The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 vinyl LPs 243: 9/30/55 ~ James Dean & Richard Thomas

I remember when James Dean was killed in an auto accident while he was driving to a car race in Salinas. It happened at the junction of California State Route 46 (former 466) and California State Route 41 near Cholame, California. It was sixty-five years ago today but it is still vivid in my mind. He was 24 years old and he will always remain young and vibrant in that grey matter I call my mind (link below).

James Dean with his Porsche Speedster 23F - 1955

Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

photo: Bettmann Archive/Corbis

I had seen his first film, East of Eden, and had been fascinated with him. Rebel Without a Cause had not yet been released but when it was, along with every teenager in the nation, it cemented the symbol of him as youth in rebellion!

In 1977 a film with the title of the day of Dean's death was released; it was originally titled 9/30/55, but was changed to September 30, 1955 because the studio’s marketing department found the title confusing (WTF?). The vinyl LP album of the soundtrack for the film uses the original title.

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP front cover

photo of album cover by Styrous®

The film chronicles the reactions of an Arkansas college town to the news. The plot in a nutshell: in Conway, Arkansas, college student Jimmy J. (Richard Thomas) has become fixated with the actor James Dean, on the evening of September 30, 1955, he watches the film East of Eden for the umteenth time. The next day at football practice, he hears that Dean, has been killed in a road accident in California around the same time that he was viewing the film. In anguish, he runs to the local radio station to learn the details and the story evolves (or devolves) with strange twists and turns into tragedy and ruin (link to complete plot below).

The cast of the film would later appear in some pretty unusual and in some cases, weird movies. Susan Tyrrell was in Andy Warhol's Bad, Forbidden Zone and Big Top Pee-wee. Lisa Blount was in An Officer and a Gentleman, Radioactive Dreams and Prince of Darkness. Tom Hulce would appear as Mozart in the Miloš Forman film Amadeus and in the 1986 film, Echo Park, directed by Robert Dornhelm and featured a cameo role by Pillow, aka She-Beast (link below). Dennis Quaid starred in the 1984 American dark science-fiction adventure horror film, Dreamscape, which featured music by Maurice Jarre and portrayed Jerry Lee Lewis in the film Great Balls of Fire!. Dennis Christopher was in the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire, which featured a score by Vangelis. Collin Wilcox was in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1997 film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (link to cast below).

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP front cover detail

photo of album cover by Styrous®

There have been doubts as to whether or not Dean actually did die on that day (links below). This has been generated by many conflicting accounts of the incident; where and when he ate before the crash; where the crash actually occurred; and a nurse on the scene testified that she could detect a pulse until he was taken in an ambulance to the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, however, he was declared dead on arrival. There are two notable discrepancies between sources. The first oddity: while most sources say the nurse was able to find a weak pulse (indicating Dean died during transport to the hospital), other sources indicated “death appeared to have been instantaneous”.

James Dean with his Porsche Speedster 23F - 1955

photographer unknown

Another fact called into question is whether or not Dean was speeding, an officer present at the scene of the crime claimed the position of Dean’s body and the type of wreckage present indicated James had likely been moving about fifty-five miles per hour, not the reported eighty-five miles per hour. Recently a doctor purports Dean should have survived the crash, especially since he was said to have been alive when emergency services arrived at the scene. This doctor, however, was not part of the investigation and only lends his opinion as someone with a medical degree.

The most prevalent conspiracy theory of James Dean’s death is a favorite among celebrity death conspiracies in general: the death was faked.

It wasn’t long after James Dean was buried when people began to wonder if, perhaps, the actor had faked his death to escape the spotlight. The theory resurged in 2019 on Reddit when a car crash in Alberta, Canada led to the death of a ninety-five-year-old man and the injury of an elderly female passenger, however, Dean would only have been eighty-seven.

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP front cover detail

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Warren Beath is the author of the seminal book on the last days of James Dean, The Death of James Dean, which was published by Grove Press in 1986.

Beath was the first to extensively use public records--court files, police reports, even coroner's notes in recreating the actor's fatal crash on September 30, 1955 and the only Dean biographer to have actually met Donald Turnupseed, the driver who crashed into Dean's car (link below).

Warren Beath - The Death of James Dean

Donald Turnupseed

date & photographer unknown

Another conflict in the episode: it was rumored that after the crash Sanford Roth took photos of Dean's shattered body. Roth had been a still photographer on Giant and was accompanying Dean in another car to the race in Salinas. He was quoted in Life magazine as saying he did but later denied it. But stunt driver Bill Hickman who was also on the trip told Beath he had taken such pictures.

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP back cover

photo by Styrous®

In 2001, a film produced for television was made of the life of Dean. Entitled, James Dean (um, Duh!), James Franco plays the title role of Dean and does a pretty good job of it; he won the Golden Globes award for it in 2002 (link below). The score for the film was written by John Frizzell. The film can be seen on YouTube (link below) but even though it is in English, it has subtitles in Czech, if that doesn't bother you, it's well worth watching.

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

Each and every second of East of Eden is riveting but there are key scenes that are complete knock-outs! I've linked to three of my favorites on YouTube as well as all the clips from it (links below).

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

The score for the film was written by Leonard Rosenman who also wrote several Twilight Zone episodes (link below). He utilized motifs from the original East of Eden score which he wrote. East of Eden also starred Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives and Jo Van Fleet in her first screen role. It was directed by Elia Kazan.

East of Eden poster

Two of the cuts on the album contain short vocals mixed into the score; Kitty Wells is one of the vocals and Webb Pierce is another. Richard Thomas speaks in a cut (link below).

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

Mark Lesseraux did a slow, hard-rock almost verging on progressive piece based on the James Dean crash (link below).

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP back cover details

detail photos by Styrous®

9/30/55 soundtrack album

vinyl LP labels

photos by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1      Newscast, September 30, 1955     0:36
A2a     Main Title - Theme From "9-30-55" (East Of Eden)     2:19
A2b     Narration By Richard Thomas
            On The Way To Criss Cross Meadow     (2:55)
A3a     A. Stolen Liquor And State Police
A3b     B. In The Jailhouse Now, Vocals – Webb Pierce

A3c     Prayer By The River
A4     Hasty Retreat From Criss Cross Meadow     2:10
A5     James Dean And Eden Revisited, Orchestrated By Leonard Rosenman    9:39

Side 2:

B1     Theme From "9-30-55" (East Of Eden), Orchestrated By Billy Byers    3:19
            The Ghoulish Syndrome     (2:24)
B2a     A. Assault On The Cemetery
B2b     B. Making Believe, Vocals – Kitty Wells
B2c     C. Tragedy Befalls Billie Jean
            Life Imitates Art     (9:19)
B3a     A. Jimmy J. Visits Billie Jean / Narration By Richard Thomas
B3b     B. Billie Jean's Disenchantment
B3c     C. Jimmy J. Smashes The Mirrors
B4     A New Rebel In Search Of A Cause     3:13

Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright (p) – MCA Records, Inc.
    Copyright (c) – Universal City Studios, Inc.
    Produced For – MCA Records
    Recorded At – Filmways/Heider Recording
    Remixed At – Filmways/Heider Recording
    Edited At – MCA Recording Studios
    Mastered At – MCA Recording Studios

Credits:

    Edited By [Editorial And Final Assembly] – Terry Brown (9)
    Engineer [2nd] – Ira Leslie, Mike Carber
    Liner Notes – James Bridges (4)
    Mastered By – Larry Boden
    Music By, Composed By, Conductor – Leonard Rosenman
    Orchestrated By – Ralph Ferraro (tracks: A1 to A4, B2 to B4)
    Producer – Sonny Burke
    Recorded By, Remix – Grover Helsley

Notes:

Recorded and remixed at Filmways/Heider Studios, Hollywood.
Editorial and final assembly at MCA Recording Studio, Universal City.
Mastered at MCA Recording Studio, Universal City.

Leonard Rosenman ‎– Richard Thomas 9/30/55 (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: MCA Records ‎– MCA-2313
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1977
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack

Viewfinder links:

Lisa Blount

James Dean

The James Dean Story ~ Die young, live forever

Miss Barbara Eden Bends It!

Julie Harris

Tom Hulce

Burl Ives

Elia Kazan

Jerry Lee Lewis

Raymond Massey

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart