r/OldSchoolCool • u/eaglemaxie • 2d ago
1950s James Dean visibly resentful of a studio-mandated date to escort Academy Award-nominated actress Terry Moore to the premiere of Sabrina in Los Angeles, 1954
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u/Nickis1021 2d ago
Fun trivia fact my dad was a swimming & diving instructor at the Fontainebleau in the 50ās and Terry Moore was a guest and saw my Dad at the pool and sent someone over to ask him on a date for her. Dad had just met my mom & was head over heels and politely replied Iām flattered but taken! We had to listen to Mom tell this story our entire childhoods.
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u/NastyMsPiggleWiggle 1d ago
If I were your mom, I would tell this story to the bank teller, grocery cashier and anyone I ever casually met for the rest of my life. She earned it and she sounds like a hoot.
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u/outlier74 2d ago edited 2d ago
He looks like I did when I was persuaded into taking a girl I really didnāt want to go with to my junior prom. My mother didnāt like the look on my face when we were taking pictures and took me into the back yard and whisper bitched me out. She said āYou wanted to go with someone else but you were too afraid to ask her. Thatās not this girlās fault. You WILL treat her like a lady! You can wipe that God Damn look off your face!ā
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u/BrilliantPie2566 2d ago
whisper bitched š¤£
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u/h4rlotsghost 2d ago
My mom's specialty. I want to be clear, I earned a lot of it.
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u/Bf56831747 2d ago
Whisper bitched is a really good way of explaining my childhood ahahahha
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u/omac4552 2d ago
your mom sounds awesome
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u/h4rlotsghost 2d ago
I love her
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u/AccomplishedFerret70 2d ago
Putting someone on the right path is the greatest gift a parent can give their child
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u/explosivelydehiscent 2d ago
I too want to be whisper bitched by this person's mom
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u/redskyatnight2162 2d ago
listen to me right now I said no you cannot have that candy you know how crazy red dye makes you I SAID we can have popsicles when we get home now you give me that look one more time in this grocery store in front of all these people and by Jesus you are going to FIND OUT exactly what itās really like to be a deprived child I swear to god
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u/Forsaken_Republic_98 2d ago
my mom used to whisper pinch me & my sister when we got too 'animated' in social settings. I still remember the pain!
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u/catincal 2d ago
Ugh! Memory just floated to the top. Make no mistake, my Mom was the BEST but lord do I remember being 'whisper pinched.' Right in the inside of the upper arm. It hurt like a mutha & I was the best- behaved the rest of the day.
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u/Forsaken_Republic_98 1d ago
wait are you my sister? That's where my mom pinched us! lmao...
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u/catincal 1d ago
Did her mouth move but her teeth were clenched together when we got on her last nerve?! Lol, if so then I could be!!
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u/ZoominAlong 2d ago
Yeah your mom raised you right and called you out.Ā Did you guys at least have a good time at prom?
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u/outlier74 2d ago edited 2d ago
We had a good time. I was a little overwhelmed. The girl I took told me I was a good date. I was angry at my best friend at the time who came between me and the girl who i wanted to go with. I wasnāt angry at the girl I was with but, I did make sure not to transfer the anger I felt at my friend to my date after my Mom reminded me.
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u/somewhitelookingdude 2d ago
Man. You learned that skill well good job. Im an oldass and still learning lmao.
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u/douhaveafi 2d ago
My momās too. She was an elementary school principal who was never mean but was a bit strict, and she could strike fear into the heart of any kid. I had friends that would say āthe scariest thing is when my dad yells at me,ā & Iād say, āthatās because youāve never heard my mom whisper at you.ā As adults some of my friends confided that they were surprised how nice she was after being afraid of her for 15+ years.
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u/sugarcoatedpos 2d ago
Mine had that and the knee pinch to straighten my ass out.
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u/Cyrano_Knows 2d ago
You think this is something to proud of, do you?
That you'd brag about it before strangers?
If you don't have any respect for yourself, try thinking about how your actions reflect on your family.
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u/CatchAlarming6860 2d ago
Thereās actually a word for that kind of speech, but I forgot it and āwhisper bitched me outā is way funnier!
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u/IwasDeadinstead 2d ago
Your mother was wise
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u/gfxprotege 2d ago
She still is, but she used to too
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u/Kipsydaisy 2d ago edited 2d ago
Good mom. And how Iām feeling towards this picture. āNo one put a gun to your head, Jimmy. Itās a movie premiere. Lifeās not so bad.ā
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u/rkZ10 2d ago
Not gonna lie. That seems like good parenting from your mom. I do consent I would be throwing a tantrum in your position. But I'm glad your mom actually parented and let you know that you are hurting an innocent girl
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u/Funny_Hunter_4146 1d ago
Did you treat her like a lady?
I had something similar happen when I was a teenager. Thankfully my parents could tell I was resentful prior to the date and talked to me beforehand. My Dad said something similar as your Mom, and my Mom told me to always be a gentleman.
They were absolutely correct.
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u/Saucermote 1d ago edited 1d ago
I took a girl I barely knew to one of my proms because her twin sister was dating one of my friends and was going and she felt left out. We ended up dating for quite a while.
It's all about mindset, being a desperate teen didn't hurt either.
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u/Gabagooligan99 1d ago
Have you ever seen Mad Men? There is a quote there along the lines of āsometimes you gotta dance with the one that brung yaā
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u/Skankcunt420 2d ago
totally understand as a kid u felt that way but when ur older u wouldāve felt bad about it
not anyoneās fault in the situation but ur mother made u handle it well
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u/Actual-Jelly5465 2d ago
Thatās a lot to infer from a still photograph honestly
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u/IHavePoopedBefore 2d ago
I've read a lot of James Dean books. Including ones written by people close to him.
He hated stuff like this, he liked to chill and goof around with his friends but absolutely HATED pretention. Anything fancy made him feel like a fish out of water. And his agent was actually always making him do stuff like this, and it was always awkward for him.
He was a farm boy in the most literal sense, was famous for a year or so and died at 24. He never got time to be comfortable with fame and the hollywood scene
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u/Mevile 1d ago
I had no idea he was famous for such a short period before his death! Wow
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u/IHavePoopedBefore 1d ago
He was famous for exactly one movie in his lifetime. East of Eden released in March of 1955, he crashed in Sept of that year, Rebel Without A Cause came out in October. Giant a year later in 1956.
In his lifetime he was the exciting young actor getting buzz everywhere because he landed a huge role with the biggest director out of relative obscurity. Then the movie came out, was absolutely massive, people were calling him the next Brando, and then months later he was gone.
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u/Praetor_6040 1d ago
To be fair, calling him the next Brando was both an insult and criticism. Both their careers were started by Kazan and both played a similar persona, so he was often criticized for imitating Brando. Supposedly he even called Brando once, and Brando told him off for it. At the same time, he was poised to be the star Brando was going to be.
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u/Stompya 2d ago
Put a different caption and the whole story changes.
āJames Dean reacts to photographerās bad joke.ā
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u/FelixAxellus 1d ago
"James Dean takes a moment out from enjoying his night with Terry Moore
to mean mug the paparazzi, which he absolutely hates."
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u/ComradeGibbon 1d ago
James Dean reacts to a yet another fucking photographer with flash bulb in his face.
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u/thehighepopt 2d ago
Yep and paparazzi choose shots they publish very specifically.
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u/Beautiful-Total-3172 2d ago
They actually sell anything they can. Media creates the narrative. Hell they'll buy pictures to not publish them.
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u/ChickenGamer199 2d ago
One still image of a moment in time is not representative of reality. Christ, in half my family photos, I'm happy.
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u/PowerfulBar 2d ago
Haā¦I have the opposite. My sister loves Christmas and get togethers around the holidays. Every single picture from Christmas season she looks miserable. Ā She just hates taking pics!Ā
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u/TheStarRoom 2d ago
Dean's poor eyesight could have contributed to his gaze here
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u/ImpossiblePlan65 2d ago
True. He could have been making the face because he didn't like being photographed or just didn't want to be there in the first place.
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u/ForensicPathology 2d ago
Yep, happens all the time.Ā Photos can be wildly misleading. People taking a single screen from a video to show an "angry" face on someone laughing, using dodgy geometry to show that someone was creepily checking out a woman, etc.
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u/mivrafox 2d ago
Apparently they had only met the day before. The studio put Dean in a tux and sent them to the premiere together
His face makes a lot more sense with that context
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u/leeuwerik 2d ago
However that expression could have been caused by 1000+ other things.
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u/Justincrediballs 2d ago
From what I remember of the story, he wasn't given any input, was tossed into a tux (first time he ever wore one) and used as an arm-candy prop to escort her to the premier.
Noone really knew him until he breakout role later on.
For context, my girlfriend goes into these wild deep dives into early-mid 20th century celebrities. She knows I don't really care but there's an unspoken rule that I listen to her take on these things and she listens to me talk about DnD and video games.
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u/NowYouLookOrdinary 2d ago
Exactly. To be fair, he pretty much always looked this way. It was his whole schtick.
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u/PhoebeGemaGray 2d ago
Me in dress shoes!
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u/Redfish680 2d ago
Me in any shoes
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u/SolidDick 2d ago
I never wear shoes, because they make me fall down.
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u/HearseWithNoName 2d ago
Poor woman probably had NO clue what they got her into. She looks so happy to be there
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u/allothernamestaken 2d ago
She is happy to be there, and she's well aware that this is all just important marketing for her job.
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u/AIfieHitchcock 2d ago
Terry was actually a frequent arranged date for publicity, this stuff was baked into their contracts. She absolutely knew the deal. Sheās literally still alive and has spoken about it.
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u/badgeman- 2d ago
Yes. I can't imagine anything worse than attending the Oscars with a beautiful and talented young actress.
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u/danieljeyn 2d ago
They realized they had to do something to publicly beard his gayness lest rumors start getting around.
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u/Orange-V-Apple 2d ago
He wasnāt gay, he was bi
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u/EclecticLandlady 2d ago
I love this quote, attributed to him in regard to his bi-sexuality, āIām not going to live with one hand tied behind my back.ā
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u/theunrealdonsteel 2d ago
She still claims that sheās the real Mrs Howard Hughes even though there is no record of their marriage
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u/pgasmaddict 2d ago
I wonder if Hughes had a hand in that bra - he designed one for Jane Russell.
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u/Nemoudeis 2d ago
How is this different from regular James Dean? From what I know of him, he came in two flavors:
A) Visibly resentful, or
B) Smoking
Come to think of it, maybe he was just really harshing for a cigarette.
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u/stoopididiotface 2d ago edited 2d ago
To be honest, I don't think I've hardly ever seen a picture where he doesn't look like this. Dude always looked tired or annoyed.
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u/texasrigger 2d ago
Dean was bisexual (surprisingly openly so for 1954). I imagine that the studio had a major problem with that.
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u/nthensome 2d ago
'"If he'd have lived, they'd have discovered he wasn't a legend"
- Humphrey Bogart on James Dean
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u/bluddyellinnit 1d ago
what he actually said was:
"Dean died at just the right time. He left behind a legend. If he had lived, he'd never have been able to live up to his publicity."
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u/vixenpeon 2d ago
Seriously. The dude hardly did anything and it didn't seem that world changing š¤·š¾āāļø. You can say the same thing about a lot of famous folks who died young and super early in their career
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u/TomTrauma 2d ago
That's not taking into account the time that these figures were around. Sure, through a 2026 lens, James Dean may not appear so groundbreaking. I'm no expert on old Hollywood by any means, but I think the proper way to contextualise James Dean is in the very beginnings of our modern notions of celebrity. Even the concept of a 'teenager' (as a marketing/social construct) was only just being born, and here comes a dour, somewhat libertine, strangely aloof and existential young man who did not so easily fit into the framework of Hollywood at the time. It was a different kind of performance that James Dean gave, one which gave voice to those post-war kids who were fed up with the black and white world of repression and gloom that their parents embodied. These were the kids kids who, I imagine, would soon fall hook line and sinker for the swinging sixties dream. In that context, James Dean is remarkably ahead of his time, and is a vital figure in the transition of the first half of the century with the second.
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u/Chad_Apache 2d ago
Studio: "Jimmy, you are taking Terry Moore to a Premiere tonight, here's your invitation"
Dean: "Great, cannot wait! ill be there on time"
Later....
Dean: "WTF!!! what GIRL calls herself Terry??!!*
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u/germane_switch 2d ago
Is there a story behind this? Do we know for sure he was upset because of the studio mandated date?
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u/According_River_5726 2d ago
"Man, if only there was a rough trade in a leather jacket willing to put out his cigarette on my bare chest right about now. Would really help take the edge off."
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u/LumplessWaffleBatter 2d ago
Have none of y'all seen a James Dean film?Ā He spent almost the entirety of his career making that face.
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u/soncam99 2d ago
Is he not just scowling at the photographerās ?
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u/Ornery_Tumbleweed_68 1d ago
Back then the studio "rule." They told you what to wear and set up publicity dates.
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u/gmama 2d ago edited 1d ago
She was possibly equally resentful but the better actor.
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u/shylocker4154 2d ago
i dont think the dude ever looked happy - he was just looking like he always did?
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u/RL203 2d ago
We all have to do things at work we don't like.
He got to go out to a movie and probably dinner and probably driven in a limo. Tough life, but somebody has to do it.
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u/pre_revolutionary_1 1d ago
I have absolutely no context here; but she looks so happy. I hope he didn't ruin her night
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u/Boogyoogywoogy 1d ago
I think this was around the time his relationship ended with Pier or he wanted to go to the premiere with her instead but canāt be certain, they both dated and broke up in that same year.
I think the studios forbade the dating and it was a whirlwind romance, Dean only after a few months proposed to her.
iirc Piers mother refused her to marry Dean and instead she married an Italian singer only a few months later (could have been family influence)
Dean (this is a rumour btw) heartbroken waited outside the church during a ceremony revving his motorcycle.
Pier called Dean the love of her life years later and she too passed away in 1971
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u/Level-Selection6986 1d ago
James Dean hate formal events and publicity stunt. James Dean was not known at the time while and the flash cause his near sight eyes pain.
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u/Humble_Diner32 2d ago edited 1d ago
A picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes those words arenāt true to the picture though. I donāt know James, I wasnāt around back then, Iām not privy to the studio codes so I can only assume that itās a photo taken at a opportune moment to elicit public responses and sell the image.
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u/WideSnooze 2d ago
At the James Dean museum in Fairmount, IN, there is a blank Oscar that they donāt know where he got it from. Looking at him here, I feel like he snatched it on a similar mandated date.
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u/Creoda 2d ago
She's still around. 97 years old.