Little Miss Sunshine in CA, Pt. 3

Part 3 begins at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles for the main event: The LA Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats showing of James Dean’s “Rebel Without A Cause” (1955). I hadn’t been inside the Orpheum since 2008, and it still looked pretty grand.



To say “they don’t make ’em like they used to” in this case would be a gross understatement. A little bit of history from the Orpheum’s website:

Since its February 15, 1926 opening, the Orpheum has played host to some of the most venerable names in show business – from burlesque queen Sally Rand, a young Judy Garland (as Francis Gumm) and comedian Jack Benny, to jazz greats like Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. The 1960s brought a completely new dimension to the theater – “rock and roll” – with performers such as Little Richard, Aretha Franklin and Little Stevie Wonder.



Imagine this craftsmanship produced for something that will barely be noticed in a darkened theater:





Edward Torres played the organ before the movie began, which definitely added to the experience of a very special evening.



Out in the lobby were Sarah Lann, director of education for the LA Conservancy, Natasha Gregson Wagner, actress and daughter of Natalie Wood, and Christy, aka Little Miss Sunshine, also the President of the James Dean Museum in Fairmount, IN which is the only official Dean museum sanctioned by Dean’s family:



A quick selfie before the film began with Christy and Natasha, who couldn’t have been any sweeter:



Time to turn the lights down!



Before the showing of “Rebel,” film critic Leonard Maltin interviewed (sort of) Natasha.



Leonard did most of the talking, which was unfortunate. Once he let Natasha speak, we got to hear how meaningful this role was and the respect Natalie had for Dean’s talent. They had worked together before in the “I’m a Fool” November 14, 1954 episode of General Electric Theater, which was introduced by Ronald Reagan. 



And then the remaining house lights dimmed and the movie began! While it was amazing to see Sal Mineo, James Dean, and Natalie Wood up on the big screen in a classic movie palace like the Orpheum, it was a bit disappointing that it was a digital projection and the quality of the projection was not all that great. While many details were revealed at that large size, the print seemed a bit muddy and fuzzy, especially considering what the current Blu ray version looks like.



A little Vogue-ing in the theater lobby before we exited:



Outside the theater we all waited for our rides home. Christy is surrounded by Daniella, photographer Taylor Galloway, and Kate Croley:



After a late night chat by the Chateau pool…



Christy and I returned to 67 to order room service, since the dining room was closed for an event held by luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna.



The big reveal: we each got a sinfully delicious Nutty Chewy Sticky Gooey dessert:


 
…and another round of Garden Gimlets.



What had tasted so delicious and refreshing that afternoon sitting by the pool tasted more like fermented lawn clippings at midnight.



We left them out on the porch until the next morning when the clippings appeared to have congealed.



I got up early to do my laps; as I crossed through the gate to the pool, this cute little tableau was setup outside the bungalows, as part of the Zegna event:



There was also a temporary edicola (newsstand in Italian) by the pool, guarded by two stoic young men who looked like they’d just stepped off the runway:



The edicola was stocked with limited-edition copies of Zegna’s print publication, Top magazine.



Inside the hotel, this was the first time I got to see the new Chateau Marmont photo history wall on the first floor (which features a number of images from my collection!).



It’s pretty amazing to see all of the famous artists and celebrities that have stayed here over the years. A true testament to this Hollywood architectural legend.





This is one of my favorite images, featuring many of the hotel’s employees (some still there, some not):



Before breakfast, a quick selfie from the seventh floor:



My good friend Jorge from San Diego happened to be in LA at the same time, so he joined us for breakfast:



The pancakes were just as delicious and fluffy as I remembered:



Even without its usual pepper crust, the Chateau bacon is second to none:



Jorge joined us on the ride back to San Diego, where we made a detour to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.



Stay tuned for Part 4!

See more Los Angeles Orpheum Theatre photos at my main website.

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: 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.