Gossip Friday: Rhett’s Command Performance

From January 1940:

When Clark Gable and his wife, Carole Lombard, got home from their exciting trip to Atlanta for the premiere festivities of “Gone with the Wind,” Gable sank into his favorite chair, sighed, grinned and exclaimed: “Well, Mrs. G., here we are at home–and isn’t it wonderful? Now I know how kings feel when they finally get into their private suites and pull off their trappings, after reviewing the troops, laying a cornerstone and addressing the populace.”

From first to last Gable has been doing a command performance. Frankly, he didn’t want to tackle the role of Rhett Butler. After all, the guy was a Southern renegade, a blockade runner and a general heel if ever there was one. Clark was smart enough to know it was going to take a bit of doing to convince his fans he was attractive and colorful, even though a first class rascal.  He is a modest actor, Gable. He didn’t feel equal to the role; he was afraid he would let the enthusiastic readers of Margaret Mitchell’s book down with a thud. 

Right here started the command performance. From the moment David O. Selznick bought the book, there was an overwhelming demand by a public which brooks no foolishness for Clark Gable to play Rhett Butler. It took Gable and his studio quite a time to decide that he must play the part, but once committed he didn’t spare the horses. If he were Rhett Butler in the minds of 10,000,000 people, Rhett Butler he would be to the rest of them, including the population of Atlanta.

He got the book out and read it again; he studied the script until it was disreputable that he had to ask for a new one; his bride gave him up as lost and Louis B. Mayer hated the thought of his top-ranking star, embarking upon a career as a scoundrel, a scamp and a scapegrace.

Not until he made his appearance at his second command performance–at the premiere of “Gone with the Wind” in Atlanta–was he at all sure he hadn’t muffed the part. He had to be treated like a king to feel like one. The upshot of his visit to Atlanta is just now getting noised around. It is safe to say that Hollywood has moved up to a first class rating in the South because of the naturalness, unaffected charm, graciousness and loveableness of Mr. and Mrs. Clark Gable.