I don’t think there’s been a movie premiere as big before or since.
Sure, the movie cut out two of Scarlett’s children, Will Benteen, and Archie, merged Honey and India, and lost half of the County, but it was three hours long as it was!
Oh, I wish I could have been in Atlanta! I bet that was a night.
An outrageous fact: Hattie McDaniel, who was to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy . . . was not invited to the premiere. I know, times were different then, but still . . . what did they think she was, a prop?
Another report: 'Gone with the Wind' still raises fuss after 70 years - CNN.com
One of my favorite historical ironies of all time is that a young MLK Jr. sang with his church choir at the segregated premiere. Hah!
The author of the CNN piece tries to be fair, but she seems truly lacking in perspective.
While much of the general public may be too offended by the racism to form a critical opinion of the film, I’ve had no trouble through the years in finding professional critical commentary.
And she would know this how? She is expressing a syrupy meaningless stereotype. And vindication doesn’t mean what she thinks it does. Bah!
She also describes Scarlett as a “feminist.” Actually, a selfish manipulating golddigger who abuses the trust of other women was not what we have in mind.
Finally, Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been ten years old at the time of the premiere. He was born in 1939.
The writer does do one thing well. She is able to underscore the point of how this movie is able to get the dander up and the fur-flying.
Thanks for the link, Elendil’s Heir! It was a fun article to read and I had never heard the information about Dr. King before. That’s cool.
I thought I would mention that I think that Olivia de Havallind (Melanie Wilkes) is still living).
Yes, she is 93.
I think the young girl who played Bonnie (her voice was dubbed over, btw) is still alive, and I would presume the boy who played Beau is still around too.
Is Butterfly McQueen still with us?
Vivien Leigh was ultimately committed, wasn’t she?
No. She died in 1995
In July 2008 there were seven surviving cast members
Wikipedia says she was bipolar, but doesn’t mention ever being committed. She died from tuberculosis.
She was married to Laurence Olivier, but he couldn’t deal with her manic depression. I’ve heard he was devastated when she died.
I read somewhere that IRL when Melanie’s baby grew to adulthood he married Raquel Welch.
Patrick Curtis