"REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE" CURSE |THE CURIOUS CAST OF CHARACTERS AND TRAGIC DEATHS BEHIND THE 1955 FILM

James Dean as Jim Stark in "Rebel Without a Cause"

The 1950s were a very cool time, I only wish I could have experienced them for myself. It is a time in American pop culture that is highly idealized for it’s music, fashion, style and culture. Everyone looked incredible, and seemed so squeaky clean– but you just knew there had to be much more going on behind the scenes. Rebel Without a Cause is one of the most iconic films from that era, and the stories behind the making of the James Dean classic are as incredible as the movie itself. And truth be told, Dean was not the only rebel on the set. Nicholas Ray, Dennis Hopper, Nick Adams and Natalie Wood definitely held there own. There is a great article from the Vanity Fair archives that is definitely required reading if you’re a fan of the film. They get into some of the details about the Rebel wardrobe and off-screen shenanigans that I have excerpted and added to–

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Nick Ray

Striving for authenticity in every detail, Ray turned his attention to the high-school gang members who surround and threaten Jim Stark. One of the actors he interviewed was Frank Mazzola, the leader of a real gang called the Athenians. Mazzola had been weeded out by the casting director but muscled his way in to see Ray anyway. “They thought that because I was in a gang, I might create problems on the set. I came out of the Depression, really,” Mazzola explains in a West Hollywood restaurant, his hair, still jet black, tied back in a ponytail. “We didn’t have any pop culture. The guys that we loved flew, like my uncle, a pilot in the Second World War. Everybody I knew wanted to grow up and fly P-38s.… And so these clubs started forming—ours was called the Athenians. We defended our turf. You’d probably get in two or three fights a night just defending Hollywood. It was like a sport.”

James Dean and Natalie Wood on the set of "Rebel Without a Cause"

Ray not only cast Mazzola, he gave him an office on the Warner lot, from which he could serve as technical adviser on gang behavior. Ray instructed him to hang out with Dean and take him to meetings of the Athenians. “I want you to get us the cars, tell us what kind of clothes we should be wearing,” Ray told him. Mazzola had the wardrobe department buy the gang’s clothes at Matson’s, on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Athenians bought their club jackets. The wardrobe department then soiled and laundered more than 400 pairs of Levi 501s for the cast. –I would love to get my hands on those old selvedge jeans.

The iconic Baracuta jacket is often credited as the famous red jacket in Rebel Without a Cause -- but some say it was a McGregor or fabricated by the film’s costume designer Moss Mabry, as he himself claims. There are accounts from staffers that it was bought at Matson’s men’s store for use in the 1955 film, but costume designer Moss Mabry has insisted all along that he made three of the jackets from a bolt of red nylon, and painstakingly worked on the size of the collar and the placement of the pockets. “Even though the jacket looked simple,” Mabry said, “it wasn’t.” Mabry even designed a special bra for Natalie Wood for the film Rebel, which became known as the “Natalie Wood bra,” though he declined to reveal the secret of its design.

Dennis Hopper and Nick Ray many years after "Rebel Without a Cause"

Natalie Wood, who was only 16 at the time, soon became involved with director Nicholas Ray. Wood’s affair with Ray awakened her sexuality—and emboldened her to initiate another love affair, this one with Dennis Hopper, who had been cast as Goon. “I was astonished,” Hopper later said. “I came from a very conventional, middle-class family in San Diego … and this was the 1950s, when girls who’d turned sixteen only a few months earlier just didn’t do things like that.” The sexually charged situation created ill will between Ray and Hopper. Maria Gurdin, having found out about both affairs, complained to Warner Bros. that Hopper was involved with her daughter; ever ambitious for Natalie, she didn’t mention that Ray was as well. “I was furious with [Nick Ray],” Hopper said about the incident. “The studio came down on me, and he came out of it as pure as snow.” The two ran into each other years later at a Grateful Dead concert and buried the hatchet. Hopper went as far as to help the grizzled Ray get back on his feet, and even helped him land a job teaching film students at Binghamton University. Nicholas Ray is a fascinating character and some of the details of his life are pretty heavy stuff– read the Vanity Fair article and find out more.

James Dean and Sal Mineo

Sal Mineo—so affecting as the essentially fatherless outcast Plato—later commented that he had portrayed the first gay teenager on film. There are little clues: the photograph of Alan Ladd taped to his locker door, his longing looks at Jim Stark, his disguised declaration of love in the abandoned mansion. Ray was aware of Dean’s bisexuality and encouraged the actor to use it in certain scenes. Dean instructed Mineo, “Look at me the way I look at Natalie,” for their intimate scene in the Getty mansion. It had to be subtle. A Production Code officer had written in a memo to Jack L. Warner on March 22, “It is of course vital that there be no inference of a questionable or homosexual relationship between Plato and Jim.” In real life Mineo was gay, and it is even rumored that he and Ray (who was bisexual) also had a tryst while filming Rebel.

Dennis Hopper and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause"

The real life drama behind "Rebel Without a Cause" is still a riddle wrapped in mystery. James Dean's fatal car crash one month before the film's release resulted in the beginning of the "Rebel death curse" theories, which were further fueled when Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Nick Adams also suffered eerie, premature deaths. There's still plenty of talk and speculation about who actually slept with whom -- and the controversy that clouds the issue of who was the true voice behind "Rebel Without a Cause" — Nicholas Ray or James Dean?

ART ICON JACKSON POLLOCK | THE LEGENDARY AND MISUNDERSTOOD PAINTER ALSO KNOWN AS "JACK THE DRIPPER"

Painter Jackson Pollock (seated R) sitting on the steps of painter Thomas Hart Benton's summer home w. Rita Benton (sitting, in white hat) and author Coburn Gilman (standing). Martha's Vineyard, ca. 1937.

THE ORIGINAL POST ON JACKSON POLLOCK, DONE WITHIN THE FIRST WEEK OF THESELVEDGEYARD's INCEPTION, CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF TSY's TOP POSTS EVER. I THINK IT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT POLLOCK'S RELEVANCE, TIMELESSNESS, AND MYSTIQUE. OBVIOUSLY THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE MAN AND HIS LEGENDARY WORK THAT KEEPS PEOPLE COMING BACK DAY AFTER DAY, YEARS AFTER HIS PASSING.

Artist Jackson Pollock painting in his Springs, NY studio, ca. 1949.

ART ICON JACKSON POLLOCK WAS A MAJOR FORCE IN THE ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM MOVEMENT, AND KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE ART WORLD AS A DARK AND MOODY MAVERICK. HE WAS UNDENIABLY AN OBSESSED AND INNOVATIVE GENIUS, AND MUCH MORE. POLLOCK'S TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN CAREFULLY STUDIED OVER THE YEARS, AND IT'S THOUGHT BY MANY THAT SOME OF HIS WORKS CONTAIN PROPERTIES SPECIFIC TO MATHEMATIC FRACTALS, AND THAT THE WORKS AS A WHOLE BECOME MORE FRACTAL-LIKE CHRONOLOGICALLY. SOME EVEN GO SO FAR AS TO SPECULATE THAT POLLOCK MAY HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE NATURE OF CHAOTIC MOTION, AND THROUGH HIS PAINTINGS WAS CREATING WHAT HE PERCEIVED AS PERFECT REPRESENTATIONS OF MATHEMATICAL CHAOS -- AND ALL THIS MORE THAN 10 YEARS BEFORE CHAOS THEORY WAS DISCOVERED. SO I ASK YOU -- IS IT ARTISTIC INSPIRATION, MATHEMATICAL GENIUS, RANDOM DRIPPINGS, OR ALL OF THE ABOVE?

Jackson Pollock's "One: Number 31", painted 1950.

CLICK HERE TO SEE AN AMAZING OLD FILM ON THE ARTIST, STARRING AND NARRATED BY NONE OTHER THAN JACKSON POLLOCK HIMSELF. WATCHING THE FILM, IT STRUCK ME THROUGH HIS STIFF VOICE AND PHRASING THAT THIS WAS DEFINITELY A SOCIALLY AWKWARD MAN, WHO FELT MORE COMFORTABLE IN HIS ART THAN AROUND PEOPLE. ALL THE TALES AND ACCOUNTS THAT SURROUND HIS LIFE, AND THE AMAZING PORTRAYAL IN FILM BY ED HARRIS, DEFINITELY SUPPORT THIS AS WELL.

Painter Jackson Pollock, master of chaos, in his Springs, NY studio.

SADLY IN 1955, THE WORLD LOST A LEGEND. AFTER A LONG AND TUMULTUOUS STRUGGLE WITH ALCOHOLISM, EVER DEEPENED BY THE PRESSURES OF FAME AND HIS AUDIENCE'S EXPECTATIONS, POLLOCK CRASHED HIS CAR LESS THAN A MILE FROM HIS EAST HAMPTON HOME AND WAS KILLED. HIS INFLUENCE LIVES ON TODAY IN ANOTHER WAY, AS HE WAS NOT JUST A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR PAINTERS, ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS WHO EMULATE HIS STYLE -- BUT ALSO THE COUNTLESS FASHION DESIGNERS AND VINTAGE CLOTHING NUTS WHO FOR YEARS HAVE CAREFULLY STUDIED OLD PHOTOS OF POLLOCK. THEY SCRUTINIZE EVERY DETAIL OF HIS WORN & SPLATTERED DENIM AND WORKWEAR -- AN INSPIRATION AND LEGACY THAT EVEN JACKSON POLLOCK HIMSELF CERTAINLY NEVER IMAGINED HE'D HAVE.

Painter Jackson Pollock, also a huge inspiration to men's workwear designers, in his Springs, East Hampton, NY studio.

Jackson Pollock in his Springs, NY painting studio, ca. 1949.

Jackson Pollock with a Long Island neighbor, amateur artist Mary Monteverdi, looking over her works, ca. 1949.

Painter Jackson Pollock, and wife Lee Krasner, talking with a guest at their East Hampton home, ca. 1949.

Husband & wife artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner walking outside on Long Island with their dog, ca. 1949.

Group portrait of American Abstract Expressionists, "The Irascibles." From left, rear: Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottleib, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne;(next row) Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst (w. bow tie), Jackson Pollock (in striped jacket), James Brooks, Clyfford Still (leaning on knee), Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin; (in foreground) Theodoros Stamos (on bench), Barnett Newman (on stool), Mark Rothko (with glasses), NY, NY, ca. 1950.

VINTAGE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED ca. 1966 | STEVE McQUEEN REVIEWS THE HOTTEST NEW GT's

I STILL GET GOOSE PIMPLES

BY STEVE McQUEEN WITH KEN RUDEEN

A STAR AMONG FAST FRIENDS

STEVE McQUEEN IS SOMEWHAT BETTER KNOWN AS A MOVIE ACTOR ("THE GREAT ESCAPE," "NEVADA SMITH") THAN AS A DRIVER OF FAST CARS. BUT AS HE DEMONSTRATES BELOW, CORNERING SMARTLY IN THE NEW JAGUAR 2+2, AND AS HE SAYS IN THE STORY BEGINNING ON PAGE 39, HE "AIN'T A BAD DRIVER, EITHER." FORMERLY A SPORTS CAR RACER OF PROMISE, McQUEEN WAS ORDERED OFF THE TRACKS BY HIS STUDIO, ON THE THEORY HIS BEAUTIFULLY BATTERED FACE NEEDS NO FURTHER CORRUGATIONS. HE HAS NOT LOST HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR SWIFT MOTORING, HOWEVER, AND WHEN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED ASKED HIM TO DRIVE EIGHT OF THE WORLD'S MOST DISTINGUISHED GRAND TOURING CARS ON THE RACE COURSE AT RIVERSIDE, CALIF., HE WAS, AS THEY SAY, FLAT OUT. KEEP READING FOR PICTURES OF STEVE IN A REAL-LIFE ROLE, AND FOR HIS ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF THE GRAND TOURING ART IN THIS MIDSUMMER 1966.

SIZING UP THE NEW JAGUAR 2+2, DRIVER McQUEEN FOUND IT "VERY SMOOTH DOWN THE BACK STRAIGHT AT 110 MPH," YET STILL SUITABLE FOR TRIPS WITH THE FAMILY. MRS. McQUEEN, HE REPORTED, WAS "KIND OF KEEN ON IT."

THE CORVETTE STING RAY (ABOVE) IMPRESSED McQUEEN -- AND SURPRISED HIM A LITTLE -- WITH ITS POWER, FINE HANDLING AND ACCURATE STEERING. TOP MODEL ($5,538) HAS A BIG 427-INCH V-8 ENGINE AND HEAVY DUTY SUSPENSION.

THE FERRARI 275 GTS WITH A 3.3-LITER V-12 ENGINE, REAR-MOUNTED FIVE SPEED GEARBOX AND PININFARINA COACHWORK DREW A WORSHIPFUL "WOW!" FROM STEVE, WHO REGARDS FERRARI AS A SUPREME ENGINEER. PRICE: $14,500.

THE ALFA ROMEO SPIDER (ABOVE), THE LATEST MODEL FROM SMALL, DISTINGUISHED MILAN WORKS, CORNERED BRILLIANTLY, AND HAD SUPERIOR BRAKES. McQUEEN ALSO ADMIRED ITS LOOKS, BUT WOULD HAVE LIKED MORE POWER IN A $4,000 CAR.

THE PORSCHE 911 DELIGHTED McQUEEN WITH PREDICTABLE HANDLING IN FURIOUS CORNERING, PROVING THAT PORSCHE HAS SOLVED THE OVERSTEER PROBLEMS STEVE REMEMBERED FROM HIS RACING DAYS. THIS REAR-ENGINED 6 COSTS: $6,450.

THE ASTON MARTIN DB6 (ABOVE), THE MOST EXPENSIVE MODEL TESTED ($15,400), STRUCK McQUEEN AS A "GENTLEMAN'S CAR" IN ITS CLEAN DESIGN, LUXURIOUS APPOINTMENTS, AND VIRILE PERFORMANCE, BUT FIFTH GEAR WAS DISAPPOINTING.

THE SHELBY COBRA 427 WAS "A REAL STOPLIGHT BANDIT" ON ACCELERATION, ATTESTING TO THE STRENGTH OF ITS 7-LITER PUSHROD V-8. McQUEEN WAS LESS PLEASED WITH ITS HANDLING, AND FELT THE SEAT BELT POSITIONING SHOULD BE IMPROVED. PRICE: $7,495.

THE MERCEDES 230SL WAS HANDSOME AND HANDLED WELL. "I DROVE IT HARD AND GOT IT OUT OF SHAPE A BIT," McQUEEN NOTED, "AND IT BEHAVED VERY NICELY, NEVER TRIED TO BITE ME." THE MERCEDES AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION WAS THE BEST FROM EUROPE HE HAD SEEN, "VERY SUITABLE FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LIKE TO SHIFT."

VIA STEVE McQUEEN ONLINE

ANITA PALLENBERG | THE ROLLING STONES BOHEMIAN STYLE MUSE AND SENSUAL SOULMATE

Anita Pallenberg entered The Rolling Stones’ lives when in 1965 a friend took her to Munich for one of their concerts, and they worked their way backstage. Anita offered The Stones some hash, but they said they couldn’t smoke before a concert– though Brian Jones was ‘kind enough’ to invite her to his hotel room afterwards. They stayed together for two years but he was increasingly abusive, drunk and paranoid. On holiday in Morocco in 1967, Keith saw Brian beating Anita up and grabbed her, threw her in his car and took her back to England. She from then on lived with Keith Richards.

Life with the Stones was fun at the beginning, Pallenberg says, because they were always playing music– but soured once they became a huge money-making machine. She says she didn’t even see them that much, “because at that time no girls were allowed in the studio when they were recording. You weren’t allowed even to ring. I did other things, I didn’t sit at home.”

What she did do– a few films, lots of drugs and tons of screwing around…

Sexy, insatiable Anita Pallenberg with son Marlon Richards.

Author A. E. Hotchner has this to say about Pallenberg’s influence on the development and presentation of The Rolling Stones from the late 1960s and through the 1970s– She played an unusual role in the male-dominated world of rock music in the late 1960s, acting as much more than just a groupie or partner of a band member. Mick Jagger apparently respected her opinion enough that tracks on Beggars Banquet were remixed when Pallenberg criticised them. In the 2002 compilation release of Forty Licks, Pallenberg is credited as singing background vocals on Sympathy for the Devil.

Throughout the decade that she was Richards’ companion in vice, her interest in the occult was a featured style component that marked The Stones concerts and public presentation. Tony Sanchez’s account of his time as Richards’ bodyguard and drug dealer mentions Pallenberg’s strange spiritual practices– ”She was obsessed with black magic and began to carry a string of garlic with her everywhere — even to bed—to ward off vampires. She also had a strange mysterious old shaker for holy water which she used for some of her rituals. Her ceremonies became increasingly secret, and she warned me never to interrupt her when she was working on a spell.”

Anita Pallenberg more than shared Richards’ drug addiction and was charged in the 1977 Toronto heroin arrest that almost destroyed The Rolling Stones. A warrant for her arrest was the reason that police came to search Richards and Pallenberg’s hotel rooms; she pled guilty to marijuana possession and was fined, several weeks after Richards’ headline-grabbing arrest. Richards and Pallenberg separated on the advice of Richards’ lawyers, who believed that if they stayed together, they would end up in more serious trouble. Richards stated that he still loved Anita and saw her as much as he ever did, despite his relationship with his future wife Patti Hansen. In a 1985 Rolling Stone interview, Mick Jagger claimed that Pallenberg “nearly killed me“, when he was asked whether The Rolling Stones had any responsibility for the personal drug addictions of people close to the band.

There were persisting rumors that Anita Pallenburg also had a brief affair with Keith Richards’ band-mate Mick Jagger while the two worked together during the filming of Performance, although Pallenberg denies this. Personally, I wouldn’t put it past either of them, if you know what I mean. They both were easy pickin’ back then .

Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg BK-- Before Keith.

Wild and insatiable Anita Pallenberg proved to be a handful, even for Keith Richards.

Anita Pallenberg's personal style was said to rub off on The Stones and influenced the bands look. I kind of look at her as an early, "dirty" version of Tory Burch.

Often cited as The Rolling Stones' style muse-- Anita Pallenberg is seen here showing the boys how 1970s Bohemian chic is done.

THE TSY FASHION FLASHBACK | AMERICAN MENSWEAR DESIGNER ICONS

The Coty (American Fashion Critics’) Awards first officially acknowledged excellence in menswear design back in 1970, with the honor going to none other than Ralph Lauren. It signaled a new designer age in American menswear. True men’s fashion icons emerged and soon became household names – Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Alexander Julian — all went on to become institutions that inspire, influence, and in the case of Ralph, still strongly lead to this day. It’s a time in menswear that I’m unapologetically nostalgic over, having largely missed it– but I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a few legends of that golden age, and never miss an opportunity to mine them for all the nuggets I can get.

American fashion icon Ralph Lauren working in his office --1971.

Back in the early 70s, Jeffrey Banks (now a legendary fashion designer in his own right) was hand-plucked from Britches of Georgetown by Ralph Lauren personally, and came to work for him as a part-time design assistant. Part-time because Jeffrey was still in high school. Jeffrey shared a story with me of when he had to get a shipment of hot-selling shirts over to Bloomies quick– Ralph’s orders. Time was tight, and Jeffrey was getting the runaround from receiving department at the store– so he decides to cast store policy aside and brazenly walked through the front doors of Bloomingdale’s 59th Street, both arms bursting with shirts for the Polo shop, much to the chagrin (read: screams) of the operations staff at the store. Here are your shirts, have a great weekend. Love it.

Sometimes rules are for schmucks and you simply have to take matters into your own hands. Ralph certainly didn’t get where his is today by politely following the rules, he led. See, when you work for Ralph, you quickly realize that you’re a part of something much bigger than yourself, and there’s this incredible power of the brand behind you moving mountains out of your way. It’s a pretty awesome thing really.

Ralph Lauren checking out the Polo boutique at Bloomingdale's --1971.

Ralph launched Polo Ralph Lauren back in 1967 (some say it was actually ‘68) with $50,000 loaned to him by Norman Hilton (another menswear icon, and father of Nick Hilton) he set out to put his mark on neckwear. During his time working for the tie manufacturer A.Rivetz & Co., Ralph became obsessed with bringing back the beautiful wide neckties oft worn by his boyhood matinee idols– and this was the late 60s, when the skinny tie was the established code. On top of it all, Ralph’s was seeking to fetch retail prices well above where the rest of the neckwear market was. He first met with Bloomingdale’s, who flatly refused to buy the line without considerable compromises on Ralph’s part– like changing the label and narrowing the ties considerably. Ralph wasn’t interested in selling out, so he simply walked away. According to an old gent I met many years ago named Jerry Sudak who grew up with Ralph in the Bronx and was a longtime exec at Saks 5th Avenue, he was able to get Ralph in the door at Saks to present the neckwear line and they bought into the vision. It was a big success, Bloomingdale’s also crawled back to Ralph to buy the line, and Ralph was well on his way to stardom.

Designer Calvin Klein-- looking very clean, uncluttered and contemporary.

Also hailing from the Bronx was Calvin Klein, seen above before the much-talked-about plastic surgeries that gave him his finely chiseled features. Calvin of course started a huge designer jean craze in the 1970s with the famous Brooke Shields “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins” ad campaign. Calvin’s clean, modern aesthetic was a welcome juxtaposition to Ralph’s traditional taste, and I’d go as far to say that Calvin Klein was the first metrosexual brand. It was for the guy who wanted to harness the power of sexuality and separate himself from the preppy crowd through powerful scents, boxer briefs and designer jeans. Paving the way for them both was none other than the legendary Bill Blass.

Bill Blass is the man to whom both Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein owe a huge debt. I always think of Blass as the first male fashion designer to truly leverage his talent, presence and ‘cult of personality’ to propel a brand forward through marketing and the press. He really created the mold and showed them how it was done. Bill Blass was a true trail-blazer that just about every public male designer has borrowed a page or two from, whether they realize it or not.

Born William Ralph Blass in Fort Wayne, Indiana to a part-time dressmaker and a traveling hardware salesman. Blass’s father committed suicide when Blass was five. At 15, Blass began selling sketches of evening gowns for $25 each to a New York manufacturer. At 17 he left home to attend fashion school in New York. Blass excelled and at 18 became the first man to win Mademoiselle’s Design for Living award. He found work as a sketch artist with the sportswear house of David Crystal.

In 1942 Blass enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 603rd Camouflage Battalion a classified division, its mission was to fool the Germans through the use of recordings, dummy tanks and other false materiel, into believing the Allies were positioned other than where they actually were. Blass left the Army in 1945 and went back to New York, where he went to work for Anne Klein. Klein fired Blass less than a year later, calling him talentless. Next Blass started as an assistant designer at Anna Miller and Company, and later at the fashion house Maurice Rentner. In 1970, Blass established Bill Blass Limited. He was most noted for high-quality, high-priced clothing featuring a look of sporty sophistication and casual glamour.

His classic style, which was less severe than that of many contemporaries, attracted a wide audience. He won numerous fashion awards; his designs included sportswear, rainwear, accessories, and evening wear. Beginning in the late 1960s, he also designed menswear. In December 1998, Blass suffered a minor stroke. His company had grown to a $700-million-a-year concern. But after he presented his final collection to in September of 1999, the designer sold Bill Blass Limited for $50 million and retired. In 2000, he was diagnosed with oral cancer, which later spread to his throat. It proved terminal, but his legendary class and style will forever endure.

LIVE FAST, RIDE FREE | ROLAND "ROLLIE" FREE'S 1948 MOTORCYCLE WORLD SPEED RECORD

Rollie Free made made history aboard a 1948 Vincent HRD V-Twin motorcycle, often referred to as the “Bathing Suit Bike” due to the scant attire of its rider, Roland “Rollie” Free. John Edgar hired Free to make the attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats on Sept. 13, 1948. Free initially removed the bike seat and laid flat out on his stomach to minimize wind resistance, and when the stitching on his leathers failed and they began flapping in the breeze, he discarded them too, opting instead for a simple pair of tight bathing trunks, a swim cap, and a pair of tennis shoes. Tragedy could have been the result, but Free averaged a smoldering 150.313 mph, smashing the previous American speed record and establishing a new world record for unstreamlined and unsupercharged bikes.

Roland Free breaking world's speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats while laying on his bike --September, 1948.

Roland Free breaking world's speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats --September, 1948.

Roland Free breaking world's speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats while photographers try to snap pictures --September, 1948.

Roland Free chatting with photographer at Bonneville Salt Flat --September, 1948.

MAD MAX BUBECK & HIS INDIAN CHOUT | HELL ON HYBRID WHEELS

Max Bubeck (below) sitting on his 135.58mph hybrid Indian Chief/Scout that he rode at Rosamond Dry Lake on June 27th, 1948. The Pop Shunk-built "Chout" is as lean and mean as a straight razor except for two big-assed carburetors that look big enough to pluck poultry. Bubeck's "Chout" still holds the record for the world's fastest unfaired Indian motorcycle.

“Mad Max” Bubeck made a name for himself dominating the enduro scene from the 1930s to the 1970s. Bubeck was also a speed racer & builder who in June of 1948 rode his Indian “Chout” (an Indian Chief 80 c.i. engine jammed into the smaller & lighter Scout frame) to a record speed of 135.58 mph on the Rosamond Dry Lake north of Los Angeles. It’s a record that still stands for an unstreamlined, normally aspirated 80 cubic inch displacement Indian motorycle. After retiring from competition in the late-1970s, Bubeck continued to be active in motorcycling, doing everything from restoring classic Indian motorcycles to sponsoring antique motorcycle meetings.

One of Bubeck’s most popular wins came in 1950 aboard the new Indian Warrior. That year, he won the Cactus Derby, a long-distance desert race and mountain race originated in Riverside, California. The race was unique in that it started at midnight. That year, Bubeck’s bike lost its lighting barely an hour into the race. He managed to continue by riding with other riders and using their lights. A few times he lost touch with the other riders and rode in complete darkness. In that same event, a long, slow-moving freight train was blocking a crossing. Bubeck sped ahead of the train and crossed the tracks so as to not lose too much time. Despite the darkness, the trains and riding a supposedly uncompetitive bike, Bubeck still managed to win the event. It went down as one of the most memorable victories in his career.

Being born in the LA area was a very fortunate happening for me. By 1933 at age 15, I already had my first motorcycle, a 1930 101 Scout. It wasn’t long before I got acquainted with the local “hounds,” as we were known then, and every week end we would be off to some event, usually a TT race, field event, or beer bust.

One of the favorite spots was about 15 miles east of LA at Sam Parriots’ in Puente Ranch. The LA 45 Club put on steak feeds and field meets at least twice a year and one of the big attractions was a straight, blacktop road that ran for a mile, then made a dogleg turn to the right, then left and up a hill. This was known as the Puente Strip.

By 1937, we would convene our motorcycles in “drag outs” or speed runs at least once a month on early Saturday mornings before there was any traffic. By 1939, Frank Christian had built an electric-eye timing clock so we could get accurate times. This was a great help to the local racers and speed-trialers to check their machines for performance. It was in October of 1941 and I left home early Saturday morning on my ‘39 Indian Four, headed for Puente. The route was east on Valley Blvd to Fifth Street, in Puente, a right turn across some railroad tracks, then a left turn onto the strip.

As I came around the corner at about 30mph, I saw three machines just starting on a run. The one on the left was Ed Kretz on his #38 Sport Scout race bike, and the others were a couple of Harleys. I thought, why not see if I could catch them, so I pulled the Four back into second gear and got on it. I was gaining on all three, and soon passed the Harleys but Kretz was still ahead. I was slightly to the left of him and my front wheel was along side his rear wheel, both of us still in second at 75mph. Ed looked over his right shoulder, saw the Harleys behind him, snapped into high gear and laid down on the Scout. I did the same on my Four and the Scout started to pull away at 90mph. So I edged into his draft about three feet behind and managed to stay there at over 100mph. The immediate reaction after clearing the timing traps was to sit up and get on the brakes because that dogleg was pretty sharp at that speed.

So Kretz did the usual and turned around to see how far ahead he was of the Harleys. I still laugh when I think of the look on his face when he saw me three feet behind him! His eyes bugged out and almost pushed his goggles off! As we slowed, I came alongside of him and he said, :Where did you come from?” I said, “I was there all the time.” My speedometer stop-hand read 114mph and when we got back to the timer, we found out we had hit 112.50mph.

I later took the Four through at 108.43mph, without the benefit of the draft—this was just as I rode it on the streets—headlights, fenders, saddlebags, the works. Sam Parriot tried to talk me into talking off the extra garbage and trying again, but I was happy with that speed. Remember—this was 1941, when few machines would clock an honest 100mph.

Kretz asked me to take his Scout through and see what I could get out of it, as I was about 40 pounds lighter. It clocked exactly 112.50mph with me on it, too. This was the week before the big 200 mile race at Oakland. Kretz had the best qualifying time at 94mph on the very rough one mile track, paved with a low bank on the turns. Kretz, of course, had the pole and at the end of the first lap had a 200 foot lead, which kept increasing every lap until he lapped the second-place rider on the 32nd lap.

Soon after that, there was a very bad accident in the south turn, which resulted in two deaths and several others taken out of the race. How Ed didn’t go down is a miracle of some sort. Movies taken of the accident make you shake your head in wonder that Kretz didn’t end up in the pile of motorcycles sliding into the fence. Later, when asked how he got through, Ed said he closed his eyes and held on. Anyway, Ed managed to get through the mess without going down and lead until the 117th lap, when his front chain broke and put him out of the race. Front chains weren’t supposed to break on Indians with the oil bath but his did. I guess Indian must’ve gotten a batch of bad chains, improperly heat-treated.

Those were great days! As well as riding my ‘39 Four on the streets and on trips, I also rode the Four in cross-country events like the Greenhorn 500-miler. I had the privilege of travelling with Ed Kretz, and sometimes Jimmy Kelly another good Indian rider. We usually piled into the car late on Saturday, and drove long, hard, and late at night to make some Sunday racemeet at some distance from LA. Many were the pranks and jokes. The world was our playground and we would never grow old.

–Max Bubeck as told to Jerry Hatfield in 2000.