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Gossip Friday: Rhett Can Ride
From March 1940: Clark Gable proved that if he ever gets tired of romantic leads he can sign up as a hard-riding western star. Assigned to “sit out” a scene on a spirited black horse, Gable found the animal feeling too good to stand still. So, before the next take was ready, Gable galloped his steed up the road and gave it such a workout that it was glad to take a rest while the picture was being shot. The riding part was that of Rhett Butler in “Gone with the Wind,” David O. Selznick’s Technicolor production starring Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland and currently showing…
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Gossip Friday: Rhett on the Radio?
From April 1939: Latest bulletin from the Hollywood Front is that Cecil B. DeMille is dickering to present a radio version of “Gone with the Wind” on his regular Monday drama hour. And, by the way, they do some funny things in Hollywood occasionally. David O. Selznick spent thousands of dollars testing various candidates for the role of Rhett Butler…but Clark Gable, who was the first one signed for the picture, didn’t make one test! __ That never happened. Would have been quite the long radio program!
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Gossip Friday: Runaway Race for Rhett?
From February 1937: ...I note that Joan Crawford is gaining strong support for the role of Scarlett O’Hara, that Melvyn Douglas and Franchot Tone are threatening Leslie Howard’s lead in the race for Ashley’s role and that Clark Gable’s runaway race for the part of Rhett Butler is stirring up determined opposition. Those who want Clark can see nobody else in the role–those who don’t wax pretty savage in their counterblasts. As, for instance: “All I can say is ‘Heaven forbid Gable in the role of Rhett!’ and you can tell the horde who had the stupidity to choose him that they had better read the book over again. Such…
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Gossip Friday: Rhett Butler–A Menace to a Career?
From April 1940: I asked Clark Gable if he felt it dangerous to work so long in a single film such as “Gone with the Wind.” Fans forget easily. Will the role of Rhett Butler, no matter how colorful, be strong enough to hold Clark at the top, to overcome the long months of getting him on celluloid? Gable writes thus: “Rather than being too dangerous to work too long in one picture, I can say from experience that it is of definite value to an actor and makes for a superior film. There is no substitute for adequate and careful preparation. ‘Gone with the Wind’ proves this. From an…
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Gossip Friday: Gray and Blue Compromise
From April 1939: Clark Gable has about decided to wear a thin upper lip mustache with waxed ends for his role of Rhett Butler. His idea was to wear all black throughout the picture but he was talked out of it because the picture will be done in color—so he has compromised on grays and blues.
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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: 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: Snag Yourself a Scarlett Sweater
Gone with the Wind did not suffer from lack of marketing. Products sporting the film’s name were pushed upon the public long before the film was released; everything from clothing to perfume to candies to jewelry. In 1938, even before the film was cast, you could buy yourself a “Scarlett O’Hara sweater” that is “inspired” by the film: Or you could “Play the lead in Gone with the Wind” in this dress: As the film was in production and released, the marketing hit a fever pitch and you could get your hands on Gone with the Wind jewelry: Or you could win it in a magazine contest! In case you’re…
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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:…
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Gone with the Wednesday: “Gone with the Wind Indeed!”
This week, featured is another article from the archive, Gone with the Wind Indeed!, Photoplay magazine, March 1937. This article is all about the pressing issue of casting the great civil war epic: Time was when you could call a man a rat in Hollywood and get yourself a stiff poke in the nose. But now what you get is–”Rhett? Rhett Butler? Well–I don’t know about that ‘profile like an old coin’ stuff, but I’ve been told I am rather masterful and–” Yes and there was a day when you could call a woman scarlet in this town and find yourself looking into the business end of a male relative’s…
