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I’ve seen it many times, but I still really like “Gone with the Wind.” It was 71 years ago this month that GONE WITH THE WIND premiered. On that star-studded evening in Atlanta, GA, no one knew the four-hour epic would go on to win eight Academy Awards. The film still attracts large audiences seven decades after its release. 200 million people saw the movie when it was first released when the country had a population of only 130 million.  Judy Garland was tapped to play Scarlett O’Hara’s sister, but could not because she was already committed to THE WIZARD OF OZ. Katherine Hepburn as Scarlett? She was seriously considered. Reportedly, Vivien Leigh’s salary was $25,000, while Clark Gable made $125,000, plus a $50,000 bonus. Mistakes were made: In one scene, a character picks up a lamp with an electric cord ““ there were no electric lamps in that period. When Scarlett leaves a military hospital in Atlanta, in the distance a radio tower can be seen. There were no radio towers in 1864. Here’s some clips of the film and the coverage below.
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OH SUSIE Q!
I guess my favorite rock song is my friend Dale Hawkins'  1957 hit "Susie-Q." Dale died this week from cancer at 73. He was a Louisiana boy from up in my part of the words of Northeast Louisiana in Richland Parish. "Susie Q" has always been on my regular play lists, and I really liked how it was used in the movie "Apocalypse Now," with Dale doing the singing and playing lead guitar. Creedence Clearwater Revival made it a big hit in 1958, the same year that a future legal client, some guy named Jerry Lee Lewis, made his first hit: "Whole Lota Shakin' Goin' on." Dale was just one more member of the Louisiana music hall of famers that have had so much influence on American music. We will miss him.
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