James Dean- High School Year Books & Newspaper

American actor (1931–1955) best known for his star turns in three 1950s screen classics: East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant. His untimely death in a high-speed car crash elevated him to the status of Hollywood legend.

This lot consist of two year books while James Dean attended the small Fairmont High School (1947-1948).  As a sophomore in 1947 Dean appears in the ,Basketball and Baseball team photos, sadly Dean's class photo has been ripped out. In the 1948 junior year book, Dean was involved in Drama and is shown in photos as part of the junior play, part of the 4-H Club, and in the Basketball team, where his photo shows him standing with the basketball. Both volumes do show some age and the Junior year book does have some loose pages and edge wear on the covers. What makes these albums special is these albums where personally given to the consignor by Dean's Aunt and Uncle who he styed with, Marcus and Ortense Winslow, while he was writing a series of articles for the Chicago Tribune in 1965. The year books do come with a signed letter from the consignor stating the history as well as some of the original negatives and some copies of some of the photos he took when he stayed with the Winslow's in 1965. There are also some copies of the newspaper stories he wrote in 1965.

By looking through these year books, you get a glimpse back in time, to the small home town where Dean grew up, the high school years, which helped create the legend. You can see in them the first time that he got a taste of the acting bug, by becoming part of the Junior play! Also, included in this incredible lot is the rare home town newspaper 'The Fairmount News'' announcing the death of the Indiana city's native son James Dean. The paper was a weekly and the first printing about Dean was in the 6 October 1955 edition, which  bears a headline reading, ''James Dean Killed as Result of California Car Accident'', as well as a photo of the legendary actor. Paper is complete and is quite scarce, since there was a limited production and the paper quality. One small separation to fragile newsprint, but in very good condition.

Auction Notepad