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Live Fast, Die Young:
The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause
Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause by Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel
Rebel Without a Cause Christmas
In the original screenplay, Rebel Without a Cause was supposed to take place at Christmas instead of Easter. Screenwriter Stewart Stern believes that director Nicholas Ray changed it to Easter because "it was in California and it would have been difficult to make it look like Christmas."
Before Rebel Without a Cause Natalie Wood's most famous role was as a little girl who doesn't believe in Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street.
Jim Backus, who played James Dean's father in Rebel Without a Cause, was also the voice of the near-sighted penny pincher Mr. Magoo. In 1962 he did the voice of Mr. Magoo as Scrooge in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.
Rebel Without a Cause originally opened with a choir of children singing a Christmas carol, which then cuts to a lonely street where a man whistling the same song carries Christmas gifts (later changed to Easter gifts) for his family. He runs into Buzz (Corey Allen) and his gang, who beat him up as he shouts, "It's Christmas!" He drops his packages and a toy monkey falls out. This is the monkey that James Dean finds during the opening credits of the film. The rest of the scene was cut.
The Christmas carol the children's choir sang in the original opening scene of Rebel Without a Cause was "Here We Come a-Wassailing" A "wassail" is a raucous Christmas party. The word comes from an old Saxon toast "waes hael," meaning "Be of good health." Here are the lyrics of the song:

Here We Come a-Wassailing
Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wandering, so fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you, and to you our wassail, too.
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
We are not daily beggars that beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours' children whom you have seen before. Refrain
We have a little purse made of ratching leather skin;
We want a little sixpence to line it well within. Refrain
God bless the master of this house, likewise the mistress, too;
And all the little children that round the table go. Refrain
Rebel Without a Cause screenwriter Stewart Stern was also the screenwriter of 1978's A Christmas To Remember, directed by George Englund and starring Jason Robards, Eva Marie Saint and Joanne Woodward. It's about a boy who moves from the city to live at his grandparents' farm during the Great Depression. One Christmas he gives a special gift to the local church with the help of a mysterious stranger.
Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray told the story of the first Christmas in his film King of Kings, which depicts Jesus as a James Dean-like rebel in red. Some critics referred to the film as I Was a Teenage Jesus.
You want to see a monkey?

To hear "Here We Come A-Wassailing," Click HERE