Gayle D Haffner

This book is okay but contains a lot of information regarding Pitts family genealogy that is not of much interest - especially when later in the book we don't learn a lot about what happened to Pitts siblings. The book also contained numerous errors and needed a better editor. For example in Chapter 13 we hear that MGM bought the film rights to Gone With the Wind when it was Selznick International. MGM fed casting rumors when it was Selznick. The film was made by Selznick and was only acquired by MGM later when Selznick and Jock Whitney sold their interests to MGM. In my extensive reading on GWTW for over 45 years, I never recall Pitts being mentioned seriously as one of the contenders for Scarlett. The sentence "Utilizing the right makeup and wardrobe, Zasu was as lovely as any actress in contention for the role of Scarlett O'Hara" is a bit far-fetched since Pitts at age 45 would have been a bit old to play 16-year old Scarlett. The book also mentioned that in the 1918-19 time frame, Rudolph Valentino's mother visited him in the U.S. to witness firsthand the success her son was having in America. Valentino had bit parts until The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was release in 1921, his mother died in 1919. I've read several books on Valentino and don't recall any that mentioned his mother coming to the States to visit him. The book also contained many misspellings as in kneed for knead, Ann Blythe for Ann Blyth, and on page 323 Monty Woolley is referred to as both Wooley and Woolley. I also felt that the author spent too much time on Pitts conservative Republican views. It was interesting how it was brought out many times that Pitts did not agree with FDR's New Deal policies but then on page 385 made mention that if Pitts hadn't shaved some years off her age she could have been collecting Social Security. The book gave us hints throughout as to what her children and grandchildren are doing now but it would have been nice to have this at the end as a closure and no mention is made of what happened to her worthless second husband to whom she was married for 30 years. Overall, the book seemed well researched with a good filmography in the back but the errors and misspellings were distracting and made you lose confidence in the author's work.… (meer)