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Archive on 4: Gone with the Wind: A Legacy

Gone with the Wind: A Legacy

13/12/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Gone with the Wind: A Legacy

Diane Roberts examines the impact and legacy of the film classic, 75 years on.

Author and academic Diane Roberts examines the impact and legacy of one of the most successful Hollywood movies of all time, 75 years after its release.

Author, journalist and academic Diane Roberts examines the impact of one of the most successful Hollywood movies of all time, 75 years after its release.
Using previously un-broadcast extracts from archive interviews with cast and crew, conducted by the veteran Hollywood correspondent Barbra Paskin, Diane looks at how the book and film came about, the reaction it received across America, and its lasting legacy.

It's been called racist, discriminatory, retrograde, and offensive - but, as we discover, the importance of Gone With The Wind lies in part in the conversation it provokes about an ugly and often overlooked chapter in American history.

We hear how issues around race dominated the film's premiere in Atlanta and even spilled over on Oscar night. Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award but she was racially segregated from her co-stars at the ceremony - made to sit at a separate table at the back of the room.

Gone with the Wind had a $3.7m budget - unheard of at the time. It grossed over $390m globally at the box office and it was filmed and presented on a scale not seen in modern productions. There were a massive 554 speaking roles and a supporting cast of 2,400 people. 

This programme includes archive of Evelyn Keyes who played Scarlett's sister Suellen, Ann Rutherford who played Careen, the film's make up artist Frank Westmore, script clerk Lydia Schiller and Editor Hal Kern. We also hear from Barbra Paskin who conducted the original interviews, and from Professor Helen Taylor, author of the book Scarlett's Women: Gone with the Wind and Its Female Fans.


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