Souvenir Program (20 Pages, 9" X 12") & Players Program (6.25" X 9.5") Southern Edition, signed and inscribed by Vivien Leigh on her portrait on page 4, opposite the title, and by Mickey Kuhn (Beau Wilkes) on the Players listing page 7, and by Ann Rutherford (Carreen O'Hara) beneath her portrait on the program rear cover. Light wear to covers and spine, overall very fine. Very rare. We have located only one other example of this program signed by Leigh having appeared at auction or on the market in over 30 years. 

The larger program here is the Southern Edition of the Gone with the Wind souvenir program, which replaced the Northern edition's painting of Hattie McDaniel on the back cover with a portrait of Alicia Rhett. Less than a month before the Atlanta premiere, David O. Selznick ordered two editions of the program - one with McDaniel, and one without. He well knew the slight was unfair, saying that the South's racism put him "on the spot of seeming ungrateful for what I honestly feel is one of the great supporting performances of all time." Also included is a Players Program from The Majestic Theatre. Starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, and Victor Jory. Directed by Victor Fleming. 

Leigh won two Best Actress Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End. But no actress has, nor probably ever will, capture the heart of a nation the way Vivien Leigh did as Scarlett O'Hara. 

On December 15, 1939, over 300,000 people arrived at Atlanta's Fox Theatre eagerly awaiting the premiere of David O. Selznick's record three hour forty minute epic, "Gone With The Wind." A Gallup Poll even estimated over 56.5 million people were looking forward to it! Such fanfair seems natural when considering the great pains Selznick took in creating and casting the most famous movie in history.

The search by David O. Selznick for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the film was one of the most publicized talent searches in Hollywood history. Actresses such as Irene Dunn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner and Lucille Ball were among those considered for the role. Besides the serious contenders which also included Loretta Young and Katherine Hepburn, casting directors were sent around the country, testing over 1000 unknowns for the role. Then, in December of 1938, even after filming had begun, Myron Selznick, David's brother, brought his candidate, an unknown 25-year-old Vivien Leigh from England. David Selznick immediately cast her for the role as Margaret Mitchell's legendary southern belle "with a seventeen inch waist."

By the time the film premiered in Hollywood (almost three weeks after Atlanta), the Hollywood Reporter headline read: "Gone With The Wind-Magnificent and Supreme Triumph of Film History." Such tremendous responses to the film rocked the film industry. Following the New York Film Critics Awards which named Vivien Leigh as best actress, the Hollywood Reporter exclaimed that the awards were "a revolution" and stated: "Bette Davis who, up to this minute has won every critical voice as the best actress, had to take a back seat for Vivien."

When she won the 1939 Academy Award for best actress, it was in a year in which other nominees includes some of the Silver Screen's most popular stars: Bette Davis, Irene Dunn, Greta Garbo, and Greer Garson!