FROM DEAN'S PERSPECTIVE: James Dean 's terrible eyesight was partly responsible for his image of being cold and aloof but it also made him a better actor, says Dennis Hopper . In the November issue of Mirabella magazine, Hopper recalls sitting with Dean and Natalie Wood in the Warner Bros. commisary when Dick Davalos , Dean's co-star in 'East of Eden,' joined them. 'I thought Jimmy was being very rude to Davalos,' Hopper says. 'He didn't say hello and didn't acknowledge his presence. When Dick started a conversation with Natalie, Jimmy said, 'Davalos, is that you?' Dick said, 'Yeah, it's me,' sarcastically. Jimmy ... got up and hugged him. 'I couldn't see you man, I left my glasses in the trailer.'' Hopper, who worked with Dean in 'Giant' and 'Rebel Without a Cause,' says Dean could barely see 4 feet in front of him but considered his poor vision to be a professional blessing because 'as an actor he had to imagine everything that was happening beyond that point.'NEWLN:
HOOKER ON RACE: Venerable blues singer John Lee Hooker says people could learn something about race relations from the animal kingdom. 'Human beings can be worse than animals,' he says. 'Cows and horses don't care what color they are. ... My band is all white and I think of them by their talent, not by the color of their skin or their hair.' Blues and rock stars like Bo Diddley , Willie Dixon , Bonnie Raitt , Gregg Allman , Joe Cocker , Huey Lewis , Johnny Winter and James Cotton gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday night for a tribute to Hooker. Proceeds from the show will go to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Miss., hometown of Hooker and Muddy Waters .NEWLN:
NEW KIDS MONEY: The battle for control of the New Kids on the Block rages on. A judge ordered Maurice Starr , the guiding force behind the teen singing sensations, not to spend his profits from the group except those needed for living and business expenses until a dispute between Starr and Jeffrey Furst , a Brookline, Mass., entrepreneur, is settled. Furst claims he and James Martorano , a convicted loanshark and racketeer, loaned Starr $137,000 in exchange for a share in the New Kids and says he needs the money to pay his debts. Starr claims there never was such an agreement.NEWLN:
GLIMPSES: Paul Newman is making a liquid contribution to the U.S. effort in the Middle East. He's sending 47,000 gallons of his Newman's Own Old Fashioned Virgin Lemonade to quench the thirst of the troops in Saudi Arabia ... Vice President Dan Quayle makes his sitcom debut Nov. 5 on CBS's 'Major Dad.' Quayle taped his cameo in his office Monday and Marine Corps Commandant Alfred M. Gray also will appear as himself on the show. The guest shots tie in with the 215th anniversary of the corps this year ... Communications mogul Rupert Murdoch will discuss how he built his publishing and television empires in his upcoming autobiography. Random House just bought the U.S. and Canada rights to the book from a British publisher.
