Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane (124 page)

Details of the Charleston trip from “Orson Welles Here to Rest, Goes to Church, Five Parties,”
Charleston News and Courier,
April 11, 1939. “Looks better than I’ve ever seen her . . . ,” OW’s undated letter to his wife VW on Villa Margherita stationery is in the Feder papers at UM. “Welles has indicated . . .” from “Screen News Here and in Hollywood,”
New York Times
, March 30, 1939. The telephone call from Hollywood to OW, while he was meeting with bankers in Chicago, was reported in June Provines’s column “Front Views and Profiles,”
Chicago Tribune
, April 28, 1939. Foster Hirsch,
Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King
(Knopf, 2007), helped with background of
My Dear Children
, starring John Barrymore (Preminger was the director). Unless otherwise noted, all of OW’s quoted comments about the Barrymore lineage, the crises with
My Dear Children
, and John Barrymore’s legacy are from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
“New developments regarding Welles . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“The tour will probably continue . . .” from “The
Hot Mikado
Closes Tonight,”
New York Times
, June 3, 1939. Rita Myers Gagnon’s letter to the editor is from the
Los Angeles Times
, October 21, 1985. “That’s where they brought . . .” from Houseman,
Run-Through.
“Everything—but everything! . . .” from “Welles, Who ‘Scared the World,’ Gets a Dose of It from the IATSE in Pitt,”
Variety
, June 21, 1939. “At the first show he was Charles Laughton . . .” from “Tarkington Fete May Get New Play,”
New York Times
, June 23, 1939. “Who for two years spurned . . .” from “American Way Resumes Tonight,”
New York Times
, July 17, 1939. “When you don’t really want to go . . .” from Huw Wheldon’s televised BBC
Monitor
show, 1960, transcribed in Estrin,
Orson Welles Interviews.
“An almost unbearable bit . . . ,” from OW’s first letter to VW from California, July 22, 1939, one of the rare dated letters among their correspondence in the Feder papers at UM.

Chapter 17:
JULY–DECEMBER 1939

OW letters of July–August 1939 to VW are undated, but I have done my best to sequence them. “Need Fresh Pix Directors,”
Variety,
July 26, 1939. OW was cornered at the Helen Hayes party in “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood,”
Los Angeles Times
, July 29, 1939. (He was photographed sitting between Norma Shearer and Helen Hayes at a table at the Trocadero party,
Los Angeles Times
, August 6, 1939.) Louella Parsons put quotes around the word “genius” in her first column about Welles, “Welles’ Contract Shatters Records,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, July 30, 1939. (Later, for her syndicated column, datelined August 24, 1940, Parsons visited the set of
Citizen Kane
, where she shared memories of Dixon, Illinois, with Welles and revised her opinion, removing the skeptical quotes and calling him “indeed a brilliant youth.”) Edwin Schallert’s first interview with Welles was “Welles Sees Television Boon to Dramatic Arts,”
Los Angeles Times
, August 6, 1939. “The only way I was able . . .” and “This is what was said . . .”: George Schaefer is quoted in Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“A kind of parable of fascism” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
The Huxley tea-picnic is recounted in David King Dunaway,
Huxley in Hollywood
(HarperCollins, 1989). The Dolores Del Rio–Jack Warner birthday party is reported in Maxine Bartlett’s column “Screen Society,”
Los Angeles Times
, August 6, 1939. “That’s when I fell in love . . .” and “that sightless, beautiful . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
I have drawn from Linda B. Hall,
Dolores Del Rio: Beauty in Light and Shade
(Stanford University Press, 2013). I relied heavily on Richard Meryman’s excellent biography of Herman Mankiewicz (HM) for material including details in this chapter of Mank’s pre–
Citizen Kane
career. “A heavy cast from under . . .” and “A certain man can be . . .” are from HM’s testimony in the Ferdinand Lundberg case.

“Became a different man . . .” from HB, undated letter to OW (LL). MAB’s noticing William Alland’s “pale lemon yellow” complexion, and the subsequent surgery, from
Long Beach Independent
, August 31, 1939. “Most wonderful vacation . . .” from HB, letter to OW, September 20, 1939, (LL). OW and Lucille Ball were photographed at the
Stanley and Livingstone
premiere,
Los Angeles Times
, August 9, 1939. Schaefer’s telegram (“
RKO
WOULD
HAVE
LOST
MONEY
. . .”) and OW’s reply (“
YOU
HAVE
MY
WORD
. . .”) from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
A version of the “Actors and garbage!” anecdote, carried in many show business columns in late 1939, is told in Decla Dunning, “Energy Machine” (profile of OW),
Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine
, December 24, 1939. Jack Sher’s syndicated profile, “The Legendary Orson Welles,” was an installment of his column, “Fantasy on 58th Street,”
Port Arthur
(Texas)
News
, November 19, 1939. “He sings a siren song . . .” from an undated memo, Diana Bourbon to Ernest Chappell (LL). “Overproduced” and “We’re not in the business . . .” from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“Any ‘siren song’ I’ve sung . . .” from Welles’s eight-page reply to Bourbon, October 12, 1939, (LL). “The further development of the . . .” from Edwin Schallert, interview with OW,
Los Angeles Times
, August 6, 1939. F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Pat Hobby and Orson Welles,”
Esquire
, May 1940. W. R. Wilkerson decried RKO’s “gamble” on Welles in his column “Trade Views,”
Hollywood Reporter
, September 26, 1939. Sheilah Graham’s syndicated column recording OW’s candid views on Hollywood stars, “The Sun Is Bright, Too: Orson Welles Not One to Hide His ‘Genius,’ ”
Kansas City Star
, December 5, 1939. “Good friends pulled us apart . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
The Ward Bond anecdote concerning
The Last Hurrah
(footnote) from Scott Eyman,
John Wayne: The Life and Legend
(Simon and Schuster, 2014). “Orson Welles’s popularity . . .” from Jimmie Fidler’s column,
Los Angeles Times
, September 12, 1939. “Logically, they should have . . .” and “I think that’s a wonderful . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
“They weren’t all of them . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
The anecdote about Stevens on the set from Joseph McBride, “Some Thoughts on George Stevens,” sidebar to McBride and Patrick McGilligan, “George Stevens: A Piece of the Rock,”
Bright Lights
, no. 8, 1979. “What a sense [Ford] always has . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“As many as forty times” from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“After dinner every night . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
The
Playboy
interview of March 1967, is included in Estrin,
Orson Welles Interviews.

“Supplementing this was a discussion . . .” from Herbert Drake, letter to Leonard Lyons, September 29, 1939, (LL). “When Kurtz begins to talk . . .” (George Schaefer), “
HONESTLY
AGREE
. . .” (OW), and “very black skin” (OW) from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“Really just seeing what would happen . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“Had my first night . . .” from OW, memo of October 18, 1939, to Herbert Drake (LL). “The demands on Orson’s time . . .” from Drake, letter of November 24, 1939, to MAB (LL). “I decided I was a little obvious . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“A newsreel sequence based on . . .” from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“Schaefer was enthusiastic . . .” from Arnold Weissberger, letter of November 21, 1939, to OW (LL).

CHAPTER 18:
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 1939

“I asked Mr. Welles . . .” from Louella O. Parsons’s syndicated column, October 11, 1939. “Anna Stafford” was photographed returning from Ireland in the company of Geraldine Fitzgerald: “Notables Arrive on the Manhattan,”
New York Times
, October 23, 1939. The Helen Hayes–Molnár anecdote from
Orson Welles on the Air: The Radio Years.
“I urge you now to give Time . . .” from Tarbox,
Orson Welles and Roger Hill.
Sidney Skolsky’s column “Tintypes” (“There is no truth to it . . .”),
Hollywood Citizen-News
, December 7, 1939. I have sequenced and quoted from a half dozen mostly undated (a few are marked simply November 1939) pieces of correspondence from MAB to OW (LL). “Solely on money earned . . .” from Richard Baer, letter of November 29, 1939, to Arnold Weissberger (LL). “Exclusive of rent” and “The essential problem is Orson’s psychology . . .” from Weissberger, letter of December 18, 1939, to Baer (LL). “I lost my battle . . .” from Leaming,
Orson Welles.
I have telescoped the barbs from
Hollywood Reporter
, Jimmie Fidler, Ed Sullivan, and Hedda Hopper. The
Hollywood Reporter
’s prediction that the deal would fall through without Welles’s “ever doing a picture” is quoted from the PBS documentary
The Battle over Citizen Kane.
Fidler (“Ha! They’re saying Orson Welles . . .”) is from McBride,
What Ever Happened to Orson Welles
? “Chic in a silver fox beard . . .” (Ed Sullivan) from a column of June 1940. “Looks like the only hair-raising . . .” from “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood,” January 13, 1940. “Working practically day and night . . .” from Edwin Schallert’s column “Drama,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 28, 1939. “This is no new story . . .” (VW) is from “Reno Bound,”
Chicago Tribune
, December 20, 1939. Decla Dunning and OW are quoted from Dunning, “Energy Machine,”
Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine
, December 24, 1939. The Screen Actors Guild holiday party is covered as part of a photo spread in the
Los Angeles Times
, December 25, 1939. Orson named the director he admired “most of all” in
Cahiers du Cinéma in English,
1966: the article is reprinted in Estrin,
Orson Welles Interviews.
“We stared at each other . . .” from Brady,
Citizen Welles.
“A couple more payments . . .” from Baer, letter of February 5, 1940, to Weissberger (LL). “The greatest female clown around . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
OW’s lunch with Hedda Hopper is reported in her column of January 22, 1940. “The Creation of
Kane
,” Welles’s judicious and witty rejoinder to Kael’s “Raising
Kane
,” appeared in the (London)
Times
, November 17, 1971. “The man to seem a very different person . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
In this chapter JH is quoted from his testimony in the Lundberg case, unless otherwise noted. “There were and are Americans . . .” from OW’s deposition in the Lundberg case. Whitford Kane takes credit for the last name of Charles Foster Kane in Milton Bracker, “Sir Paddy Cullen Kane” (a profile of the veteran actor),
New York Times
, April 6, 1941. “Only praise for her husband . . .” from the Associated Press account of the divorce,
Rhinelander
(Wisconsin)
Daily News
, February 2, 1938; and “Wife Divorces Orson Welles,”
Los Angeles Times
, February 2, 1940. “Assigned all claims . . .” from Carringer,
The Making of Citizen Kane.
“A patient, efficient, nice-looking English girl” is from Houseman,
Run-Through.
“A mammoth, 300-page version” is from Meryman,
Mank.
“The great adventure of the day . . .” from Houseman,
Run-Through.
Rita Alexander is quoted from Meryman,
Mank.

Chapter 19:
FEBRUARY–MAY 1940

The principal sources for my re-creation of the writing of
Kane
should be clear in context. I have woven together strands of Meryman,
Mank
; transcripts of the Lundberg case; Carringer,
The Making of Citizen Kane
; and OW’s conversations with Peter Bogdanovich. In this chapter, I am always quoting JH from his testimony in the Lundberg case unless otherwise noted. “I sketched out the character . . .” and “As author of the film . . .” from Bogdanovich,
This Is Orson Welles.
“Welles and his Hollywood love . . .” from “Walter Winchell on Broadway,” the last (undated) column of January 1940. “She apparently didn’t consider . . .” from Fay Wray,
On the Other Hand: A Life Story
(St. Martin’s, 1989). “Absolute sockeroo” and “This may seem a foolish point . . .” from OW, undated memo to his radio show overseers (LL). The footnote about Joan Fontaine is from Fontaine,
No Bed of Roses
(William Morrow, 1978). “Lecture is informal . . .” from Herbert Drake, undated telegram to Sam Zolotow at the
New York Times
(LL). “The business of the actor . . .” and details of the Pasadena speech from “Orson Welles Says ‘Actor Is Theater,’ ”
Pasadena Post
, April 4, 1940. “Of the movies, I will speak . . .” from United Press, “Hollywood! Orson Welles Does Not Approve of You!”
Los Angeles Herald,
April 12, 1940. OW’s half-page advertisement (“A movie today is a better bargain . . .”),
Hollywood Reporter
, April 13, 1940. Comments by Ann Sheridan and Pat O’Brien from United Press, “Orson Welles Strictures Draw Wrath of Hollywood,”
Eugene
(Oregon)
Register-Guard
, April 13, 1939. “Every time I open . . .” from Frederick C. Othman, “Orson Talks to Replenish Empty Purse,”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, April 15, 1940. “Nothing in the world . . .” from Hank Grant, “Rambling Reporter,”
Hollywood Reporter
, May 18, 1940. “A really scurvy trick . . .” from Herbert Drake, letter of April 29, 1940, addressed to AS at the
Chicago American
(LL).