Monday, April 20, 2009

Gone With the Wind 70th Anniversary







I read the book and saw the movie for the first time when I was 14, and I’ve seen the movie countless times since. I’ve visited the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum in Midtown Atlanta twice. I also have every one of Hallmark’s Scarlett O’Hara Christmas ornaments since 1997, and quite a few of the Rhetts. At some point I will be able to let my Gone With the Wind ornaments have their own Christmas tree. So I’m sure you can imagine my shock when my then-fiancé, just a few months before our move to Atlanta, told me he’d never seen the film. Well, I fixed that problem.

2009 marks the 70th anniversary of the movie’s debut, the 80th anniversary of Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, and the 15th anniversary of the debut of cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Gone With the Wind was the first movie to air on TCM.

To put the impact of the movie in perspective, it debuted in 1939 in Technicolor, and was one of the few movies to appear in color. The same year, The Wizard of Oz also premiered, and 1939 is considered by some to be Hollywood’s greatest year. Gone With the Wind won eight Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Vivien Leigh – Scarlett) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hattie McDaniel – Mammy). McDaniel was the first African-American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award.

There was a weekend-long celebration in Atlanta (April 17-19) to commemorate the movie’s debut, and my husband went to see it on the big screen with me at the Fox Theatre in Midtown.







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