Victor Flemings influence on Gone with the Wind

The New Yorker has a great article, The Real Rhett Butler, about Victor Flemings influence and affect on the film Gone with the Wind.  In 1939, Fleming directed both Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.  The article discusses how Fleming drove Clark Gable to feel confident to play Rhett, and that David O. Selznicks various love-affairs gave him more insight into the female characters. Basically Selznick was Scarlett to Rhett's Fleming.  It's an interesting read, and provides more insight into the filming of the movie.

Picture of Fleming on the set with Vivien and Clark.

I Would Walk 500 Miles. . .

So how far did Ashley Wilkes travel to return to Tara, and the two women waiting there for him? According to modern maps it is 806 miles from Rock Island Prison in Illinois to Jonesboro, Georgia.  This is based on the current United States Highway system.  Since there were no real "roads" or direct routes, except to follow railroad lines, the miles Ashly walked could've been greater.   There is no mention if the prisoners were provided with any means of transportation after their release, either via wagons or trains, or if they received any rations or other supplies.  How Do We Run: A Gone With The Wind Scrapbook has a great article on Rock Island, including pointing out that Margaret Mitchell made the prison sound worse then it was.  

If Rhett Butler decided to travel to Tara after the war, he would have traveled 395 from Bennet Place in Durham, North Carolina to Jonesboro, Georgia based on the current United States Highway system.   He definitely would have fared better than Ashley, "After the surrender, Sherman issued ten days’ rations to the starving Confederate soldiers – more precisely he returned Southern food to Southern mouths – as well as horses and mules for them to “insure a crop.” He also ordered distribution of corn, meal, and flour to civilians throughout the South. . . . The final agreement was simply a military surrender with no civil guarantees. All acts of war were to cease. Arms were to be turned over to the union forces. Side arms, private horses, and baggage were to be retained by officers. All officers and men were required to promise individually in writing not to take up arms again."  Deo Vindice-God Will Vindicate.  In addition, some of the Confederate troops mustering out received pay,  "Portions of the Confederate Treasury were evidently handed out among the troops. According to Maj. G. W. F. Harper of the 58th North Carolina, “At Greensboro, the regiment was paid in Mexican silver dollars –one dollar and fourteen cents to each officer and enlisted man present.”  North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.    

I always wondered why Rhett did not return to Tara to check on Scarlett and Melanie.  Was it guilt about abandoning them?  Fear that Scarlett would remember his confession of love and use it against him?  Was it his vanity?  Did he not want to return looking like a defeated, ragged scarecrow? Perhaps a combination of all those things?  

Loves Music, Likes to Dance. . . .

"Oh, you waltz so well Captian Butler.  Most big men don't, you know."-
Scarlett O'Hara Hamiliton, p.133

The Atlanta Bazaar-

The event began with singing The Bonnie Blue Flag, an old Irish tune with lyrics written by Harry Macarthy.  The song tells of the succession of the Southern states in order.  A sort of national anthem for the Confederate States of America.

At the beginning of the Bazaar Scarlett is listening to Lorena, a song written by a minister and inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem Lenore

Rhett bid $350 in gold for "Mrs. Charles Hamilton" to lead the Virginia Reel.  The reel is more of a dance than a song.  In fact several lively tunes can be used for the dance.

When this Cruel War is Over is the song that Rhett requested Scarlett sing to him during one of their waltzes at the Atlanta Bazaar.  As noted in GWTW, the original suit was blue, but the South changed the color to gray.

The Victorian Dance Ensemble page has several interesting articles on Victorian balls and dances during the Civil War.   The etiquette for such events was very strict.  If a man, a stranger, came to a ball he had to seek out the "Floor Manager" to find him a suitable lady to dance with.  "The Floor Manager would quickly “size-up” the man based on his demeanor, clothing and language, and locate a suitable partner of the appropriate class. The man would then be introduced to the lady for the purpose of dancing only. Again, a lady was expected to accept such an invitation to dance unless she already had a partner or was fatigued."  It was also bad form to dance with the same partner for most of the evening.  Rhett and Scarlett broke most of the rules for public dances.  Bidding on a widow, dancing more than one dance together, and since most of Atlanta didn't know about the "library incident", appearing to dance with a complete stranger.

A Dinner Party During  a Siege-

Rhett's uninvited arrival at Aunty Pitty's dinner party featuring the old rooster caused some friction. Scarlett was sent into the parlor to play the piano for their guests to help alleviate the situation.

Her first selection Somebody's Darling stirs Fanny Elsings grief over Dallas McClure.  Scarlett is at a loss as to what to play next, till Rhett comes in and suggest My Old Kentucky Home, which they duet on.

My Old Kentucky Home was written by Stephen Foster, who also wrote such American classics as, Oh, Susanna, Camptown Races, and Beautiful Dreamer among many others. The song became the official state song of Kentucky in 1928, and the lyrics were changed from "darkies" to "people".  The Hidden Racial History of My  Old Kentucky Home states the song is about a slave being sold down south, where he fears death from overwork and ill treatment.

My Old Kentucky Home is the song that keeps running through Scarlett's mind as she trudges home to Tara, the day after fleeing Atlanta.  Her hope of putting down her "weary load" once she reaches home is shattered by her mother's death, Gerald's mental health, and the Yankees looting all the food and livestock.

Army Music-

The Library of Congress provides information on what army bands on both sides played in their Band Music from the Civil War collection.

Book Review-The Making of Gone with the Wind

The University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center is running an exhibit on The Making of Gone with the Wind through January 4th, 2015.  Although I would love to visit this exhibit, it is not possible for me, so I did the next best thing.  I purchased the exhibition catalog, The Making of Gone with the Wind by Steve Wilson.   The University of Texas press has it marked down from $50.00 to $33.50, plus shipping.  Which is a great deal for the book.  It arrived fairly quickly via UPS.

The Making of Gone with the Wind is a "coffee table" book.  Too big to fit on a proper bookshelf, it is large-sized, and full of photographs, memos, and other GWTW filming trivia to make a Windie's heart sing.  I have only skimmed it, but the best part of the book are the color, and black and white photographs of memos, telegrams, and other documents relating to the production of the film.  There are also plenty of photos of the cast, crew, and sets.   There is a detailed Appendix (Document Transcripts) which provides transcripts for most of the documents shown.  A nice touch, since the old typewriter fonts and smeared ink of teletypes make the print in some pictures difficult to read.  The book ends with Acknowledgements and an Index.

I have a few other titles on the making of the film, Scarlett Fever: The Ultimate Pictorial Treasury of Gone with the Wind: Featuring the Collection of Herb Bridges by William Pratt, and Scarlett, Rhett, and a Cast of Thousands: The Filming of Gone with the Wind by Roland Flamini.  The Making of Gone with the Wind has more production details and photographs featuring costumes and set design sketches.  Including concept watercolors and paintings for scenes in the film that were never used, or changed as the script continued to be written and edited.  I am looking forward to a thorough read of this book.  Overall, if you have the money to spare and are a huge Gone with the Wind film fan, it is a good book to own or add to any Gone with the Wind collection.

The Name Rhett and All it's Houses in South Carolina

What started as a post on the Rhett House Inn, through various internet links and searches ended up expanding into a sort of history of the surname Rhett and it's history in South Carolina.  Everything seemed to live up to the 6 degrees of separation theory.  So I shall begin with the Inn, and wander to where it led me too.

Thomas Rhett House

The Thomas Rhett house is located in Beaufort, South Carolina and is now The Rhett House Inn.  The Inn provides a nice history of the house, including how it came to be built and how it is associated with Rhett Butler in  Gone with the Wind,  "While many assume the name of the inn comes from the famous character Rhett Butler in the quintessential Southern film “Gone with the Wind”, the opposite is actually true. Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With the Wind”, named the character after the prominent Rhetts of Beaufort and Charleston and the Butlers of Atlanta. Thomas Smith Rhett and his wife Caroline Barnwell (one of the South’s most prominent families – a county in S. C. is named for them) Rhett raised their children under the main house’s roof, and lived here until the Civil War. However, Thomas was originally a Smith. As his uncle with the last name of Rhett neared death, the uncle promised to bequeath his fortune to any male nephews who would carry on the last name. Thomas Smith was happy to oblige, and so became Thomas Rhett."    They provide a longer history in PDF, "A Brief History of the Rhett House Inn, The Town of Beaufort, and the South Carolina Low Countries", if you want to read more.  This article includes flags, maps, and a brief history of the Rhett families in South Carolina, whom all seem to be inter-related.  Thomas Smith Rhett's married Caroline Branwell. The Branwells were another prominent South Carolina family.  "A Brief History" also mentions Margaret Mitchell's use of the name Rhett Butler.  The Rhett House Inn appears to be a lovely place to stay and Beaufort seems like it would be fun to visit for a history and/or Gone with the Wind fan. 

Robert Branwell Rhett House

Rhett seems to be a common name in South Carolina.  The Robert Branwell Rhett House is in Charleston, South Carolina.  It was built by James Legare who sold it to Robert Branwell Rhett. Robert was a seccessionist, and like Thomas Rhett, his last name was originally Smith, but Robert changed it to Rhett, after Colonel William Rhett, a famous ancestor.  Given Robert's middle name one wonders if he might not be related to the Branwells, and possibly to Thomas Rhett's wife Caroline Branwell.  Robert eventually sold the house in 1863 to George Trenholm.  Ship-wreck explorer E. Lee Spence claims Rhett Butler was based on a combination of George, a blockade runner and one of the wealthiest men in the south, and George's son who fell in love and pursued a young woman, Ruby Senac, across several continents.  The son's love was never returned as Ruby married someone else.  George and his wife Anna Helen Holmes had thirteen children.  Their daughter, Georgiana died as an infant, and later George named one of his steamships after her. The SS Georgiana was sunk by Union ships.  I've always wondered what the name of Rhett's blockade ships were.

Colonel William Rhett House

Colonel William Rhett, the ancestor of Robert Branwell Rhett, came over from England with his wife, Sarah and became a wealthy rice planter.  He also led flotilla's to fight off attacks on Charles Town, and later had 2 ships that were pirate hunters.  His house, the William Rhett House still stands in Charleston.  It was sold out of the Rhett family.  Wade Hampton III,  Charles Hamilton's Commander and whom Wade Hampton Hamilton was named after, was born in this house.  The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, published an article, "The Descendants of Col. William Rhett of South Carolina."  It's about 80 pages long.

The Aiken-Rhett House Museum

The Aiken-Rhett house, was not built by a Rhett and was not occupied by a member of that family till nearly 1900.  It does have a long history in South Carolina and is currently a museum.  Major Andrew Burnet Rhett, who married Henrietta Aiken, was Robert Barnwell Rhett's son.    The stairway in the Aiken-Rhett house looks familiar. One wonders if any of Selznick's staff or set-designers ever visited it.

Stair case in the grand hall of Aiken-Rhett house.

I always wonder if Rhett King Butlers', first and middle names came from family surnames.  When Cathleen Calvert relates Rhett Butler's sordid past to Scarlett, she says Caro Rhett, no relation to Rhett, told her all about the girl, and the stuff at West Point.  It seems Margaret Mitchell chose one of the most prominent South Carolina family surnames for her engimatic Rhett.  Which is in line with his character being from an old, revered, and proper family.  

Academy Award Trivia from WB

Still the highest grossing movie of all time.

Vivien's Eyes. . . .

Warner Brothers keeps releasing these fact sheets on Gone with the Wind for the 75th Anniversary of the film, and the special DVD re-release.  This one is on the search for Scarlett.  This fact sheet claims Vivien Leigh's eyes were blue, and that green dresses, make-up, and touch-ups in post-production made them green.  According to all that I've read about Vivien her eyes were green, and in fact she left her eyes to science when she died so they could study them, but scientist couldn't accept them, because she had TB.  I wonder if perhaps they just enhanced the color?  A quick internet search showed in most photos, not from GWTW, her eyes look green, but in a few they do look blue. Perhaps they were a blue-green.  Interesting no comments were made about changing Clark Gable, and Cammie King's eye color in post-production.  Rhett had brown eyes and Bonnie's were blue.  In real life, Gable's eyes were described as grey-green and Cammie's were brown. Interesting trivia tidbit, Cammie King was best friends with Judy Lewis, Loretta Young and Clark Gable's daughter.  

Walter Plunkett and his costumes. . .

A quick overview of some of Walter Plunkett's designs for Gone with the Wind.  At the time the movie was nominated for Academy Awards, there was no Oscar for costume design.  The category for Costume Design was added in 1948.  If it was around in 1939, I am sure Walter Plunkett would have won for his Gone with the Wind costumes.

Film Still from Gone with the Wind. . .

I came across this picture on Pinterest.   Love the image of "Melanie" and "Scarlett" both resting on the birthing bed.  Filming most have been exhausting for both of them as they are in majority of the scenes.  

NPR on The Making of Gone with the Wind . . . .

NPR has a brief overview of the "Making of Gone with the Wind" an exhibit at the Harry Ransom at the University of Texas in Austin, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the film.  They include tidbits about how the African-American community fought to keep the N-word out of the film, and the controversy over the casting of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.  

Book and Library Trivia

After finding this photo of Margaret Mitchell surrounded by foreign editions of  Gone with the Wind, I became curious about how many languages the novel was published in.  It is published in 75 different languages, and over 30 million copies in print.

John Marsh donated the typewriter and Margaret's book collection to the Atlanta Public Library. Margaret was a regular user and huge supporter of libraries.   The Margaret Mitchell Collection is located in Special Collections on the 5th floor of the Atlanta-Fulton Library System at the Central Library and Library System Headquarters at One Margaret Mitchell Square in Atlanta, GA.   According to a June 1st, 2011 USA Today article" Classic Novel Gone with the Wind Turns 75 " by Craig Wilson, the Pequot Library in Connecticut has parts of the original manuscript, but this could not be verified in their Special Collections Introduction and Guide.   It would be interesting to see parts of the original manuscript, but even better would be to read the parts left-out.

After e-mailing the Pequot Library, I received the following response from the Special Collections Librarian, "We do have typewritten pages of the last 3 chapters of Gone With the Wind. When they are not on display, they are locked up and not available. "

Atlanta's Rhett Butler. . .

An article in Like the Dew: A Journal of Southern Culture and Politics claims that Richard Peters, one of Atlanta's founders and a former railroad man who built a blockade company during the Civil War as the man behind Rhett Butler.  Atlanta's Rhett Butler draws parallels between Butler and Peters, as well as George Trenholm.   E. Lee Spence wrote a book, Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The Real Rhett Bultler and Other Revelations claiming Trenholm was the inspiration for Rhett Butler.   As a character, Butler was younger then both men when he ran the blockade, and an outcast in most of Southern society.  Both Peters and Trenholm were wealthy, married and had families before the Civil War started, and merely used the war as a new way to diversify their holdings.  It's a short, but interesting little article.

Though neither man meets the dashing description of Rhett Butler, and neither has the moustache or full lips.

Richard Peters in 1848

George Trenholm during the Civil War.

Rhett at West Point. . .

Personally, I always wondered how old Rhett Butler was when he started at West Point, and when he was expelled from said military institute.  An internet search, revealed this gem Institutional Survival: Evolution of the Admissions Process During the United States Military Academy's First Century by CPT Jeffrey S. Buchanan, LTC C. McKenna and MAJ H. Raugh.   This paper states that in 1839, Congress raised the minimum age for new cadets to 16.

At the end of the novel, Rhett states he is 45 in 1873, which means he was born in late 1827 or sometime in 1828.   Based on that, he probably started in at West Point in 1844.   West Point is a four year institution and when he served in the Confederate Army, Rhett was placed in the artillery.   Due to his military knowledge, he probably finished at least 2 or more years of his education.   "Everyone knew in detail how he had been expelled from West Point for drunkenness and 'something about women'.  That terrific scandal concerning the Charleston girl he had compromised and the brother he had killed was public property. . . . that his father, a charming old gentleman with an iron will and a ramrod for a backbone, had cast him out without a penny when he was twenty and even stricken his name from the family Bible.  After that he had wandered to California in the gold rush of 1849 and thence to South America and Cuba, and reports of his activities were none to savory" (p.153).  There seemed to be sometime from his expulsion from the academy to his expulsion from his home.

For more information on antebellum West Point History Net has a good article, Life at West Point of Future Professional American Civil War Officers that is not very long, but describes life as a plebe, courses of studies, and the fact the Academy mostly focused on turning out engineers and scientist to help build the nation.

Also, How Do We Run On: A Gone With The Wind Scrapbook has an excellent post on West Point education in the 1840's, and a wonderful comment on real students who were expelled-Edgar Allan Poe being one of those students.

Contraception during the Victorian/Civil War era

Scarlett learned about abortion through Mamie Bart, but she didn't learn about contraception, or perhaps she wouldn't be so quick to kick Rhett out of her bed.  One presumes, Rhett knew about contraception, but chose not to share this information with his wife.  It's something I always wondered about. Here are some links to contraception during the mid-nineteenth century.

Percy Skuy, a former President of Ortho, had one of the largest collections of contraception old and new in the world.  His collection is housed at Case Western University, who in turned made some webpages on the history of contraception, including soldiers in the Civil War.  Only Union soldiers are mentioned.  There is also a page on Condoms and Sponges, both of which were available during the 1800's.

Contraception: Civil War Style provides another overview of contraception options in the 1800s.

Charles Knowlton wrote one of the early works on population control,  Fruits of Philosophy , which included information on contraception, though the efficacy of the options seem questionable.

Planned Parenthood has a great paper A History of Birth Control Methods, which cites sources and provides information on a variety of methods old and new.

A little Rhett Comic to share. . .

I feel it also needs : Good with Kids, Divine Dancer, Will Kiss You till You Faint, Wealthy, and Will Spoil You, but that might require more controllers.