Gone With the Wind: 1939 Day by Day

by Pauline Bartel

Gone With the 1939 Day by Day chronicles the production, premieres and reception of the iconic film from January 1, 1939 to December 31, 1939. Engaging, daily behind-the-scenes entries provide a snapshot of what was happening on and off the set. Sidebars sprinkled throughout the months provide insightful, expert commentary about the cast, the crew, the chaos of filming and more. Fans will enjoy following the day-by-day drama and intrigue of Gone With the Wind’s production, on each event’s exact date. This will be the one book that fans will turn to eagerly again and again. After all, when it comes to Gone With the Wind, tomorrow is another day.

250 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2022

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. As someone that has loved GWTW since I was a kid, this book was gold!! This has all kinds of behind the scenes goodies that any movie lover would cherish. GWTW is from the golden age of Hollywood with our classic stars, so there are no more interviews or inside information we can garner from the people that were around to experience it. So when a gem like this comes along we are lucky to have it. I highly recommend it for anyone that loves that Golden Age of Hollywood and / or GWTW fan.

[Bethany Swafford · Rating 5 out of 5]

1939 was a busy year. From Jaunary to December marked the filming, editing, rewriting, and promoting of the iconic film. Get a behind the scenes look at what was happening each day.

I’ve never been particularly interested in how a film was made, but I do love Gone with the Wind (film AND book). I found this book to be very informative and interesting. I’m not surprised how many actors turned to drink or drugs to cope with gruling schedule they had to keep just for one film!

Each day is presented first with any known birthdays of the cast or crew. There are even included the birthdays of those who had been considered for certain roles, which gave me an insight into the kind of actors they were looking for. Then, there is a brief overview of what was being filmed or altered behind the scenes. There is usually a clip from newsarticles and reports on how the coming film was being looked on.

I would recommend this to fans of the film or those interested in film history. I received a free copy through NetGalley and am reviewing of my own will.

[Terri Wangard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This consists of datebook-like entries, listing a paragraph or two about each day’s activity. It may report on the day’s filming, or Selznick’s concerns about different aspects, or an actor signing on. Also given were daily press reports from Louella Parson or other gossip columnists. Birthdays are noted, including those of people who auditioned for roles, especially that of Scarlett. These were frequently unknown and distracting.

The best part was the filming reports. They had awful hours, sometimes starting before dawn and working until late at night. It’s a puzzle why Leslie Howard had the role of Ashley; he hadn’t wanted it and was often unprepared, arriving late and flubbing his lines.

Now I’m going to borrow the DVD and watch the movie to match up the action with all the tidbits.

[JANELLE · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting look at the Gone With the Wind film world!

This book has a lot of neat little tidbits of info tucked away into it's pages. The layout goes day by day through 1939. The dates are listed as "In the Spotlight" - which lists birthdates of the crew and cast members and those that auditioned; "Behind the Scenes" - telling all the filming news and a lot of tidbits I didn't know before; and "In the News" - the newspaper, magazine etc articles and columns about the film.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review. This is certainly a book for the biggest GWTW fans - I really enjoyed it!

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review! If you love everything about Gone With The Wind then this is a must read! It is a timeline on daily happenings surrounded the making of the film including how scenes were filmed and where, casting and daily press reports. I really enjoyed the ending when it came time to premiere this movie to the world and how crazy Americans were to see it. I would highly recommend to any fan of GWTW to read this book!

[Kenzie Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review*
This was kind of interesting to follow the daily events of the Gone with the Wind production which I absolutely adore

[Bookwormgyrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book and neat tidbits on the making of GWTW 5.0 bookworms