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  • Raised by opera-loving parents in a rock ’n’ roll world, Rich Copley has parlayed his broad interests into his career writing about arts and entertainment. Since 1998, he has covered performing arts, film and faith-based popular culture for the Lexington Herald-Leader, the daily newspaper in Lexington, Ky. It’s a pretty broad beat, but Rich delights in finding influences of the past in the present and showing fine arts fans the value of pop culture, and vice versa. ~ Copious Notes is a blog covering that broad spectrum. If you want to read about specific areas of interest, such as theater or opera, click on one of the categories to the right and you will be whisked away to all posts in that category. Also, look around the blog for links; multimedia items such as photo albums, videos, and interviews with artists; and other nuggets. Have fun, and thanks for dropping in. The header for this blog was designed by Danny Kelly and the illustration was drawn by Camille Weber.

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June 10, 2008

Summer classic: 'Gone with the Wind'

Gone with the Wind Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel's Mammy (right) had the great lines to put Vivian Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara (left) in her place.

Gone with the Wind:

Gripping drama!

Torrid romance!

Comedy?

No, we don't normally associate the 1939 classic with a good laugh, but screening the movie for the first time in several years brought forth a steady stream of chuckles.

Yes, some of it was over cheese, beginning with the credits: "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has the honor of presenting in Technicolor, Margaret Mitchell's story of the old South . . . " Oh, puh-leeze.

But some of it also was due to witty writing by a panel of scribes including Ben Hecht, portrayed penning the script in Actors Guild of Lexington's recent production of Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight and Magnolias.

Many of those great lines went to history maker Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award, as Mammy, drama queen Scarlett O'Hara's wise attendant:

~ "You know what trouble I's talkin' 'bout. Mr. Ashley be comin' to Atlanta when he gets his leave, and you sittin' there waitin' for him, just like a spider."

~ "You can always tell a lady by the way she eats in front of folks like a bird and I ain't aimin' for you to go to Mr. John Wilkes' and eat like a field hand and gobble like a hog!"

Of course, there was also Scarlett's contentious love, Rhett Butler:

~ "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."

~ (After nearly getting hit in the head by Scarlett's thrown vase) "Has the war started?"

~ "Tell me, Scarlett, do you never shrink from marrying men you don't love?"

The beautiful thing about Mammy and Rhett was that they both had queen bee Scarlett's number and weren't afraid to let her know. It was fun and somewhat beautiful. Of course, Scarlett had her lines too.

"Fiddle-dee-dee."

Fiddle-dee-dee indeed. Catch GWTW at the Kentucky Theatre Classics series at 1:30 and 7:15 p.m. today. Enjoy the drama, the romance, and don't forget to laugh.

The quotes in this post were found at the Internet Movie Database.

Posted at 08:52 PM in Film |

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