By Julie Russo
Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind over 10 years.
The largest private collection of Gone with the Wind costumes, stage drawings, posters, and memorabilia is on display at the Museum of History in Raleigh through this Sunday. The artifacts originate from the James Shaw and Jim Tumblin collection, starting in 1962 when Shaw purchased a dress from the film for $20 in Hollywood, California.
Visitors learn about the author Margaret Mitchell, and her now legendary tale of Gone with the Wind. She was born in 1900 to a well-to-do Atlanta family, and grew up hearing stories about the Civil War and the Old South. Injured in a horse-riding accident in 1926, Mitchell would spend the next ten years writing her nostalgic and romantic portrayal of the civil war told through the courtship of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler.
Mitchell (somewhat embarrassed) showed her manuscript to Harold Latham, an editor at McMillan, and the rest is history: the novel was published in 1936 to critical acclaim, costing $3 per copy, (a sum large enough to feed a family in those days, we learn.) Mitchell would go on to win a Pulitzer-prize for the novel, and her fortune continued. Producer David O Selznick offered her $50,000 for the movie rights to the book--the largest sum ever awarded at the time. It was also the most expensive movie ever filmed with more than 4,000 crew and cast.
This behind the scenes exhibit presents the intricate details that went into making the film including some of the hundreds of hand-painted story boards by William Cameron Menzies who traveled throughout the south to prepare visual material for the Hollywood sets. Original water color paintings by Walter Plunkett of the famous costumes that Vivienne Leigh and Clark Gable would wear are also presented, as well as movie posters advertising Gone with the Wind around the world.
Original drawings by Walter Plunkett
The collectors also acquired several of the famous costumes worn by the film stars including Scarlett’s dress in Shantytown, Belle’s dress, confederate soldier uniforms, and one of Scarlett’s many famous petticoats. North Carolina artist and teacher Pete Ballard, who was friends with Plunkett, sewed hand-made replicas of the costumes for a doll collection, also on display.
Vivienne Leigh’s costume as Scarlett in Shantytown.
Gone with the Wind would earn 10 Academy Awards (Leigh’s trophy is here, too) and set box office records for the next 25 years. The film’s continued popularity was on prominent display this fall and spring with thousands of visitors touring the Museum of History exhibit. Lectures on the “Old South” and American Popular Culture included authors Karen Kox and David Sachsman last year, as well as a tour by one of its owners Mr. Tumblin this April.
Viewers learn that producer Selznick wanted to create an “absolutely modern” film. African Americans in the ‘30s weren’t nearly as enamored by Selznick’s portrayal, which they objected to for its romantic depiction of slavery. The producer received hundreds of letters about issues of race, with rallies, boycotts, and protests.
The exhibit ends April 14 before travelling to the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, where it will run June 1 through Dec. 31.