WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1998

Here's Gone With The Wind trivia to fęte film's re-release

By Gay Nemeti

Knight Ridder Newspapers

There are enduring film classics, and then there os Gone With The Wind.

When the beloved Civil War drama returns in a spruced-up, newly remastered version, it'll mark the sixth major theatrical re-release the film has enjoyed -- more than any other chestnut from Hollywood's Golden Age. To commemorate Gone With The Wind's return, here's enough trivia to fill Tara:

The film version of Margaret Mitchell's Civil War epic Gone With The Wind took $4 million and three years to make, and opened in Atlanta in December 1939, when 2,050 of the city's elite paid $10 a pop to attend the premiere.
Ronald Colman, Errol Flynn and Gary Cooper were seriously considered for the role of Rhett.
Producer David O. Selznick spent about $10,000, involving some 110 talent agents, in his two-year search for Scarlett. Considered were Paulette Goddard, Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, Jean Harlow, Ann Sheridan, Lucille Ball, Lana Turner and Joan Crawford.
Although Sidney Howard is credited with the screenplay, uncredited script-writing talent included Jo Swerling, Winston Miller, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Confined by his shooting schedule, Selznick started the film without casting Scarlett. More than 30 acres of the old Pathe movie studios backlot doubled as Atlanta and were burned.
In the depot scene where thousands of Confederate soldiers lay dead and dying, the Screen Actors Guild could only gather about 950 extras, so 1,500 strategically placed dummies fleshed out the scene. The Guild demanded salaries for the dummies, but dropped the lawsuit.
Gone With The Wind was first shown on network television Nov. 7, 1976. NBC paid $5 million for one-time broadcast rights, and drew about 130 million viewers.
GWTW has earned $192 million at the box office. Adjusting for inflation, its worldwide gross is actually $907 million, ahead of Star Wars but behind Titanic.
Screenwriter Howard won an Academy Award, becoming the first posthumous Oscar winner.

They said it about GWTW

"It's going to be the biggest bust of all time." -- Jack Warner of Warner Bros.

"I haven't the slightest intention of playing another weak, watery character such as Ashley Wilkes. I've played enough ineffectual characters already." -- Leslie Howard, responding to David O. Selznick's offer.

"Are you kidding?" -- Contract player Lucille Ball, when told by her RKO superior to test for the role of Scarlett.

"I don't want to part for money, marbles or chalk." -- Clark Gable on the role of Rhett Butler.

The book

After All, Tomorrow Is Another Day was Mitchell's first title for the novel, but publisher MacMillan rejected it, saying it already had too many books with the word "tomorrow" in the title.

Gone With The Wind was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1937.

Academy Awards

Up against such films as Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; The Wizard of Oz; Wuthering Heights; Dark Victory; Stagecoach, and Of Mice and Men, GWTW won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel) and Best Director.

Movie lines

"Well, isn't it enough that you've gathered every other man's heart today? You've always had mine. You cut your teeth on it." -- Ashley Wilkes to Scarlett.

"You can't show your bosom 'fore three o'clock." -- Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) to Scarlett.

"I don't know nothin' about birthin' babies." -- Prissy (Butterfly McQueen).