‘Gone with the Wind’ premiere sparks racial tension in Atlanta 80 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 15 1939)

1930s, African-American Civil Rights, American Civil War, movies 1930s


Video: ''Gone With the Wind' trailer

(Friday, December 15, 1939, 8:30 p.m. EST) — Gone with the Wind, an American epic historical romance film about Scarlett O’Hara’s battle to save her beloved Tara and find love during the American Civil War, premiered tonight at the Loew’s Grand Theatre at the corner of Peachtree and Forsyth Streets in downtown Atlanta.

Directed by Victor Fleming, the film starred Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland.


Video: 'GWTW Atlanta Premiere' (Dec. 15, 1939, at 2:27)

The premiere was the climax of three days of festivities hosted by Mayor William B. Hartsfield, which included a parade of limousines featuring stars from the film, receptions, thousands of Confederate flags and a costume ball.


Video: '"Gone With The Wind" Premiere (1940)'

Eurith D. Rivers, the governor of Georgia, declared December 15 a state holiday. An estimated three hundred thousand residents and visitors to Atlanta lined the streets for up to seven miles to watch a procession of limousines bring the stars from the airport.


Video: '"Gone With the Wind" Atlanta Premiere Footage'

Only Leslie Howard and Victor Fleming chose not to attend: Howard had returned to England due to the outbreak of World War II, and Fleming had fallen out with Selznick and declined to attend any of the premieres.


Video: 'William Hartsfield - Gone With the Wind premiere film' (Dec. 15, 1939, at 4:55)

Hattie McDaniel was also absent, as she and the other black cast members were prevented from attending the premiere due to Georgia’s Jim Crow laws, which kept them from sitting with their white colleagues.


Video: ''Gone With the Wind' Premiere's Racial Tensions'

African American churches were enlisted in the festivities and a 10-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. found himself performing at a charity event with a choir in costume as a slave in front of a mockup of Tara.

Upon learning that McDaniel had been barred from the premiere, Clark Gable threatened to boycott the event, but McDaniel persuaded him to attend.


Video: 'Gone with the Wind (1939) - Movie' (6 clips)