Sometimes it’s humiliating what the world has done with our film history. Horror stories abound about the poor preservation and disposal of film prints of movies like Lawrence of Arabia, and of course the more famous examples with Metropolis and The Magnificent Ambersons.
One historian is trying to rectify the legacy of another landmark film, Gone With the Wind. Peter Bonner, a historian and Gone With the Wind tour guide in Atlanta, recently came across the forgotten pieces to the movie set of Scarlett O’Hara’s famous plantation home “Tara”.
The set from the film was eventually dismantled, sold from Selznick Studios to Desi Arnaz and later shipped to Georgia, where it has now been rotting in storage for nearly three decades.
The Daily Mail reported on Sunday about Bonner’s efforts to restore the many pieces to Tara and make it available for tours. Bonner’s Facebook page, Saving Tara, includes photos of the set and details about his other Gone With the Wind tour, Historical and Hysterical Tours. Some portions of the set have already been rebuilt and are on display as part of Bonner’s tour.
According to the New York Daily News, the set was originally intended to be used for showcasing around the time of its shipment in 1959, but Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell vetoed the rights for the book’s licensing to be used for promotional purposes. After its purchase by Betty Talmadge, one of the famous pieces from the movie, the set’s doors, now sits in the Margaret Mitchell museum.
Bonner has also provided a video taking you through some of the many poorly labeled and jumbled pieces to Tara, explaining that their dilapidated state is partly the work of the original set dressers in making Tara look run down following the war as part of the movie.
The situation may look somewhat bleak for Tara, but after all, tomorrow is another day.