1940s
The End and the Beginning
The young James Dean experienced quite a few life-altering
experiences that greatly affected his life. During this period of
time, his mother died from cancer, his father shipped Jimmy off
to Fairmount to be raised by his aunt and uncle, and the United
States, just out of the Depression, found itself embroiled in World
War II, which concluded with the dropping of the Atomic bomb over
both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the start of the McCarthy era.
The roots of what would become Jimmy's career as an
artist and an actor can be found during the 1940's, where Jimmy
began to appear on stage as an actor, debator, orator and athlete.
Jimmy also returned to California shortly after
graduating from High School to live with his father and new step-mother
for a brief period of time while he started his college career.
It is during this period in Jimmy's life when he truely began focusing
on the art of acting and began persuing a career as an actor.
1940 |
Spring,
1940 - Mildred is diagnosed with advanced
uteruan cancer. She spends a short period of time in the hospital,
but returns home to live out the last few months she has to
live. |
Spring,
1940 - At Winton's request, Emma Dean,
Winton's mother, arrives in Santa Monica. Both decide that the
best thing for Jimmy is that he moves back to Fairmount to live
with the Winslow's. |
July 14,
1940 - Mildren dies of cancer with
Winton and Jimmy at her bedside. |
July 20,
1940 - Jimmy returns to Faimount via
train with his grandmother and his mother's coffin. At each
train stop, Jimmy checks the coffin to make sure it's still
on the train. At his mother's funeral two days later, Jimmy
snips a lock of is mother's hair and for two weeks keeps it
under his pillow. She's buried at Grant Memorial Park in Marion.
Jimmy moves in with the Winslow's and their daughter Joan on
the Winslow farm. |
July
22, 1940 - Mildred's funeral. |
Fall,
1940 - Jimmy enrolls at the Fairmount Elementary School,
fifth grade. Taught by India Nose. Once cried in the middle
of a math class. When asked what the matter was, Jimmy responded
by saying that he missed his mother. |
Spring,
1940 - Adeline Nall, Jimmy's high school and drama coach,
moves to Fairmount. |
1942 |
No Date
- Marcus ("Markie") Winslow, Jr.,
Jimmy's cousin, is born to Marcus and Ortense. |
1943 |
No Date
- Winton is drafted into the army as a dental
technician. |
Fall, 1943
- Jimmy enters Fairmount Junior High School.
|
Fall, 1943
- Ortense encourages Jimmy to do a performace
reading of "Bars" for the Women's Temperance Union,
where he wins a prize. Adeline Nall coaches him. When the performance
for the Pearl Medal conflicted with a track meet and the contest
committee took away Jimmy's chair prop, Jimmy stood on stage
in silence, refusing to perform his piece. |
1944 |
February,
1944 - Marcus, Sr. buys Jimmy his
first motorcycle, a Czech, for his thirteenth birthday. Jimmy
drive's his "sickle" recklessly but never gets injured.
|
1946 |
Fall, 1946
- Jimmy enters Fairmount High School as a
freshman.
|
1947 |
March 28,
1947 - Jimmy performs in Mooncalf
Meford as John Mugford. |
No Date
- Plays the role of Herbert White in The
Monkey's Paw. |
No Date
- Jimmy has the lead role in An
Apple from Coles County. He also worked
on the set's construction. |
1948 |
Fall, 1948
- Dean begins his senior year of high school. |
Fall, 1948
- Jimmy breaks the Grant County pole vaulting record. |
Fall, 1948
- Meets Dr. James DeWeerd, pastor of the
Wesleyan Church, who introduces Jimmy to culture. Allows Jimmy
to read books and listen to music. Credited as introducing Dean
to bullfighting. Later biographers state the Jimmy had his frist
homosexual affair with DeWeerd. |
No Date
- Jimmy's first appearance in the local paper,
The Fairmount News.
Regarding Jimmy's basketball prowess, Jimmy is called "an
outstanding threat on the High School team." |
October
29, 1948 - Performs as Frankenstein
in the spoof Goon With the Wind
for the school's annual Halloween festival.
The funds raised from the festival were used to help pay for
the senior class trip to Washington, DC later that school year.
|
December
23, 1948 - Performs in two one-act
plays for Fairmount High's Christmas festival. |
1949 |
February
8, 1949 - On his eighteenth birthday,
Jimmy registers for the draft. Some say he wasn't drafted due
to poor eyesight; some claim that Jimmy stated he was a conciencious
objector due to his religion (Quaker). Some claim that Jimmy
told them that he told the draft board he was a homosexual in
order to avoid the draft. |
February
14, 1949 - Represents Fairmount High
with Barbara Leach on WBAT's radio program "Grant County
Voice of Youth" debate program. Fairmount beats Marion,
but during the program it was announced that both teams were
winners. |
February
16, 1949 - Senior class trip to Indianapolis,
Indiana, US. |
March 19,
1949 - Senior class holds a "penny
supper" to help raise funds for the senior class trip to
Washington DC. |
April 7,
1949 - Performs in the role of Grandpa
Vanderhof in the play You Can't Take
It With You. |
April 9,
1949 - Wins state level competition,
National Forensic League, performing "The Madman"
from Dickens' "Pickwick Papers." |
April 22,
1949 - Attends to his class prom,
held in the school gymnasium, reportedly alone. |
April 29-30,
1949 - Attends National Forensic League
Finals in Colorado with Adeline Nall performing "The Madman."
Places in sixth place. His performance ran too long, in violation
of the rules of the competition. |
May 7-8,
1949 -Visits Washington DC his senior
class trip, staying at the Roosevelt Apartments, 16th St. NW.
|
May 16,
1949 - Graduates from Fairmount High
School. Reads the benediction during the graduation ceremonies.
Graduates in a class of 49 students. |
June 14,
1949 - Takes the Greyhound bus to
Santa Monica and moves in with his father and stepmother, Ethel. |
August,
1949 - Joins Miller Playhouse Theatre
Guild as a head Stage Manager and has a bit role in the musical
The Romance of Scarlet Gulch
using the stage name Byron James. |
September
9, 1949 - Begins clases at Santa
Monica City College, majoring in physical education on the
advice of his father, but also taking theatre courses. |
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