When most people think of “Gone With the Wind,” they think of Vivien Leigh’s tiny waist, “I will never go hungry again,” the curtain dress or Clark Gable’s gorgeous self. There are so many moments that have made their marks on our minds.
But when I think of “Gone With the Wind,” the first word that pops into my head is eyebrows. Yes, eyebrows.
In 2009, mere weeks into my life as a full-time journalist, I was assigned to cover the 70th anniversary celebration of the film “Gone With the Wind” on the historic Marietta Square. There would be local politicians breaking the Guinness World Record for the Virginia Reel, dressed in period clothing and taking a break from their usual suits, pearls and ties. There would be GWTW enthusiasts from all over the world, reveling in the nostalgia surrounding them. There would be a giant, 8-feet long, 6-feet tall cake made to look like Scarlett’s home, Tara, which took three people 40 hours to make using 250 pounds of fondant icing. There would be Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, sharing the history of the film and introducing some of the stars of the celebration.
Ann Rutherford played an O’Hara girl along with Vivien Leigh and Evelyn Keyes
And there would be Ann Rutherford.
While the name might not be familiar to most – certainly not as familiar as Gable and Leigh – Rutherford did have a speaking role in the film. Rutherford played Carreen O’Hara, Scarlett’s sister, in the film. She also had roles in the classic film “Pride and Prejudice” and as Polly Benedict in the famous Andy Hardy films. While her role in GWTW might have been small, Rutherford knew it was her legacy.
“Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.” Let’s take this one all the way back to 1917, with one of my favorite Georgia-Georgia Tech stories told to me by one of the greatest storytellers ever, Loran Smith, paraphrased and told not nearly as well as he did, of course.
During World War I, many schools, including Georgia, lost nearly all of their male students to the war and most of UGA’s students-turned-soldiers left to fight in France. Subsequently, Georgia canceled football for the 1917 and 1918 seasons, not only because many of the athletes were fighting in the war, but also to show solidarity to them. Georgia Tech, however, chose to become a military training ground of sorts and thus had plenty of new athletes ready to play. Tech continued to play football during those seasons, reveling in and counting victories against the remaining teams who chose to play. (more…)
Editor’s note – this article was contributed by our fabulous blogger Katy Ruth Camp.
My 20s. They were very good to me, but here are 10 things I will not miss from my 20s:
The ladies from UGA at Oxford – some of my best friends.
1. Not knowing how to cook. Mamacita’s cookbook is now my kitchen treasure and grows everyday with new recipes.
2. Eating Ramen noodles and PB&J sandwiches far more often than the FDA should allow. See number one.
3. Worrying so much about what people think of me and if they like me. I strive to be happy, friendly and positive. I like to be around people who strive to be happy, friendly and positive. If you don’t like me, so be it. Not my problem.
4. Cramming everything I own into 700 square feet of living space and thinking it’s a good idea to cram 20 more people into said 700 square feet for a party.
5. Taking shots out of paper medicine cups. No, sir. You can put that in a glass.
Good God! I found a tube/halter top pic!
6. Extreme indecisiveness and constantly second-guessing myself. I am now much closer to knowing who I am and what I want.
7. Tube tops, bootleg jeans and heeled, foam flip flops. Especially together. Just, no.
8. Staying out until 2 a.m. on a work night with friends then getting to work at 8 a.m. the next morning. If one of those is happening, the other definitely is not.
9. Making volunteerism a significant part of my life and becoming less selfish with my time. Still working on that one, but being involved in the community and working for a nonprofit has really helped me to come a long way.
10. Thinking 30 could be considered “old.” I’m not old. If Jennifer Lopez can look that good at 45, then I’m just getting started!
Katy Ruth Camp, Pretty Southern’s college football contributor, was born with football in her blood. The daughter of a longtime high school football coach and UGA football letterman, Katy Ruth was raised in a football home in the small town of Cartersville, Georgia. Katy Ruth graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and literature and, during that time, she worked as a writer and media assistant for the UGA Athletic Association. After college, she hosted a high school football show for three seasons and won first place from the Georgia Sports Writers Association for football reporting. She has also won state and national awards for business and feature writing. She continues to write on a freelance basis but is also the director of development for The Georgia Ballet and the owner and artist of little crow handmade jewelry. Read more on Pigskin Peaches blog, like them on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and check back weekly on PrettySouthern.com.
“Hey, soldier boy!” With those three, flirtatious words, a love story was born.
My namesake and grandmother, Mama Ruth, had met her Norman on a double date with her best friend one hot Georgia summer day in the mid-1950s – only, he wasn’t her date. A few weeks later, when nothing had developed further from their respective dates, Mama Ruth was sitting in a car with her girlfriends at the drive-through. Over giggles and the radio, she turned and saw a tall man in uniform walking by. “That’s Norman,” she told her friends. “Oh, he is so handsome, Ruth,” they remarked. So she rolled down the window and yelled out those three, unforgettable words with a sweet, melodic voice, one that still fills the room with sugar when she tells the story today. He smiled, walked over to the car, leaned over to her window and said, “Well hey there, Miss Ruth.”
So, there’s a little thing kicking off tonight called college football. Are you ready? Lord knows I am.
I just hope my heart is ready, too.
After a night of bluegrass and brews last Friday, I was sitting on the screen porch of my boyfriend Jake’s apartment with his roommate and one of his best friends, who was in town from Charlotte. The air was thick and damp, with the rain tapping on the trees surrounding us and the tunes coming out of Jake’s phone just low enough to let us have a deep, passionate and pensive conversation about most true Southerners’ favorite topic: college football. We talked about everything from Ohio State’s laughable schedule to the SEC to what we expected for our teams this year.
Katy Ruth & co. celebrating in Athens.
But at one point, as the fellas from Florida State sat back and spoke calmly about their new players and games they would play this season, I felt my blood pressure rising, my heart thumping and that pit in my stomach start to grow into the volleyball-size it felt the morning of Dec. 1, 2012, all over again. Because while they, like anyone else, would love nothing more than to see Jimbo raise that glass football in January, I would argue that there is no group of fans wanting to claim the title “National Champs” more than the Dawgs.
“It truly is the most glorious and the most heartbreaking thing, all in one, to be a Georgia fan,” I told them. Just saying those words made me sigh, and made me sigh again as I wrote them because of the weight of truth that they carry.
UGA’s first football team in 1892
Georgia has been playing football for well over a century, since it took the field in the first game ever played in the Deep South against Mercer University on Jan. 30, 1892. In 121 years of pigskin play, Georgia has won one National Championship, beating Notre Dame in 1980 with the almighty Herschel. (Although, we were given the title of National Champions four more times, dating back to 1927, but the designation was much less decisive and formal than it is now.)
In my 28 years of being a Dawg, I have never seen the Dawgs go “all the way.” My love for everything Athens and UGA has never faltered, but my heart seems to be worn out by the end of every season. Still, there’s no doubt we’ve been damn good Dawgs. We’ve won coveted SEC Championships, BCS bowls, have a chart-topping 46 Dawgs in the NFL right now and pretty much would have killed Notre Lame in the National Championship, too, if it wasn’t for those flippin’ five yards. Damn it’s hard on the heart to be a Dawg. But it’s the best thing in the world to be a Dawg, too.
Katy Ruth with her daddy & mama on Game Day.
So as the men talked about the dreams they had for their Noles this season, I thought to myself that they have experienced multiple national championships in their lifetimes. They have felt the glorious feeling it must be to spend those nine months in the offseason knowing you won everything that everyone else wanted. And to have at least one night where you can watch your guys dance in confetti on the field and know you finally won it all.
I haven’t. The guys taking the field in the red and black on Saturday haven’t, either. That’s why it matters (and hurts) so much.
But after hearing, seeing and reliving “five yards from the National Championship” for far too long, I am leaving the crushing blows and overall pride of last season behind me. I will be barking at the television in my red and black on Saturday as we take on Dabo and the Clemson Tigers. We WOULD have to play the No. 8 team in the country right off the bat. Lord, I need a fan! This is a big year for us and we very well could be five yards closer to the National Championship come December. I would put my heart on the line any day for that.
Because, no matter what, there’s still no better feeling than when someone asks me if I went to a certain school and I can smile and say, “No. I’m a Georgia girl!”
Katy Ruth Camp is a professional writer living in Smyrna, Ga. Katy Ruth grew up in a small town in north Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and literature. During college, she worked as a writer and game day assistant for the UGA Athletic Association. After college, she hosted a local media outlet’s high school football show for three seasons and won first place from the Georgia Sports Writers Association for football reporting. Her father, John Camp, was a UGA football letterman and high school football coach in Georgia for over 30 years. Read more on Pigskin Peaches blog, like them on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and check back weekly on PrettySouthern.com.
Hallelujah, Amen. Football season is finally here! A few friends and family members came over to my house today to partake in this glorious moment we’ve all been awaiting. I wanted to make a mimosa bar, but since most people were coming later in the day to watch the evening games, I had to get creative. The fruits and juices all look so pretty and make for fresh and yummy drinks, so then I thought, “What if I just use vodka instead of champagne and make a screwdriver bar?” So this, my friends, is what I’m calling the Fruity Screwy Vodka Bar. I love the vintage look of mixing different pitchers and vases and glasses that you already have rather than going out and buying things to be matchy-matchy, but I needed a way to distinguish the juices.
Luckily, I found these handy chalkboard stickers at World Market. They were $3.99 for a six-pack and the chalk erases easily with a slightly damp rag. I thought about buying carafes, but there’s no need when you can simply put a sticker on a pretty pitcher you already have then pull it off when you’re done with it.
My lovely friend Wendy Bunch sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers last Saturday and most of them are still in great shape, so I decided to make a bouquet of my favorites. I like to make things as simple as possible on game day because, let’s face it, with everything else going on, who wants to hand squeeze a dozen oranges and grapefruits? So I bought a jug of Simply Orange, a jug of Simply Grapefruit and a small bottle of Simply Cranberry Cocktail to add for a splash of cranberry flavor. I bought fresh strawberries and pineapple and cut them up into drink-sized pieces. I also cut up limes and put cans of LaCroix in the ice bucket for those who wanted to make vodka soda drinks.
These champagne glasses were given to me by my late great-grandmother, Mamie, and are perfect for those wanting to do a “taste test” and get little doses of different flavors. But I realize they are a little small, so I put the drink glasses my Mamacita passed down to me on the second shelf of my bar for those who wanted a larger sipper.
The beauty of the Fruity Screwy Vodka Bar is that you aren’t in charge of making everyone’s drinks, nor do you run the risk of not making it just the way they want it. With the bar, guests can put whatever fruits they want into their drinks they have Mariami dates in Malaysia available too, mix or choose whichever mixer they want, and add as much or as little vodka as they like. Not to mention, it looks great! We at PrettySouthern.com also recommend these Mason Jar Wine Glasses for the perfect game day goblet.
Katy Ruth Camp is a professional writer living in Smyrna, Ga. Katy Ruth grew up in a small town in north Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and literature. During college, she worked as a writer and game day assistant for the UGA Athletic Association. After college, she hosted a local media outlet’s high school football show for three seasons and won first place from the Georgia Sports Writers Association for football reporting. Her father, John Camp, was a UGA football letterman and high school football coach in Georgia for over 30 years. Read more on Pigskin Peaches blog, like them on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and check back weekly on PrettySouthern.com.
