Epic ‘Wind’ marks its birthday
Atlanta had seen nothing like it since the city was burned to
the ground 75 years earlier, and people from miles around had come
for the three-day observance.
Epic ‘Wind’ marks its birthday
Atlanta had seen nothing like it since the city was burned to the ground 75 years earlier, and people from miles around had come for the three-day observance.
It was the premiere showing of the Civil War epic, “Gone With the Wind” in mid-December 1939, and many of its stars were on hand for the long-awaited movie.
Barely noticed among Hollywood stars like Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh and Olivia de Havilland was Margaret Mitchell, the shy newswoman whose only book had been on the best-seller list for more than three years. Clark Gable, the rakish Rhett Butler of the movie, and Vivian Leigh, who won the role of Scarlett O’Hara for which dozens of established leading ladies had competed, signed autographs and smiled for photographers until they were exhausted.
Gable was there with wife Carol Lombard, and Miss Leigh was escorted by future husband Laurence Olivier. Olivia de Havilland also accommodated autograph seekers, but missing was Leslie Howard, who portrayed Ashley Wilkes in the movie. He had left for his native England to offer his services in the war that had begin with Germany three months earlier.
Although the epic was hailed by most Americans, some civil rights group boycotted the film because it had glossed over the institution of slavery and had made most of the black actors in it comic characters.
Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, with important supporting roles, had not come because their skin color would have barred then from the segregated theater. Ironically, Ms. McDaniel became the first black person to win an Academy Award the following spring as best supporting actress in the film.
Ann Rutherford visited some former Confederate soldiers in a convalescent home and smiled for the cameras as one nonagenarian kissed her on the cheek. She had played Carreen O’Hara in the film but was already well known because of her recurring role in the popular Andy Hardy series.
The stars attended many programs given in their honor by many church groups. They smiled and applauded as youngsters sang “Dixie” and smiled and applauded some more when moppets tap-danced and read their own poetry about the visitors.
The film is thought to be the most widely viewed one in the world and is ranked with the best ever made. Of its four major stars, Olivia De Havilland, who portrayed Melanie Wilkes, at 91 is the only one still living although her character was the only one of the lead roles to die in the film.
Most of the Atlantans of 1939 have since died. One native Georgian who took part in his church’s ceremonies is still living. Jimmy Carter became president of the United States, and his morality and legislation helped narrow the gap between the two races.
Another boy who sang there with the choir of his father’s church did even more. The late Martin Luther King Jr. is venerated along side Abraham Lincoln as being in the first rank of civil rights leaders in the nation’s history.
