The book had been a blockbuster best seller and Pulitzer Prize winner but on this day in history fans got to see Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Wilkes, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy and the rest.

Since 1936 when the book hit the bookstores Margaret Mitchell has become a curiosity and the interest in her never seems to die down. Three years of research into her life brought this writer the thrill of seeing a scrapbook actually kept by a relative of Mitchell’s, which proved that many of the storylines in her famous novel were based on real happenings and real people in her family. We were able to read personal letters from Mitchell to her cousins along with other letters that have been saved.

There are so many books out there about Mitchell and it is well-documented that she suffered from many ailments including broken ankles, appendicitis, back problems, stomach problems and many more that have been chronicled.  The other thing that has been well documented was that the woman liked to write letters.

Even though her husband spent the day burning her letters and papers after her funeral, since that time, people have come out with letters that survived. The interesting thing was there came a time in her life that she made carbon copies of her letters so actually two copies existed of many of them, and then the people who received letters from her may have kept them and their family members still have them.

An old boyfriend saved letters and his family found them and made them public in recent years.

This week, Jane Henderson of StLToday.com, the online version of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, wrote an article about a recent letter printed in a Missouri medical journal. This newest letter brings a fascinating dimension to all we know about Mitchell.  According to the letter, Mitchell read medical journals and liked to talk about diseases and ailments with her husband, who was very sickly himself. From reading the letter one wonders if she was interested in the medical journals because, as she had suggested, she wanted to be a doctor; or if she read them because she was always sick. Maybe she was the type of person who would be going to WebMD.com if she lived in current times, to look up all the ailments that she and her family members suffered from.

Mitchell told people she had wanted to be a doctor, though she went to Smith College for just one semester and then came back to Atlanta when her mother died to run the household for her father. There were several universities in Atlanta she could have attended and her father, being a prominent lawyer ,had the means to send his daughter to medical school if she had wanted.

She never continued her education, so no med school, but she did fund scholarships for black students to attend medical school at Emory University. She had always been a writer. She wrote plays and letters as a child, got a job at a newspaper and finally after becoming bedridden from an injury she wrote “Gone With The Wind.”

One of the questions that has always popped up was would she ever have written a second book or a sequel to GWTW if her life had not been cut short at age 48 after being fatally hit by a car while crossing the street in 1949.

Jane Henderson’s article about this newly discovered letter addresses a possible reason she did not write another book—which Mitchell wrote in the letter.

“…a Missouri medical journal has unearthed a letter from Mitchell to a Kansas ‘horse and buggy’ doctor in which she says she was too busy tending to her ailing father to attempt another book,” wrote Henderson in her article.

According to Henderson, Mitchell wrote to Dr. Arthur Hertzler of Halstead, Kan., thanking him for books he had sent her and talking to him about various ailments she and her family members suffered from.

It is unclear as to why Dr. Hertzler sent his books to Mitchell. Did she request them or buy them, or was he possibly sending it to her in hopes of her helping him get them published? His standing in the community suggests that he probably would not have needed help getting a book published.

But how would a person in Atlanta find out about a country doctor in the Midwest? Somehow she did. She wrote to him in 1944. He died two years later and she died five years later/

“The original article about the letter came from the journal, Missouri Medicine, out of Kansas City, Mo.,” said Henderson. “Writer Jane Knapp wrote about the letter that was recently uncovered in the Kansas Health Archives at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.”

Hertzler was the author of a 1938 book, “Horse and Buggy Doctor” and also a book called “Diseases of the Thyroid.”  Mitchell read both books. His letters were saved and archived and the recent discovery of this correspondence included, along with the one from Margaret Mitchell, one from Albert Einstein.

Hertzler was an important figure in medicine at the time and according to the Kansas Historical Society, “Arthur Hertzler practiced medicine in Halstead and became known as the ‘horse and buggy doctor’ and wrote a bestseller to document his personal experiences during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

In 1902 he established the Halstead Hospital. In Halstead, KS. Working there, Hertzler also taught pathology, histology, surgery, and gynecology at the University Medical College in Kansas City, Mo. and later at the University of Kansas (K.U.) School of Medicine.  K.U., which is in Lawrence, Kansas is just 30 minutes from Kansas City, Mo.

The Hertzler Research Foundation, Agnes Hertzler Memorial Clinic, Kansas Health Museum, and Halstead Hospital are the legacies of this outstanding Kansas country doctor, and Margaret Mitchell was evidently a fan of his.

In the letter she mentioned that her father, Eugene Mitchell, had just died after six years of a long illness, in which she was caregiver to him. Just that part sheds light on what she was doing at the time. The book came out in 1936, the movie in 1939. And if her father became ill six years before the letter was written that would have been1938.

Maybe his illness was one of the reasons she chose not to go to Hollywood to work on “Gone With The Wind.” It has always been a curiosity to this writer as to why an author would not want to participate in any way when her book was being made into a movie and the most famous movie stars of the time were playing characters, but if her father was very ill that could have played a role in her decision.

Also in this letter to Hertzler she talked about how she enjoyed his book about the Thyroid gland.  The letter was printed in an article written by Drs. Jane F. Knapp and Robert D. Schremmer in Missouri Medicine, the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, edited by Dr. John Hagan III.

To read Jane Henderson’s article which includes more from the letter on StLToday.com click here: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/book-blog/forgotten-margaret-mitchell-letter-cites-father-s-illness-for-lack/article_d4a96ca8-2505-11e1-87cc-001a4bcf6878.html#ixzz1gcFaX5Dh

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Sally Tippett Rains is an 11 time author, including the book “The Making of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind.” She is the content manager of TheStLSportsPage.com. She does two blogs: The GWTWBook Blog, and Sally’s Christmas Blog. 

Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind

(By Sally Tippett Rains) –

How can it be that an unknown –although popular in her community– female author in the 1930’s could write one little book (well it wasn’t so little) and be remembered so many years later? Nov. 8 is Mitchell’s birthday and by now she would have been dead as she was born in 1900.  But she was taken for the world far too soon.

She’s so famous that even Legacy.com, a website founded in recent years, which lists current obituaries and has a guest book for people to sign has an article on her, 62 years after her death.

“ Mitchell, who would have turned 111 today, wrote most of the novel in secret, fearing failure and a lack of encouragement,” said Legacy.com. “Even after she steeled herself and gave a partial manuscript to a publisher, she changed her mind and tried to get it back. Luckily for us, the publisher had already begun reading it… and he loved what he’d read. Mitchell completed the novel at his urging, and the rest is literary and cinematic history.”

Just as fans of Star Trek gather and collect Star Trek memorabilia, Gone With The Wind has a large number of fans who can’t get enough of a book that was published 75 years ago, a movie that came out 70 years ago and the woman responsible for it all.

There are some who canonize her, she can do no wrong in their eyes; and then others who can’t think of enough ways to examine her and find flaws.  She was a very complex person because she led two very different lives. One was extremely fulfilling: she was a popular teenager, always doing things and having many boyfriends. She  turned her love of writing plays and letters  into an epic novel that was made into a movie. This Margaret Mitchell volunteered for the Red Cross and sent packages to soldiers. She seemingly never stopped working to help people, even donating to a local Atlanta-based college to help young black students attain the goal of becoming doctors.

Then there was the other Margaret Mitchell, who is evidenced through letters and memories of those who knew her, such as a cousin who is still alive today who grew up knowing her and knew her brother and nephews. The accounts of this Margaret Mitchell show someone who after her second marriage and her long-suffered ankle injury wrote the book, but then became depressed, had conflicts with her family, would not talk to the media although her book and movie were world-wide sensations. This Margaret Mitchell was in bed much of the time from various ailments and former injuries, only pulling herself together to help when others around her were sick including her husband with various ailments of his own, and her beloved servant and the servant’s daughter who became ill and she took care of them.

It was so long ago we will never really know all the complexities of Margaret Mitchell but at one time she must have been a lot of fun. In her novel, she included Belle Watling, a fun-loving prostitute and Mitchell may have injected a little of her own personality in that character. Nearly every author who has written about her has mentioned what a good friend she was to her “boyfriends.” She seemed to crave the attention of men, but she was also deeply involved in the lives of certain ones of them.

The way Belle Watling took a genuine interest in Rhett Butler probably came from Mitchell’s individual friendship with many of her suitors.  And Mitchell had a little bit of “naughty” in her evidenced by the scandalous dance she performed in public, which made the newspapers.  That story has lived on, and it is probably one of the moments in her life she was most proud of.

It was truly a Scarlett O’Hara moment. “I’m going to dance and dance, I don’t care if I dance with Abe Lincoln himself tonight” – paraphrased but GWTW fans know that conversation took place with Scarlett in her black “widows weeds” mourning clothes.

They also know of the scandalously dancing with the handsome Rhett Butler, which caused Melanie’s Aunt Pittypat to need her smelling salts, when she was supposed to be “in mourning.”

The Margaret Mitchell this author chooses to lift up is the one who had “gumption” and strength and didn’t car what others thought.  A lot of motivation and inspiration can be drawn from someone who first off completed a novel of 1,039 pages, and secondly, included thoughts like  “Tomorrow is another day.”

Though many people corresponded with her in letters or met her on occasion, there were a small few who actually knew her. One of those people was fellow journalist Susan Myrick. When David Selznick was going to produce Gone With The Wind for the Silver Screen he desperately wanted Mitchell to go to Hollywood and help with the production. These days it would be called a consultant.  But she refused.  (Here again, this Margaret Mitchell could have been out there in the excitement with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, but for some reason she would not go. Many reasons have been given by various authors but one will never really know her real reason, we can only guess from letters and what those who knew her said.)

Mitchell would not go to Holllywood but she wanted to know what was going on so she suggested her friend Susan Myrick for the job and as shown in letters that remain and have been published, she enjoyed getting the scoop and gossip from Myrick although Mitchell did little to help with the production.

Myrick’s niece, Susan Lindsley is alive and well and living in Georgia. She grew up knowing her “Aunt Sue” and perhaps Myrick’s influence caused Lindsley to choose a career in writing. She has a website called Yesterplace.com and has written several books including Susan Myrick of Gone With The Wind: An Autobiographical Biography.

It is my great pleasure to know Susan Lindsley and pick her brains about her famous aunt and her aunt’s famous friend.

A Conversation with Susan Lindsley

Sally Tippett Rains: Today is Margaret Mitchell’s birthday and your aunt Susan Myrick was a friend and colleague of hers What qualities of Margaret Mitchell’s did you learn from your aunt that led to their friendship?

Susan Lindsley: Both of them loved fun and laughter.  They sneaked off from a press meet to share a smoke the day they met, and soon learned how alike they were.  Both were history buffs and very knowledgeable about the War Between the States, both defied the feds on prohibition, both were very comfortable “speaking and joking” with the crowds of fellow newspeople, and neither feared what others thought when they went after a story.
STR: Margaret Mitchell as a character has been examined from all angles and different authors had different opinions of her. Did your aunt think she walked on water or did you ever hear any negatives from her regarding Mitchell?

SL: Sue enjoyed Peggy as a friend. I don’t believe Sue thought Peggy walked on water, but that she was a strong-willed, determined, intelligent and private person. Sue respected Peggy’s desire for privacy and loved her as a friend. Sue destroyed about 70 personal letters from Peggy rather than let me or anyone else read them.

STR: After the exciting time when your aunt got to go to Hollywood, there were 10 years in there before Mitchell’s tragic death, 1939-1949.  Did they continue seeing each other or writing to each other?

SL: Sally, I think it is in your book about GWTW that I read about the Marshes inviting Sue to Atlanta during WWII, and the Marshes using their meat ration tickets to get ham to serve Sue.  The friendship remained steady and they visited back and forth until Peggy was killed. Even later, (after Mitchell’s death) Sue would come to Atlanta, stay overnight with Mary Singleton (as John said, to keep the tongues from wagging) and go with John to special events.
STR: You recently wrote a book about Susan Myrick and because of that you have been able to meet many GWTW fans and collectors. What does it make you feel like to be able to share your relative’s life with others who are so eager to find out about her?

SL:  I cannot say enough good words about the GWTW fans I have met. All have greeted me as a friend, none have been “pushy” or invaded my privacy, and I have grown quite fond of many of them.  I am thrilled to have so many people interested in my Aunt Sue.  I have also been delighted to see that the age range has gone upwards from lower teens to persons even older than my three score and ten plus.

You can’t beat the Windies.
STR: You are “one degree of separation” from Margaret Mitchell” the woman who wrote one of the most important novels ever published. Has that thought ever occurred to you?

SL:  Actually, I have met Mitchell. Sue woke me up one night to meet Peggy who had come with her to my home, Westover Plantation, to visit my parents.  I was not yet ten, and all I remember is being waked up, sitting up and meeting Peggy.
STR:I know you are working on a second book involving memories from your “Aunt Sue” as you call her. Can you tell us a little about it?

SL: The book will bear the title of the first “chapter”—Margaret Mitchell: A Scarlett or a Melanie?

Other chapters will include several about GWTW (e.g., accents, Selznick, and Prissy), one about her friendship with Sherwood Anderson, several other profiles of well-known persons, and articles (written about 1930) about three families who went through the War between the States.  It will also include a short story about football and a poem.

It should be released in the spring.

STR: I know you are a big sports fan and you enjoyed watching the World Series and Play off Games. Was your aunt a sports fan at all?

SL: Most definitely. As I mentioned, she wrote a short story about football, a satire that will be in the next book.  She attended many baseball games in Macon (the Macon Peaches), often with her friend Charles Herty (first football coach at the University of Georgia), and she had an on-going friendly debate at the Telegraph with the men who wrote for the sports page about their not wanting women sports reporters.

(Interjection here from Sally Tippett Rains: I can’t believe it was going on way back then. I was a “women’s sports reporter” in the 1970’s for KMOX/CBS Radio in St. Louis and we were getting that from other sports reporters and some of the athletes. Most of the athletes were fine with it but I guess to some of the men it was invading on their turf. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch even did a negative article about me personally as being a “woman” at a press conference after an NFL game in St. Louis. Thankfully things have changed and Susan Myrick could very well have been a side-line reporter for ESPN if she were living in our times.)

STR: We know Mitchell bragged to her friends that her first husband was a football player (thought recent history has shown this to be questionable) Do you think Margaret Mitchell would have been a sports fan?

SL: I would guess probably not—I think she was so wrapped up in her writing for so many years that she had little time for sports.

STR: On Margaret Mitchell’s birthday, what are some final thoughts about Margaret Mitchell, Gone With The Wind, or your special place in the movie’s history?

SL:  I don’t feel that I have a place in the history of GWTW. I only gathered together Sue’s words, and added a few of my own.

But Peggy Mitchell has a place in history far beyond her book or the movie.

Her devotion to the black people of Atlanta and Georgia has been kept secret for too many years—she financed some 60-70 black students through medical school and I don’t know how many through undergraduate school at Morehouse College. She did volunteer work nursing black women; she went to black schools to help teach and tutor.

Had her “undercover’ work among the black residents been “out and known” in the 1940s, Mitchell would have had to face the wrath of the KKK and its supporters. She would have been blackballed from Atlanta society—and probably from Atlanta bookstores.

The Margaret Mitchell Foundation today continues her work.

At the conclusion of the interview Susan Lindley added: Sally, I’ve enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for your interest in me and my book, and especially in my Aunt Sue Myrick.

Be sure to visit Susan Lindsley’s website: www.Yesterplace.com where you can order: Susan Myrick of Gone With The Wind: An Autobiographical Biography.

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By Sally Tippett Rains, author of “The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind.”  Rains, author of 11 books is also the content manager for TheStLSportsPage.com so if you are a sports fan please check it out and also “like” it on Facebook.  You can also “Like” GWTWbook.com on Facebook.

Rains interviewed actress Ann Rutherford, who she formed a friendship with and talks to occasionally on the telephone. The most recent conversation found Rutherford busy as ever, but she says she gets tired more easily so she tries to put more time between her travels so she can rest up for the next one.

She had wanted to travel to Marshfield, Missouri this past spring for an event with her step-daughter Deborah Dozier Potter, but was unable to make it due to other travels and needing to rest and re-group.

Rutherford, who starred as Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy films with Judy Garland and Andy Rooney as well as many television shows and movies including Gone With The Wind has an interesting situation regarding her step-daughter Deborah Dozier Potter, who she helped raise is the niece of Olivia de Havilland, who starred as Melanie in Gone With The Wind (GWTW).

The Gone With The Wind Book and Movie Museum in Branson, Mo. features beautiful cases with authentic and replica costumes and props from the movie.

Deborah’s mother is Joan Fontaine, de Havilland’s sister, and these two sisters have not had a relationship for years.  Rutherford, however has a good relationship with all three of the—the daugher, the mother, and the aunt.

Rutherford’s character in Gone With The Wind, Careen O’Hara ended up living in the same house with de Havilland’s character, Melanie when Melanie and Ashley moved into Tara, so they were connected both on-screen and off-screen in the family way.

Here’s how it happened in real life:

William “Bill” Dozier was married to Joan Fontaine, the sister of Olivia de Havilland from 1946-51 and that marriage produced a daughter, Deborah Leslie Dozier, who was born on November 5, 1948.

In 1953, Dozier married Ann Rutherford who played Careen O’Hara, one of Scarlett O’Hara’s sister in GWTW. That marriage was a solid and happy marriage for Dozier and Rutherford who stayed married for almost 40 years until his death in 1991 at age 83.

“We did so many fun things,” said Rutherford. “We traveled to Europe. In fact one time, after Gone With the Wind, we met up with David Selznick on a trip.”

Rutherford still lives in the Hollywood style house she shared with Dozier and his daughter.  Deborah was only five-years-old when Rutherford came into her life and she lived with them.

Old age runs in their extended family as Joan Fontaine is still alive at age 93, living in California and Olivia, at age 95 spends most of her time at her Paris, France home. These two treasures from the Golden Age of Hollywood are beloved by many fans due to the many movies they appeared in but they do not share memories of the good old days with each other.

Ann Rutherford, on the other hand, also in her nineties, loving her life and everyone in it.  She cherishes her memories with Dozier and looks forward to visits with Deborah, and having lunch or playing cards with friends who include recognizable names from television or the movies.

One of her friends is Betty  Lynn who played Thelma Lou, the love interest for Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. In recent years she has traveled to Atlanta, Ohio, and North Carolina to participate in Gone With The Wind based events.

Deborah, whose mother Joan Fontaine’s maiden name was Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland,  had a life surrounded by show business. (Fontaine took the stage name her mother had taken before her when she followed her into the acting career.) She was involved in “the family business” for a while but chose not to live that lifestyle later on.

Just as Rutherford played Scarlett’s little sister in Gone With The Wind, in real life Joan Fontaine is Olivia de Havilland’s younger sister.  Scarlett did not have a good relationship with her sisters and it was the same and worse for the de Havilland sisters. They have had a famous estrangement for years.

According to Fontaine biographer Charles Higham , Fontaine also had an estranged relationship with Deborah, and it was attributed to her possibly discovering Deborah had a relationship with her aunt Olivia.

Highham, who wrote Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine and has written biographies on Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Lucille Ball, delved into the feud between the two sisters, which he says has been an estrangement since the mid 1970’s.

Rutherford’s step-daughter, Deborah Dozier Potter is the author of the book Let Buster Lead, which tells of her struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after falling off a horse.

Potter was honored at this year’s Marshfield, Mo. Cherry Blossom Festival with the  Ella Dickey Literacy Award and she traveled to Missouri to accept it.

“I would have loved to attend,” Rutherford said at the time, “But with the Anniversary of Gone With The Wind I just had too much traveling.”

At the same event Greg Giese, who played the son of the character Olivia de Havilland played in GWTW was awarded the Hubbell Award and a star on the “Missouri Walk of Fame” for preserving history, something he does every time he travels to an event to remember Gone With The Wind. Giese played the infant Beau Wilkes the son of de Havilland’s Melanie Wilkes.

It is amazing how Rutherford’s famous quote of “Gone With The Wind has made our ‘silver’ years platinum” has rang true for many involved in the move who are still alive.

Last month, GWTW collector Novella Perrin opened the Gone With The Wind Book and Movie Museum in Branson, Mo., right there on Main Street in Old Branson. She welcomed a couple of actors who played children in the movie.

Fans come from all over the country to attend the various venues. This November there will be an event called “It’s Windie in Kansas” held in Olathe, Kansas which will features and authors and speakers talking about Gone With The Wind and focusing on Hattie McDaniel who was from Kansas and played Mammy.  For information on “It’s Windie in Kansas” go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-Windie-in-Kansas/164750116917229

From childhood to adulthood she spent many nights at St. Joseph’s and felt comfortable because one of the nuns on staff was her beloved cousin, Martha Anne “Mattie” Holliday– who since entering the convent went by Sister Melanie. By the night Mitchell was taken to the hospital  for the last time, Sister Melanie had been dead for 10 years, but Mitchell’s husband John Marsh probably wished she was there to offer him some comfort as she had done in the past.

According to a cousin who was interviewed for The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind, Mitchell visited Sister Melanie once a week during her adult life.  She had many conversations and took notes on brown paper bags she used to bring her cousin groceries. Towards the end of Sister Melanie’s life she was blind and Mitchell loved visiting with her and hearing her stories. She had always loved the Civil War stories of her great aunts, and Sister Melanie was their cousin, and of the same generation. When you read the whole story it is no wonder that when Margaret Mitchell was writing Gone With The Wind, she named a character Melanie. She had lived through the Civil War and  Sister Melanie was also first cousin to a famous Wild West character.

Doc Holliday, famous for being involved in the Gunfight at OK Corral and being friends with Wyatt Earp, died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1887 and his friend Kate Elder shipped a box back to his cousin, Sister Melanie, of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in Atlanta, GA. This simple act of shipping his final belongings to his cousin helps corroborate a story that links several storylines in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with The Wind to the famous icon of the Wild West.  Holliday was in fact in Mitchell’s family tree.

In her book about Doc Holliday, A Family Portrait, distant cousin Karen Holliday Tanner talks about a gold stickpin that was owned by John Henry “Doc” Holliday being sent back to Sister Melanie, the cousin of Doc Holliday after he died.  This was a special stickpin given to him by his uncle as a going away gift, and he wore in his lapel as he boarded a train from his home in Georgia and headed out West, never to return.

“Doc Holliday” was actually John Henry Holliday, of the Georgia Hollidays, a wealthy, respected family of doctors and lawyers. Mary Anne Fitzgerald (the niece of Margaret Mitchell’s great grandfather Philip Fitzgerald) married  Robert Kennedy Holliday  (the uncle of John Henry “Doc” Holliday).

That marriage put Doc Holliday in Margaret Mitchell’s family tree and so started the union of the Holliday and Fitzgerald cousins whose parents helped them survive the Civil War. Mitchell’s great aunts and her grandmother visited with, attended parties with, and at various times lived with their Holliday cousins. This was brought out for the first time in detail in The Making Of A Masterpiece through a scrapbook kept by one of Margaret Mitchell’s cousins.

Sister Melanie gave the stick pin to her brother James Robert Holliday (1864-1943) and he passed it on to his son Edward R. Holliday. According to Tanner, Edward’s daughter who lives in Decatur, GA owns it.

During the time the book was being written, that Holliday cousin’s husband,  was very ill. She was interested in the book and wanted to contribute due in her personal connection to Margaret Mitchell as she said she was the only living direct relative of Sister Mary Melanie and Doc Holliday.

Tanner mentioned a special close relationship between John Henry Holliday and his cousin Mattie, she stopped short of saying it was romantic, but author Tom Barnes who wrote Doc Holliday’s Road To Tombstone said it was definitely romantic. He interviewed a cousin on John Henry’s mother’s side who was his source and he knew of romantic letter between Holliday and the woman who would become Sister Melanie.  Barnes said once he went out West they corresponded and she always hoped he would come home to her, though the family would have been against the two getting together romantically. After the Gunfight at OK Corral she realized he was never going to come home and eventually she entered the convent (a familiar storyline in GWTW).

Edward Holliday’s daughter, the Mitchell/Holliday cousin who now does not want her name mentioned,  spent several weeks with this author going over memories of her visits with Sister Melanie and of knowing Mitchell and her nephews.

Mitchell had no children of her own, but her brother Stephens Mitchell had two sons and she talked about seeing them at various family events and at church. She described the nephews in detail and also her feelings for Margaret Mitchell and even her theories on Mitchell’s death, but those descriptions were removed from the rough draft and ended up on “the cutting room floor” as they say in the movies, as per her request.

As this author put together the part about Doc Holliday’s involvement with the Holliday and Fitzgerald side of Margaret Mitchell’s family, this cousin was told about it and  abruptly asked not to be mentioned in the book.  In fact she emphatically requested all her interviews be left out of the book, and out of respect for the woman who was going through a rough time with her husband so ill, the author complied. Soon after, her husband who was a award winning poet, novelist, and playwright  died at the age of 78.

The thing that this woman did confirm was that Mitchell regularly visited Sister Melanie, and she knew she was John Henry Holliday’s cousin and Sister Melanie did tell her stories, and Mitchell wrote them down.

The interesting thing about history is new books are written all the time and just as Tanner and Barnes’ books vary in facts here and there, another author, Gary L. Roberts came out with Doc Holliday , The Life and Legend and has a few facts different even still. That’s why it’s called “his-story.” History is nothing more than stories passed down, but it is fun to try to piece together how things all fit together.

And here’s one last interesting fact: Doc Holliday’s life was August to November and Mitchell’s was November to August: John Henry Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887), Margaret Munnerlyn  Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949). Both were very young when they died:  Holliday was just 36 and Mitchell was 48.  Besides some relatives, Mitchell and Holliday shared the date Nov. 8^th: thirteen years to the day after Holliday died, Mitchell was born.

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For more information on “The Making Of A Masterpiece, The Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind” www.GWTWbook.com.

To contact Sally Tippett Rains, please “like” GWTWbook.com on Facebook.

Rains is the author of 11 books and is the content manager for RobRains.com, a website covering St. Louis sports. If you are a St. Louis sportsfan, please “like” RobRains.com (Journalist) on Facebook, also.

It’s Windie In Kansas

The Jonesboro GWTW Museum is housed in the old Jonesboro train station.

By Sally Tippett Rains

On June 11 the Clayton County Convention and Visitors Bureau is hosting an event called “Legendary Tales” to celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of Margaret Mitchell’s book “Gone With The Wind.”

“Legendary Tales is a four-stop living history tour where fans can explore the literary setting of ‘Gone With The Wind,’” said Rebekah Cline, the Director of Marketing & Communications for Clayton County CVB.

Costumed storytellers will entertain attendees with stories of Jonesboro’s history that parallel both the characters and stories in the book.

Tickets are $20 per person and include the four-stop living history tour, admission to the Road to Tara Museum and admission to Stately Oaks Plantation. Visitors will tour at their own pace utilizing their own vehicle and they will be admitted to each event with their ticket.

Herb Bridges.

The Road to Tara Museum features many items from the collection of Herb Bridges who is recognized as the authority on “Gone With the Wind” having written many books on it and lectured on it for years.

“I love that the Jonesboro museum sits in the train depot,” said Denise Tucker, GWTW collector and manager of several websites and facebook pages including GWTW…But Not Forgotten. “The train depot of Jonesboro is central to several scenes in the book and for that – the museum’s location is as relevant to the story as is the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum as the site where the story was penned. Additionally – being more of a Margaret Mitchell and book collector – I love the extensive book collection at Jonesboro and some of the unique Margaret Mitchell items.”

The GWTW Museum in Jonesboro also features a replica of “Tara.”

“I like to promote Jonesboro because they are tied to ‘Gone With The Wind’ and they embrace their tie,” said Angela Danovi, a GWTW fan who recently got her Masters degree.” I was hoping that things would be better coordinated where Jonesboro would have their event on Friday and Marietta would have their event mainly on Saturday. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out that way and so I’ve had to work out a schedule towards what I want to see and do over that weekend in June.”

The Jonesboro GWTW Museum (Courtesy Clayton County CVB)

It is a shame that there are two great events that attract the same target market audience and they are the same weekend, but they are not that far apart so travelers might be able to use some creativity. Danovi plans on trying to attend parts of both events.

“My friend, Christina Bystrom who attended the 50th anniversary in Atlanta in 1989, and I have bought tickets to the breakfast in Marietta on Friday morning and then we will likely go to Jonesboro after breakfast that day to visit the Clayton County museum. Saturday, we have tickets to two events in Marietta and plan to spend the day in Marietta.”

For travelers to the events there are also many other “Gone With The Wind” sites in the Atlanta area of Georgia including Margaret Mitchell’s grave, The Margaret Mitchell House and even Grady Memorial Hospital which has moved but was the place where Mitchell was taken by ambulance before she died.

Stately Oaks Mansion in Jonesboro (photo by Brenda Starr courtesy Clayton County CVB)

“It will be interesting to visit the Jonesboro Museum and that area because it will be something new for me and because the representatives of the museum really seem to embrace their place in GWTW history as well as in Civil War history.

“The one thing that I think is really great for the Jonesboro museum during this 75th anniversary is that they have made their event very affordable at $20.00 for their Saturday event.”

Jonesboro has many Civil War-era buildings and homes including the Stately Oaks Mansion. Margaret Mitchell would have seen the Stately Oaks Mansion when she went to Jonesboro.

As mentioned in a previous blog, the Marietta event will highlight the movie, whereas the Jonesboro event spotlights the real Civil War history behind the story. 2011 is the 150^th Anniversary of the Civil War and the 75^th Anniversary of the publication of “Gone With The Wind.”

This writer researched Margaret Mitchell’s Clayton County by going there and also by reading a scrapbook put together by one of Mitchell’s Civil War relatives. Here is an excerpt from “The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind”:

The 1850’s were tumultuous for the United States as there was quarreling among sections of the country. The ‘North’ wanted a special protective tariff for their industries, the ‘West’ wanted free farms for settlers as well as aid for building roads and improvements, and the ‘South’ wanted to be left alone—but that was not happening.

The Old South’s feeling was much like Ashley Wilkes’ said in Gone With The Wind, page 108, “If Georgia fights, I’ll go with her….But like Father, I hope the Yankees will let us go in peace and there will be no fighting—“

Anti-slavery forces in the North weren’t so much worried about the South, who already had slavery, they wanted to insure Congress keep the expanding territory from having slaves. The Compromise of 1850 and The Missouri Compromise were attempts to settle the problems with compromise.

As new territories developed problems surfaced. The Kansas-Nebraska  Act which established the new territories left room for legal slavery. The North was against the bill and it broke up the Whig political party for the newly formed Republicans who were dedicated to stopping slavery and especially preventing it from moving Westward. Those who wanted to end slavery (abolitionists) had been in force since the 1830’s but once Abraham Lincoln was elected president they knew the chasm was inevitable.

There was talk of the Southern states seceding from the Union and in his inaugural address Lincoln mentioned that it was illegal. Hard feelings led to the secession of the Southern States, the naming of Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States of America, and Davis naming General Robert E. Lee as head of the military. On April 12, 1961 Lee’s forces fired on Fort Sumter in the harbor or Charleston, SC. The war was on.

From the beginning, the North had more resources and at times it seemed all  the South had was confidence and pride. Margaret Mitchell used Rhett Butler to explain this as he said on page 110, “Has any one of you gentlemen ever thought that there’s not a cannon factory south of the Mason-Dixon line? Or how few iron foundries there are in the South? Or woolen mills or cotton factories or tanneries?”

He also mentioned there were no warships and warned the North could take control of their harbors prohibiting them from selling their cotton overseas. The South had no factories, their main source of income was the cotton they grew and the sales of that cotton to the North and overseas.

At the beginning of war the call for volunteers was heeded. The South was united and determined. As the fighting got closer to Georgia the families in Clayton County talked of war more and more.

On March 10, 1862  Georgia Governor Joseph Brown’s mandate to raise forces from each county, caused young men in Clayton County to come running, heeding the call of the Confederacy. Companies from all counties surrounding Clayton met at Camp Stephens just outside of Griffin, Georgia. This group became the 44^th Georgia Regiment of Volunteers. On April 4^th the new regiment was ordered to Goldsboro, NC.

Mitchell re-enacted this scene in Gone With The Wind p. 144 as Charles Hamilton tells her, “Mr. Lincoln has called for men, soldiers—I mean volunteers—seventy-five thousand of them!” This scene was dramatically played out in the movie as the men ran from the Wilkes’ Barbecue to volunteer. Just the thought of that Mr. Lincoln beefing up the North’s army caused men and boys from every family to sign up.

Margaret Mitchell had learned about the Civil War from her relatives, including her grandmother and great-aunts who had lived through it and were still alive during most of her life. In the summers she went to the Jonesboro, Clayton County area to visit them. The Battle of Jonesboro marked the end of the Atlanta Campaign of the Civil War. When Federal troops seized control of the railroad in Jonesboro, all supplies to Atlanta were cut off.

These things were known to Mitchell and she wrote about it. There are still buildings in Jonesboro that Mitchell and her family saw and they may have provided background for her book.

The Holliday-Dorsey-Fife Museum is in Fayetteville, Clayton County.

Right down the road is Fayetteville, Georgia where her great-grandparents and great-aunts are buried. Also in Fayetteville is the Holliday-Dorsey Fife House,  a museum with information on the “Gone With The Wind” and the Doc Holliday connection.

For those who read this author’s book “The Making of A Masterpiece…” (www.GWTWbook.com), there are many destinations in Clayton County that are in the book. Several GWTW enthusiasts have told stories of taking their books with them and going to some of the places mentioned to get a taste of the real-life history behind GWTW.

The Jonesboro event covers some of the venues in the book.

Angela Danovi hopes that a coordinated effort between Jonesboro and the Marietta people will be made for the 75^th Anniversary of the Movie.

“I hope future events are better coordinated between the GWTW venues in GA. Ideally, I’d like to see the Margaret Mitchell House, Oakland Cemetery, Marietta Museum, Clayton County, and the Fox Theater all coordinate together for the 75th anniversary of the film.

“It would be nice if they put together a 75th anniversary committee with representatives from each of the venues and a few members of the GWTW public to plan out events in 2014.

“Each of these places has something special to offer and they all could benefit from a coordinated event planning for the 75th anniversary of the film, culminating in a re-premiere at the Fox Theater.”

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Sally Tippett Rains is an author (www.GWTWbook.com)  and the content manager for TheStLSportsPage.

Mickey Kuhn, Ann Rutherford, and Patrick Curtis will be at the Marietta GWTW Event.

The year 2011 is a fun year for fans of Gone With The Wind as there are many events going on.  We were pleased to be involved with a wonderful event in Marshfield, Mo. a few weeks ago with GWTW collector Dr. Christopher Sullivan and Greg Giese who played “Baby Beau” and “Baby Bonnie” in the movie.

The reason for the many special events is that it is the 75th Anniversary of the release of the book by Margaret Mitchell. The book was published in June of 1936 though due to it being in the Book of the Month Club there was some maneuvering and some First Editions bear the date May 1936 and some have June 1936. Both are First Editions, just different printings.

The Margaret Mitchell House celebrated with an event May 14 and both the City of Marietta and the City of Jonesboro will be hosting events the weekend of June 10-11.  Today we will present the information from the Marietta GWTW Museum and in our next blog we’ll have the information from Jonesboro.

A savvy fan might be able to take in parts of both events, or at least tour both museums. The Marietta GWTW Museum, Scarlett on the Square has reserved some rooms at the Embassy Suites but there are also rooms available at the Marietta Drury Inn under “Gone With the Wind” for a limited time.

For those who came to  the St Louis event and stayed at the Drury Inn, y9u know the Drurys are friends of ours so I like to promote their hotels every chance I get. The Embassy Suites are nice also, but if they are full be sure to check out the Drury. Remember they had the hot breakfast and hot buffet for happy hour, and they too are offering a special rate.

Here is the schedule for the Marietta Event:

FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2011:
9:30-11:00 a.m. – Breakfast with the Stars, Marietta Country Club
($35.00 per person)

This first day get-together will introduce you to all of the weekend’s special guests.  Enjoy a wonderful breakfast buffet with all of the amazing stars at the beautiful Marietta Country Club.  Joining the lineup are Ann Rutherford, Mickey Kuhn, Patrick Curtis, Geneva Miller Roberts, Morgan Brittany, Karolyn Grimes, Anne Edwards, Marianne Walker, John Wiley, Susan Lindsley, and Joseph Yakovetic.  Following breakfast, you will have an opportunity to mingle with the celebrities and take photographs.  An autograph signing will take place later in the event and we ask that you refrain from seeking autographs during this special gathering.

11:00-11:45 a.m. – Scarlett Look-Alike Contest, Marietta Country Club

All Scarlett wannabe’s will have an opportunity to dress in their favorite Walter Plunkett “knockoff” to vie for the best Scarlett at the event.  The contest judging will be led by our favorite Vivien Leigh/Scarlett star Morgan Brittany who will enlist the aid of her celebrity cohorts for a final decision of the winner.  A prize will be awarded to the winning Scarlett.

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1:30-3:30 p.m. – Here’s Looking at You Kid!, Hilton Ballroom
($35.00 per person)

What was it like to be a star in Hollywood at the ripe old age of 5? or 7?  or 12?  This is your opportunity to find out and the stories will come straight from the kids’ mouths.  We have all watched the classics on the big screen and on TV and wondered what it must feel like to play opposite some of the greatest stars in the world.  Morgan Brittany, Karolyn Grimes, Patrick Curtis, and Mickey Kuhn all grew up with a childhood we could only dream about.  During this event you will hear about the exciting and even funny moments in the lives of these one-time child stars and all their behind-the-scenes escapades during the filming of movies such as It’s A Wonderful Life, Gypsy, and Juarez.  Interview will be conducted by Connie Sutherland followed by brief Q&A from the audience.

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6:00-11:00 p.m. – The Stars Shine at Hamilton’s
($135 per person)

6:00-7:00 p.m. – Dinner:  Hamilton’s at the Hilton

Dinner is never better than when the stars are out.  Dine in the beautiful setting of Hamilton’s before an evening of entertainment with all of our talented special guests.

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7:15-8:15 p.m. – Program:  The Role of a Lifetime

You will need to brush up on your movie knowledge and acting skills for this fun program because you might be randomly selected for “the role of a lifetime.”  Have your cameras ready as anything can happen during this hilarious event.

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8:30-10:30 p.m. – Program:  An Evening with Anne Edwards

As a woman, her own life has been as interesting as those she has written about in her famous biographies.  As an author, she has given us the real stories of the likes of Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Princess Diana, and dearer yet to our own hearts, Margaret Mitchell and Vivien Leigh.  Tonight, you will travel through the interesting years of her life as you spend an evening with Anne Edwards.  The in-depth interview will be conducted by Chris Sullivan.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011:

10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Autograph Signing, Marietta Gone With the Wind Museum

(No Charge)

The celebrities will sign autographs at the museum.  Two autographs per person, per celebrity will be permitted and no returns to the line will be allowed.  Note:  A fee may be imposed by celebrities for photographs, autographs or other memorabilia or personal items.  These fees are set by the celebrities and are not associated with the Marietta Gone With the Wind Museum.

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12:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. – Swap Meet, Museum Courtyard

(No Charge)

Join in the fun to buy, sell, or trade during this fan-based swap meet in the courtyard area of the Gone With the Wind Museum (weather permitting).  In the event of inclement weather, the swap meet will be set up inside the museum in a location designated by staff.  Approximately 10-12 tables will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and may be reserved by calling 770-794-5576.  You may also provide your own table if you wish.

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3:00-5:00 p.m. – Author’s Panel Discussion: Peggy’s Book, Hilton Ballroom
($35.00 per person)

Authors Anne Edwards, Marianne Walker, John Wiley and Susan Lindsley will discuss Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and how it affected their personal lives and the writing of their own books.  A Q&A will follow the discussion.

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8:00-10:00 p.m. – The Golden Age of Hollywood with Ann Rutherford

($35.00 per person)

We have delighted in her stories of Gone With the Wind and her role as “Carreen O’Hara.”  Tonight we will hear how she got started in the “business,” her most memorable moments as an actress, her favorite and least favorite co-stars, and what life was really like during the golden age of Hollywood.  The interview will be conducted by Chris Sullivan and Connie Sutherland.

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The winner of a silent auction for a painting by Joseph Yakovetic rendered at the museum throughout the two-day event will be announced following the Ann Rutherford interview and Q&A.

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Actress Ann Rutherford who played “Carreen O’Hara” in the film and who has starred in movies such as Orchestra Wives, Pride and Prejudice, A Christmas Carol, and the Andy Hardy Series which ran from 1938 to 1942, will once again warm our hearts with her participation in our June event.  Having played alongside such notables as John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and George Montgomery, Ann’s career boasts more than 50 films and we will get an inside look at her memories.

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Also slated to appear is Mickey Kuhn who had a lucrative acting career as a young man (Juarez with Bette Davis, Red River with John Wayne, The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers starring Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas,  and of course, Beau Wilkes the 7-year old son of Ashley and Melanie in Gone With the Wind).  Mickey is the only actor to have played in two films with the beautiful Vivien Leigh.  Aside from Gone With The Wind, he also portrayed a young sailor who assisted Leigh’s character Blanche in boarding a streetcar (named Desire).

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Patrick Curtis played Baby Beau in “Gone With the Wind” (there were 4 Beaus all together).  While, still in diapers, he played the role of Nicky Charles in “Another Thin Man” to parents Nick and Nora Charles.  Patrick had roles in more than 70 movies and television shows.  He met the beautiful Linda Evans on the set of the Ozzie and Harriet show and they later became engaged, although he married a young college student named Raquel Welch, a union that lasted 14 years.  Patrick produces the Golden Boot Awards each year in Hollywood.

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Geneva Miller Roberts will make her second appearance at the museum having participated in our 70th anniversary event in 2009.  Geneva was a 13 year-old “extra” on the set of Gone With the Wind during the filming of the barbecue scene.  She will share some wonderful memories with her fans of her time on the set and seeing Clark Gable for the first time.  Geneva and her siblings were extras in quite a few films in Hollywood during its heyday.  We are so happy to have her back for this event as well as her very dear husband, Bob.

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Actress Morgan Brittany will be a first-time guest to the museum this June.  Morgan was a child actor (Suzanne Cupito) who played the very talented “Baby” June in Gypsy starring her favorite actress Natalie Wood.  Suzanne was seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and as Henry Fonda’s teenage daughter in Yours, Mine, and Ours.  She later played the conniving Katherine Wentworth in the famous TV show Dallas.  Morgan’s connection with Gone With the Wind came about because she bears a striking resemblance to actress Vivien Leigh.  She won roles in Gable and Lombard and The Scarlett O’Hara War playing the famous leading lady of Gone With the Wind.

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While child actress Karolyn Grimes had no part in Gone With the Wind, she still managed to snag a role in one of Hollywood’s most beloved films by playing the adorable ZuZu daughter of Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life.  Attending the June event as part of an interview segment called “Here’s Looking at You Kid” Karolyn will join the other former child stars to talk about her role as ZuZu as well as other roles in memorable films starring the likes of  John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray, Betty Grable, Danny Kaye, and, of course, Jimmy Stewart.  She also starred in The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.

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Confirmed for the Author’s Panel are:

Anne Edwards, author of biographies of such celebrities as Barbra Streisand, Princess Diana, Judy Garland, and Katharine Hepburn.  Of course, nearer and dearer to our hearts are the biographies Vivien Leigh and Road to Tara: Life of Margaret Mitchell.  Ms. Edwards has led a most interesting life through her travels and interviews with a number of Hollywood’s most celebrated personalities.  She will sit in on a panel discussion with three other authors but ticket holders will be able to attend an in-depth interview as owner of the museum collection, Chris Sullivan asks all the right questions during “Meet Anne Edwards.”

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The museum is pleased to welcome first-time guest Marianne Walker (Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind) scheduled for re-release later this year or early next year.  Having met Marianne during my Margaret Mitchell House days, I can attest to what a delight she is to be around and so interesting.  Marianne will be an ideal panelist having met relatives of John Marsh and researched the family ties of the Mitchell and Marsh families.

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John Wiley whose new book was co-written with Ellen Brown (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood) has received rave reviews since its release.  John is a collector of foreign editions of Gone With the Wind as well as acting editor for The Scarlett Letter publication.  We are very happy to have not only John Wiley, the author, but John Wiley, the friend to provide his own expertise for our author’s panel.

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Lastly, we are pleased to have Susan Lindsley, author of Susan Myrick of Gone With the Wind: An Autobiographical Biography, rounding out the panel.  Susan is also the niece of Sue Myrick, best friend of Margaret Mitchell who acted as a technical advisor on the set of Gone With the Wind in 1939.  Susan will provide us with childhood memories of having met Margaret Mitchell when she visited her Aunt Sue in south Georgia.

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Artist Joseph Yakovetic, painter of shadows, will join us in Marietta again this year with his new Gone With the Wind prints.  Joe will also render another painting “live” at the museum during the two-day event that will be auctioned off on Saturday evening.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to purchase your prints, giclees, or original paintings to have them signed in person by Joe and the Gone With the Wind cast member who portrayed the character in the painting.

Please join us June 10-11 for A Tribute to Margaret Mitchell:  The Book That Touched the World.

Tickets purchased separately total $275.  However, we are offering a weekend one-price ticket for $250.  For reservations or information, please contact Connie Sutherland at 770-794-5145.

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Last week was an exciting week for the Gone With The Wind community: New York recognized them! Selina Sorrow, a long-time Windie, collector, and dressmaker from Georgia was featured by the New York Times. She was photographed wearing a Gone With the Wind inspired dress she made: the Barbecue Dress. Here’s a link to that article:

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/fiddle-dee-dee-gone-with-the-wind-lives-on/

This writer has seen some of the dresses Selina has made and they are amazing.

“I have been making the GWTW ballgowns and I have also designed other ones besides Scarlett,” said Selina Sorrow.

She makes dresses for those wanting a special dress for an upcoming “ball” or other Civil War or Gone With the Wind event.

“I let the customer send me information and photos of what they may want and I make it from that,” she said.

If anyone is interested talking to Sorrow about having a dress made, they can email her at southernspicegwtw@live.com and she will send them information.

It is great to see more of the country recognizing the significance of Gone With the Wind.  The “Gateway To the Wind” event in St. Louis in Nov. 2010 drew people from all over the country including Georgia, Utah, California, North Carolina, New York, Kentucky, Michigan and more.

There are many events commemorating GWTW this  year including two the same weekend in Georgia: The Road To Tara all-day event Saturday June 11^th at the Road To Tara Museum in Jonesboro, GA and the Marietta Gone With the Wind Museum: Scarlett on the Square event June 10 and 11^th.  Information has jut gone out on the Marietta event so contact the museum or go to their website to find out more.

The Marshfield Cherry Blossom Festival will be held in Marshfiled, MO April 28 and 29 with some exciting guests in attendance including Donna Douglas who played Ellie May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies and Mary McDonough of the Waltons, descendants of past presidents AND GONE WITH THE WIND people.  Greg Giese, who played baby Beau an baby Bonnie in GWTW will receive a star on the Walk of Fame and I will be introducing him. Dr. Christopher Sullivan who has a collection in the Marietta Gone With The Wind Museum will be receiving the Hubbel Award for preserving the history of GWTW and Deborah Dozier, Ann Rutherford’s step daughter will be presenting it to him. Deborah’s mother is Joan Fontaine, one of the women who tested for the role of Scarlett O’Hara and her aunt is Olivia de Havilland who played Melanie. It’s an old-fashioned small town event with a lot of excitement.

Greg Giese will receive his star at 1 p.m. at the Crossbridge Church in Marshfield, which is near Springfield, MO, and at 4 p.m. at the same church there will be  a program:  ”The Civil War Aspect of Gone With The Wind” featuring Sally Tippett Rains and guests will be able to view a copy of Margaret Mitchell’s cousin’s scrapbook which contains the Civil War background for Gone With The Wind.  For more information: www.Cherryblossomfest.com

Belle’s Birthday Bash will be June 18 from 6-8pm. This event held in Lexington, Kentucky celebrates the life of Belle Brezing (written about in “The Making of a Masterpiece, the True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind”, www.GWTWbook.com). Brezing was the model upon which Margaret Mitchell based her character Belle Watling. Last year the event included a book signing with this writer and Kathy Witt, author of “The Secret of the Belles.”

GWTW enthusiast Liz Smith  decided to put on an event in Kansas so she chose the name “It’s Windie in Kansas” for her November 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2011 festival in Olathe, KS.

“Since Gone with the Wind’s historic 1939 film premiere, movie fans (known as Windies) have traveled the nation, attending events in celebration of the film,” she says on her “It’s Windie in Kansas” Facebook page.  In 2011, the Mahaffie Historic Site, along with the support of local Olathe, Kansas area businesses will host an event which includes a period dress ball, wine tasting, catered picnic, civil war living history demonstrations, historical speakers, and up to 200 renowned book-signing authors, actors from the movie, and film enthusiast.

This event honors Kansas native and co-star of GWTW, Hattie McDaniel! Join Patrick Curtis, Joseph Yakovetic, Carlton Jackson (author of Hattie McDaniel biography) and others. For information: elizabethdsmith@gmail.com

 And one of the entertainment centers of America, Branson, Mo. will soon have a Gone With The Wind Museum.  Dr. Novella Perrin brought a small part of her collection to the “Gateway To The Wind” event in St. Louis and displayed it. She gave a power point presentation and thrilled the crowd by showing them a pair of pants worn by Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.

When she got the opportunity to display her collection in Branson, the popular tourist spot, she jumped at it.  The museum will be housed in the old Taney County Title Co. building in downtown Branson.

“I’ve redone the inside of the building, built new display cases, and will be moving part of my collection down there.” said Perrin.

Perrin will debut her “Gone with the Wind  A Book and Film Museum” the first weekend in May, 2011 if all goes on schedule.  It is located at 109 East Main in Historic Downtown Branson, Missouri and will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 pm. or other times by appointment.  Admission will be $10 for adults 18-55, $8 for seniors  56+ and active and retired military, $5 for children 13-17, and children 12 and under are free.

Perrin has been collecting GWTW memorabilia for over 25 years.  Original costumes, props, autographs, costume sketches, foreign and domestic posters, research materials, lobby cards, and art will be exhibited.  The museum will also host a large display of GWTW dolls and other memorabilia based on the movie.

For more information about the museum call 660-429-2872 or follow the museum construction at GWTW Branson on Twitter.  A website and Facebook presence will soon be available.

“I have had a lot of fun developing the museum,” said Perrin.  “I am excited about opening in May and I look forward to sharing my collection with many others who love the book and movie.”

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By Sally Tippett Rains, author of “The Making of a Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s  Classic Novel Gone With The Wind.”

Rains is the author of 11 books, writer for Patch.com, and content manager for TheStLSportsPage at RobRains.com. For sports fans, please check out our sports page and “like” RobRains.com on Facebook.

Giese will receive his star with this year’s cast:  Donna Douglas, who played Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies; Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys; former 4^th Congressional Dist. Representative Ike Skelton, Hubert Wheeler, Missouri’s first Educational Commissioner, and  (posthumously) Dorothy Walker Bush, mother of George H.W. Bush.

Rand Brooks and Fred Crane who stared in the movie and Judy Lewis, the daughter of Clark Gable were others with  Gone With The Wind ties who have been honored by the Marshfield Cherry Blossom Festival.

Giese, who lives in Belleville, Illinois will travel to Marshfield on Thursday for the Friday ceremony which starts at 1 p.m.

Following his event, at 4 p.m. at the Cross Bridge Church Sally Tippett Rains, author of The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With The Wind and Gone With The Wind collector Rita Kiry Ryan will present a program featuring a display of GWTW memorabilia and a replica of Margaret Mitchell’s family scrapbook with pictures of the author’s Civil War relatives. Spring hats are encouraged a la Scarlett O’Hara, and refreshments will be served.

The Cherry Blossom Festival in Marshfield, Mo was started by Nicholas Inman, who had spent a year in Washington, D.C. doing an internship and enjoyed the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Inman, being very patriotic decided to bring a bit of Washington, D.C. to his hometown so he incorporated descendants of presidents in the festival. His love for literature and Gone With The Wind have led him to honor authors and include book signings in  the events.

The Cherry Blossom project was began in 2003, although the first official planting did not occur until 2004. The first tree was planted at the Webster County Museum by Missouri First Lady Lori Houser Holden. It was decided on by the local Tree City USA advisory committee that each Missouri First Lady would be asked to plant a tree. This occurred due to the fact that the nations First Ladies had planted the trees in the nation’s capital. In fact, First Lady Helen Taft planted the first tree in Washington, D.C.  The trees are still young but they anticipate their beauty in years to come.

Descendants of U.S. Presidents attend the festival each year and it is a historic and unique gathering with presidential descendants including

Scheduled to attend:

Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (Great-Grandson of Eisenhower)

Jonathan Sandys (Great-Grandson of Sir Winston Churchill)

Marie Clinton Bruno (Cousin of Bill Clinton)

Tom Washington & family

Bertram Hayes-Davis & family

Davis Webb

Devon Nixon

Greg Roosevelt

John Truman

Chris Truscott

Dr. Richard Harding

George Cleveland

James K. Polk family

Mary Todd Lincoln family

Lynn Jackson

And

Greg Giese from Gone With The Wind

Donna Douglas, “Elly Mae” from The Beverly Hillbillies

Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival

Schedule for Friday, April 29

9: 30 a.m. Future Leaders of America Forum (free event)

11:30 a.m.- Ozarks Honor Flight Luncheon, honoring the heroes of WW II (Holy Trinity Catholic Church, ticketed event)

(The Cherry Blossom Medal and the Brig. General Homer Case Medal of Patriotism will be presented)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Book signing will be held at this event.

1:00 p.m.- Missouri Walk of Fame Ceremony (free event)

(Honoring: Donna Douglas (Elly Mae Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies), Jerry Jones, Hubert Wheeler, Greg Giese (Gone with the Wind) and Dorothy Walker Bush)

2:30 p.m.- Dred and Harriet Scott Reconciliation Forum- Hosted by the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation (free event)

4 PM: The Sesquicentennial of The Civil War Through Literature: The Civil War Background of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind (Free Event, Cross Bridge Church)

Short talk by Sally Tippett Rains, author of The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With The Wind and Gone With The Wind collector Rita Kiry Ryan. There will be a display of GWTW memorabilia and a replica of Margaret Mitchell’s family scrapbook with pictures of the author’s Civil War relatives. Spring hats are encouraged a la Scarlett O’Hara. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, April 30:

8:45 a.m.- Prayer Breakfast -Elkland Independent Methodist Church

10:30 a.m.- Commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War-Marshfield United Methodist Church, free public event

*Historical speakers, music and the dedication of the Honey Locust Tree symbolic of the Witness Tree from Gettysburg.

1:30-3 p.m. Presidential Forum at the Marshfield Assembly of God (Free Event) Featuring numerous Presidential descendants (autograph signing afterwards)

6 p.m.- State Dinner with Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (Great Grandson of President Eisenhower) as the keynote speaker. (Ticketed Event- see website for information)

One of the most interesting aspects of the book was the emergence of letters from Lois Cole, an assistant editor with Macmillan and also a friend of Margaret Mitchell’s.  Some of the things covered in  “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind” were either new, shed more light on facts already known, or conflicted with some of the information previously reported, and things were clarified by the use of correspondence from Cole, who started as an office manager at Macmillan based in Atlanta. While Gone With The Wind was under consideration and then after it was published she worked in the New York Office and worked closely with Harold Lathan the vice-president and editor –in-chief of the publishing company.

Some of the light shed on Cole was how close she and Mitchell actually were, that Mitchell introduced her to her future husband and they often socialized.  There was also a lot more written on Kay Brown, who worked for David Selznick, including what she did after that job and what her relationship to the Mitchell estate was.

Ellen Brown contacted Lois Cole’s children, who had been approached by other Mitchell biographers but had declined because their mother was a very private person who rarely talked about her personal relationship with Mitchell.  She was able to get them to agree to share some of their Mother’s papers.

“They liked that we were writing about the book as opposed to the movie,” said John Wiley, from his home in Virginia.

Brown is a lawyer and freelance writer who, several years ago, wrote an article on  Wiley’s Gone With The Wind collection for a magazine called “Fine Books & Collections.” They kept in touch, and in August 2008, decided to write the book. She had not read “Gone With the Wind” until they started the project, but according to Wiley, she quickly fell in love with it!

“We split the research and writing,” said Wiley, who is the publisher of “The Scarlett Letter” a quarterly newsletter for collectors and others interested in GWTW.   “I had been researching ‘Gone With the Wind’ for years and already had copies of hundreds, maybe thousands, of letters and documents from libraries.”

Brown and Wiley live in Virginia but they did some traveling for their research.

“We both spent a week at UGA (University of Georgia- Athens) looking at Margaret Mitchell papers to start,” he said.   “I returned to Athens for several more weeks while Ellen went to New York to go through the Macmillan papers. We divided the writing, too, and then exchanged what each had written for editing. In the end, we spent weeks around Ellen’s kitchen table, going over the manuscript line-by-line.”

There have been so many different books written about Margaret Mitchell but this one is touted that it is more about the book than the author, although much was revealed about the author. Long before there was George Brett, the Hall of Fame Kansas City Royals baseball player,  there was George Brett the president of Macmillan Books, and this book gives more information about him and just the process it all went through before and after publication and the journey to making the book into a movie.  Readers of Brown and Wiley’s book find out what Mitchell thought of George Brett and how even after her death John Marsh kept in contact with Brett.

Because Wiley’s background is collecting, they give a good description of what is a “first edition” and the various things that happened along the way to the book coming out and why stores around the country had books that had both “May” and “June” in them.

One of the things that has always fascinated this writer is the relationship between Mitchell and her husband John Marsh and also his involvement (or as some writers have written non-involvement with the book.) As an author married to an author, this writer has always assumed Marsh had much more input in the book writing and editing than some writers have claimed. It’s pretty tough to live in the same house, with one person working on a book and the other doesn’t know what she’s writing about. Also, if one was an accomplished editor it’s hard to believe he didn’t help with the editing. This book fills us in on more of that scenario.

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind also continues after Mitchell and Marsh died and then even after Stephens Mitchell died.  Some of that information was known to this writer through research she had done, but there was a lot to be learned from this new book.  In the end,  as the new book tells, Joe Mitchell –the only living of the two sons of Margaret Mitchell’s brother Stephens –is the one, who along with the lawyers continues to thrive from the money made from Gone With the Wind.

The one question the book raised was “where is all the money” and that’s a good question—although the book mentions some of it, it does not offer a complete answer, largely because it is unknown. Those who know about Joseph Mitchell know he is not in a situation to be able to tell. In fact there are a lot of things that could have been learned through him but never will.

If you have not read Wiley and Brown’s new book you should. For a book that has been going strong for 75 years, it’s fun to be able to fill in more of the blanks and bring a new look to one of the greatest classic novels ever written.

www.GWTWbook.com

INTERESTING TIDBIT: With Gone With The Wind celebrating it’s 75th anniversary of the book, and 2011 being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War…DID YOU KNOW.. Abner Doubleday who was always credited as inventing the game of baseball (until recently) claimed in his autobiography he was the first one to fire a shot at Fort Sumter and that it was HE who started the Civil War! –Always finding ways to connect GWTW to another great pastime…baseball.

Article by Sally Tippett, author of “The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Classic Novel, Gone With The Wind.”  Rains is also currently the content manager of RobRains.com.

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