I don’t mean yours or mine – which have their own nostalgia.
I mean yearbooks from people we’ve never met. Schools we’ve never heard of.
What is it that fascinates us?
The answer is ghosts.
As you flick through the black and white photos of young faces. Each sporting the hair fashion of the day…
- You hear the echoes of footsteps in school corridors
- The chatter of friends between classes
- The clamour at Friday night basketball games in the packed school gymnasium
All now silent.
Every high school yearbook contains these ghosts of the past.
Yet the 1948 yearbook from Fairmount High School in Indiana...
...Has the most poignant ghosts of any I’ve seen.
What ghosts lie among these 64 pages?
…They can have no possible idea...
That their lives – in just a handful of years from now – will be changed irreparably.
Changed by a tragic event that will occur 2,000 miles away. To one of the students whose signature features in this book.
His prom date, Edith Thomas, has no idea of what’s to come, when she poses for her yearbook photo here.
Have no comprehension that six of their number will be pallbearers at his funeral. Just seven years from now.
…A woman who believes so much in him…
Drama teacher Adeline Nall (nee Brookshire) - who encouraged him to act But she can have no concept of the tragedy that will follow.
Who is he?
A 17-year-old high school junior, whose signature features in the back pages of this book.
Whose life ended aged just 24.
Today would have been his 93rd birthday.
Can you see it?
Standing out in vibrant blue ink, is the confident signature of a young man named Jim Dean.
A young man the world will know as James Dean.
And that one signature turns this yearbook into a key piece of film history.
That’s because he used to rack the balls for his uncle at the local pool hall.
Yep. This is the true teenage Jim Dean right here. Not the Hollywood version.
Rarity
James Dean signatures are rare. He died so young, and just as he was beginning to find fame. He was a star for just six months before he died. That's only six months of signing autographs.
“Jim Dean” signatures are rarer still.
And "Jim Dean" signed high school yearbooks are particularly uncommon.
Fairmount was a small high school for a rural Indiana community of just 2,500 people. They didn’t make many of these books. James Dean would have signed just a small number. Few of those have survived.
Yet it’s not just Dean's signature that makes this yearbook so haunting.
Look too at the photographs.
Dean appears five times.
- You have his individual shot:
"Jimmy Dean" and his Junior Year classmates
- Dean's photo as part of the "F Club" for the school's sporting stars:
The school sports stars: Dean represented the school in basketball, baseball and track & field
- A lovely picture of the future screen star stood behind his drama mentor, Adeline Nall, in the junior class play: Nall was the woman who saw Dean's talent and encouraged him to act - a key figure in his life. The play was poignantly called: Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. Dean (in glasses) had a lead role as Otis Skinner.
James Dean stands behind his inspiration: drama teacher Adeline Nall
- Next, again with Adeline Nall as part of the Thespian Society. She has added her signature - a wonderful addition.
Dean was a keen thespian even then - note drama teacher Adeline Nall's signature, using her maiden name Adeline Brookshire
- Yet perhaps most poignantly of all. Here is Jimmy among his basketball teammates – who will carry his coffin:
The basketball team: there for Dean in life and death
This is a haunting book. From a present that is now long past.
From a time when a young man from rural Indiana signed a classmate’s yearbook.
- Dean's signature has grown in value by 45% a year on average since 2000, according to the PFC40 Autograph Index.
- Dean signed photos are valued at £18,000.
- In 2019, Dean's pocket watch auctioned for $42,000
Yet this yearbook is yours right now for just £8,000 ($10,100).
It comes with my Lifetime Moneyback Guarantee of Authenticity, and my certificate of authenticity - for your complete peace of mind.
And if you're not delighted with it, return to me within 28 days for a full and immediate refund.
Delivery is also free - to any address in the world.
I’m expecting this to sell fast. Don't miss it at this price.
Click Here And Buy Now
Or call me on +44 (0)1534 639 998
Or reply to this email.
I'll leave you with this close up from the yearbook.
Until next time,
Paul
PS. This is likely to be popular. If you want it, reply to this email now.
