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'Gone With The Wind' debuts in Atlanta, GA...
'Gone With The Wind' debuts in Atlanta, GA...
Item # 716535
December 15, 1939
THE NEW YORK TIMES, December 15, 1939
* Gone With The Wind film premiere in Atlanta Ga (day of)
* Clark Gable - Vivien Leigh - Leslie Howard
Here is a great report on the most successful movie of all time in terms of ticket sales. Page 27 has one column headings that include: "ATLANTA RETAKEN BY GLORY OF PAST" "'Gone With the Wind' Flies Into City and Thousands Relive Its Stirring War Days" "Ladies Who Were Infants In Sherman's Day Witness Start of March Through Dusk" and more. (see images) Reporting continues on page 32 with related photo. Lengthy text, too much to photograph all. A historic issue on one of the greatest films of all time.
Complete in 52 pages, rag edition in nice condition.
background: On December 15, 1939, Atlanta, Georgia, became the dazzling epicenter of Hollywood glamour with the world premiere of Gone with the Wind at Loew’s Grand Theatre. The event was nothing short of monumental, drawing an estimated 300,000 people to the city’s streets, with the day declared a state and city holiday by Governor Eurith D. Rivers and Mayor William B. Hartsfield, respectively. The theater was transformed to resemble Tara, the iconic plantation from the film, complete with white columns and Confederate flags, while limousines paraded the film’s stars—Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, and Olivia de Havilland—through the excited crowds. Festivities included a costume ball the night before and a choir performance by a young Martin Luther King Jr., underscoring the grandeur of the occasion. However, amid the celebration, racial tensions were starkly apparent, as the film’s Black stars, including Hattie McDaniel, who famously won the Academy Award for her role as Mammy, were excluded from the premiere by city officials despite the producer’s efforts to include them. This premiere remains a defining moment in Atlanta’s cultural history, reflecting both its pride and the social complexities of the era.
Category: The 20th Century
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