STACK Magazine November Issue 121

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026 NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
FEATURE EXTRAS
Southern belle. Thousands of young women from
offices, stores, beauty parlours, finishing schools,
stock theatres and amateur productions lined up
for the chance to audition for the most coveted
role in Hollywood.
Selznick’s only aim was publicity – and lots of
it! And that’s exactly what he got; the potential
Cinderella story kept his upcoming movie on
the front pages of the national newspapers for
months. While America went into a Scarlett
frenzy, Selznick quietly turned his attention to
the real search to find his Scarlett amongst
Hollywood’s established female stars.
Practically every eligible Hollywood actress,
from Tallulah Bankhead to Lana Turner, undertook
screen tests, but none of them captured the
character of Scarlett as detailed in Mitchell’s
book. Although Selznick considered Paulette
Goddard’s screen test to be the closest to the
character, he was still not confident enough to
cast her in the role.
Meanwhile, the huge sets required for the
production were to be constructed on RKO’s
massive 40-acre backlot, which was still littered
with old sets from previous productions (King Kong,
The Garden of Allah and King of Kings) that would
require dismantling. Selznick’s production manager
hit upon the brilliant idea of building facades to
represent Atlanta, placing them in front of the
old sets, and torching the lot at the production’s
conclusion. This would not only make way for the
new sets required, but at the same time allow
the major scene of the burning of the munitions
warehouses at the Atlanta depot to be shot.
On the night of 10 December 1938, seven
Technicolor cameras were set up and stunt doubles
of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara were placed in
a wagon to race through the flames. As Selznick
stood on a high rise platform and watched the
fire light up the Los Angeles night sky, he was
joined by his brother Myron, holding the hand of
a beautiful young woman. “David, I want you to
meet Scarlett O’Hara,” his brother said.
The woman was the British actress
Vivien Leigh, who was also accompanied by
her fiancé Laurence Olivier. According to
Hollywood legend, that’s how David O.
Selznick found his Scarlett O’Hara. The truth,
however, is somewhat more mundane.
Selznick had already heard of Leigh early in his
search and had watched a number of her films.
Believing she was exactly what he wanted, he had
kept her a secret because he was fearful that the
American public would reject an Englishwoman
playing a Southern belle. Consequently, Selznick
meeting Scarlett on the night his Atlanta burned
was pure hype, concocted and arranged by his
publicity department; the gullible, movie-mad
public and the media absolutely adored the story
and it quickly became part of Hollywood history.
Successful screen tests followed, and the vibrant
and dynamic Vivien Leigh won what is potentially
the most vexing vixen role in the history
of motion pictures.
With the cast finally in place, filming began in
earnest in early January 1939, but the production
soon threw up a tranche of major problems
on-set. Gable, who never wanted to play Rhett
Butler, immediately clashed with director George
Cukor over the character’s Southern accent,
which he refused to imitate. He also felt that
Cukor’s reputation as a “woman’s director” was
diminishing his part in the picture. Cukor was
replaced with Gable’s best friend Victor Fleming,
who wanted – and got – an entire script rewrite.
Popping Benzedrine every day, Fleming suffered
a nervous breakdown and SamWood was
recruited until Fleming was fit enough to return to
the director’s chair.
Vivien Leigh then went into a grand sulk.
She hated Fleming, who referred to her on
set has “Fiddly Dee”, and repeatedly requested
that Cukor be reinstated. Miss Leigh also
complained bitterly about Gable’s false teeth
and bad breath, and often refused to undertake
the kissing scenes with the actor. Gable had in
fact eaten a clove of garlic each morning to
deliberately annoy his co-star.
Leslie Howard, who played Confederate officer
Ashley Wilkes, commented later that it was the
most miserable and bad tempered production he
had ever worked on. Nevertheless, 12 months
later, Gone with the Wind – a film that had
been conceived in doubt – was finally delivered
and had its premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, on
15 December 1939. It was an immediate box-
office hit and went on to win ten Academy
Awards, including Outstanding Production (the
forerunner of the Best Picture award).
Gone with the Wind completely overturned
the axiom that “Civil War films are poison at the
box-office” and became legendary. Today, 75
years after it first hit the screen, it is still arguably
Hollywood’s most famous motion picture.
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continued
The beautiful Vivien Leigh
as Scarlett O’Hara
Below: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable,
Margaret Mitchell, David O. Selznick and
Olivia de Havilland arrive in Atlanta for the
premiere of Gone with the Wind.
Gone with
the Wind: 75th
Anniversary
Collector’s Edition
is out now on
Blu-ray, exclusive
to JB Hi-Fi