Thursday, January 15, 2015

Gone With the Wind-75 years

I picked this up about a month ago.  I love Gone With the Wind and I also love these Time Life magazines.  (I realized I now have a few in my collection).  My Mom and I went together when I was probably 13 yrs. old.  It was my first romance and exposure to the Civil War.  I have loved Civil War history throughout my life.   I had to remember the name of the theater which has been long demolished, where we went to see it.  The Jefferson, which  was on Jefferson Boulevard (makes sense) across from our historic Embassy Theater. It was located where our Grand Wayne Convention Center and Hilton Hotel is now.   
I located an image of it, the Grand Wayne Convention Center was built in 1982 and the last time this was open was 1978, from the information I could find. 
Here is my book, it is always on a prominent shelf on my bookcase.

Here is my DVD, along with it along with the movie I received a bonus disc.
It has a making of the legend-two hour documentary, with behind the scenes footage.
It was a 70th anniversary edition.


Anybody who knows GWTW knows this scene.

From the Time Life Book the call sheet for the first day of shooting. 
Interesting...

Vivian Leigh at the bottom and her stand in - Millicent Miller.  She would be in the scene where Scarlett is hiding from the Yankees in the rain under the bridge. 

Interesting items that I learned:
1.  Buying the rights to the book $50,000.00
2. It took 2 1/2 years to find the right actress to play Scarlett. 
3.  Actresses considered..Joan Crawford...Bette Davis...Katherine Hepburn..Barbara Stanwyck.
4.  Olivia de Havilland was 23 when she played Melanie Hamilton.  She is now 98 and living in Paris.
5.  Hattie McDaniel (Mammy) was not allowed at the opening in Atlanta because of segregation.  She was the first black woman nominated and winning an academy award. 
6.  Vivian Leigh died from TB at age 53.  Clark Gable enlisted in the air force in WWII for two years after his wife Carole Lombard died in a plane crash.  He died in 1960 at age 59 from complications of a heart attack.  Hattie McDaniel died in 1952 at age 57 from breast cancer. 
7.  It took 3 years to make the movie.

I know what I will be doing for the next few evenings. 

Thanks for stopping. 
 

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