Leonard J.

L eff

David Selznick's Gone With the Wind:

" T he Negro Proble,n"

HE success of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind was phe-

T nomenaJ. Published on 30 June 1936 to widespread cricical praise,
it reached thousands as a Book-of-thc-Month Club seleccion and by
spring 1937 had sold over a million copies in seores. What fascinated
mosr readers and cven serious reviewers was not only Mirchell's bold
scory but her apparenrly scrupulous yct altogeihcr affeccionace cvoca-
cion of che Old Sourh. For Mitchcll, thc region and its pcople were
indomitable: "Malign fate had broken their necks, pcrhaps, bue never
thcir hcartS. They had not whined, thcy had fought. And when they
clied, rhey died spent but unqucnchcd." 1
The scenc of magnolias lingcrs abour this and other passagcs in G011e
With the Wind, lending it fioally a more romancic than realiscic sensc
of history. Mitchell's tream1enr of postwar blacks, for cxample, clividcs
che cace: the "good" Ncgroes retained their loyalty and scrvilicy to
former owners, and the "bad" oncs- ruoning wild, "either from perversc
pleasure in destruction or sirnply bccause of their ignorancc" (p. 654) -
causcd trouble for white and hlack alike. This view of Reconstruction,
nor incompatible wirh racism, had originated in early rwentieth-cencury
historiography; D . W. Griffith's Tbe Birth of a Nation (1915) had given
it cloquent cincmatic cxpression, and in the 193o's many pcople-includ-
ing a number of acadcmicians and intellectuals-still subscribed to it. Not
unexpcctedly, howcvcr, many American liberals and Communists were
ourspokcn in thcir condemnation of Mitchell's racial attimdcs. As Mal-
, Mitchcll, Oon, Wúb tb, Wlnd (New York: Macrnillm, 19¡6), p. 4u. All .ub5equeot
cin.tions to me novel are. to thls e(litioo.,
 LEONARD J. LEFF 147

colm Cowlcy wrotc in The New Republic (16 September 1936), the
novcl's prcscntation of Southem life was "false in part and silly in part
and vicious in itS general effect" (p. 161 ).
To David Selz.nick, who had purchased the rights to film che novel,
Gonc With the Wind was, whether accurate or not, a very valuable prop-
erty. But as a producer who had grown up in the movie business, Selznick
koew that cerrain elementS of the novel would requirc judicious trcat-
mcnt wheo lilmed by his studio. "1 rhink wc have to be awfully careful,"
he wrote ro screenwriter Sidney Howard in January 193 7, "that thc
Negroes come out decidedly on the right side of the lcdger." Racial book-
keeping, for severa! reasons, was problematic. Like so many Americans,
Selz.nick had absorbed much Reconstruction lore from T he Birtb of a
N ation. In that same letter to Howard, for example, he distinguished
"berween the old Klan and the Klan of our times" and found only the
latter culpable. He funhermore bclieved that in adaptation from page to
screen, lidelity spelled success. His acclaimed productions of such famous
novels as David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, and A Tale of Two Cities
(all 1935 releases) reinforced his compulsion "to try as far a.s possible to
retain the original, [ for] the degree of success in transcribing an original
has always been proportionate to the success of the transcribers in their
editing proccss."' Predisposed to !cave Mitchell's novel intact, Selznick
might have produced a G011e Witb the Wind potentially as olfensive to
black people in 1939 as Griffith's film had been a quaner century earlier.
But the gates of Selznick Intemational Picrures were not Iocked
against outside influence. Looking over Selznick's shoulder were three
externa! agents that could help secure the producer's commitment to
blacks: the Production Code Administration, the Nacional Associacion
for the Advancemcnt of Colo red People, and the Negro press. The movie
induscry's superego, the Production Code Administration (PCA), had
been created in 1934 to regulate the moral and social content of motion
pict11res. In only one section (Sex, 11: 6) did the Code speak to treacment
of the Negro: "Miscegenation (sex relationship between tbe wbite and
black races) is forbidden." Yet tbe PCA's "black book," a compilacion of
Code rulings on individual films, spoke to dozens of restrictions, sorne
suggesced by the Code and others not. In examining Gone W itb tbe

• Thc ciutions from Selznick may be found in Memo f rom D""id O. Selznid, td. Rudy
Bchlmer (New York: Vilcing Press, 19;-i), pp. 1¡1, ,67. For • biognphy of Seluúck, seo
Bob Thomas, Selwd (Gu<ko Cicy, N.Y.: Doublccby, 1910); for. Carttr biognphy, ...
Ronald Haver. o...;d O. Sel:mi&k's Holl:,'IJJOod (Ncw York: Alfml A. Knopf, 19&>).
 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

Wind as it evolved, PCA head Joscph Breen would be sensitive to all

words, actions, or plot points likely to inflame Negroes and focus ad-
verse publicity on the completed film and, more imponantly, on Holly-
wood itsclf.
Black groups were even more vigilant. Despite thcir limited pist
success and thcir sporadic and unfocuscd commitment to affccting Hol-
lywood, both the Nacional Association for the Advancemem of Colorcd
People and the Negro press were keenly aware of the racial issues em-
bodied within cenain mainstream American films. E.ach black group
dealt with the white motion-picrure community differently, however.
The centcrpicce of thc NAACP's rclationship with Hollywood was a
prolonged attcmpt ro suppress The Birth of a N ation. On this battle, che
organiz.ation had expended money, cnergy, and even the good wiU of
thc American Civil Liberties Union. Furthcrmore, a small but prominent
number of peoplc whom the Association supposedly reprcsented- specifi-
cally, black actors-felt thar its demands for rhe elimination of racial
stereorypes had resulted in fewer roles for Negroes. In 1940, Hollywood
blacksaccused the NAACP's executive secretary Walter Whire of" 'try-
ing to be white' from the safery of New York officcs." 3 If the NAACP in-
terested itsclf in Gone With the Wind, it would havc to trcad carefully.
Regardingthe movies and racial stereoryping in the 193o's, the black
press sent out conflicting signals. While sorne papers, many of them in
the East, chastised blacks for pornaying demeaning characters, others
proudly chaned che progrcss of Negro actors who were "making it" in
Hollywood. The rank-and-file newspaper reader was probably more re-
sponsive to this latter position. Particularly for Negroes, few substancial
jobs were available during the Deprcssion. Many blacks must have re-
garded as untenable the suggestion that, for whatever reason, their Cali-
fornia brothers should abandon the clean, remunerative, and apparendy
glamorous work of film acting. In any event, the Negro prcss's oscillarion
bctwcen two irreconcilable points of view secmed to leave little imperus
for action that could seriously injure a Hollywood film.

• Thomu Cripps. Slov Fl<I, to Bl,ck: Tlu N,gro in Ammcm Film, 1900-1gp <Lon-
don: Odord Urilv. Pms, 1977), ~¡<S9•
'Organiz.ed Negro': The National
l7S· See wo Roben L Zang:rando, "The
ation for duo Advancement of Colored People
and Civil Righ,s," in Tb, Bl,ek Ezp,ri,ne, mAmnieo: S,/,cr,4 E,s,y1, ed. James C.
Cwús aod Lewis l. Gould (Austin: Univ. of Tuas Pres,, 1970), pp. 116--44. 0n Waltu
Ammc""'
Whire, aee Joho G. K.izby, B/ocl in th, Root-lt Br1: Libn,lum on4 &u
(Knoxville: Uni•. of Tenn-• p,.,._ 19'<>), pp. 175~ and A M"" C.U,d Wblr,: Tbe
Autobloi,•pby of w,.¡,.,. Wbit• (New York: Vildng Pnss, 1948).
 LEONARD J. LEFF 149

Why, thcn, in 1937 did Sclznick create a G011e With tbe Wind
clerical file labclcd "The Negro Problcm"? Tbc "readings" of the
NAACP and thc black prcss given in che prccecling paragraphs bcncfit
from hindsight; in 1937, Sclznick pcrccivcd that both forces migbt vcry
well choose to mount a vigorous campaign against thc filming of G011e
Witb the Wind. The sensitivity of tbe motion-pict11re industty to any
criticism cnsurcd tbat tbe moguls or thcir policcman, the Production
Code Administrarion, would hear and perhaps evcn hccd thc voice of
organiz.ed blacks. In addition, thc movie capital's increased awarcness of
Gennany's racial persecution-thc subjcct, incidentally, of numerous
cditorials in Negro publications-madc many of ics prcdominantly Jewish
lcadcrs, Sclznick among thcm, espccially eagcr to avoid offending blacks.
In short, as the producer of G<me Witb the Wind incerpreted it, the
Negro in tbe late 193o's was poised to excn bis influence upon American
motion picrures. Sclznick's rclationships with the Production Code Ad-
miniscration and tbc black community thus not only providc a vivid in-
sight into tbe producer's craft but constitutc a barometer of Hollywood
and American black-white relations in the twilight of the Dcpression and
on the cve of the poscwar period in wbich blacks would win sorne of
thcir grcatest victories in the field of civil rights.

Atlantan Margaret Mitchell, who claimed that she was "practically

raiscd" on Tbomas Dixon's books, maintained a patemalistic view of
Negroes that was common to her time and region. As inferiors, black
people required enlightened wbite people's care. "We've always fought
for colored education," lvlitchell wrote to fcllow Georgian Susan Myrick,
"and, cvcn when [my husband) John and I were at our worse financially,
we wcre helping keep colored childrcn in schools, furnishing clothes and
carfare."' In Gone With tbe W ind, she picrured blacks as cbild.ren whose
physical and moral needs were mct by responsible white masters. The
deserving Negro appreciated thc attention; when Big Sam was reunited
with Scarlett O'Hara after the war, "bis watermelon-pink tongue lapped
out, bis whole body wiggled and bis joyful contortions were as ludicrous
as che gambolings of a mastiff" (p. 779). In a letter, Mitchell acknowl-
cdged that despite Scarlett's many fau lts she remained admirable beca use
"she loved her Negroes and looked after them" (p. 1, 2). Uncared for,
• JfugMtt Mircbdrs Gone With the Wmd L1trn1, 1916--1919, ed. Richard Ha.rwell
(New York: Mocmillan. 1976), pp. p and 173. AU subscqucnt cituions to l\litchcll's lct-
ters 211: to this ~dition.
 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

lower class Ncgrocs in Gone Witb tbe Wind became "black apcs" who
comrnitted "oucrages on women" (pp. 589 and 656). Onc evening, "a
squat black negro with shoulders and chest like a gorilla" attacked Scar-
lett during her ride home tbrough Shantytown; he was "so close that she
could smell the rank odor of him" as he ripped open her bodice and
"fumbled between her brcasts" (pp. 787-88). Under such circumsunces,
Mitchcll wrote in Gone Witb tbe Wind, the Ku Klux Klan was a "rragic
necessity" (p. 656).
Formany blacks, the novel's use of the words "nigger" and "darkey"
was as insulting as its relentlessly white point of view on Reconstruction.
Mitchell had heard the criticism of what she called "trouble-making Pro-
fessional Negroes" but insisted rhat black pcople in her rcgion-"colorcd
elevator operators, garage attendants, etc."-had read Gone Witb tbe
Wind "in large herds" and seemed "well pleased." Defending her use of
che words "darkey" and "nigger," she argued further that "nice people
in anee bellum days" referred to Negroes as "darkies" and Negroes in her
own time referred to thcmselves as "ruggers" (Letters, pp. 173-¡4, 1 39).
Thc common usage of both tertns supported her point. Webster's 1943
N e'UJ l'llter'lllltional Dictionary labeled each "colloquial" but only "nig-
ger" as "usually derogatory." The acceptability of "darkcy" was not
confined ro the South. When Sidney Howard wrote to Mitchell in No-
vember 1936, he called her book's black characters "the best written
darkies, Ido believe, in ali lirerature" (Letters, p. 93n). Clearly, not even
rhis broad-minded white Easrerncr (a friend of the NAACP's Walter
White) regarded "darkey" as patronizing.
Apparently sharing Selznick's belief that the most faithful adaptation
of Gone With tbe Wind would be the best, Howard wrotc sorne lengthy
"Preliminary Notes on a Screen Treatment" in r 936, retaining both
derogatory tertns for "Negro" as well as orher elements thar were po-
tentially offensive to the race. Howard did acknowledge, rhough, that the
introduction of rhe Ku Klux Klan was problematic: "Because of the
lynching problems we have on our hands these days, I hate to indulge in
anything whicb makes tbe lynching of a Negro in any sense sympa-
tbetic."• When Selznick received H oward's fifry-page draft, he conferred
with director George Cukor and made bis first move to balance the ledger:
he eliminated ali of the screenwriter's refcrences to the Ku Klux Klan.
Tbe men who wem fortb ro avenge che smudgc on Scarlctt's honor, Selz-

5 Howud, as quoted in Haver. p. 140-

 LEONARO J. LEFF

nick felt, did noc rcquire "long whice sheets over rhem and ... their
membership in a society as a motive." While he found little wrong wirh
che Klan of Reconstruccion, he feared rhat ics prcscnce might conscicute
an "unintentional advercisement for intolerant societies in these fascist-
ridden times" (Memo, p. 152). Yet even as Selznick worked construc-
tively to obviace a "Negro problcm," the first black response to che
filming of Miccbcll's novel was already being felc.
Negroes bcgan writing co Selznick lnremacional in carly 1937. In a
21 January 1937 lecter, Lloyd Brown, rhe sccrccary of Pitrsburgh's Negro
Youth Congress, called Gone Witb tbe Wind "a glorification of the old
rotten system of slavery, propaganda for race-hacreds and bigotry, and
incicemenc to lynching." lf rhe film were made, he wrote, the seven-
chousand-member nacional Negro Youth Congress would boycotc it,
pickec cheaters, and elicic supporr from churches, liberal institutions, and
"especially che Jewish people" to rouc irs racial incolerance. Other urban
groups, mosc of chem wichouc che Commun.isc tics of che NYC, sene
similar letters, and Selzn.ick personally read chcm. In che isolaccd world
of Hollywood, they gave hirn contacc w ich che individuals whom lacer
the NAACP and che black press would collectively represent. But since
he intended to place che film's black characters "on che right side of che
Jedger" anyway, he regarded che letters as "obviously ridiculous" and
diplomacically told bis correspondenrs as much. 8
In Sidney Howard's "Preliminary Notes," Selz.oick had neicher com-
mented on nor deleced the word "niggcr." When a Produccion Code
Adminiscration employec rcad Howard's draft in 1937, however, he
Bagged it. Incerestingly, che PCA did noc prohibir bue simply regarded
as "obviously offensive" a host of derogacory words: chink, dago, frog,
greaser, hunkie, kike, spic, wop, yid, and n.igger. Their use could creare
problems for the industry. For example, Breen heard thac Negroes had
reportedly thrown bricks at the screen in Chicago, Washington, Balti-
more, New York, and Los Angeles theacers when Lionel Barrymore had
used the word "nigger" in Carolina (1934).' Protecting Hollywood's
GBrown, Lttter to Selznick, Gone Wilb 11,e lVind Papers. Motion Picture Associ:n:ion
of America. Nt.w York City. Sclmick's rcaction mav siso be found in that colleccion:
John F. Wh,non. Lenu to Will H. Hays, 3 Febnmy' 1937.
1 lslin Auster1 Memo to Joseph l . Breen, 19 January 19171 Gon, Witb tbt Wind Pt.pers,
Motion PictUrc As:sociation of Amcria, Los Angeles. Thc rcport of brid:•throwing may
be found in Val Lewron (Selznick IntcmationaJ Pictu.res) , Memo t'O Selzniclc, 9 June 1939,
"The Negro Problem" 61cs, Go,u Witb tbe Wind Papen, David Sclmick Collcction.
Hoblitzelle Thcatre Arts Ubn.ry, Uni,·crsicy of Tci:as at Ausrin. Subscqucnt rcfcrcnces
to thcse sc¡nntc collccóons uc doc:umentcd within thc tcxt. Thc David Sclznick Col·
 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

bcst intcrcstS, Breen urgcd Selmick to rcmove the offensive term. Yet
Howard's fust draft scrccnplay retaincd it. Alluding to one of the sccnes
in which it figurcd, Breen issucd a stronger pica to Selznick in October
1 937:

H cre, and elsewhere throughout yom script, we mgc and rec-

ommend that you have nonc of the white characters refer to the
darkies as "niggen." lt sccms to us t0 be acccptable if the negro
cb.rracters use thc cxprcssion (Breen soon changed his mind on
this point]; thc word should not be put in the mouth of wbíte
pet>ple. In chis conncction you might want to givc sorne consider-
ation tO the use of thc word "darlócs."
While the industry's censorship board exerted ics influence, toward
which Selznick at first seemed impervious, black forces continued their
efforts to affect the film. In early June 1938 the NAACP's Walter White
offered ro send Selznick "reviews written by competent scholars which
point out how biased Mjss Mitchell 's presentation of the Reconstruction
Era is"¡ he urged furthermore that H oward read W. E. B. Du Bois' Black
Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 (,935), a vigorous critique of
Southem hisrory rhat anócipated the revisionists by almost a generaóon.
White apparently questioned whether Howard or Selznick could be per-
suaded by such indircct means, for he also suggested that the movie com-
pany employ "a person, prefernbly a Negro, who is qualified to check on
possible errors of factor interpretation." 8
The use of rechnical advisors on films, particularly those with
Southern themes, was standard Hollywood practice. Even black advisors
wcre not unknown. Prior ro beginning Hallelujah! ( 1929), a portrait
of thc Old South as a patriarchal society, King Vidor conferred with
James Wcldon Johnson, rhen che NAACP's executive secretary¡ Harold
Garrison, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's few Negro staff membcrs,
larer bccamc an assistanr director on the film and chus an unofficial ad-
visor.• Despite Johnson and Garrison's participation, however, Hallelu-
;ah! finally used stereotypes ro coumerpoint the cbeerful primitiveness of
rural blacks with tbeir city brothers' depravity. Grateful sirnply to be

1cetion pro'"idcd the conuacu, lcttcn, budgcts. a.nd memoranda on which this csay
w.. princip,l!y bucd. Early in my reoearch. Pro(essor G. E. Landen provided im...tuable
usistlnc:c m locaring materials. Later, at the Univezsity of Texas, Dcan George Wead.
Charlotte Cul-Mitchell. Warren Spector, Ann Laemmle, Paul M. Bailey, :ind othen lent
their '"l'P"rt. The author wishes tO thanlc them all.
• White to Selznick, 7 June ,9¡8, "The Negro Problem" 61es, Seltnick Collection.
•Crippc, pp. •n md 24¡-JJ.
 LEONARD J. LEFF

working, perhaps, Garrison hesitatcd to point out the problem. A black

production consultant from uutside a studio, as Walter Whitc rcalizcd,
might be lcss rcticcnt. Yct by mid-1938, Gonc With the Wind alrcady
had two advisors, both of thcm white. At Margarec Mitchcll's suggcstion,
Sclznick had hired Georgia journalist Susan Myrick and Civil War buff
Wilbur Kurtz co oversee the handling of matccrs Southem. "Good grief,"
Micchell had ,vritten in February 1937 to Sclz.nick's New York associate
Katharine (Kay) Brown: "[what Susan ) doesn't know about ncgroes!
Shc was raised up with them. And she ]oves and undcrstands them"
(Letters, p. 119). Twoadvisors werecompany, three might seem a crowd;
but surprisingly, Selznick appeared receptivc ro the studio's employing a
Negro consultant on Gone Witb the Wind.
Alluding to himself as a member of a persecuted minority, Sclznick
wrote to Walcer White on 20 Junc 1938 co assure him that che studio in-
tended "to engage a Negro of high standing to watch the entice treat-
mcnt of the Negrocs, thc casting of che actors for chcse roles, the dialect
that thcy use, ctcctcra, through out the picture." Sclznick's proposed
choice was Hall Johnson, whom he later hired to sing and chop cotton
for an evenrually deleted scene in Gone With the Wind." Hallelujah!
had creatcd a small demand for the leader of tne Hall Johnson Choir, in-
cluding work in such films as The Green Pastmes (1936) and S/ave Ship
( 1937), in which the group not only sang bue poruayed chained oars-
men wno committed mass suicide. Like maoy black film personalities
known to the racc's Eascern leadership, Johnson was considered, ironi-
cally, very much a Hollywood insider. Writiog back to Selz.nick, White
tacrfully suggested that someone whose field was not music but Recon-
scruction history might better serve the cause of racial harrnony. Roy
Wilkins, White's deputy, recommended Howard University dean
Charles H. Wesley, "no mere propagaodist, bue a scholar whose work
is widely respected. " 11 Sclznick thanked \Vilkins for his help and prom-
ised to be fnrthcr in touch once che production date approached. 0n the
evc of shoocing, of course, a black advisor would have vinually no in-
lluence over the script, that part of thc film-making process most ame-
nable to change. Selznick's demurral thus hines that he had begun to back
off from his intention co seek a Negro consultant.

t• Gavin Lamben, GWTW: Tbe Making of Gone Witb tbe Wifld (Boston: Littlc,
Brown. 1973), p. 70,
11 White to Selznick 15 June 1938, and Wilkins to Sclzn.ic\c, 15 July 1938, ·rthc Negro
1
Problcm• files, S.lznick CoUecóon.
1 54 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

In January 1939, almosc two wecks before filming bcgan, Selznick

concluded that he had more advisors than he nccded; "onc more will only
confuse us," he apparently told bis executivc secrctary. Yec Selznick, who
bclieved undcrstandably bue erroneously that the blond, blue-eyed
Walter White was Caucasian, did not want to antagonize thc NAACP
or provoke adverse publicity in the black prcss. Described in a Time
covcr scory (24 January 1938, p. 9) as the "spunky, dapper ... mosc
potent leader of bis race," White had access to the President, white
liberals, and black newspaper editors across the councry. Each, Sclznick
assumed, arcentively listened to him. H e is "a very imponant man," Selz-
nick's secretary wrote to Kay Brown on 9 January 1939, "and bis ill-will
could rousc a swann of bad editorials in negro journals." The memory
of che boycorcs, pickets, and injunctions against The Birtb of a Nation
and the negative publicity stirred by black people in general and che
NAACP in particular had long croubled Sclznick. He may also have
feared that White would ask thc NAACP's contacts within the Jewish
community to lean on che smdio and chus provide a nerclesome, per-
sonally cmbarrassing kind of pressure. In a letter dated 17 May 1938, the
head of the Social Justice Committec of the Central Conference of
American Rabbis had reminded Selznick that Gone With the Wind must
not provoke "anti-Negro amipathy": Hollywood must stand for social
justice "especially because most of the outstanding film-producers are
Jews." If White chose to marshal such opinion and add voices from the
organized black community, he could become a serious, potentially de-
bilitaring threat to che film's success.
Selznick rhus asked Kay Brown to tell White in person rhar alchough
the company had decided nor to employ a Negro advisor, ir had elimi-
nared che Klao from the script, added a Negro to save Scarlett from a
white renegade's attack during her ride through Shamytown, and made
the film "absolutely free of any anti-Negro propaganda." For whatever
good it would do, Selznick even suggcsted that John ("Jock") Whitney,
Selznick lmemational's New York-based board chairman, "say 'helio' "
to White. R egarded by sorne Negroes asan elitist, Whire cultivated celeb-
riries in govcmmcnt, polite sociecy, and motion picrnres, so a grceting
from socialice Whitney might have bcen well-received ar N AACP head-
quarrcrs. As it turncd out, however, the NAACP showed lirtle apparcnt
interest in extcnding its influcnce over Gone With the Wind. Following
her mid-January meeting with White, Kay Brown notcd in a frisky
memorandum to her Hollywood cohorrs that White was "a negro who
 LEONARD J. LEF•·

by virrue of being whire goes many places as a whire [but ncvcr) undcr
false colors"; des pite sorne concem about rhe probable effect of the film,
rhough, he was "complctely reassured" by Selznick's avowed intentions.
Their chummy visit ended wirh Whire's name-d.ropping "Frank" (Presi-
dent Roosevelt) aod Brown's alluding to her lunch with Paul Robcson.
"I rhink we're buddies," she coocluded, "and anticipare nothing but a
great coopera ti ve spirit from Brother Whicc." This optimistic repon must
have gready relieved Selznick.
Severa! rcasons may accounc for rhc NAACP's indiffercnce toward
Gane JVitb tbe Wind. Selznick's assuranccs perhaps hada salutary effect.
Confronted wich a lisc of alrerations already made in the script to sccurc
a measurc of digniry for thc Negro characters, White had tangible proof
of Selzoick's sincere inrention oor ro foster racial intolerance. And how-
ever naive the assumption that Negro and Jew were brorhers in suffering,
both White and Selznick may have wished ro believc it. Even more likcly,
Selznick's having sought out Whire probably aided Hollywood's cause.
White saw himself as the Roosevelt administration's main counsel on
racial matters and a spokcsman for black people everywhere. Before go-
ing to Washington, Kay Brown said, she "boned up on Mr. \Vhite" and
was "thoroughly familiar with his importance and likewise his pompos-
ity"; uodoubtedly, the warmth of her reception stemmed in part from
her having played mountain to White's Mohammed. But finally, rhe
NAACP's response probably derived frorn a combination of Whire's
general apathy toward American film and his organization's inability ro
incorporare Hollywood into its agenda of legal-judicial reform. 111-suited
to affect movies at their source and weary from rwo decades of pursuing
its bere noire, Tbe Birtb of a Nation, the NAACP simply hoped for rhe
bese from Gone iVitb tbe Wind.

The NAACP's lack of interese in Gone Witb tbe Wind left externa)
control of the work's black iniages primarily to the Producrion Code
Admitústration and rhe Negro prcss. lnside the Selznick sound stagcs,
however, were dozens of potenrial technical advisors, the film's black
acrors. Along Los Angeles' black Central Avenue, where the average man
considered the Urbao League "the upper group" and the NAACP "the
arisrocrats,""' rhc black actor enjoyed a favored scarus. lt was he or she

JI Fnok \Vlütley, a Los Angeles black pioner.r1 ts qootcd in E. Frcdcrick Andenon,

Tbe Dwtlopmn,, of ú•dmb/p and Org,mJui/on Building in rbt Bt.ck Cummuni,y of
 THE GEORGIA REV I EW

wbo had fulfilled che drcam of the pronüsed land and who wrotc in the
Los Angeles Sentinel of "Why Negroes Live Bettcr in Los Angeles."
True, many black actors were only extras: if rhcy were Jucky, they an-
swcred a "cattle cal!," worked for a day, and earned $J. 50. But others were
handsomely paid. In Slow Fade to Black, Tbomas Cripps calls a small
group of popular Negro actresses "the grmdes dames of the ghetto, a
social élite who gave without scim to belp the race while at the same time
supponing their style of life by playing tradicional roles as domestic
servants" (p. 109).
Gone Witb tbe Wind olfered particularly aruactive work to black
acrors. "Cbap named Whitc, from Florida, in to see me," technical ad-
visor Wilbur Kurtz wrotc in his Hollywood journal in Dccember 1938.
Tbis "old 'Uncle Tommer'" askcd for "a job-a bit part, if possible. Said
even a small pan in GWTW would make any actor." Numerous pcr-
fonners competed for the film's major black roles. Hattie McDanie~
wbose abundant talent seems in reuospect self-evident, vied for thc pan
of Mammy with severa! other women, including Efü.abeth McDuffie, the
White House maid recommended by Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. McDuffie's
aspirations and Mrs. Roosevelt's endorsement of them suggest tbat ar
least two intelligent women presumably sensitive to che Negro cause in
1937 objected little to M.itchell's scory, as novel or fonhcoming film. Like
bit actor White and Elizabeth McDuflie, "large herds" of black per-
formers may have excused the Negro characters' most egregious qualities
and delighted in their humor, vividness, and humanity. Salary provided
an additional incentive. "Why should I complain about mak.ing seven
thousand dollars a week playing a rnaid?" Hattie McDaniel said to her
derractors. "lf I didn't, l'd be making seven dollars a week acrually being
one."UI
Yet prior to the shooting of Gone Witb tbe Wind, Hattie McDaniel

Los Ang,les frrm, 1900 tbrougb World W..- ll (S.ntog:a, c.!.: Centwy Twcncy Onc
Pubfüblng, 198<>). pp. 71-,,.
"Rcguding salary, McOanicl probably exagguatcd to make a point: , ccording to her
17 January 1939 contnct with Sehn.ick Inmmational, she eamed $450 weckJr on Oom
Witb tht Wind-stilJ an enonnous wage for a Negro in 1939. 1n the ten~ Kunz's note
come., írom '"l"cchnical Adviser: The Aú1cing of 'Gone With thc Wind.'" ed. Richard B.
Harwdl, Tbe Atlnit11 Hütoric,d Journ11l, 1.7 (Summcr 1978), 91. Apropos of the casting of
Mammy, Mrs. Rooscvclt wrote to Kay Brown on" April 1937 asking mat Mrs. McDuffie
'"have the 2.uditfoo (she has n:qucsted]. Shc is cxttemdy capab1e and has a grcat dcal o!
histrionic abilicy" (copy of lettcr, Sel:znick Coll<Ction). McOaniel's comment on her roles
is quo~d from Donald Bogle, T<mU, Coon.r, M-ullotoe,, Mmrmies, '11td Bucks: An lnttr·
pwiw History of Bla,iu in Am,ru:m Films {New York: Vil<ing Prc,s, 1973), p. 81.
 LEONARD J. LEFF 1 57

and Osear Polk (Pork) were deeply troubled by the book's racial slurs;
according to story editor Val Lewton, the publicity director "did a grcat
dcal of work" with thcm to cool thcir anxiccy. Severa! other stories cir-
culatcd about blacks on the film's set. Supposedly, the screenplay's use
of "nigger" so disturbed those who auditioned for tbe black character
parts tbat the NAACP bad intcrested itself in secing the word dclcted
from the script and film. And, supposedly, black performers threatened
to leavc thc production unless thc sound stage lavatories wcre racially
dcsegregated. " l complained so much," ButterBy McQueen said in a 1981
intervicw, that Hattie McDanicl "wamed me that Mr. Selz.nick would
ncvcr givc me another job." Other blacks were far more obliging. In a
comment rcported to Margaret Mitchcll, Negro choir director Hall
Johnson expressed his unhappincss "that sorne of his race failed so
miserablyto understand [Gone With the Wind] and criticized the black
and white angle" of it (Letters, pp. 272-73). Publicly, even tbc dissidcnt
Osear Pollc seemcd accommodating: "As a race we should be proud that
we havc risen so far above the stanis of our enslaved ancescors and be glad
to porrray ourselves as we once were," he wrote to the Chicago Defender,
"because in no other way can wc so scrikingly demonstratc how far we
have come in so few years.""
In a collaborative art like moviemaking, in an insular town like
Hollywood, coopcration was prized. Whether S3.50 a day or $7,000 a
week, studio paychecks and the prevailing conservative climatc within
tbe film industry encouraged blacks to lend moviemakers their personas,
not thcir opírúons on racial images. A few pcople like Lena Home or
Paul Robeson made their feelings known by absenting themselves from
Hollywood, but most black performers played whatever roles they were
given. Aside from a fatal attraction to well-drawn stcreorypcs, the black
actors' willingness to actively promote an upgraded screen image was
linúted by the Hollywood caste system (racially but also econonúcally
and vocationally segregated), the ratio of many black performers to few
featured roles, and perhaps even their own desire to create a glamorous
rather than harsh portrait of themselves within ( and with the supp0rt of)
the black press. The black actors would finally exert their principal in-
H Htver, p. 250; Rolind Fbmini,Scnl,tt, Rbttt, tmd • CJUt of Tbousmds: Tb~ Filtning
of Gone W ith thc Wlnd ( New York: C.Ollier Books, 1975), p. 116; McQueeo, ,. quored
in David Ragm. "Gone With Thc \ Vind sw- sings the blues."' The Los Angeles Globe.
2.4 March 1981, n.p.; Polk tS quottd in Sus:an f\fyric.k, Wbitt Colum,u ir, 1-lol/y'WQOd:
Repom from tbe Gone With the Wind Sets, ed. Richard Huwell (Macoo, Crt.: Mc,eer
Univ, Prcss, 1981 ), p. 102,
 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

fluence over the produccion through the honesty of thcir performances

and thcir evocation oí the better qualities in Margarct Mitchcll's Negro
charactcrs.

Because of Sclznick's dcmocratic good intcntions, rcinforccd by a fear

that organi1,ed black rcsistance could jeopardizc thc film's reccption, Gl)ne
Witb tbe Wind as a scrcenplay had by early 1939 bccomc a lcss offcnsive
work to Negrocs than it had been as a novel. Selz.nick and Sidney Howard
had muted its view of Reconstruction, and their numerous small yet tell-
ing changcs-the e.xcision of the Klan, thc emphasis on Big Sam as Scar-
lett's savior, the eliminacion of shifdcss freedmcn from postwar Adanta
srreet scenes- had reduced the severity of "the Negro problem." But
Sclznick still faced pressure from two externa) forces, the Production
Code Administracion and an incrcasingly vigilant black press.
In January 1939, aftcr lihning had already bcgun, the word "nigger"
scill appeared in the scrcenplay. What the black actors and NAACP
could not or would not accomplish, the Produetiou Codc Administration
would again attempt. In its 14 January 1939 lcctcr to Selznick, the PCA
reicerated that Negrocs viewed thc word "nigger" as "highly offensive"
and would forcefully resent its use. The srudio seemed to accept Brcen's
counsel: a week later, according to a PCA memorandum of record, "Mr.
Selznick agreed not to use the word." But Margaret Mitchell, che pro-
duction's lawgiver, had frcely employed "nigger" to lend credibility to
both period and charaeter; probably for that reason alone, despite the
PCA taboo against it, Sclznick also wanted to use it. So believing that he
could evenrually persuade Breen to acccpt the derogatory word, he did
not delete it from the screcnplay. Concurrent with bur independent of
Selznick's decision to retain "nigger," the storm that had been threaten-
ing in the black press finally broke.
On 4 February 1939, the narionally circulated Pittsburgh Courier's
"Rambling Reporter," Earl Morris, wrote that Selznick's film would
"greatly retard the race." Calling the produetion's black artists "eco-
nomic slaves" who were committing "racial suicide," Morris pointed out
that the word "nigger" appeared in che script, and he urged readers to
communicare ro the PCA their disapproval of all material offensive to
black people. (Reside the arride, partially blunring its force, the Courier
published a studio portrait of Hactic McDaniel.) Five days la ter, a news-
paper only a few miles from Selz.nick Inrernational Picrurcs srridcndy at-
 LEONARD J. LEFF 159

cacked thc film. Lcon Washington, rhc black activiSt publishcr of the
Los Angeles Sentinel, wrotc a fronc-page editorial on 9 Fcbruary 1939
rhar compcnsatcd in bilc for what it lacked in accuracy. Gone Witb tbe
Wind, said Washington in " Hollywood Goes Hitler One Better," "stinks
wirh the preachment of racial inferiority." A man like Selznick, the
writer charged, should have been more sensitive to che dangers of "racc
baicing." As he had with unfriendly white merchants along Central
Avenue severa! years bcfore, Washington called for a boycott-of Gme
Witb tbe Wind "and every other Selmick picturc, prcsenc and fururc."
Though similarattacks on Gme Witb tbe Wind had bcen registered
earlicr, thosc by Morris and Washington moved Selznick to formulate a
response. Vicror Shapiro, the studio's publicity director, recommended
to Selznick that leaders of Negro groups symparhetic ro che production
"cake a hand in the handling of Mr. Leon H. Washington, Jr., rhe editor
of che Sentinel. Coming from them ic would indeed be pressure that he
would understand." Russell Birdwell, Shapiro's associare, recommended
tbat insread of dignifying such attacks with a response, Selznick Inter-
nacional should mounc a public relations campaign exclusively for rhe
Negro prcss, complete wirh bylined stories and special portraits; in
orher words, "ler our actors in 'Gone With the Wind' do our work for
us in the colored ne'w'Spapers across che country." By memorandum (10
February 1939) , Selz.nick shared his thoughts with board chairman John
vVhitney: T o counter the "very wide-spread" impression thar Gme
With the Wind was anti-Negro, Selznick considered but rejected the
notion of asking vValter White's intercession. Any head of an association,
Seb.nick wroce ro Whitney, "would find it necessary to go to such ex-
tremes, in defense of bis own position, as to complecely rob che picrure
of even ics Negro flavor." lnstead, Selznick felt thar che company shou.ld
hire rhe editor of a prominenc Negro journal as a public relations man
and seek out positive pnblicity in all-black papers, local and nacional.
Before implemencing his plan, however, Selznick took decisive action:
he delcted rhe word "nigger" from the script.
Thinkingof the Courier's 150,ooosnbscribers (and still larger read-
ership and influence), Selznick inviced Earl Morris to leam firsthand jUSt
how Gme Wi1h rhe Wind would depicc che Negro. Wbilc at Selznick
Internacional, Morris not only chatted with Russell Birdwell but observed
sorne of che lilming-and no less than Walter White, he enjoyed the
Studio's preferencial treatrneot. On 18 February 1939, Morris' fronc-page
160 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

story on Gone Witb tbe Wmd reponed the deletion of the word "nigger"
(rendered "n-r") and ali offensive referenccs to black people. The
next week, in a column datelined H ollywood and entitled "Grand Town
Day and Night," Morris bubbled with praisc for the filmmakers. A
new friend to Gone With the Wind, he rerurned to the srudio in March
to have bis photograph t11ken with production designer William Cam-
cron Menzies. He volubly assurcd the publicity dcpartment that readers
of black newspapcrs would "give us thcir blessings and pray for us
nightly! " " Morris did not neccssarily trade bis convictions for a studio
tour. O nce on the set, he saw black and white people interacting in a
manner rare outside the sound scage. Despite their servants' costumes and
applied dialects, che Negro acrors seemed the equal-at !case in vocation
and ability and perhaps in remuneration-of thcir white counterparts.
They were professionals. Based on che NAACP's silence, the limited im-
pact of Lcon Washington's attack, and che support of a nacional black
paper, Selznick may have regarded the ''Negro problem" as solved.
Less than three weeks before filming ended, Selznick wrote in a 7
June 1939 memorandum to story editor Val Lewron that "increasingly I
regret che Joss of the better negrees being able to refcr to themselves as
niggers, and ocher uses of the word nigger by onc negro talking about
another." Questioning the soundncss of having agreed to eliminare the
word, he instrucred Lewton to review the srudio's correspondence with
Negro groups in order to detemúne precisely what had been promised;
he also suggested that Lewron talk with sorne local Negro leaders. In an
articulate response, Lewton argued against restoring the word "nigger,"
citing a deluge of protest letters that rhe PCA had received about it. •• He
neverrheless agreed to investigare. While Lewton conferred wich Joe
Breen and local blacks, Selznick asked an assistant to compile a list of all
scenes common ro borh novel and film whercin Negrees rhemselves used
the rerm "nigger." Ultimately, Selznick wished to restorc the word in cwo
or three places where Negroes spoke it, and he still felt thar- like Rhett
u As quoted by Víctor Shapiro, Memo ro Sehnick, 10 March 1939, Selznick Collection.
thc Courids anides. blacks renuúned •pprchen.sh•e 1bout Gone Witb tia
st Ot$J>itc
Wind, fo spring 1939, thc Producdoo Codc Admlrustntion hcard from rwo womm·s
groupe. me Neighbomood Councils of W:uhingt011, O.C. and me Phillis Wheadey YWCA
(slso in Wuh.ingroo O.C.). Having read the novel. tbé represcntatives of these gn.,;s roors
organlutions feared tht.t ctnlin sccnes (the frcedman•s attac::k on Scadett O'Han). racial
myths (the depiction of Negro mili hands as "luy and slúfd,ss"), or derogarory expres-
sion.s ("niggu") would be echoed in the film. They wrote ro the PCA to apply indirect
pr~rc on Selmick.
 LEONARD J. LEFF 161

Butler's Code-proscribed "l don't givc a damn" linc-the Producrion

Code Administration could be persuaded to accept it. But thc ncxt day,
foUowing mcetings wich che PCA and prominent Negro architece Paul
Williams, Leweon wroec to Sclznick that howcver much ehe word's al>-
scncc dctracted from the film's dramaric or comic valuc, its use would
be "cxcremcly dangerous." Ncgroes, Williams reportcdly told Lewton,
"abhor ic and rcsent it as they resent no othcr word." Perhaps anticipat-
ing the forthcoming barde wirh thc PCA over che word "damn," Sclznick
capitulated: "Okay," he wrotc in an uocharacteristically bricf mcmo-
randwn; "we'II forgct ie."
When Kay Brown was sene to sec Walter White, thc studio gave
her chis cheerful black dramatis pcrsonac: "Mammy, who is treaccd very
lovcably and with great dignity; Uncle Petcr, who is also trcated in the
same way; Big Sam, who saves Scarlctt; Prissy, who is an amusing comedy
characcer; and Pork, who is an angel." In thc editing process, a potentially
offcnsive sccne-Scarlett's tongue-lashing of her complaining sisters and
of Mamrny and Prissy in Tara's postwar cotton paech- was rcviscd to
exclude thc black wornen. Selznick likewisc deleted a scene showing
Prissy cacing watermelon. (Thc completed film contains remnanrs of
boch sccnes. Reprirnanding his daughtcr for mistreating Mammy and
Prissy, the disoriented Gerald O 'Hara says, "You muse be firrn with in-
feriors bue you muse be gentle with thern, especially darkies." Earlier,
Prissy curs, but does not car, a watermelon.) 17 Having eliminated che
Klan and made othcr discreee omissions from ehe novel, Selz.nick be-
lieved beyond doubt thae black people had come out "on ehe righe side
of che ledger."
On ics review form for Gcme With the Wind, che Production Code
Administration noted: "The whole Negro elernent is predorninantly
sympathetic." This oflicial comrncnt seemcd to certify the production's
freedom from racial intolerance. But except for tbe drifters living in
Shantytown, the servancs were virrually the only Negro characters. The
story centered, furthermore, on their relationships wirh rheir white m:is-
ters, not their fellow blacks. As Crisis, the NAACP's joumal, observed
in its January 1940 issue: G011e With the Wind "eliminated practically
11 William Pratt, Sc,rlttt Fever: Tbe Ultim.1te Picu:,rial Trta.tUry of Gone With the
Wmd (Ncw York: Collicr Books, 1977), pp. 184-8;; and Sidney Howard, GWTW: Tbt
Scr,mp/01, ed. Richard Harwcll (New York: Macmillan, 1\)80), pp. 244-47. Orawing on
die coUection of Herb Bridges, Scarktt F,wr demoDStntes che occasionally unique value
of illustntions (puc:icubrly production and publicity stills) to the lüm schola.r.
162 THE GEORGIA REVJEW

ali thc offcnsive sccncs and dialogue so that thcrc is littlc materia~ directly
affecting Negroes as a racc, to which objccrion can be cncered" (p. 17).
Following the prenúere of Gone With tbt Wind in Dccember 1939,
rcaccion to the film's "Negro problem" ranged from the more balanced
opinions of the NAACP and black press to the vituperacive response of
thc left. Thc latter grcatly angered Selz.nick. Dc111111ciacions in The Daily
W orker and the numerous resolutions againsr the film prompted Selz-
nick to consider suing a handful of Communisr organizacions. "'The
Birth of a Naóon' and Griffith are sóll bcing attacked aftcr twenty-five
years," he wrote to Selz.nick Intemational ttcasurcr John F. Wharron on
1 2 January 1940, "and there is no rea.son to believe that for the nexr
twenry-five years this sruff won't continue on 'Gone Wirh che \Vind'
1111lcss we take stcps to pur an end ro ir." Lest bis silence give credence to
what he considered slander, he suggcsted to Wharton that he undertake
legal action. Bur as the film opencd across the co1111tty ro favorable re-
views, enormous gross receipts, and a surprisingly unconcerned reaccion
in the mainstream black prcss, Selznick was cvcncually dissuaded from
such a response. And by March 1940, when H attie McDaniel won an
Academy Award for her performance as Mammy in Go11e With the
W i11d, the film's "Negro Problem" as a focus for black cricicism had
quietly evapora.red.

Gone With the Wind proved significant for both American movies and
American blacks. The myth of Negro inferiority basic ro the novel was
weakened by the film. And in ali the blacks' performances, che Chicago
Def1111der foond considerable "Negro arcisrry." The childlike Prissy
(played by Bucterfly McQueen) drew nocice for her humor, and fawning
Big Sam (Everett Brown) for his compassion. Though the Pittsburgh
Courier chasrised Selznick for depicóng ali blacks as "happy house ser-
vants and 1111thinking, hapless clods," ic had high praise for Hattie Mc-
Daniel. To Co111monweal's Philip Harrung, whose opinion of che black
actors was reprcsentative of ocher reviewers, McDaniel was "perfect." ••
Ar once matriarchal in her disciplining of Sc:arlett O 'Hara, girlish in her
red petricoat, and utterly humane in her pleading with Melanie after
Rhe,tt's daughter has died, she portrayed Mammy with warmth and
11 Thc Defender and the Courkr cimions may be found in John D. S<evens, ''lñe Block
Reaction To Gone Wit.b tbe Win.d," fournal of Popular Film. i (1973). 367; Hartung,
s
• 19¡9-All Gone, Gone With the Wind," Commonw,4', Januuy 1940, p. 146.
 LEONARD J. LEFF

dignity. Most important, audieoccs recogoizcd the qualitics of both char-

acter and actress. Whatcvcr stcreotypes clung to thc film's servants wcre
thus mitigatcd by the performers' obvious display of craft, a point amply
implied by both whitc and black critics.
But in two vcry specific ways Gone Witb tbe Wind affected Amer-
ican film history. Partially as a result of Selznick's vacillation on the word
"nigger," the Motioo Pícrure Assocíation's Board of Directors voted to
transfer the PCA list of derogatory ethnic terms from the quasi-official
"black book" into the published Code. The effect was to formaliz.e and
broadcast to its prívate and legislativc warchdogs an iodustry-wide pro-
scription against thc indiscriminate use of "nigger." Tbe enom1ous suc-
cess of thc film also worked to thc black community's advancage. Sincc
Gone }Vitb tbc Wind was the film to end ali Southern plantation films,
it virroally halted che producrion of regressive movies within the gerue.
Furthermore, with Gone Witb the Wind as precedent 2nd shifting ac-
titudes during World War II as stimulus, writers, direcrors, and pro-
ducers slíghtly broadened the range of black supporting roles, from
Bogart's sidckick Dooley Wilson in Casablanca ( 1942) to the lifeboat
passcngers' fcllow survivor Canada Lee in Lifeboat (1943).'"
If Gone Witb the Wind proved usefol to the black people's struggle
for cqualicy, there is a final irony. As a Jew, Selznick never ceased com-
paring che oppression of the Negro to che plight of his own people. Yet
except within the Communist Party, where che two met in a spirit of
unity if not absolute honesty, che Negro and the Jew frequendy clashed.
In a November 1941 story in the Chicago Defender, Chandler Owen al-
leged that Negrocs commonly said " H itler did one good thíng: he put
these Jews in thcir place.""' Pare of rhe animus may have resulrcd from
black resentment of the Jews' relacively easier assimilarion into Ameri-
can culture. Though a "Jewish Problem," l.ike a "N egro Problem,"
existed, the Negro's color prevented his ever beíng invisibly absorbed
into the center of the American experience. David Selzníck was not
blind to color; neíthe.r did he, despite his sincericy, fully understand the
implications of his oftcn-uscd phrase "racial intolerance." Yec as Thomas
19 Cripps, "Winds of Change," in Reconing: Gone With the \Vind in Amfflcirn Culture,
cd. Dar<kn Asbury Pyron (Miaml : Univ. Presscs of Florida, 1983), p. 86; scc a1so Cripps,
"Polirics of Ar,." Slow Fade to 8/ack, pp. ¡,w-8<;,.
to As quotcd in Robcrt G. \,Veisbord a.nd Anhur S<ein. BilleN'tIMet Enco1mu1': Tbe
Afro--Amn-ican a:tul tbe American Je-w (\1/estporc. Conn.: Negro Universities Press,
,9¡o) . p. 59·
 THE GEORGIA REVIEW

Cripps reccntly noted, the more rounded charactcrs and vibrant per-
formanccs of Negroes in Selznick's Gone With the Wind "cncouraged
the liberal cxpcctation that individual blacks might also lind a place along-
sidc whites in the American drcam of success and sclf-fullillment." 11
Though thc lilm's resolution of the "Negro Problcm" may bave done
little to reduce existing racial prejudice, it had- however inadvenently-
facilitated the entty of blacks in wider roles, not only in motion pictutcs,
but in American society.

•• Cripps, "Winds of a.auge," p. 8s.