Cinema: Shorts: Jan. 23, 1939

> In Hollywood, Producer David Oliver Selznickfinally chose an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara in his forthcoming $2,000,000 production of Gone With the Wind. She was Vivien Leigh (pronounced Lee), 25, 103-lb., green-eyed, brown-haired, India-born daughter of an English stock broker, who got part of her training at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, made a hit on the London stage in The Mask of Virtue, played subsequent cinema roles in Fire Over England, Storm in a Teacup and A Yank at Oxford.

Said Miss Leigh, in real life Mrs. Herbert Leigh Holman, wife of a London barrister and mother of a five-year-old daughter: “I am grateful beyond words.” Said Gone With the Wind’s author,Margaret Mitchell, to whom Producer Selznick characteristically announced the news in a789-word telegram: “I’m so glad it’s all settled.”

Also announced last week was the selection of Olivia de Havilland to play Melanie Hamilton and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes. Previously announced was Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.

> Ten best pictures of 1938, as selected by Film Daily’s annual poll of 536 newspaper, syndicate and magazine critics: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; You Can’t Take It with You; Alexander’s Ragtime Band; Boys Town; Marie Antoinette; In Old Chicago; The Adventures of Robin Hood; The Citadel; Love Finds Andy Hardy; Hurricane.