"Margaret Mitchell Anyone?"

The proprietor of the Pond is currently reading GWTW, as chronicled in earlier forays into the infantile. Great reading, imho. And what a story!

Anyone who wants to get a feel for Southern Culture or to understand Southern Culture, this is the book to read. I wish I had read it years ago like during my teen years or young adulthood. It is incredble at this stage in my life to understand finally the culture from whence I came.

It should be required reading in schools. But because of the way the black slave is treated and the language used concerning them and the stereotypes, it ain't gonna happen.

What I have learned!

1) Women were thought to be inferior, especially when it came to business. And mathematics and fractions.

2) Women were thought to be scared and timid creatures.

3) A good southerner had to be careful about "what the neighbors might think!"

4) A man living off a woman was unpardonable.

5) Blacks like to bring bad news. I sensed this all the years I worked in the food biz with African-Americans.

There are more, but I'm writing this off the cuff. With no notes. I'm at the stage of the novel where Scarlett has married Mr. Kennedy, so she can save Tara. And Rhett has just told her he has half a million dollars stashed away in-where else-but Liverpool, England. But it's a bit too late for the duo to marry. Tara needed saving, and Rhett was in jail awaiting to be hanged for killing an uppity negro. ( Exhibit A for no required reading in government schools. If I were black, it would be hard for me to read it.

I really have learned more about my southern heritage. I see where it all originated. It has been enlightening, to say the least.

I'm ready for tonight's installment, so the proprietor of the Pond sends a hearty, southern farewell and adieu, v.c.

P.S. The edition I am reading is from the 70's. Over 20 million people had read it by then. And no telling how many have seen the movie. Certainly the most watched film of all time. I once saw a documentary on the making of the film. How David O. Selznick fired the gay director, Victor Fleming, and replaced him with a man's man, George Cukor, with whom Clark Gable identified. Vivien Leigh enjoyed Fleming and wanted him to stay.

However, Cukor has a nervous breakdown while filming, because of the many days and nights of filming and rewrites. Even Selznick takes a turn to keep the film on course. Cukor did return to finish the film. Ironically, Fleming is credited with the direction.

Even with all the chaos the film is undoubtedly one of the finest movies ever made. Once I'm finished with the book, I definitely want to see the movie. Again.

P.S.S. Fiddle dee dee