Gone With the Wind, Jezebel and Twitter

Let’s go to the Movies
Part Five
The Making of Gone With the Wind
During that same time period a fight was brewing between David Selznick and Jack Warner. A screenplay about the Civil War had been floating around Hollywood for some time prior to the purchase of Gone With the Wind by Selznick International but had not sold.
However soon after Selznick announced his intention to make Gone With the Wind, the earlier screenplay found a home at Warner Brothers. The aptly named Jezebel was announced by Warner Brothers to star Betty Davis and Selznick was furious.
Hollywood is known for copycat films made in order to capitalize on some aspect of an earlier successful film. This time it was before the cameras rolled on GWTW although the sky-high book sales might have prompted Warner’s actions.
The Jezebel film shadowed some GWTW scenes, but one in particular was egregious in Selznick’s mind and he wrote to set Warner straight. ‘This scene is lifted practically bodily out of Gone With the Wind in which it is an important story point leading to Rhett Butler’s entire behavior during the war.’
In the final version of Jezebel there remained several scenes that almost mirrored scenes out of Gone With the Wind. However, the one dealing with Rhett Butler’s character had been removed.
Following the flap over Jezebel’s and GWTW look-alike scene Selznick got back to work on his script. To give you an idea about Selznick’s approach to converting a popular book into a movie, here’s an exchange captured in some of his earlier memo’s between Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock.
Hitchcock’s film writing abilities had preceded his arrival in America and Selznick asked him to work up a treatment on Daphne du Maurier’s book Rebecca.
Hitchcock turned in a story line that had little to do with book, and not at all what Selznick wanted to do with the film. He told Hitchcock in no uncertain terms that he wanted his film to reflect the story line laid out in the book otherwise thousands of avid Rebecca readers would not look kindly on the film.
Selznick and Hitchcock eventually worked out their differences, apparently to everyone’s satisfaction, because Hitchcock came to America and not only worked on the screenplay but directed the film.
The first line in Variety’s review of Rebecca sums it up. ‘Picture is noteworthy for its literal translation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel to the screen, presenting all of its somberness and tragedy of the book.’
(To be continued)

Another part of ‘The Story Behind Gone With The Wind’
By Sally Trippett Rains author of ‘The Making of a Classic.’
Creative Book Publishers International
In a time when women run for both president and vice-president of the United States it is no surprise when a woman does something exemplary, but in the 1930's for Selznick to rely on Kay Brown's advice so heavily was a rarity. Selznick was a genius though, and he kept several strong women in his employ. He also put stock in a young female author who had worked in a newspaper and then written a novel about the Civil War. His most important employee though, was his executive assistant Marcella Rabwin. She was involved in every aspect of Gone With The Wind. She was with Selznick when he got to work and she did not go home until he left the office, which sometimes was in the wee hours of the morning.
In order to produce the length of film that would keep the audience’s attention Selznick knew he was going to have to take some of the people and events out of the book. He felt if he kept as much to Margaret Mitchell’s dialog viewers would forgive him for the omissions. He went through several writers and directors, but Marcella Rabwin was the constant and was there through it all. As his executive assistant, at the office Rabwin entertained Louis B. Mayer and other top movie executives who came to see Selznick. She provided coffee to drink or a shot of bourbon, whichever was necessary at the time. She was a sounding board to the boss, and had a shoulder for those to cry on who were frustrated with him. She served as counselor to his wife, Irene; a part-time nanny to his children; a traveling companion to Selznick and necessary part of the studio’s daily life. “People turned to her,” said Ann Rutherford, the actress who played Careen O’Hara. “ David (Selznick) valued her judgment.”
“Gone With The Wind was the finest motion picture, the most complete and perfect motion picture ever made,” said Marcella Rabwin, in a speech. “But it was utter chaos putting it together.” “I was very close to Mr. Selznick,” Marcella Rabwin said. “People always said, ‘what did you do?’ and I say, ‘anything he didn’t have time for.’ I was involved in every phase of the production of his films from the beginning when you bought the thing to the time when it was finished and you could breathe again.” (Continued next week)
Writers Notebook:
The latest Trill on tne internet is called Twitter.
Twitter is a social network that is based on brevity, you communicate in a series of short blogs each 140 characters in length.
Subjects are wide ranging and of all the reading about Twitter I’ve done, so far, I have yet to find a non geek that can explain how it all works, or how when it’s perfected it will work.
I suspect the kinks will get worked out soon and if you have a mind to Twitter you also need to think in a kind of shorthand in order to get much into you 140 unit space.
Screenplay writers have already dealt with that problem by finding ways to pitch their stories in a two or three line presentation called a logline.
Wendy Moon wrote an online piece a few years back and her words are still valid. She said, ‘A logline is the most critical thing you’ll write…it can dead end a great script and can get the worst script in the world read. You have about two or three sentences – about 25-35 words total, to convince someone to request the script…’
She used a logline describing ‘Schindler’s List’ as an example.
‘A playboy manufacturer rescues 1,100 Jews from certain death. Appalled by atrocities in Germany, he hoodwinks the Nazi Brass and converts his factory into a refuge for Jews.’ Based on Oscar Schindler’s true story.

Study that logline for form and brevity and you’ll Twitter better.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com