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For the GWTWMemories.com Website
Daily Update
Posted by Faye Bell on July 01, 2001 at 23:25:01:
Sorry for the delay in getting this to you -- just been "under my stack" the last couple of days. Here goes:
11. David Selznick bought the screen rights to GWTW before reading the book.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
YES, HE FINALLY READ IT ON A BOAT TRIP TO HAWAII.
12. None of the scenes in GWTW were filmed in the South.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
ALMOST TRUE: A FEW FEET OF FILM OF A RIVERBOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI WOUND UP IN GWTW.
13. Lucille Ball tested for the role of Scarlett, though she was never a top contender.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
TRUE. YEARS LATER SHE AND HUSBAND DESI BOUGHT THE RKO FILM STUDIOS, WHICH HAD BEEN OWNED BY HOWARD HUGHES.
14. Y. Frank Freeman, head of Paramount Pictures, was a transplanted Atlantan who was very much taken with the idea of filming GWTW.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
NO. FREEMAN CALLED IT A "WHITE ELEPHANT".
15. Virtually penniless, Selznick arrived in Hollywood to build his fortune at about the same time that Margaret Mitchell began writing GWTW.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
TRUE. THE YEAR WAS 1926. AT THAT TIME, SELZNICK APPLIED FOR A $50-A-WEEK JOB AT MGM AND WAS HIRED, BUT WAS SOON DISMISSED AFTER A CONFLICT WITH IRVING THALBERG. WITHIN FOUR YEARS, SELZNICK HAD MARRIED L. B. MAYER'S DAUGHTER, IRENE.
16. In the early stages of casting, it appeared that Bette Davis and Errol Flynn would play Scarlett and Rhett -- and Davis was pleased.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
YES -- AND NO. THEY WERE TOP CONTENDERS AT ONE POINT, BUT MS. DAVIS HATED THE IDEA OF PLAYING OPPOSITE FLYNN, AND SHE WENT ON TO MAKE "JEZEBEL", PLAYING A SCARLETT-LIKE CHARACTER. JEZEBEL CAME OUT IN 1938 AND BETTE DAVIS WON AN OSCAR FOR HER PORTRAYAL.
17. Among the contenders for Scrlett's role were Tallulah Bankhead, Paulette Goddard, and Carole Lombard.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
YES. IN FACT, MS. GODDARD MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE PART HAD SHE BEEN ABLE TO PRODUCE LEGAL DOCUMENTATION THAT SHE WAS MARRIED TO CHARLIE CHAPLIN. IN ITS ABSENCE, SELZNICK FEARED THE PUBLIC WOULD BE OFFENDED AT THE PART GOING TO PAULETTE, WHO WAS "LIVING IN SIN".
18. Margaret Mitchell made few public comments on the casting of GWTW, but she privately favored Norma Shearer as Scarlett.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
NO. IN A LETTER SHE WROTE SELZNICK, M. MITCHELL QUOTED OTHERS AS SAYING SHEARER HAD "TOO MUCH DIGNITY AND NOT ENOUGH FIRE" FOR THE PART. MS. SHEARER SAID AFTER WITHDRAWING, "THE ROLE I'D LIKE TO PLAY IS RHETT BUTLER."
19. No part of the Tara set is on public display.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
WRONG. THE FRONT DOOR FROM THE ACTUAL TARA SET ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE M.MITCHELL HOUSE MUSEUM IN ATLANTA.
20. Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 and died in an accident before she was 49.
[ ] TRUE [ ] FALSE
TRUE. HER BIRTHDATE IS NOVEMBER 8th. SHE DIED IN AUGUST, 1949 AFTER BEING STRUCK BY A DRUNK DRIVER AS SHE WAS CROSSING AN ATLANTA STREET TO SEE THE MOVIE, "CANTERBURY TALES".