Gone With the Wind 1937 Fort Worth Texas Frontier Fiesta Fair Program Pinup

Description

Original program, 8.5 x 12, program for the second year of Fort Worth's Frontier Fiesta fair / expo commemorating The Texas Centennial, very early Gone With the Wind play at the fair, two years before the release of the film in 1939, this production was completely unauthorized and produced by Billy Rose, around 30 pages or so, very good and clean internally, cover is loose from contents with light creasing and slight tears at staples.  Unique addition to collection.
"Although the second season for the Frontier Fiesta and Casa Mañana were successful, Billy Rose was forced to close the stage show early. He appeared to “borrow” liberally from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind in the opening act under the same title. Mitchell responded on 10 September with a lawsuit alleging Rose had pirated her novel and sought an immediate court injunction to close the show and seize all of the sets, costumes, and other assets of the production. Lawyers for the city of Fort Worth concluded that Mitchell had a good case for plagiarism. Rose had no less than eight named characters, including Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler. The production included a scene of the burning of the O’Hara’s mansion, which Rose called “… the coincidental burning of the mansion and the novel ‘a thirty year old theatrical trick’” (Jones 1999, 135). The court ruled on 14 September in Mitchell’s favor, and Rose’s five percent gross profits were impounded as due compensation."