Bringing “Gone With The Wind’s” Premiere To Atlanta Was A Complicated Process

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the premier of “Gone With the Wind” in Atlanta. Hollywood stars descended upon the city for a week of celebrations, which was capped off by in the initial screening at the Loew’s Theatre on Dec. 15.

The director of “Gone With the Wind,” David O. Selznick, found that arranging the premiere was an unexpectedly complicated process. Matthew Bernstein is a professor and chair of the Film and Media Studies department at Emory University, and he’s been looking at Selznick’s correspondence around that time. Host John Lemley spoke to him about the details of bringing a gala Hollywood event to 1939 Atlanta. Broadcast version of the interview that originally aired on Dec. 4, 2014.

Matthew Bernstein will be speaking about the premiere of “Gone With the Wind” at the University of Georgia in Athens tomorrow. More on that event can be found here.