James Whitcomb Riley was the poet of the Hoosier, and Jimmy loved to read from his work, which he did for me one day after dinner, to give me a feeling of the people and place whence he had come. - Dennis Stock
James Dean photographed by Phil Stern outside Schwab’s Drugstore, Hollywood, May 1955.
Jimmy’s return to Fairmount was more than a mere visit. With the completion of East of Eden Jimmy had experienced Hollywood and the intimidations of stardom. At this point he was straddling two worlds - the world of his origins in Fairmount and the early stages of stardom - and he knew instinctively that the two were in conflict. And so he went back to Fairmount, to examine his origins and to preserve what was relevant. - Dennis Stock
Jimmy was a chameleon, protean by nature and by profession, with the power to assume different characters, become different creatures, in order to avoid capture. Only if caught and held would the Greek god Proteus confide the truth. Few ever caught and none ever held Jimmy. - Bill Bast
James Dean photographed by Sanford Roth, 1955.
