What was under that big red staircase at Tara?
I don’t know for sure, but I bet it was the kitchen/servant’s quarters. The dining room was off to the right, and I don’t know if they ever went into what was off to the left. The ballroom, bedrooms, etc., were on the second floor.
Since they were rich, rich, rich, they would have no need to enter the kitchen, and it would have to be a big kitchen. And, since this was pre-refrigeration/processing, they would need large pantries for food storage of various kinds. That, along with small rooms for Pork, Mammy, Prissy, etc., would take up an entire floor.
I think Mammy slept in the house. When she was Solange’s maid, she slept at the foot of the bed. She was always a house maid, never a yard n----r (hey, that’s how Mitchell described it.)
You have to remember the house in the movie was not the house in the book. The book Tara was just a thrown together house, won in a poker game, with rooms added on as needed. I would presume under the staircase was storage, and maybe a cubby for one of the maids to sleep in.
Or are you referring to Rhett and Scarlett’s house in Atlanta? That, in the book, was designed by Scarlett after a Swiss chalet (by Rhett’s reaction to her, I presume Scarlett mispronounced the word, after all she didn’t know who the Borgias were except they were foreigners) and I would guess it was a free-standing staircase (is that the right term?)
Oops. The one he carries her up and she falls down.
That’s their house in Atlanta. Scarlett wanted a great big one to make the Old Guard pea-green with envy, not realizing she was spitting in their faces. I got the impression the staircase was supported by the second floor, so no need for support under it that would need to be hidden by closets and such.
Oh, Sampiro…you of the killer GWTW trivia contests…hello?
Just for the record - I was talking about the Atlanta house, too. There’s no mistaking that red staircase!
From repeated watchings I don’t think there really is a clear floor plan. Having built several sets for theater productions I can tell you that you often have to just go with what’s available and what works and don’t worry if it makes sense and I would imagine movies and TV are similar (which is why so few homes on TV series make sense- especially if it’s a series shot before a live audience).
I think that Scarlett’s chambers are to the right of the stairs and Rhett’s are somewhere to the left. Like Ivy said the book calls it a chalet but in the movie it looks a lot more Second Empire, though it also reminds me of the staircases in The Breakers (the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion in Newport). In that one there’s a horizontal hallway behind the staircase, which is probably the case here because the room where Rhett is drinking is behind and to the left of the staircase as you face it.
I’ll mention “just because” that the book goes a lot more into detail about her miscarriage. In the movie it’s just a fall down the stairs that causes it but as most people who’ve studied the matter know many, probably most, pregnant women could take a fall without any serious damage- a fetus is extremely well protected against falls. In the novel however it mentions that while falling she has a freak accident, landing on the edge of a step in such a way that it breaks her ribcage which punctures her lung and causes pneumonia, and the baby is lost during this illness. No idea if, given the medical procedures of the time, this would inhibit her ability to give birth to another child (though in my own unauthorized sequel it’s a plot point ;)- motherhood wasn’t what Scarlett did particularly well and I didn’t think it’d be realistic for her to try pregnancy again anyway).
The staircase is there to continue the staircase motif of the book.
Rhett first sees Scarlett when she is coming down the staircase.
Rhett proposes after the tipsy Scarlett comes down the staircase
Rhett carries Scarlett up the staircase for a night of rough sex.
Scarlett falls down the same staircase causing her miscarriage.
Rhett goes down the staircase to leave her.
Scarlett confronts Prissy about her “knowledge” about “birthin’ babies” and gives her a huge slap…on the staircase.
And Carol Burnett floats regally down the same staircase with her new…uh, outfit.
Nitpick…That was at Aunt Pitty Pat’s house on Peachtree
You’re good. I could have figured out it was Pitty Pats, but not remember the street.
Isn’t just about everything in Atlanta on Peachtree?
A scene now commemorated with its own Barbie (as was the original). I won’t buy this one but if there’s ever a Eunice Barbie it’s got my name on it.
Scarlett shoots the Yankee bummer on the staircase of Tara.
Ashley and Melanie are seen going up the staircase (with Uncle Peter lighting the way) at Christmas, presumably the night Little Beau is conceived. (I hope they didn’t make Uncle Peter hold the light through the entire conception.)
Her farewell to Ashley days later is on the staircase.
Oh, I thought we were listing all the staircase scenes, not just the ones at Rhett and Scarlett’s house.
I know…but I have read that book 9785698 times, and I just had to show off!
Scarlett is also seen going down the Atlanta staircase right before Rhett leads them out of the burning Atlanta.
So have I, sweetie…I first read it in 6th grade. We should do another GWTW trivia contest.
About the kitchen(s) - didn’t I read somewhere at some time the kitchen would not have been in the house, but located in a building a short distance from the house?