GWTW References in Popular Culture

1937:

Movie Broadway Melody of 1938: Sally (Eleanor Powell) and Sonny (George Murphy) are singing I’m Feelin’ Like a Million. The lyrics include a reference to Gone with the Wind: “Where have you been?/You’re another Cinderella,/You’re a dime from Rockefeller,/You’re that million copy seller,/Gone with the wind.” 

Movie The Awful Truth: The Southern Belle with the stage name of Dixie Belle Lee (Joyce Compton) sings a song called My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind, ending each terrible verse with a vent of a wind machine blowing her bouffant dress up. The song is later parodied by Lucy (Irene Dunne).

Movie King of Gamblers: Dixie Moore (Claire Trevor), thinking she’ll never see Jim (Lloyd Nolan) again, shrugs and sighs, “Gone with the Wind!”
Movie Hollywood Hotel: Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) and Alex Duprey play characters named Lucy O'Mara and Captain Cutler in a Civil War epic.

Play Babes in Arms: This musical is where the famous song The Lady is a Tramp was first sung. Though later versions would frequently leave it out, the original lyrics contain a reference to Gone with the Wind: “Folks go to London and leave me behind./ I'll miss the crowning, Queen Mary won't mind. / I don't play Scarlett in Gone With the Wind- /That's why the lady is a tramp.” Here you can find a list of all the versions of this song.

1938: 

Movie A Yank at Oxford: Lee Sheridan (Robert Taylor) goes in to his tutor. His tutor asks him what he's reading, meaning in British parlance what he planned on majoring in. Confused, Lee replies he is "about half way through Gone with the Wind.”

Trivia: Coincidentally or not, Vivien Leigh has a part in this movie as well. Robert Taylor and she would make a couple again in the 1940 movie Waterloo Bridge.

Play Kiss the Boys Goodbye by Clare Booth Luce: A comedy featuring the search for an actress to play the role of Velvet O’Toole in a Civil War movie called Kiss the Boys Goodbye. The author claimed that her play was intended to satirize the ascent of Fascism in the world, and particularly in the Southern society, but large part of its success was due to this reference to the search for Scarlett, which had been given ample attention in the newspapers. The play was made into a film in 1941. 

1939:

Movie Babes in Arms: see 1937 play.

Movie Second Fiddle: still another spin-off from Gone With the Wind, specifically from Selznick's endlessly publicized search for the perfect Scarlett O'Hara. Here the quest is for "Violet Janson" in Consolidated Productions' long-delayed Girl of the North, and the winner is an unknown Minnesota schoolteacher (Sonja Henie).

1940:

Movie The Bank Dick: Egbert Sousè (W.C. Fields) brags to the Tel-Avis Picture Productions manager (Richard Purcell) he meets in a bar: "I've had a script that I've had in mothballs for twenty years. I read it to Irving and Milton who run the Gem Cinema down here. They said to me, they said, 'Sousè, it's better than Gone With the Wind.'"

Movie You’ll Find Out: Gone with the Wind is part of a Kay Kyser quiz.

Movie Strike Up the Band: Mary (Judy Garland) and Jimmy (Rooney) sing Our Love Affair. The lyrics include a reference to Gone with the Wind: “We'll be the envy of everyone/ Those famous lovers we'll make them forget/ From Adam and Eve to Scarlett and Rhett ...”

Documentary The Alchemist in Hollywood: The title of Gone with the Wind is shown on a theater marquee right at the beginning of the film, along with titles released in 1940, such as Rebecca, The House across the Bay, Too Many Husbands. Watch it here.

Documentary The Old South: In this film about the importance of cotton for the economy of the South, the narrator refers to the antebellum South as being “Gone. Gone with the wind.”

Cartoon Confederate Honey: It’s basically a parody of Gone with the Wind. It’s 1861 B.Sea (Before Seabiscuit) and a rich planter’s daughter, Crimson O’Haroil is in love with Ned Cutler (Elmer Fudd) who goes off to the war. Watch it here.

1941:

Movie Louisiana Purchase: Senator Jim Taylor (Bob Hope) carries on a filibuster by reading Gone with the Wind in its entirety.

Movie Hold That Ghost: Ferdie (Lou Costello) says to Camille (Joan Davis) “When I said Gone with the Wind, I should’ve said Never the Twain Shall Meet.” Camille asks what twain, and he replies “The twain on twat twee.”

Movie Kiss the Boys Goodbye: see 1938 play.

Novel Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: Gone with the Wind is among the titles Hercule Poirot finds in one character’s library: “To the left of the mantelpiece there were some shelves with a row of books. Hercule Poirot looked thoughtfully along the titles. A Bible, a battered copy of Shakespeare's plays, The Marriage of William Ashe, by Mrs. Humphry Ward. The Young Stepmother, by Charlotte Yonge. The Shropshire Lad. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Benard Shaw's St Joan. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. The Burning Court, by Dickson Carr.”

1942:

Movie Panama Hattie: Made after a 1940 Broadway musical. Hattie (Ann Sothern) and Jerry (Jackie Horner) sing Let’s Be Buddies. The lyrics include a reference to Gone with the wind: “HATTIE: And I'll take you to hear the big cathedral bells JERRY: Oh, I hate those noisy old chimes HATTIE: Well, instead then we'll go to see Gone With The Wind JERRY: But I've already seen it four times.”

Trivia: This Cole Porter song was also sung by Ethel Merman & Joan Carroll (1940, Broadway Production), Connee Boswell (1940), Bea Wain (1940), Les Brown & His Orch., vocal: Doris Day (1940), Flanagan and Allen (1941), Buddy Clarke; Al Cohn; George Masso.

Cartoon Blitz Wolf: When the straw house is blown away, a sign says Gone with the Wind, while another one adds '"Corny gag, isn't it?" Watch it here.

Comic Strip Li’l Abner: Al Capp began a parody called Gone wif th’ Wind in a Sunday series, featuring Li’l Abner as Wreck Butler and Daisy Mae as Scallop O’Hara. Ashley and Melanie had become Ashcan Wilkes and Melancholy Hamilton. John Marsh threatened with a multi-million dollar lawsuit if the series was not cancelled. Al Capp drew himself in a strip with two panels apologizing to “the Mitchells” (not “the Marshes”).

1944:

Movie Time Flies: Tommy (Tommy Handley) is travelling back in time. As the machine takes him past the American Civil War era, he says “And now it’s Gone with the Wind.”
Play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams: The character Amanda is talking on the phone and says "You remember how Gone with the Wind took everybody by storm? You simply couldn't go out if you hadn't read it. All everybody talked was Scarlett O'Hara. Well, this is a book that critics already compare with Gone with the Wind. It's the Gone with the Wind of the post-World-War generation!"

1945:

Cartoon Swing Swift Cinderella: When the fairy godmother leaves in a hurry, a sign springs up saying “Gone with the Wand.” (aprox. 2:26) Watch it here.

1946:

Movie Without Reservations: Kit (Claudette Colbert) is the author of a bestseller called Here Is Tomorrow. She receives a telegram from the film producer that announces Cary Grant won’t be able to play the leading part in the film version of her book, like she wanted. The producer tries to plead that they should start a search for a new star. A search even grander than that for Scarlett O’Hara.

Trivia: Claudette Colbert was one of the few actresses who did not seek the role of Scarlett O’Hara, though she was a personal friend of Selznick.

Short Story A Girl I Knew by J.D. Salinger: “'…I must go to Paris now, and so I say good-bye. It was very nice to know you. I hope you’re having a good time in Warsaw with your fiancé’s family. I hope the marriage goes all right. I will send you that book I was talking about, Gone with the Wind. With best greetings.' But I never did write to Leah from Paris. I never wrote to her again at all. I didn’t send a copy of Gone with the Wind…” Incidentally, the narrator translates the title literally in German as "Gegangen mit der Wind," not "Vom Winde verweht," as it's usually translated. Read the piece here.

1947:

Play Finian’s Rainbow: Buzz instructs Howard, a young black college student who has been hired as the Senator’s butler, about how to serve a julep: “Rawkins won't like that. That's no way to serve a julep. It's too fast. Get some shuffle into it.You've seen some of the new movies, like Birth of a Nation.... and Gone With the Wind, haven't you?

1948:

Play Kiss Me Kate This musical, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew features 2 references to Gone with the Wind in 2 different Cole Porter songs. The first and simpler is in the song Where Is The Life That Late I Led?: “Where is the life that late I led?/ Where is it now? Totally dead!/ Where is the fun I used to find?/ Where has it gone? Gone with the wind!” The second is much more elaborate because it relies on the Ernest Downson poem from which the phrase “gone with the wind” originates and mixes in movie references as well: “Mister Gable, I mean Clark/ Wants me on his boat to park/ If the Gable boat means a sable coat, anchors aweigh!/ But I'm always true to to you, darlin', in my fashion.” It’s Always True to You in My Fashion (compare to Downson’s “I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.”) and is sung by Lois (Bianca) and Bill (Lucentio).

1949:

Movie The Girl from Jones Beach: During night school class, Bob Randolph (Ronald Reagan) says he watched Gone with the Wind 6 times.

1950:

Movie In A Lonely Place: Studio executive Mel Lippmann (Art Smith): "What does it matter what I think? I'm the guy who tried to talk Selznick out of doing Gone with the Wind!"

Movie Sunset Blvd.: Joe (William Holden) tells Betty (Nancy Olson): “You’d have turned down Gone with the Wind!” Sheldrake (Fred Clark) replies “No, that was me. I said, ‘Who wants to see a Civil War picture?’”

Trivia: It was actually Irving Thalberg who said to Louis B. Mayer in 1936, “Forget it, Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel,” referring of course to buying the rights for making Gone with the Wind. 

1951:

Documentary The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story: The film is more an advertisement for MGM’s upcoming titles, but several classic movies are mentioned/appear in short clips, including Gone with the Wind.

1953:

Movie Stalag 17: Bagradian (Jay Lawrence) claims he does good impressions of movie stars. Animal (Robert Strauss) asks him to “do Grable.” Bagradian starts: “Now see here, Scarlett... I'm crazy about you and always have been. I gave you kisses for breakfast, kisses for lunch, and kisses for supper... and now I find that you're eating out!”. Animal, who was obsessed with the actress Betty Grable, replies: “Not Gable -- GRABLE!”

Trivia: Clark Gable was supposed to play a character called Bagradian in a 1934 film version of the historical novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, that was never made because the Turkish government firmly opposed the project.

Movie Kiss Me Kate: see 1948 play.
Short Story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor: "'That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the plantation.' 'Where's the plantation?' John Wesley asked. 'Gone with the Wind,' said the grandmother. 'Ha.Ha.'" Read it here.

Cartoon Southern Fried Rabbit: Bugs Bunny wants to travel to the South to escape a carrot famine. Yosemite Sam is a Confederate soldier, who won’t admit defeat and who’s guarding the Mason-Dixon line because Gen. Lee told him to do so. Bugs Bunny attempts to cross the line by dressing up as a slave, Abraham Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson and Scarlett O’Hara, to no avail. Sam says, “Sorry, Scarlett, ma’am...” Watch it here.

Trivia: Some sequences of the cartoon were banned, most famously the one where Bugs Bunny appears in blackface. 

1956:

Movie The Ambassador’s Daughter: Joan (Olivia de Havilland) drops her fake French accent in a rage when Danny (John Forsythe) accuses her of stealing his wallet. When he asks what happened to her accent she replies that, like his wallet, it is "gone with the wind."

1959:

Movie Imitation of Life: Lora (Lana Turner) and Steve (John Gavin) discuss about her traveling to Italy to play the best part since Scarlett O’Hara: “Lora: So they want me for Rena. Steve: Well, who is she? Lora: Only the best part since Scarlett O’Hara!”

Trivia:  Lana Turner did in fact audition for the part of Scarlett O’Hara.

1961:

Movie One, Two, Three: Scarlett Hazeltine, the daughter of a Coca Cola executive from Atlanta, is put in the care of C.R. MacNamara (James Cagney) while she’s visiting Europe. When she disappears from his house one day, MacNamara asks his wife (Arlene Francis) “What could have happened to her?” The latter replies: “Who knows? Gone with the wind. Maybe she ran away. Maybe she was kidnapped by a white slave ring. “ Also, not incidentally, Scarlett’s mother is called Melanie.

1963:

Movie Take Her, She’s Mine: Frank (James Stewart) is mistaken for Henry Fonda who was "unforgettable in Gone with the Wind."

Movie Bye Bye Birdie: Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson) is a wildly successful rock & roll singer (a parody of Elvis Presley, named after Conway Twitty). His farewell concert in Sweet Apple, Ohio makes his teenage fans literally swoon. The shot of the town square with them lying in a swoon is a reflection of the railway station scene from Gone with the Wind.

1964:
Movie 36 Hours: Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) brings Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) a file containing information on the 6 years of his life the latter doesn’t remember. He describes the file as being longer than Gone with the Wind and perhaps more interesting.
  

1965:
Movie The Young Lovers: Tarragoo (Nick Adams) says, "Frankly my dear Scarlet, I don't give a damn," during his going away party.

1966:

Movie What’s Up, Tiger Lily?: In the host segment, Woody Allen explains the concept behind the movie. The host says, “I see. That’s, to my recollection, I’ve never heard of that being done before, where the actors would be acting one story, and saying another.” Woody replies “It was, actually, it was done with Gone With The Wind. Not many people know that. That was, those are Japanese people actually, and we dubbed in American voices on that, Southern voices.”

Movie Mister Buddwing: Fiddle (Suzanne Pleshette) asks the amnesic Mister Buddwing (James Garner) a series of questions to determine what his profession could have been. Among those, who the author of Gone with the Wind is.

1967:

TV series That Girl: Gone with the Breeze (#1.20) Title is a play on words with Gone with the Wind.

Trivia: Back with the Breeze is the title Margaret Mitchell sarcastically offered for a sequel, to those who kept asking her for one. It would be a "highly moral tract in which everyone, including Belle Watling, underwent a change of heart and character and reeked with sanctimonious dullness."

Novel Logan’s Last Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson: The novel is dedicated “TO ALL THE WILD FRIENDS WE GREW UP WITH – and who were with us when we wrote this book,” i.e. a collection of fictional characters including Rhett Butler. And Jiminy Cricket.

TBC...