Film Studies Professor Earns Atlanta History Award for "Gone With the Wind" Article

Emory professor Matthew Bernstein has been awarded the 1999 Franklin M. Garrett Award by the Atlanta Historical Society in recognition of the best article on Atlanta history published during 1998-99 in "Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South," a publication of the Atlanta History Center.

Bernstein, who is the editor of a new anthology "Controlling Hollywood: Censorship Regulation in the Studio Era," was recognized for his essay, "Selnick's March: Hollywood Comes to Atlanta for 'Gone With the Wind,'" published in the Summer 1999 issue. The issue brings together essays written by Bernstein, Emory historian Dana White and three Emory graduate students-Randy Gue, Gordon Jones and Pat Murdock-all part of the professors' "Segregated Cinema in a Southern City: Atlanta 1895-1996" project. White, professor of urban studies, and Bernstein, professor of film studies, received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to research film-going in Atlanta from the 1895 Cotton States Exposition to the 1996 Olympic Games and to publish a book on their findings.

The magazine features new research in film history and Atlanta history. Bernstein writes about "Selznick's March: The Atlanta Premiere of 'Gone With the Wind.'" Gue examines the early years of movie-going in Atlanta with "Nickel Madness: Atlanta's Storefront Movie Theaters, 1906-1911." An earlier, old South film is the subject of Jones' essay "'So Red the Rose': Atlanta's 'Gone With the Wind' That Wasn't." And in "The Lone 'Lady Censor': Christine Smith Gilliam and the Demise of Film Censorship in Atlanta," Murdock looks at the last, and arguably the most controversial, movie censor in the city. White provides the context for these essays in his introduction, "Movie-going Metropolis." The magazine is illustrated with photographs of the "Gone With the Wind" premiere, old movie houses, movie stills and the notorious censor board.

The magazine is available at the Atlanta History Center at 130 West Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta. For more information, call 404-814-4000.

Return to Archived Arts and Humanities Releases