Word: selznicks
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...best double-dealing poker face and disclaimed to his colleagues any interest in Authoress Margaret Mitchell's magnum opus, Gone With the Wind. All knew only too well that any open move to bid for it would send the price kiting. Hence young Producer David O. Selznick was highly pleased with himself when three days later he was able to announce that for mere peanuts ($50,000) he had bought the film rights to the book that was becoming the best-selling best seller in a generation...
Before the news was very old the U. S. public was enjoying the zestful pastime of casting Producer Selznick's picture for him. Before very long Producer Selznick knew the people's choice for Rhett Butler to be cinema's No. 1 buckaroo-bold, woman-handling Actor Clark Gable. But the people's choice for Scarlett O'Hara was far from unanimous. It seemed to call for a blend of gusty Tallulah Bankhead, smoldering Miriam Hopkins, redheaded Erin O'Brien-Moore, flashing Paulette Goddard. For Scarlett, Producer Selznick scanned one after another...
...more than 1,000 of the 3,000 studio employes had been dropped from the payroll. At RKO Radio the pruning halted at 250. In the United Artists group, only Producer Walter Wanger was working at top speed. Samuel Goldwyn was temporarily inactive, his corps of laborers laid off; Selznick International, geared to leisurely production, had a skeleton staff, the publicity department alone working at full blast. Other studios, already entrenched against the slump, functioned at what now passes for normal speed...
...Myron Selznick, Hollywood talent agent, put $6,000 on his own entry. The $50 parimutuel windows trailed long queues of cinema celebrities, the $5 windows were stampeded. Over $1,370,000 was bet in four hours. It was a holiday in Hollywood and most studio folk, from Clark Gable down to the lowliest stagehand, were among the 60,000 people celebrating Washington's Birthday with a day at the races...
...same: the fan mail was already starting to come in. Wrote one: "I heard you on the radio last night and I am looking forward to seeing your picture very much. It was very nice of you to go all the way to Elmira to visit Mr. Selznick's grave...