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.