Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (Screen Classics) (98 page)

321
“Everyone is hysterical”: Leigh’s letter is included in Vickers,
Vivien Leigh.

322
“Every night, Vic would say”: McGilligan,
Backstory.

322
revisions by Oliver H. P. Garrett: Harwell,
GWTW.
Also reported by columnist Harrison Carroll, Feb. 16, 1939.

322
“Your fucking script”: Lambert,
GWTW;
this was adopted by Flamini; Haver in
David O. Selznick’s Hollywood
has “Your script is no fucking good”; Thomson in
Showman
uses “You haven’t got a fucking script,” from an interview with Marcella Rabwin.

322
MGM talent pool: “Selznick, Fleming, Mahin Fix ‘Wind,’ ”
Hollywood Reporter,
Feb. 17, 1939.

322
“aloof and poetical”: Hecht,
Child of the Century.
Hecht’s account of his sessions with Fleming and Selznick is taken from this fiercely engaging memoir.

322
The Prisoner of Zenda:
Selznick Archive.

323
“Fleming was a much better director”: From the Reminiscences of Ben Hecht (1957) in the Oral History Collection of Columbia University, p. 50.

323
edited the sequence: Harwell,
GWTW.

323
“For God’s sake”: McGilligan,
Backstory.

323
everything Selznick did: As recounted in Thomson’s
Showman,
his masterstroke may have been the first one: pursuing and landing the rights to the novel. His New York story editor, Kay Brown, plumped for it; his Los Angeles story editor, Val Lewton, called it “ponderous trash”—a self-revealing evaluation, since
GWTW
would become the splashiest of blockbusters and Lewton would become the poet-producer of low-budget horror movies at RKO. Brown was essential to the purchase. After a month and a half (May 20–July 7) of worrying over competing
offers
and deliberating on his ability to cast the lead parts, Selznick made the bid. Brown had convinced the book’s agent, Annie Laurie Williams, of Selznick’s commitment—and would not let the agent leave her office without accepting Selznick’s $50,000 offer, despite Williams’s desire for $10,000 more (and a competitive bid from Harry Warner’s daughter, Doris).

324
“fine adaptable mechanism”: The entire speech, which is credited to F. Scott Fitzgerald, is in Graham,
College of One.

324
“we would be better off”: Selznick Archive.

324
Made for Each Other:
Ibid.

324
“I don’t think he was sadistic”: Selznick interview with Samuels.

325
60 percent: Unused Crowther notes, Crowther Papers.

325
“the terrible mess”: Selznick Archive.

325
“red suit with white stripe”: tailored for a scene cut from the film.

326
an Atlanta streetlight:
Atlanta Constitution,
June 4, 1939.

326
Hal Rosson: Haver,
David O. Selznick’s Hollywood;
also American Film Institute Oral History with Hal Rosson, interviewed by Bill Gleason, 1971, © AFI 1975.

326
“best team”: American Film Institute Oral History with Ridgeway Callow, interviewed by Rudy Behlmer, 1976, © AFI 1976.

326
“Sam Wood simply needed him”: Ibid.

327
“I am not sending out”: That memo appears in Harmetz,
On the Road to Tara.

327
he was going to make a melodrama: Lambert,
GWTW.

328
Natalie Kalmus: Jones,
Glorious Technicolor.

328
“a handsome, blondish man”: Myrick,
White Columns in Hollywood.

329
“apotheosis as Rhett Butler”: Harvey,
Romantic Comedy.

329
“They talked each other’s language”: The Reminiscences of Adela Rogers St. Johns (1971) in the Oral History Collection of Columbia University, p. 32.

329
Rhett carrying Scarlett: Barker,
Oliviers.
Several different versions of this story have appeared; the main difference among them is the number of times Fleming had Gable carry Leigh. Six seems reasonable, but two sources have a dozen. A Jimmie Fidler column from May 21, 1940, says Gable, on the set of
Boom Town,
was reminiscing about Fleming’s cruelty in making him do it twenty-two times. According to Fidler, that’s when Fleming let Gable know “the third take was okay—you carried her upstairs the other nineteen times for exercise!” Barker also wrote that Leigh discovered Fleming “possessed a somewhat unusual sense of humor.”

329
“He was really startled”: Associated Press, June 28, 1998.

330
“just sort of snapped to attention”: Hinton,
Making of a Legend.

330
“moonlight”: Lambert,
On Cukor.

331
“at first discouraged”: Barker,
Oliviers.

332
“shocked to find herself”: Ibid.

332
“that was much better in the test”: Lambert,
On Cukor.

332
Some critics favorably compare: Hinton,
Making of a Legend;
Lambert,
On Cukor.

332
“Leigh hated Fleming”: Unused Crowther notes, Crowther Papers.

332
“Yesterday I put on”: Howard’s letter is in Leslie Ruth Howard,
A Quite Remarkable Father.

332
“ONLY words to Viv”: Bushell to Dempsey, Sept. 9, 1991, David Stenn Collection.

333
“Ham it, baby”: Sheilah Graham column, July 13, 1939.

333
“Ham it up!”: Canutt,
Stunt Man;
Butterfly McQueen,
The New York Times,
Jan. 29, 1989.

333
“After the headache”: Victor Fleming, syndicated story, Dec. 15, 1939 (
Atlanta Journal
reprint).

333
“Very few movies”: Kael,
When the Lights Go Down.

333
The Great Waltz
: Behlmer,
Memo from David O. Selznick;
also Selznick Archive.

334
“jiggling up and down”: International News Service, April 6, 1939.

335
“didn’t give Vivien Leigh credit”: Hedda Hopper column, Feb. 24, 1940.

335
“Miss Fiddle-de-dee”: Gladys Hall, “On the Sets of
Gone With the Wind,
” typescript of article as submitted to
Screen Romances,
pencil dated October 15, 1939, Margaret Herrick Library.

335
“You’re no baseball player”: Harrison Carroll column, April 10, 1939.

335
“Vivien made no secret”: Behlmer,
Memo from David O. Selznick,
from autobiographical remarks placed before each section of reprinted Selznick memos.

335
“Take it easy”: Barker,
Oliviers.

335
brick dust, “The separation from Larry”: Vickers,
Vivien Leigh.

336
“targeted,” “black-market director”: Rabwin,
Yes, Mr. Selznick.

336
seventeen-inch waist, sickness: Hall, “On the Sets.”

336
“breastwork situation”: Behlmer,
Memo from David O. Selznick;
also Selznick Archive. Why Selznick thought that day of Alice Faye remains a mystery for the ages. As Faye herself once sang, “You’ll never know.”

337
“Footage wasted”: Sidney Howard to his wife, April 5, 1939, Sidney Howard Papers, University of California, Berkeley.

337
“what the word ‘tired’ means”: Letter to Mrs. Howard, April 18, 1939, Howard Papers.

337
“Remember, this is a hot summer day”: Hall, “On the Sets.”

337
“If and when you get”: Selznick Archive.

338
“Whatever I do”: Kobe to Edward Hartman.

338
“is so near the breaking point”: Ibid.

338
“Vic told me”: Myrick,
White Columns in Hollywood.

339
“was so real”: Alexander’s letter is in Vickers,
Vivien Leigh.

339
Rhett’s mourning of Melanie: Haver,
David O. Selznick’s Hollywood.
Haver puts equal emphasis on Gable’s “intransigence” and Leigh’s rebelliousness as direct motivations for Fleming’s walkout. His rendering of the event derives partly from Mahin’s eyewitness account collected in McGilligan’s interview book
Backstory,
though Haver provides a more plausible description of the shooting day (Mahin has Gable balking at saying, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”).

340
“Confusion redoubled”: Letter to Mrs. Howard, April 27, 1939, Howard Papers.

340
“takes things a little less hard”: Graham,
College of One.

340
“What do you take me for, a chump?”: Crowther’s notes, Crowther Papers. In
The Lion’s Share,
Crowther changed that to “What do you think I am, a chump?” In 1961, speaking to Charles Samuels, Selznick—ever the showman—either recovered some memory or enhanced what Fleming said: “Do you think I’m a damn fool, David? This picture is going to be the biggest white elephant of all time.” Sometimes, that quotation is distorted to begin with “Don’t be a damn fool, David.”

340
“feigned”: Lambert,
GWTW.

341
suspected Fleming of faking his illness: Rabwin,
Yes, Mr. Selznick.

341
“the Wood unit”: Selznick Archive.

341
But Gable didn’t warm to Wood: The most accurate estimate of Wood’s contribution is Lambert’s in
GWTW—
15 percent of the completed film—and Lambert’s outline of Wood’s participation suggests how crucial Fleming’s presence was to Gable’s performance. For example, Wood shot “Scarlett going to Atlanta in search of Rhett, excluding the scene with Rhett,” and “the first half (up to Rhett’s entrance) of the sequence in which Scarlett, Melanie and the others wait for Ashley and Kennedy to return from the raid on Shanty Town.”

341
The producer’s memos: Selznick Archive.

341
“direct everything”: Ibid.

341
congratulating her: Hall, “On the Sets.”

342
“was amazed at the difference”: Canutt,
Stunt Man.

342
“got a warm greeting”: Bakewell,
Hollywood Be Thy Name.

343
“All the way back to town”: Robyns,
Light of a Star.

344
“Clark crept to his bungalow”: Hall, “On the Sets.”

344
“lining the tracks”: Mitchell,
Gone With the Wind.

344
“Get off those dummies,” “Slower, dear”:
Los Angeles Times
(witnessed by Philip Scheuer), May 28, 1939.

344
“The camera swings”: Harrison Carroll column, June 13, 1939.

344
“Is her name really Fiddle-de-dee?”:
Los Angeles Times,
Jan. 19, 1986.

344
“no desire to produce”: Behlmer,
Memo from David O. Selznick.

345
“Massa’s in de Cole, Cole Ground”: Annie Kurtz,
Atlanta Constitution,
May 14, 1939. Kurtz, the wife of the technical adviser Wilbur Kurtz, was, like Hall and Myrick, an on-set diarist; her reporting emphasized the Southern connections of cast and crew, such as the Southern Negro cook at the Gable household.

345
“confused ideological view”: Cripps,
Slow Fade to Black.

345
“Had anybody else”: Myrick,
White Columns in Hollywood.

345
“I hate listening”:
Toronto Star,
Oct. 23, 1988.

346
“I didn’t want to eat the watermelon”:
The New York Times,
Jan. 29, 1989.

346
“Everyone was wonderful”:
Toronto Star,
Oct. 23, 1988.

346
“better to earn $1,250”: Different versions of McDaniel’s remarks have been written over the years; this one, with dollar figures attached, is what Butterfly McQueen told Greg Giese in 1979.

346
“I never thought”: Keyes,
Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister.