Foreword

My lifelong love affair with Margaret Mitchell’s immortal Gone With The Wind began at the ripe age of 9 years old, when my mother gave me one dollar and sent me on a bus all by myself - the world was a much safer place then - to see what she told me was “the greatest movie ever made!”
Years later, I was working at Universal Studios in Hollywood, when I noticed a dress lying on the floor. I was taught from an early age to be ‘respectful’ of the property of others, so without hesitation, I walked over to the dress, picked it up, and went in search of a hanger. A fellow worker said to me, “Oh, don’t worry about that dress...we’re going to be throwing it out soon.” I thought to myself ‘what a shame!’ and, while holding the dress at arm’s length, the jacket opened and I noticed a label that read ‘Selznick International - Scarlett’. It was then that I realized I was actually holding a costume worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind! I offered to buy the dress and they sold it to me for twenty dollars! Word spread throughout the studio and I would get notes in my box saying someone had items from ‘Gone With The Wind’ and asking if I would like to buy them. This is how my collection began.

How fortunate we are that author Katherine Pinotti also shares this love affair. Her book The Winds of Tara finally answers many lingering questions: Will Scarlett and Rhett reconcile? Whatever became of Careen, Suellen, and their beloved Tara? Pinotti’s inventive storyline deftly answers all these questions, in addition to several unexpected surprises, all-the-while weaving Gone With The Wind’s colorful locations and familiar characters throughout the framework of a highly-entertaining plot, as the reader is about to discover. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I am sure that every Gone With The Wind collector will also want to add it to their library.

James L. Tumblin
Oahu - 2008

James Tumblin is considered the world expert and largest private collector of more than 300,000 authentic ‘Gone With The Wind’ memorabilia with an estimated value of seventy million dollars. His fabulous collection includes over 41 original ‘Gone With The Wind’ costumes worn in the film, and the Oscar that Vivien Leigh won for her performance as Scarlett O’Hara.