Gone with the Wednesday: Marietta Celebrates the 75th Anniversary

This past weekend, I was among the “Windies,” taking part in the Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum‘s 75th Anniversary Celebration in Marietta, Georgia.

Three days of activities were planned and Gone with the Wind fans came out in droves…I met people from all over the country, from Italy, England and Russia. (Shout out to Kendra, Robbie and Marissa, who made the event so enjoyable for us!)

On Friday, we attended a satire play of Gone with the Wind called “The Wind Has Left,” with Patrick Curtis (toddler Beau in GWTW) as Rhett and Morgan Brittany (Vivien Leigh in “The Scarlett O’Hara Wars” and “Gable and Lombard”) as Scarlett. It was rather silly but it was supposed to be. Afterwards was a Q&A with Morgan, Patrick, Mickey Kuhn (Beau as a child) and Greg Giese (Beau and Bonnie as infants). Even though I have been to a few events with these four, they always manage to tell us something new and interesting. As a classic movie fan, I eat up Morgan’s tales of working with Alfred Hitchcock and Henry Fonda, and Mickey’s of Rosalind Russell and the set of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

Friday night was the costume ball and the Gone with the Wind fans came out in their Civil War-era finest, with hoopskirts everywhere and Confederate uniforms too. Dinner was served and there was an auction for who got to lead the Virginia Reel with the reigning Miss Georgia (Mickey Kuhn was the winner).

Saturday I attended the Author’s Forum, which included  several authors of Gone with the Wind-related books:

Kendra Bean – Vivien: An Intimate Portrait
Phillip Done – The Charms of Miss O’Hara: Tales From Gone With the Wind & the
Golden Age of Hollywood from Scarlett’s Little Sister
Anne Edwards – Re-release: Road to Tara; Scarlett and Me; Vivien A Biography
Susan Lindsley – The Bottom Rail; Margaret Mitchell: A Scarlett or a Melanie;
Susan Myrick of Gone With the Wind: An Autobiographical Biography
David O’Connell – The Art and Life of Atlanta Artist Wilbur G. Kurtz: Inspired by
Southern History
Sally Tippett Rains – The Making of a Masterpiece: The True Story Behind Gone
With the Wind
Doug Tattershall – Belle Brezing: American Magdalene
Marianne Walker – Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind
Gone With the Wind; The Graves County Boys
Victoria Wilcox – Southern Son: The Saga of Doc Holliday – Inheritance Book 1;
Gone West Book 2
John Wiley – Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey From
Atlanta to Hollywood (with Ellen Brown) New book release: October 2014

Kathryn Witt – Re-release: The Secret of the Belles

On Saturday night I accompanied some other fans to the Georgian Terrace Hotel, which was the site of the premiere reception of Gone with the Wind in December 1939. (Loews Grand Theater, where the premiere took place, was down the street and burned down several years ago).

Sunday was the autograph signing, where the celebrities and authors were all available to sign their books and pictures. We always man Patrick Curtis’ table and it’s fun to see everyone and be in the middle of the crowds!

There are more events coming toward the end of the year, so that isn’t it for celebrating the 75th anniversary!

More pictures of the event can be seen on the site Facebook page.