Friday, July 3, 2009

Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind


Of all my recent columns on various “weighty” topics – I really liked this little ditty of a column… I always enjoy reading and learning about the story behind the story and I especially enjoy learning more about the circumstances which a writer was experiencing when a particular story was written…

Some of my favorite writer vignettes from the past are:

R.I.P. Tony Snow: “Last Saturday former White House press secretary, Fox News commentator and well-known columnist, Tony Snow, died of cancer at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. He was but 53 years old…”

Jim McKay, “Last Tuesday morning the spotlight of the sports world was focused on the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore as folks came together to pay their last respects to Maryland’s own Jim McKay.

“Mr. McKay passed away last Saturday on his horse farm in Monkton, in northern Baltimore County. He was 86 years-old.

“For many of us who grew up watching early television, Mr. McKay was one of the first recognizable television celebrities in our lives.

“One of the driving forces of television in its infancy was sports programming and many a youngster learned manners, poise, integrity, and speaking skills from Mr. McKay…”

Who was Oriana Fallaci? October 15, 2006 “On September 15, Oriana Fallaci, the Italian lioness of letters, died of cancer.

Although Ms. Fallaci was one of the world’s greatest artists of letters; she is today, relatively unknown in the United States.

“A prolific – quite controversial - journalist and existential writer with an aggressive and indefatigable approach to life, she had been shot several times and left for dead, had torrid affairs and put on trial.

“She never skipped a beat…”

Playing Chess with God August 8, 2007 “Last week the art world of cinematography lost two of its great artisans in one day. On July 30 Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and Italian modernist film director Michelangelo Antonioni passed away.

“Both directors, in their own, but different and often controversial, methodology, helped bring the world of the big screen to an elevated appreciation in the world of art, at a pivotal moment when film was in its awkward adolescent years. They proved that the art of film could be as meaningful, relevant, and poetic as literature.

“Their loss is the endnote of a bygone era of gravitas only matched by the likes of Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder – all now gone…”

Gordon Parks - An American Cultural Icon passes Away at 93 April 5, 2006 “A tribute to the life of a man, in which love, dignity and hard work overcome hatred and bigotry. Last month on March 7, a cultural icon and one of America’s greatest artists, Gordon Parks, passed away at the too-young age of 93, in Manhattan…”

DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind By Kevin Dayhoff, Posted on www.explorecarroll.com 7/02/09

On June 30, 1936 the epic novel by Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell, “Gone with the Wind,” was first published. Most everyone is familiar with the story by either reading the book or watching the 1939 movie, which starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

Certainly Mitchell’s book is fascinating enough, but what has always been of particular interest to me is the life and times of Mitchell, and the story of how she wrote the famous novel.

So the other morning, when Garrison Keillor featured Mitchell in his “The Writer’s Almanac,” on WAMU, I found myself hanging on every word. (Of course, no one tells a story like Keillor.)

[…]

Read the entire column here: DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kevindayhoff AT gmail.com or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/.

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Posted by Kevin Earl Dayhoff at
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