STACK #121 Nov 2015

EXTRAS

FEATURE

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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

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.

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.

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.

Gone with the Wind: 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition is out now on Blu-ray, exclusive to JB Hi-Fi

NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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