DEAN JAMES: (1931-1955) 'Looks like a piece of shit to me.......Probably be a monster success'

DEAN JAMES: (1931-1955) 'Looks like a piece of shit to me.......Probably be a monster success'

DEAN JAMES: (1931-1955) American actor, an Academy Award nominee (the only actor to have been nominated posthumously twice). A significant illustrated A.L.S., Jim, one page, 8vo, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, n.d. (10th January 1954), to Miss. Barbara Glenn ('Darling'), on the printed stationery of the St. James Hotel. Dean commences his letter by asking his girlfriend not to worry about him, and apologises for not having called her on Saturday morning, continuing to discuss rehearsals for an upcoming play, 'Rehearsals are quite confusing at this point. Lighting etc. Can't tell much about the show yet. Looks like a piece of shit to me, Stereophonic staging and 3-D actors. Probably be a monster success; but to me it's still a piece of shit', and concluding 'Please write to me darling about next weekend. Please come see me, Have to get back to rehearsal now'. In a postscript Dean asks how Glenn is feeling, and also remarks 'Hate this fucking brown makeup'. At the head of the page Dean has drawn a sketch of Arabic-inspired buildings within a walled enclosure which also features a number of palm trees, perhaps representing part of the scenic design for the stage play he was rehearsing for (some of which was set in Algeria). In the left margin appears a second, smaller drawing by Dean, perhaps an amusing self-caricature and seemingly reflective of the actor's mood at the time, with steam blowing out of the man's ears. Accompanied by the original envelope (some tears to the edges and an area of paper loss to the verso) hand addressed by Dean and also illustrated by him with a drawing of a steer's head to the verso (which also features various notes in another hand). Autograph letters of Dean are of the utmost rarity and the present example is written at a particularly significant moment in the actor's brief career. Penned shortly before Hollywood came calling, in the letter Dean expresses himself in the forthright, candid manner similar to that which he would soon project on the big screen. VG

At the time of the present letter Dean was involved in rehearsals for a production of The Immoralist, based on Andre Gide's 1902 novel of the same title. The play premiered at the Royale Theatre in New York on 8th February 1954 and ran for ninety-six performances. The Immoralist was set in France and North Africa and Dean played the role of Bachir, a homosexual Algerian houseboy. Louis Jourdan performed in the role of Michel, a gay archaeologist who marries Micheline (played by Geraldine Page) in an effort to curb his homosexual instincts. Unable to consummate the marriage, the newly-weds travel from Normandy to Biskra for a honeymoon. At Biskra, Michel is seduced by Bachir, but this also allows him to sleep with his wife, who becomes pregnant.

Rehearsals for the play did not go smoothly for the director Herman Shumlin who was replaced with Daniel Mann, and Dean's behaviour at the time was described as erratic. Indeed, his friend Hal Hackady later recalled that 'Dean was not very happy playing the young Arab. He didn't like the plot. I also believe he didn't like playing a homosexual on Broadway. He felt uncomfortable.'

Despite Dean's misgivings about the play, reflected in the present letter, his performance as Bachir was admired by Elia Kazan who offered him a role in East of Eden and the opportunity of a screen test at Warner Bros. Three starring roles followed, as the loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), the troubled teenager Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and the surly ranch hand Jett Rink in Giant (1956), before the cultural icon's career was cut tragically short owing to his death in a car crash at the young age of 24.

It is understood that Barbara Glenn was first introduced to Dean in New York by their mutual friend the actor Martin Landau in late 1940s/early 1950s. Dean and Glenn's romantic relationship was believed to be an intense one involving multiple break-ups and reconciliations, and represented Glenn's first serious, mature relationship.