Come back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean

When I was about 14 we went on a family holiday. I forget exactly where we were, but it was near a quiet little town… near a lake I think, where is immaterial, the point is we went into the town one day and there was a fifties themed store, selling cds, movies, posters, statuettes, magazines and other random retro memorabilia.

I bought a James Dean biography for five dollars simply for the fact that I had finished all the books I’d brought with me. (I was very much a sit-and-read-until-the-holiday-was-over kind of kid.)

At this point, all James Dean was to me was the guy who was mentioned in songs I liked - We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel, Rock On - David Essex,  Jack and Diane - John Cougar Mellencamp and American Pie - Don McLean.

In Grease, Rizzo had a picture of him on her wall - so he MUST be cool, right?

He was the man featured in the massive print of Gottfried Helnwein’s James Dean: Boulevard of Broken Dreams that my mum had for years.

I knew he was a movie star and I associated him with Elvis, Marilyn and Bogart, because in my fourteen year old head, they were mates and hung out together or something.

So honestly, I don’t remember what possessed me to buy an autobiography of this guy (other than the aforementioned fact that I had exhausted the books I had brought along on the holiday).

The book was a small, old and beat-up paperback and I read it in three days.

And then I become a hard-core Dean fan. I collected pictures, biographies, movies, stickers, badges, anything James Dean related.

 For my 18th birthday my mum bought me a James Dean - American Legend Barbie.

It is, of course, no longer in its original box because I can’t leave toys trapped in boxes as I imagine they get depressed when they see all the other toys that I have that are out of their boxes (I don’t want a Stinky Pete from Toy Story 2 situation here…).

I now have about sixteen biographical and pictorial books on James Dean and any time I go to a bookstore, I hunt for James Dean things.

What can I say, I was, and continue to be a somewhat eccentric girl.