"Gone With the Wind" wins a record 8 Academy Awards 1940

Gone With the Wind, Victor Fleming's epic and now iconic WWII film, set several records at the 12th Academy Awards ceremony February 27, 1940.  Some of the records have been broken but at the time, they were significant.  

Gone With the Wind was nominated for 13 awards and won 8 of them. The biggest win was Hattie McDaniel for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy.  She is the first African American actor to receive an Oscar, beating the likes of Olivia de Havilland and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

Gone With the Wind won Outstanding Production (Best Picture) and Best Director for Victor Fleming.  Vivien Leigh won Best Actress, beating Bette Davis, Great Garbo, and Greer Garson.  Sidney Howard was posthumously awarded Best Screenplay.  Lyle R. Wheeler won Best Art Direction.  Best Film Editing went to Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom. Best Cinematography, Color went to Ernest Haller and Rennahan. It was the first year the cinematography category had been split into Color and Black and White.

The film was nominated for Best Actor for Clark Gable.  Olivia de Havilland was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  Max Steiner was nominated for Best Original Score.  This was the first year an award for Best Special Effects was given, and Gone With the Wind was nominated for that Category but lost to The Rains Came.

William Cameron Menzies was given an honorary award for his outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone With the Wind.

The Wizard of Oz came up with 6 nominations and took home only two.  Herbert Stothart won for Best Original Score.  Over the Rainbow, written by Yip Harburg and music by Harold Arlen, won Best Song.

It was nominated for Outstanding Production, Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. Judy Garland was given the Academy Juvenile Award.  

Margaret Hamilton, aka the Wicked Witch of the West, born 1902

Margaret Hamilton, born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, is fondly remembered for her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz.  Although she played a mean witch, Hamilton was known to love children, an advocate for animal rights, and generally loved by casts and crews.  

Her role as the Wicked Witch of the West was ranked as #4 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 years of the Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

She passed away in May 1985 of a heart attack. 

L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wizard Of Oz", born 1856

Lyman Frank Baum, born May 15, 1856, is best known by his pen name L. Frank Baum.  He is also well-known for his series of  books based on The Wizard of Oz, which included 18 novels altogether, the final three installments, The Magic of Oz (1919), Glinda of Oz (1920) and the Royal Book of Oz (1921) were published posthumously.

He passed away May 6, 1919 at age 62 after suffering a stroke and slipping into a coma the previous day.  Over a hundred years later, his legacy of The Wizard of Oz shows no sign of stopping.

"The Wizard of Oz" turns 76 today!

 

Today marks the 76^th anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz, one of the best movies ever in the history of the universe.  Some of its dialogue and action may seem kind of hokey nowadays, but it is still a refreshing piece of art to watch, among all the CGI-packed, profanity-packed and sex-packed crap currently on the screen.  The Wizard of Oz has just about everything for good ol’ movie making:  lavish sets, great costumes, catchy tunes and lines, an antagonist who seems to have all the cards in her favor.

Years ago, I read The Making of the Wizard of Oz by Aljean Harmetz, written after most of the actors from the movie had passed on.  Margaret Hamilton was the only surviving cast member and Harmetz based much of her story on the testimony of Hamilton.  It didn’t seem like Hamilton had any argument with fellow cast-mates or grievances to air, but one does wonder what, if anything, would be different had Harmetz been able to interview Judy Garland, Bert Lahr or Ray Bolger.  From all the problems and changes that were made during its production, it’s a miracle the movie was ever completed.

 

My favorite part is the tornado scene.