The Playwright:
Ron Hutchinson, a script doctor himself, takes the historical fact that Selznick hired Ben Hecht to rewrite the film in a few days. Hutchinson researched Selznick archives and interviewed director Victor Fleming's daughter for juicy inside facts.


The Book:
Margaret Mitchell had no intention of publishing Gone with the Wind, keeping pages of the manuscript hidden in shoe boxes under her bed. While she wrote weekly columns for the Atlanta Journal, Mitchell never thought of herself as a real author and believed no one would be interested in the lengthy Civil War saga.

Discovered by a traveling New York Publisher, the unknown Mitchell and her story became a bestseller by the summer of 1936, and then a phenomenon. The Great Depression and the approaching European War with Germany made the American people nostalgic for the past. Readers were captivated by spoiled and rebellious Scarlett O'Hara, whose most redeeming quality was her ability to survive.

The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, and continues to sell close to 200,000 copies a year, more copies than any other hard-cover book (with the exception of the Bible).

The Movie:
Producer David O. Selznick bought the rights for $50,000. Casting Scarlett O'Hara proved to be one of his greatest challenges. The unknown British actress Vivien Leigh caused much controversy. Three years after Selznick set out to produce the movie, fans of the book had gone from excited to skeptical. Filming started, stopped, and started again, and Hollywood believed it would be a flop.

Gone with the Wind, premiered in Atlanta on December 15, 1939 (Clark Gable reportedly fell asleep during the screening). That same year it won 7 Oscars including Best Picture. Vivien Leigh won Best Actress for her portrayal of Scarlett and Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for Mammy, and was the first African-American to receive an Academy Award.

The film has been released in Theaters 7 times, and is ranked #4 by the American Film Institute on its "100 Greatest Movies List."