Incredible archive of research and draft material related to the classic 1955 James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, highlighted by 95 surviving pages from screenwriter Stewart Stern’s original handwritten first draft of the film, which constitutes the memorable second half of the screenplay, pages 45 through 142. The first half of the screenplay, pages 1-44, was presented by Stern to Winton Dean, James Dean's father, the day after the actor was killed in a car accident at the age of 24. The screenplay is penned in ink on beige and yellow 8 x 12.5 sheets of notebook paper, the first of which (page 45) is annotated and signed along the top in blue ballpoint by Stern, “Second Half of Original MSS, ‘Rebel Without A Cause,’ Note: I gave the first half to the family of James Dean on the occasion of the actor’s death – Sept. 1955. Stewart Stern.” Five pages of the script appear to be unaccounted for: 46, 75-77, and 141.
The archive also contains two very early original final drafts from Stern’s personal collection: a brad-bound mimeographed screenplay as presented to the studio, the front cover of which is annotated by Stern, “Rebel Without A Cause, Stewart Stern, Warner’s Mimeo, 3/26/55,” approximately 122 pages, 8.5 x 11, with the title sheet issued as “Final Part I, 3/25/55” and numbered “122”; and a brad-bound onionskin carbon copy, the front annotated by Stern, “Rebel Without A Cause, Stewart Stern, Author’s carbon, w/ corrections,” approximately 132 pages, 8.5 x 11, dated March 3, 1955, featuring scattered ink and pencil corrections and edits throughout.
Supplementing Stern’s handwritten draft are approximately 70 pages of 13 rewritten scenes, handwritten in ink and pencil on beige and yellow 8 x 12.5 sheets of notebook paper, which are entitled as follows:
Seq. A(2), marked “Jim at Juvenile Hall – opening, 2nd version”
Seq. A(3), “Original version, Dream sequence in Juvenile Hall”
Seq. B, “Glimpse of Judy – end of prologue”
Seq. C(1), “Plato at home, 1st version”
Seq. D, “Knife-fight – end.”
Seq. E(2), “Original, Dream Sequence, after knife-fight”
Seq. F, “Judy & her Father, 1st version”
Seq. G(1), “Jim confronts his parents after Buzz is killed, 1st version”
Seq. G(2), “Jim confronts his parents after Buzz is killed, 2nd version”
[Seq. H], “Jim goes to Juvenile Hall, looking for Ray, 1st version”
Seq. I, “Jim & Judy love scene in alley, odd pages”
Seq. J(1), “Jim wants to save Plato, 1st version”
Seq. J(2), “Jim persuades Ray & Dad to let him enter planetarium to save Plato, 2nd version”
Completing the archive are over 100 additional pages of research, script revisions, and sequences later eliminated from the final draft. These items include: research notes taken by Stern at Juvenile Hall during interviews with young offenders and annotated with character references for future scenes; a carbon on onion skin of the first typed sequence for submission to the director, dated January 17, 1955; Stern's original typescript of the first and second sequences, as well as of the end of the planetarium scene; the author's original typescript of the discarded ‘fantasy’ sequences in which characters in the foreground were to act out the reality, while the same characters in the background acted out their underlying fantasies; early typed pages, with heavy handwritten revisions of Jim's return home, his confrontation with his parents, and his love scene with Judy; and a signed Christmas card from director Nicholas Ray. In overall fine condition.
Together, these pages offer an extraordinary window into the making of a film that reshaped American cinema. Archives of such depth and direct authorship are virtually unheard of for a picture as era-defining as Rebel Without a Cause, a milestone that pioneered the modern teen film and introduced a new realism to Hollywood—tackling identity, alienation, teen angst, masculinity, and parental pressures, elements that resonated deeply with Golden Age youths across America.
