Silver Cigarette Box Vivien Leigh
Andrew A. Taylor, New Jersey. Cigarette box from Myron Selznick.
Rectangular, lid engraved ‘Vivien and Larry/ Love Myron’
stamped with maker’s mark, Sterling standard and series 472
silver, gilt interior, wood lining and compartments. 25.5cm., 10in. wide. active 1930-1973 Made circa 1939-1944.
Myron Selznick (1898-1944) was Larry’s American agent and the brother of the renowned film producer David Selznick who had bought the rights to produce Gone with the Wind. Despite spending $50,000 in the quest for his Scarlett, David was desperate to find the new girl the public wanted to fit the heroine as described in the novel: striking green eyes, slanted brows, black hair, magnolia white skin and an arresting face. It was very late in December 1938, when filming had started, that Vivien appeared, introduced by Myron. As described by David ‘when [Myron] introduced me to her, the flames were lighting up her face and Myron said: ‘ I want you to meet Scarlett O’Hara.’ I took one look and I knew that she was right.’ (Vickers, op. cit., p. 112)
After a triumphant opening in Atlanta, Gone with the Wind opened in Hollywood on 27 December, after which Vivien and Larry spent New Year’s Eve at Myron’s mountain house.
Sold for 10,000 GBP at Sotheby’s
