[img]2758|right|Fred Parrish||no_popup[/img]Producer/author Daniel Selznick will introduce the feature length documentary “Fred Parrish – The Man Behind the Camera,” produced by The Scene Dock and directed by this writer.
Mr. Selznick is the son of legendary producer David O Selznick who made the classics, “Gone with the Wind” and “Duel in the Sun.” His mother Irene Mayer Selznick was the daughter of movie magnate Louis B. Mayer and a noted Broadway producer. In 1947, she produced Tennessee Williams's classic “A Streetcar Named Desire” on the stage, starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy. John Garfield was first choice for the male lead. He turned it down because he felt that the role of Blanche Dubois overshadowed the male role of Stanley Kowalski. Elia Kazan directed the Broadway premiere.
Daniel and his younger brother Jeffrey Selznick were co-executive producers of the Peabody Award-winning documentary “Gone With The Wind — The Making of a Legend.” The documentary premiered on the Turner network and marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer winning novel.
In 1983, Daniel Selznick produced “Blood Feud” and “Hoover vs. the Kennedys: The Second Civil War” in 1987. He was associate producer on Peter Bogdanivich's first directorial effort, “Targets.”
Fred Parrish was a still photographer for David Selznick from 1935 until 1942. During the production of “Gone with the Wind,” he shot over 1,000 black and white stills documenting behind the scenes.
Fifty of Parrish's photographs from hung in the Atlanta History Center for five years.
Parrish was born in 1892 in Boscobel, WI, on the Wisconsin River. Boscobel plays host to the “Muskets and Memories” Civil War reenactment during the first week in August. “Muskets and Memories” is one of the largest and most popular Civil War reenactments in the Upper Midwest, drawing 1,000 participants and 8,000 spectators each year.
Parrish's story is one of a self-made man in the early 20th century. He ran away from home at 14 because his stepmother resented how he spent time and money on his photography.
He attended the University of Wisconsin and became the official photographer of sports events, working part-time at a photographic laboratory.
“Fred Parrish — The Man Behind The Camera” will feature clips and stills from his earliest documentaries in the 1920s, his work at RKO in the 1930s, his work for David Selznick and his invention of a 3-D motion picture camera in the 1950s.
Interviews will be shown with Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford who portrayed Scarlet O'Hara's younger sisters.
Fred Crane, who appeared as Brent Tarleton, in “Gone,” Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Martha and Woody Tolkin, Parrish's next door neighbors in later years, actor/stuntman Carl Pitti, who worked on developing a 3-D camera in the 1950s with Parrish, Tyler St. Mark who talks about George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood, three directors who worked on the film, Rodney Gottlieb, who helped restore Parrish’s photos, Cathleen Butler, research on Parrish's early life in Wisconsin and Colorado, and Leigh Massey and Joanna Arrietta from Atlanta History Center and Ray Moselle, former assistant fire chief in Culver City who died recently, are in the film.
Principal photography was conducted by Mark Morris, Andre Champagne who is also post production supervisor and editor and Tyler St. Mark.
The film is planned to premiere on Dec. 18, 75th anniversary of the world premiere of the film, “Gone” in Atlanta.
Mr. Hawkins may be contacted at rjhculvercity@aol.com
