They Don't Get Any Bigger (or Better) Than The One and Only Gone With The Wind

Movie titles, that's what we at the Roses of Prose are writing about. One of the titles assigned this month, as if you haven't already heard, is GONE WITH THE WIND.

What to write, what to write?

Any and all ideas I might have for this post are GONE WITH THE WIND.

GONE fishing WITH my brother-in-law Joe THE proverbial bag of WIND.

Have you GONE out WITH him to see THE WIND mills being built?

He was GONE WITH THE speed of a brisk WIND.

Okay, I won't subject you to any more of my plays on words to sneak in the title. Can you tell I'm procrastinating? Time to get to work.

Hear the title GONE WITH THE WIND and most people think Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh in the lavish four hour cinematic extravaganza. We tend to forget this epic started out as a book. A coming of age historical romance. The first, and only, written by Margaret Mitchell.

Here are a few facts I've discovered.

As books go, GONE WITH THE WIND is the most popular of all time with twenty eight million sales and counting.

Published in 1936, GONE WITH THE WIND earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1937.

The movie rights sold for $50,000.

Various working titles for GONE WITH THE WIND included; Tomorrow Is Another Day; Not In Our Stars; Bugles Sang True; Tote The Weary Load; and Baa, Baa Black Sheep.

Some work in progress names were Pansy which was changed to Scarlett and Fountenoy Hall which became Tara.

The author wrote the first chapter last and reportedly liked it the least. She also started the book by writing the end of the story and knew all along **SPOILER ALERT** Rhett and Scarlett weren't going to make it.

Since our current subject is movies, here are some bits of trivia about GONE WITH THE WIND, the movie.

Remember Silver from The Lone Ranger circa 1949? He got his start as a bit player in the famous movie. Also, heads up ladies, it is reported that Clark Gable worked 71 days and was paid $120,000. Vivian Leigh worked 125 days and earned $25,000.

That's all I have for now.

Margo

My days to blog here are the 11th and 23rd. For more about me and the books I write, please visit my WEBSITE