Roughly 300 hoi polloi were lined up outside B. Dalton Bookstore in Atlanta , Georgia , anxiouslywaitingfor the store to open at midnight . Once at bottom , they were greeted by employees have on costumes that harken to the antebellum South , wait on pecan fancy woman and raft julep punch . The theatrics were junior-grade to the veridical drawing card : Customers made a beeline for the store ’s exhibit ofScarlett , an 823 - page tome that was look to be the publication sensation of the crepuscle , if not the decade .
“ I just have to see what happens to Scarlett , ” one referee proclaim , bear the $ 24.95 novel off to the register .
Scarlett was Scarlett O’Hara , the heroine of one of the most popular — and controversial — work of the 1930s . Gone With the Windwas an epic love story set against the background of the Civil War . The 1936 leger by Margaret Mitchell earned a Pulitzer Prize ; the 1939film versionwon multiple Academy Awards . Mitchell hadswornoff writing any continuation , yet here it was : the continuing escapade of Scarlett and beau Rhett Butler , make a belated reaching in 1991 .
Everyone involved inScarlettknew the risk of exposure — a follow - up toGone With the Windwas needs going to be harshly critiqued . But the heirs to the Mitchell estate had good reason for attempting it . So did Alexandra Ripley , the generator who those same estate handlers had handpicked to envisage what aliveness would be like for Scarlett and her suitors .
Judging from the communication channel outside B. Dalton , the risky wager was about to pay off . But not everyone gambling on aGone With the Windsequel would have a happy ending . Asonereader put it , “ Tomorrow is here , and it ’s just manifestly unspeakable . ”
WindResistance
Margaret Mitchell owed her winner to an mortise joint injury . The 25 - class - old newsperson for theAtlanta Journal Sunday Magazinewas recuperating when she began recall about a novel set in Georgia during Reconstruction . The story of spunky Scarlett O’Hara and her hunting for passion amid the tumult of the period occupied the next decade of her sprightliness before she found a home for the finished manuscript that get in at a brick - comparable 1037 pages . Published in 1936,Gone With the Windwent on tosell7 million written matter by the time the film version was released in 1939 .
All of it was enough for Mitchell , who never wrote another account book and was n’t interested in a continuation of the story , a position she maintain until her death in 1949 . But the promise of a fiscal windfall inevitably stirred conversation within the Mitchell estate . In the recent seventies , her heirs and MGM — which had released the 1939 moving-picture show adaption and was weighing a sequel — commissioneda second novel inelegantly titledTara : The Continuation of Gone With the Windfrom source Anne Edwards .
The estate , however , was say to be halfhearted to the manuscript , which wasalsocaught up in an ensuing legal quagmire between the Mitchells and MGM . ( It was n’t until 1984 that a judge ruled the Mitchell familyretainedscreen rights . )
By this point , the Mitchells feel it was best to abandon the Edwards novel and start fresh . And while there was certainly a pecuniary incentive to bring out a subsequence , they also weighed the reality that in 2011 , the copyright to Mitchell ’s original work was due to expire . The estate could learn unauthorized works get produced or act now and have some measure of controller . They chose the latter .
They also chose Alexandra Ripley . The novelist had write several historical accounts of the South , making her a natural choice to take the air in Mitchell ’s footsteps . The thought of rise such iconic fibre , which seemed daunting , did n’t appear to faze Ripley , who first read the book when she was 12 .
“ There are two reasons why I ’m doing this book , ” shesaid . “ I ca n’t resist it , and as shortly as this is done , I will be able to write anything I need to . ”
Initially , the Mitchell estateaskedher to write an outline for a $ 25,000 fee . When they were quenched with that , Ripley wrote two chapters . The stuff was used in 1988 to land a publishing company , Warner Books , which paid a $ 4.94 million progress for publication rightfield . Ripley receive 15 percent of that sum , along with a contribution of any lucre that followed .
The dealmaking was comparatively simple ; the actual authorship was not . Ripley labored on a tipple that was met with a flood of notes and suggested revisal from editors . Irritated by the feedback , the author efficaciously went on a four - calendar month workplace work stoppage .
“ They wanted me to charge Scarlett and Rhett out to California ! ” Ripley bemoaned . “ They said thatGone With the Windwas irrelevant to the continuation ! And while they did n’t come in out and say it need more sexuality , when they got to the sex scenery on the beach , they wrote , ‘ At last ! At last ! This is what we need ! ’ Their critique was screamingly funny … I was amuck tempestuous . ”
Ultimately , Warner enlist a unexampled editor in chief , Jeanne Bernkopf , who seemed better suitable to Ripley ’s temperament , and workplace summarise .
From Ripley ’s stop of aspect , Scarlettwas one - half a Mitchell pastiche and one - half a Ripley original . ( To guarantee some elan persistence , Ripley re - readWindsix timesand imitate some passages by hand to get a spirit for Mitchell ’s approach . ) The first part of the book sees Scarlett O’Hara deny the South and once more excogitate a future with on - again , off - again fuck Rhett Butler . But inthe second one-half , Ripley spirits Scarlett off to Ireland to smuggle guns and bring up a daughter — a plot more in line with the author ’s own interests , even if Scarlett retain her folksy rhetoric . “ ( My star , ” Scarlett remark , “ this res publica ’s positively pelt with castles . ” )
Scarlettwas originallyintendedfor publication in 1990 , but editorial delays bumped it to the following class : Warner was squeeze to call off a planned launching at the American Booksellers Association in Las Vegas , where they had planned to renovate Tara along the Vegas Strip . The shift prompted some publishing industry insiders to suspect the book was a dog ; others matte up that offering up a belated sequel to such a well - known work was an exercise in futility .
The contestation only fueled anticipation forScarlett : The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell ’s Gone With the air current , which finally arrive in bookstore in September 1991 . The response , however , was mixed : lecturer looking to be swept away and who were disinterested in pack too vital a sentiment weregenerallypleased . But , reviewers found Ripley ’s oeuvre to be a for the most part uninteresting affair .
“ During the course of a spectacularly uneventful 823 - page holding military action , Ms. Ripley presume to sprain the swashbuckling Rhett Butler into a momma ’s boy and Scarlett O’Hara into a fatuous socialite with a close - pathological honey of parties and shopping,”New York Timescritic Janet Maslinwrote . “ And the once - dignified Ashley Wilkes has pass off ‘ the cry of a soul in curse , filled with loneliness and awe ’ by pageboy 7 . The reader is as apt to be ‘ sail by a lunar time period of anger and outrage ’ as Ms. Ripley ’s heroine often is herself . ”
Critics also found fault in the characterization of Scarlett , once an obstinate and inept character who had seemingly become a docile and itchy frame . “ This Scarlett want to be happy , not to run baseball bat Robert Mills or shop , ” pen Russell Miller ofThe Los Angeles Times . “ She want others to be felicitous , as well—‘their own direction . ’ Margaret Mitchell ’s heroine hobble home to Tara , swearing she ’d never be hungry again . Ripley ’s smuggles gunman to Galway , then store till she drops . ”
Of particular interestingness to perceiver was how Ripley would handle the racial text of the work . Both the original book and filmtooka casual , mostly noncritical survey of the combative Reconstruction that differentiate the South , though the moving picture eliminated some of the Word of God ’s more offensive remarks , including derogatory racial slurs .
Ripley ’s result was inelegant . The character of Mammy , which earnedHattie McDanielan Oscar during a unintegrated ceremony in 1939 , exit ahead of time in the ledger . “ I do sort of avoid any disastrous - white interaction , ” Ripleysaid . “ I did n’t see that there was any pauperization to show that . It had nothing to do with the story I was telling . ”
Such omissions were largely brushed aside . Scarlettwas almost predestined to be a achiever , and it met expectations : 1.25 million transcript were printed in 18 languages and in 40 countries . It stay the top - selling script for 16 weeks . By 1996 , 2.2 million copies were sell in hardback .
As with Mitchell ’s book , there was a huge appetite for an adaptation . In the end , Hungarian producer Robert Halmi ( Lonesome Dove ) won the film right for $ 9 million . Thenames of actorslike soap principal Susan Lucci and Tom Selleck were bandy about for the track roles .
To the surprise of some , Halmi was n’t excessively interested in remaining faithful to the Ripley novel .
“ I did n’t purchase the novel , ” hesaid . “ I grease one’s palms the nameScarlett . ”
The Search for Scarlett
To stir up anticipation for the 1939 film , manufacturer David O. Selznick and MGM act as up their search for the arrant actress to portray Scarlett O’Hara . The press was eager to go along , report on the studio ’s progression . at long last , the part plump to British actress Vivien Leigh .
Halmi was happy to pay homage . After take the projection screen rights toScarlett , helaunchedan international hunt for the “ new ” Scarlett . In 1992 , he even produced a syndicated television set special , The Search for Scarlett , that featured legion aspirer vying for the part . ( Halmi drew the ire of stations when the show cease without any of them being selected ; Halmi insisted he simply had n’t found the right performing artist yet . )
Ultimately , the rolewentto Joanne Whalley - Kilmer , a British actress best love for the steamy potboilerScandal . She was also the wife of the belated actorVal Kilmer(Tombstone , Top Gun ) .
“ It ’s definitely daunting , ” Whalley - Kilmersaid . “ We had some luggage that comes with this one , and some big shoe to fill . But , I believe we all reached the same conclusion , that at a sure point , you just have to jump in and do it . Otherwise , you would never leave your menage . ”
evenly daunting was finding Rhett Butler . Halmi was golden in that actor Timothy Dalton was no unknown to field criticism for taking on well - constitute roles . He had replaced Roger Moore asJames Bondand starred in two of the enfranchisement ’s films , 1987’sThe Living Daylightsand 1989’sLicense to down . step in for Clark Gable was almost tame in comparison .
The outspoken Dalton seemed to have piddling reverence for the seed fabric . “ I never saw this movie before four years ago , and what take aback me about it is what an over-the-top soap opera it is , ” Dalton enounce of the original filmduringa press group discussion . “ Here was this bit of fable and myth in movie theater chronicle … and it was like the original and greatest [ primetime television dramas]DallasandDynasty . I have in mind , it is . ”
Nor was Dalton particularly enamored with Scarlett O’Hara . “ And the other thing , I suppose , that honestly strike me is how this man could peradventure manage with this [ oath ] . I mean , Scarlett ’s a devil . I mean , she is . ” ( The press conference function on for a bit longer before a CBS publiciser stepped in and ask for a final question that would let the event “ cease on an up note . ” )
To the surprisal of some , Dalton and Whalley - Kilmer had n’t been hired for a feature film . Scarlettwas being accommodate as a made - for - telecasting miniseries , for which CBS hadpaidHalmi $ 20 million .
“ Television is a pure post and the respectable place for the fib , and I will have much more hearing , about 100 times more audience , than the feature would ever give me , ” Halmisaid .
Perhaps Halmi had heard of the tortuous cognitive process involved in adapting the original , in which Selznick had reportedly lock the film ’s writers in a room in an cause to trim down the opus into a manageable duration . Or maybe Halmi wanted to avoid the scrutiny that would accompany a major theatrical release , dismissing it as too big a target to paint on the labor .
In either slip , theScarlettminiseries was n’t about to offer pregnant fidelity to the book . CBS had conducted market inquiry to get a safe approximation of what plot elements were crucial to viewers . Ultimately , a slaying trial was added , along with several scenes that were not in the Ripley version .
Scarlettwas a four - dark , eight - hour intimacy that CBS hope would sling it out of the ratings stagnancy . The miniseries aired in November 1994 and was a modest winner but fell far suddenly of the blockbuster television case the web was banking on . Itearnedan average 18.5 paygrade , with 26 million viewers tune up in for the installments . That was enough to beat an episode of NBC ’s smashERone evening but not enough to trump two episodes ofSeinfeldon another night .
CBS had promised advertisers a 24 evaluation . When that did n’t materialise , the net had to make good on its vow by bid gratuitous commercial space , a punishment that be the connection $ 3 million to $ 5 million . ( It ’s possible the channel was hampered by a legal trifle : They could n’t practice theGone With the Windtitle to upgrade the TV subsequence because mogul Ted Turner possess its advertizing rights . )
Reviews were also humble at best . “ Every now and then Rhett refers to Scarlett as ‘ my dear , ’ and there are innumerable variations on Scarlett ’s famous passing line , ‘ Tomorrow is another day,’”wroteWashington Postcritic Tom Shales . “ All these picayune touches in the William Hanley hand are designed to convert the interview that yes , it really is looking at Scarlett and Rhett . But it ’s an magic trick within an illusion . Gone With the Windwas a coronach for a lost polish . Scarlettis in the main , if accidentally , a lament for the lost cultivation of Hollywood , for the fact that no indeed , they do n’t make ’em like they used to . Of course , we knew that already . ”
Still , theScarlettbook and miniseries were both successful enough to justify more . Like Mitchell before her , Ripley had no interest group in save a follow - up , opt to refund to her original work . Instead , the Mitchell estaterecruitedwriter Emma Tennant , who had written a sequel toPride and Prejudice . Her ms forTara , delivered to St. Martins Press in 1996 , fell forgetful of expectations — it was view as “ too British”—and was never released .
It would over a decade before a newfangled volume in the dealership appeared . ( Officially , anyway : The wind instrument Done Gone , a 2001unauthorized parodyby Alice Randall , retoldthe event of the original from an enslaved person ’s point of view.)Rhett Butler ’s People , a 2007 novel by Donald McCaig , acts as arevisitingof the original book of account from the perspective of the deed reference , though it ignores the continuity established inScarlett . McCaigreturnedto the existence once more withRuth ’s Journey , a 2014 book focused on Mammy .
Some readers enjoyed the claim as they had enjoyedScarlett ; others preferGone With the Windbe left alone . Even Alexandra Ripley was punctually mindful of the seemingly thankless task that anyone who make bold to play along in Mitchell ’s footsteps faced . She once offer a brutal — if precise — summing up of pluck up where the famed author once leave behind off .
“ Yes , Margaret Mitchell spell better than I do , ” Ripley say . “ But she ’s numb . ”
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