  Right now I'm working on this great book called "Memo from David O. Selznick," which I picked up at McKay's, our local used bookstore, for about $2.00.
It is a chronological collection of memos, letters, and notes written by Selznick (who produced Gone with the Wind, among hundreds of other studio pictures during the Golden Years of Hollywood.
) It follows him as he bounced from MGM to Paramount to RKO (and back to MGM) etc etc. One of the most interesting stories (told in his own words) is when he left Paramount to form an independent production company (remember, this was during the heyday of "assembly line" filmmaking...everyone involved in a picture was under contract to the studio...so the idea of an independent company was unheard of....DOS was way ahead of his time.
) So his father-in-law was Louis B. Mayer of MGM (Selznick had just married Irene Mayer). Mayer called a meeting of studio execs and instructed them NOT to deal with Selznick's new company, because if they did, every two-bit writer and director would try to weasel out of their studio contracts and start their own indie companies....collapsing the whole studio system. And this was the poor guy's father-in-law! Anyway...if you're interested in film history....particularly the early days...check out this book...it's like sitting in Selznick's office, looking over his shoulder. 
