Hattie McDaniel color footage Academy Awards speech 1940 Oscars Gone With the Wind GWTW Vivien Leigh

Hattie McDaniel said she was treated graciously at this Academy Awards. Only five of the cast attended this A-list event, and Vivien Leigh was reportedly the only actress who sat at David Selznick's table for the entire night. The others were contracted to other studios. Hattie was sat near the stairs with her date and her manager. She said to the newspapers that she was applauded on entering and going on stage. She was not well-known before Gone With the Wind gave her an opportunity to showcase her ability. For the latest research into Hattie's life, and the fullest coverage of the 1940 Oscars anywhere - there is a book available on Amazon- "HATTIE MCDANIEL AND BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN: HOLLYWOOD NEIGHBOURS."
An extract from the book - The ceremony was staged in a ballroom-type arrangement. All the guests sat at dinner tables, which spilled on to the edges of the dance floor. The newsreels had agreed not to shoot the event. Warner had paid $30,000 to the Academy, for exclusive rights to make a short film about the Oscars, past and present. (Variety thought this caused the stars to turn on the glamour, wearing their best gowns, furs and jewellery.) A tuxedoed camera crew trundled machinery around, and snapped on sun arcs, to the dismay of several diaphanously-clad ladies who were dancing. Bob Hope was new to hosting the event, and he sat at the front of the room, near the orchestra. A small podium, was just two or three steps up from ground-level, and in front of that was a table, displaying the awards to be given out. These were both decorated by strings of gardenias (and there were more flowers along the banisters of the main stairs).
In the crowd, was a working press of more than 60 writers, who covered the occasion for the trade papers, dailies and syndicates. This group included Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. The room was reported to be overcrowded, and the seating was priced at $10 to sit around the wall, or $25 each for ringside. Douglas W. Churchill in The New York Times - 10 Mar 1940, commented on the fact that so many of the unsuccessful candidates were present. He said they had normally sat at home, all dressed up, but not gone out until they'd hurriedly been informed by their press agent that they'd won. This year was the last one where names of the award winners were quietly revealed to the press in advance. This normally happened after 8.30 pm, so they could be published in time to make the next day's newspapers. In 1940 the Los Angeles Times broke ranks, and printed the results before the ceremony.

Also available -
"THEY SHONE WITH THE WIND BOOK 1: BIOGRAPHIES OF VIVIEN LEIGH, GEORGE REEVES, FRED CRANE, OSCAR POLK, CARROLL NYE, ALICIA RHETT AND DAVID O. SELZNICK" - This contains fresh information on some of the cast, and lots of trivia about the making of GWTW.

"FROM LOUISE PLATT TO PAULETTE GODDARD FIFTY LADIES WHO LOST OUT ON PLAYING SCARLETT O'HARA" - this gathers a lot of information on the aspirants which has not been collated before.

The latest book with a lot of new detail on the making of GWTW is "Clark Gable Hollywood's King" - available on Amazon.