JAMES DEAN PUBLICITY PHOTO from DOVER PUBLISHING

JAMES DEAN  Warner Brothers Publicity Photo from Dover Publishing. 

Dover allows the use of this photo for NON-PROFIT use and under FAIR USE.  That means that if you credit Dover and use it on a blog or web-site or other place which is not a business (no advertising) and it's about James Dean for educational or personal purposes it's OK.  If you want to use if on a site for profit/gain, contact Dover and pay up!  (There's more than one reason we do not do advertising on this blog!)

JOHNNY RIVERS : POST (210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS! FROM OUR ARCHIVES

POST (210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES dated November 11 2008

When I moved to Los Angeles - Hollywood - one of the first things that I noticed that's different today - fifty years later - is that Hollywood really was full of stars. Not only were movies being made locally but the stars took it upon themselves to dine out and shop and be seen right there along Hollywood Boulevard where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is now. The photographers prowled and it seemed everyone was dressed, made-up, ready, willing, available for a "photo op."



I had met the actress Christine White in Hollywood as a tourist, before I was discovered in Akron, Ohio in 1957, and when I moved to Los Angeles Hollywood became my scene. I went to restaurants and clubs where business and pleasure were conducted. The area around Capitol Records which had the famous circular building that looked like a stack of albums - if you stretched your imagination a bit - seemed to be the epicenter of my scene.


When Johnny Rivers, Johnny Burnette, and I would motorcycle around town, we'd park our bikes across from the Brown Derby restaurant where there was a hot dog stand we liked near the Huntington-Hartford theatre. From there we watched the girls.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : (11) CHRISTINE WHITE, JAMES DEAN, & ME

FROM OUR ARCHIVES from October 27, 2008

(11) CHRISTINE WHITE, JAMES DEAN, & ME

Uncanny as it is, before I was "discovered" to be The Next James Dean, I took my first trip to Hollywood, and it was my fate to meet one of Jimmy's best friends! Dad and I were on a respite from home building. I loved to read all the fan magazines and I wanted to see the streets that all the stars - including James Dean - walked on.

So I headed to Los Angeles, California for the first time. I was coming out of a department store when I saw a beautiful young blond woman on the street. I recognized her from one of the movie magazines I'd read, an article called "The Girl He Left Behind." He meaning James Dean. The blond was CHRISTINE WHITE, a great actress in her own right. She and James Dean had auditioned together for the famous and prestigious Actors Studio in New York and both got in. James Dean might have been the youngest actor to be accepted there. Like James Dean, Christine White was active in television, live theater, and movies.


I introduced myself and Christine and I spent a few hours talking in a restaurant over tea. I asked her to tell me everything she knew about Jimmy. Christine and I would pick up our friendship years later when I moved to Los Angeles and I am blessed with her friendship to this day. Christine White is a devout Christian. I can tell you that she's played the part of angel in my life! Christine White is a regular speaker at the James Dean Conventions and has made many appearances in biographical films about James Dean.

CHRISTINE WHITE on IMDb World's Largest Movie Database linked above!

(340) TURBULENT TIMES TO LIVE THROUGH LATE 1963

When I think back to November 1963, I can say that the good times were rolling and we thought they would never end - until the moment that JFK was assassinated.


Elvis had "Fun in Acapulco coming out" and had put out a number of albums that year. Buddy Knox, my music partner and friend, though he would pursue his performing career for years more, had a Golden Hits album out... I had a few songs recorded by other artists out and was driving around Hollywood in a Jaguar living on songwriting residuals.


I was writing songs at American Music and recording demos for other artists, and had not completely given up on the idea of being an actor.


My friend Christine White had house parties in the Hollywood Hills and introduced me to other actors living and working on the West Coast as well as one particular agent who was very famous.


And none of us had heard of the Beatles or could imagine the impact this British group would have on music or American culture or us!

DENNIS STOCK THE PHOTOGRAPHER ON JAMES DEAN

JAMES DEAN is celebrated each year at a special JAMES DEAN FESTIVAL in his hometown, and that festival is happening starting tomorrow through Sunday, September the 26th, 2010. We're linking to the OFFICIAL JAMES DEAN site which will take you to another link about the festival.

JAMES DEAN and I both grew up in the country, and after his death, after I was being promoted by UNITED ARTISTS as THE NEXT JAMES DEAN, Dean's family welcomed me to visit the farm, and photographs of me were taken there that I still own.

CHRISTINE WHITE HELLO HELLO HELLO!

I've been thinking of my life long friend who I met before my NEXT JAMES DEAN days, Christine White, an accomplished actress who dated James Dean, and who we've blogged about before. In one of the great synchronicities of my life, a year before I ever imagined I would be discovered in Akron (That picture of me on the banner is my ROTO cover circa 1957), or have a career in the music business, I met Christine on a short vacation trip - my first - to Hollywood.


Today, I want to say a special hello to Christine, who is one of my angels on earth in my life! (And you'll be hearing more about her in the future as my early 1960's Hollywood days continue!)

DENNIS STOCK (Who Took That Photo of James Dean Walking Down the Street in New York)

We're linking to the Los Angeles Times news article, from yesterday, January 14, 2009, which starts on today's front page and goes into the Obituaries about DENNIS STOCK, who took that great photo of James Dean in 1954, walking in Times Square in New York City..."

"Stock didn't know Dean was an actor until he'd finished talking to him." It wasn't apparent in his appearance," he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2005. "He was not a neat dresser per se. He looked tired, but he was pleasant and interesting."Stock went with Dean to a sneak preview of "East of Eden" in Santa Monica, but the actor stayed outside with his motorcycle while Stock watched the movie. Overwhelmed by Dean's performance, Stock proposed doing a "visual biography" on Dean. "I knew this guy would take off," he recalled. The famous Times Square photo of Dean was just part of Stock's photo essay that appeared in Life magazine in 1955..." Dennis McLellan reporting, January 14, 2010

I met and talked to Dennis briefly while out with my friend who had been James Dean's friend, Christine White

JAMES BYRON DEAN February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955

The next few blogs will be in Honor of JAMES DEAN.

If he hadn't died in that terrible car crash Hollywood wouldn't have been looking for The Next James Dean. But I met his good friend Christine White while a tourist in Hollywood for the first time, well before I ever thought I would be an actor or singer, long before I was discovered.

I was a fan of James Dean's, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about him, so that I could fulfill what seemed to be my destiny of stepping into his shoes as a United Artists' actor.

(275) AHNA CAPRI

I met Ahna Capri around town, at Elvis', and in Pat Boone's office. (She was in a movie with him!)

There were so many beautiful women with great personalities and Ahna was one of those. She also had a good sense of humor about herself.

Christine White, Anne Helm, and Tuesday Weld; this generation of actresses were hard working, often hired actresses, who started in television and made films too.

Some of them were famous in their time. By that I mean they were making it into the fan magazines early in their careers and then as the years went by they began to do "character" roles.

Ahna's IMDB database resume is our link here: you'll wonder if you haven't seen her work on Baretta with Robert Blake or another show.

(271) NATALIE TRUNDY

Famous now for the "Planet of the Apes" movies, Natalie was, like Christine White, a hard working, often hired television actress in the late 1950's in New York - a bit of history (sorry ladies!) when it comes to early television.

That's her sitting next to me in the publicity photo put out by United Artists.

Link now to her official web site!

(247) NICK ADAMS THE REBEL

Nick Adams, the actor, was a friend of mine and a friend of Elvis' who came up to the parties at Elvis'. He was a serious, hard working actor, who had been THE REBEL in a 1959 television serious. He used to say that other people bet on horses, but he bet on himself.


Nick had been a friend of James Dean's - good friends - and as you can imagine, he was fascinated with me and all the James Dean connotations. Nick had spent a lot of time with Jimmy in Los Angeles and after Jimmy died in that car crash, he wrote about him for publication. I talked to Nick the way I talked with Jimmy's friend Christine White. I wanted to know everything about James Dean.

Maybe what made Elvis, Nick, and me friends, was that we all came from hardworking families who had lived impoverished. We didn't have to be reminded that we were living a life in Hollywood that wasn't just a dream - and that was ever more true as Elvis's parties were attended by some of the most beautiful women! Nick was the most reserved of our bunch when it came to the women, but he sure appreciated them!

While Elvis and I were southerners, Nick had grown up the son of Eastern European immigrants in the North.

By 1962 Nick's determination was bringing him closer to his ambitions to win an Oscar. Not to get ahead of our story here, but if you click on the title above, you'll get to a good bio of Nick, which mentions his eventual death as a murder mystery. (At the time we all believed it to be an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.)

(233) TAB HUNTER - MY COMPETITION ONCE UPON A TIME !

Tab Hunter was another young Rock and Roll star, a contemporary of mine, Ersel Hickey, Buddy Knox, and several others, who was getting his clothes torn off my female fans. Tab had the hit "Young Love," about the time I had "Freeze." Dick Clayton, a famous Hollywood agent, was handling Tab. They're still friends. Tab and my friend Christine White, who had been such a great friend of James Dean's, were also friends. Christine eventually introduced me to Dick Clayton suggesting he be my new agent as well !

Here is a YouTube video in which Tab, who is now also a successful author, tells his own story...



Tab was at the UCLA book fair a couple years ago with his great autobiography. We read it!

CLICK ON THE TITLE to link to the official TAB HUNTER WEB SITE and a bit about his book.

(210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS !

When I moved to Los Angeles - Hollywood - one of the first things that I noticed that's different today - fifty years later - is that Hollywood really was full of stars. Not only were movies being made locally but the stars took it upon themselves to dine out and shop and be seen right there along Hollywood Boulevard where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is now. The photographers prowled and it seemed everyone was dressed, made-up, ready, willing, available for a "photo op."

I had met the actress Christine White in Hollywood as a tourist, before I was discovered in Akron, Ohio in 1957, and when I moved to Los Angeles Hollywood became my scene. I went to restaurants and clubs where business and pleasure were conducted. The area around Capitol Records which had the famous circular building that looked like a stack of albums - if you stretched your imagination a bit - seemed to be the epicenter of my scene.

When Johnny Rivers, Johnny Burnette, and I would motorcycle around town, we'd park our bikes across from the Brown Derby restaurant where there was a hot dog stand we liked near the Huntington-Hartford theatre. From there we watched the girls.

CHRISTINE WHITE - I MISS YOU!

The recent news that actor Paul Newman had gone to Eternal Life made me think about my early New York days and taking classes at Actors Studio. I met Paul Newman in New York and Joanne Woodward on a Greyhound bus; we were both bussing it back home to North Carolina.

In those days my friend Christine White, James Dean's good friend, and Joanne were up for a lot of the same roles.

I miss you Christine White!

Love ya!

Wes

HELLO to CHRISTINE WHITE ! ONE OF MY ANGELS !

Just wanted to say hello to my long time friend Christine White, who I met in Los Angeles before I had a clue I would ever have a taste of fame, and who was so helpful to me when I relocated from New York to Los Angeles in 1960. Christine, you are one of my angels. I always think of you on Sundays!

Wes

(Friends you can use the search feature of this Google Blogger to read previous posts that include CHRISTINE WHITE...)

(90) PERRY COMO - THE MAN IN THE CARDIGAN SWEATER

PERRY COMO OFFICIAL SITE  updated April 2014

VIDEO REPLACED  April 2014



Perry Como was a singer who recorded on the RCA Victor label starting in 1943 and one of the first television pioneers in the weekly variety show category that was very successful, starting in about 1948. In the 1950's company sponsored television shows (rather than just commercials) were huge, and Christine White and James Dean were just two of the actors in New York who worked in them.

Now, growing up in the Smokey Mountains we listened to a big stand up radio, and when it came to music, well those mountains were - and are - full of people who had musical talent. People taught each other or were self taught. Making music - going to square dances - singing gospel in church - was our way of making our own fun. We never did get a television set. And when we moved to Oregon, we still didn't have a television set. But when I got to New York in 1957, I knew who Perry Como was. By 1955 he had an hour long television show.

In a way, Perry was an inspiration to me as an upstart in the business, even though he was as far from Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll as you could get. He was a crooner, smooth like Bing Crosby, and when I got to New York I had to fashion myself as a performer. Before I got over my shyness and let myself loosen up and move, I wanted to perform natural like Perry, who simply sang, often wearing a cardigan sweater or a neat suit. I thought he was a master of his craft. His professionalism went beyond one's comprehension. Perry had annunciation that was perfect and his delivery was seamless.

Now when you see old videos of the late 1950's and early 1960's sometimes you see black and white and sometimes you see color. Color television was around by 1956 but the number of studios that had the equipment to film in color were few and the number of people who had a color television set to see broadcasts in color were fewer. In 1956 The Perry Como Show on NBC was filmed in color, and seeing a show in color - well, it seemed to be, as they say today, "cutting edge." By 1959, Perry had a Kraft sponsored Music Hall show.

I suspect that's the show here in this YouTube video that presents Perry singing the classic "White Christmas," in 1960, even though this is in black and white.

Perry's career spanned many years and it's said that he got so many Gold records that he stopped having them certified. It was too embarrassing. In 2002 he received the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

(83) BOBBY DARIN EARLY 1960'S STYLE / CHRISTINE WHITE

By the end of 1960, Bobby Darin had four Gold records and had won two Grammy awards and he had become an actor - a movie star - too. He had moved to Los Angeles, California, in order to make the movie "Come September." Sometimes I wonder if he lead the parade of us singer-songwriter-musician-singer-entertainer types from New York to the West Coast.

"Come September"was a light comedy. Now my friend Frankie Avalon had been making the beach blanket movies and it had been a while since anyone really expected me to be The Next James Dean. He got teamed up with Annette Funicello. Bobby Darin was teamed up with Sandra Dee, a child star who had matured to about sixteen years old. Bobby was about twenty four when they met, and Bobby, who was aggressive for anything he wanted badly - like fame and fortune - went after Sandra. They were married.

And well, it was a volatile situation.

When Sylvester Cross got wind that I knew Bobby Darin, he decided I should pitch American Music songs, including a couple I wrote, to him in person. Why not another Gold for the singer who had "Splish Splash," and "Dream Lover?"

I did, and guess who I ran to at the movie studio when I went to pitch Bobby?

My old friend Christine White!
Fate... that's what it was.

Christine White, James Dean's great friend, who I'd met in 1956 on the street in Hollywood on my first tourist trip down from Oregon, was in town working on a television series. She invited me to one of her celebrity filled house parties in the Hollywood Hills and that reignited our friendship!

NEW LINK TO BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL SITE!

(69) GO WEST YOUNG MEN! GO WEST! (Bobby Darin's already out there!)

My first visit to Los Angeles was during my Christmas respite from home building in 1956. On that trip I met James Dean's great actress friend Christine White and walked the Hollywood streets that my favorite stars walked before me, never imagining I would ever have my own taste of celebrity. I had passed through the city on tours since then, and while the scene was entirely different than the scene in New York, I knew that an exodus of New York had begun. Los Angeles - Hollywood- had always been known for movie making but now it seemed television shows were leaving the cold weather of the east for the warm weather of the west.

Just before he left New York Bobby Darin and I had been talking about producing one of my songs into a record for me. Bobby went to Los Angeles to make the movie "Come September" which also starred his future wife and the mother of his only son, Dodd, Sandra Dee.

Elvis was based in LA too. I caught up with him and stayed at his suite in a hotel while he was making "G.I. Blues." Now that more movies were ahead for him, he was renting a home in Bel Air.

One of my brothers decided that he wanted to try living in Los Angeles for a while too, so I met up with him in Winston-Salem, we loaded up his old car and drove it across the country. We pulled into Elvis' driveway in Bel Air. Joe Esposito came out and demanded that we remove the "bucket of bolts" because it made Elvis' luxury cars "look bad." Before we could put the key in the ignition, Elvis came out, heard Joe, and said, "You leave that car right there. It looks fine."

Elvis liked my brother. "He's country, just like my cousins," he said. He meant Gene and Billy Smith, the two men who started with him as members of his entourage when he first came into fame and would be there when he died.

Here's a Youtube Presentation of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, with Bobby singing "Once Upon A Time"

(13) ACTORS STUDIO : LEE STRASBERG & JAMES DEAN & MARLON BRANDO

United Artists had me audition with Lee Strasberg at the famous Actors Studio in New York City, where James Dean and Christine White and Marlon Brando had studied acting.

Stasberg accepted me and I began to take Method Acting classes. He reported to United Artists that I was "a natural."

I was strong and muscular from home building and I actually thought I was more a Marlon Brando type than a James Dean type. Marlon had taken Method Acting but then switched over to studying with Stella Adler.

I was being groomed to play James Dean in a bio pic, they would call it today, about his life.

Link above to the OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE STRASBERG THEATRE INSTITUTE!

http://www.marlonbrando.com
OFFICAL WEB SITE OF MARLON BRANDO!

The Official Web Site of Marlon Brando has links to his biography, pictures and much more.

(11) CHRISTINE WHITE, JAMES DEAN, & ME

Uncanny as it is, before I was "discovered" to be The Next James Dean, I took my first trip to Hollywood, and it was my fate to meet one of Jimmy's best friends! Dad and I were on a respite from home building. I loved to read all the fan magazines and I wanted to see the streets that all the stars - including James Dean - walked on.

So I headed to Los Angeles, California for the first time.

I was coming out of a department store when I saw a beautiful young blond woman on the street. I recognized her from one of the movie magazines I'd read, an article called "The Girl He Left Behind." He meaning James Dean. The blond was CHRISTINE WHITE, a great actress in her own right. She and James Dean had auditioned together for the famous and prestigious Actors Studio in New York and both got in. James Dean might have been the youngest actor to be accepted there. Like James Dean, Christine White was active in television, live theater, and movies.

I introduced myself and Christine and I spent a few hours talking in a restaurant over tea. I asked her to tell me everything she knew about Jimmy. Christine and I would pick up our friendship years later when I moved to Los Angeles and I am blessed with her friendship to this day. Christine White is a devout Christian. I can tell you that she's played the part of angel in my life!

Christine White is a regular speaker at the James Dean Conventions and has made many appearances in biographical films about James Dean.

CHRISTINE WHITE on IMDb World's Largest Movie Database linked above!