Changing Fortunes Revealed in GWTW’s Costumes

On March 13, 1939, David O. Selznick wrote a memo to Production Manager Raymond A. Klune concerning the dramatic use of color in Gone With the Wind’s costumes. The producer impressed upon Klune that the costumes should symbolize “the changing...

Curious Commonalities Between Gone With the Wind and Casablanca

This year marks the 81st anniversary of Casablanca, my #2 all-time-favorite film. This 1942 Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman classic appears on many lists of the greatest films of all time, as does my #1 all-time-favorite film, 1939s Gone With the Wind. Over the years,...

GWTW’s Script Saga

To replace George Cukor, Selznick approached Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract director Victor Fleming. Fleming was not interested in taking over the directorial reins of the troubled Gone With the Wind. At the time, he was manic with Munchkins on the set of The...

Myrick Dishes to Mitchell about Cukor’s Firing

On February 14, 1939, when technical adviser Susan Myrick arrived on Gone With the Wind’s set, she took one look at the gloomy faces of crew members, watched them whispering in small groups and realized that something was going on. She asked assistant director Eric G....

Clark Gable: Before He Was Rhett

Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to William H. Gable, a wildcatter in the oil-drilling business, and Adeline (Addie) Hershelman Gable, a farmer’s daughter. Sadly, Addie died nine months and thirteen days after her son’s birth. In April 1903,...