Today in History—December 15: Gone with the Wind Premieres in Atlanta

Gone with the Wind premiered on December 15, 1939, at the Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. It would become one of the most successful films of all time, nabbing eight Academy Awards (and two honorary Oscars) in the process. But the glittering premiere was not without its problems.

The film was one of the first Hollywood movies to premiere in Atlanta. For three days leading up to the event, the city held elaborate festivities to celebrate. Black churches performed, bells rang throughout the city, and a 10-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr., appeared before the crowds as part of the Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir.

Yet, this citywide celebration carried with it the problems of its time. Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, two of the film’s Black actors, weren’t permitted to attend the premiere, revealing a painful contradiction: A movie about the South, starring Black actors, denied those actors a seat at the film’s debut.

The film itself was a monumental achievement. Condensing Margaret Mitchell’s 1,037-page book into a single movie was a challenge. Producer David Selznick, worrying the film would fail, auditioned countless women for the role of Scarlett O’Hara, the protagonist, before settling on Vivien Leigh. The tale of Scarlett and her tumultuous romance with Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) is one full of twists, turns, and, sometimes, tragedy, culminating in one of the most iconic lines in cinema, as the resigned Rhett says to Scarlett, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

The film’s legacy remains complex. Its problematic depictions of Black characters continue to draw criticism. Yet, in Atlanta the premiere remains a significant milestone in the city’s cultural history.