- There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields
called the Old South. Here in this pretty world Gallentry
took it's last bow. Here was the last to ever see
Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and Slave.
Look for it only in books, for it is no more than
a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind
- Gone With The Wind, Typed by the hands of Margaret Mitchell
in a small apartment on a second hand typewriter.
She never dreamed it would become one of
the most beloved books and movie of all time.
- Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta on November 8,1900
into a reasonably affluent family. tword the end
of 1922 she was hired by the Atlanta Journal to
write features about the history of Atlanta,
which for her was rather easy for all of her childhood
was spent listning to her father's stories of the "Old South"
- In her early childhood she suffered a riding accident
and injured her ankle and suffered arthritis
in it as a result. In 1926 she twisted it and
was forced to use cruches and stay at home to
allow it to heal. It was her husband, John Marsh
who urged her to write to keep her mind of the pain.
- After another injury she had lost all intrest in
completing the book untill 1935 when a friend,
Harold Latham came to visit at her home. Latham worked
for the publishing house of Macmillan in New York.
He had heard about the manuscript from a mutual
friend of both of them. at his insistance
and that of her husband, she gave him the mountain
of Manilla envelopes that held her work.
On the train ride back to New York Latham read them and
knew right then that Margaret had produced greatness.
And that as they say is History and
how Gone With The Wind came to be.
Gone with the Wind made it's premier in Atlanta
Georgia on December 15,1939, The date was chosen so
it would be able to qualify for the Acadamy Awards for that year.
It had come along way since it's begining on January 26,1938.
It was called "Selznick's Folly" it had run
well over budget, had suffered director changes
and many other problems to get it ready for the promised release.
Almost up untill the day it was released, changes were being made,
scenes being edited due to time constraints, re-takes
and music editing. One is left to wonder what happened
to all that edited footage that we will never see.
It is a shame that an extended version of this timeless
classic has never been pieced together.
To all of us who have looked upon GWTW as a friend
all these years, Imagine the thrill of going to the theater
and seeing it in it's entirety.
But I can't think about that now, I'll think about that tomorrow.
