Necie, girl- We had this formal sit-down dinner and met Uncle James. Finger bowls and silver napkin rings with their high-hat monograms on them. That awful James Junior sneered at me the whole meal. I don't even see how that boy could be related to Teensy and Jack.

Teensy has taken off all her clothes and you should see her. She's stretched out on the bed with her legs crossed and her head thrown back and she's saying, "Peel me a grape, Beulah!" You know how she is. She made all three of us climb into that big claw-foot bathtub and bathe together when we got upstairs! She dumped the whole bottle of French bath salts into the water! The whole bottle. We just laid up in that tub and soaked ourselves silly. I know I shouldn't be telling you this because your face is probably all red by now, Necie-pooh-bear. You are so much more modest than we are. (But we love you anyway.) XOX.

Vivi

P.S. Our beds were turned down for us when we came upstairs. It made me miss Mother. She always turns my pillow over to the cool side when she comes in to say goodnight.

P.P.S. Gee whiz, I almost forgot to tell you! In The Atlanta Constitution tonight they described what Miss Mitchell is going to wear to the premiere: "a pink tulle dress with layers and layers over pink crepe, over a tight-fitting bodice with a sweetheart neckline." I can't send you the paper because Aunt Louise is keeping it for her Gone With the Wind scrapbook. But I copied this down for you before I gave her back the paper: "Rose-colored camellias, those flowers so redolent of the Old South, will form her floral adornment, and tiny silver slippers will peek beneath the folds of the bouffant skirt." Since I plan to meet Miss Mitchell personally, I will tell you more about her outfit after I see it for myself!

December 14-no! December 15, 1939

2 o'clock in the morning!

Dear Necie, Girl, girl, girl! We have just gotten home after the most exciting day that I have ever had in my life. Ginger was waiting for us, all upset because she didn't get to come with us for everything, and almost in tears because she thinks she's not doing her job as chaperone. We have hardly laid eyes on Ginger since we got to the Coca-Cola Palace. She says Delia is going to kill her when we all get home. I said, "Ginger, I don't even want to think about going home! Now, will you please go downstairs and make me some coffee-milk because I have to stay awake to write Miss Necie."

So here I am writing you from the big bed where Caro is sound asleep and Teensy is snoring as usual from her bed. I am always the last one to go to sleep, no matter where I am. But, honey, I have got to tell you everything.

First of all this morning, we had breakfast and do you know that Aunt Louise was already dressed up in a gorgeous antebellum dress?! Yes, right there at the breakfast table. And that little weasel James Junior had on a tattered Civil War uniform that Aunt Louise had got her hands on. Uncle James had already gone off to Coca-Cola, and I don't know what he was wearing. All I know is that Aunt Louise revealed that her dress came from the actual movie! A whole bunch of her friends from the Junior League were extras for the bazaar scene (remember from the book?) and got to be in the picture. Can you imagine?

That goon James Junior took off with some of his twelve-year-old goon friends, and Aunt Louise said she was spending the day going to the events with her friends before they had to go over and check the Municipal Auditorium where the ball was. So that meant that Ginger and one of Aunt Louise's maids came with us when William, the driver, took us out and about.

Girl, there were already people on the streets of Atlanta out walking around in their Civil War finery and antebellum dresses! We had on the car radio and they were reporting everything like it was FDR himself coming to town. A whole bunch of stars were arriving at the train station, including Claudette Colbert, but we missed a lot of news because at 10:15 we were at the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets for the big lamp-lighting ceremony. I never knew it before but that very lamppost managed to remain standing after Sherman's siege of Atlanta. And that very lamppost was relit to show that the Confederate spirit has not died. The three of us just cried and cried, thinking about the Confederacy. And then the Governor gave everyone the rest of the day off because Premiere Day had been declared a state holiday.

So then old William drives us to Peachtree Street and he finds us a good place and we sit on the roof of the car to watch the parade. Oh, it was so crowded, I mean people were eight and ten deep. And then the parade started. Necie, there must have been fifty or sixty cars, with stars sitting in the back of convertibles, looking like royalty. Clark Gable himself was there! Honey, I am not kidding! I saw him with my own two eyes. And he is just as wonderful as I thought he would be. Carole Lombard was with him and they waved and smiled at us, and I swear to you, Necie, he looked right at me. Teensy and Caro are still trying to act like this did not happen, but they are just jealous. I'm telling you the truth: Clark Gable looked right at me and smiled.

But back to the parade. I saw more stars in ritzy cars than you ever imagined existed. You just forget you ever heard of a Depression when you see something like this. After the parade was over, William took back streets to get us to the Georgian Terrace Hotel. At the hotel, would you believe that there were governors from five Southern states up there giving speeches? We had to wait until all those old men were through, and then Clark Gable himself got up! Everyone was yelling and screaming and clapping and giving the rebel yell. So the three of us did our rebel yell, you know how we do, and I gave some of my famous whistles. You would have just fainted from all the hoorah.

We were just exhausted by the time we got back home, and we had some fruitcake and Cokes in our room and took a nap. We pretended that we were the Southern belles at Twelve Oaks during their nap scene. We said, "Ginger, why don't you find a fan and fan us like at Twelve Oaks?"

And that Ginger said, "It's December. Yall don't need no fan. Hush up and go to sleep."

Teensy whispered, "Delia lets Ginger get away with murder!"

But Ginger heard her (she can hear a cat tiptoe across a carpet), and Ginger said, "Miss Teensy, you better nod off or you gonna find out what murder mean."

We didn't get to sleep for long because Aunt Louise's maid came in and woke us up to start getting ready for the ball. Aunt Louise's dressmaker was here, and we had to try on our antebellum dresses for her because Aunt Louise wanted to see if they needed any adjustments. My navy bengaline and green taffeta is the cat's pajamas, as you know. But I tell you, those hoop skirts are hard to get around in. Just turning around, I knocked a fussy little knickknack off a prissy table in the Coca-Cola Palace. Thank goodness it didn't break!

And so we were all dressed to the nines in our Civil War getups and William drove us over in the Packard, and another car carried Aunt Louise and Uncle James to City Auditorium for the costume ball, Dixie's greatest social function. That skunk James Junior came with us and drove us crazy. He is only a year or so younger than us but he acts like he is a big fat baby. I started making faces at him before he had a chance to make faces at me. He told Teensy she looked stupid in her white taffeta ruffles, and so she pretended to wipe a booger on his goofy-looking Confederate uniform. We started laughing so hard that I busted some little hooks in the back of my dress. I don't see how Scarlett and them ever managed a good laugh in these things.

Well, I forgot about everything when we got to the ball!

There were thousands of people lined up in a little park in front of the auditorium. Uncle James said they were the people who didn't have tickets, and that they should have stayed away like Mayor Hartsfield requested. But they were standing out there in the cold, looking like the folks who live at Ollie Trott's Trailer Paradise at home, with bad teeth and all. When the police gave them orders to move back, they did. We just walked right by them, Necie. Aunt Louise tried to make us hurry, but we all had trouble walking in those hoop skirts. You might look like a lady in those things, but you get nowhere fast, let me tell you.

Oh, my God! Inside was all done up like the Old South! The stars sat up in their own boxes by themselves. Gable the King and Vivien Leigh wearing this black velvet gown with eighty-four thousand ermine tails on the sleeves. And Carole Lombard with her hair under a black snood. And Olivia De Havilland arrived late and she had to be lifted up into her box! Teensy and Caro and I fought over the opera glasses just to see it all!

Oh, all the stars were there! But not Prissy or Pork or Big Sam, or even Mammy. They couldn't come to Georgia because they are colored.

Aunt Louise told us exactly what all the stars' outfits were made of and she could also tell you whether the outfits were designed by the guy who designed the movie costumes or not. Aunt Louise knows all these kinds of things because Gone With the Wind has been her personal project for two whole years. She is actually friends with the actress who plays India Wilkes in the movie because that lady is from Atlanta herself. Aunt Louise says that she doesn't think her friend is all that good of an actress, but at least she represents the South.

Finally I asked Aunt Louise if she had any idea where Miss Mitchell was. And do you know that Aunt Louise (the witch) looked right at me and said, "Don't worry yourself over that ungrateful hack, Vivi. She has not shown up."

I said, "What?! What do you mean, Miss Mitchell hasn't shown up?! This party is hers! She is as big a star as Vivien Leigh!"

But Aunt Louise just gave this little laugh like she knew better.

All the way back home and getting out of our costumes, all I could think of was Miss Mitchell. (I did pop the hooks, and I also tore my costume under the arms, and sweated a lot. I guess you are not supposed to move or breathe when you wear those outfits.) I can't get Miss Mitchell off my mind. I asked Caro and Teensy, "Why!? Why didn't she come? Why in the world didn't she show up?" Teensy said, "Maybe she was sick."

But I think there is something more to this. A great writer like Miss Mitchell has a reason for the things she does. I'm going to find out why if it kills me.

So that is our day, Countess Singing Cloud. And every single word is true. And when we get home, we will act things out for you-like the way Gable and Lombard turned and talked to each other while they walked arm in arm, and how the actor that plays Scarlett's father kind of dances like your Uncle Collie. But for now, it's sleepytime.

Scarlett-ly Yours,

Viviane

December 15

3 o'clock in the afternoon

Dear Denesie-oh, Caro and Teensy asked me this morning, "Vivi-cakes, what all are you writing to Necie?"

And I said, "I'm recording all our divine secrets for when it is time to write our memoirs!"

Because, Necie, I just know that somehow everything the four of us do is important. I believe that years from now people are going to want to know about us.

Well, we all slept real late, especially me who was a real lazyhead after staying up all night writing to you. When I woke up, Aunt Louise was already back from the Press Club luncheon and she was stirred up to beat the band. We all went downstairs where she was on the phone to about a hundred of her friends. We tried not to listen in, but really we had no choice. Because we had to stand near the phone because it was cold in the house and the heating duct by the telephone was the warmest and also because we were looking for a button that Caro said she lost right around in that area. (Hah, just kidding. I had to listen in, in case she was talking about Miss Mitchell.) Well, Aunt Louise kept on giving us looks, but we just kept ignoring her and listening. Just before it sounded like she was about to finish a conversation, we ran into the kitchen and started looking in the icebox for something to eat.

The maid had left us some roast-beef sandwiches and a cheese and fruit platter, and we were opening some Cokes when Aunt Louise walked in.

She said, "Well, I don't suppose I need to tell you what I'm so upset about."

We acted like we didn't know what in the world she was talking about, like we had not listened to her rant and rave over the telephone to everybody in Atlanta.

Teensy acted all concerned and said, "Auntie Lou, what is wrong?"

And then Aunt Louise reached into the back of the pantry, pulled out a cracker tin, and lifted a bottle of brandy out.

She poured herself a glass, and said, "Do not ever call me Lou. My name is Louise. I believe I've made that clear in the past, Aimee."

Well, our Teensy smiled at her aunt and said, "Please, ma'am, do not call me Aimee. My name is Teensy."

That Teensy is so sly.

Aunt Louise ignored Teensy, and sat down at the kitchen table, and told us that Miss Mitchell, according to her, had just slapped the Junior League right in the face by not showing up last night for the costume ball, which was sponsored by them. After all they had done for her and her book. And it was all because back in the early twenties when Miss Mitchell was a debutante, she went to a charity ball and just went wild and performed this wild and risque Apache dance, and shocked all the Atlanta Junior League ladies so horribly that there was nothing they could do but punish her by never inviting her to be a member of the Junior League. So Miss Mitchell was trying to get back at them by not showing up at the ball, even though she was a guest of honor.

"What is an Apache dance?" I asked. I just had to know. I am a reporter here, Necie. I need details.

"I see no reason to expose you girls to the lurid details," she said, which made me want to know all the more.

"Was she naked like a savage?" Teensy asked.

"Well, no, Margaret was not exactly unclothed," Aunt Louise said, putting her hand to her head.

"Well, then," Caro said, "what was all the big fuss about?"

"I can only tell you that Miss Margaret Mitchell performed what she later described as an 'Indian mating dance.' The whole thing was utterly unacceptable for any lady to do. No matter how firmly ensconced her family was in this town, they could not protect her from the consequences of such an act. The Junior League has its standards, something I hope you girls will never forget."

"Oh, no, ma'am, we won't forget," Caro said, then turned her back to Aunt Louise and made like she was going to throw up.

Then we all got the giggles and Aunt Louise told us to run on upstairs and amuse ourselves.

Well, Necie, I think it is marvelous that Miss Mitchell tweaked their noses, don't you? Still, I am sick that I did not get to meet her last night, and I am going to do everything I can to meet her tonight at the premiere.

I have got to close now because the three of us are going for a walk to look at the Christmas decorations in the neighborhood before we come back and get ready for the premiere.

XXXX.

V.A.

Later 10:45 P.M.

Dear Countess Singing Cloud, I don't know how to put it all into words, but I will try. We have just come from the premiere of the greatest movie ever made. I take back every single thing I ever said against Vivien Leigh. I love her. I adore her. Vivien Leigh is Scarlett. I went in thinking I would not ever let myself like her, that I would never forgive them for not casting our Tallulah Dahlin in the best role ever written. But all of that is gone. The minute I saw Miss Leigh there on the steps of the porch at Tara with the Tarleton twins at her side and she said, "Melanie Wilkes, that goody-goody," well, I was a goner. Oh, gee, honey, I don't know how to tell you about the movie. You are just going to have to see it for yourself. I didn't know that it could ever ever be so romantic. Oh, when they kiss! Oh, when she pretends she doesn't know which way the hat goes! Oh, when he picks her up and carries her up the stairs (he was so much nicer than in the book when he does that). Oh, when she gets the idea to take down the curtains and make that dress! Vivien Leigh's right eyebrow shoots up and you can just see the thoughts shooting through her head. And all the times the Ya-Yas have said "fiddle-dee-dee" and how we said it made us sick to think that an English person was going to be the one to say those words. We were wrong, Necie. We were wrong wrong wrong and I don't mind admitting it.

I want to live in this movie, Necie! This is the kind of drama I was born for.

Let me tell you as much as I can get down. I am still so excited and so tired from crying and clapping. But don't worry. It is worth it to get everything down.

I forgot to tell you about the theater! The Hollywood people made it so the front of the Loew's Grand looks exactly like the front of Tara. And there somehow was a whole lawn they grew across Peachtree Street for all the stars to walk on. They walked on this new grass the whole way. Mr. Gable was so chivalrous, Necie. He said exactly what I would have wanted him to say. He said that the night wasn't his night but that the night belonged to Miss Mitchell. Oh, that really showed me what Mr. Gable is made of. That made me fall in love with him to the point that I will just never get over it.

He was so handsome, oh, girl, he had on this black overcoat and a white scarf wrapped around his neck and Miss Lombard was wearing this gold lame gown that just about blinded your eyes out.

Then-the moment I have been waiting for all my life. A limousine long as a city block pulled up, and Miss Mitchell got out. Oh, Necie, she is so tee-ninecy. She makes our Teensy look like a giant. And she gave a short little speech, mainly thanking everybody, and then she walked into the theater. To tell you the truth, I think she was nervous. I wanted to run up to her and get her to sign her name for me, but it was not the thing to do, even if I could have gotten through the crowd. Just seeing her was a thrill.

So we went into the theater, which was packed to the gills. You could smell the men's hair tonics and the ladies' perfumes, and hear the shiny dresses rustling. Caro and Teensy and I all held hands. I guess I was holding my breath too because when the curtains opened I felt like I was going to pop.

Oh! These huge titles crossed the screen like the wind was blowing them, and there was this music that had me crying even before the credits stopped rolling. And after that I don't think I breathed for hours until Scarlett was out in the field with that turnip swearing she would never go hungry again as God was her witness! And the music got louder, and pretty soon the intermission lights came up and everybody was clapping like crazy and the movie was only half over! At intermission, the three of us just held hands in the lobby and could hardly talk. We had trouble getting down the refreshments that Uncle James handed us because we were still back at Tara. How could we drink punch when Scarlett was starving?

And then all the sadness. Oh, Necie, it just broke my heart into a million pieces all over the floor of the Loew's Theater. I cried and cried, and so did Teensy and Caro. We used up all our hankies, and all I could think of was how much I am like Scarlett, never having a handkerchief when I need one. Honey, why did she treat him so bad? Why? Rhett loved her. Couldn't she see that? Why couldn't she see that? I am never, never going to let something like that happen to me. When I meet my own Rhett I am going to love him back if it just kills me.

Oh, Necie, I just can't write any more. I'm so tired and I start crying all over again when I start thinking about it all. I am going to sleep now after the most exciting day in my life. (I was wrong: I had thought yesterday was the most exciting day in my life, but today is. I can't ever imagine having a more exciting day as long as I live.) Fiddle-dee-dee and a kiss,

Vivian

(I have decided I will drop the "e" in my name so it will be more like hers.) 3 o'clock in the morning in the Coca-Cola Palace