Mineo Monday

Actor Sal Mineo is typically remembered for his role of Plato, the young boy seeking a father-figure who latches onto James Dean’s character in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955).



Along with Natalie Wood’s character, the three form a somewhat dysfunctional family, with Mineo and Wood competing for the affections of Dean. They bond one night at an abandoned mansion, as they secretly hope to all find what they have been missing throughout their already troubled lives.



Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize the mansion as the same one that Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) lived at in “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) with her ex, Max (Erich von Stroheim). The Getty mansion has long since been dozed.



But I digress…

While the censors of the 1950s would not allow any hint of Mineo’s character being gay, the actor’s performance made it very clear. In real life, Sal Mineo, he was quoted as saying, “I got a girl in every port — and a couple of guys in every port, too.” His life was tragically cut short in 1976 at the age of 37 during what was most likely a botched robbery. When it comes to celebrity deaths, no site is better than Scott Michael’s. During my last visit to Hollywood, I decided it was time to visit the spot where the murder took place. I texted Michael’s to narrow down the actual spot at Mineo’s West Hollywood apartment complex (known as the Hollyview Manor at the time) and within seconds, I received the photo below.



That’s a true friend. Below is how it looked the day I visited.



Michael’s pointed out to me that the odd sloping concrete shown in my photo:



…matches the one from the crime scene photo shot the night Mineo was murdered in the back alley of the complex:



This shot of a policeman looking for evidence was shot in the front of the building:



How the complex looks today:



Edited from Scott’s site:

Sal was renting an apartment in West Hollywood, at 8569 Holloway. Marvin Mitchelson, the famous lawyer, owned the building. On Thursday, February 12, 1976 at about 11:30 p.m., Sal returned home from the Westwood playhouse, where he was rehearsing the play, “P.S. Your Cat is Dead.” He parked his blue Chevelle in the garage, and just as he exited the garage a man with a knife confronted him. Mitchelson’s mom and neighbor Raymond Evans heard Mineo scream, “Help! Help! Oh my God!” Evans rushed to the scene and found Sal lying in a pool of blood trailing 10 feet to the sewers. Evans saw that Sal was losing color in his face and tried giving him mouth to mouth. The Sheriff arrived and found Sal in the fetal position. They turned him on his back, cut open his jacket and shirt to attempt resuscitation, but the stab wound was fatal. After 5 or 6 minutes of gasping, Sal was dead at 37. He was stabbed in the heart.…The case was still unsolved for a year and a half, until a Michigan prison inmate Lionel Ray Williams did a bit of bragging to fellow prisoners that he had killed the star. They pimped on him, and in 1979 Williams was convicted. He is serving 51 years to life. All for a random, botched robbery. Now he’s out – released after serving about 25 years.



A shot of Williams:



While searching on the web for more info about Mineo’s murder, I discovered a documentary film had been made that professes William’s innocence, saying that his incarceration was based on racial motivations rather than the truth. Documentary filmmaker Letitia McIntosh interviewed Williams himself, who claims he didn’t know Mineo and that it had to be somebody else. What McIntosh leaves out is that Williams confessed to numerous people (including a girlfriend and wife) to killing someone famous that night. If you can stand the staccato prose of James Ellroy, you can read his compelling account here.

What do I think? I wasn’t there. Not my circus. I just take photographs.

See more photos at my main website.

James Dean: 94th Birthday Tribute

Today would have been the 94th birthday of 1950’s icon, actor James Dean. Still relevant, still studied, and still written about. At the age of nine, Dean’s mother died and his father decided to let him be raised back on the family farm in Fairmount, Indiana, shown below:



Fairmount is an interesting little community, seemingly untouched by the passage of time. This video does a great job of capturing the town (and Dean) through interviews with the locals who still memorialize the actor.



The town has two museums that are Dean-centric; there’s the James Dean Gallery, run by David Loehr:



A picture of Loehr that I shot back in 1995 at a Rockabilly show in nearby Marion, Indiana. He is surrounded by Christy (whose father went to school with Dean) and fan Diane.



The other museum WAS the Fairmount Historical Museum, which was once located in this historic home:



It has since moved closer to downtown in a brand-spanking new building and been rechristened as the James Dean Museum. What’s the difference between the two? If you want to see vintage souvenirs and get to know Dean from a fan perspective, the Gallery is the place for you. If you want to see Dean’s personal effects and have a better understanding of him as an actor and a human, the Museum is the far better choice.

In downtown, there is a little park with a bronze bust of Dean, sculpted by the late Kenneth Kendall.



It is a copy of the same bust Kendall sculpted that is at the Griffith Observatory in Hollywood.



I met Stephen Payne (at right) when he first came to the U.S. and journeyed to Fairmount; you’ll get to hear his story in the video. On the left is Luke Williams, an Australian who traveled to Fairmount as well, seeking to find out more about Dean.



More than just a “rebel,” James Dean was a gifted human being who tragically died too young before getting to explore his many talents. We are fortunate to have the celluloid reminders that will forever enshrined his youth.

See more James Dean and Fairmount photos at my main website.

James Dean: 30 Years Ago…

Thirty years ago, because of my frequent trips to James Dean country, aka Fairmount, Indiana, local publication The Bloomington Voice asked me to write an article for their September 28, 1994 issue timed for the 49th anniversary of Dean’s tragic young death. The cover of the magazine had a photo of Dean with the headline, “The GIANT who didn’t get all old and fat” emblazoned over it. Inside was my article, with the much tamer title “The DEAN Appeal.” Below is the complete article.

Last fall, the choice seemed simple—a “Wizard of Oz” festival in Chesterton, Indiana (over three hours away from Bloomington) or the James Dean Festival in Fairmount (just two hours). Even though I’m an Oz fan, a weekend of munchkins and show tunes didn’t sound good to me at the time, so I made my first of many pilgrimages to Fairmount, Indiana.



My initial stop was the James Dean Gallery, which was swarming with activity both inside and out. The porch had a congregation of people mingling with Dean look-a-likes. The Gallery houses many rooms of Deanabilia, displayed with flair. One small, dark room has a constant video of rare film clips running; another is dedicated to Kenneth Kendall, an artist who knew Dean personally. His work is amazing—excellent likenesses, slightly stylized and overflowing with colors that seem reminiscent of the cinema’s Technicolor hues of the 30s and 40s. Most of this visit was spent on the Gallery porch, observing people from both coasts and soaking up the atmosphere while grabbing bits of conversation.

Fairmount was much quieter and slower during my second trip. Gone was the swarm of 30,000 tourists invading this sleepy never-never land. I talked to Dave Loehr, the owner of the Gallery [pictured below]. His interest in Dean began after he’d read The Mutant King, a biography by David Dalton, which I bought and quickly devoured. Full of insights, it gave me a greater appreciation of his first movie, “East of Eden,” which often paralleled Jimmy’s own life. His character embarks on a search for his mother in an attempt to learn about himself and also tries to win his unaccepting father’s love. The latter made his performance all the more poignant, considering that Dean went through the same emotional rollercoaster with his own father.



Dave invited me back to the Gallery and I’ve been going back ever since. Weekends usually include dinner in the kitchen above the Gallery with a multitude of characters I now call friends. Steven, a fan from England, gave me a tour of the high school Dean attended. It’s been closed for almost ten years and is in a sad state of disrepair—peeling paint, rotted floors, and layers of bird crap. I saw the stage where Dean acted in school plays, and the location of the Sweetheart’s Dance [below], where Jimmy triumphantly returned to Fairmount when he was on the verge of stardom. Walking through this eerily still building was thrilling — the fact that it was boarded up and not easily accessible made it even better.





Christy [above] is another friend I’ve made through the Dean channels. Often introduced as Bob Pulley’s (a high school friend of Dean’s) daughter, Christy stands out on her own. [Below is a shot of Christy and her dad, who is modeling his senior pants, complete with Dean’s signature] She jokingly refers to herself as BPD (Bob Pulley’s Daughter, for all of you with short memories). Christy works at the Convention & Visitors Bureau and usually takes care of foreigners left at the bus station who’ve flown to Indiana to see Dean’s origins but have no clue where to go and don’t know enough of the language to find out.



Luke [pictured below], another overseas fan, is from Australia. We went to Los Angeles last summer and saw Kenneth Kendall, who opened his home and art studio to us for many hours. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity talking with someone who lived in the middle of Hollywood during its heyday and knew the stars. Like the other Dean fans, Kendall eagerly shared not only his memories but his hospitality. After dinner at the classic El Coyote restaurant, we drove to Griffith Observatory where the knife fight and climactic ending scene from “Rebel without a Cause” were filmed. Luke knew every scene by heart and proceeded to act them out in their appropriate places with his thick Aussie accent.


   

   
Jim [photo above, right] is a bank teller from Fort Wayne who won the look-a-like contest two years ago. Despite an offer from a Hollywood agent after winning [side note: this was during the “Beverly Hills 90210” era and Jim’s look was perfect for that show], he chose a life of anonymity; just another instance of opportunity that has opened for each and every one of us at one time or another because of Dean.

Behind the Gallery are Dave, who runs the James Dean exhibit, and Lenny, whose shop in the Gallery’s lower level houses “Rebel, Rebel,” a huge vintage garage sale. Both of them have opened the Gallery up to the may who wander into town on Dean pilgrimages. They provide a central location where everyone can be themselves and kick back, relaxing at a much slower pace. The juxtaposition of these two New Yorkers situated in this small town makes the Gallery that much more interesting.



What is the attraction to Dean and Fairmount? Jimmy died young, and was eternally frozen in the beauty of his youth. Unlike Brando or Elvis, we’ll never see him lose his talent or become an obese caricature of himself. His roles represent a voice for teens wanting to be listened to and accepted by adults. In life, Dean was a chameleon who borrowed bits and pieces of personality from those he encountered along the way. He made each person in his life feel special, yet could be so obnoxious as to repel them in disgust. It’s this inner struggle of trying to find himself and dying in the midst of it that sealed Dean’s fate as a cult idol.



Seeing the museums and the gravesite were the original drawing cards that got us to Fairmount, but it’s this odd sense of a chose family that binds us all together. We originally came to find pieces of James Dean, and left with strong friendships that continually draw us back.



 Would James Dean laugh at this? He might laugh at some of the fans who shell out hundreds or thousands on souvenirs and memorabilia, but the sight of us having a good time drinking a brew at The Palace Bar [above], dancing our butts off at Rockabilly, eating a greasy meal at The Outpost, or especially just rapping on the Gallery porch would probably put a smile on his face. Who knows — he probably would’ve joined us.

See more James Dean photos at my main website.

Is That All There Is? DCA 23rd Anniversary

I had the opportunity to visit Disney California Adventure on May 18, 2001, just a few months after it opened (hard to believe it’s been 23 years!). I was part of a behind-the-scenes tour of all the dining facilities that were part of the Disneyland Resort second gate. One of the dining managers in my department was friends with Mary Nivens, who was Senior VP at the Disneyland Resort at the time, thus our tour. What did I think about DCA? As soon as the tour was over, I went home. I didn’t ride a single attraction nor did I take any photos. If you know me, that speaks volumes. I kept thinking of the Peggy Lee song, “Is That All There Is?”

It wasn’t until April 2002 that I returned with camera in hand and began to document the second gate. True to Walt’s quote about change, none of what you see in these photos remains at DCA today. Below, you can see the stationary California Zephyr, on of my favorite aspects (designwise) of the new Park.



Because of their ownership by Disney, there was significant cross-promotion going on for ABC programs, especially the soap operas.



One of the restaurants at DCA was titled, “Soap Opera Bistro,” featuring themed dining areas based on the sets from your favorite ABC soap operas.



These tile murals at the entrance were gorgeous.



An overhead view showing the first incarnation of Paradise Pier, before Pixar took over.



These imposing elephants at the Hollywood Pictures Backlot were an homage to the ones used in D.W. Griffith’s silent epic, “Intolerance” (1916).



Whoopi Goldberg in DCA? That’s right. Where the Little Mermaid attraction now resides, guests once entered a theatre to watch a film entitled “Golden Dreams,” starring Whoopi as Calafia, the Queen of California. She lost her thrown when the theater was torn down for Ariel in July 2009.



Was there ever a need for Fastpass for It’s Tough To Be A Bug!?!



Over at the Hyperion Theatre, a Reader’s Digest version of the Broadway show Blast! was playing.



In 2004, I returned for my birthday and posed with Minnie in the Condor Flats area.



The Tower of Terror was the first big draw to be added to the Park in 2004, followed by Monsters, Inc. This aerial view is from August 2006.



In other news, I just realized that DCA, James Dean, and Lana Turner also share the same “birthday.”





See more Disney California Adventure photos at my main website.

9/30/55 and The Monkey

It was sixty-eight years ago today that actor James Dean was tragically killed in a freak auto accident at the tender age of twenty-four. The above shot is from “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) and shows a deleted sequence of Dean, a young girl, and a toy monkey. The film opens with Jim Stark (Dean) lying in the road; he has stumbled upon a windup toy monkey and is fascinated by it. He protectively wraps the monkey with newspaper to keep it from getting cold. Seen behind the opening credits of the film, it speaks to his character and foreshadows his key motivation. He desperately seeks safety and protection for himself, but is unable to find it through friendships or his dysfunctional family. Instead, he does his best to create his own family unit with Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo) by becoming what he wishes his father could be.



The house seen behind him still exists just off Hollywood Boulevard:



Cropping the contemporary photo approximates what we saw in 1955:



The monkey itself was not seen in the finished film after the opening scene; most likely Jim Stark gave the toy to the child once he arrived at the police station. The bit was probably touching, but not necessary for the story and was thus deleted.



The monkey came up for auction in 2018 and 2022. From the 2022 Heritage Auctions catalog description:

James Dean "Jim Stark" Toy Monkey from Rebel Without a Cause (Warner Bros., 1955). Vintage original mechanical cymbal-clapping monkey toy constructed of wind-up metal armature covered in faux fur with painted cloth face and red felt cap with silver star ornament. The toy's wind-up stem is present, but the key is missing. Wire armature at feet has breached the fur and protrudes. Metal cymbals are present.





When we first meet the iconic James Dean as "Jim Stark" in this groundbreaking film, he's rolling around playing with this toy monkey amidst trash on a city sidewalk. The actual opening credits roll over this sequence. Mechanicals present but untested. In vintage Good condition. Provenance: Christie's East. Comes with a COA from Heritage Auctions.

It appears that the monkey went unsold both times. There are no details as to how it is known that this is the genuine article that Dean interacted with.

See more James Dean photos at my main website.