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Gossip Friday: Not Magnificent
From July 1939: Metro people who have seen some of the 16 reels of “Gone with the Wind” say Clark Gable dominates the picture. Warner-ites confide that Olivia de Havilland steals it. Selznick employees claim it’s a triumph for Vivien Leigh, who is in almost every scene. But nobody says it’s magnificent.
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Gossip Friday: Update on Scarlett
From July 1939: Hollywood–The movie capital has not been kind to Vivien Leigh, and Miss Leigh, in turn, hates Hollywood. Neither knows much about the other, but it is unlikely that there will be time for revision of opinions. When the last mile of film has been ground through David Selznick’s cameras, his Scarlett O’Hara expects to be gone with the wind. On January 13 (which fell on a Friday), when Miss Leigh was formally signed to the most coveted role in the most talked-about picture in screen history, Hollywood welcomed her with mixed jealousy and resentment, blank puzzlement about her qualifications, feigned pity for the difficulty of her role,…
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Remembering Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland, one of the very few classic-era actresses still with us, has died at age 104. Her passing will probably only merit two paragraphs in celebrity magazines this week, probably under the title “Gone with the Wind Actress Dies”—a title that makes me, as it would her, wince. Olivia de Havilland played sweet, doomed Melanie in Gone with the Wind, and ironically was the last to die of the principals of the film. But that is hardly the only film she should be remembered for. Olivia won two Oscars (for 1947’s To Each His Own and 1949’s The Heiress) and was nominated a total of five times–including her Best…
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Happy 100th Birthday, Olivia de Havilland!
A very, very Happy 100th Birthday to Olivia de Havilland! Usually when I am writing birthday posts about Clark Gable’s co-stars they are actually no longer with us. But Olivia is alive and well in Paris, and I hope having quite a celebration! She may be most commonly known as “mealy mouthed ninny” (as Scarlett called her) Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, but Olivia had a illustrious career beyond Melanie. Olivia is a two time Academy Award winner (The Heiress and To Each Their Own) and was nominated three more times. She starred in such classics as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Adventures…
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Gone with the Wednesday: 45 Atlanta Premiere Facts
1. Tickets for the premiere went on sale at Loews Grand Theater on November 18, 1939. 2. The premiere festivities lasted from December 13-15, 1939. 3. Ann Rutherford (Careen O’Hara) was the first star to arrive, on December 13. She was given the key to the city. 4. One of Ann’s first stops was at the Atlanta Journal newspaper offices, where she requested to see where Margaret Mitchell worked. She had her picture taken at the typewriter Ms. Mitchell used. 5. Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara) arrived on December 13, accompanied by Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Wilkes), Mr. and Mrs. Selznick and Laurence Olivier. 6. Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara) and Ona Munson (Belle…
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Gone with the Wednesday: On the Set
Photos from the set of 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: 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: Honor Page
Screenplay Magazine Honor Page, from December 1939: “Gone with the Wind” is the great picture of its time, as “Birth of a Nation” was great in its day. It runs for 3 hours and 45 minutes, It has an all-star cast and thousands of extras. It is all in brilliant Technicolor, with some scenes of breathtaking beauty, It’s always stirring and often thrilling. But you can’t describe this Selznick epic. You must see it in order to believe it. Three-star pictures are rare. In “Gone with the Wind” three performances are such absolute perfection in portrayal that all three must be given our award. Vivien Leigh reincarnates Margaret Mitchell’s headstrong…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Facts for Your Own Gone with the Wind Trivia Game
In 1940, Photoplay magazine supplied its readers with facts on Gone with the Wind so that they could play their own GWTW trivia game… Hollywood can talk of nothing these days but Gone with the Wind. It’s crept into every luncheon and dinner party until hostesses, in despair, have invented a Gone with the Wind game. Pencils and papers with questions to be answered concerning the mighty epic are passed around at every gathering. The one winning the highest score gets the prize. Why not try it at your parties, too? With [us] supplying all the answers to facts and figures, you can make up your own questions. Here goes:…
