Selznick Advises on Gone With the Wind’s Distribution

On Saturday, September 23, 1939, producer David O. Selznick wrote a long letter to Nicholas Schenck, president of MGM and Loew’s, Inc., the soon-to-be distributor of Gone With the Wind. Selznick shared his thoughts about the film’s theatrical release. He encouraged...

Back to the Cutting Room for Gone With the Wind

Encouraged by the positive reviews from the Riverside preview audience, producer David O. Selznick and supervising film editor Hal Kern went back to the cutting room to snip more excess footage from Gone With the Wind. Scenes subsequently deleted in September 1939...

Riverside Reviews for Gone With the Wind

Following the Riverside Theater sneak peek, producer David O. Selznick had a fistful of preview cards that audience members had completed. He was thrilled with overall comments that were written on more than two-thirds of the cards: “Greatest picture ever made,”...

Gone With the Wind’s First Sneak Peek

A book to celebrate GWTW’s 75th Anniversary!By September, producer David O. Selznick was ready to preview Gone With the Wind. Because the film was not completely finished, he didn’t want to attract the attention of the press, so plans for the preview were super...

Sweating Gone With the Wind’s Small Stuff

In addition to using matte paintings, special-photographic-effects artist Jack Cosgrove also relied on miniature models for creating the virtual reality of Gone With the Wind. Cosgrove sweated the small stuff in these sequences: Ellen O’Hara’s Return to Tara: The long...