"Great balls of fire! Don't bother me anymore, and don't call me sugar."

This month is Vivien Leigh month over on TCM. I think she's the most beautiful women in film history; maybe the most beautiful woman that has ever existed, and Scarlett is my all-time favorite movie character. I probably identify a little too much with her tantrums and attitude. When I was a little girl, I was so proud that I could raise my eyebrow just like Scarlett right before she throws her parasol on the floor and gets down to eating her breakfast so she won't "gobble like a hog" at the Wilkes' barbecue.

The "Eyebrow"

Gone With the Wind gets a bad rap for racism and sexism, and probably rightly so. But I give it a pass for being made in 1939, when the world was very different. There's just something special about it that I can't deny. It's probably largely because it's part of some of my earliest memories of my mom and the love of it is one of the few things we've always shared. She named me after Ms Leigh, so I know it's held a place in her heart since she was a girl, too.

I have more family ties with the movie. Back in the mid-nineties, my Grandpa Jack was the first in my family to really get into computers. He had internet access long before we even started thinking about it. He was always showing us newfangled stuff like "email" and "chat rooms," and was savvy enough to start internet shopping at a time when it was really just taking off. 

For my eighteenth birthday, I received a card with a small color print-out inside of Rhett and Scarlett's iconic "kiss" when she agrees to marry him. The card informed me that I would be receiving a piece of the original film (from the cutting room floor I'm sure, back when it was literally a "cutting room"). A few weeks later, the tiny strip of film, encased in glass and matted with the photo below, showed up in the mail. To this day, it's my most prized possession. I have no idea if it's even worth any money, and it doesn't matter. Grandpa Jack died just a few years later, and every time I look at that frame it always reminds me of what true thoughtfulness really is.

Clark's hair is very shiny

 ...But wait, there's more! If you're still with me, you'll now get to hear about the time my step-dad spent hours taping off both parts of the movie onto VHS (this was back when it cost about $75 to purchase) for my 16th birthday. My step-dad and I were not the best of friends at the time, to put it mildly, so this gesture meant a lot. Although I now have the real copies on both VHS and DVD, I'll always treasure that old VHS tape with the handwritten message on the white Memorex sticker.

Ostensibly, the point to all this rambling is that TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is airing the full movie, including the overture and intermission scores, at 7:00 Central time on Tuesday the 14th. If you don't watch TCM regularly, you should. They air all the classics, along with little-known gems and tons of documentary style features on actors, directors, and the films themselves. Every month they have a "Star of the Month" where they play all of that person's films and have other famous people blather on about them. They also air every movie completely commercial-free. It's great. So that's my plug, and if you've never seen GWTW, now's your chance. It's a huge piece of film and a little piece of my history.

"I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist..."