MUSIC ERROR ON ‘GWTW’ CASSETTES

About 29,000 videocassettes of “Gone With the Wind” had to be destroyed because they opened with 45 seconds of the wrong music, an error like “putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa,” an official says.

“I don’t need to tell you it’s an expensive error,” MGM/UA Home Video Vice President Peter Anderson said. “It will cost us some thousands of dollars to replace the duplicating masters and remake the cassettes.

“It’s a very expensive error. But it’s a matter of honor, not a question of cost,” Anderson said Thursday in a telephone interview from New York.

Kris Larson, western regional sales manager for MGM/UA Home Video in Los Angeles, said it would cost $70,000 to produce the replacement tapes. However, she and Anderson agreed that the publicity would more than make up for it.

Anderson said dubbing the wrong music on the tape is “tantamount to putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.”

There were two sound tracks released with the 1939 MGM Civil War epic starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh--one for U.S. distribution and the other for theaters in other countries.

“In the international version, there is very strident marching music,” Anderson said. “The visual on the screen is a very elaborate description of the North-South conflict.

“The domestic version has a lovely version of ‘Dixie’ and talks of the wonderful days of the South, days that are gone--gone with the wind.

“For 45 seconds in the videocassette, we used the domestic picture with the international music.”

Larson said the problem developed because of a labeling error with the two sound tracks.

The mistake was discovered by Tom Shales, entertainment critic for the Washington Post, who noticed the discrepancy during a screening.

Anderson said MGM/UA still hopes to have the videocassettes in stores by March 1. He refused to say how many would be distributed, but Larson said 250,000 were being made.

“None of the incorrect versions will ever be available for sale,” Anderson said. “There will be none in existence in the United States.”

“Gone With the Wind” collected eight Academy Awards, including best picture and best actress for Leigh. Gable lost the best actor award to English actor Robert Donat for his performance in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.”

David O. Selznick produced the film about an egotistical Southern girl who survives the Civil War but loses the only man she ever cared for.