Gone With The Wind

Television screen shot taken with my phone explains the poor quality

   I was watching Gone With The Wind with my twenty year old niece.  She had never seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, for as many times as I've watched that movie and even attended two GWTW costume balls in Atlanta and consider myself a Windie, that night was the first time I noticed the writing, arched over the front door of the church which reads: Peace be Within Thy Walls. As I've learned from my research, a church and its pews were/are sometimes used as beds for make-shift hospitals in times of war and crisis. How perfect to find these words in a house of love. Yet, it's very ironic that peace is so far away, during that gruesome and very sad time in our country. 

Gone With The Wind Red Dress Discovery

Hey to all you Windies out there aka "fan-atics" about Gone With The Wind , like me. That whole romantically themed book is, in part, what inspired me to write historical novels set in the deep South. Well, whether you've seen the movie once or twenty times, I don't know if you've ever seen the back of Scarlett's famous red dress. You know, the one she wears to Ashley's party? When she enters Melanie's front door, the camera shot is only from the front.  I came across this wonderful photo of the back of the dress on Facebook. It comes from the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, in Austin Texas.  ( Click here for more on the wonderful costumes in their GWTW exhibition:  Harry Ransom Center As you study the photo on the right, notice the gathered bustle,looks to be velvet, the few scattered crystals, all the feathers and if you click on the link above for more pictures, you'll see it had a train, too!

Did I ever mention that, when I grow up,  I want to be a period costume designer?