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"  Fifty-four years to the day since his death, and I still can&amp;#039;t get his face out of my head. Sure, James Dean \u2014 fresh, unassuming enigma of cool \u2014 is dreamy and all. But James Dean \u2014 clich\u00E9d, posthumous brand of fridge magnet \u2014 has become a merchandising meal ticket.  According to Forbes, Dean&amp;#039;s image brought in $5 million dollars last year, and it&amp;#039;s not even his image anymore. This from an actor with all of three major movie rolls to his credit, from a guy who, if Martin Mayer&amp;#039;s profile from the December 1956 issue of Esquire is any indication, wouldn&amp;#039;t have cared much for being on a T-shirt: The studio shipped him to New York for the world premiere of East of Eden, but he didn&amp;#039;t go; he stayed in his hotel room. A few days later he was walking with a girl on Sixth Avenue and he said, &amp;quot;Hey, I&amp;#039;ll show you something.&amp;quot; He went to the Astor Theatre, posed under the big picture of himself, and made faces at passers-by, crooked his thumb at his own picture and yelled, &amp;quot;Isn&amp;#039;t that guy a crock o&amp;#039; (blank)?&amp;quot; Nobody recognized him, and finally an usher told him to leave; Dean laughed about it for half an hour. As a fellow Hoosier, I&amp;#039;m letting it go. Not the legend, nor the work \u2014 just the cheap souvenirs. The world is oversaturated with James Dean biographies, James Dean posters, and James Dean quotes. One more headline proclaiming &amp;quot;He could be the next James Dean,&amp;quot; and we&amp;#039;re never even going to recognize the next Heath Ledger (whose image brought in $20 million last year). So let&amp;#039;s recycle the coffee-table books and stop Tweeting the &amp;quot;Live as if you&amp;#039;ll die today&amp;quot; inspiration, shall we? Go Netflix Giant instead, and get that damn cigarette outta your mouth. RELATED LINKS:  THE ENDORSEMENT: James Dean and the High-Heeled Boot for Men PLUS: Giant Makes Esquire&amp;#039;s 75 Movies Every Man Should See "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6423/james-dean-memorabilia-093009/>