Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (67 page)

No matter what tomorrow holds for the legalities or business affairs of
Gone With the Wind
, one thing is sure: Scarlett O'Hara, the “flighty, fast bit of baggage”
⁶⁷
Margaret Mitchell created, will live on in the imagination of millions of readers. In 1937, a fan complimented the author on how vividly the book's characters were drawn: “I have heard Scarlett discussed exactly as if she were real; that she is still alive no one seems to doubt. I pointed out to one group that she must be an old, old lady now—ninety years old. But they insisted that one so vitally alive couldn't possibly die.”
⁶⁸
Mitchell agreed, noting that Scarlett had plenty of life left to live, with or without Rhett Butler: “As you say, she would be quite an old lady now, but I cannot help feeling that she is still the same Scarlett, and probably scandalizing her great-grandchildren by refusing to be a lady of the old school.”
⁶⁹

* Since then, the U.S. Postal Service has issued five additional
GWTW
-related stamps, including one in 1998 that pictured the novel on a thirty-two-cent stamp as part of a “Celebrate the Century” series.

* The week before, a made-for-television movie titled
A Burning Passion: The Margaret
Mitchell Story
aired. Starring Shannen Doherty as Mitchell, the story focused on the author's relationship with her first husband, “Red” Upshaw; John Marsh and
Gone With
the Wind
were relegated to the periphery.

Epilogue

T
he unprecedented success of
Gone With the Wind
earned Margaret Mitchell several hundred thousand dollars amidst the Great Depression. Though only a fraction of that money found its way into her wallet given the skyscraping income tax rates of the era, the author zealously guarded her financial stake in the novel. World War II slowed the income to a trickle but ultimately served to establish Scarlett's story as an international symbol of inspiration. Due to her meticulous protection of
Gone With
the Wind
's copyright, Mitchell was well poised to take advantage of a postwar resurgence of interest. The author's death did not diminish the good fortune of her novel. Stephens Mitchell's careful management and exploitation of his sister's book and its subsidiary rights—including his savvy movie percentage deal in 1963—turned a rising stream of income into a veritable flood. Since his death, the trusts he established to manage the
GWTW
literary rights have generated tens of millions of dollars through two popular sequels, a television miniseries, a menagerie of marketing tie-ins, and, of course, numerous editions of the original novel that continue to be published in the United States and abroad.

Where has all the money gone? The author's two nephews have enjoyed the benefits of their aunt's success but not in an ostentatious way. Stephens Mitchell's older son, Eugene, made several large charitable donations, including $1.5 million to fund a Margaret Mitchell Chair in Humanities and Social Sciences at Atlanta's historically black Morehouse College, another $1.5 million for scholarships at Morehouse's medical school, and $667,000 to preservation efforts at Atlanta's historic Oakland Cemetery, where most of his family is buried. He died in 2007, at the age of seventysix, survived by his wife. This left the younger son, Joseph—who, like his brother, had no children—the last member of Margaret Mitchell's immediate family. Joe Mitchell still lives in the one-story house in Atlanta where his father moved after tearing down the family home on Peachtree Street in the early 1950s. The estate has not revealed who will inherit the rights going forward.

Acknowledgments

D
on't let our names on the title page fool you. It takes more than two individuals to write a book. Throughout this project we have received assistance and guidance from many people. It would be impossible to list everyone who contributed, but we would like to acknowledge those who made it possible for us to tell this story.

One of the most meaningful aspects of this endeavor has been working with the family members and representatives of the people who played a role in the life of
Gone With the Wind
. In this regard, we owe a special debt of gratitude to the committee members of the Stephens Mitchell Trusts: Paul Anderson, Paul Anderson, Jr., Thomas Hal Clarke, and Thomas Hal Clarke, Jr. In addition to granting us access to and permission to quote from Margaret Mitchell's papers, these gentlemen served as an invaluable source of information about the inner workings of the
GWTW
literary rights. As noted earlier, Lois Cole's children, Linda Taylor Barnes and Turney Allan Taylor, Jr., were also an essential resource; we are honored they allowed us access to their mother's correspondence. Other contributors who shared memories of their relatives include the following: Anne Poland Berg and Karen Berg Kushner (Norman Berg); Brad Brett, Betsy Carpenter, Barrie and Ralph Gonzalez, and Ann Zagari (George Brett, Jr.); Clare Brett Smith and Betsy Carpenter (Richard Brett); Kate Barrett (Kay Brown); Bill Leigh (W. Colston Leigh); Jane Dieckmann and Craig Zane (John Marsh); Wallace B. McClure and Wallace McClure, Jr. (Wallace McClure); Bonnie Louise Mogelever Pollack (Jacob Mogelever); Merrill and Osmund Geier (Alexandra Ripley); Augusta Saunders (Marion Saunders); Lucie Baird (Walbridge Taft); and Joy Bailey (Annie Laurie Williams). We appreciate the time each of them spent being interviewed and responding to our requests for photographs and documents.

Numerous institutions gave invaluable help as well, either through research assistance, the granting of permissions, or, in several cases, both. We especially wish to thank the staff at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia for their many courtesies. Mary Ellen Brooks, Melissa Bush, and Mary Linnemann, in particular, responded with grace and thoroughness to our requests. Others who helped along the way include the following: Christine Lee at Simon & Schuster; Thomas Lannon at the New York Public Library; Steve Wilson and Katherine Feo at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin; Peggy AllanO'Brien, Joan Hart, and Julie McCarthy at the Kearny Library in Kearny, New Jersey; Daniel Snydacker at the Pequot Public Library in Southport, Connecticut; Tara Craig with the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University; Kelly Cornwell and Richard Cruse in the Special Collections department of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library; Julie Bookman, Diane Lewis, and Mary Rose Taylor, formerly of the Margaret Mitchell House; Beth Bailey and Megan Spears at the Road to Tara Museum; Susan Boone with the Special Collections Division of the Smith College Libraries; Marianne Bradley in Special Collections at McCain Library at Agnes Scott College; E. Kathleen Shoemaker at the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library of Emory University; Tom Camden and David Grabarek at the Library of Virginia; Sue VerHoef, reference manager at the Atlanta History Center; Shaunna Hunter at Bortz Library of HampdenSydney College; and the kind reference librarians at the Richmond Public Library. In addition, permissions were generously granted by the
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
, the
Hollywood Reporter
, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the Junior League,
Life
, the
Los Angeles Times
, Mondadori Editore, the
Nation
, Newnan
Times-Herald
, the
New Republic
,
Publishers Weekly
, Random House,
Reader's Digest
, R. R. Bowker, and
Svenska Dagbladet
.

Many individuals kindly provided assistance or consented to be interviewed, including Mel Berger, John Dawes, Evan J. Goldfried, Valley Haggard, Shawn McIntosh, Angela Webster McRae, Joseph Mitchell, Troy Patterson, Alice Randall, Tom Sabulis, Thomas Selz, Mart Stewart, George Wead, and Daniel Yezbick.

On a personal level, our family and friends have offered endless inspiration and support. For their interest and a large variety of thoughtful suggestions, we thank the following who read the manuscript as it progressed: Eleanor Bridges, Orran Brown, Alan Carter, Linda Collins, Roya Ewing, Ellen P. Firsching, Georgia Kukoski, and Harriett Wiley. We are also fortunate that two Margaret Mitchell and
Gone With the Wind
experts agreed to vet the manuscript: Marianne Walker, author of
Margaret Mitchell and John
Marsh: The Love Story behind
Gone With the Wind, whose excitement about this project almost equaled her love for “John and Peggy”; and Herb Bridges, dean of
Gone With the Wind
collectors and a veritable encyclopedia about the book and the film. Herb's enthusiasm, advice, and ready ear have been essential to this project, while his generosity in sharing his collection and his immense knowledge with John Wiley over the past thirty years has made John's experience with
Gone With the Wind
all the richer.

Others whose advice and enthusiasm have helped along the way include Em Bowles Locker Alsop, Susan Atkinson, Anne and Ryland Brown, Chris and Orran Brown, Jr., Lucas Brown, Beverly Buxton, Carly Buxton, Doug Buerlein, Martha Davenport, Boo Echols, Kevin Finto, Raymond Firsching, Marsha Hawkins, Tom Heyes, Joslin Hultzapple, Sarah Innes, Kelly Kyle, Mary Beth McIntire, Joseph Papa, Roma Petkauskas, Coleen Butler Rodriguez, Landon Simpson, Letty Tate, Tasha Tolliver, Mary Wittleder, and the wonderful folks of the James River Writers. Thanks as well to two exceptional high school English teachers—Kathryn Russell for Ellen and Elizabeth Koudelka for John—who inspired and encouraged us in our literary endeavors.

We also are pleased to acknowledge the role of our agent, Jeanne Fredericks, who went far beyond the call of duty on many occasions. And at Taylor Trade Publishing, we are especially grateful to Rick Rinehart, Flannery Scott, Kalen Landow, Alden Perkins, and copyeditor extraordinaire Naomi Burns.

Every effort has been made to obtain necessary permissions for use of copyrighted material. If there have been any omissions, we apologize and will be pleased to make appropriate acknowledgments in any future edition. Of course, shortcomings or mistakes in this book are entirely our own.

Macmillan correspondence reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Excerpts from Mitchell's novel reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell. Copyright © 1936 by Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of Macmillan, Inc. Copyright renewed 1964 by Stephens Mitchell and Trust Company of Georgia as Executors of Margaret Mitchell Marsh. All rights reserved.

Notes