Gone with the Wind - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[kylie]

Clark Gable was so distressed over the requirement that he cry on film (when Melanie is comforting Rhett after Scarlett's miscarriage) that he almost quit. Olivia de Havilland and director Victor Fleming convinced him to stay.

[jeffrey]

The job of writing the script was given to Sidney Howard who produced the first draft in February 1937, which when broken down worked out to about 5 1/2 hours. By mid 38 a 4th draft was finished with an estimated length of 6 1/4 hours. The problem was that Selznick wanted the length reduced but was against anything already in the script being cut. Selznick and Howard spent months revising each scene countless of times until finally, in October, Howard quit. Selznick took all the material, enough to fill a four draw filing cabinet, with scriptwriter Jo Swerling to Bermuda to try and produce a workable script but 2 months later it was in the same shape as when they started. Meanwhile other work was continuing, the 150 characters in the book had been reduced to 59, a record for any production at the time. With a budget of $154,000 costumier Walter Plunkett had to design and create 5,500 separate items of clothing providing 290 changes for the principle characters plus renting 100's of costumes, checking them for accuracy and attending to their fitting on the 1,000's of extras.

[nicholas]

While directing the scene where Prissy says, "Oh Miss Scarlett! I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies," director George Cukor told Vivien Leigh to actually slap actress Butterfly McQueen--who played Prissy--and to make it as realistic as possible, and directed McQueen to scream. After many takes McQueen broke down in tears, complaining that Leigh was hitting her too hard. In a later interview, McQueen said that she "bargained" with the others, stating that if Leigh hit her, she would NOT scream, but if Leigh's hand only passed close to her face with the illusion of hitting her, she would scream as loudly as she could. McQueen also giggled and said that she thought "Prissy should have been slapped often, because she was horrid!"

[tammy]

The only four actors David O. Selznick ever seriously considered for the role of Rhett Butler were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and Ronald Colman. The chief impediment to Gable's casting was his MGM contract. He was not drawn to the material; he didn't see himself in a period production, and didn't believe that he could live up to the public's anticipation of the character. Eventually he was persuaded by a $50,000 bonus, which would enable him to divorce his second wife Maria ("Ria") and marry Carole Lombard.

[mathew]

The ethnic origin of Frank Kennedy, Scarlett's second husband, is uncertain. The name Kennedy is Gaelic in origin, popular in both Ireland and Scotland. There is a Clan Kennedy in Scotland, the clan chief being the Marquess of Ailsa. There is also a prominent family called O'Kennedy or Kennedy in Ireland, active since the 11th century. They were Lords of Ormond.

[ella]

Max Steiner was given only three months to compose the music, considering that 1939 was the busiest year of his career; in that year he wrote the music for 12 films. In order to meet the deadline, Steiner sometimes worked for 20 hours straight and took Benzedrine pills to stay awake. With almost three hours of music, "Gone With the Wind" had the longest film score ever composed up to that time.

[amber]

The final shooting script dated 24 January 1939 had a price tag of $25,000 by late 1939.

[ken]

When Melanie says that Bonnie's eyes are "as blue as the 'Bonnie Blue' flag", she is referring to the popular name of the single-star secession flag that was flown over Georgia after it seceded from the Union (as well as over all other states that did so). It consisted of a single white star over a field of blue. Tradition holds that it flew over Georgia for the first few months of 1861 before being replaced by the better-known "Stars And Bars" (mimicry of the US flag) and "Battle Flag" (the X-shaped cross flag of that has caused such controversy because of its white-supremacy implications) that became the Confederate flags of later years.

[miriam]

Of all the actresses considered for the role, Louise Platt, Tallulah Bankhead, Linda Watkins, Adele Longmire, Haila Stoddard, Susan Hayward (at the time using the name Edythe Marriner), Dorothy Mathews, Brenda Marshall, Paulette Goddard, Anita Louise, Margaret Tallichet, Frances Dee, Nancy Coleman, Marcella Martin, Lana Turner, Diana Barrymore, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh were given actual screen tests for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.

[tom]

The film had its first preview on 9 September 1939 at the Fox Theatre in Riverside, California. In attendance were David O. Selznick, his wife Irene Mayer Selznick, investor John Hay Whitney and editor Hal C. Kern. Kern called for the manager and explained that his theater had been chosen for the first public screening of this film, although the identity of the film was to remain undisclosed to the audience until the very moment it began. People were permitted to leave only if they didn't want to hang around for a film that they didn't know the name of, but after they'd gone the theater was to be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls. The manager was reluctant but eventually agreed. His one request was to call his wife to come to the theater immediately, although he was forbidden to tell her what film she was about to see. Indeed, Kern stood by him while he made his phone call to ensure he maintained the secret. When the film began, the audience started yelling with excitement. They had been reading about this film for nearly two years, so were naturally thrilled to see it for themselves.

[dustin]

Olivia de Havilland was a contract player at Warner Bros. when MGM made the call to her for the part of Melanie. De Havilland was very keen to take the part and managed to convince her boss Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract, mainly by getting his wife to exert her influence.

[linda]

As an actor in Britain, Vivien Leigh read Gone With the Wind and decided that the role of Scarlett was one she had to do.