Living history performer and writer Debra Conner portraying Margaret Mitchell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gone with the Wind. Conner, who resides nearby in Parkersburg, W.Va., has performed previously with the Ohio Humanities Council and is part of the Ohio Arts Council’s Arts in Education program. She is part of Ohio Chautauqua Living history performer's.
Gone with the Wind fun fact... Originally the main character’s name was Pansy and titles considered for the novel itself included “Tomorrow is Another Day,” “Bugles Sang True,” “Not in Our Stars,” “Ba! Ba! Black Sheep,” and “Tote the Weary Load.
Did you know... Over 1,400 actresses were interviewed for the coveted role of Scarlet O'Hara.
People were disappointed that they finally chose an English woman for Scarlet, but they thought that was much better than a Yankee.
Clark Gable took the role as Rhett Butler because he needed a lot of money to divorce his wife to be with Carol Lombard.
Margaret Mitchell knew very little about Civil War battles ..she based her book on stories from Uncles and her Grandfather and much of the homes and settings are based on homes in her neighborhood. One story was of the hardships of women during the Ciivil War, who had to wear shoes made from carpet.
Margaret Mitchell's grandfather was shot and carried his wounded cousin to a hospital before he returned home. He went on to have 12 children and invested heavily in real estate.
Margaret Mitchell was not anxious to have her novel published. She typed it up and had it in various place of the house...including one set of chapters under a lopsided chair.
Daryl Zanuck , producer of the movie, paid a five thousand dollar fine in order to keep the line.Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn ! It appeared on page 1,006 in the book.
Here I am interviewing Debra Connor before she changed into her character of Margaret Mitchell. She drove up from West Virginia.
Our gang at the Women's History Dinner...seated Linda Marchese, Patty Leopardi Knepp, Carolyn Furrie, Anita Homilitas, Gina Bianco, Kathy Dicristofaro and Janet Ranalli.
Dorothy Fuldheim was a famous news broadcaster. She traveled the area doing talks to groups , including my mother's commencement in 41 or 42 for Niles McKinley High School. It was the first class to graduate from the new high school. Dorothy was a Jewish young girl in Germany when she heard a man speaking in the town square and talking against Jews. She later learned his name was Hitler. Another lady in the audience said her mother-in-law was in that class and she got in trouble for saying "tank you' to Dorothy at the end of the speech...Dorothy talked a lot about WWII and the tanks.
Jacqueline Kennedy
Here I am with the actress Carol Starre Kmiecik . She portrays Jacqueline Kennedy
Here are my notes from her speech.
Jackie studied in France , spoke fluent French and Italian, she was having too much fun there so her parents had her return to DC for her SR YR.\
Bouvier was hired as "Inquiring Photographer" for The Washington Times-Herald. The position required her to pose witty questions to individuals chosen at random on the street and take their pictures to be published in the newspaper alongside selected quotations from their responses. During this time, she was engaged to a young stock broker, John Husted, for three months.In 1952 she dated State Rep. Jack Kennedy but he never called back/ Jackie sent to London to cover the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and Jack Kennedy contacted her there/engagement was officially announced on June 25, 1953 / Married in September of 53
Shortly after they were married. There were 1300 guests but her father never came to the ceremony….her mother paid someone to get him drunk and detain him so that Hugh Auchincloss could give Jackie away and hold the spotlight at the wedding.She thought the Kennedy’s were strange.. The girls played football at their family gatherings. Jackie and Joe Kennedy (Jack’s father) were good friends, however Jackie thought Rose Kennedy was a brainless dinosaur . She was also uncomfortable with them because they were Democrats and the Auchincloss family was Republican.
Jackie suffered a miscarriage in 1955 in their first year of marriage and JFK had back surgery. He also wrote Profiles In Courage which is said to have been primarily written by Jackie. Jackie gave birth to a stillborn baby girl ,Arabella, in 1956 while JFK was on a cruise with Angie Dickinson. Jackie was infuriated and wanted a divorce, but Jos. Kennedy offered her one million dollars to remain in the marriage .Jackie gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John, in 1960, both via Caesarian section.Jackie was pregnant with John throughout the presidential campaign, and gave birth two weeks after JFK won the election.Three years after John Jr. was born, Jacqueline gave birth to a premature son in an emergency caesarean section.Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born on August 7, 1963 who died two days later of lung and breathing complications. All the while Jackie remained a chain smoker , smoking from dusk till dawn.
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