After the weekend, on Monday, May 25, 1936, Selznick sends a more
serious message to Brown:
May 25, 1936
TO KB FROM DOS
HAVE GONE OVER AND CAREFULLYSTHOUGH ABOUT "GONE WITH THE
WIND." THINK IT IS FINE STORY AND I XXX UNDERSTAND YOU FEELING ABOUT
IT. IF WE HAD UNDER CONTRACT A WOMAN IDEALLY SUITED TO THE LEAD, I
WOULD PROBABLY BE MORE INCLINED TO BUYIT THAN I AM TODAY BUT I DO FEEL
THAT ITS ONLY IMPORTQNT SHOWMANSHIP VALUES WOULD BE IN EITHER SUCH STAR
CASTING OR IN A TREMENDOUS SALE OF THE BOOK. TO PAY A LARGE PRICE
FOR IT NOW IN THE HOPE WE COULD GET SUCH A STAR AND-OR IN THE FURTHER
HOPE BOOK WILL HAVE TREMENDOUS SALE IS I FEELUNWARRANTED. PERHAPS ONE
OF THE LARGER COMPANIES CAN AFFORD BUY IT NOW IN THE HOPE OR EXOECTATION
EXPECTATION OF SUCH CASTING OPPORTUNITIES AND SUCH A SALE BUT I DO NOT
FEEL WE CAN TAKE SUCH A GAMBLE. IF IT IS NOT PURCHASED IMMEDATELY THEN
I KNOW YOU WILL WATCH ITSS SALES CAREFULLY AND IF IT THREATENS TO
BECOME AN ANTHONY ADVERSE A- WHICH HOWEVER I FRANKLY DOUBT - THEN WE
XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
THAT ITS BACKGROUND IS VERY STRONGLY AGAINST IT AS WINXX WITNESS
"SO RED THE ROSE" WHICH ALSO THREATENED TO HAVE TREMENDOU S SALE
AND WHICH IS SOME PARTCIULARS WAS IN SAME CATEGORY AND WHICH FA
MUST REPEAT NOTICE LINE RAN OVER GO BACK TO WORDS - WHICH I FRANKLY
DOUBT - THEN WE PRESUMABLY WILL BE IN AS CLOSE TOUCH AS ANY OTHER
COMPANY BUT IF IT IS BOUGHT IN INTERIM, WE MUST HAVE NO REGRETS STOP
I FEEL INCIDENTALLY THAT ITS BACKGROUND IS VERY STRONGLY AGAINST IT AS
WITNESS "X SO RED THE ROSE" WHICH ALSO THREATENED TO HAVE TREMENDOUS
SALE AND WHICH IN SOME PARTICULARS WAS IN SAEM SAME CATEGORY AND WHIH
WHICH WHICH FAILED MISERABLY AS A PICTURE. MOST GRATEFUL FOR YOUR INTEREST
AND EARLY ACTION ON HIS AND DO NOT WANT DISCOURAGE YOU FROM BRINGING
TO OUR ATTENTION THIS FORCIBLY ANY NEW OR OLD STORY WHICH YOUSRUN ACROSS
AND THEREFORE MOST SORRY TOHAVE TO SAY NO IN FACE OF YOUR ENTHUSIASM
FOR TITHIS STORY.
37$ END
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The next day, Tuesday, May 26, Brown writes a memo:
|
SELZNICK INTERNATIONAL PICTURES, INC
NEW YORK CITY
Inter Office Communication
DATE: May 26, 1936
TO: Mr. David O. Selznick
FROM: Miss Katherine Brown
SUBJECT: Gone With The Wind
Dear David:
Thank you very much for your extrememly nice wire on GONE
WITH THE WIND. I am
sorry to say I don't agree with you but that is what makes horse racing.
Sometime I wish you would pick up this book and read from Chapter 21 to
Chapter
26. Maybe I just don't know but this strikes me as something that would
"tear
the heart out of a body". The book is 1,000 pages long and I have only
gotten
half through it, but the stuff I have read so far is terrifically dramatic
and
a completely new angle on the old triangle situation.
Please understand that I say none of this in bitterness because we don't
see
eye to eye on the book and further I am going to try to do everything in
my
power to keep this book from being sold until after the notices are out,
as per
your teletype.
I think your blast on my "sweet little agent" was very funny and
quite proper.
The next time I make a remark like this I will be sure that I explain myself.
The Hayward agency knew about the book and were saying: "Oh, to work
with
Annie Laurie Williams and really show her what a best seller should be sold
for!"
Mr. Latham, the head of Macmillan, has taken over the selling of this book
in
conjunction with Annie Laurie Williams and he decided this afternoon that
there
was no hurry on the sale of this book and if they couldn't get the price
they
thought it should bring before the reviews came out on it they would wait.
This
naturally puts me in a better position. I told them that you working, trying
to assemble the proper cast as you are not interested in making any picture
that
you can't cast properly and we hope they will not get in a position where
they
will be forced to sell it before we know just what people we could get for
it and
asked them to keep me advised.
kb
kb*f
|
The memo is typed on SIP letterhead. It is unclear whether Brown sent this memo through the US mail or by teletype where it could have been retyped by a secretary. In any case, Selznick has second thoughts and sends Brown the following teletype that same day.
The first line, "FROM KB TO DOS" is a typo. The teletype is being operated here by "LS": Lydia Schiller in Los Angeles:
May 26, 1936
FROM KB TO DOS
WANT YOU TO NOTE THAT I HAVE THOUGHT FURTHER ABOUT "&GONE WITH
THE WIND"
AND THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT THE MORE I FEEL TERE IS EXCELLENT PICTURE
IN IT STOP SUGGEST YOU CALL THIS TO MR COOPERS AND MR WHITNEYS
ATTENTION FOR PIONEER AS POSSIBLE COLOR PICTURE ESPECIALLY IF THEY
CAN SELL THE VERY COLORFUL MANS ROLE TO GARY COOPER STOP WERE I WITH
MGM I BELIEVE I WOULD BUY IT NOW FOR SOME SUCH COMBINATION AS GABLE AND
CRAWFORD STOP
END LS |
 |
 |
|
Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in Love on the Run
|
| |
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Tall and handsome, Gary Cooper was one of Hollywood's all time great stars. He was equally adept at romantic leads, adventure films and light comedy. His recent films included A Farewell to Arms, 1932, Design for Living, 1933, Lives of a
Bengal Lancer, 1935, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, 1936.
MGM's Love on the Run, 1936, starred Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in a love triangle with Franchot Tone, who was married to Crawford at the time. Gable and Crawford also appeared together in Possessed, 1931.
Brown writes back:
May 26, 1936
TO DOS FROM KB
THANK YOU FOR NICE WIRE ON "GONE WITH THE WIND"
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| Film Collection |
Exhibit design by Steve L. Wilson
