While the picture was in production, J. R. McDonough asked the Audience Research Institute to run some tests concerning its potential popularity. The results were disappointing. They indicated that Kitty Foyle would be “popular with female theatre-goers” but not popular enough to compensate for its almost complete “lack of appeal for male theatre-goers.” While predicting that the film would probably do only average business, Gallup's organization made two important suggestions. First, recalling that Rebecca had been “serialized in twenty-six mass circulation newspapers immediately prior to the picture's release,” the institute suggested that RKO arrange a similar tie-in with Kitty Foyle. This would surely contribute to the box-office performance of the film. Second, since a number of respondents to the poll had reacted favorably to the story's “picture of everyday life,” the publicity department was encouraged to play up this angle in the advertising.76
Both of these ideas were mobilized. The company obtained the serialization rights to Kitty Foyle and arranged syndication in key newspapers throughout the country. Advertising for the picture emphasized that Ginger was playing an everyday working girl and had even changed her hair color from blonde to brunette to “de-glamorize” her image. These two strategies, plus the fact that Rogers won her Oscar not long after the film premiered, surely contributed to the extraordinary success of Kitty Foyle.
The Kitty Foyle euphoria unfortunately did not last long. At 5:40 p.m. on January 9, 1941, Louella Parsons telephoned George Schaefer's office. The gossip columnist for the Hearst newspaper chain was enraged. She had just viewed Orson Welles's Citizen Kane and demanded to speak to the RKO president, who had already departed for the day.77 “How dare Mr. Schaefer ever do a thing like that,” she said indignantly, referring to Kane, which she viewed as a libelous biography of her boss, William Randolph Hearst. Speaking to Schaefer's secretary, Parsons promised that Hearst would “bring a terrific amount of pressure on the Motion Picture Industry” and that RKO would be hit with one of the “the most beautiful lawsuits” in history if the movie were ever released. After demanding to know Schaefer's home phone number, the columnist emphasized that the situation was “a matter of life and death to RKO” and hung up.
This verbal assault marked the beginning of the nastiest controversy that had ever affected the company: W. R. Hearst versus RKO and Orson Welles. The escalating squabble is discussed in detail later in this chapter. At this point, it is sufficient to say that the Hearst problem simply provided the prologue to a year and a half of sound and fury, one of the most tumultuous periods in RKO's history.
As might be expected, the root cause of growing trouble was financial. Now that RKO had pulled out of receivership, it was expected to make profits. But in its first year (1940) the “new” RKO lost $988,191.78 George Schaefer blamed the deficit on a long list of expenses derived from the reorganization process, but these expenses were only part of the problem. Anyone could look at the inferior 1940 releases and understand why RKO was falling further behind its competitors. All of them made profits in 1940 except Twentieth Century-Fox, which had a rare off year (with a $500,000 deficit).
Schaefer in effect acknowledged that the company's films were the problem when he announced he would be moving his office to Hollywood and taking over production early in 1941.79 Only industry insiders realized that this was not at all a bombshell. George Schaefer had been running production since he had become president of RKO. While it was unusual for a corporate head to set up shop in Hollywood, the move itself would not fundamentally alter matters. The public announcement did, however, throw the jobs of all the other studio executives into limbo. What would Harry Edington's position be from now on? His contract still had one year to run. What about J. J. Nolan and J. R. McDonough? Would their jobs and titles remain the same? Would Lee Marcus continue to supervise B pictures in the new alignment? Rumors concerning another big RKO shake-up began to spread.
Initial confirmation of the scuttlebutt came in February when J. R. McDonough took charge of the B unit, relieving Lee Marcus of his former duties. Schaefer announced that Marcus would continue to work as an associate producer in the unit, but this subterfuge dissolved in April when Marcus quit RKO.80 Marcus had been head of the low-budget unit for several years, but he and Schaefer had never seen eye to eye.81 Now J. R. McDonough would face the challenge of producing commercial pictures on middling budgets.
Shortly after Schaefer moved his principal office to Hollywood, he announced that the pay cuts imposed on company personnel when World War II began would be restored.82 Then, suddenly, the Citizen Kane controversy began to take up much of his time.83 It appears he was surprised by Louella Parsons's livid reaction to the picture in January and blindsided by the subsequent attack that her employer, William Randolph Hearst, launched against him, Welles, and RKO. Back in September 1940, the following item had appeared in the “Miscellany” section of Newsweek: “The script of Orson Welles' first movie, ‘Citizen Kane,' was sent to William Randolph Hearst for perusal after columnists had hinted it dealt with his life. Hearst approved it without comment.”84 Thus, Schaefer did not anticipate any difficulties from the newspaper baron. But evidently, Hearst never read the script.
Kane was in production when the Newsweek blurb appeared. Shooting continued throughout much of the fall, and word began to leak out that Welles was creating something special. J. J. Nolan viewed 7,000 feet of the picture in September and pronounced it “great.”85 The RKO executives planned a major advertising blitz to coincide with the release, set for February 1941. Trade papers carried ads for the picture well in advance of its opening date, and excitement built through the early part of the new year.
Hearst, however, took Louella Parsons's assessment very seriously. Without screening a print to see if the film actually was an unflattering biography of him, Hearst began to exert pressure on RKO. He had his agents deliver an ultimatum that the picture be shelved and, to prove he meant business, ordered his papers to withhold mention of RKO and its productions. The financial effects of a wide-ranging newspaper boycott were indeed sobering, but George Schaefer refused to be intimidated—at first. In his initial response Schaefer stated that the company was giving “no serious consideration” to the idea of withholding Citizen Kane.86 Meanwhile, Welles maintained the film was not about Hearst.
In February, however, a conflict developed among the members of the RKO board of directors. One faction, headed by Schaefer, insisted that the picture should be released, while another group believed strongly that it should be suppressed.87 For Schaefer, Citizen Kane meant more than a potential box-office success. It was a personal vindication—the film that would prove that his questionable policies, including the hiring of an unproven Orson Welles, had paid off. To assure that he would receive the credit he was due, Schaefer began to show the picture to industry professionals, who were awestruck by what they saw. The following telegram from Schaefer to Welles describes the result of one of these screenings:
Know you will be happy that never in my experience in the business have I screened a picture before such a tough and professional audience as I did last night and received such wonderful reaction. Present at the screening were directors Vidor, Dieterle, Bob Stevenson, Garson Kanin and producers Hempstead, Hawks, Edington, and agents Stein and Wasserman of MCA and Leland Hayward and actors Kay Kyser and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. At the conclusion, picture not only received a wonderful round of applause, but each and every one most enthusiastic as one of the great motion pictures that had ever come out of Hollywood. Most every one was so impressed that they were virtually speechless and some came back the second and third time after the picture was concluded and told me how much they were impressed.88
Finally, one of George Schaefer's protégés had fashioned an unquestionable masterpiece; yet the RKO president was having to fight just to place the film before the public.
W. R. Hearst showed no signs of backing down. A minor lawsuit against RKO won by Joseph Ermolieff, producer of The Sol
dier and the Lady (1937), that cost the company $7,000 was used as a pretext for a coast-to-coast vilification of RKO and Schaefer on the front pages of the Hearst newspapers.89 War had broken out and Hearst owned the heavy artillery.
February came and went without the release of Citizen Kane; prospects for the film began to appear dicey. Schaefer, who had given Welles assurances all along, suddenly started to act evasive and indefinite and was difficult to reach. Welles became desperate. After an unsatisfying telephone conversation with Schaefer on March 7, he sent the RKO president a long telegram. In part, it stated:
I managed to say very little of what I want to on the phone. Your answers to my questions were themselves unanswerable even if they weren't good answers. Here's what I mean. When I ask you when the picture will be released, you say you hope to be able to tell me Monday or Tuesday. I ask you to tell me more about it and you simply repeat answer number one. The picture was supplied [sic] to open the fourteenth and the[n] on the twenty-eighth. No real reasons were offered for either postponement. When this trouble first descended upon us, we spoke almost twice daily by phone. Now I have to sit up until four o'clock in the morning trying to get in touch with you and failing to do so. When I finally reach you, the only satisfaction you can give me is expressed in the merest of generalities…. Don't tell me to get a good night's rest and keep my chin up. Don't bother to communicate if that's all you have to say. There's no more rest for me until I know something concrete, and as for my chin, I've been leading with it for more than a year and a half. Finally, never think I'm insensible to the great gift of your own loyalty. It is that very loyalty that has spoiled me. Always remember that I well know you're the best man I'll ever work for, but do try to realize that you owe both us something better than what I now receive.90
Schaefer replied: “Have been trying to get you on the telephone all day, it seems that you are ‘ducking me.' Now laugh that off. Seriously speaking you probably have just cause to complain but please be assured you have nothing to worry about.”91
The events of the following week undercut Schaefer's words. A press preview of the film was canceled at the last minute, and the RKO legal staff began scrutinizing its contracts with Welles and Mercury Productions to discover the company's possible liability if it decided not to release Kane.92 Furious about the quashing of the preview, Orson Welles called a press conference and announced he would sue RKO. His formal statement included the following:
I believe that the public is entitled to see “Citizen Kane.” For me to stand by while this picture was being suppressed would constitute a breach of faith with the public on my part as a producer. I have at this moment sufficient financial backing to buy “Citizen Kane” from RKO and to release it myself. Under my contract with RKO I have the right to demand that the picture be released and to bring legal action to force its release. RKO must release “Citizen Kane.” If it does not do so immediately, I have instructed my attorney to commence proceedings.93
The “financial backing” that Welles mentioned probably came from Henry Luce, publisher of Life, Time, and Fortune and no lover of Hearst. According to one report, the film had so impressed Luce that he was willing to put up $1 million for it.94 Welles was also correct about another matter. Pursuant to his contract, RKO was obligated to begin distribution of the film within three months after delivery of the finished print.95 Thus, Welles was on firm legal ground in his threat to sue.
It is not possible to say what was going on behind the scenes at this time. Certainly, Hearst was still pressuring, and some members of the RKO board were withering under the pressure. They were concerned because Hearst had banned advertising for some RKO films in his papers and because other industry executives had told Schaefer they would not play the film in their theaters.96 One popular story is that Louis B. Mayer, in an attempt to pacify Hearst, offered Schaefer $800,000 to destroy the negative of Citizen Kane and all the prints.97 This may have happened, though nothing in the RKO records indicates that it did. Mayer might have made such an offer for his own self-protection; among other things, Hearst was threatening to expose all the dirty laundry in Hollywood, turning his muckraking journalists loose on the movie capital with a vengeance if Citizen Kane ever opened.
Most likely, the crucial event in this narrative took place in a small screening room at Radio City Music Hall where the heads of the major film companies and their lawyers viewed a print of Citizen Kane. Editor Robert Wise was there and so was Welles. Wise later described the speech Welles delivered before the screening as “one of the best performances I've ever seen.”98 Evidently Welles's oratory and the film itself swayed them, because Wise was required only to make a few trims and have actors dub in a few different lines of dialogue before the movie was approved for release.
In early April, RKO presented Citizen Kane to four hundred members of the press at the Broadway Theater in New York.99 Welles's legal position, the tremendous enthusiasm generated by people who had seen it, the OK from the industry leaders, and the humiliation that would have been RKO's had it destroyed the picture all contributed to the decision to distribute. No doubt, hopes for huge financial rewards must also have played a part in the decision to defy Hearst. The controversy had made Kane the most anticipated picture since Gone With the Wind. George Schaefer received numerous letters commending him for his bravery and also applauding the gamble he had taken on Orson Welles. The following reply, written to one of the people who congratulated the president, suggests that Schaefer felt rather proud of himself:
Thank you for your letter…. Letters such as this have amply repaid me for the heartaches and the “predicted” failure of the proposed “Welles picture.”
They were making bets out here that Welles would never even get started, and then again, bets to the effect that after he had been shooting ten days he would fold up.
Every important producer and director personality in Hollywood has now seen the picture, and they are unanimous in their praise. They all say it is one of the finest things that has ever been done, not excepting the most important pictures that have been released in recent years. Understand, I am only passing on to you what others have said, which corroborates your own judgment.100
Schaefer was finally getting a chance to thumb his nose at all the naysayers who disputed his wisdom.
“It's Terrific” proclaimed the ads for Citizen Kane, and, for once, the boast was not an overstatement. The film opened to general audiences in New York in early May. Critical response ranged from positive to rapturous, except for the Hearst Daily Mirror and Journal-American, which refused to review it and closed their advertising columns to its notices. Initial business was also very gratifying.101 Subsequent openings in Chicago and Los Angeles, however, indicated the film would not be a smash, and when it reached the smaller towns of America, the picture died.102 Evidently, the complex structure and visual and aural bravura of the film were confusing, rather than exciting, to many moviegoers; they reacted apathetically, despite the feud that had kept the film in the public's eye for months before its release. Citizen Kane ended up losing $160,000.
That feud continued for some time thereafter. Hearst papers were full of stories accusing Welles of being a Communist and a draft dodger, but maintained a stony silence about anything pertaining to RKO. In July, Welles drafted a reply to Hearst designed to be run as a paid advertisement by RKO in various newspapers:
William Randolph Hearst is conducting a series of brutal attacks upon me in his newspapers. It seems he doesn't like my picture “Citizen Kane.” I understand he hasn't seen it. I am sure he hasn't. If he had, I think he would agree with me that those who have advised him that “Kane” is Hearst have done us both an injustice.
I have stood silently by in the hope that this vicious attack against me would be spent in the passing of a few weeks. I had hoped that I would not continue to be the target of patriotic organizations who are accepting false statements and condemning me without knowing the facts.
But
I can't remain silent any longer.
The Hearst papers have repeatedly described me as a Communist. I am not a Communist. I am grateful for our constitutional form of government, and I rejoice in our great tradition of democracy. Needless to say, it is not necessarily unpatriotic to disagree with Mr. Hearst. On the contrary, it is a privilege guaranteed me as an American citizen by the Bill of Rights.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
I want to say that I am proud of my American citizenship. As a citizen, I cherish my rights and I am not fearful of asserting them. I ask only that I be judged by what I am and what I do.103
As time went on, the agitation subsided. By early 1942, perhaps pleased by the commercial failure of Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst had called off the dogs. The efforts to “get” Welles and injure RKO faded away, and Hearst never made good on his threat to dig up all the dirt in Hollywood and present it to the world at large. Perhaps his own extramarital relationship with fading star Marion Davies had something to do with that.
George Schaefer overlooked the box-office disappointment of Kane, content to bask in the luminescence created by its critical acclaim. Schaefer signed Welles and Mercury to a new three-picture contract during the year. He also managed to attend most of the ceremonies where the film was honored—including those of the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics.104 Both groups selected Citizen Kane best picture of 1941. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, largely ignored its accomplishment, probably because of all the disagreeable publicity. The picture did receive nine nominations but landed only one Oscar—for best original screenplay (shared by Welles and Herman Mankiewicz).
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