2021, NOV. 1: BATTLE OF THE BANDS - James Dean Series, #3 Of 3 (Or, DAVID ESSEX VS. JOHN 'MELON' COUGARCAMP)

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This blog bit series is dedicated to three persons: 

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1: My Ma ('East Of Eden'), who first made me aware of James Dean.

2: My great friend and publicity photographer, Kelly "Andy" Anderson ('Rebel Without A Cause'), who committed suicide in 1986.

3: My great friend and professional acting buddy, Marty "Party" Brumer ('Giant'), who was killed by a car thief in Los Angeles in 1989.

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Yes, it's time once again for Battle Of The Bands (BOTB).

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[But first, a shout-out and special message for The Countess. Countess, click HERE!]

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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!...

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This has been a James Dean themed BOTB tournament, in which I've used my 4 favorite songs that mention Dean, who was my acting hero during my youthful venture into the world of Hollyweird. 

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In Part 1 (HERE) David Essex's song 'ROCK ON' beat 'American Pie' by Don McLean, as explained HERE.

In Part 2 (HERE) John 'Cougar' Mellencamp's song 'Jack & Diane' beat 'James Dean' by The Eagles, as explained HERE.

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In this final installment, the two winners face off against each other for the 'James Dean BOTB Championship'.

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But before we do that, I promised to share some photos from my 'Dog Tag Years', also known as 'My Years Working On M*A*S*H'.

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Although I'm not certain, I believe the first episode of M*A*S*H that I worked on was 'LIL', the third episode of the 7th season, which first aired on October 2, 1978. I was 19 years old at that time. The story involves Colonel Lillian Rayburn, who visits the 4077th. Radar O'Reilly becomes concerned that perhaps Colonel Potter is falling for Lil and is about to cheat on his wife. Major M*A*S*H fans might remember the episode more for the subplot, in which Hawkeye Pierce is being driven batty by the fact that he can't find out what the "B.J." in B.J. Hunnicutt stands for. 

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There's a scene early on in the episode where Lil Rayburn and Colonel Potter visit the Post-Op. Colonel Rayburn says, "Look at that boy. He belongs in a playground, not a hospital." Then there's a close-up of my sweet, angelic face as I sleep on a Post-Op cot:

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Colonel Potter says, "You know, as much as I hate O.R., this room is worse."

Colonel Rayburn: "Why?"

Colonel Potter: "In there you only look at the wounds. In here you see the faces."

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And as far as I can recall, that was where I first appeared on M*A*S*H. Apparently, the powers that be liked something about me, because from then on, I was a regular on the show, always in the 4077th camp somewhere and occasionally having a couple lines of dialogue to say. I can find myself somewhere in nearly every episode from 'LIL' through and including the 2.5 hour 1983 series finale in Season 11 [link> 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen'.

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Although today I have great appreciation for my 'Dog Tag' experiences, sadly I didn't appreciate my time on MASH as much as I should have while it was occurring. I thought I was on my way to bigger and better things, so MASH just seemed to me, at the time, like a stepping stone on my way to becoming the new James Dean. Live and learn, eh?

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In the 2005 CNN.com Entertainment article [link> 'Alda's Favorite 'M*A*S*H' Episodes', star Alan Alda named four of his very favorite MASH episodes, and as fate would have it, I appeared prominently in one of them: "Life Time", a 1979 episode done in real time, in which a soldier will suffer permanent injury -- or death -- if he isn't treated within 20 minutes. This episode is known for the clock in the corner of the screen, keeping real time (even through the TV commercials) as one soldier needs to die in time for the doctors to take a piece of his aorta and graft it into another dying patient. This episode is so famous amongst MASH fans that it even has its own Wikipedia page [link> HERE.

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Although I had no dialogue in this episode (just some death rattle gasping sounds in my dying moment), I was Harold Sherwood, the patient who died in time and provided the aorta that saved another soldier's life:

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[Stephen T. McCarthy, a bloody mess who is also known as Harold Sherwood]

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So, here are some more MASH pictures from my Dog Tag Years:

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In one episode, Colonel Potter took Sgt. Rizzo's drivers' education class, and sat in with the rest of us lowly soldiers. (I still can't get over how young I looked in this photo! That's me on the left.)

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Speaking of Rizzo, there was an episode where he kept getting caught playing craps in various places around the 4077th with his "craps-shooting monkeys!" as Father Mulcahy called us. I was one of Rizzo's "craps-shooting monkeys". That's me second from the right wearing my cap backwards:

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In another episode, an emotionally distraught soldier went AWOL and sought sanctuary in Father Mulcahy's Mess Tent chapel. In quite a stretch for this Maverick Christian, I portrayed a Catholic who was trying to hang around after Mulcahy's sermon in order to find out what the commotion was all about. In this picture, Mulcahy is trying to hustle me out of his Mess Tent chapel:

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This next shot was taken at the MASH compound set up in the Malibu hills, where most of the exterior filming took place. (The interior scenes were shot on Stage 9 at 20th Century Fox Studio in Los Angeles.) I have no idea which episode we were shooting at this time, but someone took a picture of me walking through camp in the background:

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A Malibu canyon fire in October of 1982 burned down the MASH set, so the writers incorporated the fire into the storyline of the show's final episode. Here's a picture of me - wearing my red leather James Dean-inspired jacket - at the charred remains of the exterior MASH set in Malibu.

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And lastly, below is an official photo of the MASH cast and crew taken during the 11th and final season. You can find me in the second row from the bottom, toward the left, and wearing that same red leather James Dean jacket:

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Alright, enough of this. Let's get on with the music Battle...

Please leave a comment telling me which of these two songs you like better, and why. I will return here on November 8th or 9th to cast my own vote and to announce the winner of the James Dean BOTB series. And perhaps I'll share a few more pictures and close with a story about my leather jacket and and an extremely special one-of-a-kind James Dean pin that I used to wear on it.

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ROCK ON -- David Essex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnRY0QkVio

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JACK & DIANE -- John 'Cougar' Mellencamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjMwrXGk4xU

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Thanks in advance for your participation. And please visit 'n' vote at the Battles presented by the other BOTB participants.

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Bless And Be Blessed,

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

BOTB RESULTS: OCT. 1, 2021 (Or, THE EAGLES VS. JOHN 'COUGAR' MELLENCAMP)

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Part 2 of my 3-Part James Dean 'Battle Of The Bands' series took place HERE, and it was one heckuva blowout!

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The songs battling it out were 'JAMES DEAN' (The Eagles) and 'JACK & DIANE' (John 'Cougar' Mellencamp). The turnout was good and the conversation was fun, as usual. What wasn't so good was the competition: Yes, I was pretty sure that 'Jack & Diane' would beat 'James Dean' - after all, it *WAS* two against one - but I didn't expect that level of a beat-down. 'Jack & Diane' had 5 votes recorded before The Eagles even got on the scoreboard! And The Eagles fortunes didn't improve much after that, either. It isn't often that The Eagles are dogs - I mean, "underdogs". Well, they were this time, and they got BIT!

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The Final Tally:

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The Eagles = 3 votes

John 'Cougar' Mellencamp = 12 votes

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My vote? Yeah, I went along with the majority. It's rare that I can be counted amongst the majority, rather than being a loud voice in the minority, but it happens once in a Chartreuse Moon.

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Why the Cougar rather than the Eagle? Well, I simply like the song better and find it more interesting, even though 'Jack & Diane' merely mentions James Dean while 'James Dean' is ABOUT... well, James Dean. Aside from the neat 'Rebel Without A Cause' reference in the line "Well, then, there, Diane", I can really relate to the lyric "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone". That line didn't particularly resonate with me back in 1982, when this song was a radio hit, but today I consider it one of the most profound observations ever sung in a song!

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Not that I'm complaining about my life, mind you. But I'm tired, and "there is nothing new under the sun". 

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

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And unfortunately, I've reached the stage in my life where everything I do is something I've previously done. It may be fun, but it's been dun.

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There is a time to be young, energetic and full of life; 

and a time to be bored and ready to go Home (capital H).

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However, below is a picture of me in my bedroom (circa 1983), when life was still wild and full of spirit (and spirits!) One of my drinking buddies, Cranium, has passed out on my floor, a can of Colt .45 malt liquor is just beyond his reach. My gesture for the camera seems to say, "You see what I have to put up with?" Right over my shoulder, you can see a red-jacketed 'Rebel Without A Cause' James Dean cardboard stand-up next to my bookcase.

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By 1988, the acting dream had burned out, or faded away. Truth be told, I had really begun to find my own true self, and the idea of pretending to be other characters didn't really thrill me. I guess "the thrill was gone", and I was now focusing more on writing. ("Writing is your forte, STMcC", my Pa told me a thousand and 3.5 times. Coincidentally, my Pa had actually been enrolled in the same California elementary school as James Dean. Although Pa didn't recall Dean, we did the math and it's a fact that they were in the same school at the same time.)

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I still believed that James Dean was the most naturally gifted actor of all time, and in October of '88, some of my fellow Dean fans and good friends whom I had met at the 1980 James Dean festival in Fairmount, Indiana, came out to Los Angeles where I escorted them to some of the important Dean-related sites in the area:

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[Left to Right: Russ Hodson, Larry Minor, Ed Lane, me, Bob Pulley --photo by Carole Redus]

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[Left to Right: Larry Minor, Sally Hinton, Mary Alice Rodes, Bob Pulley, Carole Redus, Russ Hodson, and me.]

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Those were some pretty big names in the world of James Dean Fandom in '88. Bob Pulley was one of Dean's friends and classmates in high school and he was the last surviving pall bearer from James Dean's funeral.

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The pictures were taken at Santa Monica High School, which is the school I attended and graduated from, and which also played the role of "Dawson High School" in the movie 'Rebel Without A Cause'. In that first photo, we're gathered around the very spot where Jim Stark (James Dean) accidentally stepped on the school seal on his first day at Dawson High and caught hell for doing so. Even in 1974-1977, when I went to "SAMOHI", there was an unwritten rule that you weren't supposed to step on the school seal.

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The photo above, also from October of 1988, was taken when Kenneth Kendall's bust of James Dean was first unveiled at the Griffith Observatory in L.A. That was Sylvia Bongiovanni, president of the We Remember Dean International Fan Club, posing with the artist.

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Once again, I thank EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU who took the time to visit my blog, listen to the songs & cast a vote.

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On November 1st, the Super Bowl of my 'James Dean BOTB' series will appear here. Part 3 will be the finale, where the winner from Round 1, 'ROCK ON' by David Essex, will go up against the winner of Round 2, John 'Cougar' Mellencamp's 'JACK & DIANE'. I hope all y'all will return to help determine the ultimate winner. I'll be yakking a bit and showing pictures of my years on M*A*S*H in Part 3. See ya then (I hope)!

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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2021, OCT. 1: BATTLE OF THE BANDS - James Dean Series, #2 of 3 (Or, THE EAGLES VS. JOHN 'COUGAR' MELLENCAMP)

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[Above photo by The Wonderful & Terribly missed Russ Hodson!]

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This blog bit series is dedicated to three persons: 

1: My Ma ('East Of Eden'), who first made me aware of James Dean.

2: My great friend and publicity photographer, Kelly "Andy" Anderson ('Rebel Without A Cause'), who committed suicide in 1986.

3: My great friend and professional acting buddy, Marty "Party" Brumer ('Giant'), who was killed by a car thief in Los Angeles in 1989.

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Yes, it's time once again for Battle Of The Bands (BOTB).

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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!...

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This is Part 2 of 3. Part 1 was HERE, and the Results post for Part 1 was HERE.

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For years, I continued to work in Hollyweird - doing daily 'Background' work on movies, commercials and TV shows to pay the bills; scoring many 'silent bits'; and occasionally getting a bit part with a few lines of dialogue (primarily on 'M*A*S*H' and on a really awful TV show called 'Hill Street Blues').

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The second 8" x 10" publicity photo I used was also taken by my dear friend Kelly "Andy" Anderson. In this picture (shot in the alley behind Kelly's apartment in "Dogtown"), I wore my red James Dean jacket, but since the pic was black & white, it looks grey:

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You can't really see it too well in the photo, but that's my gold hangman's noose charm hanging from a chain around my neck! That hangman's noose hanging around my neck got A LOT of attention from girls, and some of the other 666 genders, also. (Oh, wait!! We only had 2 genders back then. My boo-boo!) The noose made girls curious to find out more about this dark, macabre character. 

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Another publicity photo of me, taken by Kelly Anderson, underneath the Santa Monica Pier:

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I was going more for the 'hopelessly romantic, vagabond singer-songwriter poet' look in that picture. A Saint Christopher medal around my neck instead of the more traditional hangman's noose was meant to convey the idea that I'm dishwasher safe and that I "Play Well With Others". It's also sometimes called "acting".  Ha!-Ha! 😉

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For many years, I always gave a name to every trip / vacation I went on. During 'The Family Affair Of 1984' (subtitled: 'The General & Us'), my family traveled together to see Cincinnati, Ohio, where my Ma had grown up. During that June trip, we travelled through several other states as well: Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana. And while in Indiana, I got to visit James Dean's gravesite in Fairmount for a second time, and my Ma got to see it for the first time.

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On Dean's tombstone, I left a copy of another poem I had written in 1980. Unlike 'September At Fairmount', today, 'A Chance At Heaven' makes me cringe quite a bit. In 1980, I was still 14 years away from becoming a "(Maverick) Christian" and now I can see that I idolized James Dean in an unhealthy, un-Spiritual way. Only one Man deserves the kind of intense respect that I had for Dean back then, but in 1980, I had no real understanding of what Christ Yeshua had done and what His Life & Death really meant. So, this poem(?) is now kind of embarrassing to me, but it certainly illustrates my intense, youthful admiration for Dean and the art of Acting:

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A CHANCE AT HEAVEN -  8-23-1980

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While I sit alone, reels of film play in my head 

Flashing on the screen a reality  

To all I have said

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There was a time when my words spoke my belief 

But now the thought of each statement 

Only brings grief

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For I am older but still the clocks tick away 

And tomorrow is here 

Before I've lived today

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And now in the dwindling days of my youth 

I have chosen you 

As my symbol of truth

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Because I know where you were, I can feel your doubt 

And like you, I am searching 

To find a way out

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I live in my mind, in a world of seclusion 

For I can't find a way 

To transcend the confusion 

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Mislaid in this land, a lifetime to roam 

Safety in loneliness 

The place we call home 

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To exhibit a vision with your rise to fame 

This too is something 

That I'd like to claim 

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Breaking through all boundaries imposed by time 

Yet I'm held back by a fear 

Of attempting the climb 

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And though people argue I have nothing to lose 

What becomes of the dreams 

That I might abuse?

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I guess the heroes are those who gambled that thought 

Got up from the ground 

And persistently fought 

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This is my time to try the chance that I clutch 

To ascend to the heavens 

Beyond everyone's touch 

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And now I am ready to act the ultimate scene 

To reach immortality 

Just like James Dean

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OK, enough of this crap! Let's get on with the music Battle!! Please vote for whichever of these two songs you enjoy hearing most, regardless of the James Dean references. The winner of this Round 2 will go up against David Essex's song 'Rock On' in the third and final installment of this James Dean BOTB series.

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In 1974, The Eagles and their high-speed, Punky guitars really did justice to the legend of Jimmy Dean! The lyric "along came a Spyder, picked up a rider..." is a reference to the Porsche Spyder automobile that Dean died in at the age of 24. 

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"I know my life would look alright - I can see it on the silver screen"

WOW! What a great line! For 67 years, millions upon millions of us have agreed with that!!

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JAMES DEAN (1974) -- The Eagles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Syd7kRIuk

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Next up is 'Jack & Diane' by John 'Cougar' Mellencamp. 

"Jackie sits back, collects his thoughts for a moment; scratches his head and does his best James Dean"...

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James Dean doing his best "James Dean" :

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Me (on my 22nd birthday) doing my best "James Dean" :

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One thing I like about this song is the line, "Well, then, there, Diane..." It proves that Mellencamp really did know about James Dean, and he wasn't just name-dropping. He was actually quoting Jim Stark (James Dean). Check out these pictures I took recently while watching 'Rebel Without A Cause' for the godzillionth time...

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Dean also said the line in a slightly different way in 'Rebel...'. Why? Because... he was the greatest actor of all time, and like a world-class Jazz musician, he was always improvising 'in the moment'. (Don't worry. If you're not attempting to be a world-class professional actor, then the expression "in the moment" is not particularly important to ya.)

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JACK & DIANE (1982) -- John 'Cougar' Mellencamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjMwrXGk4xU

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I will post this Battle's Results on this blog on October 8th (if I'm not late because I'm too busy improvising my way through life and refusing to be restricted by deadlines and other nonsense). And in my BOTB Results post, I will tell a couple more stories about my former James Dean-infused persona. Maybe we'll finally get to 'M*A*S*H' and 'HELL Street Blues'.

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Thanks for voting! And please spread the word! All voters (and Porsche Spyder riders) are welcome!

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

BOTB RESULTS: SEPT. 1, 2021 (Or, DAVID ESSEX VS. DON McLEAN)

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Hokey-Smoke & Hoo-Wee! I sure dropped the ball on this 'Battle Of The Bands' Results page, didn't I? It's a full three days late! {*Hangs head with great shame... unlike some shameless punks... who shall *STILL* remain shameless *AND* nameless.*} I dropped an easy fly ball in right field which allowed three SanCramcisco Giants runners to score and tie the game. Looks like I picked the wrong week to trade Duke Snider, Wally Moon, and Willie "Three-Dog" Davis! (And this is the LAST time I'll play right field!!)

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My first in the 'BOTB James Dean' series took place [link> HERE and it turned out to be fantastic!!

The first four votes all went to David Essex and his big hit 'ROCK ON'. At that point, I pretty much threw in the towel on Don McLean's 'AMERICAN PIE'. 

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But then a phunny thing happened on the way to the finish line: Don started collecting votes like baseball cards and the next thing I knew, the Battle was over and it was tied 6 to 6.

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That means MY vote is going to determine the winner of this first James Dean BOTB installment. (I LOVE this kind of ending!!!)

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Well, first I want to say that I love BOTH of these songs. Yes, 'American Pie' got played to death (like 'Black Water', 'Hotel California', and 'Stairway To Hellven'), but it's a truly great song, which is one reason it got played to death. So, with NO lack of respect toward McLean's 'American Pie', I cast my winning vote for 'ROCK ON' by David Essex.

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'ROCK ON' will now meet the winner of Round 2 of 'BOTB James Dean', which will appear here on this blog on October 1st. So please turn out to vote then like you did now.

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'ROCK ON' -- I will elaborate a bit more on my thoughts about this song in a later 'BOTB James Dean' installment, but for now I just want to say that one of the things I find so appealing about this song is that it is amazingly original in sound. Off the top of my head, I can't think of ANY other song, before or since, that resembles 'ROCK ON'. I would describe it as a super-duper-slowed-down James Brown 'FUNK' song with big-bumping bass, and orchestral strings added for sweetening. Plus, there's those percussion touches to emphasize the underlying "punch!" It may be slow, but it's serious! (Don't underestimate this Bad Boy!)

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What *other* song can match that description? None that I've ever heard. And that's just for starters. Later, I will say a bit more about why I love 'ROCK ON' like I do.

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I very, Very, VERY sincerely appreciate each and every one of you who voted in this contest. (And the comment section "badinage" was fun, as always.)

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FINAL TALLY:

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David Essex = 7 votes

Don McLean = 6 votes

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It doesn't get any better'n that, as far as I'm aware of.

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James Dean died in an automobile accident on September 30, 1955. In 1980, my Ma showed me a brief newspaper mention that in Dean's hometown of Fairmount, Indiana, they were planning a 25-year celebration of his life that September. I decided to attend this event. I was 21 years old at the time. I flew from Los Angeles to Indianapolis, rented a car and then a motel room in Marion, and attended the James Dean festivities in Fairmount. I was completely alone and didn't know a soul in Indiana. But like any good Method actor would, I purchased some overalls to get into the James Dean farm boy mood.

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At this point, I should probably mention that, due to many odd coincidences - even before I went to Indiana - I thought there was a real possibility that I was James Dean reincarnated. And although I never really think about it anymore, I still believe it's a possibility. As a [Maverick] Christian today, I don't care one way or the other, but... "it could be true".

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At James Dean's high school, where they were having a ceremony, Dean's old high school Drama teacher, who had never seen or heard of me before, walked up to me and asked if I would hand out flyers to people who showed up. So, I did, like any good student would. (It was in handing out flyers at James Dean's high school that I met Inga and her sister who had driven down from Wisconsin to attend the celebration. As a result, Inga and I had a kind of... sort of long-distance "thing"... and she later flew to L.A. to meet me there.)

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I met a great old guy named Russ Hodson from Indianapolis, and we immediately clicked. And through him, I met Carole Redus from Alabama. They were both long-time James Dean fans and (unbeknownst to me) "insiders". 

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I'd read in a newspaper that Martin Sheen was going to attend the celebration. So, when Russ asked me if I wanted to go with him and Carole "to pick up Martin at the airport in Indianapolis", I said I would. On the way to the airport, I discovered that "Martin" was NOT Martin Sheen but Martin Noakes, who was flying in from England.

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But it turned out great, because I really liked this "Martin". (Sadly, Russ passed on many years ago, but I'm still in contact with Carole and Martin.) Russ & Carole & Martin had so many connections that I found myself invited to go to the farmhouse where James Dean was raised, to meet Ortense Winslow, the Aunt who raised him when his mother died. I got to go into Dean's childhood bedroom, see his black leather jacket, see his childhood artwork hanging on the walls of his bedroom, tap his bongo drums, and see his handprint in the farm's barn. Yeah, things like that happen all the time, by coincidence, when you're all alone in a state where you know no one and have never been before:

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[Me, in 1980, at the farmhouse where James Dean was raised. Carole Redus saying Goodbye to Dean's Aunt in the background.]

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[Me, in 1980, in James Dean's childhood bedroom, with my hand on one of his bongo drums.]

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[Me, in 1980, in the barn where James Dean's hand print is still remembered by very old cement.]

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Having been born and raised in Los Angeles, the small town country atmosphere of Fairmount, Indiana, made quite an impression on me, and shortly after returning to L.A., I wrote a poem about it:

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SEPTEMBER AT FAIRMOUNT -- 10/4/1980

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In soft, willowy grass you can lie down 

At a sun-spotted place under a tree 

Listening only to the breeze as it dances over you 

In a little park resting from activity

In September at Fairmount

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Walking past the grandest of houses 

Containing people who are real 

Barefoot in the small and quiet streets 

Of a town with great appeal

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Scuffling down tree-lined railroad tracks 

Until the horizon has taken you in 

These lazy days of sun bring to mind 

'The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn'

In September at Fairmount

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You can stop to watch the birds 

And the squirrels that abound 

Or catch a glimpse of painted leaves 

As they spiral toward the ground

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And of all the peaceful things to keep you occupied 

These are just a few 

But then again 

There ain't nothin' that you have to do 

In September at Fairmount

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[My shoes, in 1980, "at a sun-spotted place under a tree, in a little park resting from activity", in September at Fairmount.]

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I intend to be back with another 'BOTB James Dean' installment on October 1st. We'll do a Round 2 in this contest, and I will tell some more stories about Dean 'n' me. I thank All Y'all again for participating in this Round 1.

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

2021, SEPT. 1: BATTLE OF THE BANDS - James Dean Series (Or, DAVID ESSEX VS. DON McLEAN)

 

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This blog bit series is dedicated to three persons: 

1: My Ma ('East Of Eden'), who first made me aware of James Dean.

2: My great friend and publicity photographer, Kelly "Andy" Anderson ('Rebel Without A Cause'), who committed suicide in 1986.

3: My great friend and professional acting buddy, Marty "Party" Brumer ('Giant'), who was killed by a car thief in Los Angeles in 1989.

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Yes, it's time once again for Battle Of The Bands (BOTB).

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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!...

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Bottom Line first: This is going to be a James Dean 'Battle Of The Bands' series which will take me up to December 1st and my traditional Christmas contest. 

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I am using my four favorite songs which mention "James Dean" in the lyrics. But I didn't want to force all y'all to listen to all four songs at once, so I'm going to do a Round 1 and a Round 2, and then have a final Championship Round 3 between the two winners of Rounds 1 & 2. ALL votes and voters (whether we know each other or not) will be appreciated, as always - the more the merrier!

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Why James Dean? Can you think of a better actor to feature in BOTB? 

No. You can't! Martin Sheen said that [link>, "[James Dean] was the greatest actor who ever lived. He was simply a genius." It's probably the ONLY thing Martin Sheen ever said that I agree with. Dean was the most inventive actor I've ever seen, and he brought all kinds of marvelous touches to his characters that were NOT written in the screenplays.

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My Ma was a major movie fan, and when I was 17 years old and she realized that I was very serious about trying to create an acting career for myself, she told me about James Dean. Dean and my Ma were both born in 1931, so when Dean died in an automobile crash on September 30, 1955, he and my Ma were both 24 years old. Ma told me that she was heartbroken when she heard of his death. James Dean starred in only 3 movies, and all 3 of those movies were on my Ma's 'Top 25 Movies' list when she passed away in 2005.

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During this 6-Part series (3 Battles & 3 Battle Results posts over the next three months), I am going to yak quite a bit about what I thought of James Dean's acting ability, what he meant to me as a wannabe actor, and where his inspiration and my passion took me in Hollyweird. If you're not interested in any of that, feel free to bypass all of my bibbidi-bobbidi-boo and go straight to the songs and cast your BOTB Botes in the comment sections below.

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Ma told me about James Dean when I was still in 12th grade at Santa Monica High School. Santa Monica High School was also known as "Samohi" (and also known as "Dawson High" - but more about that later). 

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I was in the Theatre Arts Department. My only friend in the Theatre Dept. was [link> Marty Brumer, and as far as I could tell, we were perhaps also the only heterosexuals in the Dept. It wasn't until the last couple of months in my senior year in high school that I felt anyone in the Theatre Dept. even noticed me. Suddenly, with graduation only months away, it seemed that some of the most popular people in Theatre recognized that I had some acting talent. Nevertheless, at the Theatre Arts Department's year-end party, the only awards I won were for "Shyest" and "Best Body" (...because I was a high school wrestler). Those weren't exactly the awards that one would expect to go together: When had the "Best Body" ever been the "Shyest", also?

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After my Samohi graduation, I enrolled in Theatre at Santa Monica College (SMC). On the first day of class, the instructor told us which plays we would be analyzing that semester and, disgusted, I dropped out of SMC after that first day. I had spent 3 years analyzing plays in high school; I felt it was now time to learn how to *really* "Act". 

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I had gotten hired by 'Central Casting' so, by day, I worked on Television, Movie, and Commercial sets, doing "Background" (or "Extra") work in Hollywood; by night, I attended professional acting classes in L.A. I told my acting buddy, Marty, about the professional classes I was taking and he quickly joined me. Years later, he thanked me for pointing him toward professional classes, as he felt they had been instrumental in turning him into a true professional actor in Hollywood.

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Circa 1978, I had read some things about James Dean in a couple books before I ever even saw him perform. I became aware that The Fox retro-movie theatre in Venice ("the ghetto by the sea") was going to be playing Disney's 'Lady & The Tramp' (1955) and 'East Of Eden' (1955), so I made it a point to attend the showing. 

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Just in the first five minutes of 'East Of Eden', I was already blown away by James Dean's ability! It definitely exceeded, by far, my expectations! That very slight, little nervous tug he gives on his sweater as he's silently passing between the rough fishermen in an unpaved alley in Monterey -- THAT was *ALL* I needed to see in order to know that I was observing a genuine master at his craft!! That slight, nervous little tug on his sweater (blink and you miss it) was HUGE! Not one Hollywood actor in ten thousand would have conceived of that miniscule gesture, but to anyone who understood great acting, it was an unmistakable sign of a genius performer! ...Blink and you miss it, but his greatness was illustrated and foretold right there in that tiny tug, which clearly showed that James Dean had indeed BECOME his character, Cal Trask, nervously passing between rowdy fishermen while surreptitiously following an elderly woman through the streets of Monterey, California.

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Here's the tiny tug of nervousness which revealed SO MUCH! :

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I knew right then, in 1978 at the Fox Venice Theatre, that even before I'd been born, "the bar" had already been "set too high" for me to attain. I would never stupidly try to pretend that I was going to be "the next James Dean"; I would be satisfied if I could just be the genuine, authentic "me". 

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For $35., I purchased a first edition copy of William Bast's 'James Dean', the very first biography about Dean, which sold for .35 cents when it was published in 1956. Below is a picture of that book which still sits on one of my bookshelves, surrounded by other books which illustrate the fact that, over time, I did indeed find my "genuine, authentic self" - unconventional as I may be:

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It should come as no surprise that good [link> James Dean fan clubs still exist around the world to this very day:

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Life can be surprising. I felt fairly confident that I was going to make it big in Hollywood, because at that time, there weren't many performers like me, and I honestly felt that Hollywood *needed* an actor like myself. Back then, my biggest competitor for roles in Hollywood was probably Kristy McNichol, and I was pretty sure I could beat her. :^D  

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This is the first 8x10 publicity photo I used to promote my ill-fated acting career: 

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My great friend "Andy" Anderson took the picture for me in late 1977 or early '78 in the alley behind Star Liquor store, across the street from Dogtown's now-famous [link> 'Zephyr Surf Shop' at the corner of Bay & Main streets. For nearly 20 years, I kept a small copy of that photo in my wallet to show to barbers, so they'd see how I wanted my hair cut.

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One day in the late 1990s, I sat down in a female barber's chair, showed her the photo and said, "Please cut my hair to look like this, as much as possible." This dark-haired, dark-eyed, smokin'-hot woman in her mid-twenties said, "Wow! Who is THAT?!!" And the disappointment in her voice was readily apparent when I said, "That's me" and she replied, "Really?!" I knew then, in that moment, that if I'd truly ever had "it", "it" was definitely gone at that point. No matter, as I'd already called it quits on the acting gig. By 1985, I had really begun to feel comfortable in my own skin, and thus the desire to "pretend to be other characters" had left me. I was already enough of a "character" when I was just being "me".

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For very valid reasons, James Dean has become an iconic American symbol and has been mentioned or alluded to in dozens of songs, including postmodern songs by Pop Tarts such as Madonna, Taylor Swift, and Lady GagGag. However, I won't be using their songs in this series because I know a couple of you shameless punks (who shall remain nameless as well as shameless, but you KNOW who you are) would vote for them just to make me mad. Punks! (Warning: Any illegal votes cast for Madonna, Swift, or GagGag will automatically be assigned to Phyllis Diller. Punks!!) 

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Here are your two song options for voting in this first installment of the 'James Dean BOTB Series'. Please vote for your preference between these two songs, regardless of the James Dean aspect to them:

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'ROCK ON' by David Essex (1974)

[link> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnRY0QkVio

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'AMERICAN PIE' by Don McLean (1971)

[link> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhX3b1h7GQw

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In future installments of this series, I will tell you about my first trip in 1980 to Fairmount, Indiana, James Dean's hometown. I'll also be relating some of my experiences on the set of the TV series 'M*A*S*H', which I appeared in almost weekly for the final five of its eleven seasons (1978-1983). More importantly, I once prominently appeared in a movie scene with "Jessica Rabbit" - but that's a story for another 'Battle Of The Bands' series.

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Please vote in the comment section below and then return to this blog on Sept. 8th (or so) to find out which of these two songs triumphed in Round 1 of 'Battle Of The Bands - The James Dean Series', and which song will be meeting the winner of Round 2 scheduled for October 1st. 

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Me in downtown Los Angeles (circa 1982 or '83), photo by Pooh:

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

BOTB RESULTS: 2021, AUG. 1st (Or, THE LENNON SISTERS VS. ANDY WILLIAMS)

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MY FRIENDS, MY FRIENDS ~

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My thanks to each and every one of you for taking time to visit this blog and vote on my last Battle Of The Bands contest which occurred [link> HERE. I featured vocal performances by The Lennon Sisters and Andy Williams of the song Theme From 'A Summer Place', the Percy Faith Orchestra's instrumental masterpiece which owned Billboard's #1 spot for nine weeks in 1960.

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Andy pretty well stomped The Sisters and I realize in hindsight that I should have used The Four Lads as my male artist in this match-up. Oh, well. Hindsight is 20/20 and BOTB is... HARD!

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Most voters seemed to like this Battle and had a difficult time deciding on which of the two artists to vote for. I felt exactly the same way! I've listened to both recordings about ten times each and I still struggle in deciding which one I prefer. In the final analysis, although I love vocal harmonizing (and The Lennon Sisters do it beautifully), I think I lean slightly toward the Andy Williams rendition. And when I say "slightly", I'm talking about a 51%-49% difference.

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FINAL TALLY:

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The Lennon Sisters = 4 votes

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Andy Williams = 9 votes

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In the original Battle blog bit, I promised to tell you a short story about Dianne "Dee Dee" Lennon. Dee Dee was / is a very good friend of my Aunt Jane. I think their friendship may have stemmed from their association with St. Mark Catholic Church in Venice "Dogtown", California. 

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Years ago, my Grandparents went to renew their wedding vows -- I think it was maybe their 40th or 50th year of marriage. The ceremony at the church went great, but there was some sort of mix-up that occurred at the hall where we were supposed to hold the reception. I don't recall all the details, but someone at the hall dropped the ball and we found out, suddenly, at the very last moment, that there was no place to go for the reception!

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DEE DEE LENNON TO THE RESCUE!!

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Aunt Jane's good friend, Dee Dee, on the spur of the moment, offered the use of her home as the site for the reception. With no notice whatsoever, Dee Dee Lennon suggested that everyone meet at her home. And so probably about 40 persons, in an impromptu wedding reception, descended upon Dee Dee's house and celebrated my Grandparents' renewed wedding vows.

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Talk about a person of generous spirit and a huge heart!! Make no mistake about it, there truly are some "real" Christians out there, and Dee Dee Lennon is definitely amongst them! I'll never forget what a beautiful thing she did to save the day on no notice at all.

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Thanks again, all y'all, for participating in this BOTB contest, and I expect to have another one posted here on September 1st, so please return and let's have deja vu fun all over again!

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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