Ep 158: James Dean & Little Bastard – Collision Course Part 1

Above photo by Sanford Roth, All Rights Reserved

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

– James Dean

Background:

In 1931 a man and a machine were both created. James Byron Dean was born to a modest farming family in rural Indiana, and Ferdinand Porsche founded a company in Stuttgart, Germany, to build automobiles. These two men would never meet, but their egos would clash in a way that would redefine charisma, performance, and power that will never be forgotten. In 1955 both man and machine would die in a horrific crash. But is the legend of a curse in a story like this unavoidable? That’s easy for us to analyze in hindsight, but what’s not so easy is to understand are the machinations that caused it to happen. However, we can work towards that understanding tonight in part one of our two-part series on James Dean and Little Bastard.

Junction of state highways 46 (former 466) and 41 as it looked in 2007, photo by Piotr Flatau, use by CC BY 2.5

James Dean’s memorial in Cholame, CA, approx. I mile west of the crash site. Photo by WaltMaken use by CC BY 3.0

James Dean’s gravesite in his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana

 

Location:

James Dean’s crash site location on September 30, 1955, at the junction of California State Route 46 (formerly CA Route 466) and California State Route 41, near Cholame, California.

INSTRUCTION PAGE FOR HOLIDAY MESSAGES!

• HOLIDAY MESSAGES LINK

Reference Links:

• “James Dean Reborn in CGI for Vietnam War Action-Drama”

• “Director of New James Dean Movie Speaks Out Over Backlash to Star's ‘Casting’“

• James Dean Gallery

• Photos of James Dean with a noose

• “Sex and Death: The Brief Friendship Of James Dean And Vampira” on fantasymerchant.com

• James Dean on Wikipedia

• Death of James Dean on Wikipedia

• Obituary for Donald G. Turnipseed, age 63

• “A visit to the James Dean Memorial in Cholame, CA”

• “Alec Guinness warned James Dean one week before his death: ‘Please do not get into that car!’“

• “When Bradbury predicted James Dean's death”

• Pilot, engineer, and race driver Rolf Wütherich, who was with Dean during the crash

• Photojournalist Sanford “Sandy” H. Roth

• Stunt driver and actor Bill Hickman

• Method acting

• Lee Strasberg, director, actor and one of the founders of “Method Acting” technique

• Cholame, California

• Actor Gig Young interviews James Dean for a Warner Bros. “Behind the Cameras” promo film

• “IS THIS 1955 TRIUMPH TROPHY JAMES DEAN’S MOTORCYCLE?”

• The James Dean Porsche Spyder Transaxle on jamesdean550.com

• Dean Jeffries

• Dean “Deano” Jeffries Passed Away on customcarchronicle.com

• Schwab's Pharmacy

• The Villa Capri restaurant

• Googie’s Coffee Shop at Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights, West Hollywood

• The Porsche 550 Spyder on Automobile-Catalog.com

• The Porsche 550 on Wikipedia

• 1950 Ford (USA) Custom Tudor Sedan on Automobile-Catalog.com

• James Dean’s Porsche 356 Speedster Allegedly Found

• Porsche 356 pre-A | 1948-1955 Facebook group

• James Dean Biography on notablebiographies.com

• Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow

• Mercedes-Benz 300 SL

• “The “Six Feet Under” Flower Shop – One of the Last Places James Dean Was Seen Alive”

• “The Pontiac chase in The Seven-Ups is as real as it gets” with Bill Hickman

• Legendary car customizer George Barris’ website

• George Barris on Wikipedia

The Death of James Dean

By Warren N. Beath

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Suggested Listening:

• Hear Scott as a judge on America’s Next Top Podcaster podcast, on their November 3rd episode, “Investigative Podcast” Challenge 6C: The Wild Cards
  

• Hear Scott and Forrest talk about the “Chase Vault” aka “The Moving Coffins of Barbados” on the Hillbilly Horror Stories podcast for their special Halloween Bonus episode!

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CREDITS:

Episode 158: James Dean’s & Little Bastard – Collision Course Part 1.  Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel; Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2019 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.