A book to celebrate GWTW’s 75th Anniversary!
To the surprise of cast and crew who were just getting used to director Sam Wood’s style, a recuperated Victor Fleming returned to the set in mid-May. Producer David O. Selznick decided to retain Wood to maintain the filming pace and to take some of the pressure off Fleming.
Fleming’s first order of business was preparing for the complex “Scarlett Searches for Dr. Meade” sequence with Vivien Leigh. In the meantime — on Tuesday, May 16, 1939 — Wood directed “Rhett and Bonnie in London” with Clark Gable, Cammie King and Lillian Kemble Cooper, who played Bonnie’s nurse.
In that scene, Rhett returns to his London hotel room only to find his darling Bonnie screaming from a nightmare. Angry that the nurse has left Bonnie alone in the dark, Rhett becomes further enraged at the nurse’s suggestion to “just let her scream for a night or two.” She makes it worse by stating that otherwise Bonnie might grow up “nervous and cowardly.” That does it for Rhett. He discharges the nurse on the spot.
Happy 75th Anniversary, Gone With the Wind!
Blog Bio: Pauline Bartel is the author of The Complete GONE WITH THE WIND Trivia Book (2nd edition), which will be published in spring 2014, and an expert on the film and its history. Visit the website (www.paulinebartel.com/resources/books/books-available) for further information. Follow her on Twitter @PaulineBartel and “like” her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheCompleteGWTWTriviaBook).