A Question of Divorce and a Mysterious Breakfast Tray

On Monday, June 5, 1939, Victor Fleming directed Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Hattie McDaniel and Cammie King in the “Rhett Wants a Divorce” scene. Filming included the actions of Bonnie bringing a breakfast-in-bed tray to her mother; Scarlett finishing her...

A Drunken Rhett Threatens Scarlett

On Monday, May 29, 1939, Victor Fleming finished directing Rhett’s drunken clash with Scarlett in the dining room of their Atlanta home, hours after she returned from Ashley’s birthday party.   Rhett’s smoldering rage — “Observe my hands, my dear. I could tear...

Rhett Prefers to Take the Stairs

On Saturday, May 27, 1939, director Victor Fleming gathered his cast on the set of Scarlett’s Atlanta house for the second day of work on the “Row and Rape” sequence. With cameras rolling, Clark Gable seized and kissed Vivien Leigh violently at the foot of the...

Paddock Scene Do Over Doesn’t Do It

On Thursday, May 25, 1939, Victor Fleming, Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard regrouped for a reshoot of the paddock scene. Howard muddled his way through the dialogue, and Leigh stumbled through hers. She cursed herself this time. Howard yielded to discretion and uttered...

Leigh and Howard Clash in Paddock Scene

On Wednesday, May 24, 1939, Victor Fleming directed Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard in the pivotal paddock scene. Needing $300 to pay the taxes on Tara, Scarlett seeks advice from Ashley, whom she finds splitting rails in the paddock area. He has no help to give and...