GONE WITH THE WIND
Novel written by: Margaret Mitchell
Film directed by: Victor Fleming
GONE WITH THE WIND
Plot Summary
Part 1
Before & during the War
As Gone With The Wind begins, Scarlett O’Hara is shown with two men flirting with her. However this is nothing unusual -- Scarlett makes men act like this all the time. There is talk going around of a Barbecue the next day at neighboring Twelve Oaks, the Wilkes’ plantation down the road from. Gerald O’Hara is coming back from Twelve Oaks, and Scarlett meets him on the road to ask if the rumor Mammy had told her is true. Ashley Wilkes is going to ask his cousin Melanie to marry him. Gerald tells Scarlett the same, and she is heartbroken. As Scarlett is getting ready for the party, she and Mammy fight over Ashley Wilkes.
When they arrive at Twelve Oaks, Scarlett is of course the center of attention, all of the men, even those who have girlfriends, talk to Scarlett. She is the most popular girl there. All of the other girls resent her except for Melanie. Melanie and Ashley talk of their marriage as they overlook the garden. Scarlett is sitting beneath a tree with all the men surrounding her, at her beck and call. She is enjoying this until she sees Ashley and Melanie together. The girls all have to go take a nap, but once they are all asleep Scarlett sneaks out and listens in on the conversation the men are having about the upcoming war.
Everyone is sure the war will be short and glorious. Everyone, that is, except Rhett Butler -- he thinks the war will be hard and tragic. After Rhett and all the men get into a confrontation, he leaves. Shortly after, Ashley follows him. Scarlett stops Ashley, and she gets him alone in the library to confess her love for him. Ashley says he loves her too, but they are too different and cannot be together. After Ashley leaves, Rhett Butler raises himself from the couch, he was in the room the whole time. Scarlett throws a vase at him then comes out of the room and she hears all of the other girls talking about her, but Melanie sticks up for her.
The war has started! All the men are going to enlist. Charles Hamilton asks Scarlett to marry him. She says yes to try to make Ashley jealous. In a double wedding, Ashley and Melanie and Charles and Scarlett get married.
The men go off to war and Charles dies shortly after of pneumonia (1862). Scarlett is widowed. Ellen O’Hara gives Scarlett permission to go to Atlanta and stay with Melanie and Aunt Pittypat. They are at a charity dance for the Rebel army, when Scarlett runs into Rhett again. He bids $150 to dance with her. All of the people at the dance were scandalized by this since she was just recently widowed. Scarlett and Rhett become close and she spends time with him, because he is the only man around to take her out. Rhett says that Scarlett should be, "kissed and often, by someone who knows how."
It's now Christmas time (1863), the soldiers get three days leave. Ashley asks Scarlett to look after Melanie. Scarlett and Melanie volunteer at the hospital for the wounded from the war. Belle Whatling donates money to the hospital, but no one but Melanie will take it because she runs a brothel. Scarlett recognizes the handkerchief that the donation comes in, it is Rhett Butler’s. Scarlett, nursing at the hospital, sees how gruesome the injuries were and how desperate the conditions were. In the summer of 1864, Sherman starts to attack Atlanta and everyone is fleeing the city. Scarlett sees Big Sam, her slave and he gives her word that her mother is sick. Scarlett is caught up in the traffic and Rhett comes by in a horse buggy and saves her. He asks Scarlett to run away to Mexico with him. Scarlett says that she wants to go back to Tara, but Dr. Mead convinces her that it wouldn’t be the best thing to do, because Melanie is pregnant and she cannot make the journey.
The siege of Atlanta is on, the Yankees are coming! Melanie goes into labor. Scarlett goes to find Dr. Mead, but he cannot help her because there are so many dying soldiers that need his help. Scarlett delivers the baby herself.
It's a boy, and Melanie names it Beau. Scarlett sends Prissy to get Rhett and ask him to bring his horse and carriage. Rhett, Scarlett, Melanie, Prissy, and Beau begins their journey to Tara. They have to cross through the fires set by the Confederates in downtown Atlanta. Brigands try to steal the horse and carriage from Rhett, but they manage to escape. Rhett acts very heroic, and then he leaves them at the road to Tara, and he goes off to join the war.
The journey was long and hard, but Scarlett gets them through it. They get back to Twelve Oaks, but it is almost destroyed. So they head to Tara, and miraculously, it’s still there, damaged, but standing. Scarlett leaves the carriage, and runs towards the house. Her father greets her at the door, but he is changed. His mind has gone. Their house has been looted, but it's still standing because it was used as a Yankee headquarters. Scarlett finds out that her mother died, she is very upset. Scarlett’s father still thinks that her mother is alive. Scarlett is the only one that the family can depend on. She vows her famous line, "As God as my witness I will never be hungry again."
Plot Summary
Part 2
After the War
As Part 2 opens, Scarlett is picking cotton in the fields at Tara. Later, when she goes inside, a Yankee straggler comes in and tries to steal what’s left of their money, but Scarlett manages to shoot him and takes all of his looted money.
The war is finally over!! (1865) Frank Kennedy wants Suellen to marry him, and Ashley comes home to Tara. But there is trouble, the Yankee carpetbaggers and southern scalawags have raised the taxes on Tara. Now they are $300 -- an unreachable amount of money. Ashley and Scarlett talk at the barn. Scarlett confesses her love for him again He says that he admires her fearlessness. They kiss, and then Scarlett asks Ashley to run away, then he says that she can’t go because she has too much honor to leave Tara. Emmy Slattery and Mr. Wilkinson come to Tara and offer to buy it from them. Scarlett tells them to leave. Gerald gets on his horse to chases them away, but he falls off and dies from a fall while he is jumping.
Scarlett decides that she’ll go see Rhett in Atlanta and ask him for the $300. She dresses up in a dress that she made out of curtains. Rhett is in jail, and he says that he can’t get his money out because it is hidden in Europe. After this Scarlett runs into Frank Kennedy. She marries him for the $300 , and then she starts a lumber business with Ashley. As Scarlett is on her way to the mill, she is attacked by hobos, but Big Sam saves her life.
Later that night, the women are all together, and India tells off Scarlett for all of the things that she has done. The husbands have gone to the woods to attack the men who attacked Scarlett. Rhett tries to save them from doing it but it is too late, Ashley was shot and Frank Kennedy was killed. (Poor Scarlett, widowed again!) Rhett makes up a lie to tell the Yankees of them being at Belle Whatley’s house, so that they can get back inside without Ashley getting arrested. Melanie invites Belle to her house to thank her for saving Ashley’s life.
Scarlett and Rhett are talking and he again asks her to marry him, and this time she says yes. They go on a grand honeymoon to New Orleans. Scarlett wants to go back to Tara. They go back, and build a mansion in Atlanta. They have a baby girl named 'Bonnie Blue' Butler. Scarlett doesn’t want to have anymore children because she is still in love with Ashley. They separate, and Rhett goes to see Belle and she convinces him to go back, because the Bonnie needs him. Rhett gets drunk one night after Melanie’s party and he wants to rid Ashley in Scarlett’s mind forever. This is the famous ‘carry her (to bed) up the Grand Staircase’ scene.
The next morning he apologizes then says he is going to London and taking Bonnie with him. Bonnie hates it there and says that she wants to go home and see her mother. Rhett takes Bonnie home, and then says he’s leaving. Scarlett tells him that she is pregnant, they both say that they don’t want the baby and Rhett says maybe Scarlett will have an accident. As he says this she falls down the stairs. Scarlett lost the baby. After some time, Mellie tells Rhett that Scarlett is better. They are on the patio talking and watching Bonnie, when Bonnie decides that she will jump. But she does not make it and dies, just like Gerald.
Mammy calls on Mellie to help her, because Scarlett and Rhett are both distraught. But Mellie is very ill, and falls when she is at their house and never recovers. Mellie dies shortly after. Scarlett realizes as Mellie dies that her love for Ashley never existed, and that she really loves Rhett. She rushes home to tell him, but it is too late. He has already made up his mind to go to Charleston. Scarlett begs him not to go, "where shall I go .... what shall I do?" But Rhett says, "Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn."
Scarlett believes that she needs to get him back so she says she’ll go to Tara to think, to the place that gives her strength. "After all," Scarlett says, "tomorrow is another day."
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GONE WITH THE WIND TIMELINE
Timeline
1860
November 6 -- Abraham Lincoln wins the Presidential Election.
December 20 -- South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861
January 19 -- Georgia secedes.
February 4 -- Georgia and five other Southern states form the Confederate States of America.
February 18 -- Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States.
April 12 -- The Southern forces in Charleston fire on Fort Sumter. The War Between the States has begun.
July 21 -- Union Army routed at Bull Run.
1862
Winter -- The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac are in a face-off in Virginia. The hardships of life in the field take a toll -- Charles dies of pneumonia.
April 6 -- Grant narrowly wins at Shiloh (the bloodiest day thus far in the war).
September 17 -- McClellan 'wins' at Antietam.
September 23 -- Lincoln announces the Emancipation Proclamation effective January 1st 1863.
1863
July 1, 2 and 3 -- Meade beats Lee at Gettysburg. Scarlett searches the casualty lists for Ashley's name.
July 4 -- Vicksburg falls to Grant.
November 23 to 25 -- Grant and Sherman clear Chattanooga of Confederates
Christmas -- Ashley returns home on leave
1864
May 3 -- Grant begins his advance toward Richmond. A day later Yankees under Sherman are attacking into Georgia.
September 2 -- Atlanta falls to Sherman. The departing Confederates torch the supplies in the city as part of a "scorched earth" policy, intending to leave nothing but cinders for the occupying Union troops.
Scarlett returns to Tara. Rhett joins the Confederate Army.
November 16 -- Sherman begins his 'march to the sea'. Atlanta is left a smoldering ruin.
November -- Rhett fights in the Battle of Franklin (TN).
November -- A Union deserter arrives at Tara intent on loot. Scarlett shoots and kills him.
December 22 -- Sherman takes Savannah, cables Lincoln that he presents the city to the North "as a Christmas present".
1865
February 17 -- Sherman advances into South Carolina. Columbia is burned.
April -- 8th --Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox, VA.; 18th -- Johnston surrenders to Sherman in Durham, NC. War ends. More than 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the war
April 14 -- Lincoln assassinated
1866
Jonas Wilkerson, the sleazy former overseer who has prospered under the carpetbaggers, offers to buy Tara so Scarlett can pay the $300 in taxes she owes.
Scarlett marries Frank Kennedy, for his money.
1867
Radicals in Congress impose a punitive reconstruction on the South. Yankee troops occupy Georgia.
Ashley, Frank and others stage a vigilante raid on the shantytown. Ashley is wounded and Frank is killed.
1868
The South is making a painful economic recovery.
Scarlett and Rhett are married. He restores Tara, in addition to buying a mansion in Atlanta.
1870s
Bonnie is killed in a horse riding accident.
Melanie dies.
Scarlett realizes that she really doesn't love Ashley—it's been Rhett all along—and rushes home to tell him so. It's too late.
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TRIVIA
When Gary Cooper turned down the role for Rhett Butler, he was passionately against it. He is quoted saying both, "Gone with the Wind (1939) is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history," and, "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #6 Greatest Movie of All Time.
[June 2008] Ranked #4 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Epic".
The movie's line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." was voted as the #1 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
The movie's line "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." was voted as the #2 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
The movie's line "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" was voted as the #76 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
The movie's line "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthing babies!" was voted as the #28 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
First color film to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Of all the many actresses who tested for the part of Scarlett, only Paulette Goddard and Vivien Leigh were filmed in color.
Although he was dismissed from the production, George Cukor continued to privately coach both Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland at their request on weekends.
The estimated production costs were $3.9 million. At the time, only Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and Hell's Angels (1930) had cost more.
The film had its first preview on 9 September 1939 at the Fox Theatre in Riverside, California. In attendance were David O. Selznick, his wife Irene Mayer Selznick, investor John Hay Whitney and editor Hal C. Kern. Kern called for the manager and explained that his theater had been chosen for the first public screening of Gone with the Wind (1939) though the identity of the film was to remain undisclosed to the audience until the very moment it began. People were permitted to leave only if they didn't want to hang around for a film that they didn't know the name of, but after they'd gone, the theater was to be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls. The manager was reluctant but eventually agreed. His one request was to call his wife to come to the theater immediately, although he was forbidden to tell her what film she was about to see. Indeed, Kern stood by him while he made his phone call to ensure he maintained the secret. When the film began, the audience started yelling with excitement. They had been reading about this film for nearly 2 years, so were naturally thrilled to see it for themselves.
Sidney Howard agreed to write the screenplay, but from his home in Massachusetts, 3000 miles away from studio interference. His first draft would have made a 5 1/2 hour movie. Howard reluctantly agreed to leave his Massachusetts farm and come to Hollywood to work on another draft with Selznick and then-attached director George Cukor. As Selznick was preoccupied with problems on the set of The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Howard had to wait 5 weeks before he was able to start working on another draft (in the meantime contributing some rewrites for "Zenda"). The second draft turned out to be 15 pages longer than the first.
David O. Selznick traveled to Bermuda in September 1938 to finalize the script. He reportedly brought four suitcases full of drafts with him.
The Ku Klux Klan was written out of the screenplay as the organization to which Frank Kennedy turns after Scarlett is attacked in Shantytown. Producer David O. Selznick said that he had no desire to remake The Birth of a Nation (1915), telling screenwriter Sidney Howard in 1937, "I do hope you will agree with me on this omission of what might come out as an unintentional advertisement for intolerant societies in these fascist-ridden times. . . ."
Olivia de Havilland was a contract player at Warner Brothers when MGM made the call to her for the part of Melanie. De Havilland was very keen to take the part and managed to convince her boss Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract, mainly by getting his wife to exert her influence.
Half a million feet of film were shot. This was all edited down to 20,000 feet.
Leslie Howard privately felt that he was much too old to play Ashley Wilkes (the character was supposed to be about 21 at the start of the film). He wore extra make-up and a hairpiece to make him appear younger. Selznick was only able to persuade him to take the part by offering him a producer credit on Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939).
There are more than 50 speaking roles and 2,400 extras in the film.
Contrary to popular belief, this is not the first film to use the word "damn". The expletive was used in numerous silent intertitles and in several talkies, including Cavalcade (1933) and Pygmalion (1938).
For the premiere in Atlanta in December 15, 1939, the governor declared a state holiday. Ticket prices for the premiere were 40 times the usual going rate.
Margaret Mitchell's inspiration for her book title came from the 13th line of the Ernest Dowson poem, "Cynara" - "I have forgot much Cynara! Gone with the wind."
One of the few remaining scenes directed by George Cukor to survive into the final cut of the film is the birth of Melanie's baby.
At one point, five film units were shooting scenes. Directors involved were Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin and stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt.
The only four actors David O. Selznick ever seriously considered for the role Rhett Butler were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and Ronald Colman. The chief impediment to Gable's casting was his MGM contract. Gable was not drawn to the material; he didn't see himself in a period production, and didn't believe that he could live up to the public's anticipation of the character. Eventually, he was persuaded by a $50,000 bonus which would enable him to divorce his second wife Maria ("Ria") and marry Carole Lombard.
David O. Selznick bought the rights to the best selling novel for $50,000. Louis B. Mayer, Selznick's father-in-law and head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, was determined to make Gone with the Wind (1939) an MGM film. Mayer initially offered to buy Selznick out at a handsome profit. Warner Bros. offered Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and advantageous financing. Selznick's own distributor United Artists showed interest in providing a production financing package. However, none of them had an actor capable of portraying Rhett Butler except MGM, which offered a deal that included Clark Gable. After much vacillating on Selznick's part, a deal was struck with MGM on January 19, 1938 that gave Selznick Clark Gable and $1.25 million toward production costs, in return for giving MGM distribution rights and 50% of the profits, which were further reduced by Loew's Inc.'s 15% interest and a requirement to pay Gable's $4,500 per week salary and one-third of Gable's $50,000 loan-out bonus. "GWTW" was, of course, a box office triumph, grossing over $20 million during its initial release alone. Selznick eventually earned $4 million on the picture. Unfortunately, a few years later he sold his rights to John Hay Whitney for a paltry $400,000 to keep his independent production company afloat. John Hay Whitney later sold the rights to Gone with the Wind (1939) back to MGM for a $2.4 million.
All four principal characters appear together in the same scene only once, after the raid on Shantytown, when Rhett tells the anxious group of the fate of Scarlett's second husband, Frank Kennedy.
One of the reasons that Clark Gable hesitated to do the film was his participation in a previous costume drama Parnell (1937) in 1937. The film was a terrible, embarrassing failure and Gable regretted accepting the role.
To portray Melanie, Olivia de Havilland spent most of the film in drab, dowdy costumes. She wore 2 elaborate dresses in the film: one when Melanie and Ashley announce their engagement, and a striking blue taffeta dress that Melanie wears to Scarlett's first wedding. Unfortunately, due to film aspect ratio at the time (long before the advent of widescreen), the screen could not accommodate two dresses built up with hoop skirts, so they had to be removed. Thus, de Havilland's rare appearance in a beautiful dress was shot from the waist up, with the skirt hanging limp.
In 1939, the Hollywood Production Code dictated what could and could not be shown or said on screen, and Rhett Butler's memorable last line presented a serious problem. A few of the suggested alternatives were "Frankly my dear... I just don't care," "... it makes my gorge rise," "... my indifference is boundless," "... I don't give a hoot," and "... nothing could interest me less." Although legend persists that the Hays Office fined Selznick $5,000 for using the word "damn", in fact the Motion Picture Association board passed an amendment to the Production Code on November 1, 1939, to insure that Selznick would be in compliance with the code. Henceforth, the words "hell" and "damn" would be banned except when their use "shall be essential and required for portrayal, in proper historical context, of any scene or dialogue based upon historical fact or folklore ... or a quotation from a literary work, provided that no such use shall be permitted which is intrinsically objectionable or offends good taste." With that amendment, the Production Code Administration had no further objection to Rhett's closing line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
1,400 actresses were interviewed for the part of Scarlett O'Hara. 400 were asked to do readings.
Among the many famous actress considered for the part of Scarlett were Jean Arthur, Lucille Ball, Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Katharine Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck, and Margaret Sullavan. Bankhead (an authentic "Southern Belle" from Alabama) was the clear front-runner, but her unsavory personal life made producers reluctant to hire her.
Of all the actresses considered for the role, Louise Platt, Tallulah Bankhead, Linda Watkins, Adele Longmire, Haila Stoddard, Susan Hayward (at the time using the name Edythe Marriner), Dorothy Mathews, Brenda Marshall, Paulette Goddard, Anita Louise, Margaret Tallichet, Frances Dee, Nancy Coleman, Marcella Martin, Lana Turner, Diana Barrymore, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh were given actual screen tests for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.
Judy Garland was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett's sister Carreen before her "Andy Hardy" series co-star Ann Rutherford was cast, but she was tied up with commitments to another film directed by Victor Fleming: The Wizard of Oz (1939). Ironically, Fleming would replace George Cukor on both The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Production began with Robert Gleckler playing Jonas Wilkerson. After a month of filming, Gleckler died. His scenes were re-shot with replacement cast member Victor Jory.
One month after the book was published, David O. Selznick purchased the movie rights from Margaret Mitchell for an unprecedented $50,000. At the time it was the highest sum that had ever been paid for an author's first novel. Realizing he had underpaid Mitchell, Selznick gave her an additional $50,000 as a bonus when he dissolved Selznick-International Pictures in 1942.
The premiere was held in Atlanta, Georgia on December 15, 1939. It was reportedly the first time that David O. Selznick had been in the South.
Nothing in the internal memos of David O. Selznick indicates or suggests that Clark Gable played any role in the dismissal of director George Cukor. Rather, they show Selznick's mounting dissatisfaction with Cukor's slow pace and quality of work. Almost half of Cukor's scenes were scrapped or later re-shot by others. From a private letter from journalist Susan Myrick to Margaret Mitchell in February 1939: "George [Cukor] finally told me all about it. He hated [leaving the production] very much he said but he could not do otherwise. In effect he said he is an honest craftsman and he cannot do a job unless he knows it is a good job and he feels the present job is not right. For days, he told me he has looked at the rushes and felt he was failing... the things did not click as it should. Gradually he became convinced that the script was the trouble... So George just told David he would not work any longer if the script was not better and he wanted the [Sidney] Howard script back... he would not let his name go out over a lousy picture... And bull-headed David said 'OK get out!'" Selznick had already been unhappy with Cukor ("a very expensive luxury") for not being more receptive to directing other Selznick assignments, even though Cukor had remained on salary since early 1937; and in a confidential memo written in September 1938, four months before principal photography began, Selznick flirted with the idea of replacing him with Victor Fleming. "I think the biggest black mark against our management to date is the Cukor situation and we can no longer be sentimental about it.... We are a business concern and not patrons of the arts... ."
Margaret Mitchell was dismayed at the scale of the Tara and Twelve Oaks sets, writing to her friend, technical advisor Susan Myrick, "I grieve to hear that Tara has columns. Of course, it didn't and looked nice and ugly like Alex Stephens' Liberty Hall [in Crawfordville, Georgia]." And, "I had feared, of course that [Twelve Oaks] would end up looking like the Grand Central Station, and your description confirms my worst apprehensions. I did not know whether to laugh or to throw up at the TWO staircases.... God help me when the reporters get me after I've seen the picture. I will have to tell the truth, and if Tara has columns and Twelve Oaks is such an elegant affair I will have to say that nothing like that was ever seen in Clayton County, or, for that matter, on land or sea.... When I think of the healthy, hardy, country and somewhat crude civilization I depicted and then of the elegance that is to be presented, I cannot help yelping with laughter... "
The first scene to be shot was the burning of the Atlanta Depot, filmed on 10 December 1938. If there was a major mistake during the filming, the entire film might have been scrapped. They actually burned many old sets that needed to be cleared from the studio backlot, including sets from The Garden of Allah (1936) and the "Great Wall" set from King Kong (1933). The fire cost over $25,000, and yielded 113 minutes of footage. It was so intense that Culver City residents jammed the telephones lines, thinking MGM was burning down. Scarlett was stunt doubled by Aline Goodwin and Lila Finn, while Rhett was doubled by veteran stuntmen Yakima Canutt and Jay Wilsey.
There is historical dispute and ambiguity over exactly when Vivien Leigh was contracted to play Scarlett O'Hara. One theory holds that David O. Selznick had already secretly signed her for the role as early as February 1938, and that the nationwide "Search For Scarlett O'Hara", during which thousands of dollars were spent "testing" aspiring actresses for the part, was actually a well orchestrated publicity stunt on the part of David O. Selznick to keep alive interest in a very expensive film for which he did not yet have the money to produce. The other, more dramatic and interesting story is that Selznick's brother Myron Selznick, an agent, introduced Vivien Leigh to David O. Selznick during the filming of the Atlanta fire and said "David, meet your Scarlett O'Hara". The truth of the matter is unknown, and may never be resolved.
The 222 minute running time excludes the Overture Music (played before the credits), the Entr'acte Music (played during the intermission) and the Exit Music (played after the film ends). All three were especially recorded for the film soundtrack, and were heard at the film's original 1939 world premiere. They were seldom played by exhibitors until the 1997 New Line Cinema edition of the film restored them. They are also included on the DVD.
The film has never been cut. Recent releases are longer because of the added Overture, intermission, and exit music, not because any deleted scenes have been restored.
Very few of the principal cast members liked the characters they were portraying. Clark Gable was induced into accepting his role through arrangements to divorce his current wife and marry Carole Lombard. Rand Brooks, who played Scarlett's first husband Charles Hamilton and died early in the story, was actually a rough outdoorsman who objected to playing a wimpy character. Butterfly McQueen disliked the negative stereotype of her character. Leslie Howard felt he was too old for the role of Ashley Wilkes and complained that his costumes made him look like "a fairy doorman" at a hotel.
David O. Selznick begged Margaret Mitchell, author of the novel, to critique every aspect of the production. An intensely private person, Mrs. Mitchell gave one criticism of the facade of the design for Tara, which was ignored. Afterward, she refused to comment on any aspect of the film during production.
Producer David O. Selznick and production designer William Cameron Menzies also directed parts of this film, uncredited.
One of the first promising candidates for the role of Scarlett was Adele Longmire, who was seventeen at the time. Her parents did not permit her to travel to New York for a screen test, so Longmire did not appear in a film until several years later.
In a March 1939 newspaper article, David O. Selznick was reported to be considering producing Gone with the Wind (1939) as two films, as it was felt that the novel was far too long and complex to be successfully made into a single motion picture for the time.
For the scene in which Scarlett escapes the burning of the Atlanta Depot, a horse was needed to play woebegone, an old nag on the verge of collapse. A suitable candidate was finally found, but weeks later, when the horse was brought to the set, it had gained weight and its ribs were no longer visible. There was no time to find a replacement, so the makeup department painted dark shadows on its ribs to give the appearance of malnourishment.
In the scene where Scarlett searches for Dr. Meade, making her way among 1,600 suffering and dying Confederate soldiers, to cut costs and still comply with a union rule that dictated the use of a certain percentage of extras in the cast, 800 dummies were scattered among 800 extras.
The crane shot where Scarlett searches for Dr. Meade, making her way among suffering and dying Confederate soldiers, was Val Lewton's idea. He had previously been Selznick's assistant editor and went on to produce a string of B movies though the 1940s.
In the scene where Rhett pours Mammy a drink after the birth of Bonnie, for a joke during a take, Clark Gable actually poured alcohol instead of the usual tea into the decanter without Hattie McDaniel knowing it until she took a swig.
The first rough cut in July 1939 ran four and a half hours - 48 minutes longer than the final release.
All seven of Hollywood's then-existing Technicolor cameras were used to film the Burning of the Atlanta Depot. Flames 500 feet high leaped from a set that covered 40 acres. Ten pieces of fire equipment from the Los Angeles Fire Department, 50 studio firemen and 200 studio helpers stood by throughout the filming of this sequence in case the fire should get out of hand. Three 5,000-gallon water tanks were used to quench the flames after shooting.
# Female costumes were made complete with petticoats, although they wouldn't have been missed had they not been there.
In the scene after Scarlett returns to a decimated Tara, digs up a radish in the garden, then retches and gives her famous "As God is my witness... " line, the vomiting sounds were actually looped by Olivia de Havilland. One version of the story is that Vivien Leigh "could not" produce a convincing enough retching sound. Another version of the story is that Vivien Leigh "would not" make the retching sound because "it simply was not lady-like".
Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days and received about $25,000. Clark Gable worked for 71 days and received over $120,000.
Margaret Mitchell wrote her novel between 1926 and 1929. In her early drafts, the main character was named "Pansy O'Hara" and the O'Hara plantation we know as Tara was called "Fountenoy Hall."
A few of Margaret Mitchell's working titles for the novel included "Tomorrow is Another Day," "Not in Our Stars", "Bugles Sang True" and "Tote the Weary Load". The most famous working title was, "Ba! Ba! Black Sheep".
The film sequence that is commonly referred to as "the Burning of Atlanta" was not the actual burning of the city by General Sherman in November 1864. Instead, the scene represents the night, two months earlier, when the retreating Confederate army torched its ammunition dumps to keep the Union army from capturing them.
David O. Selznick asked Alfred Hitchcock for help with the scene in which the women wait for the men from the raid on Shantytown and Melanie reads "David Copperfield". Hitchcock delivered a precise treatment, complete with descriptions of shots and camera angles. Hitchcock wanted to show Rhett, Ashley, etc. outside the house, dodging the Union soldiers. He also wanted an exchange of meaningful glances between Melanie and Rhett inside the house. Virtually nothing of this treatment was used.
Clark Gable was so distressed over the requirement that he cry on film (during the scene where Melanie is comforting Rhett after Scarlett's miscarriage) that he almost quit. Olivia de Havilland convinced him to stay.
The final shooting script dated 24 January 1939 had a price tag of $25,000 by late 1939.
The horse that Thomas Mitchell rode was later Silver of "The Lone Ranger" (1949) fame.
Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award.
Priscilla Lane was considered for the role of Melanie Wilkes.
Mickey Kuhn, who played Vivien Leigh's nephew Beau Wilkes, also played the young sailor who helps her onto the streetcar in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). When Kuhn mentioned to someone else on the set that he had acted with Leigh as a child, word got back to her and she called him into her dressing room for a half-hour chat. In an interview in his seventies, Kuhn stated that Leigh was extremely kind to him and "one of the loveliest ladies he had ever met."
F. Scott Fitzgerald was asked to write for the film, but little of his work remains on it, the best known being Ashley's account of the war to Scarlett, including the line "Some of my men are barefooted now, and the snow in Virginia is deep."
Rhett was not allowed to say, on film, "Maybe you'll have a miscarriage" right before Scarlett falls down the stairs; the line is changed to "Maybe you'll have an accident."
If box office receipts for the movie were adjusted for inflation, it would be the top grossing movie of all time; Star Wars (1977) would only be the second most successful movie of all time. According to the Guinness World Records homepage the total gross in 2005 figures would be $3,785,107,801.
The reminiscent wounded soldier in the makeshift Atlanta hospital talking to nurses Scarlett and Melanie about his "brother Jeff" was played by Cliff Edwards. Edwards later provided the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's classic Pinocchio (1940) and introduced the Academy Award winning song "When You Wish Upon A Star". Edwards is only heard, not seen, as the reminiscent solder in Gone with the Wind (1939).
If the number of total admissions are calculated, this is the most popular movie of all time in the US. While having the advantage of being released several times in theaters, the shocking thing is that there were half as many Americans alive when it was released, compared with Titanic (1997), Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975).
Three of the four prinicipal actors, Leslie Howard, Vivien Leigh, and Clark Gable, died at relatively young ages. Olivia de Havilland is the only one who remains alive as of this writing (May 2008). Ironically, her character is the only one who dies in the film.
David O. Selznick was required to give MGM the distribution rights in exchange for the use of Clark Gable and $1,250,000 in financing.
None of the interior sets had ceilings. These, and the upper parts of many exteriors, were optically added or modified with matte paintings. This is most noticeable to the modern discerning eye in the last shot of the scene showing the many dead and wounded Confederate soldiers. The tattered Confederate flag, previously seen in the astonishing pullback crane shot blowing in the breeze, is now represented by a matte painting, hanging limp.
When Melanie says that Bonnie's eyes are "as blue as the 'Bonnie Blue' flag", she is referring to the popular name of the single-star secession flag that was flown over Georgia after it seceded from the union (as well as over all other states that did so). Is consisted of a single white star over a field of blue. Tradition holds that it flew over Georgia for the first few months of 1861 before being replaced by the better-known "Stars And Bars" Confederate flags of later years.
Billie Burke (best remembered today as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (1939)) was considered for Aunt Pittypat Hamilton, but the producers thought she was too young (she was 54).
When Scarlett receives the letter that her husband Charles has died, the letter is signed Wade Hampton. He was Charles' commander in the war.
Barbara O'Neil was only 28 when she appeared as Ellen O'Hara (Scarlett's mother). Vivien Leigh was 25 when she appeared as Scarlett, who is only 16 at the beginning of the film.
Prominent Atlanta preacher Martin Luther King, Sr. (father of Martin Luther King) was invited to the cotillion ball held in Atlanta at the film's premiere. King, Sr. had been urged to boycott the festivities by other community leaders because none of the black actors in the film were allowed to attend. A forward thinker, King, Sr. attended because he was invited - and brought along his famous son with him.
At nearly four hours long, this is longest running of all movies to win the Best Picture Academy Award.
Was voted the eighth greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Voted #4 film of all time by the American Film Institute.
The American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-1940, lists this movie as having been filmed in Black and White instead of Technicolor.
In 2004, the movie was completely restored from the original three Technicolor negatives. This time, digital technology was employed to create results impossible to achieve with traditional methods. The negatives were scanned in at 2K resolution and digitally combined to remove all previous alignment problems and achieve perfect registration despite different amounts of shrinkage in the masters. The resulting digital master is of higher quality than any prints available so far - including the original prints from 1939. The color was timed to be identical to that of the surviving answer print of David O. Selznick, which is the color reference for the film. Reportedly, Selznick's original answer print was lost but it turned up five weeks into the 2004 digital restoration process. The color timing of the new digital master was subsequently stopped and started all over again from scratch. This 2004 digitally restored version looks truly astonishing, particularly when projected with a digital projector. An improved version, this time working at 4K resolution is already approved and should be finished in 2005.
Before casting had actually started, Margaret Mitchell was asked (during an interview) who, she felt, should play Rhett Butler. She replied, "Groucho Marx." This was obviously a joke, and Margaret Mitchell's way of reiterating that she wanted nothing to do with the making of the film.
To add to the publicity, fans were asked to vote for the actress they think should play Scarlett. Out of hundreds of ballots cast, Vivien Leigh got only one vote.
Came first in the UK's Ultimate Film, in which films were placed in order of how many seats they sold at cinemas, with an estimated two-thirds of the UK's population going to see it
Ranks third in the Academy Award most nominated films list with 13 nominations.
The character of Ashley Wilkes was based on Margaret Mitchell's cousin by marriage John "Doc" Holliday. Melanie was based on Mitchell's third-cousin, and Doc's first cousin and close friend, Mattie "Sister Melanie" Holliday. Doc moved West and became the gambler and gunfighter we know. Mattie joined a convent and became a nun, but maintained a correspondence with Doc.
The character of Rhett Butler was partially inspired by Mitchell's husband nicknamed "Red", to whom she had a short and passionate marriage. Rhett Butler's initials on the handkerchief given to Melanie by Belle are "R.B." or "R.K.B." in the novel, which were the same as Red's- only rearranged.
Hattie McDaniel was cast as Mammy after Louise Beavers, Etta McDaniel, Ruby Dandridge, and Hattie Noel were briefly considered.
While directing the scene where Prissy says "Oh Miss Scarlett! I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies," director George Cukor told Vivien Leigh to actually slap actress Butterfly McQueen and to make it as realistic as possible, and directed Butterfly McQueen to scream. After many takes, McQueen broke down in tears, complaining that Vivien Leigh was hitting her too hard. In a later interview, Butterfly McQueen said that she "bargained" with the others, stating that if Vivien Leigh hit her, she would NOT scream, but if Vivien Leigh's hand only passed close to her face with the illusion of hitting her, she would scream as loudly as she could. McQueen also giggled and said that she thought "Prissy should have been slapped often, because she was horrid!"
Writer Sidney Howard was paid $2,000 a week to do the screenplay. Many other writers contributed to the final script, with the final sum paid to every one of them being $126,000. Sidney Howard received sole screen credit. David O. Selznick also wrote much of the screenplay.
During filming Vivien Leigh reportedly smoked four packets of cigarettes a day. Clark Gable smoked three packs a day throughout his career.
According to Newsreels, there were a handful of Confederate Civil War veterans who, though quite old, attended the premiere in Atlanta.
The two leads ranked #7 on Moviefone's 'The Top 25 Sexiest Movie Couples'. [May 2008]
Cinematographer Lee Garmes was fired a month into production because his footage was deemed to be too dark. He was replaced by Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan.
The fact that Hattie McDaniel would be unable to attend the premiere in racially segregated Atlanta annoyed Clark Gable so much that he threatened to boycott the premiere unless she could attend. He later relented when she convinced him to go.
When Victor Fleming came on board in February 1939, he rejected the script. Production was shut down for 17 days while it was rewritten by Ben Hecht. Hecht used Sidney Howard's original script (which he felt was superb) as the basis for his rewrite.
Leslie Howard was one of the few cast members not to attend the premiere in Atlanta.
Vivien Leigh wasn't happy with Victor Fleming's brusque style after the careful nurturing she had enjoyed with George Cukor. When she asked him for direction in one scene, he told her "Ham it up". On another occasion when she asked for his constructive advice, he told her to "take the script and stick it up her royal British ass". After Cukor's departure, Leigh had to fight hard to keep the movie's Scarlett true to her view. Fleming's interpretation of her was that she was an out-and-out bitch as in the novel and that he had no desire to create any sympathy or insight for her.
Margaret Mitchell personally approved of Vivien Leigh's interpretation of Scarlett.
Super macho director Victor Fleming wanted Scarlett, for at least once in the film, to look like his hunting buddy Clark Gable's type of woman. So, when wearing the stunning low-cut burgundy velvet dress with rhinestones that Scarlett wears to Ashley Wilkes' birthday party in the second half of the film, to achieve the desired cleavage for Fleming, Walter Plunkett had to tape Vivien Leigh's breasts together.
Vincent Price and Melvyn Douglas tested for the part of Ashley.
Margaret Mitchell's first choice to play Rhett Butler was Basil Rathbone.
The four principals were billed on the film's posters in this order: Clark Gable, followed by Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland and then "presenting" Vivien Leigh. This changed when Leigh won the Oscar.
The first film to credit a Production Designer, mainly to highlight the major contribution from William Cameron Menzies who not only art directed the film but also directed some of the second units.
After the opening titles, there is a scene-setting crawl which was originally written by Ben Hecht. Nothing like this appears in the novel and, privately, Margaret Mitchell was none too enthused by it.
Lillian Gish had originally been approached to take on the part of Scarlett's mother.
Olivia de Havilland always meticulously researched her roles. As she had not yet had a baby in real life, she visited a maternity hospital to study how various women coped with the stresses of childbirth for the scene where Melanie has her baby. Off-camera, the scene's director, George Cukor, would occasionally pinch her toes to make her feel pain.
Sidney Howard's screen writing Oscar was the Academy's first posthumous award. Howard died in an accident in August 1939 while the Civil War epic was still being filmed.
David O. Selznick, in a memo from October 1939, about the movie's writing credits: " [Y]ou can say frankly that of the comparatively small amount of material in the picture which is not from the book, most is my own personally, and the only original lines of dialog which are not my own are a few from Sidney Howard and a few from Ben Hecht and a couple more from John Van Druten. Offhand I doubt that there are ten original words of [Oliver] Garrett's in the whole script. As to construction, this is about eighty per cent my own, and the rest divided between Jo Swerling and Sidney Howard, with Hecht having contributed materially to the construction of one sequence."
While still in production, Selznick wanted to evaluate an audience's response to the film. Months before the official gala premiere, the movie was given an unannounced ("sneak") preview screening in a small theater in Riverside outside Los Angeles. The theater was scheduled to show Beau Geste (1939). At this time, many elements of the film were still unfinished, including the opening titles and musical scoring by Max Steiner. For this sneak preview, the studio quickly filmed a "makeshift" opening title sequence. These opening credits, still surviving today, show a woman's hand turning the pages of a large book with colorful drawings of Southern scenes accompanied by printed text of the opening credits, accompanied by the opening title music from David O. Selznick's own production of The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) (music by Alfred Newman).
Although he played Brent Tarleton in the film, the screen credits mistakenly list Fred Crane as playing Stuart Tarleton.
Fred Crane's first filmed acting role. He spoke the first line in the movie.
The scene where Scarlett makes a dress out of a curtain later was later spoofed on "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967) in what became one of the most memorable comedy bits in TV history. Carol Burnett as "Starlet" O'Hara wears the curtains with the rod still in them. Harvey Korman as "Rat" Butler says: "Starlet, that gown is lovely", to which she responds: "Thank you. I just saw it in the window and couldn't resist it!"
In 1994, Judy Lewis went public with the information that she is indeed the love child of Clark Gable and Loretta Young, which had been the subject of speculation in Hollywood for years. (Loretta Young always claimed she went away for a while, found the girl, and adopted her.) Thus, in an interesting coincidence, Clark Gable's real life daughter Judy Lewis is a close friend of Gable's on-screen daughter in this film, Cammie King (Bonnie Blue Butler).
During the casting, Erin O'Brien-Moore was suggested for the role of Scarlett, although she was ultimately never auditioned or given a screen test.
Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Stagecoach (1939), Beau Geste (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
A leading contender for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), Katharine Hepburn lost out, but later served as Maid of Honor at Vivien Leigh's and Laurence Olivier's wedding.
Clark Gable disliked this, his most famous film, which he regarded as "a woman's picture."
The Tara plantation façade was located at the NW corner of the Forty Acres backlot in Culver City, CA and was dismantled in 1959. The location was later used for the Stalag 13 outdoor set of "Hogan's Heroes" (1965).
The entr'acte music is played entirely on a Novachord, the first use of an electronic synthesizer in a Hollywood feature film.
The first all-color film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as the longest.
_________________________________________________________________
Gone With the Wind Quotes
BRENT
What do we care if we were expelled from college,
Scarlett. The war is going to start any day now so we
would have left college anyhow.
STEW
Oh, isn't it exciting, Scarlett? You know those poor
Yankees actually want a war?
BRENT
We'll show 'em.
SCARLETT
Fiddle-dee-dee. War, war, war. This war talk is
spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I
get so bored I could scream. Besides, there isn't
going to be any war.
BRENT
Not going to be any war?
STEW
Ah, buddy, of course there's going to be a war.
SCARLETT
If either of you boys says "war" just once again,
I'll go in the house and slam the door.
BRENT
But Scarlett honey..
STEW
Don't you want us to have a war?
BRENT
Wait a minute, Scarlett...
STEW
We'll talk about this...
BRENT
No please, we'll do anything you say...
SCARLETT
Well-
but remember I warned you.
BRENT
I've got an idea. We'll talk about the barbecue the
Wilkes are giving over at Twelve Oaks tomorrow.
STEW
That's a good idea. You're eating barbecue with us,
aren't you, Scarlett?
SCARLETT
Well, I hadn't thought about that yet, I'll...I'll
think about that tomorrow.
STEW
And we want all your waltzes, there's first Brent,
then me, then Brent, then me again, then Saul.
Promise?
SCARLETT
I just love to.
STEW
Yahoo!
SCARLETT
If only ..if only I didn't have every one of them
taken already.
BRENT
Honey, you can't do that to us.
STEW
How about if we tell you a secret?
SCARLETT
Secret? Who by?
BRENT
Well, you know Miss Melanie Hamilton, from Atlanta?
STEW
Ashley Wilkes' cousin? Well she's visiting the Wilkes
at Twelve Oaks.
SCARLETT
Melanie Hamilton, that goody-goody. Who wants no
secret about her.
BRENT
Well, anyway we heard...
STEW
That is, they say..
BRENT
Ashley Wilkes is going to marry her.
STEW
You know the Wilkes always marry their cousins. BRENT
Now do we get those waltzes?
SCARLETT
Of course.
BRENT
Yahoo!
SCARLETT
It can't be true...Ashley loves me.
STEW
Scarlett!
(Scarlett couldn't accept Ashley's
marriage, she rushes to find her father.)
Mr. O'HARA
(To his horse) There's none in the county can touch
you, and none in the state.
SCARLETT
Paw? How proud of yourself you are!
Mr. O'HARA
Well, it is Scarlett O'Hara. So, you've been spying
on me. And like your sister Sue Ellen, you'll be
telling your mother on me, that I was jumping again.
SCARLETT
Oh, Paw, you know I'm no 'tattle like Sue Ellen. But
it does seem to me that after you broke your knee
last year jumping that same fence......
Mr. O'HARA
I'll not have me own daughter telling me what I shall
jump and not jump. It's my own neck, so it is.
SCARLETT
All right Paw, you jump what you please. How are they
all over at Twelve Oaks?
Mr. O'HARA
The Wilkes? Oh, what you expect, with the barbecue
tomorrow and talking, nothing but war...
SCARLETT
Oh bother the war....was there, was there anyone else
there?
Mr. O'HARA
Oh, their cousin Melanie Hamilton from Atlanta. And
her brother Charles. SCARLETT
Melanie Hamilton. She's a pale-faced mealy-mouthed
ninny and I hate her.
Mr. O'HARA
Ashley Wilkes doesn't think so.
SCARLETT
Ashley Wilkes couldn't like anyone like her.
Mr. O'HARA
What's your interest in Ashley and Miss Melanie?
SCARLETT
It's...it's nothing. Let's go into the house, Paw.
Mr. O'HARA
Has he been trifling with you? Has he asked you to
marry him?
SCARLETT
No.
Mr. O'HARA
No, nor will he. I have it in strictest confidence
from John Wilkes this afternoon, Ashley is going to
marry Miss Melanie. It'll be announced tomorrow night
at the ball.
SCARLETT
I don't believe it!
Mr. O'HARA
Here, here what are you after? Scarlett! What are you
about? Have you been making a spectacle of yourself
running about after a man who's not in love with you?
When you might have any of the bucks in the county?
SCARLETT
I haven't been running after him, it's...it's just a
surprise that's all.
Mr. O'HARA
Now, don't be jerking your chin at me. If Ashley
wanted to marry you, it would be with misgivings, I'd
say yes. I want my girl to be happy. You'd not be
happy with him.
SCARLETT
I would, I would.
Mr. O'HARA
What difference does it make whom you marry? So long
as he's a Southerner and thinks like you.
And when I'm gone, I leave Tara to you.
SCARLETT
I don't want Tara, plantations don't mean anything
when...
Mr. O'HARA
Do you mean to toll me Katie Scarlett O'Hara that
Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why,
land is the only thing in the world worth working
for. Worth fighting for, worth dying for. Because
it's the only thing that lasts.
SCARLETT
Oh, Paw, you talk like an Irishman.
Mr. O'HARA
It's proud I am that I'm Irish. And don't you be
forgetting, Missy, that you're half-Irish too. And to
anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them, why the
land they live on is like their mother. Oh, but
there, there, now, you're just a child. It'll come to
you, this love of the land. There's no getting away
from it if you're Irish.
(Next day, the O'Haras drive to Twelve Oaks for the
barbeque there.)
Mr. O'HARA
Well, John Wilkes. It's a grand day you'll be having
for the barbecue.
JOHN WILKES
So it seems, Gerald. Why isn't Mrs. O'Hara with you?
Mr. O'HARA
She's after settling accounts with the overseer, but
she'll be along for the ball tonight.
INDIA
Welcome to Twelve Oaks, Mr. O'Hara.
Mr. O'HARA
Thank you kindly, India. Your daughter is getting
prettier everyday, John.
JOHN WILKES
Oh, India, here are the O'Hara girls, we must greet
them.
INDIA
Can't stand that Scarlett. If you'd see the way she
throws herself at Ashley.
JOHN WILKES
Now, now, that's your brother's business. You must
remember your duties as hostess. Good morning, girls!
You look lovely. Good morning, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
India Wilkes. What a lovely dress. I just can't take
my eyes off it.
(Scarlett enters the hall with her family.)
MAN1
Good morning, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Morning.
MAN2
Look mighty fine this morning, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Thank you.
MANS
Morning Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Good Morning.
MAN4
Pleasure to see you, Miss Scarlett.
MANS
Howdy, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Ashley!
ASHLEY
Scarlett! My dear!
SCARLETT
I've been looking for you everywhere. I've got
something I must tell you. Can't we go some place
where it's quiet?
ASHLEY
Yes I'd like to, but... I've something to tell you,
too. Something I...I hope you'll be glad to hear. Now
come and say hello to my cousin, Melanie Wilkes.
SCARLETT
Oh, do we have to?
ASHLEY
She's been looking forward to seeing you again.
Melanie! Here's Scarlett.
MELANIE
Scarlett. I'm so glad to see you again.
SCARLETT
Melanie Hamilton, what a surprise to run into you
here. I hope you're going to stay with us a few days
at least.
MELANIE
I hope I shall stay long enough for us to become real
friends, Scarlett. I do so want us to be.
ASHLEY
We'll keep her here, won't we, Scarlett?
SCARLETT
Oh, we'll just have to make the biggest fuss over
her, won't we, Ashley? And if there's anybody who
knows how to give a girl a good time, it's Ashley.
Though I expect our good times must seem terribly
silly to you because you're so serious.
MELANIE
Oh, Scarlett. You have so much life. I've always
admired you so, I wish I could be more like you.
SCARLETT
You mustn't flatter me, Melanie, and say things you
don't mean.
ASHLEY
Nobody could accuse Melanie of being insincere. Could
they, my dear?
SCARLETT
Oh, well then, she's not like you. Is she, Ashley?
Ashley never means a word he says to any girl. Oh,
why Charles Hamilton, you handsome old thing, you.
CHARLES HAMILTON
But, oh. Miss O'Hara...
SCARLETT
Do you think that was kind to bring your good-looking
brother down here just to break my poor, simple
country-girl's heart?
(India and Sue Ellen are watching Scarlett in
distance)
ELLEN
Look at Scarlett, she's never even noticed Charles
before, now just because he's your beau, she's after
him like a hornet!
SCARLETT
Charles Hamilton, I want to eat barbecue with you.
And mind you don't go philandering with any other
girl because I'm mighty jealous.
CHARLES HAMILTON
I won't, Miss O'Hara. I couldn't!
SCARLETT
I do declare, Frank Kelly, you don't look dashing
with that new set of whiskers.
FRANK
Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
You know Charles Hamilton and Ray Kelvert asked me to
eat barbecue with them, but I told them I couldn't
because I'd promised you.
INDIA
You needn't be so amused, look at her. She's after
your beau now.
FRANK
Oh, that's mighty flattering of you, Miss Scarlett.
I'll see what I can do, Miss Scarlett.
KATHLEEN
What's your sister so mad about, Scarlett, you
sparking her beau?
SCARLETT
As if I couldn't get a better beau than that old maid
in britches. Brent and Stew, do talk, you handsome
old thing, you...oh, no, you're not, I don't mean to
say that I'm mad at you.
BRENT
Why Scarlett honey...
SCARLETT
You haven't been near me all day and I wore this old
dress just because I thought you liked it. I was
counting on eating barbecue with you two.
BRENT
Well, you are, Scarlett...
STEW
Of course you are, honey.
SCARLETT
Oh, I never can make up my mind which of you two's
handsomer. I was awake all last night trying to
figure it out. Kathleen, who's that?
KATHLEEN
Who?
SCARLETT
That man looking at us and smiling. A nasty dog.
KATHLEEN
My dear, don't you know? That's Rhett Butler. He's
from Charleston. He has the most terrible reputation.
SCARLETT
He looks as if, as if he knows what I looked like
without my shimmy.
KATHLEEN
How? But my dear, he isn't received. He's had to
spend most of his time up North because his folks in
Charleston won't even speak to him. He was expelled
from West Point, he's so fast. And then there's that
business about that girl he wouldn't marry...
SCARLETT
Tell, tell...
KATHLEEN
Well, he took her out in a buggy riding in the late
afternoon without a chaperone and then, and then he
refused to marry her!
SCARLETT
(whisper)...
KATHLEEN
No, but she was ruined just the same.
(Ashley and Melanie, on the balcony open to the
garden.)
MELANIE
Ashley..
ASHLEY
Happy?
MELANIE
So happy.
ASHLEY
You seem to belong here. As if it had all been
imagined for you.
MELANIE
I like to feel that I belong to the things you love.
ASHLEY
You love Twelve Oaks as I do.
MELANIE
Yes, Ashley. I love it as, as more than a house. It's
a whole world that wants only to be graceful and
beautiful.
ASHLEY
And so unaware that it may not last, forever.
MELANIE
You're afraid of what may happen when the war conies,
aren't you? Well, we don't have to be afraid. For us.
No war can come into our world Ashley. Whatever
comes, I'll love you, just as I do now. Until I die.
Chapter 2 Scarlett Meeting Butler
(Noon time, the gentlemen are gathering in the
downstairs hall, talking about the war.)
Mr. O'HARA
We've borne enough insults from the "meddling
Yankees. It's time we made them understand we keep
our slaves with or without their approval. Who's to
stop them right from the state of Georgia to secede
from the Union.
MAN
That's right.
Mr. O'HARA
The South must assert ourselves by force of arms.
After we fired on the Yankee rascals at Fort Sumter,
we've got to fight. There's no other way.
MAN1
Fight, that's right, fight!
MAN2
Let the Yankee's be the ones to ask for peace.
Mr. O'HARA
The situation is very simple. The Yankees can't fight
and we can.
CHORUS
You're right!
MANS
That's what I'll think! They'll just turn and run
every time.
MAN1
One Southerner can lick twenty Yankees.
MAN2
We'll finish them in one battle. Gentlemen can always
fight better than rattle.
MANS
Yes, gentlemen always fight better than rattle.
Mr. O'HARA
And what does the captain of our troop say?
ASHLEY
Well, gentlemen...if Georgia fights, I go with her.
But like my father I hope that the Yankees let us
leave the Union in peace.
MAN1
But Ashley...
MAN2
Ashley, they've insulted us.
MANS
You can't mean that you don't want war.
ASHLEY
Most of the miseries of the world were caused by
wars. And when the wars were over, no one ever knew
what they were about.
Mr. O'HARA
Now gentlemen, Mr. Butler has been up North I hear.
Don't you agree with us, Mr. Butler?
RHETT BUTLER
I think it's hard winning a war with words,
gentlemen.
CHARLES
What do you mean, sir?
RHETT
I mean, Mr. Hamilton, there's not a cannon factory in
the whole South.
MAN
What difference does that make, sir, to a gentleman?
RHETT
I'm afraid it's going to make a great deal of
difference to a great many gentlemen, sir.
CHARLES
Are you hinting, Mr. Butler, that the Yankees can
lick us?
RHETT
No, I'm not hinting. I'm saying very plainly that the
Yankees are better equipped than we. They've got
factories, shipyards, coal-mines... and a fleet to
bottle up our harbors and starve us to death. All
we've got is cotton, and slaves and ...arrogance.
MAN
That's treacherous!
CHARLES
I refuse to listen to any renegade talk!
RHETT
Well, I'm sorry if the truth offends you.
CHARLES
Apologies aren't enough sir. I hear you were turned
out of West Point Mr. Rhett Butler. And that you
aren't received in an decent family in Charleston.
Not even
your own.
RHETT
I apologize again for all my shortcomings. Mr.
Wilkes, Perhaps you won't mind if I walk about and
look ver your place. I seem to be spoiling
everybody's brandy and cigars and...dreams of
victory.
(Rhett Butler leaves the hall.)
MAN
Well, that's just about what you could expect from
somebody like Rhett Butler.
Mr. O'HARA
You did everything but call him out.
CHARLES
He refused to fight.
ASHLEY
Not quite that Charles. He just refused to take
advantage of you.
CHARLES
Take advantage of me?
ASHLEY
Yes, he's one of the best shots the country, he's
proved a number of times, against steadier hands and
cooler heads than yours.
CHARLES
Well, I'll show him.
ASHLEY
No, no, no, please, don't go tweaking his nose
anymore. You may be needed for more important
fighting, Charles. Now if you'll excuse me, Mr.
Butler's our guest... I think I'll just show him
around.
(Ashley leaves the hall with intention of walking
Butler around the house. But before he can do this,
Scarlett calls him into a detached room.)
SCARLETT
Ashley!
ASHLEY
Scarlett...who are you hiding from here?...What are
you up to? Why aren't you upstairs resting with the
other girls? What is this, Scarlett? A secret?
SCARLETT
Well, Ashley, Ashley...! love you.
ASHLEY
Scarlett...
SCARLETT
I love you, I do.
ASHLEY
Well, isn't it enough that you gathered every other
man's heart today? You always had mine. You cut your
teeth on it.
SCARLETT
Oh, don't tease me now. Have I your heart my darling?
I love you, I love you...
ASHLEY
You mustn't say such things. You'll hate me for
hearing them.
SCARLETT
Oh, I could never hate you and, and I know you must
care about me. Oh, you do care, don't you?
ASHLEY
Yes, I care. Oh can't we go away and forget we ever
said these things?
SCARLETT
But how can we do that? Don't you, don't you want to
marry me? ASHLEY
I'm going to marry Melanie.
SCARLETT
But you can't, not if you care for me.
ASHLEY
Oh my dear, why must you make me say things that will
hurt you? How can I make you understand? You're so
young and I'm thinking, you don't know what marriage
means.
SCARLETT
I know I love you and I want to be your wife. You
don't love Melanie.
ASHLEY
She's like me, Scarlett. She's part of my blood, we
understand each other.
SCARLETT
But you love me!
ASHLEY
How could I help loving you? You have all the passion
for life that I lack. But that kind of love isn't
enough to make a successful marriage for two people
who are as different as we are.
SCARLETT
Why don't you say it, you coward? You're afraid to
marry me. You'd rather live with that silly little
fool who can't open her mouth except to say "yes",
no and raise a houseful of mealy-mouthed brats just
like her!
ASHLEY
You mustn't say things like that about Melanie.
SCARLETT
Who are you to tell me I mustn't? You led me on, you
made me believe you wanted to marry me!
ASHLEY
Now Scarlett, be fair. I never at any time...
SCARLETT
You did, it's true, you did! I'll hate you till I
die! I can't think of anything bad enough to call
you...
(Ashley leaves. Scarlett throws a vase to the wall
in anger. The crashing of the vase startles Rhett
Butler. He rises up from the couch in a dark corner
of the room.)
RHETT
Has the war started?
SCARLETT
Sir, you...you should have made your presence known.
RHETT
In the middle of that beautiful love scene? That
wouldn't have been very tactful, would it? But don't
worry. Your secret is safe with me.
SCARLETT
Sir, you are no gentleman.
RHETT
And you miss are no lady. Don't think that I hold
that against you. Ladies have never held any charm
for me.
SCARLETT
First you take a low, common advantage of me, then
you insult me!
RHETT
I meant it as a compliment. And I hope to see more of
you when you're free of the spell of the elegant Mr.
Wilkes. He doesn't strike me as half good enough for
a girl of your...what was it...your passion for
living?
SCARLETT
How dare you! You aren't fit to wipe his boot!
RHETT
And you were going to hate him for the rest of your
life.
Chapter 3 Scarlett Marrying Charles
(Outside, there's chaos. Gentlemen, including
Ashley, are leaving for the call of war.)
CHARLES
Miss 0' Hara! Miss 0' Hara, isn't it thrilling? Mr.
Lincoln has called the soldiers, volunteers to fight
against us.
SCARLETT
Oh, fiddle-dee-dee. Don't you men ever think about
anything important?
CHARLES
But it's war, Miss O'Hara! And everybody's going off
to enlist, they're going right away. I'm going, too!
SCARLETT
Everybody?
CHARLES
Oh, Miss O'Hara, will you be sorry? To see us go, I
mean.
SCARLETT
I'll cry to my pillow every night.
CHARLES
Oh, Miss O'Hara, I've told you I loved you. I think
you're the most beautiful girl in the world. And the
sweetest, the dearest. I know that I couldn't hope
that you could love me, so clumsy and stupid, not
nearly good enough for you. But if you could, if you
could think of marrying me, I'd do anything in the
world for you, just anything, I promise!
SCARLETT
Oh, what did you say?
CHARLES
Miss O'Hara, I said, would you marry me?
SCARLETT
Yes, Mr. Hamilton, I will.
CHARLES
You will, you'll marry me? You'll wait for me?
SCARLETT
Well, I don't think I'd want to wait.
CHARLES
You mean you'll marry me before I go? Oh, Miss
O'Hara...Scarlett...when may I speak to your father?
SCARLETT
The sooner, the better.
CHARLES
I'll go now, I can't wait. Will you excuse me? Dear?
(The day after Melanie and Ashley's wedding,
Scarlett marries Charles Hamilton.)
MELANIE
Scarlett. I thought of you at our wedding yesterday
and I hope that yours would be as beautiful. And it
was.
SCARLETT
Was it?
MELANIE
Now we're really and truly sisters. Charles.
CHARLES
Don't cry darling. The war will be over in a few
weeks and I'll be coming back to you.
Chapter 4 Scarlett's Second Contact with Butler
(Charles died at the front, but Scarlett is not at
all sad. She goes to the donation party with Melanie,
wearing black.)
DR. MEADE
Ladies and gentlemen. I have important news, glorious
news. Another triumph for our magnificent men in
arms. General Lee has completely whipped the enemy
and swept the Yankee army northward from Virginia!
And now, a happy surprise for all of us! We have with
us tonight that most daring of all blockade runners,
whose fleet "schooners slipping past the Yankee guns
have brought us here the very woolens and laces we
wear tonight. I refer, ladies and gentlemen, to that
will o'the wisp of the bounding main, none other than
our friend from Charleston, Captain Rhett Butler!
MELANIE
Captain Butler, such a pleasure to see you again. I
met you last at my husband's home.
RHETT
That's kind of you to remember, Mrs. Wilkes.
MELANIE
Did you meet Captain Butler at Twelve Oaks, Scarlett?
SCARLETT
Yes I, I think so.
RHETT
Only for a moment, Mrs. Hamilton, it was in the
library. You, uh, had broken something.
SCARLETT
Yes, Captain Butler, I remember you.
MAN
Ladies, the Confederacy asks for your jewelry on
behalf of our noble cause.
SCARLETT
We aren't wearing any, we're in mourning.
RHETT
Wait. On behalf of Mrs. Wilkes and Mrs. Hamilton.
MAN
Thank you, Captain Butler.
MELANIE
Just a moment, please.
MAN
But, it's your wedding ring, ma'am.
MELANIE
It may help my husband more, off my finger.
MAN
Thank you.
RHETT
It was a very beautiful thing to do, Mrs. Wilkes.
SCARLETT
Here, you can have mine, too. For the cause.
RHETT
And you Mrs. Hamilton. I know just how much that
means to you.
MAN
Melanie. I need your approval as a member of the
committee with something we want to do, that's rather
shocking. Will you excuse us, please?
RHETT
I'll say one thing. The war makes the most peculiar
widows.
SCARLETT
I wish you'd go away. If you'd had any raising, you'd
know I never want to see you again.
RHETT
Now, why be silly? You've no reason for hating me.
I'll carry your guilty secret to my grave.
SCARLETT
Oh, I guess I'd be very unpatriotic to hate one of
the great heroes of the war. I do declare, I was
surprised that you'd turned out to be such a noble
character.
RHETT
I can't bear to take advantage of your little girl's
ideas, Miss O'Hara. I am neither noble nor heroic.
SCARLETT
But you are a blockade runner.
RHETT
For profit. And profit only.
SCARLETT
Are you trying to tell me you don't believe in the
cause?
RHETT
I believe in Rhett Butler. He's the only cause I
know. The rest doesn't mean much to me.
DR. MEADE
And now, ladies and gentlemen. I have a startling
surprise for the benefit of the hospital. Gentlemen,
if you wish to lead the opening real with the lady of
your choice, you must bid for her.
WOMAN
Caroline Meade, how could you permit your husband to
conduct this, this, slave auction?
CAROLINE MEADE
Darling Merry Weather, how dare you criticize me?
Melanie Wilkes told the doctor that if it's for the
benefit of the cause, it's quite all right. WOMAN
She did?
AUNT PITTY
Oh dear, oh dear, where are my smelling salts? I
think I shall faint.
CAROLINE MEADE
Don't you dare faint, Lilly Beth. Hamilton. If
Melanie says it's all right, it is all right.
DR. MEADE
Come gentlemen, do I hear your bids? Make your
offers! Don't be bashful, gentlemen!
MAN1
Twenty dollars! Twenty dollars for Miss Maybelle
Merryweather.
MAN2
Twenty five dollars for Miss Fanny Ossing!
DR. MEADE
Only twenty five dollars to give.
RHETT
One hundred and fifty dollars in gold.
DR. MEADE
For what lady, sir?
RHETT
For Mrs. Charles Hamilton.
DR. MEADE
For whom, sir?
RHETT
Mrs. Charles Hamilton.
DR. MEADE
Mrs. Hamilton is in mourning, Captain Butler. But I'm
sure any of our Atlanta belles would be proud to¡
RHETT
But talk to me. I said Mrs. Charles Hamilton.
DR. MEADE
She will not consider it, sir.
(Flame in Scarlett's eyes.)
SCARLETT
Oh, yes, I will.
(Scarlett squeezes through the crowd to Butler. They
go dancing.)
RHETT
We've sort of shocked the Confederacy, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
It's a little like blockade running, isn't it?
RHETT
It's worse. But I expect a very fancy profit out of
it.
SCARLETT
I don't care what you expect or what they think, I'm
gonna dance and dance. Tonight I wouldn't mind
dancing with Abe Lincoln himself.
(In the Hamiltons. Rhett pays a visit to Scarlett
and brings her a bonnet from Paris.)
SCARLETT
Oh, oh, oh the darling thing. Oh, Rhett, it's lovely,
lovely! You didn't really bring it all the way from
Paris just for me!
RHETT
Yes. I thought it was about time I got you out of
that fake mourning. Next trip I'll bring you some
green silk for a frock to match it.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett!
RHETT
It's my duty to blade boys at the front, to keep our
girls at home looking pretty.
SCARLETT
It's been so long since I had anything new.
(Scarlett tries the bonnet on. Then she diverts it,
considering this is the right way.)
SCARLETT
How do I look?
RHETT
Awful, just awful.
SCARLETT
Why, what's the matter?
RHETT
This war stopped being a joke when a girl like you
doesn't know how to wear the latest fashion.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, let me do it. But Rhett, I don't know how
I'd dare wear it.
RHETT
You will, though. And another thing. Those pantalets.
I don't know a woman in Paris wears pantalets
anymore.
SCARLETT
What do they... you shouldn't talk about such things.
RHETT
You little hypocrite, you don't mind my knowing about
them, just my talking about them.
SCARLETT
Rhett, I really can't go on accepting these gifts.
Though you are awfully kind.
RHETT
I'm not kind, I'm just tempting you. I never give
anything without expecting something in return. I
always get paid.
SCARLETT
If you think I'll marry you just to pay for the
bonnet, I won't.
RHETT
Don't flatter yourself, I'm not a marrying man.
SCARLETT
Well, I won't kiss you for it, either.
RHETT
Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I
will kiss you. Although you need kissing badly.
That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed,
and often, and by someone who knows how.
SCARLETT
And I suppose that you think that you are the proper
person.
RHETT
I might be, if the right moment ever came.
SCARLETT
You're a conceited, black- hearted varmint, Rhett
Butler, and I don't know why I let you come and see
me.
RHETT
I'll tell you why, Scarlett. Because I'm the only man
over sixteen and under sixty who's around to show you
a good time. But cheer up, the war can't last much
longer.
SCARLETT
Really, Rhett? Why?
RHETT
There's a little battle going on right now, that
hypocrite ought to pretty well fix things. One way or
the other.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, is Ashley in it?
RHETT
So you still haven't gotten the wooden headed Mr.
Wilkes out of your mind? Yes, I suppose he's in it.
SCARLETT
Oh, tell me, Rhett, where is it?
RHETT
Some little town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.
Chapter 5 Scarlett Taking Care of Melanie
(Atlanta prayed while onward surged the triumphant
Yankees...Heads were high, but hearts were heavy, as
the wounded and the refugees poured into unhappy
Georgia......In the hospital, Scarlett helps out as a
nurse there, but her patience was easily suffocated
by the dying and screaming there.)
Priest
With the Lord as my shepherd I shall not want. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures. With the
sword at my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walked
through the valley at the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me.
VOICE
Mrs. Hamilton, Dr. Wilson is waiting.
SCARLETT
Let him wait, I'm going home, I've done enough. I
don't want any more men dying and screaming, I don't
want anymore.
(Scarlett runs out of the hospital onto the street,
where she finds the whole city is shaking in the
flame of war. Everyone is fleeing. She is totally at
a loss what to do, then Butler comes with a
carriage.)
RHETT
Scarlett! Whoah. Climb into this buggy, this is no
day for walking, you'll get run over.
SCARLETT
Rhett, ride me to where Aunt Pitty is, please.
RHETT
Panic's a pretty sight, isn't it. Whoah, whoah.
That's just another one of General Shermans calling
cards. He'll be paying us a visit soon.
SCARLETT
I've gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here
before the Yankees come.
RHETT
And leave your work at the hospital? Or have you had
enough of death and lice and men chopped up? Well I
suppose you weren't meant for sick men, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Don't talk to me like that, Rhett, I'm so scared, I
wish I'd get out of here!
RHETT
Let's get out of here together. No use staying here,
letting the South come down around your ears. There
are too many nice places to go and visit. Mexico,
London, Paris...
SCARLETT
With you?
RHETT
Yes Ma'am. I'm the man who understands you and
admires you for just what you are. I figure we belong
together, being the same sort. I've been waiting for
you to grow up and get that sad-eyed Ashley Wilkes
out of your heart. Well, I hear Mrs. Wilkes is going
to have a baby in another month or so. It's be hard
loving a man with a wife and baby clinging to him.
Well, here we are. Are you going with me or are you
getting out?
SCARLETT
I hate and despise you, Rhett Butler. And I'll hate
and despise you till I die!
RHETT
Oh, no, you won't, Scarlett, not that long.
(The Hamiltons. Scarlett is packing, preparing for
leaving.)
DR. MEADE
What is this? You ain't planning on running away?
SCARLETT
And don't you dare try to stop me. I'm never going
back to that hospital, I've had enough of smelling
death and rot and death...I'm going home, I want my
mother. My mother needs me.
DR. MEADE
You've got to listen to me. You must stay here.
AUNT PITTY
Without a chaperone, Dr. Meade, it simply isn't done.
DR. MEADE
Good Heaven's woman, this is war, not a garden party.
Scarlett, you've got to stay, Melanie needs you.
SCARLETT
Oh, bother Melanie!
DR. MEADE
She's ill already. She shouldn't even be having a
baby. She may have a difficult time.
SCARLETT
Can't we take her along?
DR. MEADE
Would you want her to take that chance? Would you
want her to be taunted over rough roads and have the
baby ahead of time in the buggy?
SCARLETT
It isn't my baby, you take care of it.
DR. MEADE
Scarlett, we haven't enough doctors, much less nurses
to look after a sick woman. You've got to stay for
Melanie.
SCARLETT
What for? I don't know anything about babies being
borne.
PRISSY
I knows! I knows! I knows how to do it. I've done it
lots and lots. let me doctor, let me. I can do
everything.
DR. MEADE
Good. Then I'll rely on you to help us.
PRISSY
Yes Doctor.
DR. MEADE
Ashley's fighting on the field. Fighting for the
cause. He may never come back. He may die. Scarlett,
we owe him a well borne child.
AUNT PITTY
If you're coming Scarlett, hurry!
SCARLETT
I promised Ashley, something.
DR. MEADE
Then you'll stay? Good. Go along Miss Pittifett.
Scarlett's staying.
SCARLETT
Prissy! Prissy! Come here Prissy! Go pack my things
and Miss Melanie's, too. We're to Tara right away,
the Yankees are coming.
MELANIE
Scarlett! Scarlett!
SCARLETT
Oh, Melanie, we're going to... Melanie.
MELANIE
I'm sorry to be such a bother, Scarlett. It'll begin
at daybreak.
SCARLETT
But, the Yankees are coming.
MELANIE
Poor Scarlett...you'd be at Tara now with your
mother, wouldn't you? If it weren't for me...Oh,
Scarlett darling, you've been so good to me. No
sister could have been sweeter. I've been lying here
thinking, if I should die, will you take my baby?
SCARLETT
Oh, fiddle-dee-dee, Melanie, aren't things bad enough
without you talking about dying? I'll send for Dr.
Meade right away.
MELANIE
Not yet, Scarlett. I couldn't let Dr. Meade sit here
for hours while, while all those poor, badly wounded
boys...
SCARLETT
Prissy! Prissy come here quick! Prissy, go get Dr.
Meade, run quick! Don't stand there like a scared
goat, run! Hurry, Hurry! I'll sell you South I will,
I swear I will! I'll sell you South!
(Later, Prissy comes back alone. Scarlett has to
find the doctor herself.)
PRISSY
Is the doctor coming?
SCARLETT
No, he can't come.
PRISSY
Oh, Miss Scarlett, Miss Melanie bad off!
SCARLETT
He can't come, there's nobody to come. Prissy, you've
got to manage without the doctor. I'll help you.
PRISSY
Oh, lawdsy, Miss Scarlett!
SCARLETT
What is it?
PRISSY
Lawdsy, we've got to have a doctor! I don't know
nothing about birthing babies.
SCARLETT
What do you mean? You told me you knew everything
about it!
PRISSY
I don't know how can I tell such a lie. Ma ain't
never let me around when folks was having them.
SCARLETT
Go! Stop it! Go light a fire on the stove. Get
boiling water in the kettle. Get me a ball of twine,
and all the clean towels you can find, and, the
scissors. And don't come telling me you can't find
them. Go get them and get them quick!
Chapter 6 Back to Tara
(Panic hit the city with the first of Sherman
shells... Helpless and unarmed, the populace fled
from the oncoming Juggernaut¡ And desperately the
gallant "remnants of an army marched out to face the
foe. Melanie gives birth to a child with the help of
Scarlett. Now Scarlett sends Prissy for Rhett Butler,
she's getting ready to leave.)
RHETT
Whoah, whoah.
SCARLETT
Rhett, is that you, Rhett?
PRISSY
He's here, Miss Scarlett, he's here!
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, I knew you'd come.
RHETT
Good evening. Nice weather we're having. Prissy tells
me you're planning on...
SCARLETT
If you make any jokes now, I'll kill you!
RHETT
Don't tell me you're frightened.
SCARLETT
I'm scared to death, and if you had the sense of a
goat you'd be scared, too! Oh, the Yankees!
RHETT
No, not yet, that's what's left by our army blowing
up the ammunition, so the Yankees won't get it.
SCARLETT
We've got to get out of here.
RHETT
At your service, Madame. Just where were you figuring
on going?
SCARLETT
Home, to Tara.
RHETT
Tara? Don't you know that they've been fighting all
day around Tara? Do you think you can parade right
through the Yankee army with a sick woman, a baby and
simply minded darkie? Or do you intend leaving them
behind.
SCARLETT
They're going with me and I'm going home and you
can't stop me!
RHETT
Don't you know it's dangerous jouncing Mrs. Wilkes
over miles of open country?
SCARLETT
I want my mother! I want to go home to Tara!
RHETT
Tara's probably been burned to the ground. The woods
are full of stragglers from both armies, the least
thing they'll do is take the horse away from you. And
even though it isn't much of an animal, I did have a
lot of trouble stealing it.
SCARLETT
I'm going home if I have to walk every step of the
way! I'll kill you if you try to stop me, I will! I
will! I will! I will!
RHETT
It's all right, darling, it's all right. Now you
shall go home. I guess anybody who did what you've
done today can take care of Sherman. Stop crying. Now
blow your nose like a good little girl...there...
SCARLETT
Prissy, what are you doing? PRISSY
I'm packing, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Well, stop it. Come and get the baby.
PRISSY
Yes.
SCARLETT
Melanie, Melanie...
RHETT
Mrs. Wilkes. We're taking you to Tara.
MELANIE
Tara...
SCARLETT
It's the only way, Melanie.
MELANIE
No...
SCARLETT
Sherman will bum the house over our heads if we stay.
It's all right, Melanie, it's all right.
MELANIE
There, there.... little baby..
RHETT
Have you the strength to put your arms around my
neck?
MELANIE
I think so.
RHETT
Never mind.
MELANIE
Oh, Ashley.. Charles!
RHETT
What is it? What does she want?
SCARLETT
Ashley's picture and Charles' sword, she wants us to
bring them.
RHETT
Get them.
(They venture all the way. At last they are pretty
near Tara. Rhett suddenly stops.)
SCARLETT
Why did you stop?
RHETT
This is the turn to Tara. I let the horse breathe a
bit. Mrs. Wilkes...
PRISSY
Miss Melanie done fainted way back. Captain Butler.
RHETT
She's probably better off. She couldn't stand the
pain if she were conscious. Scarlett, are you still
determined to do this crazy thing?
SCARLETT
Oh, yes, yes, I know we can get through it, I'm sure
we can.
RHETT
Not we, my dear, you. I'm leaving you here.
SCARLETT
You're what? Rhett, where are you going?
RHETT
I'm going, my dear, to join the army.
SCARLETT
Oh, you're joking. I could kill you for scaring me
so.
RHETT
I'm very serious, Scarlett. I'm going to join up with
our brave lads in gray.
SCARLETT
But they're running away.
RHETT
Oh, no, they'll turn and make a last stand, if I know
anything about them. And when they do, I'll be with
them. I'm a little late, but better late than...
SCARLETT
Rhett, you must be joking.
RHETT
Selfish to the end, aren't you? Thinking of your own
precious hide with never a thought for the noble
cause.
SCARLETT
Rhett, how could you do this to me, and why should
you go now that, after it's all over and I need you,
why? Why?
RHETT
Why? Maybe it's because I've always had a weakness
for lost causes, once they're really lost. Or maybe,
maybe I'm ashamed of myself. Who knows?
SCARLETT
You should die of shame to leave me here alone and
helpless.
RHETT
You, helpless? Heaven help the Yankees if they
capture you. Now climb down here. I want to say
goodbye.
SCARLETT
No.
RHETT
Climb down.
SCARLETT
Oh Rhett, please don't go. You can't leave me,
please, I'll never forgive you.
RHETT
I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'll never
understand or forgive myself. And if a bullet gets
me, so help me, I'll laugh at myself for being an
idiot. But there's one thing that I do know. And that
is I love you, Scarlett. In spite of you and me and
the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I
love you. Because we're alike. Bad lots, both of us.
Selfish and shrewd. But able to look things in the
eyes and call them by their right names.
SCARLETT
Don't hold me like that.
RHETT
Scarlett, look at me. I love you more than I've ever
loved any woman. And I've waited longer for you than
I've ever waited for any woman.
(Butler is pressing his lips onto Scarlett's.)
SCARLETT
Let me alone!
RHETT
Here's a soldier of the South that loves you,
Scarlett. Wants to feel your arms around him, wants
to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with
him. Never mind about loving me. You're a woman who's
sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful
memory. Scarlett, kiss me, kiss me, once.
SCARLETT
You're a low-down, cowardly, nasty thing, you! They
were right. Everybody was right, you, you aren't a
gentleman.
RHETT
A minor point at such a moment. Here, if anyone lays
a hand on that nag, shoot him. But don't make a
mistake and shoot the nag.
SCARLETT
Oh, go on. I want you to go. I hope a cannonball
lands slap on you, I hope you're blown into a million
pieces, I...
RHETT
Never mind the rest, I follow your general idea. And
when I'm dead on the order of my country, I hope your
conscience heard you. Good-bye Scarlett.
(Scarlett drives on.)
SCARLETT
Melanie, Melanie, we're home! We're at Tara! Hurry,
move brute!
PRISSY
Oh, Miss Scarlett, he's dead!
SCARLETT
I can't see the house, is it there? I can't see the
house, have they burned it? It's all right, it's all
right, they haven't burned it. It's still there!
(Tara had survived, to face the hell and famine of
defeat.)
SCARLETT
Mother! Mother, I'm home! Mother, I'm home! Mother
let me in, it's me, Scarlett. Oh, Paw, I'm home, I'm
home... I'm home.
Mr. O'HARA
Careful, careful Scarlett...
SCARLETT
Mammy, mammy, I'm home.
MAMMIE
Oh, honey child...
SCARLETT
Mammy, I'm so, so....where's mother?
MAMMIE
Why...Miss Sue Ellen, Miss Carreen, they were sick
with the typhoid. They had it bad, but they's doing
all right now. Just weak like little kittens.
SCARLETT
But, where's mother?
MAMMIE
Well, Miss Ellen, she went down to nurse that Emmy
Sladdly, that white trash. And she took down with it,
too. Then last night, she...
SCARLETT
Mother? Mother? Mother!
(Scarlett walks into her mother's room faintly.
There, in dark and quietness, lies Mrs. O'Hara. She's
dead.)
Mammy
Miss Scarlett honey...
SERVANT
If there's anything I can do, Miss Scarlett...
SCARLETT
What did you do with Miss Melanie?
MAMMIE
Don't you worry your pretty head about Miss Melanie,
child. I done slapped her in bed already along with
the baby.
SCARLETT
You better put that cow I brought into the barn,
Paul.
SERVANT
There ain't no barn. MAMMIE
Don't you worry your pretty head about Miss Melanie,
child. I done slapped her in bed already along with
the baby.
SCARLETT
You better put that cow I brought into the barn,
Paul.
SERVANT
There ain't no barn no more, Miss Scarlett. The
Yankees done burned it to firewood.
MAMMIE
They used the house for their headquarters Miss
Scarlett.
SERVANT
They camped all around the place. SCARLETT
Yankees in Tara?
MAMMIE
Yes'm. And they stole almost everything they didn't
burn. All the clothes, and all the rugs, and even
Miss Ellen's rosaries.
SCARLETT
I'm starving, Paul. Get me something to eat.
MAMMIE
There ain't nothing to eat honey. They took it all.
SCARLETT
All the chickens, everything? SERVANT
They took them the first day. And what they didn't
eat they carried off across their saddles.
SCARLETT
Don't tell me any more about what they did.
(Scarlett goes into the room, finding her father in
solitude.)
SCARLETT
What's this , Paw? Whisky?
Mr. O'HARA
Yes daughter. Katie Scarlett, that's enough. Your not
knowing spirits, you'll make yourself 'tipsy.
SCARLETT
I hope it makes me drunk. I'd like to be drunk. Oh,
Paw...what are those papers?
Mr. O'HARA
Bonds. They're all we've saved. All we have left.
Bonds.
SCARLETT
But what kind of bonds, Paw?
Mr. O'HARA
Why, Confederate bonds of course, darling.
SCARLETT
Confederate bonds. What good are they to anybody?
Mr. O'HARA
I'll not have you talking like that, Katie Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Oh, Paw, what are we going to do with no money and,
...and nothing to eat?
Mr. O'HARA
We must ask your mother. That's it. We must ask Mrs.
O'Hara.
SCARLETT
Ask Mother?
Mr. O'HARA
Yes. Mrs. O'Hara will know what's to be done. Now
don't be bothering me. Go out for a ride. I'm busy.
SCARLETT
Oh, Paw. Don't worry about anything. It is God's
hope. You needn't worry.
(Scarlett leaves the room, closing the door behind
her.)
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlettt? What are we going to do with nothing
to feed them sick folks and that child?
SCARLETT
I don't know Mammy. I don't know.
MAMMIE
We ain't got nothing but radishes in the garden.
PRISSY
Miss Scarlett, Miss Sue Ellen and Miss Corrine,
They's fussin to be sponged off.
SCARLETT
Where are the other servants Mammie?
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett, there's only just me and Paul left.
The others moved off during the war and ran away.
PRISSY
I can't take care of that baby and sick folks too.
I've only got two hands.
SERVANT
Who's going to milk that cow, Miss Scarlett? We's
house workers.
(Exhausted and hungry as Scarlett is, she goes out
to the open field, digging out the leftover radishes
in the ground, swallowing.)
SCARLETT
As God as my witness....as God as my witness they're
not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this
and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again.
No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal,
cheat, or kill, as God as my witness, I'll never be
hungry again.
Chapter 7 Ashley Back Home
(Home from their lost adventure came the battered
Cavaliers. Grimly they came hobbling back to the
desolation that had once been a land of grace and
plenty. And with them came another invader, more
cruel and vicious than any they had fought, the
Carpetbagger.)
SERVANT
Katie Scarlett! It's over! It's over! It's all over,
the war! We surrendered!
CORRINE
It's not possible.
SUE ELLEN
Why did we ever fight?
MELANIE
Ashely will be coming home.
SCARLETT
Yes, Ashely will be coming home. We'll plant more
cotton. Cotton ought to go sky-high next year.
MELANIE
Scarlett, what seems to be the trouble with Mr.
Kennedy?
SCARLETT
More trouble than he guesses. He's finally asked for
Sue Ellen's hand.
MELANIE
Oh, I'm so glad.
SCARLETT
It's a pity he can't marry her now. At least be one
less mouth to feed.
(Scarlett, Melanie and Mammie stand in front of the
door. A figure appears in the distance.)
SCARLETT
Oh another one. I hope this one isn't hungry.
MAMMIE
Oh, he'll be hungry
SCARLETT
I'll tell Prissy to get an extra plate.
(It's Ashley! Melanie opens her arms, running to
him.)
MELANIE
Ashley! Ashley!
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett! Don't spoil it. Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Turn me loose, you fool, turn me loose! It's Ashley.
MAMMIE
He's her husband.
(Several days passed. One day, a servant comes to
Scarlett.)
SERVANT
Miss Scarlett Ma'am...
SCARLETT
High time you got back. Did you get the horse shod?
SERVANT
Yes'm, he shod all right. Miss Scarlett Ma'am.
SCARLETT
Fine thing when a horse can get shoes and humans
can't. Here stir the soup.
SERVANT
Miss Scarlett Ma'am, I've got to know how much money
have you got left? In gold.
SCARLETT
Ten dollars. Why?
SERVANT
That won't be enough.
SCARLETT
What in Heaven's name are you talking about?
SERVANT
Well, Miss Scarlett, I see that old no-account white
trash, Wilkenson, that used to be Mister Jerry's
overseer here. He's a regular Yankee now, and he was
making a brag, that his carpetbagger friends done run
the taxes way up sky-high on Tara.
SCARLETT
How much more do we gotta pay?
SERVANT
I heard the tax man say three hundred dollars.
SCARLETT
Three hundred... Oh, my, just as well be three
million. Well, we gotta raise it, that's all.
SERVANT
Yes'm. How?
SCARLETT
I'll go ask Mr. Ashley.
SERVANT
Oh, he ain't got no three hundred dollars. Miss
Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Well, I can ask him if I want to, can't I?
SERVANT
Asking ain't getting.
(The Farm. Ashley is chopping wood.)
SCARLETT
Ashely...
ASHLEY
They say Abe Lincoln got his start splitting rails.
Just think what heights I may climb to once I get the
knack.
SCARLETT
Ashely. The Yankees want three hundred dollars more
in taxes. What shall we do? Ashley, what's to become
of us?
ASHLEY
What do you think becomes of people when their
civilization breaks up? Those who have brains and
courage come through all right. Those who haven't are
winnowed out.
SCARLETT
For Heaven's sake Ashley Wilkes. Don't stand there
talking nonsense at me when it's us who are being
winnowed out.
ASHLEY
You're right, Scarlett. Here I am talking tummy-rot
about civilization, when your Tara's in danger. You
come to me for help and I have no help to give you.
Oh, Scarlett, I'm a coward.
SCARLETT
You, Ashley, a coward? What are you afraid of?
ASHLEY
Oh, mostly of life becoming too real for me, I
suppose. Not that I mind splitting rails. But I do
mind very much losing the beauty of that, that life I
loved. If the war hadn't come, I'd have spent my life
happily buried at Twelve Oaks. But the war did come.
I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits. I saw men
crumple3 up in agony when I shot them. And now I find
myself in a world which for me is worse than death. A
world in which there is no place for me. Oh, I can
never make you understand, because you don't know the
meaning of fear. You never mind facing realities. And
you never want to escape from them as I do.
SCARLETT
Escape? Oh, Ashley you're wrong. I do want to escape,
too. I'm so very tired of it all. I've struggled for
food and for money and I've weeded and hoed and
picked cotton until I can't stand it another minute.
I tell you, Ashley, the South is dead, it's dead. The
Yankees and the carpetbaggers have got it and there's
nothing left for us. Oh, Ashley, let's run away. We'd
go to Mexico. They want officers in the Mexican army,
we could be so happy there. Ashley I'd work for you,
I'd do anything for you. You know you don't love
Melanie, you told me you loved me that day at Twelve
Oaks, and anyway, Melanie can't...Dr. Meade told me
she couldn't ever have any more children. And I could
give you...
ASHLEY
Can't we ever forget that day at Twelve Oaks?
SCARLETT
Just think I could ever forget it, have you forgotten
it? Can you honestly say you don't love me?
ASHLEY
No, I ...I don't love you.
SCARLETT
It's a lie.
ASHLEY
Even if it is a lie, do you think that I could go off
and leave Melanie and the baby? Break Melanie's
heart? Scarlett, are you mad? You couldn't leave your
father and the girls.
SCARLETT
I could leave them, I'm sick of them, I'm tired of
them...
ASHLEY
Yes, you sick and tired, that's why you're talking
this way. You've carried the load for all of us. But
from now on, I'm going to be more help to you, I
promise. SCARLETT
There's only one way you can help me. Take me away.
There's nothing to keep us here. ASHLEY
Nothing...nothing except honor. Please Scarlett,
please dear, you mustn't cry. Please, my brave dear,
you mustn't...
SCARLETT
You do love me, you do love me...
ASHLEY
No don't, don't!
SCARLETT
You love me!
ASHLEY
We won't do this, I tell you, we won't do it. It
won't happen again, I'm going to take Melanie and the
baby and go.
SCARLETT
Just say that you love me.
ASHLEY
All right, I'll say it. I love your courage and your
stubbornness. I love them so much that a moment ago I
could have forgotten the best wife a man ever had.
But Scarlett, I'm not going to forget her.
SCARLETT
Then there's nothing left for me. Nothing to fight
for. Nothing to live for.
ASHLEY
Yes, there is something. Something you love better
than me, though you may not know it, Tara.
(Ashley puts into Scarlett's hands some soil.)
SCARLETT
Yes, I...I still have this. You needn't go. I won't
have you all starve simply because I threw myself at
your head. It won't happen again.
Chapter 8 Raising of the Tax
(Wilkenson, Mr. O'Hara's ex-overseer, comes to Tara
with his newly-married wife. They intend to buy Tara,
for they know the "turbulence Tara now is in.)
SCARLETT
Why, Emmy Sladdly.
EMMY SLADDLY
Yes'm, it's me.
SCARLETT
Stop!
WILKENSON
You haven't forgotten your old overseer, have you?
Huh? Well, Emmy is Mrs. Wilkenson now...
SCARLETT
Get off those steps, you trashy wench. Get off this
land!
WILKENSON
You can't speak that way to my wife.
SCARLETT
Why? High time you made her your wife. Who baptized
your other brats after you killed my mother?
WILKENSON
We came out here to pay a call. A friendly call, and
talk a little business with old friends.
SCARLETT
Friends. When were we ever friends with the likes of
you?
WILKENSON
Still high and mighty ain't you? Well, I
know all about you. I know your father's turned
idiot. You can't pay your taxes. And I come out to
offer to buy the place from you. To make you a right
good offer. Emmy's
got a hankering to live here.
SCARLETT
Get off this place, you dirty Yankee!
WILKENSON
You bum-trucking, high-flying Irish will find out
who's running things around here when you get sold
out for taxes. I'll buy this place, lock, stock and
barrel and I'll live in it. But I'll wait for the
sheriff's sale.
SCARLETT
That's all of Tara you'll ever get.
(Scarlett throws the ball to Wilkenson's face. of
soil which Ashyley put in her hand.)
WILKENSON
You'll be sorry for that. We'll be back!
(Mr. O'Hara mounts his horse. In a fame of anger, he
tries to cut the way and catch the Wilkensons.)
Mr. O'HARA
I saw you holding on to the carriage!
SCARLETT
Paw, come back!
Mr. O'HARA
Yankee coward!
SCARLETT
Paw!
(Mr. O'Hara falls down to the ground. He never rises
again. Days after...)
SCARLETT
Oh, Mammie, Mammie.
MAMMIE
You've been brave so long, Miss Scarlett. You just
got to go on being brave. Think about your Paw, like
he used to be.
SCARLETT
I can't think about Paw. I can't think of anything
but that three hundred dollars.
MAMMIE
Ain't no good thinking about that. Miss Scarlett.
Ain't nobody got that much money. Nobody but that
Yankee's and the scallow-wags got that much money
now.
SCARLETT
Rhett!
MAMMIE
Who that? A Yankee?
SCARLETT
Oh, Mammie, I'm so thin and pale and...I haven't any
clothes. Go up to the attic Mammie, and get down Ma's
old box of dress patterns.
MAMMIE
What are you up to in Miss Ellen's fortier?
SCARLETT
You're going to make me a new dress!
MAMMIE
Not with Miss Ellen's fortier, not while I got breath
in my body!
SCARLETT
Great balls of fire, they're my fortiers now. I'm
going to Atlanta for that three hundred dollars, and
I've got to go looking like a queen.
MAMMIE
Who's going to Atlanta with you?
SCARLETT
I'm going alone.
MAMMIE
That's what you think. I'm going to Atlanta with you,
with you and that new dress.
SCARLETT
Now Mammie darling...
MAMMIE
No use to try and sweet talk me Miss Scarlett, I
knows you ever since I put the first pair of diapers
on you. I says I was going to Atlanta with you, and
going I is!
(Atlanta prison. Rhett Butler and the prison Major
are playing cards at a table.)
MAN
Sir, there's a lady to see Captain Butler. Says she's
your sister.
MAJOR
Another sister? This is a jail, not a harem, Captain
Butler.
MAN
No, Major, she ain't one of those. This one's got her
mammie with her.
RHETT
She has? I'd like to see this one, Major, without her
mammie.
MAJOR
Hmm...
RHETT
Let's see, my losses for the afternoon come to what?
Hmm... three hundred and fourty. My debts do mount
up, don't they, Major?
MAJOR
All right, Corporal. Show Captain Butler's sister to
his cell.
RHETT
Thank you, Major...excuse me, gentlemen. MAJOR
It's hard to be strict with a man who loses money so
pleasantly.
(In the jail. Scarlett appears, dressing in
beautiful green velvet.)
SCARLETT
Rhett!
RHETT
Scarlett! My dear little sister.
(to Corporal)
It's all right Corporal, my sister has brought me now
files or saws. Can I really kiss you now?
SCARLETT
On the forehead like a good brother.
RHETT
No thanks, I'll wait and hope for better things.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, I was so distressed when I heard you were
in jail. I simply couldn't sleep for thinking. It's
not true they're going to hang you.
RHETT
Would you be sorry?
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett...
RHETT
Well, don't worry. Yeah, The Yankees have trumped up
some charge against me but what they're really after
is my money. They seem to think I made off with a
Confederate treasury.
SCARLETT
Well, did you?
RHETT
What a leading question. Let's not talk about sordid
things like money. How good of you to come and see
me. And how pretty you look.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, how you do run on teasing a country girl
like me.
RHETT
Thank Heaven's you're not in rags, I'm tired of
seeing women in rags. Turn around. You look good
enough to eat. Prosperous, too.
SCARLETT
Thank you, I've been doing very well. Everybody's
doing well at Tara, only, I got so bored, I just
thought I'd treat myself with to visit to town.
RHETT
You're a heartless creature but that's part of your
charm. Though you've got more charm than the law
allows.
SCARLETT
Now I did come here to talk senseless about me,
Rhett. I came because I was so miserable at the
thought of you in trouble. Oh, I know I was mad at
you the night you left me on the road to Tara, and I
still haven't forgiven you.
RHETT
Oh, Scarlett, don't say that.
SCARLETT
Well, I must admit I might not be alive now. Only for
you. And when I think of myself with anything I could
possibly hope for, and not a care in the world, and
you where here in this horrid jail. And not even a
human jail, Rhett, a horse jail. But listen to me,
try to make jokes when, when I really want to cry.
And in a minute I shall cry.
RHETT
Scarlett, can it be possible that...
SCARLETT
Can what be possible, Rhett?
RHETT
That you've grown a woman's heart? A real woman's
heart.
SCARLETT
I have Rhett. I know I have.
RHETT
You know it's worth being in jail just to hear you
say that.It's well worth it.
(Rhett grasps Scarlett's hands. And suddenly, he
reads the callous skin of her hands. This is a pair
of hard-working hands.)
You can drop the moonlight and 'magnolia, Scarlett.
So things have been going well at tara, have they?
SCARLETT
Yes...
RHETT
What have you been doing with your hands? SCARLETT
It's just that, I went riding last week without my
gloves...
RHETT
These don't belong to a lady, you've been working
with them like a field hand. Why did you lie to me,
and what are you really up to? SCARLETT
Now Rhett...
RHETT
In another minute, I'd almost believed you'd cared
something.
SCARLETT
But I do care!
RHETT
Suppose we get down to the truth. You want something
from me and you want it badly enough to put on quite
a show on your velvets. What is it, money?
SCARLETT
I want three hundred dollars to pay the taxes on
Tara. Oh Rhett, I did lie to you when I said
everything was all right. Things are just as bad as
they possibly could be. And you've got millions,
Rhett.
RHETT
What collateral are you offering?
SCARLETT
My ear bobs...
RHETT
Not interested.
SCARLETT
Mortgage on Tara...
RHETT
What would I do with a farm?
SCARLETT
You wouldn't lose, I'd pay you back after next year's
cotton.
RHETT
Not good enough. Have you nothing better? SCARLETT
You once said you loved me. If you still love me,
Rhett...
RHETT
You haven't forgotten that I'm not a marrying man.
SCARLETT
No. I haven't forgotten.
RHETT
You're not worth three hundred dollars. You'll never
mean anything but misery to any man.
SCARLETT
Go on, insult me, I don't care what you say, only
give me the money! I won't let Tara go, I can't let
it go while there's a breath left in my body. Oh,
Rhett, won't you please give me the money?
RHETT
I couldn't give you the money if I wanted to. My
funds are in Liverpool, not in Atlanta. If I tried
drawing a draft, the Yankees would be on me like a
duck on a junebug. So you see my dear, you've abased
yourself to no purpose. Stop it! You want the Yankees
to see like this?
SCARLETT
Take your hands off me, you dunk! You know what I am
going to say before I started. You knew you wouldn't
lend me the money and yet, and yet, you let me go on.
RHETT
I enjoyed hearing what you had to say. Cheer up, you
can come to my hanging and I'll remember you in my
will.
SCARLETT
I'll come to your hanging. The only thing I'm afraid
of is they won't hang you in time to pay the taxes on
Tara.
Chapter 9 Scarlett's Second Marriage
(Scarlett leaves the jail in burning anger. But the
visit of Scarlett and her new dress to Atlanta is not
a complete futility. She meets Frank Kennedy, Sue
Ellen's beau.)
FRANK
Surely it can't be Miss Scarlett!
SCARLETT
Why, Frank Kennedy!
FRANK
And Mammie...
MAMMIE
It sure is good to see home folks.
FRANK
I didn't know you were in Atlanta.
SCARLETT
I didn't know you were.
FRANK
Didn't Miss Sue Ellen tell you about my store?
SCARLETT
Did she, I don't remember. Have you a store? This?
FRANK
Won't you come in, look around a bit?
(Into the store)
I don't suppose it looks like much to a lady, but I
can't help being proud of it.
SCARLETT
You're not making money?
FRANK
Well, I can't complain. In fact I'm mighty
encouraged. Folks tell me I'm just a born merchant.
It won't be long now before Miss Sue Ellen and I can
marry.
SCARLETT
Well , you're doing as well as all that?
FRANK
Yes, I am. Miss Scarlett. I'm no millionaire yet, but
I have cleared a thousand dollars already.
SCARLETT
And lumber too.
FRANK
Well, that's only a sideline.
SCARLETT
A sideline, Frank? With all the good Georgia pine
around Atlanta, and all this building going on?
FRANK
Well, all that takes money, Miss Scarlett, and, I got
to be thinking about buying a home.
SCARLETT
What would you want a home for?
FRANK
For Miss Sue Ellen and me to set up housekeeping.
SCARLETT
Here in Atlanta. You'd want to bring her to Atlanta,
wouldn't you? There wouldn't be much help in that for
Tara.
FRANK
I don't rightly know what you mean, Miss Scarlett.
SCARLETT
I don't mean a thing. Frank, how'd you like to drive
me out to my Aunt Pitty's?
FRANK
Oh, nothing could give me more pleasure, Miss
Scarlett.
SCARLETT
I think you'd better stay for supper, too. I'm sure
Aunt Pitty would be agreeable and I know I'd like a
good long visit with you.
FRANK
Oh, you act on me just like a tonic, Miss Scarlett.
And will you tell me all the news, all the news of
Miss Sue Ellen? What's the matter, Miss Scarlett?
Miss Sue Ellen's not ill, is she?
SCARLETT
Oh, no, no. I thought surely she had written you. I
guess she was ashamed to write to you. She should be
ashamed. Oh how awful to have such a mean sister.
FRANK
You must tell me, Miss Scarlett. Don't leave me on
the tenderhooks.
SCARLETT
Well, she's going to marry one of the county boys
next month. She just got tired of waiting and was
afraid she'd be an old maid and...Oh, I'm sorry to be
the one to tell you. Oh, it's cold, and I left my
muff at home. Would you mind if I put my hand in your
pocket?
(Scarlett returns to Tara as Mrs. Kennedy, with 300
dollars, to face Sue Ellen's broken heart and the
astonishment of the other people.)
SUE ELLEN
But Melanie, you don't realize what she's done. She's
gone and married my Mr. Kennedy! He's my beau and
she's gone and married him.
MELANIE
She did it to save Tara, you must understand that,
Sue Ellen.
SUE ELLEN
I hate Tara. And I hate Scarlett. She's the only
thing I hate worse than Tara!
(In the living room.)
ASHLEY
It's all my fault. I should have committed highway
robbery to get that tax money for you.
SCARLETT
I couldn't let you do anything like that, and anyway,
it's done now.
ASHLEY
Yes, it's done now. You wouldn't let me do anything
dishonorable yet you'd sell yourself in marriage to a
man you didn't love. Well, at least you won't have to
worry about my helplessness anymore.
SCARLETT
What do you mean?
ASHLEY
I'm going to New York. I've arranged to get a
position in a bank there.
SCARLETT
But you can't do that! I've counted on you to help me
start a lumber business Ashley and, I counted on you.
ASHLEY
Scareltt, I wouldn't be any good to you, I don't know
anything about the lumber business.
SCARLETT
You know as much as you do about banking, and I'd
give you half the business Ashley.
ASHLEY
That's generous of you Scarlett. But it isn't that.
If I go to Atlanta and take help from you again, I'd
bury forever any hope of standing alone.
SCARLETT
Oh, is that all? Well, you could gradually buy the
business, and then it would be your own, and then...
ASHLEY
No Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Oh, Ashley! Ashley
(Melanie walks in.)
MELANIE
Scarlett. Scarlett, what is it?
SCARLETT
Ashley is so mean and hateful.
MELANIE
(to Ashley
What have you done?
ASHLEY
She, she wanted me to go to Atlanta.
SCARLETT
To help me start me my lumber business, and he won't
lift a finger to help me.
MELANIE
Why how un-chivalrous of you. Why think Ashley,
think. If it hadn't of been for Scarlett, I'd have
died in Atlanta, and maybe we wouldn't have had
little Beau, and, when I think of picking cotton and
plowing just to keep food in our mouths, I could
just, oh, my darling!
ASHLEY
All right, Melanie. I'll go to Atlanta. I can't fight
you both.
(Months passed. The lumber business is a great
success. But good times don't last long. Frank
Kennedy died in a fight against some tramps, for
their insult on Scarlett. Scarlett is very sad.)
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett. Captain Butler here to see you. I told
him you was prostrate with grief.
SCARLETT
Tell him, tell him I'll be right down, Mammie.
(Downstairs.)
MAMMIE
She says she's coming. I don't know why she's coming,
but she's a-coming.
RHETT
You don't like me Mammie. Now don't you argue with
me, you don't, you really don't like me.
(Scarlett comes down, and shows Rhett into the
living room.)
RHETT
It's no good Scarlett.
SCARLETT
what?
RHETT
The cologne.
SCARLETT
I'm sure I don't know what you mean.
RHETT
I mean you've been drinking. Brandy. Quite a lot.
SCARLETT
Well, what if I had? Is that any of your affair?
RHETT
Don't drink alone, Scarlett. People always find out.
And it ruins reputation. What is it? This is more
than losing old Frank.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett. I am so afraid.
RHETT
I don't believe it. You've never been afraid in your
life.
SCARLETT
I'm afraid now. I'm afraid of dying, of going to
Hell.
RHETT
You look pretty healthy. And maybe there isn't any
Hell.
SCARLETT
Oh, there is. I know there is. I was raised on it.
RHETT
Well, far be it for me to question the teachings of
childhood. Tell me what you've done that Hell yawns
before you.
SCARLETT
I ought never to have married Frank to begin with. He
was Sue Ellen's beau and he loved her not me. And I
made him miserable. And I killed him. Yes, I did,
I'd killed him. Oh, Rhett. For the first time, I'm
finding out what it is to feel sorry for something
I've done.
RHETT
Here, dry your eyes. If you had it to do all over
again, you'd do it no differently. You're like the
thief who isn't the least bit sorry he stole but he's
terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail.
SCARLETT
I'm glad ma is dead. I'm glad she's dead so she can't
see me. I always wanted to be like her, calm and kind
and...and suddenly I've turned out disappointing.
RHETT
You know what, Scarlett? I think you're on the verge
of a crying jag. So I'll change the subject and say
what I came to say.
SCARLETT
Say it, then get out! What is it?
RHETT
That I can't go on any longer without you.
SCARLETT
Oh, you really are the most ill-bred man to come here
at a time like this...
RHETT
I made up my mind you were the only woman for me,
Scarlett, the first day I saw you at Twelve Oaks. Now
that you've got your lumber mill and Frank's money,
you won't come to me as you did at the jail. So I see
I shall have to marry you.
SCARLETT
I never heard of such bad taste.
RHETT
Would you be more convinced if I fell to my knees?
SCARLETT
Turn me loose, you varlet and get out of here.
RHETT
Forgive me for startling you with the impetuosity of
my sentiments, my dear Scarlett, I mean my dear Mrs.
Kennedy. But it cannot have escaped your notice that
for some time past, the friendship I have felt for
you has ripened into a deeper feeling. A feeling more
beautiful, more pure, more sacred... dare I name it?
Can it be love?
SCARLETT
Get up off your knees, I don't like your common
jokes.
RHETT
This is an honorable proposal of marriage, made in
what I consider a most opportune moment. I can't go
all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.
SCARLETT
You're coarse and you're conceited. And I think this
conversation's gone far enough. Besides, I shall
never marry again.
RHETT
Oh yes, you will. And you'll marry me.
SCARLETT
You...you? I don't love you. And I don't like being
married.
RHETT
Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?
RHETT
Oh yes, you will. And you'll marry me.
SCARLETT
You...you? I don't love you. And I don't like being
married.
RHETT
Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?
SCARLETT
Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men you mean.
Hush, do you want them to hear you outside?
RHETT
You've been married to a boy and an old man. Why not
try a husband at the right age? With a way with
women?
SCARLETT
You're a fool, Rhett Butler. When you know I shall
always love another man.
RHETT
Stop it. You hear me Scarlett, stop it. No more of
that talk.
SCARLETT
Rhett don't, I shall faint.
RHETT
And I want you to faint. This is what you were meant
for. None of the fools you've ever known have kissed
you like this, have they? Your Charles or your Frank
or your stupid Ashley. Say you're going to marry me.
Say yes. Say yes.
SCARLETT
Yes.
RHETT
Are you sure you meant it? You don't want to take it
back?
SCARLETT
No.
Chapter 10 Scarlett and Rhett
(Rhett and Scarlett spent a most-expected honeymoon
in New Orlean. And one year after, their first child
is born.)
RHETT
She's a beautiful baby The most beautiful baby
ever...yes... do you know that this is your birthday?
That you're a week old today? Yes...I'm going to buy
her a pony
the likes of which this town has never seen. Yes, I'm
going to send you to the best schools in
Charleston...yes, and I'll be received by the best
families in the South. And when it comes time for her
to marry, well, she'll be a little princess.
SCARLETT
Certainly you are making a fool of yourself.
RHETT
Why shouldn't I? She's the first person who's ever
completely belonged to me.
SCARLETT
Great balls of fire. I had the baby, didn't I?
(Knock at the door.)
MELANIE
It's Melanie, may I come in?
SCARLETT
Come in, Mellie.
RHETT
Yes, come in and look at my daughter's beautiful blue
eyes.
MELANIE
But Captain Butler, most babies have blue eyes when
they're born.
SCARLETT
Don't try and tell him anything, Mellie, he knows
everything about babies.
RHETT
Nevertheless, her eyes are blue and they're going to
stay blue.
MELANIE
As blue as the bonnie blue flag.
RHETT
That's it. That's what we'll call her. Bonnie Blue
Butler.
(In the bedroom, Scarlett is having Mammie measure
her waist.)
SCARLETT
Try again Mammie. MAMMIE
Twenty inches.
SCARLETT
Twenty inches? I've grown as big as Aunt Pitty.
You've simply got to make it eighteen and a half
again, Mammie.
MAMMIE
You done had a baby, Miss Scarlett. And you ain't
never going to be no eighteen and a half inches
again. Never. And there ain't nothing to do about it.
SCARLETT
There is something to do about it. I'm just not going
to get old and fat before my time. I just won't have
any more babies.
MAMMIE
I heard Mr. Rhett said that he'd be wanting to have a
son next year.
SCARLETT
Go tell Captain Butler I decided not to go out after
all. I'll have supper in my room.
(Scarlett sits motionless in the chair, fixing her
eyes on a picture. It is a picture of Ashley. Then
Rhett comes in. Scarlett hurrily turns the picture
upside down.)
RHETT
I got your message. I'll have them bring my supper up
here too. No objections to that, I hope.
SCARLETT
No...yes, I...I mean I don't care where you have your
supper. Rhett?
RHETT
Yes?
SCARLETT
You see...well, I've decided-well, I hope I don't
have any more children.
(Rhett notices the picture ofAshley.)
RHETT
My pet, as I told you before Bonnie was born. It is
immaterial to me whether you have one child or
twenty.
SCARLETT
I know, but do you know what I...do you know what I
mean?
RHETT
I do. And do you know I can divorce you for this?
SCARLETT
You're just low enough to think of something like
that. If you had any chivalry in you, you'd be nice,
like...well look at Ashley Wilkes. Melanie can't have
anymore children and he...he...
RHETT
You've been to the lumber office this afternoon,
haven't you?
SCARLETT
What does that got to do with it?
RHETT
Quite the little gentlemen, Ashley Pray, go on, Mrs.
Butler.
SCARLETT
It's no use. You wouldn't understand.
RHETT
You know, I'm sorry for you, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Sorry for me?
RHETT
Yes, sorry for you because you're throwing away
happiness with both hands. And reaching out for
something that will never make you happy.
SCARLETT
I don't know what you're talking about.
RHETT
If you were free and Miss Mellie were dead, and you
had your precious, honorable Ashley, do you think
you'd be happy with him? You'd never know him. Never
even understand his mind. Any more than you
understand anything. Except money.
SCARLETT
Never mind about that. What I want to know is...
RHETT
You may keep your sanctity Scarlett. It'll work no
hardship on me.
SCARLETT
Do you mean to say you don't care?
RHETT
The world is full of many things and many people. And
I'm not a shant bit lonely... I'll find comfort
elsewhere.
SCARLETT
Well, that's fine. But I warn you just in case you
change your mind... I intend to lock my door.
RHETT
Why bother. If I wanted to come in no lock could keep
me out.
(In the lumber mill, Scarlett comes to see Ashley.)
ASHLEY
Why Scarlett. What are you doing downtown this time
of day?
SCARLETT
Why Ashely, I just...
ASHLEY
Why aren't you helping Mellie get ready for my
surprise birthday party?
SCARLETT
Why Ashley Wilkes. You aren't supposed to know
anything about that. Melanie'd be so disappointed you
weren't surprised.
ASHLEY
I won't let her down. I'll be the most suprised man
in Atlanta. Well as long as you're here, let me show
you the books. So you can see just how bad a
businessman I really am.
SCARLETT
Oh, don't let's fool with any books today. When I'm
wearing a new bonnet, all the figures I ever knew go
right slab out of my head.
ASHLEY
The figures are well lost when the bonnet's as pretty
as that one. Scarlett, you know you get prettier all
the time. You haven't changed a bit since the day of
our last barbecue at Twelve Oaks. When you sat under
a tree surrounded by dozens of beaus.
SCARLETT
That girl doesn't exist any more. Nothing's turned
out as I expected. Ashley, nothing. ASHLEY
Yes, we've traveled a long road since the old days,
haven't we, Scarlett? All the lazy days...and the
warm, still, country twilight...the high soft Negro
laughter from the quarters...the golden warmth, and
security of those days.
SCARLETT
Don't look back, Ashley Don't look back. It drags at
your heart till...till you can't do anything but look
back.
ASHLEY
I didn't mean to make you sad my dear. I never want
you to be anything but completely happy.
(Ashley hugs sad Scarlett. Mrs. Meade and India
happen to enter the room. Seeing this, they leave,
wordless and disgusted. Scarlett is now back at home,
lying in the bed.)
SCARLETT
Oh, Who is it?
RHETT
Only your husband.
SCARLETT
Come in.
RHETT
Am I actually being invited into the sanctuary?
You're not ready for Melanie's party?
SCARLETT
I've got a headache, Rhett. You go without me and
make my excuses to Melanie.
RHETT
What a wheg-livered little coward you are. Get up.
You're going to that party and you'll have to hurry.
SCARLETT
Has India...
RHETT
Yes, my dear, India has, every woman in town knows
the story and every man, too.
SCARLETT
You should have killed them for spreading lies.
RHETT
I have a strange way of not killing people who tell
the truth. No time to argue, now get up.
SCARLETT
I won't go! I can't go until this misunderstanding is
cleared up.
RHETT
You're not going to cheat Miss Melanie out of the
satisfaction of publicly ordering you out of her
house.
SCARLETT
There was nothing wrong. India hates me, so I can't
go, Rhett. I couldn't face her.
RHETT
If you don't show your face tonight, you'll never be
able to show it in this town as long as you live. And
while that wouldn't bother me, you're not going to
ruin Bonnie's chances. You're going to that party if
only for her sake. Now get dressed. Now wear that.
Nothing modest or matronly will do for this occasion.
And put on plenty of rouge. I want you to look your
part tonight.
(At the door of the Wilkes'.)
RHETT
Good night, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
But Rhett, you can't...
RHETT
You go into the area alone. The lions are hungry for
you.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, don't leave me, don't! RHETT
You're not afraid?
(Ashley's birthday party is going on. As Scarlett
shows at the door, people in the room stop singing.
Melanie pretends to notice nothing and goes to greet
Scarlett calmly.)
MELANIE
What a lovely dress, Scarlett darling! India wasn't
able to come tonight. Will you be an angel? I do need
you to help me receive my guests. Mrs. Meade, here's
our darling Scarlett.
Mrs. MEADE
Good evening.
SCARLETT. Good evening.
WOMAN
Why, Scarlett, good evening.
ASHLEY
Good evening, Miss Scarlett.
MELANIE
Ashley, aren't you going to get our Scarlett a glass
of punch?
(Tara, Scarlett in her room.)
MAMMIE
Did you have a good time tonight at Miss Mellie's
party child?
SCARLETT
Yes, yes. Now Mammie be sure and leave word. If
Captian Butler asks for me when he comes back, I'm
asleep.
MELANIE
Yes'm.
(Scarlett can not fall asleep, so many things
happen, she sneaks downstairs and wants to have a
drink. And she finds Rhett is already there, half-
drunk.)
RHETT
Come here. Sit down. There's no reason why you
shouldn't have your nightcap even if I am here.
SCARLETT
I didn't want to drink. I heard a noise and...
RHETT
You heard nothing of the kind. You wouldn't have come
down if you thought I was here. You must need a drink
badly.
SCARLETT
I do not.
RHETT
Take it. Don't get yourself airs. I know you drink on
the quiet and I know how much you drink. You think I
care if you like your brandy?
SCARLETT
You're drunk and I'm going to bed.
RHETT
I'm very drunk and I intend getting still drunker
before the evening's over. But you're not going to
bed. Not yet. Sit down. So she stood by you, did she?
How does it feel to have the woman you've wronged
cloak your sins for you? You're wondering if she
knows all about you and Ashley. You're wondering if
she did it just to save her face. You're thinking
that she's a fool for doing it even if it did save
your hide but...
SCARLETT
I will not listen.
RHETT
Yes, you'll listen. Miss Melanie's a fool, but not
the kind you think. It's just that's there's too much
honor at her to ever conceive of dishonor in anyone
she loves. And she loves you. Though just why she
does, I'm sure I don't know.
SCARLETT
If you weren't so drunk and insulting, I could
explain everything. As it is though...
RHETT
If you get out of that chair once more... of course,
the comic figure in all of this is the long suffering
Mr. Wilkes. Mr. Wilkes, who can't be mentally
faithful to his wife and won't be unfaithful to her
technically. Why doesn't he make up his mind?
SCARLETT
Rhett you...
RHETT
Observe my hands, my dear. I could tear you to pieces
with them. And I'd do it if it'd take Ashley out of
your mind forever. But it wouldn't. So I'll remove
him from your mind forever this way. I'll put my hand
so. One on each side of your head. And I'll smash
your skull between them like a walnut. That'll block
him out.
SCARLETT
Take your hands off me, you drunken fool.
RHETT
You know, I've always admired your spirit, my dear.
Never more than now when you're cornered.
SCARLETT
I'm not cornered. You'll never corner me, Rhett
Butler, or frighten me. You've lived in dirt so long
you can't understand anything else. And you're
jealous of something you can't understand. Good
night.
RHETT
Jealous am I? Yes, I suppose I am. Even though I know
you've been faithful to me all along. How do I know?
Because I know Ashley Wilkes and his honorable breed.
They're gentlemen. That's more than I can say for you
and for me. We're not gentlemen. And we have no
honor, have we?
Chapter 11 Losing of the Children
(The next morning, Scarlett wakes up, quite
delighted.)
SCARLETT
(Sing)
...Oh, she went with delight when he gave her a
smile, and trembled with yet his frown...
RHETT
Hello. I, I'd like to extend my apology for my
conduct of last night.
SCARLETT
Oh, but Rhett...
RHETT
I was very drunk and quite swept off my feet by your
charms.
SCARLETT
You needn't bother to apologize, nothing you ever do
surprises me.
RHETT
Scarlett, I've been thinking things over and I
really believe it'd be better for both of us, if we
admitted we made a mistake and got a divorce.
SCARLETT
A divorce?
RHETT
Yes. There's no point in our holding onto each other,
is there? I've provided for you amply. You've plenty
of grounds. Just give me Bonnie and you can say what
you please and I won't contest it.
SCARLETT
Thank you very much, but I wouldn't dream of
disgracing the family with a divorce.
RHETT
You'd disgrace it quick enough if Ashley were free.
It makes my head spin to think of how quickly you'd
divorce me. Wouldn't you, Scarlett? Well answer me.
Wouldn't you?
SCARLETT
Will you please go now and leave me alone.
RHETT
Yes, I'm going, that's what I came to tell you. I am
going on a very extended trip to London, and I'm
leaving today.
SCARLETT
Oh...
RHETT
And I'm taking Bonnie with me. So you'll please
get her little duds packed right away.
SCARLETT
You'll never take my child out of this house.
RHETT
She's my child, too, Scarlett. And you're making a
mistake if you think I'm leaving her here with a
mother who hasn't the decency to consider her own
reputation.
SCARLETT
You're a fine one to talk. You think I let that child
get out of this house when you'll probably have her
around with people like, like that Belle?
RHETT
If you were a man, I'd break your neck for that. As
it is. I'll thank you to shut your stupid mouth. And
as for you giving yourself pious airs about your
motherhood,
why a cat's a better mother than you are. You have
her things packed ready for me in an hour, or I warn
you, I've always thought a good lashing with a buggy
whip would benefit you immensely.
(One month later, Rhett Bulter is back from London
after a long departure.)
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett! Captain Butler! Miss Scarlett! Honey
child!
BONNIE
Come on Mammie! Mammie!
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett, she's back. She's back, Miss Scarlett!
SCARLETT
Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie¡Bonnie baby...darling
baby...you glad to be home?
BONNIE
Daddy gave me a kitten! Oh, London's a horrible
place. Where's my pony? I want to go out and see my
pony.
SCARLETT
You go out and see your pony.
RHETT
Mrs. Butler, I believe.
SCARLETT
Mammie said you'd come back.
RHETT
But only to bring Bonnie. Apparently any mother, even
a bad one is better than a child with none.
SCARLETT
You mean you're going away again?
RHETT
What perception Mrs. Butler. Right away In fact I
left my bags at the station. You're looking pale. Is
there a shortage of rouge? Or can this wonders mean
you've been missing me?
SCARLETT
If I'm pale, it's your fault. Not because I've been
missing you, but because...
RHETT
Pray continue, Mrs. Butler.
SCARLETT
It's because I'm going to have a baby.
RHETT
Indeed? And who's the happy father?
SCARLETT
You know it's yours. I don't want it any more than
you do. No woman would want the child of a cad like
you. I wish it were, I wish it were anybody's child
but yours!
RHETT
Well, cheer up. Maybe you'll have an accident.
(In great anger, Scarlett throws herself to Rhett.
But she loses her balance on the slippery floor and
falls all the way down the stairs. Days later, newly
recovered from the unexpected accident and a
resulting miscarriage, Scarlett sits in a chair on a
balcony. Rhett comes.)
MAMMIE
Miss Scarlett's feeling a heap better today, Mr.
Rhett.
RHETT
Thank you. I've come to ask your forgiveness. In the
hope that we can give our life together another
chance.
SCARLETT
Our life together? When did we ever have a life
together?
RHETT
I guess you're right. But I'm sure if we could only
try again, we could be happy.
SCARLETT
What is there to make us happy now?
RHETT
Well there's, there's Bonnie and, and I love you,
Scarlett.
SCARLETT
When did you discover that?
RHETT
I've always loved you. But you've never given me a
chance to show it.
SCARLETT
Well, then just what do you want me to do ?
RHETT
To begin with, give up the mill, Scarlett. We'll go
away. We'll take Bonnie with us and we'll have
another honeymoon.
SCARLETT
Give up the mill? Well why should I, it's making more
money than it ever did.
RHETT
Yes, I know, but we don't need it. Sell it. Or better
still, give it to Ashley. Melanie has been such a
friend to both of us.
SCARLETT
Melanie, always Melanie. If you'd only think a little
more about me.
RHETT
I am thinking of you. And I'm thinking that, well,
that maybe it's the mill that's taking you away from
me. And from Bonnie.
SCARLETT
I know what you're thinking. And don't try and bring
Bonnie into this. You're the one who's taking her
away from me.
RHETT
But she loves you.
SCARLETT
You've done everything possible to make her love you
and not me. Why, she's so spoiled now, that...
BONNIE
Mommy, Daddy, watch me!
SCARLETT
We're watching, darling! You're mighty pretty
precious.
BONNIE
So are you! I'm going to jump. Watch me, Daddy.
RHETT
I don't think you ought to do much jumping yet,
Bonnie. Remember you just learned to ride side-
saddle.
BONNIE
I will so jump. I can jump better than ever, cuz I've
grown, and I've moved the bar higher...
SCARLETT
Don't let her do it Rhett...
RHETT
No, Bonnie, you can't... Well if you fall off, don't
cry and blame me!
SCARLETT
Rhett, stop her.
RHETT
Bonnie! Bonnie!
SCARLETT
Just like Paw¡ Just like Paw!!
RHETT
Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie!
(Bonnie died. Like her grandfather, she falls over
from the horse to the ground. With her, she takes
many things......)
Chapter 12 Tara, Land of Hope
(Melanie is seriously sick. She knows there is not
much time left for her, and begs to see Scarlett.)
SCARLETT
It's me, Mellie.
MELANIE
Promise me. Ashley...Ashley and you...
SCARLETT
What about...Ashley, Mellie?
MELANIE
Look after him for me. Just as you looked after me
for him.
SCARLETT
I will, Mellie.
MELANIE
Look after him. But never let him know.
SCARLETT
Good night.
MELANIE
Promise?
SCARLETT
What else, Mellie?
MELANIE
Captain Butler...be kind to him...he loves you so...
SCARLETT
Yes, Mellie.
(Melanie passes away. Scarlett comforts the heart-
broken Ashley, neglecting the existence of Rhett
Butler, who couldn't bear to see the scene, leaves.
But suddenly Scarlett sees the fact, she doesn't love
Ashley anymore. So she goes to look for Rhett
everywhere.)
SCARLETT
Rhett, wait for me! Rhett, wait for me! Rhett! Rhett!
(Outside the restroom.)
RHETT
Come in.
SCARLETT
Rhett!
RHETT
Melanie, she's...well. God rest her. She was the only
completely kind person I ever knew. Great lady. A
very great lady. Though she's dead. That makes it
nice for you, doesn't it?
SCARLETT
Oh, how can you say such things. You know how I loved
her really.
RHETT
No, I don't know that I do. But at least it's to your
credit that you could appreciate her at the end.
SCARLETT
Of course I appreciated her. She thought of everybody
except herself. Why her last words were about you.
RHETT
What did she say?
SCARLETT
She said, be kind to Captain Butler, he loves you so.
RHETT
Did she say anything else?
MELANIE
She said, she asked me to look after Ashley too.
RHETT It's convenient to have the first wife's
permission, isn't it?
SCARLETT
What do you mean? What are you doing?
RHETT
I'm leaving you, my dear. All you need now is a
divorce and your dreams of Ashley can come true.
SCARLETT
No! No, you're wrong! Terribly wrong! I don't want a
divorce. Oh Rhett, when I knew tonight, when I knew I
loved you, I ran home to tell you, oh darling,
darling!
RHETT
Please don't go on with this. Leave us some dignity
to remember out of our marriage. Spare us this last.
SCARLETT
This last? Oh Rhett, do listen to me. I must have
loved you for years only I was such a stupid fool I
didn't know it. Please believe me. You must care!
Mellie said you did!
RHETT
I believe you. But what about Ashley Wilkes?
SCARLETT
I......I never really loved Ashley.
RHETT
You certainly gave a good imitation of it up to this
morning. Oh, Scarlett, I tried everything. If you'd
only met me halfway, even when I came back from
London...
SCARLETT
I was so glad to see you, I was Rhett, but, but you
were so nasty!
RHETT
And then when you were sick. And it was all my fault.
I hoped and against hope that you'd call for me. But
you didn't.
SCARLETT
I wanted you. I wanted you desperately, but I didn't
think you wanted me!
RHETT
It seems we've been at crossed purposed, doesn't it.
But it's no use now. As long as there was Bonnie
there was a chance we might be happy. I like to think
that Bonnie was you. A little girl again. Before the
war and poverty had done things to you. She was so
like you. And I could pet her and spoil her as I
wanted to spoil you. But when she went, she took
everything.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, Rhett, please don't say that. I'm so
sorry. I'm so sorry for everything.
RHETT
My darling, you're such a child. You think that by
saying I'm sorry, all the past can be corrected.
Here, take my handkerchief. Never in any crisis of
your life have I known you to have a handkerchief.
SCARLETT
Rhett, Rhett where are you going?
RHETT
I'm going to Charleston. Back where I belong.
SCARLETT
Please, please take me with you.
RHETT
No. I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I
want to see if somewhere if there is something left
in life with charm and grace. Do you know what I'm
talking about?
SCARLETT
No. I only know that I love you.
RHETT
That's your misfortune.
SCARLETT
Rhett! If you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
RHETT
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
SCARLETT
I can't let him go. I can't. There must be some way
to bring him back. Oh, I can't think about that now.
I'll go crazy if I do, I...I'll think about it
tomorrow. I must think about it. I must think about
it. What is there to do? What is there that matters?
(The words other father and Ashley thunder in her
ear.)
Mr. O'HARA
You mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara
doesn't mean anything to you? That land is the only
thing that matters. It's the only thing that lasts.
ASHLEY
Something you love better than me, though you may not
know it.
Mr. O'HARA
Tara, it's this from where you get your strength.
ASHLEY
Tara, the red earth of Tara.
Mr. O'HARA
That land's the only thing that matters, it's the
only thing that lasts.
ASHLEY
Something you love better than me, though you may not
know it, Tara.
Mr. O'HARA
...From which you get your strength...
ASHLEY
... the red earth of Tara.
Mr. O'HARA
Lands the only thing that matters...
ASHLEY
something you love better than me...
Mr. O'HARA plus ASHLEY
...the red earth of Tara...Tara!... Tara!... Tara!
SCARLETT
Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way
to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day!
(The end)
