The Search for Scarlett O'Hara

From the time it was announced, that David O. Selznick would be making Gone With The Wind into a movie, all the gossip columnists and movie magazines were aflutter with whom should play the characters Margaret Mitchell so expertly brought to life in her best-seller.

Selznick decided he wanted to cast an unknown actress as Scarlett, hence the search for Scarlett began. Thousands of letters poured into Selznick’s office and to people like gossip columnists Louella Parsons and Jimmie Fidler. Newspapers asked readers to participate in polls and to voice their opinions on the characters.

A drawing of the unknown Scarlett with Clark Gable depicted as Rhett

One of the reasons Selznick wanted an unknown is that he didn’t want the power of a well-established actress to outshine the movie and to turn it into so-and-so’s film. Selznick wanted to create a star. He knew that whomever he cast as Scarlett would become an overnight sensation and he wanted that new star all to himself.

In 1936, three search teams were sent out in pursuit of Scarlett O’Hara: one team to the West, one to the North and one to the South. The southern team would be headed by Kay Brown, David Selznick’s New York assistant, who’d brought Gone With The Wind to his attention and hammered away at him until he purchased the movie rights. They would scour college campuses and small theaters across the states. Kay wrote this funny letter to Selznick, “We are in Atlanta, barricaded in our rooms. The belles turned out in droves. For the most part they were all healthy mothers who should have stayed at home; the rich debutantes are all offering to pay us to play Scarlett… I feel like Moses in the Wilderness… I need a drink and Georgia is a dry state.”

The first actress to complete a screen test for Gone With The Wind was Louise Platt in September, 1936. The rumour mill was grinding away during the search. Bette Davis was the most popular actress with the fans to play Scarlett. In January 1937, the top five leading contenders, as faithfully reported by the newspapers, for the role were: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Constance Bennett, Katharine Hepburn and Tallulah Bankhead.

Tallulah Bankhead in her screen test for Scarlett O'Hara

Selznick sent a wire to Tallulah Bankhead, who naturally wanted to know if she had the part after being tested, “Dear Tallulah, The tests are very promising indeed. Am still worried about the first part of the story and frankly if I had to give you an answer now it would be no, but if we can leave it open I can say to you very honestly that I think there is a strong possibility. I should like to continue looking around and a little later on consider the advisability of making further tests with you… using dialogue… directed by George [Cukor]. These tests should be beneficial to your chances… and from our standpoint they would really give us a clear idea as to how you would be as Scarlett. In short, I think you are a definite possibility, but I cannot give you an answer for some time.”

Testing for Gone With the Wind

Other young ladies being tested for Gone With The Wind were Alicia Rhett, Susan Falligant, Louisa Robert and Adele Longmire. They were all found during the Scarlett search. Alicia Rhett was discovered on-stage and was later signed to play India Wilkes, Ashley's sister.

Testing for Gone With the Wind

Bette Davis lobbied hard for Warner Bros. to buy Gone With The Wind for her. Even after Selznick snapped up the movie rights, Bette still wanted to play Scarlett. And she was offered up to Selznick in a package deal, with Errol Flynn as the dashing Rhett Butler. At the time, Bette didn’t have a high opinion of Flynn’s acting, “The part of Mr. Flynn as Rhett Butler appalled me. I refused.” 

According to Jack Warner: Before Selznick decided on Vivien Leigh, he came to me with a proposition to lend him Bette Davis and Errol Flynn as a costarring package for the picture. Bette was fond of Errol… but she was also realistic about Errol’s limited acting talent. She refused to have any part of the deal, and that was her last chance for the part.

Bette Davis as Jezebel

David Selznick wrote to Ed Sullivan: Certainly you ought to know that Warner Bros. wouldn’t give Bette Davis up for a picture to be released through MGM, even had we wanted Miss Davis in preference to a new personality. Warner Bros. offered me Errol Flynn for Butler and Bette Davis for Scarlett if I would release the picture through Warners-- and this would have been an easy way out of my dilemma. But the public wanted Gable.

Warner Bros. gave Bette Jezebel, her first costumed film. Of course, the Scarlett O’Hara comparisons started immediately. “Tush, Tush,” said Bette to the rumors. “The only similarity is that the girl I portray, like Scarlett, is a hundred years ahead of her time. ‘Jezebel’ was a play on Broadway two and a half years before ‘Gone With The Wind’ ever appeared.”

Miriam Hopkins

Miriam Hopkins was a huge favorite in the polls to play Scarlett and like Scarlett, she was a Georgia girl. She lobbied her studio, United Artists, to purchase Gone With The Wind. On not getting the role, Miriam said in 1937, “It’s a fat role for any actress. But, although I got votes from every section of the country, although shop girls, hairdressers everywhere, they all stopped me and asked me to play her, although even my mother says I should have done it because we’re from the South and her name is the same as Scarlett’s mother, Ellen, even with all those reasons I can only tell the truth. I’ve never been asked. I just wasn’t invited to the party.”

Susan Hayward as Scarlett and Dorothy Jordan as Melanie Wilkes

Brooklyn born Susan Hayward was another young woman to make a screen test for Gone With The Wind, in 1937. After posing for an article, How Models Come to New York, George Cukor saw her picture and he thought she might make a good Scarlett.

“They gave me a screen test in a Long Island studio and there must have been something about it that pleased them because they brought me to Hollywood where I was tested again and again. For some reason never explained, they changed their minds and I found myself in the ranks of the also-rans in the Scarlett race.” Six months later, Warner Bros. signed her to a six month contract. When that contract expired, Susan screen tested for Beau Geste and landed the part with a long-term contract to Paramount.

Arleen Whelan was a young lady who been living in Los Angeles and making her living at the Roosevelt Hotel in the beauty shop. She left there to work as a manicurist, in a Hollywood barbershop, where two weeks later she was discovered.

Arleen Whelan

The following was reported in a fan magazine: She is the girl who was chosen months ago to play Scarlett O’Hara in GWTW. And the only why she won’t be playing Scarlett is that the studio to which she is signed (20^th Century Fox) won’t sell her contract to the studio producing the picture (Selznick International). Fifty-thousand dollars were offered for her contract and refused. Only the insiders have known up to this point that she was definitely selected as Scarlett- until Mr. Zanuck suggested to Mr. Selznick that he take his $50,000 and spend it on trying to find an Arleen Whelan of his own.

“Here’s something you might want to know, producers at the Selznick Studios heard about Arleen and asked to see her tests. They were searching for a girl who would fit into the Scarlett O’Hara role and with the permission of 20^th Century Fox, Arleen was farmed out for three months while she learned a southern accent under Selznick tutors. An offer was made to buy her contract from Darryl Zanuck who promptly refused to let go of what he considered the outstanding discovery of the year in Hollywood…” -Tyrone Power

In Arleen's own words: “Sidney Howard, who wrote the script for Gone With The Wind, saw me in the Brown Derby. He thought I ‘looked like Scarlett’ and he said he knew I was an actress by the way I ate. I’ve been self-conscious about eating ever since. They arranged with Mr. Zanuck to test me. Then they sent me to studying a southern accent, learning how to wear those grand old southern clothes. I’ve never enjoyed any experience so much as that. I’m still studying with the coach I had there- Gertrude Fogler.”

“It was a disappointment not to be able to play Scarlett,” Arleen said, “but I still think I’m the luckiest girl in all the world. From a manicurist table to a sound stage is a long, long jump and no one knows it any better than I.”

Margaret Tallichet surrounded by letters Selznick's office received in regard to Scarlett.

Margaret Tallichet was another rumored contender. Margaret was making her living as a typist, at Paramount, when her good friend, Carole Lombard, introduced her to David Selznick. She had no acting experience, so Selznick had her take lessons and convinced her to try out for small theater productions to gain acting experience. 

Margaret had four screen tests, in March 1938, for the role of Scarlett. She was finally offered the part of Carreen, Scarlett's youngest sister. After the Selznick team worked with her for almost a year, trying to sculpt her acting abiltiy, Margaret married film director William Wyler in October 1938. She soon became pregnant and gave birth to her first child in 1939. Margaret would abandon acting in 1941.

Norma Shearer

On June 24th, 1938, headlines were made when it was announced that Norma Shearer would play Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable would be cast as Rhett Butler. Five days later, Maxine Garrison wrote, “But I’ve been trying to digest La Shearer as Scarlett for more than two days now and the idea won’t stay put.” Garrison went on to remark that Norma was too groomed to play Scarlett. “…I remember Scarlett vying with the pigs at Tara in digging roots in a denuded garden, grubbing away for months without a thought to her looks… Scarlett driving a heavy wagon from Atlanta to Tara over almost impassable roads. Scarlett being manhandled by Rhett in one of the book’s most vivid scenes, hearing for the first time in her willful life the full list of her sins, squabbling with Rhett like a fishwife. And Norma Shearer just doesn’t fit in there, not in the light of any of her past performances, clever and suave though they have been. She is a master of the movie art of understatement. But Scarlett can’t be played that way. Scarlett is a thousand moods in one, a creature of utter spontaneity, a flash of lightning against the pale landscape in which ladies moved in her day. Perfect grooming had no part in her charm, complete self-control was never one of her virtues."

On August 1^st, Ms. Shearer formally withdrew from consideration in David Selznick’s epic. She thought herself “unsuited as his leading lady of 'Gone With The Wind.'” She received several letters from her fans, who voiced their opinions that she shouldn‘t take on the role. “I am convinced the majority of fans who think I should not play this kind of character are right. I have advised Mr. Selznick and Mr. Mayer of my feelings so they will not consider me for the part should the MGM deal with Selznick go through."

Katharine Hepburn with George Cukor

Katharine Hepburn was another actress who desperately wanted to play Scarlett O’Hara. She was good friends with George Cukor, who’d previously directed her in Holiday and Little Women. As Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins did, Hepburn tried to get her studio, RKO, to buy Gone With The Wind for her. “When Katie first read Gone With The Wind, she was wildly enthusiastic. She tore into Pan Berman’s office at RKO and begged him to buy the book for her. But, before producer Berman could say “Jack Robinson,” David Selznick had beaten him to the finish… triumphantly scooping Hollywood on the distinguished novel of the year. Naturally, this was a bitter disappointment to Katie but, characteristically, she didn’t give up hope. From that day to this she has never relinquished her dream to play the part of Scarlett.” Both Hepburn and Cukor tried to persuade Selznick to cast her in the lead role. In October of 1938, a newspaper article ran this quote, “Miss Hepburn received an impressive number of fan endorsements, but Selznick privately declared he would not consider her.”
　

Paulette Goddard

Paulette Goddard was tested for Scarlett several times, in 1938. Rumours began about her being cast as early as February, 1938. One of the biggest drawbacks to casting Paulette was the question of whether or not she was married to Charlie Chaplin. The two of them were living together and creating quite a stir in the gossip columns. Selznick didn’t want any adverse gossip following his movie to the box-office. The rumor. at the time. was that she and Chaplin had been married at sea, but Paulette would not, or could not, produce proof. When Paulette was interviewed by one of the leading movie magazines, she was asked directly if she was married. Paulette replied, “I have vowed never to discuss my private life. I intend to keep that vow.”

Rumors flew thick and fast about Gone With The Wind. She was to be Scarlett- sure! But she wasn’t. She was frank concerning her feelings on that score. “I was terribly disappointed at the time, but now I am glad that I shan’t be Scarlett,” she confided. “You see, if I had succeeded, I should probably never been able to duplicate my performance with a subsequent success. And if I had failed-- well, I don’t like to think about that either! And so, honestly cross-my-heart, I am glad it all turned out the way it did. Miss Leigh is an established actress and no matter how her Scarlett turns out, she can go on. But it might have finished me!”

Laurence Olivier was in Hollywood, filming Wuthering Heights, when Vivien Leigh decided to leave London and visit him. They were in the midst of a great love story, as a little over a year ago, they had each left their respective spouses and moved in together. Beginning in September 1938, Vivien had been starring, on stage, in the title role of Serena Blandish. In November, Vivien traveled on the Queen Mary and arrived in the states, at the end of the month. She had a limited amount of time in America, as she was scheduled to appear soon in another play back home in England. 

Vivien had read Gone With The Wind when it first came out. She'd made her mind up and decided she’d be the one to play Scarlett O’Hara, even announcing that “I shall play Scarlett O’Hara, wait and see." to her cast mates of 21 Days Together, back in 1937. Vivien later reminisced, "I wanted to play Scarlett from the first time I read the book. That was in London, when I was appearing in a flop play. I fell in love with the novel and gave the cast copies of the book as opening night presents. I told them that if I ever went to Hollywood, it would be to play in 'Gone With the Wind.' They all laughed and said I was crazy." 

Vivien Leigh as Serena Blandish, Fall 1938

David Selznick couldn’t wait any longer; with or without a Scarlett, he needed to start filming Gone With The Wind. Several old sets needed to be cleared off the Forty Acres lot so that the sets for Gone With The Wind could be built. On December 10^th, 1938, it was decided to set fire to these old buildings to create the burning of Atlanta sequence. It was at the end of filming this, that David’s brother, Myron Selznick, approached him with two people; one of them was Laurence Olivier and the other, Vivien Leigh.

Two days later, David wrote to his wife, Irene: Saturday night, I was greatly exhilarated by the fire sequence. It was one of the biggest thrills I have had out of making pictures- first, because of the scene itself, and second because of the frightening but exciting knowledge that Gone With The Wind was finally in work. Myron rolled in just exactly too late, arriving about a minute and a half after the last building had fallen and burned and after the shots were completed. With him were Larry Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Shhhhhh: she’s the Scarlett dark horse, and looks damned good. (Not for anybody’s ears but your own: it’s narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh).

In 1941, David recalled this moment: Before my brother, Myron… brought Laurence Olivier and Miss Leigh over to the set to see the shooting of the Burning of Atlanta, I had never seen her. When he introduced me to her, the flames were lighting up her face and Myron said, “I want you to meet Scarlett O’Hara.” I took one look and knew that she was right- at least right as far as her appearance went- at least right as far as my conception of how Scarlett O’Hara looked. Later on, her tests, made under George Cukor’s brilliant direction, showed that she could act the part right down to the ground, but I’ll never recover from that first look.

The top four contenders for the role were now Paulette Goddard, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh. In December, 1938, each of them were filmed, in three test scenes: Mammy helps Scarlett into her corset at Tara, Scarlett declares her love for Ashley in the library at Twelve Oaks and the paddock scene with Ashley at Tara.

Jean Arthur as Scarlett

Joan Bennett as Scarlett with Douglass Montgomery as Ashley

Paulette Goddard being made-up for her screen test as Scarlett

Vivien completed her screen tests on December 21^st and 22^nd. On Christmas Day, 1938, George Cukor informed her she had the role of Scarlett O’Hara. She later recalled that moment when Cukor told her, "'Well, Vivien, I guess we're stuck with you.' Like that. As matter of fact as if he'd said, 'Well, Vivien, have some more turkey.'" 

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

Finally, after two and a half years, more than 1,400 interviews, 500 readings and screen-tests combined and thousands of dollars spent, Selznick finally had his Scarlett O’Hara.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

In addition to Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, the search produced Alicia Rhett (India Wilkes), Marcella Martin (Cathleen Calvert) and Mary ’Bebe’ Anderson (Maybelle Merriweather).




Find more Vivien Leigh on Instagram

The Vintage Bride: Scarlett O'Hara

Today's vintage bride is the fictional heroine of Gone With The Wind, Scarlett O'Hara.

Scarlett O'Hara, at the young age of 16, married Charles Hamilton in the spring of 1861. The Civil War had just begun and beaux were marrying their young ladies before heading off to war.

Scarlett's entire wedding happened two weeks after she said yes to Charles' proposal. Her mother, Ellen, wanted her to wait, but her father, Gerald, agreed to the short engagement.

Gerald and Ellen O'Hara with their daughter Scarlett and new son-in-law Charles Hamilton

Ellen had wrung her hands and counseled delay, in order that Scarlett might think the matter over at greater length. But to her pleadings, Scarlett turned a sullen face and a deaf ear. Marry she would! And quickly too. Within two weeks.

Learning that Ashley's wedding had been moved up from the autumn to the first of May, so he could leave with the Troop as soon as it was called into service, Scarlett set the date of her wedding to the day before his.

Scarlett has eyes only for Ashley
Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Vivien Leigh and Rand Brooks

In the midst of this turmoil, preparations went forward for Scarlett's wedding and, almost before she knew it, she was clad in Ellen's wedding dress and veil, coming down the wide stairs of Tara on her father's arm to face a house packed full with guests... [with] hundreds of candles flaring on the walls... and Ashley, standing at the bottom of the steps with Melanie's arm through his.

It's hoopless dresses in this publicity shot for GWTW.

In the book, Scarlett and Charles were married the day before Ashley and Melanie's wedding was to occur. In the movie, the wedding days were reversed.

From the movie:
Melanie (kissing Scarlett) Scarlett, I thought of you at our wedding yesterday and hoped yours would be as beautiful. And it was.
Scarlett (like a sleepwalker) Was it?
Melanie (nods emphatically) Now we're really and truly sisters.

Leslie Howard as Ashley with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett

Barbara O'Neil as Ellen O'Hara

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

In the book and movie, Scarlett wears her mother's wedding dress. Since the engagement was so short, there was no time to alter the gown before the wedding. Walter Plunkett, the costume designer for Gone With The Wind, took this into consideration when creating the wedding dress. He fitted the dress to Barbara O'Neil's measurements, so that viewers of the movie could see the improper fit on the current bride, Scarlett.

Reproduction of Scarlett's wedding dress-- front view

Reproduction of Scarlett's wedding dress-- back view

Italicized quotes are from the book, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Gone With The Wind, Indeed!

Photoplay, March 1937
by Kirtley Baskette

Call out the riot squad! A new Civil War is raging! Who will play the principals in the world's best seller?

Time was when you could call a man a rat in Hollywood and get yourself a stiff poke in the nose. But now what you get is— "Rhett? Rhett Butler? Well— I don't know about that 'profile like an old coin' stuff, but I've been told I am rather masterful, and— "

Yes, and there was a day when you could call a woman scarlet in this town and find yourself looking into the business end of a male relative's shotgun. But now it's—"Scarlett? Scarlett O'Hara? Oh, do you really think so? Well, I wish you'd say that around Mr. Selznick. Of course, my eyes aren't exactly green, but unless they use Technicolor—”

Ever since that very small but very un-Reconstructed Rebel, Mistress Peggy Mitchell, of the Atlanta Mitchells, wrote a book called "Gone With the Wind," which went like a seventy mile gale over the country and whipped up a grade-A tornado, a civil war, the like of which Jeff Davis never dreamed, has been raging uncontrolled way out in Hollywood.

Houses are divided, brother against brother, husband against wife, butler versus pantry maid.

"Why, Judge," a woman told the court the other day, "this bum says the only man to play Rhett Butler is Warren William. How can I go on living with a cretin like that?"

"Yeah," countered the defendant, "and, Your Honor, she embarrassed me before my friends plugging for Ronald Colman. Ronald Colman—imagine! My business dropped off."

"Divorce granted," murmured the court, "although personally I've always thought Gary Cooper would be a natural for the part."

What is considerably worse, actors and actresses who have never been South of the Slot in San Francisco or below Twenty-third Street in Manhattan, whose closest tie to Dixie in fact, is a faint resemblance to Virginia ham, wander around calling people "Honey" in a languid, molasses manner. Mugs who always thought Pickett's charge was a labor demonstration, now demand real mint in their grog. Even the high yellows down on Central Avenue are brushing up on their southern accents.

It's really pretty awful. Of course if you haven't read the astounding book that has leaped clear out of the ordinary fiction league to become the marvel of modern American literature, all this may leave you as dizzy as a six-day bicycle rider. In that case, all I can say is that if you're around number sixty-seven on the waiting list and sound of wind and limb there is still hope.

But if you have, you'll understand why nerves are snapping from Burbank to Brentwood as the two juiciest parts in the history of Hollywood dangle like ripe luscious cherries just above tiptoe reach. For "Gone With the Wind" is all set to be made into the greatest moving picture of all time (they admit it). Only there isn't any Scarlett O'Hara. There isn't any Rhett Butler. The suspense is terrific.

Furthermore, the curious effect of this book, which now hovers around the million sales mark, is that the minute a gentle reader closes the back cover with the wistful hope that Scarlett will get another crack at Rhett someday, a crusading, militant, in fact belligerent one-man casting department is born. Yes Ma'am, and with a lusty squall.

So look what happens. Sixty thousand letters, wires, communications of all sorts, sent direct or forwarded by critics, columnists and radio commentators have poured in and keep pouring in to sweep the excitement higher and higher. The result is the biggest screen sweepstakes of modern movie history. The prize: fame, fortune and the greatest eager, ready-made audience any star ever dreamed about.

Who will win? Well— here are the favorites, complete with clockings, handicaps, and pole positions.

You pays your money and you takes your choice:

Ladies first, which means Rhett Butler—

Clark Gable is the odds on favorite. He probably will play the part. If he doesn't there may be a Revolution. The nation-wide choice, by a wide margin, he runs neck-and neck with Warner Baxter in the South, which, incidentally, will have plenty to say about the casting of this picture. Gable is also the big Hollywood favorite, although if you can't see him you can't see him at all. It's that way. Letters have poured in threatening boycotts and reprisals (honest) if he's cast as Rhett. The same if he isn't.

Clark is the right age, the perfect build, the effective sex quotient. On a very touchy point— whether or not he can put on a southern accent and wear it becomingly— he is doubtful. He would give a year of his life to play Rhett— why not? It would be the biggest monkey gland his career could conceivably manage.

But— Gable is among the most jealously hoarded of M-G-M stars. And Selznick International, not
M-G-M, copped this prize story of the century. M-G-M turned it down! Selznick International means John Hay Whitney and David Oliver Selznick. But again— David Oliver Selznick is married to Louis B. Mayer's daughter. Would Gable be available? What do you think?

Fredric March is the only actor so far officially tested for Rhett. Was the early choice, but seems to have faded in the back stretch. Would be available, eager and willing to play Rhett on a moment's notice. Runs about third in the terrific straw balloting which increases every day. Is regarded by millions as a great actor— many others do not agree. Played the other great sensational best seller title part, "Anthony Adverse." Consensus of opinion is that Fredric would be an adequate Rhett but that's all. Lacks the sinister sex considered absolutely essential to a great performance.

Warner Baxter has surprising support from Atlanta and the deep South. Is the best "sympathy" actor in the race. His recent sock hit in "To Mary—With Love" is considered an apt build-up. Warner has the strong support of all who picture Rhett Butler as a man who suffered and suffered. Is keeping his fingers crossed day and night because if he landed it would be "In Old Arizona" all over again for him. His contract, of course, is with Twentieth Century-Fox, which makes him eligible. Darryl Zanuck, who is a borrower of stars in the talent market, wouldn't dare bite the hand that feeds him and keep him locked up in the closet. Warner, too, is about the right age, a little on the oldish side. His weakness, too, is no powerful sex appeal.

Ronald Colman popped into the running through an erroneous press dispatch. But once in has remained a strong contender. Chief advantage is his spot as long term contract star with Selznick International, his decided romantic charm, suavity, age and sympathetic personality. Chief disadvantage his ever-lovin' britishness, hard for the folks down South to swallow when the story is almost a sectional issue.

Those are the favorites. But Cary Grant, Basil Rathbone, Edward Arnold haven't given up yet.

Now gents—it's your turn. For Scarlett O'Hara—

Tallulah Bankhead—shared the same bum steer announcement that brought Ronald Colman in. Was tested by Selznick twice, once in Hollywood while on the stage in "Reflected Glory." It was a simple color test but it gave the news-hawks ideas. Tested again in New York by Director George Cukor. Is a professional choice, being considered the best actress of all the candidates. Would satisfy Dixie, hailing originally from Alabama. Her pappy represents that state as Speaker of the House of Representatives in Washington. Talu could probably recapture a sugar-lipped drawl, all right, but the years and an aura of sophistication are against her. The part would be like long delayed manna from Heaven for her, bestowing the great screen break her rooters have long wailed has been denied a great artiste. Only a luke warm choice in the popular response. But vigorously opposed by an opinionated minority.

Miriam Hopkins is the red hot choice of Atlanta and the South. Leads other actresses by a nice margin in the letter deluge. One reason, she hails from Bainbridge, Georgia, right close to home. Is a good subject for color, if it is used, except that she'll have to wear a wig. Played Becky Sharp, the character generally compared with Scarlett O'Hara, but that might work against her.

BETTE DAVIS is the number one Hollywood selection. Just missed cinching the part by a matter of minutes. On her way to England, Bette was told by Warner's New York story board they were buying a great story for her, "Gone With the Wind." But by the time they wired Hollywood for an okay, the hammer had dropped. The day His Majesty's courts decided that Bette was a "naughty girl" and "must go back to jail" her low spirits were lifted by a columnist's clipping calling her the ideal Miss O'Hara. Answers to Scarlett now around the Warner lot. Bette is the only Yankee girl to score below that well-known line. Ranks third in the Cotton Belt. Is considered to be just the right age to handle the assignment and blessed with the right amount of— er— nastiness. No complaints from the home folks on her southern accent in "Cabin in the Cotton" or as Alabama Follansbee in "The Solid South" (stage).

But— Bette is in the doghouse, chained and collared, and one of the main issues of her legal whipping was her loan out demand. Warner’s can- probably would- keep her in the cooler. Selznick, in fact, is supposed to have said, "Bette Davis? Great— but could we get her?"

Margaret Sullavan holds second spot in returns from down yonder. Is a Virginia girl, and knows what to do when a lady meets a gentleman down South. Handled brilliantly the lead in "So Red the Rose," another Civil War picture. Fractious and fiery enough to make Scarlett a vivid character. Tagged next to Bette Davis in Hollywood.

And the Field— Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert and Jean Harlow.

Now as if puzzling about all this were not enough to set a body weaving baskets in the clink, Messrs. Selznick and Company announce that they want, for Scarlett and Rhett, not Hollywood stars at all. No— instead they have arranged to canvass all the finishing schools of Dixie, and ogle Junior Leaguers at very lovely teas and discover an "unknown"Scarlett. A similar search, minus the tea, is hoped to dig up an indigenous Rhett.

Thus, they say, everything will not only be peaches and cream for professional Southerners, but what is much more important, two brand new stars will be born. Why take other studio's stars and build 'em? Isn't this going to be the greatest picture of all time?

Well— as to the first idea— it's great if it works, is the opinion of the Hollywood wise ones. But it won't work, they say. Whom are you going to find in the sticks to handle parts like those? Whom could you dare gamble on?

And that "greatest picture of all time" stuff? It smacks strongly, I grant you, of the old mahoskus. It's press agent oil of the most ready' viscosity and has flowed freely around every epic from "The Great Train Robbery" to Shirley Temple's latest cutrick. But this time the answer that snaps right back out of your own skeptic brain is, "Why not?"

These gentlemen— Whitney and Selznick —  have, and they know they have, the greatest screen story of our day. If you don't think so, here's the cold cash proof: The day after they laid $50,000 on the line for the picture rights, another studio offered them $100,000. The next offer was boosted to $250,000. The last bid, not long ago, was $1,500,000 and an interest in the picture besides! Tie that.

They said "No" and they are still saying the same. Mr. Whitney and Mr. Selznick are not ribbon clerks. They shot $2,200,00 on "The Garden of Allah." They will pinch no pennies on "Gone With the Wind." If color will help it (and it probably will) they'll shoot an extra million. Sidney Howard is writing the script. George Cukor will direct. Walter Plunkett is designing costumes. These men are all top flight.

So you can be reasonably sure of this— when you finally you see "Gone With the Wind" you'll see a picture dressed in the best trappings of modern production, primed with meticulous preparation, artistic thoroughness and as many millions as it can comfortably stand.

But as for who will be Scarlett and who will be Rhett— well, the riot squads are doing a nice business, thank you. And good citizens of Hollywood scowl across Cahuenga Pass at North Hollywood muttering "Dam' Yanks!" While out in Beverly Hills the South Side of the Tracks is threatening to secede if somebody will only fire on the Brown Derby.

It looks as if we'll fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. Everybody's welcome, and usually it doesn't require a second invitation. Just casually mention the subject. You'll see. Matter of fact, the only person I can think of off-hand who doesn't seem to be at all upset about the matter is the lady who wrote the book.

Early in the fray, Margaret Mitchell allowed it would be nice if a Southern girl could play Scarlett. But the reaction was so violent that it must have surprised her. At any rate she announced the other day it was her one desire to remain only as the humble author, and to a close friend she confided:

"I don't care what they do to 'Gone With the Wind' in Hollywood. Just so they don't make General Lee win the war for a happy ending!"

On Top of the World

Vintage Article from April 1940

(Author's name not given)

During those long months when "Gone with the Wind" was in production, the film colony never got to know Vivien Leigh. She led the life of a recluse. Then she conquered the screen as Scarlett O'Hara; and became free to make a second conquest of Hollywood.

I watched Vivien enter the Trocadero with a dinner party this week- and heard the gasp go round the room. For her beauty is lit by a brilliant vitality that puts all your blonde beauties in the shade.

Vivien trailing her scarlet chiffons, with sprigs of white lilac tucked into that black upswept hair, and her slanting green eyes glittering against her magnolia-white skin puts a new emphasis upon glamour.

Today she radiates success- in her shining eyes and glowing smile. Small wonder that she bewitches the hardest people in the world. For she is the heroine of romance-- romance in her film triumph: romance in her colorful private life.

Now that "Gone with the Wind" is released, the story of Vivien's initial discouragement can be told. She created Scarlett O'Hara in an atmosphere of exacting work, work and then more work. Energetic and impatient, she was at the studio at 7 o'clock every day and drove herself home to her modest apartment every evening. Producer David O. Selznick and director Victor Fleming were marvellous to her, she says, but she was thoroughly homesick.

The demands of her work may have a good deal to do with this- she had no chance to visit old friends or make new ones: no chance to enjoy the many pastimes to be found in or near the film town.

Occasionally she dined with Ronald Colman and his wife (Benita Hume). Her sole recreation was swimming at the George Cukor home on Sunday afternoons; she was most upset when Cukor, who had directed the opening scenes of "Gone with the Wind," was replaced by Fleming. She takes every opportunity of stressing the debt that Scarlett owes to Mr. Cukor.

On the set she lunched in her dressing-room - rarely having a guest. And constantly there was the pressure of outside opinion- the doubts and criticisms of the people who had waited three years already to see "Gone with the Wind"-and who wondered if she could make it.

It was a tremendous responsibility- carrying- largely on her shoulders the burden of success- or failure. Money problems are not supposed to worry stars. But Vivien, shrewd, intelligent, knew that a fortune- a fortune of a million pounds sterling- was sunk into the picture.

Her private life was complicated by her love for Laurence Olivier -the English star whom she had followed to Hollywood to see. If Vivien had never made that romantic visit- she would not have become Scarlett O'Hara. But she left her home, and her small daughter, Suzanne, in London. Vivien's husband, Leigh Holman from whom she was separated, was still her husband. Olivier's wife, Jill Esmond, was in London too.

Then both tremendous problems were resolved. "Gone with the Wind," as I have already told you, is the biggest success in screen history. And two divorce suits begun in London have left the way open for marriage between Vivien and Laurence Olivier.

Now Vivien is embarked upon her MGM drama, "Waterloo Bridge." Laurence is in the same studio, making "Pride and Prejudice” with Greer Garson.

Success as Scarlett; happiness as Vivien Leigh: the English star is now on top of the world.

 

30 Things You May Not Know About Gone With The Wind

1. Four out of the five main cast members died in their fifites: Vivien Leigh (Scarlett) passed away at the age of 53; Clark Gable (Rhett) at 59; Leslie Howard (Ashley) at 50; and Hattie McDaniel (Mammy) at 57. Olivia de Havilland (Melanie) is still living. She currently resides in Paris, France.

Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Wilkes

2. Three directors worked on the film: George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood. Only Victor Fleming received credit and the Oscar for Best Director.

3. The opening scene of Gone with the Wind was ultimately filmed five times. After the first time it was filmed, Selznick decided the Tarleton twins' hair was too orangey, so he had it re-shot. Then it was filmed again when Victor Fleming replaced George Cukor. Vivien Leigh looked too tired in another scene. And lastly, it was shot again, when according to Fred Crane, the etiquette expert Susan Myrick, said that no southern girl would show her bosom so early in the day, which is when they decided Vivien should wear the white, prayer dress.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett with the Tarleton Twins, played by Fred Crane and George Reeves, in one of the deleted scenes.

4. The first scene filmed was the burning of Atlanta, which was actually the burning of other movie sets on the backlot named Forty Acres, including the King Kong set.

5. After the barbecue at Twelve Oaks, there is a scene in which all the men are gathered together discussing war. This is the only scene in the movie in which all of Scarlett's future husbands (Charles Hamilton, Frank Kennedy and Rhett Butler) appear together.

6. According to Frank Buckingham, Clark Gable would sometimes eat garlic before his kissing scenes with Vivien Leigh. Buckingham was a film technician who worked for Alexander Korda. Korda sent him to observe the making of Gone With The Wind.

Clark Gable as Rhett and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett

7. The scene in which Scarlett gives Ashley a sash for his uniform, while he's home on Christmas leave, is the last scene that George Cukor directed.

Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard

8. Gone With The Wind is the only movie Alicia Rhett, who played India Wilkes, ever made. Originally, she read for the part of Melanie, but George Cukor didn't think she had enough acting experince to play Melanie, so he assigned her the part of India.

9. Alicia Rhett was an artist and sketched her co-stars during breaks while filming. Later in life, she painted a portrait of Alexandra Ripley, who went on to author Scarlett, the sequel to Gone With The Wind.

Alicia Rhett (India Wilkes) sketches Ann Rutherford (Carreen) while Evelyn Keyes (Suellen) looks on.

10. Vivien Leigh decided she'd be the one to play Scarlett, long before she arrived in Hollywood and auditioned. 'A curious incident was noted by film critic C.A. Lejeune, who had accompanied the cast [21 Days Together] on the last day of shooting down the Thames to Southend on a steamer. It had been raining and during the long wait between shots talk had turned to MGM's plan to make a movie of the current best-seller in America, Gone With The Wind. Someone suggested that Olivier would make the ideal Rhett Butler. "Larry won't play Rhett Butler," was Vivien's prophetic comment, "but I shall play Scarlett O'Hara, wait and see." '- Love Scene, by Jesse Lasky, Jr

11. David O. Selznick wanted Tallulah Bankhead to play Belle Watling. He also used Mae West's name in regard to the role as a publicity stunt. Selznick's final choice for Belle was Ona Munson.

Clark Gable and Ona Munson

12. Gone With The Wind marked the second time Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O'Neil (aka Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara) played a married couple. They'd previously played husband and wife in "Love, Honor and Behave."

Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O'Hara and Barbara O'Neil as Ellen O'Hara

13. Barbara O'Neil, Scarlett's mother Ellen, was only three years older than Vivien Leigh. Ms. O'Neil was born in 1910 and Vivien was born in 1913.

14. Hattie McDaniel's father, Henry, had been born into slavery and was a Civil War veteran. Hattie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in 1940.

Hattie McDaniel as Mammy

15. Thomas Mitchell did not receive an Oscar nomination for Gone With The Wind. However, he was nominated for Stagecoach and won for Best Supporting Actor in 1940.

Oscar Night, 1940: Spencer Tracy, Vivien Leigh with her Oscar for Scarlett, Thomas Mitchell and Fay Bainter

16. Tomorrow is Another Day was one of the book's titles before being changed to Gone With The Wind.

17. The book's title, Gone With The Wind, was taken from a line in the poem Cynara, by Ernest Dowson. The poem is about obsession for a lost love.

18. Scarlett's name was originally Pansy.

19. There was serious talk from the studio about changing Vivien Leigh's name to Virginia Lee, so she'd sound more like a Southern girl instead of the British girl she was, and be more acceptable to the public.

20. Vivien Leigh went through 28 different hairdos as Scarlett O'Hara. Here are just a few examples of her hairstyles:

21. Walter Plunkett, costume designer, created over 5,000 pieces of clothing for Gone With The Wind.

22. F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on the movie's script.

23. Gone With The Wind premiered first in Atlanta, on December 15, 1939, followed by premieres in New York and Hollywood. Leslie Howard didn't attend the Atlanta premiere as he'd returned to England due to the outbreak of WWII. Hattie McDaniel wasn't allowed to attend due to segregation laws.

Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Margaret Mitchell, David O. Selznick and Olivia de Havilland in Atlanta

24. Vivien Leigh didn't attend the New York premiere on December 19, 1939. Instead, she and Laurence Olivier skedaddled off together for some private time.

25. When asked by a newspaperman, in 1937, how he felt about playing Ashley Wilkes, Leslie Howard looked slightly puzzled and quizzically responded, Ashley who-did-you-say? Well, -er, excuse me, but who in the deuce is he? Howard had been so busy with his production of Hamlet that he hadn't heard about Gone With The Wind or the poll that ranked him as top choice for Ashley. Howard never did read the book.

Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard in the Paddock scene

26. Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland were British. Howard was born in England; Vivien was born in India to British parents; and Olivia was born in Japan, also to British parents.

27. Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Gone With the Wind.  "... [she] received news of the prize by phone, along with multiple requests for interviews. Hating publicity, she fled to a gospel concert at a small black church in Atlanta with her husband John Marsh, her publisher Harold Latham and her black housekeeper Bessie Jordan. The press scoured the city but never found her. It was a glorious night for Margaret Mitchell." -Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel

28. Special lighting was used to make Vivien Leigh's gray-green eyes appear a solid green to match the description of Scarlett's eye color.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

29. After the raid on Shantytown, and the death of Frank Kennedy, Rhett brings home a "drunk" Ashley from Belle Watling's. This is the only scene the four main characters (Scarlett, Melanie, Ashley and Rhett) share.

Ashley, Melanie, Rhett and Scarlett

30. Thomas Mitchell, who played Scarlett's father Gerald, was only about nine months older than Leslie Howard, who played Scarlett's love interest Ashley. Mitchell was born in 1892 and Howard was born in 1893.


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Incredible Selznick

INCREDIBLE SELZNICK
Hollywood, January 1938
by Lupton A. Wilkinson

The only logical answer to David O. Selznick's career is, "It's a lie!" True, he started young, as well as broke and under dramatic circumstances. Yet he had to take time to batter his way into the consciousness of Show-me Town, which for two years let him knock on doors and sent out word, "Go and get a reputation." Then, when the portals opened, he broke a world's record for getting fired fast; bounced back and (it's on the records, Mr. Ripley!) forced himself into attention as a producer of Westerns.

Here are a very few examples of what his remarkable genius for production and casting has given to Hollywood, a town long since cured of being skeptical concerning Lewis J. Selznick's son. These are reasons why moviedom says "Sir" to "the man with the medals": Brought Katharine Hepburn to Hollywood; produced A Bill of Divorcement, which made her a star. Prepared production plans for Little Women, and cast Hepburn in that. Launched William Powell in a career of stardom, in Street of Chance. Produced Sarah and Son, Ruth Chatterton's best, and Honey, Nancy Carroll's best. Recognized Fred Astaire's screen possibilities, opened the negotiations which brought him to Hollywood; produced Fred's first picture, Dancing Lady. Introduced Leslie Howard to the screen; co-starred him with Myrna Loy in The Animal Kingdom; bought the story, Of Human Bondage, that was to lift Howard (and Bette Davis) to cinema heights. Discovered Freddie Bartholomew in a world search for David Copperfield. Produced a long string of Box-office Champions for M-G-M, including Night Flight, Viva Villa and A Tale of Two Cities. Snatched Janet Gaynor from virtual retirement and startled the world with her in A Star is Born. Smashed long-standing admission records with A Prisoner of Zenda. Searched every state in the union and, from 25,000 applicants, selected an Irish-American boy, Tommy Kelly, from the East Bronx, New York City, who will be the nation's Christmas present in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Bought Gone With the Wind from the proof sheets, before the book's sale started.

David O. Selznick

What's the use? The rest is mostly a list of hits. The long trail started at a place as busy as Hollywood — the corner of Forty-Second street and Broadway, New York. It was a sad place for that particular eighteen-year-old boy to stand. Right, left and before him he could see new signs where two years earlier the seven biggest, brightest signs in the area had blinked and heralded: LEWIS J. SELZNICK.

The elder Selznick had been the kingpin of the movie business. Over-expansion and one of those sudden slumps in audience attendance (plus the bankers, those jolly fellows) had crashed the Selznick company. Creditors had received home, fine furnishings, automobiles. Lewis Selznick, under that strain had died.

David stood on that busy corner with just one dollar to his name—a dollar and the offer of a job clerking. From earliest school days the boy had studied showmanship at his father's knee. Now he made up his mind. Some day there'd be another Selznick company, not only national but international. David spent that dollar in a barber shop and went to see a man who might still listen to a Selznick talk showmanship. A two thousand dollar loan was the result and two of the quickest quickies ever made. One starred Luis Angel Firpo, the prizefighter, and was called Will He Beat Dempsey? It was made in one day, on a Manhattan roof. The second was the result of neat ingenuity. David persuaded Rudolph Valentino to review a beauty parade. He photographed the contest(and Valentino) from every possible angle. Both pictures made money; David went to Hollywood.

There followed two bitter years on Poverty Row, and plenty of trudging, before Metro gave a chance to this youngster who insisted he was a movie producer. The first day on Metro's lot found young David in an argument with an associate producer. M-G-M had bought a book. The associate producer thought the plot ought to be changed. David thought the plot ought to be followed—he still tries to keep his pictures true to their author's stories.

"I guess I was impudent," Selznick admits. He was fired. The boy asked for two weeks' grace. In that two weeks he bombarded executives with ideas until they agreed: "We'll have to put this fellow to work, or he'll run us crazy."

They put him to work, as assistant story editor. He never let them forget he was really a producer, and finally he drew the Tim McCoy Westerns as his particular charge. He cut costs, turned out popular pictures; Paramount offered him his chance at serious drama. The rise at Paramount; equal success as production head at RKO; marriage, after his success was made, to Louis B. Mayer's daughter; the time when all the studios bid for his services and Metro bid the highest; those years of happiness and accomplishment comprise vital motion picture history. One of the noteworthy things about Selznick is that he rates audience intelligence far above what many wiseacres and wise-crackers contend is the fact; further, he believes that human nature reacts to true emotion more promptly than to cynicism or "smartiness." Before A Star Is Born was completed he talked with me about why he had faith in that picture. "The only film concerning Hollywood that ever made money," he said, was What Price Hollywood? The reason was that it played the town "straight" instead of gagging it. Hollywood is a community of real drama —struggle, triumph, disappointment, folly and sacrifice—more thrilling than most stories on the screen. The public would rather have that genuine drama than the smart cracks of writers who think themselves sophisticates."

At Metro, the young producer became "the man with the medals," winning almost every important award offered, nationally and internationally, for fine pictures. He left that studio because of that old, never-forgotten dream, conceived on Forty-second street and Broadway— to put the name Selznick at the masthead of a world-famous motion picture company. John Hay Whitney and others offered him backing. What a result! Four Selznick International pictures, playing the Music Hall in New York, grossed a total of $1,024,000 in that one theatre alone. The pictures were Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Garden of Allah, A Star is Born and A Prisoner of Zenda. If you really love B pictures, you will never be a Selznick fan. He can't see the idea of making one big one and selling four skimpy ones on the reputation of the smash. He thinks that what you want is none but the best, and that none but the best is good enough for you. His name will never be associated with anything except the $1,000,000 stab or the $2,000,000 stab at the finest possibilities of the screen. I've an idea he'll go to his grave as A-picture Selznick.