The Making of Gone with the Wind
Published on 1. September 2014
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-292-76126-1 (ISBN)
Description
Gone With The Wind is one of the most popular movies of all time. To commemorate its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2014, The Making of Gone With The Wind presents more than 600 items from the archives of David O. Selznick, the film's producer, and his business partner John Hay "Jock" Whitney, which are housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. These rarely seen materials, which are also being featured in a major 2014 exhibition at the Ransom Center, offer fans and film historians alike a must-have behind-the-camera view of the production of this classic.
Before a single frame of film was shot, Gone With The Wind was embroiled in controversy. There were serious concerns about how the film would depict race and violence in the Old South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. While Clark Gable was almost everyone's choice to play Rhett Butler, there was no clear favorite for Scarlett O'Hara. And then there was the huge challenge of turning Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic into a manageable screenplay and producing it at a reasonable cost. The Making of Gone With The Wind tells these and other surprising stories with fascinating items from the Selznick archive, including on-set photographs, storyboards, correspondence and fan mail, production records, audition footage, gowns worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, and Selznick's own notoriously detailed memos.
This inside view of the decisions and creative choices that shaped the production reaffirm that Gone With The Wind is perhaps the quintessential film of Hollywood's Golden Age and illustrate why it remains influential and controversial decades after it was released.
Before a single frame of film was shot, Gone With The Wind was embroiled in controversy. There were serious concerns about how the film would depict race and violence in the Old South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. While Clark Gable was almost everyone's choice to play Rhett Butler, there was no clear favorite for Scarlett O'Hara. And then there was the huge challenge of turning Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic into a manageable screenplay and producing it at a reasonable cost. The Making of Gone With The Wind tells these and other surprising stories with fascinating items from the Selznick archive, including on-set photographs, storyboards, correspondence and fan mail, production records, audition footage, gowns worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, and Selznick's own notoriously detailed memos.
This inside view of the decisions and creative choices that shaped the production reaffirm that Gone With The Wind is perhaps the quintessential film of Hollywood's Golden Age and illustrate why it remains influential and controversial decades after it was released.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 279 mm
Width: 33 mm
Weight
2409 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-76126-1 (9780292761261)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Steve Wilson is the curator of the film collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He has curated several exhibitions at the Ransom Center, including Shooting Stars, a display of Hollywood glamour photography, and Making Movies, a major exhibition on film production.
Content
Foreword by Robert Osborne
Introduction
Spring 1936
Selznick International Pictures
Summer 1936
The Book Deal
Fall 1936
Who Should Play Scarlett?
Tallulah Bankhead
"With New People or with Stars"
Other Film Projects
Sidney Howard
"Stop Planting Stories about Hepburn"
Winter 1936
The Invasion of the South
The "Creole Girl"
The First Protest
Through Scarlett's Eyes
First Draft
Selznick's Theory of Adaptation
Spring 1937
Cukor's Trip South
Norma Shearer
Paulette Goddard
Summer 1937
The Bigelow Twins
Casting African Americans
Hitchcock
Color
Fall 1937
Choosing Rhett
Censorship
Winter 1937-1938
Jezebel
William Cameron Menzies and Lyle Wheeler
The Story Department
Don't Give Up the Scarlett Hunt
Bebe Anderson
Margaret Tallichet
Mercedes McCambridge
Susan Hayward
Butterfly McQueen
Marcella Martin
Summer 1938
"I Am Scarlett"
The Gable Deal
The Confidential Player
Walter White and the NAACP
"Try to Make This Gable's Next Picture"
Fall 1938
Lana Turner and Other Studio Stock Players
Winter 1938-1939
Other Film Projects
Wilbur Kurtz and Susan Myrick
"Dixie's Sacred Drawl"
The Burning of Atlanta
The Finalists
Casting Supporting Roles
Vivien Leigh
"Plunkett Has Come to Life"
Interiors
Script Doctors
"One More Will Only Confuse Us"
January 1939
Filming Begins
February 1939
The Atlanta Bazaar (Cukor's Version)
"The Negro Problem"
The Childbirth Scene
Victor Fleming is Hired-Hiatus
March 1939
The Wedding
Scarlett's Walk with Gerald
Twelve Oaks
The Atlanta Bazaar (Fleming's Version)
The Examiner
April 1939
The Evacuation
The Jail Scene
The Hospital
The "Klan Sequence"
Melanie's Death
Fleming Collapses; Sam Wood Steps In
Belle on the Steps of the Hospital
May 1939
The Search for Dr. Meade
Return to Tara
The Yankee Deserter
Rhett and Belle
"No More Babies""
The "Pull Back Shot""
Scarlett's Oath and Tara Cotton Field
Feeding Soldiers
Melanie and Mammy on the Stairs
Outside Jail; Atlanta Streets
June 1939
The Shooting Schedule Becomes More Chaotic
The "Hate Word"
"Frankly, My Dear . . ."
Bonnie Learns to Ride
Shanty Town
The Lumber Mill
"Bonnie's Death Ride"
Rhett and Scarlett's Honeymoon
The Paddock and Scarlett under the Bridge
Summer 1939
Bits and Retakes
Fall 1939
Music
Postproduction
The Fox Riverside Preview
Winter 1939
The Atlanta Premiere
Spring 1940
Wide Release
Appendix (Document Transcriptions)
Illustration Credits
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction
Spring 1936
Selznick International Pictures
Summer 1936
The Book Deal
Fall 1936
Who Should Play Scarlett?
Tallulah Bankhead
"With New People or with Stars"
Other Film Projects
Sidney Howard
"Stop Planting Stories about Hepburn"
Winter 1936
The Invasion of the South
The "Creole Girl"
The First Protest
Through Scarlett's Eyes
First Draft
Selznick's Theory of Adaptation
Spring 1937
Cukor's Trip South
Norma Shearer
Paulette Goddard
Summer 1937
The Bigelow Twins
Casting African Americans
Hitchcock
Color
Fall 1937
Choosing Rhett
Censorship
Winter 1937-1938
Jezebel
William Cameron Menzies and Lyle Wheeler
The Story Department
Don't Give Up the Scarlett Hunt
Bebe Anderson
Margaret Tallichet
Mercedes McCambridge
Susan Hayward
Butterfly McQueen
Marcella Martin
Summer 1938
"I Am Scarlett"
The Gable Deal
The Confidential Player
Walter White and the NAACP
"Try to Make This Gable's Next Picture"
Fall 1938
Lana Turner and Other Studio Stock Players
Winter 1938-1939
Other Film Projects
Wilbur Kurtz and Susan Myrick
"Dixie's Sacred Drawl"
The Burning of Atlanta
The Finalists
Casting Supporting Roles
Vivien Leigh
"Plunkett Has Come to Life"
Interiors
Script Doctors
"One More Will Only Confuse Us"
January 1939
Filming Begins
February 1939
The Atlanta Bazaar (Cukor's Version)
"The Negro Problem"
The Childbirth Scene
Victor Fleming is Hired-Hiatus
March 1939
The Wedding
Scarlett's Walk with Gerald
Twelve Oaks
The Atlanta Bazaar (Fleming's Version)
The Examiner
April 1939
The Evacuation
The Jail Scene
The Hospital
The "Klan Sequence"
Melanie's Death
Fleming Collapses; Sam Wood Steps In
Belle on the Steps of the Hospital
May 1939
The Search for Dr. Meade
Return to Tara
The Yankee Deserter
Rhett and Belle
"No More Babies""
The "Pull Back Shot""
Scarlett's Oath and Tara Cotton Field
Feeding Soldiers
Melanie and Mammy on the Stairs
Outside Jail; Atlanta Streets
June 1939
The Shooting Schedule Becomes More Chaotic
The "Hate Word"
"Frankly, My Dear . . ."
Bonnie Learns to Ride
Shanty Town
The Lumber Mill
"Bonnie's Death Ride"
Rhett and Scarlett's Honeymoon
The Paddock and Scarlett under the Bridge
Summer 1939
Bits and Retakes
Fall 1939
Music
Postproduction
The Fox Riverside Preview
Winter 1939
The Atlanta Premiere
Spring 1940
Wide Release
Appendix (Document Transcriptions)
Illustration Credits
Acknowledgments
Index