Page 2 "TO BE OR NOT TO BE" —COOL by Mr. Alan Price, Instructor of English It was almost dusk on September 30, 1955, when James Dean folded his white Porsche-Spyder into a Ford sedan at a highway intersec tion near Paso Robles, California. James Dean, for those who might have forgotten, was a motion pic ture actor, His roles in East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant commanded salaries of $lOO, 000 each. But James Dean was more than a movie star - he was cool. Dean had quit college at nineteen after a fight with his fraternity bro thers. Then after supporting him self for a while by parking cars and working as an usher at movie houses in Los Angeles, he became dissatis fied and took the long bus trip to New York where he “fit to cadence and pace better.” It was in New York that his acting talent was dis covered and developed at Actor’s Studio artistic birthplace of Mar lon Brando. And it was also in New York that James Dean developed his strange, elleptical language. A favorite self-expression: “Include me out.” That was cool. Back in California after his suc cess in East of Eden, Dean frequent- ly kept Hedda Hopper and other in terviewers waiting for hours. “I’m a serious minded and intense little devil,” James Dean was quoted as saying, “terribly gauche and so tense I don’t see how people stay in the same room with me. I know I wouldn’t myself.” The critics said he had talent. He spent his nights at the hamburger joints on Sunset Strip in a torn, dirty sweater, chain smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. James Dean was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a neurotic misfit in Rebel Without a Cause. At that time he was living on a desolate stretch of beach where he had been driven after neighbors complained about his too loud hi-fi. Cool. So on the last day of September in 1955 he was driving to a race meet in Salinas, California. He had just been given a ticket in Bakersfield for doing sixty in a forty mile an hour zone. Now he was doing eighty, ninety, a hundred reports differ. But all reports agree that he collided head on with a Ford driven by Donald Turnupseed.a “non-cool” aeronautical engineering major re turning home from The University of California for the weekend. James Dean at twenty-four was dead; the steering column went right through his chest. Turnupseed lived. The whole, tragic incident was re lived in the fan magazines for years. And yet if one of the two had to die, I somehow am glad that Turnupseed lived. And he wasn’t even cool. attention STUDENTS Once again the Highacres Staff is looking for talented freshmen to join the newspaper staff. Any student interested in the paper can contact any one of the editors or Miss Good man, advisor, for further information about joining. Highacres Collegian DRAFT LAWS QUESTIONED by Robert Fogarty, Student Affairs Editor A growing concern of many stu dents is the Draft. The recent dis continuance of graduate student de ferments alarms many of us. It is becoming more and more apparent that our right to seek an education is in danger. As good Americans, we should be willing to sacrifice a few years of our education, if our national secur ity is endangered, thus emphasizing the need for fighting men. However, it is the general belief that our national security is not cur rently endangered by the Vietnam- ese War Why, then, should students even be considered for the Draft? Why should the future leaders of our country betaken from the schools when there are others who can and want to enter the Service? Thus far, General Hershey, or any of the other officials, have not an swered these questions satisfactor ily. All Americans should express their concern and demand answers to these questions. We encourage all to write to General Hershey, Di rector of the Selective Service in Washington. By expressing our beliefs, we are exercising one of the freedoms guar anteed to Americans. It is the be lief of this writer that the Draft laws are unfair and need to be improved. Anyone who has an opposing view point, or any opinion of the Draft, is welcome to submita reply for pub lication. Simply deposit it in the Collegian Suggestion Box.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers