Tomorrow, I’ll think of some other way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.
Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936)
Did you know that on 15 December 1939, the première of Gone with the Wind took place at Loew’s Grand Theater (sorry, it’s in America and they spell Theatre in their own way) in Atlanta, Georgia. The best-selling novel by Atlanta-born Margaret Mitchell was adapted by screenwriter Sidney Howard and was an epic drama set against the backdrop of the American Civil War (and its aftermath). The film starred Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, who loves and leaves Scarlet with the immortal line, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ Sidney Howard added in ‘frankly’ …. it was not in Margaret’s original novel.
Breaking records at the Academy Awards as well as at the box office, Gone with the Wind won Oscars for Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Director (Victor Fleming) and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie Daniel) amongst others…. Hattie made history as the first African-American to win an Academy Award.
Forty years on, Trivial Pursuit was invented by Canadians Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal’s The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press. Apparently, they had pieces missing from their Scrabble game and so decided to create their own game (as you do!). With the help of John Haney and Ed Werner, they completed the development of the game in two years and it was released in 1982.
And today, no premières and no inventions that I can see from the news as it is sadly filled with unpleasant news from Down Under. Thoughts are with the families of those who have been lost today, those injured and those who have been scarred by their experience in Lindt Cafe, Sydney. I am not one to ‘get on my high horse’ about these issues but seriously folks, this has to stop. ‘Frankly, my dear ….’, we do give a damn. Too many lives have been lost this year under the name of certain groups/religions. Enough is enough.
[Don’t forget to keep an eye out over the course of December for the hidden message in the titles of FWL blogs…. When you think you know, email us so as not to spoil it for others!]
