Don’t Miss CBS Morning Show Wed. Dec. 10 or Sunday Dec. 14 for GWTW Segments

UPDATE Dec. 13: The Sunday Dec. 14th segment has been changed. According to Kathleen Marcaccio: The segment been bumped from the Dec 14 show.  It is now scheduled for 12/21.

UPDATE Dec. 10: The segment was scrapped on the 10th but they ran it on Thursday the 11th. Most of the feature involved GWTW collector Novella Perrin and GWTW author John Wiley talking about why GWTW is such a beloved movie. CBS also interviewed former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young about the racial aspect of the book and how some was changed for the movie. It was brought out that he led the way to help preserve the Margaret Mitchell House. When asked about that he said that he considered GWTW to be the “end” of  the Civil War and the positive changes that followed. He also said he felt the character of Scarlett O’Hara was one of power and someone who would get something done no matter what. Read on to find out about the next feature CBS will be doing.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

By Sally Tippett Rains

“Gone With the Wind” fans should tune in to the CBS Morning Show Wednesday December 10 for a short segment on the 75th Anniversary of the premiere of “Gone With the Wind”, and then Dec. 14 there will be a second GWTW feature on CBS.

A lot of film has been shot and it’s not clear where it will all be used, so it’s advisable to watch both days.

“When I was in Atlanta in October, the CBS crew followed me around for a couple of events and then set up a special interview at the Margaret Mitchell House with me,” said Novella Perrin, a GWTW collector who was interviewed for the show.

The CBS Morning show airs 7-9 a.m. central time. No specific time was given for the segment, so fans wanting to see it should set their recorders for the whole show

According to Kathleen Marcaccio, a collector and GWTW speaker who is always in the know, fans can expect to see footage and interviews shot in October at the Road to Tara Museum event for author John Wiley’s book party, the Marietta Gone With The Wind Museum, and other sites in and around Atlanta

The second GWTW segment is planned for CBS Sunday Morning, which is the 14^th, but there was some talk that CBS might do something on the 15^th which is actually the 75^th Anniversary. Be sure to tune in Sunday.

Selina Sorrow is another person interviewed by the CBS Morning Show and it’s unclear if she will be in one or both segments.

“CBS came here,” Sorrow said, referring to her home in the Atlanta area. “They were here six and a half hours (and said) they want to air it for the 75^th Anniversary Dec. 15.”

According to Connie Sutherland of the Marietta “Gone With the Wind” Museum, the CBS morning news people went to the museum for some filming.

“They were doing a piece about the 75^th Anniversary to include the museum and Chris Sullivan’s collection pieces along with Windie input,” said Sutherland. “The love of ‘Gone With the Wind’ is so great.”

For those who may not know, “Windies” are to “Gone With the Wind” as “Trekkies” are to “Star Trek.” A Windie is anyone who loves GWTW and most collect some memorabilia and try to attend GWTW events or read everything they can about the movie or book. If you are reading this, you are probably a Windie.

A CBS crew flew to Austin, Texas to cover the Windies who were there for the exhibition “The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’” at the Harry Ransom Center.

“A CBS producer called me in mid-October to set it up,” said Kathleen Marcaccio who attended.”

He found out about the group from Sutherland at the Marietta GWTW Museum.

Sixteen GWTW enthusiasts accompanied by three husbands and one boyfriend—representing seven states—met up in Austin for the exhibit.

“We spent the day at the Ransom Center, shadowed all day long by a film crew shooting for a CBS Sunday Morning segment that is scheduled for Sunday, December 14th.  We enjoyed a 2 1/2 hour guided tour of the exhibit by film curator Steve Wilson, who made himself available to our group for the whole day. “

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist joined the exhibit tour and pretty soon the group of about 20 turned into a tour of 100 with people at the museum joining along the way.

The CBS people joined the Windies at The Story of Texas Cafe in the Bullock Texas State Historical Museum.  After that, they had a “Gone With the Wind” Show & Tell session where Windies Joy Clarkson, Mary Jackson, Patty Handy, Karen Stewart, Melissa Degenhardt, and Marcaccio shared memorabilia and stories.

“Melissa brought a pair of vintage gloves and some Lux jewelry,” said Marcaccio.   “Joy brought some GWTW coins. Mary brought some GWTW 50th Anniversary memorabilia. I shared some magazines that are unique in early coverage of the movie, one being perhaps the earliest Vivien Leigh as Scarlett cover story, another being perhaps the earliest publicity shot of Olivia de Havilland as Melanie.

“I also talked about tracking down people who were associated with “Gone With the Wind” somehow, including a cinematographer on the film, a woman who played in the orchestra that recorded the film score, and a woman who dressed in period clothing to promote GWTW in Rich’s department store during the Atlanta Premiere.”

Later that afternoon Karen Stewart, Kim Shamey and Kathleen Marcaccio met with Geist for a 45-minute interview.  Members of the group also had opportunities throughout the day to talk on camera.

According to Marcaccio, the CBS film crew including Geist went to fellow Windie, Warren Allen’s home in the Atlanta area.

The folks at CBS Morning have shared the love about “Gone With the Wind” before. They did a feature in 2011 about the 75^th Anniversary of the publishing of Margaret Mitchell’s book, which started everything. They actually had two reports at that time also, the first with Mark Strassman reporting on “American’s enduring fascination with the classic sage” and then CBS’s Russ Mitchell did an interview with author Ellen F. Brown.

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Sally Tippett Rains is the author of “The Making of the Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell and Gone With the Wind,” will be giving a talk at the Tesson Ferry Library in St. Louis at 2 p.m. on Dec. 17th. There will be two collectors, Anna Blair and Rita Kiry Ryan displaying some items from their “Gone With the Wind” collections. The event is free and refreshments will be served.  The book would make a good holiday gift for a GWTW fan. To find our how to order, go to http://www.GWTWBook.com