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A private chat with one
of the 'GWTW' survivors
of TheColumnists.com
It was a blisteringly
hot summer day, June 1974, when I sneaked out of the TV Critics
Press tour at the Century Plaza hotel and walked some 10 blocks
to deepest Beverly Hills. I soon came upon 826 Greenway Drive,
the home then and now of Ann Rutherford Dozier.
I’d had a thing for Rutherford ever since I started watching
old Andy Hardy movies late nights on Canadian TV. And the fact
she was born in Toronto--or so her press clipping said--attracted
me more.
On top of that, she also was one of the
stars in two of the biggest MGM releases of that period, "Gone
With the Wind" as Scarlett O’Hara’s youngest sister
Careen and "Pride and Prejudice" as the youngest Bennet
sister, Lydia.
I found Rutherford to be just as bubbly as when she was smooching
with Mickey Rooney in the Andy Hardy pictures. In 1974 she was
enjoying the last renaissance of her career. She’d also
recently revisited her old Metro lot, cast as Jim Garner’s
secretary in "They Only Kill Their Masters" (1973)
along with another MGM alumnus, June Allyson
We sat in her spacious living room with tall glasses of ice water
to quench our thirst. Rutherford explained in the very early
days she had to disguise her young age so she switched her birthplace
from Toronto to Vancouver and constantly diddled with her birth
date (1917, 1922 and 1924 are three favored dates).
I remember telling her if she’d only made "Gone With
the Wind" she’d still be semi-famous and she laughingly
agreed with me.
“At the time it was exciting to be in such a mammoth production,"
she said. "The Andy Hardy movies were part of the B unit
and we made them in three weeks--remember we shot on Saturdays
so that meant 18 days of production. But GWTW was different.
I’d do a scene, go away for a month for a B picture, come
back and do another scene.”
The same year Rutherford was in six more MGM pictures: "Four
Girls in White," "The Hardys Ride High," "These
Glamour Girls," "Dancing Co-Ed," "Judge Hardy
and Son" and "Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever."
"Gone With the Wind" was filmed mainly down the block
from the huge Metro lot. “It was the Selznick International
studios, formerly part of RKO, founded by Thomas Ince. Everybody
thinks those white columns at the front came from Tara but already
they were part of the Selznick logo. 'King Kong' was made on
the back lot and the burning of Atlanta includes the destruction
of those gigantic gates (from) 'King Kong'”
Although a Selznick International picture, GWTW was distributed
by MGM which put up much of the financing and in later years
would buy up practically all of producer David Selznick’s
rights as well.
“There are few MGM stars in it. I know Lionel Barrymore
tested for Dr. Meade but Harry Davenport got the part. And Billie
Burke tested for Aunt Pittypat but David gave it to Laura Hope
Crews. I’m pretty sure I got my tiny part because I somehow
resembled Vivien Leigh in coloring and I was cheap and available.”
Rutherford remembered the presence of at least three directors–George
Cukor who handled preproduction but was soon fired because his
scenes seemed to lack vigor–and also Clark Gable felt Vivien
Leigh was being favored by Cukor over him.
“I did my scenes mostly with (director)
Victor Fleming,who was a man’s man and would brook no nonsense
from anybody. Sam Wood was also directing scenes in the afternoon
as production lagged and then Vic had a heart attack and Sam
took over for some time.”
Whoever directed scenes, Rutherford added, “It was always
(producer) David Selznick’s picture. Always.”
Rutherford wasn’t in on the casting. ”I just always
have believed Vivien Leigh to be the perfect Scarlett. Can you
imagine anybody else? She was so determined to succeed she worked
and worked and was always ready for the next scene.” On
Sundays–her only day off each week–Leigh would hurry
over to Cukor’s house to be coached in line readings. Not
until later did she find out co-star Olivia de Havilland was
making the same surreptitious journey.
Rutherford’s main scenes were with Thomas Mitchell as Pa
O’Hara and Barbara O’Neil as Mrs. O’Hara and Evelyn
Keyes as middle sister Suellen. “Evelyn and I get trotted
out for GWTW occasions,” Rutherford told me. Keyes died
in June 2008.
Said Rutherford: “Scarlett’s sisters sort of fade from
the plot, don’t they? I mean what happened to them anyway
I’m not sure.”
Rutherford thought the first half of the movie was better than
the soap opera theatrics of Part II. “By then it was a case
of let’s get this thing done, money was running out. David
wanted to retake everything. Right at the end he asked if the
first scene with Scarlett running from the house with the Tarleton
twins might not be done over. But Vivien Leigh looked haggard
by then. She had aged visibly. No way could she look like a teenager
again.”
Rutherford last got together for a GWTW gala in 1962 for a huge
revival complete with yet another Atlanta screening. By then
Clark Gable and Leslie Howard and Hattie McDaniel were gone and
Leigh, De Havlland, Keyes, Rutherford and Victor Jory were all
left. Since then Selznick, Leigh, Jory and Keyes have passed
on.
“I hate it when they talk about GWTW being a jinxed movie,"
said Rutherford. "It’s been some time; people do fade
away.”
I reconnected with Ann Rutherford in 1988 when she drove to the
Hilton Universal hotel to have lunch and she was just as upbeat
and filled with stories as ever. She said GWTW was “as hot
as ever” and claimed its fame obliterated most of the other
movies she’d made.
“It’s strange but at the time nobody thought of a sequel.
That’s the way studios thought in those days. There never
was a GWTW 2 and there never will be.” But there was a Tokyo
musical in 1970. And a terrible TV miniseries sequel "Scarlett"
in 1994 with Joanne Whalley (Scarlet), Stephen Collins (Ashley)
and Ann-Margret (Belle Watling). And Trevor Nunn last year announced
a new musical to debut in the West End with Hugh Jackman. It
has yet to happen.
Today GWTW remains the most watched movie of all time. The vivid
Technicolor, the sets by William Cameron Menzies, the blazing
Max Steiner score–all are of another time and place. Casting
is near perfection. Rutherford thought Selznick’s first
proposed cast of Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Janet Gaynor and Leslie
Howard wouldn’t have made the same impact.
GWTW won most of the major Oscars including Best Picture but
Clark Gable was bummed out when he lost the Best Actor award
to Robert Donat in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." After so many
decades GWTW defies criticism. It’s the supreme example
of an era when producers and not directors were in charge of
every facet of a big production.
The very next year after "GWTW," Rutherford co-starred
in her own particular favorite film, "Pride and Prejudice."
“Huge sets were up when our star Norma Shearer walked off saying she’d decided not to make any more costumers," Rutherford said. "Then...but that’s another story.”
OTHER 1939 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: "Dark Victory," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Love Affair," "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," "Ninotchka," "Of Mice and Men," "Stagecoach," "The Wizard of Oz," "Wuthering Heights."
OSCAR TRIVIA: The 1939 Awards show was Bob Hope's first as master of ceremonies. The movie won so many Oscars that night--eight plus the Thalberg award for producer David Selznick--that Hope quipped it was "a benefit night for David elznick."...Veteran African-American actress Hattie McDaniel, winner of the Best SupportingActress Oscar, became the first of her race to win an acting Oscar...Selznick bought the movie rights to Margaret Mitchell's source novel for $50,000, which was then the highest amount ever paid for a first novel. He bought it before "Gone With the Wind" became a best-seller, racking up more than a million copies sold even before the movie came out...The original cut of "Gone With the Wind" ran four hours and 20 minutes. Selznick cut it down by 38 minutes before it went to theaters--and it still was the longest film ever released up until that time.
©2009 by Jim Bawden. This column first posted Feb. 16, 2009.
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