Gone with the Wind
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Gone with the Wednesday: Cut Out of The Barbecue
There are several stories that have floated around over the years of Clark Gable being at the outdoor barbecue scene set in Busch Gardens in Pasadena. Well, in the final film Clark isn’t in any of the outdoor barbecue scenes. Inside, yes, gazing up the stairs at future wives and having things thrown at him. But not outside. So what is he doing there, in full costume? Filming a scene that ending up on the cutting room floor, that’s what. There was a scene shot for the film, called “A Young Man Talks to Rhett,” in which Rhett converses with a heavily-whiskered man (listed in studio records as being played…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Celebrate the 75th Anniversary in Ohio with The Clark Gable Foundation!
Clark Gable’s home state of Ohio will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of Gone with the Wind this October! Patrick Curtis and Mickey Kuhn (toddler Beau and child Beau in the film) will be in attendance! Friday, October 3 at the Cadiz Country Club in Cadiz, Ohio: 5:30pm–Dinner, Play and Open Forum with Patrick and Mickey Saturday, October 4 at the Tuscarawas County Branch of Kent University Performing Arts Center in New Philadelphia, Ohio: 11:00am–Exhibits and Sales Tables 1:00pm–Forum with Patrick and Mickey 2:00pm–Auction of Memorabilia 4:30pm–Screening of Gone with the Wind For further information and to obtain tickets, contact the Clark Gable Foundation at (614) 942-4989.…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Vivien Leigh, Rhett Butler and I
Here is an article from Photoplay magazine in February 1940 in which Clark dispels some rumors about Vivien Leigh, his feelings toward playing Rhett Butler, and his marriage to Carole Lombard. Some quotes: On the challenge of playing Rhett Butler: “…my mind was preoccupied with Rhett Butler. He had me plenty worried, so worried that I didn’t want to play him. Don’t think that was because I didn’t realize what a fat part he was. Rhett is one of the greatest male characters ever created. I knew that. I’d read the entire book through six times, trying to get his moods. I’ve still got a copy in my dressing…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Clark Gable, George Cukor and the Rumor Mill
Ever heard the rumor that Clark Gable got George Cukor fired as the director of Gone with the Wind because George was gay and Clark had such an inflated ego he wanted his own friend Vic Fleming to diret him instead? I hash out the rumor in this post from 2012: Rumor Mill: Clark Gable, George Cukor and Gone with the Wind
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Gone with the Wednesday: The Stars Before “the Wind”
Let’s take a look at the stars of Gone with the Wind before they starred in their iconic roles 75 years ago… Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara) Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Wilkes) Ann Rutherford (Carreen O’Hara) Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara) Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes) Barbara O’Neill (Ellen O’Hara) Thomas Mitchell (Gerald O’Hara) and…a young Clark Gable (Rhett Butler)
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Gone with the Wednesday: Who’s That Girl?
Many people over the years have seen the above photo of Clark clutching hands and beaming at this random brunette woman in Atlanta and wondered, WHO is that incredibly lucky girl? The answer is…Mildred Hartsfield. William B. Hartsfield was the 49th Mayor of the city of Atlanta (and yes, that airport you transfer in everytime you fly Delta is named after him). He was mayor from 1937-1962, the longest tenure of any Atlanta mayor. He was in full support of hosting the premiere of Gone with the Wind , seeing it as an oppurtunity to show off his fine city to the world and therefore pulled out all the stops. He declared…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Portrait of Rhett Butler
Clark Gable hated taking publicity photos. He often said it made him feel like a ham. Gone with the Wind was no exception and after hours working on set he was subjected to several more hours of sitting under hot lights in heavy Civil-War era suits, grinning (or scowling) for the camera over and over. Let’s take a look at some of the solitary shots of Clark Gable (suffering) as Rhett Butler.
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Gone with the Wednesday: Vivien Leigh, Unafraid
A short little interview with Vivien Leigh from November 1939: When David O’ Selznick shortly releases Margaret Mitchell’s famous story, “Gone with the Wind,” a little English girl, born in India, will be under the guns of Hollywood. For the comparative newcomer, Vivien Leigh, landed the role every actress in the movie colony longed to play. Is Miss Leigh, the Scarlett O’Hara of the film, afraid? “Why afraid?” returns Miss Leigh coolly. “All that talk of hundreds of actresses trying for the part was publicity, a lot of it on the part of other studios. Actually less than a dozen made tests. Norma Shearer, who had considered the part, sent…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Olivia Knows…Clark is a Softie
Since Olivia de Havilland’s 98th birthday was yesterday (and yes, she is still alive and kicking in Paris!) here’s a snippet Olivia told a fan magazine in November 1939: Clark Gable is just an old softie. Olivia de Havilland made that discovery when she was working on “Gone with the Wind” with him. According to Olivia, (whose “Melanie,” they say, is something out of this world it’s so wonderful) there was an old worn-out horse, called “Marse Lee,” used in the flight-from-Atlanta sequence. The horse was so skinny it’s bones rattled, but everyone at the studio had definite instructions not to feed it as they had to keep him starved…
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Gone with the Wednesday: 75 Years of Frankly My Dear…
Seventy-five years ago this week, on June 27, 1939, Clark Gable uttered what was to be the sentence that followed him around the rest of his life and beyond–“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” June 27 was the the last day of principal filming on Gone with the Wind, and even though the film was not shot in sequence at all, it happened to be the day they filmed the very last scene. Here’s some trivia regarding that famous last scene and that enduring line: The original line in the book is “My dear, I don’t give a damn.” Producer David O. Selznick threw in the “Frankly” for…