Gone with the Wind (film notes)
Gone with the Wind
Theatrical pre-release poster. David O. Selznick demanded
that Vivien Leigh be given higher billing, so in later posters,
her name was billed right below Clark Gable's.
Directed by

Victor Fleming

Uncredited:

George Cukor

Sam Wood
Produced by
David O. Selznick
Screenplay by
Sidney Howard
Gone with the Wind by
Based on
Starring
Margaret Mitchell

Clark Gable

Vivien Leigh

Leslie Howard

Olivia de Havilland

Hattie McDaniel

Butterfly McQueen
Max Steiner
Music by
Cinematography
Editing by

Ernest Haller

Lee Garmes (uncredited)

Hal C. Kern

James E. Newcom
Selznick International Pictures
Studio
Distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (original)

Warner Bros. (current)

December 15, 1939 (Atlanta
Release date(s)
Running time
premiere)

January 17, 1940 (United States)

224 minutes

238 minutes (with overture,
entr'acte, and exit music)
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3.85 million
Box office
$400 million
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's
Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and
directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard. Set in the 19th-century
American South, the film stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland,
and Hattie McDaniel, among others, and tells a story of the American Civil War and
Reconstruction era from a white Southern point of view.
The film received ten Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary), a record that stood
for 20 years[1] until Ben-Hur surpassed it in 1960.[2] In the American Film Institute's inaugural
Top 100 Best American Films of All Time list of 1998, it was ranked fourth, and in 1989 was
selected to be preserved by the National Film Registry.[3] The film was the longest American
sound film made up to that time – 3 hours 44 minutes, plus a 15-minute intermission – and was
among the first of the major films shot in color (Technicolor), winning the first Academy Award
for Best Cinematography in the category for color films. It became the highest-grossing film of
all-time shortly after its release, holding the position until 1966. After adjusting for inflation, it
has still earned more than any other film in box office history.

Plot
Part 1
The film opens on a large cotton plantation called Tara in rural Georgia in 1861, on the eve of
the American Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara is flirting with the two Tarleton brothers, Brent and
Stuart, who have been expelled from the University of Georgia. Scarlett, Suellen, and Careen are
the daughters of Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara and his wife, Ellen O'Hara, who is of aristocratic
French ancestry. The brothers share a secret with Scarlett: Ashley Wilkes, whom Scarlett
secretly loves, is to be married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. The engagement is to be
announced the next day at a barbecue at Ashley's home, the nearby plantation Twelve Oaks.
At the Twelve Oaks party, Scarlett notices that she is being admired by Rhett Butler, who has
been turned out of West Point and disowned by his Charleston family. Rhett finds himself in
further disfavor among the male guests when, during a discussion of the probability of war, he
states that the South has no chance against the superior numbers and industrial might of the
North. The ladies retire to take an afternoon nap, but Scarlett sneaks out to be alone with Ashley
in the library, and confesses her love for him. He admits he has always secretly loved Scarlett but
that he and the sweet Melanie are more compatible. She accuses Ashley of misleading her and
slaps him in anger. Ashley exits as Rhett, who has been sleeping unseen on a couch, reveals he
has overheard the conversation between Ashley and Scarlett. Rhett promises to keep her secret
and Scarlett leaves the library in haste. The barbecue is disrupted by the announcement that war
has broken out. As the men rush to enlist, the ladies are awakened from their naps. As Scarlett
watches Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye from the upstairs window, Melanie's shy younger brother
Charles Hamilton, with whom Scarlett had been innocently flirting, asks for her hand in marriage
before he goes. Though she does not love Charles, Scarlett consents. They are married before he
leaves to fight.
Scarlett is quickly widowed when Charles dies from a bout of pneumonia and measles while
serving in the Confederate Army. Scarlett's mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta to
cheer her up, although the O’Haras' outspoken housemaid Mammy tells Scarlett she knows she is
going there only to wait for Ashley's return. Scarlett, who should not attend a party while in deep
mourning, attends a charity bazaar in Atlanta with Melanie. There, Scarlett is the object of
shocked comments on the part of the elderly women who represent proper Atlanta society. Rhett,
now a heroic blockade runner for the Confederacy, makes a surprise appearance. To raise money
for the Confederate war effort, gentlemen are invited to offer bids for ladies to dance with them.
Rhett makes an inordinately large bid for Scarlett and, as the elderly ladies murmur objections,
Scarlett agrees to dance with him. As they dance, Rhett tells her he intends to win her, which she
says will never happen.
The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg in which many of
the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Scarlett makes another unsuccessful appeal to Ashley while
he is visiting on Christmas furlough, although they do share a private and passionate kiss in the
parlor on Christmas Day, just before he leaves for the war. In the hospital, Scarlett and Melanie
care for a convalescent soldier.
Eight months later, as the city is besieged by the Union Army in the Atlanta Campaign, Melanie
goes into premature and difficult labor. Keeping her promise to Ashley to "take care of Melanie,"
Scarlett and her young house servant Prissy must deliver the child without medical assistance.
Scarlett calls upon Rhett to bring her home to Tara immediately with Melanie, Prissy, and the
baby. He appears with a horse and wagon and takes them out of the city through the burning
depot and warehouse district. Instead of accompanying her all the way to Tara, he sends her on
her way with a nearly dead horse, helplessly frail Melanie, her baby, and tearful Prissy, and with
a passionate kiss as he goes off to fight. On her journey home, Scarlett finds Twelve Oaks
burned, ruined and deserted. She is relieved to find Tara still standing but deserted by all except
her parents, her sisters, and two servants: Mammy and Pork. Scarlett learns that her mother has
just died of typhoid fever and her father's mind has begun to fail under the strain. With Tara
pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows she will do anything for the
survival of her family and herself, exclaiming, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry
again!"
Part 2
Scarlett sets her family and servants to picking the cotton fields. She also kills a Union deserter
who threatens her during a burglary and finds Union currency in his wallet, enough to sustain her
family and servants for a time. With the defeat of the Confederacy and war's end, Ashley returns.
Mammy restrains Scarlett from running to him when he reunites with Melanie. The dispirited
Ashley finds he is of little help to Tara, and when Scarlett begs him to run away with her, he
confesses his desire for her and kisses her passionately, but says he cannot leave Melanie. Gerald
dies after he is thrown from his horse in an attempt to chase from his property a Scalawag, his
former plantation overseer who now wants to buy Tara.
Scarlett realizes she cannot pay the rising taxes on Tara implemented by Reconstructionists.
Knowing Rhett is in Atlanta, she has Mammy make an elaborate gown for her from her mother’s
drapes. However, upon her visit, Rhett, now in jail, tells her his foreign bank accounts have been
blocked, and that her attempt to get his money has been in vain. As Scarlett departs, she
encounters her sister’s fiancé, the middle-aged Frank Kennedy, who now owns a successful
general store and lumber mill. Scarlett lies to Kennedy by saying Suellen got tired of waiting and
married another beau, and after becoming Mrs. Frank Kennedy, Scarlett takes over his business
and becomes wealthy. When Ashley is about to take a job with a bank in the north, Scarlett preys
on his weakness by weeping that she needs him to help run the mill; pressured by the
sympathetic Melanie, he relents. One day, after Scarlett is attacked while driving alone through a
nearby shantytown, Frank, Ashley, and others make a night raid on the shantytown. Ashley is
wounded in a melee with Union troops, and Frank is killed.
With Frank’s funeral barely over, Rhett visits Scarlett and proposes marriage. Scarlett accepts.
He kisses her passionately and tells her that he will win her love one day because they are both
the same. After a honeymoon in New Orleans, Rhett promises to restore Tara to its former
grandeur, while Scarlett builds the biggest mansion in Atlanta. The two have a daughter. Scarlett
wants to name her Eugenie Victoria, but Rhett names her Bonnie Blue Butler. Rhett adores her.
He does everything to win the good opinion of Atlanta society for his daughter’s sake. Scarlett,
still pining for Ashley and chagrined at the perceived ruin of her figure (her waist has gone from
eighteen-and-a-half inches to twenty), lets Rhett know that she wants no more children and that
they will no longer share a bed. In anger, he kicks open the door that separates their bedrooms to
show her that she cannot keep him away.
When visiting the mill one day, Scarlett listens to a nostalgic Ashley, and when she consoles him
with an embrace, they are spied by two gossips including Ashley's sister India, who hates
Scarlett. They eagerly spread the rumor and Scarlett’s reputation is again sullied. Later that
night, Rhett, having heard the rumors, forces Scarlett out of bed and to attend a birthday party for
Ashley. Incapable of believing anything bad of her beloved sister-in-law, Melanie stands by
Scarlett's side so that all know that she believes the gossip to be false.
At home later that night, Scarlett finds Rhett downstairs drunk. Blind with jealousy, he tells
Scarlett that he could kill her if he thought it would make her forget Ashley. He carries her up the
stairs in his arms, telling her, "This is one night you're not turning me out." She awakens the next
morning with a look of guilty pleasure, but Rhett returns to apologize for his behavior and offers
a divorce, which Scarlett rejects saying it would be a disgrace. Rhett decides to take Bonnie on
an extended trip to London only to realize, after Bonnie suffers a terrible nightmare, that she still
needs her mother by her side. Rhett returns and Scarlett is delighted to see him, but he rebuffs
her attempts at reconciliation. She tells him that she is pregnant again. An argument ensues, and
Scarlett, enraged, lunges at Rhett, falls down the stairs, and suffers a miscarriage. Rhett, frantic
with guilt, cries to Melanie about his jealousy yet refrains from telling Melanie about Scarlett's
feelings for Ashley. As Scarlett is recovering, little Bonnie dies while attempting to jump a fence
with her pony. Scarlett blames Rhett; Rhett blames himself. Melanie visits the home to comfort
them and convinces Rhett to allow Bonnie to be laid to rest, but then collapses during a second
pregnancy she was warned could kill her.
On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to look after Ashley for her, as Scarlett had looked after
her for Ashley. With her dying breath, Melanie tells Scarlett to be kind to Rhett because he loves
her. Outside, Ashley collapses in tears, forcing Scarlett to realize that Ashley only ever truly
loved Melanie. Scarlett runs home to find Rhett preparing to leave. She pleads with him, telling
him she realizes now that she had loved him all along, that she never really loved Ashley.
However, he refuses, saying that with Bonnie's death went any chance of reconciliation.
As Rhett walks out the door, she pleads, "Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"
He answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" and walks away into the fog. She sits on her
stairs and weeps in despair, "What is there that matters?" She then recalls the voices of Gerald,
Ashley, and Rhett, all of whom remind her that her strength comes from Tara itself. Hope lights
Scarlett's face: "Tara! Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all,
tomorrow is another day!" It ends with a silhouette of Scarlett standing under a large tree,
looking forward. In the distance lies Tara.
Cast
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Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
Clark Gable as Rhett Butler
Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes
Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy
Butterfly McQueen as Prissy
Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O'Hara
Barbara O'Neil as Ellen O'Hara
Evelyn Keyes as Suellen O'Hara
Ann Rutherford as Carreen O'Hara
George Reeves as Stuart Tarleton
Fred Crane as Brent Tarleton
Oscar Polk as Pork
Victor Jory as Jonas Wilkerson
Howard Hickman as John Wilkes
Alicia Rhett as India Wilkes
Rand Brooks as Charles Hamilton
Carroll Nye as Frank Kennedy
Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat
Eddie Anderson as Uncle Peter
Harry Davenport as Dr. Meade
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Merriwether
Mary Anderson as Maybelle Merriweather
Ona Munson as Belle Watling
Ward Bond as Tom, Yankee Captain
Cammie King as Bonnie Blue Butler
Mickey Kuhn as Beau Wilkes
Paul Hurst as Yankee deserter
Isabel Jewell as Emmie Slattery
Yakima Canutt as Shantytown renegade
Cliff Edwards as voice of unseen Reminiscent Soldier
(The credits in the film contain an error: George Reeves and Fred Crane appear as the Tarleton
brothers. Reeves plays Stuart, but is listed as Brent, while Crane, playing Brent, is listed as
Stuart.)
As of 2012, there were four surviving credited cast members from the film. Alicia Rhett (born
February 1, 1915), who played India Wilkes, is the oldest surviving cast member. Also surviving
are Olivia de Havilland (born July 1, 1916), who played Melanie Wilkes; Mary Anderson (born
April 3, 1920), who played Maybelle Meriweather; and Mickey Kuhn (born September 21,
1932), who played Beau Wilkes.
Production
Development
Before publication several Hollywood executives and studios declined to create a film based on
the novel, including Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Pandro
Berman at RKO, and David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures. Jack Warner liked the
story, but Warner Bros.'s biggest star Bette Davis was uninterested, and Darryl Zanuck of 20th
Century Fox did not offer enough money. Selznick changed his mind after his story editor Kay
Brown and business partner John Hay Whitney urged him to buy the film rights. A month after
the book's publication in June 1936, Selznick bought the rights for $50,000 (equal to $837,410
today),[4]:17 a record amount at the time.
Casting
The casting of the two lead roles became a complex, two-year endeavor. For the role of Rhett
Butler, Clark Gable was an almost immediate favorite for both the public and Selznick. As
Selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to borrow an actor from another
studio.[4]:19 Gary Cooper was Selznick's first choice because Cooper's contract with Samuel
Goldwyn involved a common distribution company, United Artists, with which Selznick had an
eight-picture deal. However, Goldwyn remained non-committal in negotiations.[5] Warner
offered a package of Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Olivia de Havilland for lead roles in return for
the distribution rights. By this time, Selznick was determined to get Gable and eventually found
a way to borrow him from MGM, which normally never lent its actors. Selznick's father-in-law,
MGM chief Louis B. Mayer, offered in May 1938 to provide Gable and $1,250,000
($20,638,298 today[6]) for half of the film's budget but for a high price: Selznick would have to
pay Gable's $7,000 ($115,574 today[6]) weekly salary, 50% of the profits would go to MGM,[4]:19
the film's distribution would be credited to MGM's parent company, Loew's, Inc., and Loew's
would receive 15% of the movie's gross income. Selznick accepted this offer in August, and
Gable was cast.
The arrangement to release through MGM meant delaying the start of production until Selznick
International completed its contract with United Artists and Gable became available. Selznick
used the delay to continue to revise the script and, more importantly, build publicity for the film
by searching for the role of Scarlett. Selznick began a nationwide casting call that interviewed
1,400 unknowns. The effort cost $100,000 ($1,651,064 today[6]) and was useless for the film but
created "priceless" publicity.[4]:20 Many famous, or soon-to-be-famous, actresses were screentested, auditioned, or considered, including: Jean Arthur, Lucille Ball, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan
Bennett, Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Olivia de Havilland, Irene
Dunne, Joan Fontaine, Greer Garson, Paulette Goddard, Susan Hayward, Miriam Hopkins,
Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Ida Lupino, Merle Oberon, Norma Shearer, Barbara
Stanwyck, Margaret Sullavan, Lana Turner, Shelley Winters, and Loretta Young. Miriam
Hopkins was the choice of the novel's author Margaret Mitchell, who felt Hopkins, a Georgia
native, was just the right type of actress to play Scarlett as written in the book. Unfortunately
Hopkins was in her mid-thirties at the time and was considered too old for the part.
Four actresses, including Jean Arthur and Joan Bennett, were still under consideration by
December 1938, however, only two finalists, Paulette Goddard and Vivien Leigh, were tested in
Technicolor, both on December 20.[7] Goddard almost won the role, but controversy over her
marriage with Charlie Chaplin caused Selznick to change his mind.[4]:20
Selznick had been quietly considering Vivien Leigh, a young English actress who was still little
known in America, for the role of Scarlett since February 1938 when Selznick saw her in Fire
Over England and A Yank at Oxford. Leigh's American agent was the London representative of
the Myron Selznick talent agency (headed by David Selznick's brother, one of the owners of
Selznick International), and she had requested in February that her name be submitted for
consideration as Scarlett. By the summer of 1938 the Selznicks were negotiating with Alexander
Korda, to whom Leigh was under contract, for her services later that year.[8] But, for publicity
reasons, David arranged to meet her for the first time on the night of December 10, 1938, when
the burning of Atlanta was filmed.[4]:20 The story was invented for the press that Leigh and
Laurence Olivier were just visiting the studio as guests of Myron Selznick, who was also
Olivier's agent and that Leigh was in Hollywood hoping for a part in Olivier's current movie,
Wuthering Heights. In a letter to his wife two days later, Selznick admitted that Leigh was "the
Scarlett dark horse", and after a series of screen tests, her casting was announced on January 13,
1939. Just before the shooting of the film, Selznick informed Ed Sullivan: "Scarlett O'Hara's
parents were French and Irish. Identically, Miss Leigh's parents are French and Irish."[9]
Screenplay
Of original screenplay writer Sidney Howard, film historian Joanne Yeck writes, "reducing the
intricacies of Gone with the Wind's epic dimensions was a herculean task ... and Howard's first
submission was far too long, and would have required at least six hours of film; ... [producer]
Selznick wanted Howard to remain on the set to make revisions...but Howard refused to leave
New England [and] as a result, revisions were handled by a host of local writers, including Ben
Hecht..."[10]
Selznick replaced the director George Cukor three weeks into filming and then had the script
rewritten. He sought out Victor Fleming, who, at the time, was directing The Wizard of Oz.
Fleming was dissatisfied with the script, so Selznick brought in famed writer Ben Hecht to
rewrite the entire screenplay within five days."[11] The popular play Moonlight and Magnolias by
playwright Ron Hutchinson, is about this dramatic episode when "Selznick literally locked
himself, Fleming and screenwriter Ben Hecht in a room for five days to completely redo the
script."[12][13]
By the time of the film's release in 1939, there was some question as to who should receive
screen credit," writes Yeck. "But despite the number of writers and changes, the final script was
remarkably close to Howard's version. The fact that Howard's name alone appears on the credits
may have been as much a gesture to his memory as to his writing, for in 1939 Sidney Howard
died tragically at age forty-eight in a farm-tractor accident, and before the movie's premiere."[10]
Selznick, in a memo written in October 1939, discussed the film's writing credits:
[Y]ou can say frankly that of the comparatively small amount of material in the picture which is
not from the book, most is my own personally, and the only original lines of dialog which are not
my own are a few from Sidney Howard and a few from Ben Hecht and a couple more from John
Van Druten. Offhand I doubt that there are ten original words of [Oliver] Garrett's in the whole
script. As to construction, this is about eighty per cent my own, and the rest divided between Jo
Swerling and Sidney Howard, with Hecht having contributed materially to the construction of
one sequence.
According to Hecht biographer, William MacAdams, "At dawn on Sunday, February 20, 1939,
David Selznick ... and director Victor Fleming shook Hecht awake to inform him he was on loan
from MGM and must come with them immediately and go to work on Gone with the Wind,
which Selznick had begun shooting five weeks before. It was costing Selznick $50,000 each day
the film was on hold waiting for a final screenplay rewrite and time was of the essence.[14]:199
Hecht was in the middle of working on the film At the Circus for the Marx brothers."[14]:199
Recalling the episode in a letter to screenwriter friend Gene Fowler, he said he hadn't read the
novel but Selznick and director Fleming could not wait for him to read it. They would act out
scenes based on Sidney Howard's original script which needed to be rewritten in a hurry. Hecht
wrote, "After each scene had been performed and discussed, I sat down at the typewriter and
wrote it out. Selznick and Fleming, eager to continue with their acting, kept hurrying me. We
worked in this fashion for seven days, putting in eighteen to twenty hours a day. Selznick refused
to let us eat lunch, arguing that food would slow us up. He provided bananas and salted
peanuts....thus on the seventh day I had completed, unscathed, the first nine reels of the Civil
War epic."[14]:200
MacAdams writes, "It is impossible to determine exactly how much Hecht scripted...In the
official credits filed with the Screen Writers' Guild, Sidney Howard was of course awarded the
sole screen credit, but four other writers were appended ... Jo Swerling for contributing to the
treatment, Oliver H. P. Garrett and Barbara Keon to screenplay construction, and Hecht, to
dialogue, so it would appear Hecht's influence was not insubstantial."[14]:201
Filming
Principal photography began January 26, 1939, and ended on June 27, 1939, with postproduction work (including a fifth version of the opening scene) going to November 11, 1939.
Director George Cukor, with whom Selznick had a long working relationship, and who had spent
almost two years in preproduction on Gone with the Wind, was replaced after less than three
weeks of shooting. Olivia de Havilland said that she learned of George Cukor's firing from
Vivien Leigh on the day the Atlanta bazaar scene was filmed. The pair went to Selznick's office
in full costume and begged him to change his mind. Selznick apologized, but refused.[note 1]
Victor Fleming, who was directing The Wizard of Oz, was called in from MGM to complete the
picture, although Cukor continued privately to coach Leigh and De Havilland. Another MGM
director, Sam Wood, worked for two weeks in May when Fleming temporarily left the
production due to exhaustion.[15]
Cinematographer Lee Garmes began the production, but after a month of shooting what Selznick
and his associates thought was "too dark" footage, was replaced with Ernest Haller, working with
Technicolor cinematographer Ray Rennahan. Most of the filming was done on "the back forty"
of Selznick International with all the location scenes being photographed in California, mostly in
Los Angeles County or neighboring Ventura County.[16] Tara, which for many Americans is the
iconic Southern plantation house, existed only as a plywood and papier-mâché facade built on
the "back forty" California studio lot.[17] For the burning of Atlanta other false facades were built
in front of the "back forty"'s many abandoned sets, and Selznick himself operated the controls for
the explosives that burned them down.[4]:20 Estimated production costs were $3.85 million;[18]
only Ben-Hur (1925) and Hell's Angels (1930) had cost more.[19]
Although rumor persists that the Hays Office fined Selznick $5,000 for using the word "damn" in
Butler's exit line, in fact the Motion Picture Association board passed an amendment to the
Production Code on November 1, 1939, that forbade use of the words "hell" or "damn" except
when their use "shall be essential and required for portrayal, in proper historical context, of any
scene or dialogue based upon historical fact or folklore ... or a quotation from a literary work,
provided that no such use shall be permitted which is intrinsically objectionable or offends good
taste." With that amendment, the Production Code Administration had no further objection to
Rhett's closing line.[20] This is also discussed in the documentary film, The Making of a Legend:
Gone With The Wind.
Music
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Overture – MGM Studio Orchestra
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"Weeping, Sad and Lonely (When This
Cruel War Is Over)" (1862)
Written by Max Steiner
Music by Henry Tucker (uncredited)
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Main Title – Tara's Theme
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Written by Max Steiner
"The Bonnie Blue Flag" (1861)
(uncredited)
Rhett's Theme
Written and arranged by Harry McCarthy
Written by Max Steiner
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Ashley
Music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
(1840)
Written by Max Steiner
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"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (pub.
1856) (uncredited)
Scarlett
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"Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Boys Are
Marching)" (1864) (uncredited)
Written by Max Steiner
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Music and Lyrics by George Frederick
Root
Ashley and Melanie Love Theme
Written by Max Steiner
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"The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)"
(1851) (uncredited)
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True Love
Written by Stephen Foster
Written by Max Steiner
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"(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land"
(1860) (uncredited)
"Go Down Moses (Let My People Go)"
(uncredited)
Traditional Negro spiritual
Written by Daniel Decatur Emmett
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"Katie Belle" (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Foster
Sung a cappella by Butterfly McQueen
Written by Stephen Foster
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"Under the Willow She's Sleeping"
(1860) (uncredited)
"My Old Kentucky Home" (1853)
(uncredited)
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"Marching Through Georgia" (1865)
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Written by Henry Clay Work
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"Lou'siana Belle" (1847) (uncredited)
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Written by Stephen Foster
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (circa
1856) (uncredited)
"Dolly Day" (1850) (uncredited)
Music by William Steffe
Written by Stephen Foster
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"Beautiful Dreamer" (1862) (uncredited)
Music by Stephen Foster
Played during the intermission
"Ring de Banjo" (1851) (uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
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"Sweet and Low" (1865) (uncredited)
Music by Stephen Foster
Played during the intermission
Music by Joseph Barnby
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"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854)
(uncredited)
"Ye Cavaliers of Dixie" (uncredited)
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"Yankee Doodle" (ca. 1755) (uncredited)
Composer unknown
Traditional music of English origin
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"Taps" (1862) (uncredited)
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Written by General Daniel Butterfield
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"Stars of the Summer Night" (1856)
(uncredited)
Music by Isaac Baker Woodbury
"Massa's in de Cold Ground" (1852)
(uncredited)
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"Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)"
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Written by Stephen Foster
(1850) (uncredited)
"Maryland, My Maryland" (1861)
(uncredited)
from "Lohengrin" Written by Richard
Wagner
Based on traditional German
Christmas carol "O Tannenbaum"
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"Deep River" (uncredited)
Traditional
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"Irish Washerwoman" (uncredited)
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Traditional Irish Jig
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"
(uncredited)
"Garryowen" (uncredited)
Traditional
Traditional
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"When Johnny Comes Marching
Home" (1863) (uncredited)
Written by Louis Lambert (Patrick
Sarsfield Gilmore)
"London Bridge Is Falling Down"
(uncredited)
Traditional children's song

"Ben Bolt (Oh Don't You Remember)"
(1848) (uncredited)
Music by Nelson Kneass
Poem by Thomas Dunn English (1842)
Sung a cappella by Vivien Leigh[21]
Release
from the film's trailer
Showing at the Queen's Theatre, Hong Kong in 1941
When Selznick was asked by the press in early September how he felt about the film, he said:
"At noon I think it's divine, at midnight I think it's lousy. Sometimes I think it's the greatest
picture ever made. But if it's only a great picture, I'll still be satisfied."[22]
On September 9, 1939, Selznick, his wife, Irene, investor Jock Whitney, and film editor Hal
Kern drove out to Riverside, California with all of the film reels to preview it before an audience.
The film was still unfinished at this stage, missing many optical effects and most of Max
Steiner's music score. They arrived at the Fox Theatre in Riverside, which was playing a double
feature of Hawaiian Nights and Beau Geste. Kern called for the manager and explained that they
had selected his theatre for the first public screening of Gone with the Wind. He was told that
after Hawaiian Nights had finished, he could make an announcement of the preview, but was
forbidden to say what the film was. People were permitted to leave, but the theatre would
thereafter be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls out. The manager was reluctant,
but finally agreed. His only request was to call his wife to come to the theatre immediately. Kern
stood by him as he made the call to make sure he did not reveal the name of the film to her.
When the film began, there was a buzz in the audience when Selznick's name appeared, for they
had read about the making of the film for over two years. In an interview years later, Kern
described the exact moment the audience realized what was happening:
"When Margaret Mitchell's name came on the screen, you never heard such a sound in your life.
They just yelled, they stood up on the seats...I had the [manually operated sound] box. And I had
that music wide open and you couldn't hear a thing. Mrs. Selznick was crying like a baby and so
was David and so was I. Oh, what a thrill! And when Gone with the Wind came on the screen, it
was thunderous!"
In his seminal biography of Selznick, David Thomson wrote that the audience's response before
the story had even started "was the greatest moment of his life, the greatest victory and
redemption of all his failings."[23] When the film ended, there was a huge ovation. In the preview
cards filled out after the screening, two-thirds of the audience rated it as excellent, an unusually
high rating.[citation needed] Most of the audience begged that the film not be cut shorter, and many
suggested that instead, they eliminate any newsreels, shorts and B-movie feature.
One million people came to Atlanta[4]:24 for the film's premiere at the Loew's Grand Theatre on
December 15, 1939. It was the climax of three days of festivities hosted by Mayor William B.
Hartsfield, which included a parade of limousines featuring stars from the film, receptions,
thousands of Confederate flags, false antebellum fronts on stores and homes, and a costume ball.
Eurith D. Rivers, the governor of Georgia, declared December 15 a state holiday. The New York
Times reported that thousands lined the streets as "the demonstration exceeded anything in
Atlanta's history for noise, magnitude and excitement".[24] President Jimmy Carter would later
recall it as "the biggest event to happen in the South in my lifetime."
Hattie McDaniel and the other black actors from the film were prevented from attending the
premiere due to Georgia's Jim Crow laws, which would have kept them from sitting with the
white members of the cast. Upon learning that McDaniel had been barred from the premiere,
Clark Gable threatened to boycott the event. McDaniel convinced him to attend.[25]
In Los Angeles, the film had its premiere at the elegant Carthay Circle Theatre. From December
1939 to June 1940, the film played only advance-ticket road show engagements at a limited
number of theaters, before it went into general release in 1941.[26] It was a sensational hit during
the Blitz in London, opening in April 1940, and played for four years.[27] It replaced The Birth of
a Nation as the highest-grossing film of all-time,[28] holding the position until 1966, when it was
finally overtaken by The Sound of Music.[29]
Later releases
Gone with the Wind was given theatrical re-releases in 1947, 1954, and 1961. The 1961 release
commemorated the 100th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and included a gala
"premiere" at the Loew's Grand Theater. Gable had died months before, but other stars from the
film attended. It was re-released in 1967 in a 70 mm stereophonic version, which is best known
today for its iconic poster.[30][31] It was further rereleased in 1971, by United Artists in 1974, by
Turner Entertainment and MGM/UA Communications Co. in 1989, and by New Line Cinema in
1998. The 1954 release was the first time the studio issued the film in widescreen, compromising
the original Academy ratio and cropping the top and bottom to an aspect ratio of 1.75:1. In doing
so, a number of shots were optically re-framed and cut into the three-strip camera negatives,
forever altering five shots in the film.[32] The 70 mm re-issue of the film cropped the film further,
to a very narrow ratio of 2.20:1. The 1998 theatrical reissue and the VHS and DVD releases
restored the film to its original aspect ratio. On November 14, 2009, on the occasion of the film's
70th anniversary, the film was re-issued in a new high definition transfer to the Blu-ray
format.[33]
The film has made $400 million worldwide in theater receipts since its release,[34] which Turner
Entertainment estimate to be equivalent to approximately $3.3 billion when adjusted to 2007
prices.[35] Other estimates place the adjusted gross between $3 billion and $5.3 billion at
contemporary price levels, making it the highest grossing film of all time.[36][37][38] After
adjustments for inflation, Gone with the Wind is also estimated to be the highest grossing film of
all time in the United States[39][40] and the United Kingdom, where it is estimated to have sold a
total of 35 million tickets.[41][42]
Television
The film made its television debut on the HBO cable network in June 1976, and its broadcast TV
debut in November of that year in two parts on NBC, where it became at that time the highestrated television program ever presented on a single network, watched by 47.5 percent of the
households sampled in America, and 65 percent of television viewers. Ironically, it was
surpassed the following year by the mini-series Roots, a saga about slavery in America. The film
was later shown on CBS. The film was also used to launch two cable channels owned by Turner
Broadcasting: TNT and Turner Classic Movies.
Sequel
Main article: Scarlett (TV miniseries)
Rumors of Hollywood producing a sequel persisted for decades until 1994, when one was finally
produced for television. It was based upon Alexandra Ripley's novel Scarlett, itself a sequel to
Mitchell's book. Both the book and the mini-series were met with mixed reviews. In the TV
version, British actors played both key roles: Welsh-born actor Timothy Dalton played Rhett
while Manchester-born Joanne Whalley played Scarlett. Original plans were used for the
reconstruction of a replica of the original Tara set in Charleston, South Carolina for the filming.
Legacy
Photograph of First Archivist of the United States R. D. W. Connor receiving the film Gone with
the Wind from Senator George of Georgia and Loew's Eastern Division Manager Carter Barron,
1941
In an attempt to draw upon his company's profits, but to pay capital gain tax rather than a much
higher personal income tax, David O. Selznick and his business partners liquidated Selznick
International Pictures over a three-year period in the early 1940s. As part of the liquidation,
Selznick sold his rights in Gone with the Wind to Jock Whitney and his sister, who in turn sold it
to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1944. Today it is owned by Turner Entertainment, whose parent
company Turner Broadcasting acquired MGM's film library in 1986. Turner itself is currently a
subsidiary of Time Warner, which is the current parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
The film is the favorite movie of TBS founder Ted Turner, himself a resident of Atlanta.
In 1989, Gone with the Wind was selected for preservation in the United States National Film
Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant". In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it No. 4 on its "100 Greatest Movies"
list. In 2007, the film had moved to No. 6 on the 10th anniversay AFI best film list.
Rhett Butler's famous farewell line to Scarlett O'Hara, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn",
was voted in a poll by the American Film Institute in 2005 as the most memorable line in cinema
history.[43]
Leslie Howard's association to the screen character he most disliked, the winsome Ashley, later
obscured his solid contribution to the British film industry and his fight to break the silence about
the Holocaust.[44]
In 2005, the AFI ranked Max Steiner's score for the film the second greatest of all time. The AFI
also ranked the film No. 2 in their list of the greatest romances of all time (100 Years... 100
Passions).
After filming concluded, the set of Tara sat on the back lot of the former Selznick Studios as the
Forty Acres back lot reverted to RKO Pictures and then was sold to Desilu Productions. In 1959,
Southern Attractions, Inc. purchased the façade of Tara, which was dismantled and shipped to
Georgia with plans to relocate it to the Atlanta area as a tourist attraction.[45][46] David O.
Selznick commented at the time,
Nothing in Hollywood is permanent. Once photographed, life here is ended. It is almost
symbolic of Hollywood. Tara had no rooms inside. It was just a façade. So much of Hollywood
is a façade.[47]
However, the Margaret Mitchell estate refused to license the novel's commercial use in
connection with the façade, citing Mitchell's dismay at how little it resembled her description. In
1979 the dismantled plywood and papier-mâché set, reportedly in "terrible" condition, was
purchased for $5,000 by Betty Talmadge, the ex-wife of former Georgia governor and U.S.
senator Herman Talmadge. She lent the front door of Tara's set to the Margaret Mitchell House
and Museum in downtown Atlanta, Georgia where it is on permanent display, featured in the
Gone with the Wind film museum. Other items from the movie, such as from the set of Scarlett
and Rhett's Atlanta mansion, are still stored at The Culver Studios (formerly Selznick
International) including the stained glass window from the top of the staircase which was
actually a painting. The famous painting of Scarlett in her blue dress, which hung in Rhett's
bedroom, hung for years at the Margaret Mitchell Elementary School in Atlanta, but is now on
permanent loan to the Margaret Mitchell Museum, complete with stains from the glass of sherry
that Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, threw at it in anger.
Reception
Gone With the Wind received positive reviews at the time of its release, today being considered a
classic. In its original review for the 1939 release, Frank S Nuget from the New York Times
praised it, especially the casting, writing that "Mr. Selznick's film is a handsome, scrupulous and
unstinting version of the 1,037-page novel, matching it almost scene for scene with a literalness
that not even Shakespeare or Dickens were accorded in Hollywood, casting it so brilliantly one
would have to know the history of the production not to suspect that Miss Mitchell had written
her story just to provide a vehicle for the stars already assembled under Mr. Selznick's hospitable
roof."[48] The Manchester Guardian, in 1940, criticized the length, but praised it overall,
especially the acting.[49]
With the 1998 restoration, Roger Ebert wrote that: "it will be around for years to come, a superb
example of Hollywood's art and a time capsule of weathering sentimentality for a Civilization
gone with the wind, all right--gone, but not forgotten."[50]
Racial criticism
Recent historical studies of the Civil Rights Movement have focused on the idyllic portrayal
(epitomized in the opening credits) of the Civil War-era South in the film. Professor D.J.
Reynolds wrote that "The white women are elegant, their menfolk noble or at least dashing. And,
in the background, the black slaves are mostly dutiful and content, clearly incapable of an
independent existence." Reynolds likened Gone with the Wind to Birth of a Nation (based on The
Clansman) and other re-imaginings of the South during the era of segregation, in which white
Southerners are portrayed as defending traditional values and the issue of slavery is largely
ignored. Hattie McDaniel's performance (for which she became the first black American to win
an Oscar) and Butterfly McQueen's have been described as stereotypes of a 'black Mammy' and a
childlike black slave (in the novel, the character of Prissy was twelve years old, but played in the
film by an adult). Malcolm X recalled that "when Butterfly McQueen went into her act, I felt like
crawling under the rug."[51]
Awards and honors
Gone with the Wind was the first film to get more than five Academy Awards. Of the 17
competitive awards which were given at the time, Gone with the Wind had 13 nominations. It
also was awarded the Greatest Film in History by the program Best In Film: The Greatest Films
of Our Time, which aired March 22, 2011.
It was the winner of ten Academy Awards (eight regular, one honorary, one technical).[52]
Award
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Adapted
Screenplay
Best Supporting
Actress
Best Supporting
Actress
Result
Winner
Selznick International Pictures (David O. Selznick,
Won
Producer)
Won Victor Fleming
Clark Gable
Nominated
Winner was Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Won Vivien Leigh
Sidney Howard
Won
Awarded posthumously
Hattie McDaniel
Won
Received a miniature "Oscar" statuette on a plaque
Olivia de Havilland
Nominated
Winner was Hattie McDaniel
Best Cinematography,
Color
Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan
This received the "Oscar" statuette
Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom
Best Film Editing
Won Received a miniature "Oscar" statuette on a plaque, replaced
with a regular statuette in 1962
Best Art Direction
Won Lyle Wheeler
Fred Albin (Sound), Jack Cosgrove (Photographic), and
Arthur Johns (Sound)
Best Visual Effects
Nominated
Winners were Fred Sersen (Photographic) and E. H. Hansen
(Sound) – The Rains Came
Best Music, Original
Max Steiner
Nominated
Score
Winner was Herbert Stothart – The Wizard of Oz
Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound
Department)
Best Sound Recording Nominated
Winner was Bernard B. Brown (Universal Studio Sound
Department) – When Tomorrow Comes
Award
Irving G. Thalberg
Award
Honorary Award
Technical
Achievement Award
Won
Recipient
David O. Selznick
For his career achievements as a producer.
William Cameron Menzies (Miniature "Oscar" statuette on a plaque)[53]
For outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of
dramatic mood in the production of Gone with the Wind.
Don Musgrave and Selznick International Pictures (Certificate)
For pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment in the production
Gone with the Wind.
American Film Institute lists







AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies — #4
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions — #2
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
o "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."—#1
o "After all, tomorrow is another day!"—#31
o "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."—#59
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores—#2
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers—#43
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)—#6
AFI's 10 Top 10—#4 Epic film
References
1.
2.
^ Awards for Gone With the Wind at the Internet Movie Database
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^ a b c d e f g h Friedrich, Otto (1986). City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20949-4.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0x8AFchW4JsC&lpg=PP1&dq=city%20of%20nets&pg=PA6#v=onepa
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^ Selznick, David O. (2000). Memo from David O. Selznick. New York: Modern Library. pp. 172–173.
ISBN 0-375-75531-4.
^ a b c Staff. Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2012. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved
February 22, 2012.
^ Haver, Ronald (1980). David O. Selznick's Hollywood. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-425952.
^ Pratt, William (1977). Scarlett Fever. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.. pp. 73–74, 81–83. ISBN 002-598560-4. In a memo to George Cukor on October 21, 1938, Selznick said he was "still hoping against
hope for that new girl." Memo, p. 184
^ Letter from David O. Selznick to Ed Sullivan, January 7, 1939.
^ a b Yeck, Joanne, Dictionary of Literary Biography – American Screenwriters (1984) Gale Reaearch
^ Keelor, Josette, Northern Virginia Daily.com, [1] Behind the Scenes, August 1, 2008
^ Moonlight and Magnolias pressconnects.com January 22, 2009
^ Hutchinson, Ron (2004). Moonlight and Magnolias, Moonlight and Magnolias", The Times, October 3,
2007.
^ a b c d MacAdams, William, Ben Hecht – a Biography, (1990) Barricade Books, N.Y.
^ Myrick, Susan (1982). White Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the GWTW Sets. Macon, Georgia:
Mercer University Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-86554-044-6.
^ Molt, Cynthia Marylee (1990). Gone with the Wind on Film: A Complete Reference. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Company. pp. 272–281. ISBN 0-89950-439-6.
^ Bridges, The Filming of Gone with the Wind
^ "G With the W", Time, vol. 34, December 25, 1939. "Record Wind", Time, February 19, 1940, specified
$3,850,000.
^ Robertson, Patrick (2001). Film Facts. New York: Billboard Books. p. 33. ISBN 0-8230-7943-0.
^ Leonard J. Leff and Jerold L. Simmons, The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the
Production Code, pp. 107–108.
^ "Soundtracks for Gone with the Wind (1939)". Internet Movie Database.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/soundtrack. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
^ "G With the W", Time, vol. 34, December 25, 1939.
^ Thomson, David (1992). Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-39456833-8.
^ Berger, Meyer (December 15, 1939). "Atlanta Retaken By Glory of Past" (PDF). The New York Times.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archivefree/pdf?_r=2&res=F50B11FC3E5A11728DDDAC0994DA415B898FF1D3. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
^ Harris, Warren G. Clark Gable: A Biography, Harmony, (2002), page 211
^ In February 1940, the movie was playing in 156 theatres in 150 U.S. cities.
^ "London Movie Doings", The New York Times, June 25, 1944, p. X3.
^ Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
^ Dirks, T. "Top Films of All-Time: Part 1 – Box-Office Blockbusters". Filmsite.org.
http://www.filmsite.org/greatfilmssummary.html. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
^ Gone With the Wind (1939). "Gone With the Wind Poster – Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery".
Impawards.com. http://www.impawards.com/1939/gone_with_the_wind_ver1.html. Retrieved July 15,
2010.
^ The American Widescreen Museum, Gone With the Wind.
^ Haver, Ronald (1993). "David O. Selznick's GONE WITH THE WIND." New York: Random House. pp.
84–85.
^ "Media Advisory: Gone with the Wind in HD at Cineplex Entertainment Theatres on Saturday,
November 14th". Reuters. October 28, 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS117574+28Oct-2009+MW20091028. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
^ "Gone with the wind (1939)". Box Office Mojo.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gonewiththewind.htm. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
35. ^ Miller, Frank; Stafford, Jeff (January 5, 2007). "The Critics Corner: Gone With the Wind". Turner
Classic Movie. http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/136727%7C0/The-Critics-Corner.html. Retrieved
November 25, 2011.
36. ^ Shone, Tom (February 3, 2010). "Oscars 2010: How James Cameron took on the world". The Daily
Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/7144424/Oscars-2010-How-James-Camerontook-on-the-world.html. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
37. ^ Will, George F. (June 26, 2006). "'Wind' captured change". St. Petersburg Times: p. 11A.
38. ^ "Highest box-office film gross – inflation adjusted". Guinness World Records.
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-10000/highest-box-office-film-gross-inflation-adjusted/.
Retrieved March 22, 2012.
39. ^ "Top Grossing Films of All Time in the U.S. Adjusted for Inflation". The Movie Times. http://www.themovie-times.com/thrsdir/alltime.mv?adjusted+ByAG. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
40. ^ "Top 10 Grossing Movies Adjusted for Inflation". Scene-Stealers. August 19, 2008. http://www.scenestealers.com/top-10/top-10-grossing-movies-adjusted-for-inflation/. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
41. ^ "The Ultimate Film Chart". British Film Institute.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/index.php. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
42. ^ "Gone with the Wind tops film list". BBC News. BBC. November 28, 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4049645.stm. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
43. ^ ABC.net http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1398449.htm
44. ^ Eforgan, Estel. Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor. London: Vallentine Mitchell Publishers, 2010. ISBN
978-0-85303-941-9
45. ^ Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1959, p. G10.
46. ^ Jennifer W. Dickey, "A Tough Little Patch of History": Atlanta's Marketplace for Gone With the Wind
Memory, PhD dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007, pp. 85–89.
47. ^ Murray Schumach, "Hollywood Gives Tara to Atlanta," New York Times, May 25, 1959, p. 33.
48. ^ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9807E2DA153EE432A25753C2A9649D946894D6CF
Movie Review Gone With the Wind (1939) THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; David Selznick's 'Gone With the
Wind' Has Its Long-Awaited Premiere at Astor and Capitol, Recalling Civil War and Plantation Days of
South--Seen as Treating Book With Great Fidelity]
49. ^ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/may/28/archive-gone-with-the-wind-1940 From the
archive, 28 May 1940: Gone with the wind at the Gaiety / Originally published in the Manchester
Guardian on 28 May 1940]
50. ^ Gone With the Wind (1939)
51. ^ 'America, Empire of Liberty', D J Reynolds, p. 241-2; 'Making Whiteness', Grace Elizabeth Hale, p. 52
52. ^ "The 12th Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org.
http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/12th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
53. ^ Newsreel footage of Menzies receiving award, seen in The Making of Gone With the Wind (1988).
Notes
1. ^ From a private letter from journalist and on-set technical advisor Susan Myrick to Margaret
Mitchell in February 1939:
George [Cukor] finally told me all about it. He hated [leaving the production] very much he said
but he could not do otherwise. In effect he said he is an honest craftsman and he cannot do a job
unless he knows it is a good job and he feels the present job is not right. For days, he told me he
has looked at the rushes and felt he was failing... the thing did not click as it should. Gradually he
became convinced that the script was the trouble... David [Selznick], himself, thinks HE is
writing the script... And George has continually taken script from day to day, compared the
[Oliver] Garrett-Selznick version with the [Sidney] Howard, groaned and tried to change some
parts back to the Howard script. But he seldom could do much with the scene... So George just
told David he would not work any longer if the script was not better and he wanted the Howard
script back. David told George he was a director—not an author and he (David) was the producer
and the judge of what is a good script... George said he was a director and a damn good one and
he would not let his name go out over a lousy picture... And bull-headed David said "OK get
out!"
Myrick, Susan (1982). White Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the GWTW Sets. Macon,
Georgia: Mercer University Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-86554-044-6. Selznick had already been
unhappy with Cukor ("a very expensive luxury") for not being more receptive to directing other
Selznick assignments, even though Cukor had remained on salary since early 1937. In a
confidential memo written in September 1938, Selznick flirted with the idea of replacing him
with Victor Fleming. (Memo from David O. Selznick, 179–180.) Louis B. Mayer had been trying
to have Cukor replaced with an MGM director since negotiations between the two studios began
in May 1938. In December 1938, Selznick wrote to his wife about a phone call he had with
Mayer: "During the same conversation, your father made another stab at getting George off of
Gone With the Wind." (Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer,
pp. 258–259.)
Further reading









Bridges, Herb (1998). The Filming of Gone with the Wind. Mercer University Press.
ISBN 0-86554-621-5.
Bridges, Herb (1999). Gone with the Wind: The Three-Day Premiere in Atlanta. Mercer
University Press. ISBN 0-86554-672-X.
Brown, Ellen F. and John Wiley (2011). Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind: A
Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood. Lanham: Taylor Trade. ISBN 978-158979-567-9
Cameron, Judy; Christman, Paul J. (1989). The Art of Gone with the Wind: The Making
of a Legend. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-046740-5.
Harmetz, Aljean (1996). On the Road to Tara: The Making of Gone with the Wind. New
York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-3684-4.
Lambert, Gavin (1973). GWTW: The Making of Gone With the Wind. New York: Little,
Brown and Company.
Myrick, Susan (1982). White Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the GWTW Sets.
Mercer University Press. ISBN 0-86554-245-7.
Pratt, William. (1977). Scarlett Fever: The Ultimate Pictorial Treasury of Gone with the
Wind. Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-012510-0.
Vertrees, Alan David (1997). Selznick's Vision: Gone with the Wind and Hollywood
Filmmaking. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-78729-4.
Awards
Academy Award winner for
Preceded by
Jezebel
Best Actress and Best Supporting
Actress
Succeeded by
Mrs. Miniver