The Search for Scarlett and Nixon Resigns

Part 3 -- The search is on for Scarlett

During the early days of 1937 Selznick was not only concerned with casting lead roles for Gone With the Wind, but hiring a second unit director for scenes depicting the evacuation of Atlanta and other episodes of the war and reconstruction period.Silent film director D.W. Griffith (Birth of a Nation) was one of the early considerations.

Kay Brown recommended Vivian Leigh for Scarlett but at that early stage Selznick said, ‘I have no enthusiasm for Vivian Leigh. Maybe I will have, but as yet have never even seen a photograph of her. Will be seeing ‘Fire Over England’ shortly at which time will of course see Leigh.’By the end of March Hollywood’s grapevine was alive with Scarlett rumors and almost every leading lady in the town was heading a short list being considered for the role. Selznick finally had enough and wrote to the Hollywood Reporter asking for their help. He told them where he was on the casting and that he wasn’t nearly settled on a Scarlett. The fact is that George Cukor was preparing for an extensive trip to look for new personalities throughout the South while others talent scouts searched the backwoods of other regions. They were all looking for Scarlett’s, Rhett’s, Ashley’s, Melanie’s, Bonnie’s and Pittypat’s.

Selznick was high on Gable for his male lead and had hoped to nail down the Rhett Butler role, but in a memo to Kay Brown he said, ‘Chances of getting Gable are practically nil, in fact if not actually non existent.’ He had better luck on another front with his choice for production designer. Selznick liked William Cameron Menzies and since Menzies was already working on a Selznick film ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ they quickly made a deal.Menzies had made a name for himself on silent films such as ‘Thief of Baghdad,’ ‘Sadie Thompson’ and ‘Tempest’ prior to his work on ‘Tom Sawyer.’

Now lets get back to Kay Brown and her search for Scarlett.

Ms. Brown auditioned more than a hundred and fifty girls just in the cities of Baltimore, Washington and Charleston. In a letter to Selznick she let him know that a day of casting in New York was child’s play compared to the mad houses she ran into at Baltimore and Washington. And that was just part of it, the real circus would come later in Atlanta when girls from community theatres, Atlanta Junior League, Georgia Tech, Agnes Scott College, Macon little theatres and several drama clubs had candidates set to audition for Scarlett.

Kay Brown and her group joined up with George Cukor in Atlanta and they not only had to deal with the talent and their representatives but press and civic leaders as well. However, according to Cukor, the one person that really counted, Margaret Mitchell, was extremely helpful, cooperative, and very intelligent about the whole thing. ‘She took us on a tour of the area including the road followed by Scarlett to Jonesboro and Tara.’ And Cukor added that getting a first hand look at the size and scope of the area was enormously helpful.

The search party had an important meeting with the Atlanta Historical Society and arranged for photographs of material that might be helpful to the production team. They also talked to Wilbur Kurtz a man regarded as a great authority on architecture, military movements and the overall Civil War.

In the meantime back in Hollywood the list of stars being tested for the role of Scarlett was growing everyday. Here’s a list of some of the early tests. Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Paulette Goddard, Loretta Young, Ann Sheridan, Lana Turner, Susan Hayward, Lucille Ball and Joan Crawford.
Those aforementioned ladies were less than a third of the total tests done by Selznick International Pictures in their quest for Scarlett.

Excerpt from The Goring Collection

Continued from last Wednesday:

Following Alexei's departure Jacob meandered around the wharf for an hour filled with a mixture of anxiety and exhilaration. The shock of a possible recall to Moscow left him with a kind of nervous excitement. Jacob had never been prone to erratic behavior, but Alexei’s words had served as a wakeup call and jarred him out of his complacency. Lectures, parties and diplomatic functions had become a comfortable way of life filled with all style and no substance. Deep down Jacob knew he was in a rut and going nowhere. It had become obvious to him that that the Soviet Union and the great socialist experiment had failed. But what weighed heavily on Jacob's mind was the question of his own commitment to a new life. Had he truly renounced the communist system or was he simply jumping ship? Of course he had worked out a plan and everything was in place, with one exception, a timetable. Now, it appeared that Alexei had provided that last element and Jacob made the decision to take advantage of it.

He hurried toward his apartment but stopped on the way, stuffed some coins into a pay phone and dialed the Santa Barbara number. The phone rang and Natalie came on the line. Jacob talked in low tones.

“You were right all along, Natalie. I was the stubborn fool.”

“What are you talking about, Jacob?”

“Communism! I’m finished with it.”

Natalie laughed and asked, “What have you been drinking, Jacob?”

“I’m serious, Natalie. I’ve decided to turn and become a bona fide American.”

Then after a quiet sob, and a deep breath, Natalie said with a smile in her voice. “It may not be proper over the phone, but I’d like to propose a toast. Here’s to my brother, the real Jacob Meyers that I always knew was there.” Then she stammered. “Wha…what are you going to do, Jacob?”

“I have a plan worked out and don’t worry about my personal safety. I’ll be all right, but for the time being I need to drop out of sight.”

"I've prayed for this day, Jacob, now please be careful," Natalie said tearfully.

"I'll do my best. Now I've got to run." As soon as he hung up the phone he raced back to the apartment and quickly packed up his papers and an overnight bag, turned out the lights, walked to the dock and took the ferry to Oakland. There he purchased a one-way bus ticket to Oklahoma City.

During the long bus ride he was haunted by one decision that he made, that of leaving Luke, his CIA contact, out of the process. They had established a good working relationship over the years and Jacob was sure that Luke would have provided him with a safe house, but even with his best intentions the case would eventually be taken out of the agents hands and wind up on some bureaucrats’ desk at Langley.

He did not trust bureaucrats or their decision-making process. So instead of taking that chance, Jacob decided to call Tom Brannan an ex CIA connection he had maintained for more than a decade. They first met when Tom Brannan picked him at the Reno, Nevada airport and flew him to a clandestine meeting in Northern Idaho, a hunting lodge, near the Canadian border. And from that first mission a cordial and trusting relationship had developed between the two men.

Jacob stepped off the bus in Oklahoma City, and immediately called the ex CIA man in Wichita and set up a meeting for the following day. Jacob got a warm and sympathetic reception from Tom Brannan.

Their talks and planning sessions leading to Jacob’s new identity, which included a social security card reflecting his original name, lasted for more than two weeks.

It was August of 1974 and the weather was hot in Wichita, but not nearly so hot as it was in Washington, D.C. Richard M. Nixon had just resigned the presidency and the picture on Tom Brannan’s television was of the ex president waving to the press as he boarded a helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House. The picture of Nixon with his arms up in a V seemed to freeze in place as Tom hit the TV off button and turned to Jacob. “Well, they finally got him, the lefties. Maybe he should have burned those damned tapes.”

“Maybe,” Jacob said, “but if you ask me, Nixon got too wrapped up in his own importance, got a bit too arrogant.”

“I won’t disagree with that,” Tom Brannan said. “Now, Jacob let’s get back to your problem. That resume we made up might get you a teaching job and possibly a place on the lecture circuit, however I suspect that much travel might give you a little too much exposure.”

Jacob grinned soberly. “That’s my thinking, Tom.”

Tom Brannan pursed his lips and said, “I have an idea. It just so happens that I know a group of patriotic activist in New York that is in the process of forming a political watchdog group. And I have a feeling,

Jacob that you might fit very nicely into their program.”

Writers Notebook:

Marketing your books on the Internet.
I still consider myself a novice when it comes to navigating the Internet. Nonetheless I plan to add Internet marketing to the regular Notebook tips. My idea is to try and find book marketing tips that seem useful. So for a start let’s go to John Kremer’s www.bookmarket.com and just roam around and see what the marketing guru has to say.If you find something that looks constructive leave me a comment and I’ll pass it along.

See ya next week.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction  remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com