Retracing the footsteps of Gone With the Wind

Retracing the footsteps of Gone With the Wind in 1972

I have my own memories of these sets since I wasn’t old enough to have been there in 1938, when the rats took over the neighborhoods of Culver City, frightened from this massive burning of Atlanta. Residents still remember the creature’s exiling the backlot.

I first visited these former Gone with the Wind sets back in 1972, as a trespasser, where only the streets of Atlanta remained. Long gone was the Tara Mansion and just before my first visit to the 40 Acres Backlot, the famous Train Depot, where thousands of Confederate soldiers lay dying in street.

This weathering time capsule of a backlot, which was once rented out to David O. Selznick, still had a vibe from that movie 30 years later. You could still feel the horses and urgency from those scenes’ decades later, especially inside these buildings. The inside never got facelifts like the outside. You can stand in a doorway that has not changed, and imagine with all your senses, the sounds of racing hooves and the smell of horses, the sounds of struggle as carriage after carriage roll by in fear of a battle brewing.

All my friends and I know these streets we coerce almost every day are loaded with a deep rich history. The dust from the stage coaches and war sequences is plastered over windows you can barely see out. Floor boards creak and crack as if all this action just took place. Rope still hangs everywhere in knots that are close to 50 years old now, just withering in the wind…what was on the other end of this hemp is long gone now.

Old signs get thrown inside to fade away, sign replacement is a set decoration’s number one fix, so your mind puts you in Mayberry, not the Atlanta Mercantile Company. Old stuff that collectors today would eat up, sat rotting in these old buildings. We saw stuff that we too left behind -that I kick myself to this day for not taking.

All these buildings are just front half’s, wide open in the backsides. The backside has not changed a bit since 1938, it’s a doorway back in time, through which the actors would emerge in those marvelous costumes, each and every one on this street.

There is very little which remains of the sets from this historic movie. What’s left of Tara is located in a warehouse in Georgia, waiting to be reassembled to its former glory. The only set which remained at The Culver Studios, until recently, was the stained glass from the church, which was unknowingly thrown in the trash. Collectors and movie enthusiast seem to have a greater desire to preserve these items than the studios themselves.

It was an honor to once walk the sreets built by David O. Selznick, but my only regret is not taking more pictures and not rescuing more “souvenirs” from this playground of all playgrounds. Film was expensive and developing was more costly, for a just turned teenager.

No other movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood has had a following like Gone With the Wind. Today, you can see Christmas ornaments, plates, blankets, posters, dolls, etc. still being made and sold in department and online stores. The film has been re-released 8 times and adjusted for inflation, it’s the most successful film in Hollywood history at 3.4 billion dollars.

 “Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow”. Unfortunately, most of these historic backlots have too, taken their last bow. “Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave”. And due to the subject sensitivity, it’s a movie that today, could never be made. It would never pass the building inspector, yet its critics are not ready to tear it down. But when they do, you’ll have to…. “Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization Gone with the Wind…”

Written and lived by Donnie Norden

This house was located on Peachtree Street (40 Acres Backlot) and seen here in the film as Rhett and Scarlett take a stroll with Bonnie Blue.

Another picture I took in 73 of the former GWTW sets with a still from the movie. Many of the facades had changed in 30 years.

Tara location before and after. Interestingly, the bricks which I do not believe are from Tara have the same brick molding (debris farthest to the right) as the top of the columns in the main picture.

A picture I took facing the area of King Kong’s gate where the burning of Atlanta was filmed.

A picture I took of what’s left of the Atlanta Railroad Depot when I arrived.

A picture took in 73′ looking toward the Atlanta Examiner, with a still from Pax Son from the making of the movie.

Here’s a rare Scarlett Perfume advertisement (Window Card) from 1940 and empty perfume bottle. This is one of hundreds of different promotional items sold when the movie first came out. The fragrances on the 40 Acres Ranch at this time were Liquorice Plants, Mint Leafs, Horses, Wood and Dirt… Ranch perfume!

Our damsel in distress in the exodus from Atlanta. In the picture I took on the right, only the brick building remains the same.

A picture from Pax Son next to a picture I took while up in the Church Tower in 73′.

Inside the Atlanta Train Depot 1939 and 30 years later.

Gone are many of the famous stages used in GWTW, which were removed by Amazon.

Unlike the sound stages in the rear, not much has changed to the main office!

A rare rear shot of Tara taken on the corner of Lucerne & Higuera and the same angle today.

A three picture progression of the 40 Acres Backlot taken 30 years apart.

For more backlot adventures, check out my book on Amazon.com