and a bisexual rebel brought a sprawling saga to the screen.

  EPILOGUE: DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON

  Drive Fast, Die Young

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  RECORDING THE VOICES (AUTHORS’ BIOS)

  Chapter One

  A HOOSIER FARM
BOY

  WANDERS ALONG HOLLYWOOD’S BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS

  The “Live Fast, Die Young” Rebel Asserts, “Live as if You’ll Die Today”

  THE SYMBOL OF MISUNDERSTOOD YOUTH, A LITTLE BOY LOST AND IN SEARCH OF HIMSELF, REMAINS FOREVER YOUNG

  “A young man must be courageous in the bedroom. Try anything—life’s too short to worry about what’s perverted.”

  —James Dean

  “How big is your cock, dah-ling?”

  —Tallulah Bankhead to James Dean

  James Dean was twenty years old, a UCLA dropout, and without any real cash. The year was 1951, and the July 4th holiday was about to bring business in Hollywood to a halt

  Los Angeles: The corner of Sunset Blvd. at Vine in the 1950s.

  The dingy low-rent apartment he occupied at 1216 North Edgemont had peeling paint and “hot and cold running cockroaches” (Jimmy’s words).

  His friend, Ted Avery, also a struggling actor, supported himself working as an usher at CBS. He let Jimmy sleep on his sofa while his wife was away. The arrangement was temporary, and Jimmy needed to find another place to sleep and hang out…and soon.

  That morning, Avery and Jimmy shared some cups of coffee, the only edible thing they could find in their otherwise empty kitchen cabinets.

  The previous evening, Jimmy had consumed the last edible object remaining in their larder, dried oatmeal from Quakers. After boiling it on the stove, he mixed it with the remains of a sticky-looking jar of marmalade, the only thing left in their refrigerator.

  Money (the lack thereof) was a problem, and Avery suggested that Jimmy should get a job as a means of keeping their meager household afloat. The acting gigs each had managed to attract seemed like memories from the distant past.