Georgia — Hollywood Won’t Really Leave

Hollywood and Georgia have disagreed before. Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick thought it would be a publicity coup to hold the December 15, 1939, premiere of his epic in Atlanta. But Atlanta was segregated, and blacks weren’t allowed in the Loew’s Grand theater. Selznick, sensing parallels between Jim Crow and burning anti-Semitism in Europe, was outraged. Clark Gable threatened to boycott the premiere if his friend and co-star Hattie McDaniel wasn’t welcomed there.

And both caved.

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Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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Hollywood and Georgia have disagreed before. Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick thought it would be a publicity coup to hold the December 15, 1939, premiere of his epic in Atlanta. But Atlanta was segregated, and blacks weren’t allowed in the Loew’s Grand theater. Selznick, sensing parallels between Jim Crow and burning anti-Semitism in Europe, was outraged. Clark Gable threatened to boycott the premiere if his friend and co-star Hattie McDaniel wasn’t welcomed there.

And both caved.