By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.– Kathleen Marcaccio was 11-years-old in the spring of 1969 when her mother took her to the theater to see “Gone With the Wind.”

She fell in love with the epic 1939 film and the next day, she checked out from the library Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 book on which the movie was based.

The historical romance featuring Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, set in the south during the American Civil War and the subsequent reconstruction period, began a lifelong love affair for Marcaccio, who has now seen the movie about 85 times and read the book a dozen times.

She will share her love of the story during a special program with her “Gone With the Wind” memorabilia collection at 7 p.m., Oct. 13, at the library, 304 South St.

“The movie is a big movie, not only a 4-hour experience, including intermission, but the scenes are epic, the color so dramatic, with the sunsets, the silhouette of Scarlett and her father against their home, (the plantation)Tara, and the Atlanta fire scene— these are huge scenes.”

Her first viewing left a dramatic impression, but she would have to wait five more years before she saw the movie again. During her childhood, she wouldn’t quite have a complete understanding of what the movie and book would mean to her life.

The movie didn’t debut on network television until November 1976, she continued, but the summer leading up to that premiere, the movie was shown again in theaters and she recalls seeing it half a dozen times with her girlfriends, driving to various theaters in the area.

She reflects now that the things people are exposed to from junior high to high school are the things that stick with you— for some people it’s a musical band or perhaps the movie ‘Star Wars.” For Marcaccio, it’s the Detroit Tigers winning the World Series in 1968 when she was in sixth grade, and “Gone With the Wind.”

She is not alone in her passion, and believes the story became so beloved by so many people due to its central theme of survival.

“The book came out in 1936, five years after the stock market crashed,” Marcaccio notes. “It gave the people at the time a sense of hope that someone had survived another difficult time 75 years earlier and it made them think they could survive the Depression. It was very popular in Japan for the same reason. After they were bombed in World War II, they clung to the story.”

Following the 50th anniversary celebration of “Gone With the Wind,” there was a resurgence of popularity for the story in Japan and the movie and book continue to have worldwide appeal because of that theme of survival.

Marcaccio began collecting “Gone With the Wind” memorabilia in the 1980s and says that while many people are familiar with extensive merchandising of films like “Star Wars” and “The Wizard of Oz,” they may not know just how big a franchise GWTW has been.

In her library program, she will bring a large collection of memorabilia, as well as speak about author Margaret Mitchell, the history of the book, and share stories behind the casting and filming of the movie, as well as it’s opening in Detroit and general reception by audiences.

For more information or to register for this free event, visit www.brandonlibrary.org.