A book to celebrate GWTW’s 75th Anniversary! On October 13, 1939 Victor Fleming directed the fifth and final version of the opening porch scene. Vivien Leigh, fresh from a vacation, was well-rested and once again the beautiful image of sixteen-year-old Scarlett...
As I watched Gone With the Wind’s 75th anniversary theatrical release on September 28, I was struck by the gossip scene: Mrs. Meade tattling to Mrs. Merriwether about Scarlett selling lumber to the Yankees; Aunt Pittypat whispering to India Wilkes about Scarlett...
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...
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...
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,”...
