Stuff in the Basement: Influences of James Dean by George Farrell

On January 9, 2017, I retired from the Air Force Reserve. This freed up my weekends. My daughters were also getting self-sufficient. Courtney was sixteen and Heidi was eleven. I used this new found, independence to act in Community Theater. It suddenly dawned on me that I was FINALLY doing what I desired to do for the past 34 years. To become an actor. That desire started after seeing James Dean act in the film, East of Eden. It was as if everything had gone full circle. Upon completion of my roles in that first musical, Beauty and the Beast, I was motivated to write an article for The Deanzine, the official magazine of the James Dean Remembered Fan Club. I showed the article to Debbie, my significant other, who said I had enough material to expand the article (which appeared in two separate issues of the magazine), into a book. So I wrote it out in long hand first and refined it by adding photographs in the final typed version. I have written this for not only James Dean fans, but also for those who have been, told their dreams would be impossible. It is a book essentially about the trials and tribulations of life. There are obstacles that stand in our way that we must hurdle over or punch our way through.