,TWdlYEASi|
I “Gone WitH the Wiod” All
i:v^ XXXHI. No. 84 Published Monda^ and NORTH WILKBSBOEO, N. C.. THURSDAY, m THE STAl®-42.00 Cftlr OP Ttl»
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WHAT rr FELT LIKE TO
PLAY SCARLETT O’HARA
130 HORSES, 500
100 COWS PART OF ANIMAL
KINGDOM SE^ IN
R^ OII8i^ Bndo^ 1b “Gone Widi Ihe
“WinlT AOnce-Iii-A-Lifetime Opportmuly
By VIVIBN LKI«H
i
f
(Appearing a» Scarlett O’Hara in
"Gone With the Wind” at • the
Liberty Theatre!
A year has gone by since the
night we stood watching the first
scenes being made for ‘‘Gone
With the Wind.” it was an awe
some spectacle- whole blocks of
sets being con.sumed by flames as
ibiiildings in old Atlanta burned,
ind I was a little confused by the
grandeur of it and by what seem
ed to be a frightening confusion.
That was the night I met Mr.
David O. Selznick. the man who
was producing “Cone With the
Wind,” and who had yet to select
a Scarlett O’Hara for the film.
In retrospect, it seems to me
that the fantastic quality of that
tremendous fire, the confusion I
felt and the feeling of loneliness
in the midst of hundreds of peo
ple. was indicative of what was
to come. I could not know then.
Vivien Leigh
of course, what lay ahiSa^-^-—Stfif
if someone had ventured to pre
dict it, I probably would have
passed it off as nonsense.
Objective View
The unexpocted happened; it
made me. for these months at
least, and whether I wished it so
or not. into the character known"dead
as .-tcarlett O’Hara. N'ow the dif-jj-tairs before ns.
that character ’
night, and day, month after
month.
Perhaps the hardest days I
spent, hard that is from the point
of actual physical exertion, were
during the time we made the
scene where Scarlett struggles
through the populace as it evacu
ates Atlanta.
Seemed an Eternity
Naturally this could not be
done all in one continuous "take,”
and so for what seemed an eter
nity I dodged through the maze
of traffic op Peachtree Street,
timing myself to avoid galloping
horses and thundering wagons.
And .between each shot, the
makeup man—he seemed to he
everywhere at once—came run
ning to wa.sh my face, then dirty
it up again to just the right
shade of Georgia clay dust. I
think he washed my face about
twenty times in one day. and
dusted me over with red dust aft
er each washing.
Oddly enough, the scenes of
physical strain were not so wear
ing as the emotional ones. One
night we worked at the studio un
til about eleven o’clock, then
went out to the country for a shot
against the .sunrise, when Scar
lett falls to her knees in the run
down fields of 'Tara and vows
she’ll never be hungry again. The
sun rose shortly after two a. m.
and I could not sleep, although I
had a dressing room in a trailer.
We made the shot and I arrived
at home about 4:30 a. m., yet I
do not recall that I was so ter
ribly tired.
Instead.'i think of the day that
Scarlett shoots the deserter, and
I recall that after that nerve-
wracking episode, both Olivia de
Havilland. the wonderful Melanie
of the film, and myself were on
the verge of hysterics—not alone
from the tenseness of the scene,
but from the too realistic fall as
man went down the
ficulty is to view
objectively. That it was a great
role for any actress was obvious,
yet I can truthfully say that I
looked on Mr Selzniek’s request
that I take a test for Scarlett as
.something of a joke. There were
dozens of .girls testing, and I did
not seriously consider the likeli
hood of actually playing the part.
Yet once it was decided upon I
discovered that there was no jok
ing about playing Scarlett. From
theti on. 1 was swept along as
though by a powerful wave—it
WoiKleri'iil Exi>erieiiee
Yet when the day came that
meant the film was completed. I
could not help feeling some little
regret that our parts were done
and that tlie ca-st and the crew—
who were all so thoughtful and
kind throughout—were breaking
up. Clark Gable. Leslie Howard,
Olivia de Havilland. Tom Mitch
ell. harhara O’Neil- fine play
ers all. We should see each other
again, of course—b’ut never again
would we have the experience of
playing in "Gone With the
was Scarlett. .Scarlett. Scarlett. IWind!
CHEVROLE T
P L Y W O U T H
C H R Y S L E R
FORD -
D O D G E
and OTHER-
Reconditioned Cars That
Will Be
Witfi The ’Wind”
i
the instant you “step on the gas” . . . cars that are full of “spring
i>ep” and energy . . . cars that are worth far more than the prices we
^ asking during this spring clearance ... and oars that you will be
proud to own for several years to come.
li’or several weeks we have been busy going over our used cars, getl^
them ready for this Sale, and now is surely the time to mvestigate what
we have to offer.
If you own, a car now we’ll be glad to laccopt it on a betteri used car, and
arrenge terms you can afford, on easy monthly payments. If interested in
any kind of Used Car, better see us quick.
Chrysler, Plymouth Cars and G. M. C. Trucks
Motor Service Sales Go.
ninth STREET
liMi
NORTH WILKESBORO
When writing casually of tlm
animals that were pdrt^ef Um
scene in "Gone 'yvith tbe ’Wind,”
the filmiratlon of which opens
Monday at the Liberty Theatre,
Margaret Mitchell provided Hol
lywood with' Us most spectacular
problem In the field of four-foot
ed .players.
The film required twelve hun
dred horses, five hundred mules,
a hundred hogs, a hundred cows,
and thousands of chickens, ducks,
geese, pea fowl, pigeons and oth
er barnyard stock, which were
rented at rates ranging from fif
ty cents a day up to $25 each.
In addition there was a pack of
some twenty Georgia hounds,
long-eared and .spotted, a dozen
sti.i.ggling Maltese and calico
cats, some sheep and a few goats.
Williai.' Clark, a former Ari
zona ranclrirtUi: and stunt rider,
was retained by Selznick Interna^
tional Studio to direct a staff of
IfiO men in the task of caring'for
the stock. Clark and his civilikri
cavalry troop were on the job
lor ten months.
"We rationed half a bale of hay
and a tenth of a sack of grain
per day to the horses, mules and
cattle,” Clark said. “That aver
aged 90,000 pounds of hay each
day and about 180,000 pounds of
grain. That figure fails to include
grain and feed lor hogs and
poultry.
"The .studio is responsible for
the care and feeding of all stock
when it reaches the lot. In ‘Gone
with the Wind’ we had to use
quite a tew head of thoroughbred
horses, which came from various
leading stables. Clark Gable, ’Vi
vien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Thom
as Mitchell and some of the other
players all rode thoroughbreds.
Every ranch in the Los Angeles
territory pimvided stock of one
species or another while scenes
were being filmed over a period
of a year. We had former caval
rymen and cowboys in the outfit
10 train the mounts for military,
work. The most difficult part of
that job was to hold them down
when we had to ride through fire i
scenes with explosions blasting all I
around us.”
Mules were used almost ex
clusively for plantation work in
the Old .South. Horses drew the
lighter vehicles and carried their
masters.
Clark was in charge of the ve
hicles. as well as the livestock.
The former included four hun
dred and fifty carriages, buggies,
carts and drays, along with army
transports. A great deal of re
search was required to locate
some of the old models.
The cart in which Clark Gable
and Vivien Leigh rode through
the Atlanta fire, drawn by an
equally decrepit horse named
Woebegone, was found by Kurtz
in an old barn at High Shoals,
Paulding County, Georgia.
The cost of maintaining the
animals and wages for their 160
attendants over a year was esti
mated by Clark to be In excess
of $75,000.
“It is no exaggeration to say
that the picture called for more
livestock than any film In Holly
wood history.” said the trainer.y,
Three years in preparation and
filming, "Gone with the Wind”
was produced In Technicolor by
David O. Selznick and directed by
Victor Fleming, with Clark Gable,
Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and
Olivia de Havilland in the ftarr-
ing roles, and a distinguished
cast of players In support. The
picture Is being released by Met
ro-Gold wyn-Mayer.
"‘He was kicked out of school
for cheating!”
"How come?”
“He was caught counting his
ribs in a physiology exam.”
Use the advertising columns of
this paper as your shopping anida
THE FIRST GLAMOUR GIRL’S
HEARTBRBIAKS OVER AT
•LAST? From the park biench she
has made her way to an Income
enabling her to fight for custody,
of her son. and Adela Rogers W.
Johns, well-known writer, polftts
out why mother love should i^n
her the battle. Read this lltus-
trated feature In The AmerWiS
Weekly Magazine with next fiton-
day’s Washington Tlmes-Herald,
now on sale.
* By OLARX OAKUB ,
(Appearing aa Rhatt Butler Ui
"lOoM 'frith the Wlnd^’ at th«
^ Liberty Tke«tr«)
I My reaction 'to "iihadDC: Rhatt > .
Wtler is both trank'a;^ simple-. ^
‘fTIhe oondemned man if a hear-1 f *’
ty meal.” Now don’t got me ■ *
wrong. As an,actor I loved it. Aa
Clark Gable
a character, he waa terfific. As
material for the^scirean, ^ho waa v
that “once In’ a lifetime” op(por- j -
tunlty. But aa Clark Gable,
likes to pick his spots'ahd found
himself trapped ibyr a. deriea • eC
ciroamstanceg over which he'bad
no control, I was '
This is no alibi.'r cii^tst bdi'
honestly admit thgt eetnak.
making of the pietitre lirak one oc,’’
the most thorougUy pleasant and
satisfying experiences’' I have'jp'^fi
ever known. During the filming; ^
I was on familiar ground. Once^^
in the atmosphere of the settings,-
facing a cameia in costume, play-;|' ^L
Ing scenes that were dramatical-* il
ly realistic, I felt for the firrt
time that I had an understanding, '
of Rhett. The long months I hadll '^L
studied him and tried to know
him as I know myself made me '
believe I was Rhett. These were
thlng.s I could get my hands onJ'
They were part of my job as an
actor. It was those things f
couldn’t get niy hands on that
had me worried.
Becaiiie a Fan, Too
In the interest of truth. I be
came a fan of Miss Mitchell’s with:
the rest of .America after going
half way through the book. It
was good, too good in tact. Rhett
was everything a character should- j A
be and rarely is, clear, concise and'*
very rettl-, He breathed in tlia
pdg«‘1tf%V^oK. He was flaw
less as a character study. He’
(Continued on page 4)
For EBtertainment... Be Sure To See...
“Gone With The Wind”
We know you’ll enjoy every minute of this nati-
onally-famous pi-jture, which is being brought to
North Wilkesboro next week. It ranks high as a
“sensation’
Steele’s.
and so does the jewelry values at
Special...
We have just received a
limited quantity of a jew
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sensation . . .
“Gone With The
Wind”
JEWELRY
See our window display
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Gold filled case with
sweep $ 'I A-50
hand »
Round model in
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ca.se ^
Sport model with
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Charming feminine
wrist $1 Q-75
watch k ^
In white or natural
gold $0/1.75
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'Two genuine dia
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$24*^5 up
Qaality Repair Work.. .
Even the best of jewelry, watches and clocks are
subject to accidental breakage or other injury.
When this happens to yours, remember... we can
fix it! \
Always A Complete Line Of Jewelry and Watches For Gifts
Or For Personal Use, At Most Reasonable Prices