4054

Margaret Mitchell

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Margaret Mitchell

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Auction Date:2016 Feb 18 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS signed “Margaret Mitchell Marsh,” two pages, 7 x 10.75, personal letterhead, February 19, 1940. Letter to Robert Saltmarsh, a New Bedford, Massachusetts bookseller, in full: “There was no need for you to recall yourself and your 1936 letter to me; I remember it with too much pleasure to forget it. I have a good memory for handwriting and when I saw the address on your recent letter and the New Bedford postmark, I said to my husband, 'I know this is a letter from Mr. Saltmarsh.' (You see, my married name is Marsh and the association of names helped yours to stick in my mind.) And, sure enough, it was from you. Thank you so much for writing me again about the book and the picture, and thank you, too, for the hospitable invitation to visit which you sent us. As to the invitation—it sounds most enticing but I do not know when we can accept it. I am just out of the hospital for abdominal adhesions and, while I have done extraordinarily well, my doctor wishes me to take things easily for a very long time—not so much because of the operation but because the last three and a half years have been strenuous ones and he thinks I need rest and quiet at home. Life has been so rushed and packed in the last few years that I have managed only two trips North. Last June I was in Northampton for a day to receive an honorary Master of Arts degree, which made me very proud and happy. I wanted so much to spend a month in New England, but the pressure of business matters at home made me return immediately. I hope, now that the moving picture of 'Gone With the Wind' has been released, my life will quiet down and during the next year I will be able to enjoy the normal things of life, such as traveling about in a leisurely manner. Atlanta had a three-day celebration of the premiere of 'Gone With the Wind.' Everyone seemed to enjoy it very much and many people have gone to see the picture three or four times. It is finishing its tenth week and closing in a few days. I hope to be able to see it again myself. I have read some of the New England papers about the picture and, while I had nothing to do with the production, I could not only help feeling pleased that people outside of the South enjoyed it too. I will never forget your pre-publication kindness about my book and it was a pleasure to hear from you again. I hope some day that I will be in New England and will meet you and Mrs. Saltmarsh.” In fine condition, with show-through from toned tape remnants to reverse of second page.

The film adaptation of Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta at Loew’s Grand Theatre on December 15, 1939, capping off a three-day festival of events that included parades, galas, and the declaration of an official state holiday for GWTW. Although an estimated 300,000 people crowded the streets on the eve of the premiere, the festivity was marred when Georgia’s prevailing Jim Crow laws prevented the African American cast members from taking part; leading man Clark Gable threatened to boycott the premiere, but ultimately relented when actress Hattie McDaniel—who became the first African American to win an Oscar—convinced the actor to show. Mitchell attended the ceremony and received a rousing ovation when she was escorted to the stage by Clark prior to the screening. The film was released nationally to strong reviews and packed theaters on January 17, 1940, riding its wave of popularity well into the awards season and subsequently earning a then-record ten Academy Awards. Mitchell’s celebrity lasted the remainder of her life, though she tried to stay out of the public eye, traveling as she saw fit, and supporting a variety of philanthropic pursuits.