Save The Date!
Nov. 5, 2010 – Nov. 7, 2010
"Gateway To The Wind" Weekend,
St. Louis, MO
Celebrating Author Margaret Mitchell's Birthday and the 70th Anniversary of the Premiere of GWTW in St. Louis. Special guest actors from the movie, Roundtable discussions and speakers covering GWTW and St. Louis Civil War connection Saturday night Gala Charity Ball to benefit Rainbows For Kids, a 501 (c)(3) charity for children with cancer. You won't want to miss this fun weekend.
For more information: info@GWTWbook.com
Gateway to the Wind -
Schedule of Events
Registration Form
About Margaret Mitchell and Gone With The Wind
Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 and grew up in the days of the flappers. In her teens, she was a debutante and in the roaring 20's she was a new woman who enjoyed everything that being a flapper provided. She loved men and craved the attention of them, and perhaps it was her youthful boy craziness that inspired her character Scarlett O'Hara to be the belle of the county.
Mitchell spent much of her childhood summers at "Rural Home" which was her family's plantation in Clayton County, Georgia. Her great-grandparents, Ellen and Philip Fitzgerald, had been survivors of the Civil War. Their lives in many ways mirrored the lives of those at "Tara" the plantation in the "newly formed county" that Mitchell described in her book, Gone With The Wind. Much of this real history and the comparisons of Mitchell's ancestors' lives with those of the O'Hara family in Gone With The Wind is contained between the covers of The Making Of A Masterpiece, by Sally Tippett Rains.
Once Mitchell had her book published, it became an instant success. Though the Mitchells were a prominent family, and she had gained a certain amount of publicity on her own by writing for the newspaper, Mitchell never dreamed she would cause such a storm with her book.
The public was fascinated with Mitchell, but the fame overwhelmed her, which is why she never conducted interviews. She did not like being in the spotlight and she refused to do personal appearances, unless they were for charity. One of the most difficult things for her was the fact that she felt like she owed everything to her readers, so when fans would write, she always wrote back. People sent her requests and she tried to fulfill all of them. As time went by Mitchell became obsessed with giving back. She spent many hours filling boxes to send to the soldiers, did work for the Red Cross and many other things chronicled in the book.
In 1937, Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for writing Gone With The Wind, and then in 1940 David O. Selznick's production of the movie won 10 awards. The book was translated into many languages and sold all over the world.
The Making Of A Masterpiece fills the reader in on many of the activities and events in Margaret Mitchell's life. It also goes into the lives of others who were involved in the making of the movie Gone With The Wind. If you think there was a lot of information on this website, it is nothing compared to all that is packed into this book.
Phone: 314.842.9724
Email: info@GWTWbook.com
Copyright ©2010 Sally Rains. All Rights Reserved.
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