108. Ross Hastings to Dan Winkler, 24 November 1941.
109. “Sol Lesser Post as RKO Studio Head Complicated by UA Contract,” Variety, 23 April 1941, p. 5.
110. W. G. Van Schmus to Nelson Rockefeller, 26 February 1941, folder 676, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
111. Barbara Hall, “Oral History of Albert E. Van Schmus,” n.d., p. 8, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library, Beverly Hills, CA.
112. W. G. Van Schmus to Nelson Rockefeller, 28 April 1941, folder 676, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
113. “Breen, O'Connor, et al.,” Motion Picture Herald, 10 May 1941, p. 9.
CHAPTER 10
1. “Koerner Heads RKO Theatres,” Motion Picture Herald, 17 May 1941, p. 18.
2. J. R. McDonough to George Schaefer, 27 June 1941, p. 18.
3. Douglas W. Churchill, “Screen News Here and in Hollywood,” New York Times, 27 June 1941, p. 15.
4. Thomas Doherty claims the studio reorganization was Breen's idea and that the RKO “board of directors frustrated Breen's ambitions to consolidate his power.” This was not the case. See Thomas Doherty, Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), p. 148.
5. W. G. Van Schmus to George Schaefer, 1 May 1941, folder 679, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
6. Ibid.
7. George Schaefer to W. G. Van Schmus, 6 May 1941, folder 679, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
8. “Breen Cues RKO Studio Staff Reshuffle,” Variety, 25 June 1941, p. 5.
9. “Edington's RKO Washup; Nolan Out after 21 Years,” Variety, 2 July 1941, p. 5.
10. Edmund Weisl to Joseph Breen, 29 July 1941.
11. George Schaefer to Joseph Breen, 16 September 1941.
12. “119 Features Already ‘In the Can,’ for ‘41-42,” Motion Picture Herald, 23 August 1941, p. 12.
13. “Breen Talks about Policy and Entertainment Product for RKO,” Motion Picture Herald, 28 June 1941, p. 30.
14. Balio, United Artists, pp. 155-159.
15. “Goldwyn Likes RKO,” Motion Picture Herald, 6 December 1941, p. 8.
16. According to biographer Scott Berg, Goldwyn needed desperately to strike a deal with RKO. He had failed in his negotiations with other studios and was facing the unappealing prospect of crawling back to United Artists if he and Schaefer had not come to terms. Thus, George Schaefer was in a stronger bargaining position than he realized. See A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn (New York: Knopf, 1989), p. 354.
17. “Goldwyn, Breen, O'Connor, Sisk, Meyers, Top Personnel Shufflings,” Motion Picture Herald, 3 May 1941, p. 25.
18. Robert Sisk to George Schaefer, 15 February 1940.
19. Sisk then went to work for Paramount for a short period before relocating to MGM, where he remained a fixture for years thereafter.
20. M. B. Silberberg, memorandum to William Hinckle, 20 May 1941.
21. “RKO Asks Court to Sustain Dismissal of Ailing Pommer,” Variety, 11 June 1941, p. 5.
22. Erich Pommer to Joseph Breen, 15 November 1941.
23. Erich Pommer to Joseph Breen, 25 November 1941.
24. “More Coin for B's at RKO; Schaefer Orders Quickies off the Lot,” Variety, 28 May 1941, p. 6.
25. George Schaefer to J. R. McDonough, 31 March 1941.
26. Ibid.
27. Quotations in this and the following paragraph are drawn from J. R. McDonough, memorandum to Joseph Breen, 30 October 1941.
28. Quotations in this paragraph are drawn from George Schaefer to Joseph Breen, 31 October 1941.
29. Bob Dann, telegram to Dan O'Shea, 4 September 1935.
30. George Schaefer to Cliff Reid, 15 January 1940.
31. J . R. McDonough to Harry Edington, 3 June 1940. Later, Hitchcock would claim that RKO executives forced this conception and ending on him. See Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), p. 102.
32. J. J. Nolan to George Schaefer, 15 June 1940.
33. J. R. McDonough, memorandum to George Schaefer, 25 January 1941.
34. George Schaefer to J. R. McDonough, 10 February 1941.
35. G. B. Howe, memorandum to Reg Armour, 18 April 1941.
36. Joseph Breen, memorandum to Harry Edington, 20 August 1941.
37. George Schaefer, memorandum to Perry Lieber, 17 February 1941.
38. David Ogilvy to George Schaefer, 13 August 1941.
39. Joseph Breen, memorandum to All Employees, 12 December 1941.
40. “Hollywood Adjusts to War and Extends Work in Nation's Service,” Motion Picture Herald, 20 December 1941, pp. 12-13. The studio was unable to follow through on this announcement. Bombardier would finally go before the cameras more than a year later and be released in 1943.
41. Barton P. Turnbull, memoranda to files, 18 and 19 November 1941, folder 681, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
42. Van Schmus had been advocating that Schaefer be given a new contract since April 1941. W. G. Van Schmus to Nelson Rockefeller, 28 April 1941, folder 676, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
43. “Rathvon V-P of RKO in a General Exec Reorg; Kingsberg's Titles,” Variety, 17 December 1941, p. 6.
44. Charles Koerner to George Schaefer, 23 December 1941.
45. “Holdovers Hearten Schaefer; Sees Big Yr. Ahead for RKO,” Variety, 3 December 1941, p. 5.
46. “RKO Policy Reorganization May Be Disclosed Shortly,” Motion Picture Herald, 29 November 1941, p. 17.
47. George Schaefer, memorandum to Gordon Youngman, 3 November 1941.
48. “RKO's Reorg Troubles Had Effect on Talent,” Variety, 31 December 1941 p. 23.
49. Ned E. Depinet to Hugh L. Ducker, 19 July 1943.
50. “Sarnoff Angry over McDonough Shift, Threatens Action Blocking RKO Deal with Schaefer; Wants New Exec Setup,” Variety, 25 March 1942, p. 5.
51. “RKO Washes Up Sked in 9 Mos.,” Variety, 14 January 1942, p. 4.
52. “Rogell Leaves RKO; Shake Impends,” Variety, 21 January 1942, p. 4.
53. George Schaefer to Joseph Breen, 23 January 1942.
54. Perry Lieber, memorandum to Joseph Breen, 28 January 1942.
55. Joseph Breen to George Schaefer, 24 January 1942.
56. Lesser went back to making independent pictures. His Tarzan films, starring Johnny Weissmuller and distributed by RKO, would be popular for years to come.
57. Sol Lesser to Joseph Breen, 30 January 1942.
58. J. R. McDonough worked in motion picture financing after he left RKO.
59. Gordon Youngman to Richard Hungate, 6 July 1943.
60. “RKO May Copy Universal in Culling Studio Production Manpower from Theatre Execs; Charlie Koerner Up,” Variety, 4 March 1942, p. 5.
61. Ibid.
62. George Schaefer to Orson Welles, 10 September 1941.
63. Reg Armour to Joseph Breen, 8 September 1941.
64. Reg Armour, telegram to Joseph Breen, 7 October 1941.
65. George Schaefer to Orson Welles, 3 December 1941.
66. Quoted in Doherty, Hollywood's Censor, p. 148.
67. George Schaefer, telegram to Orson Welles, 27 February 1942.
68. Ned Depinet, telegram to George Schaefer, 18 March 1942.
69. George Schaefer to Orson Welles, 21 March 1942.
70. Ibid.
71. For more on the production and postproduction of The Magnificent Ambersons, see Carringer, The Making of Citizen Kane, pp. 121-134; and Robert L. Carringer, The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
72. In his autobiography, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., describes his own “mission” to South America. Ostensibly there to “investigate the effects of Latin American public opinion of American motion pictures,” Fairbank
s claims his real task was to get in touch with certain influential national groups that were “believed to be veering toward Nazi ideology” and then submit an analysis of the situation and “what we could do about it” to the U.S. government. See Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., The Salad Days (New York: Doubleday, 1988), pp. 380-387.
73. John Hay Whitney to Orson Welles, 20 December 1941.
74. I have chosen to use the Brazilian spelling “Carnaval” throughout this section, though executives like Schaefer often employed the American spelling, “carnival,” in their correspondence.
75. George Schaefer to Gordon Youngman, 27 February 1942.
76. Phil Reisman to George Schaefer, 11 February 1942. Walt Disney had visited Brazil and several other South American countries in the late summer and early fall of 1941.
77. Orson Welles to George Schaefer, 25 February 1942.
78. Lynn Shores to Walter Daniels, 24 February 1942.
79. George Schaefer, telegram to Orson Welles, 5 March 1942.
80. Orson Welles, telegram to George Schaefer, 18 March 1942.
81. Lynn Shores to Walter Daniels, 21 March 1942.
82. “Sol Lesser, McDonough Quit RKO; Studio Prod. Reorg Awaits Schaefer,” Variety, 4 February 1942, p. 5.
83. Ibid.
84. “Lesser and Pascal Who Left UA to Join RKO Back into the Fold,” Variety, 11 February 1942, p. 4.
85. “Hawks Exits RKO,” Variety, 27 May 1942, p. 23.
86. Youngman to Hungate, 6 July 1943.
87. “Sarnoff Angry over McDonough Shift.”
88. George Schaefer, telegram to Orson Welles, 14 April 1942.
89. Ibid.
90. Orson Welles, telegram to George Schaefer, 15 April 1942.
91. George Schaefer, telegram to Orson Welles, 16 April 1942.
92. Lynn Shores to Walter Daniels, 22 April 1942.
93. Reg Armour, transcript of telephone conversation with Phil Reisman, 27 April 1942.
94. George Schaefer to Orson Welles, 29 April 1942.
95. Earl Rettig to George Schaefer, 14 May 1942.
96. George Schaefer to Phil Reisman, 18 May 1942.
97. Phil Reisman to George Schaefer, 25 May 1942.
98. It's All True has become just as controversial in scholarly circles as it was for RKO in 1942. For a more detailed account, see my article, “Orson Welles, George Schaefer, and IT'S ALL TRUE: A ‘Cursed’ Production,” Film History Vol. 2 (1988), pp. 325-335. For additional interpretations of the events, see Richard Wilson, “It's Not Quite All True,” Sight and Sound Vol. 39 (1970), pp. 188-193; McBride, Whatever Happened to Orson Welles? pp. 65-79; and Catharine L. Benamou, It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).
99. “Breen Extends Vacash,” Variety, 1 April 1942, p. 5.
100. “Breen Returns as Head of Code Administration,” Motion Picture Herald, 16 May 1942, p. 18.
101. N. Peter Rathvon to Charles Koerner, 8 May 1942.
102. N. Peter Rathvon to Charles Koerner, 10 July 1942.
103. Burton Turnbull to Nelson Rockefeller, 20 April 1942, folder 679, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
104. Nelson Rockefeller to Burton Turnbull, 22 April 1942, folder 679, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
105. “Odlum May Take Personal Command of RKO in Order to Protect His $6,000,000; Schaefer Stepping Down,” Variety, 10 June 1942, p. 5.
106. “Schaefer's RKO B. R. Quest,” Variety, 3 June 1942, p. 5.
107. N. Peter Rathvon to Charles Koerner, 10 July 1942.
108. “RKO Seeks Unfreeze of $2,800,000 British Coin for Immediate Cash; Discuss Theatre Dept. Changes,” Variety, 17 June 1942, p. 5.
109. “Schaefer Leaving RKO Post; Odlum to Take Over,” Motion Picture Herald, 13 June 1942, p. 23.
110. George Schaefer, letter to Nelson Rockefeller, 12 June 1942, folder 679, box 90, RG 2 OMR, Business Interests series, Rockefeller Family Archives, RAC.
111. Susan Dalton and John Davis, “An Interview with John Cromwell,” The Velvet Light Trap, no. 10 (Fall 1973), p. 24.
112. Roy Alexander Fowler, Orson Welles (London: Pendulum, 1946), p. 33.
113. During the remainder of World War II, Schaefer functioned as national chairman of the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry. Afterward, he became a consultant who assisted such independent producers as Stanley Kramer, Otto Preminger, and George Stevens in the negotiation of distribution agreements.
APPENDIX
1. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Last Tycoon (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1941), p. 3.
2. For an explanation of how profits and losses were determined for each film, see my book The Golden Age of Cinema: Hollywood, 1929–1945 (Mal-den, MA: Blackwell, 2007), pp. 82-85.
3. The distribution office published a weekly house organ called The Radio Flash to keep its salesmen apprised of company developments and, more important, to stimulate their enthusiasm for RKO's new product. The Flash consistently described this product as “terrific,” “sensational,” “tremendous,” and the like. The American Film Institute Library in Los Angeles holds a nearly complete run of the publication.
4. Paul N. Lazarus, “Distribution: The Changes to Come,” in A. William Bluem and Jason E. Squire, eds., The Movie Business (New York: Hastings House, 1972), p. 188.
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———. United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976.
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Bergan, Ronald. The United Artists Story. New York: Crown, 1986.
Bergman, Andrew. We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films. New York: New York University Press, 1971.
Bilby, Kenneth. The General: David Sarnoff and the Rise of the Communications Industry. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
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Bogdanovich, Peter. John Ford. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
Bohn, Thomas W., and Richard L. Stromgren. Light and Shadows. Port Washington, NJ: Alfred, 1975.
Bordwell, David, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.
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Carringer, Robert L. The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
———. The Making of Citizen Kane. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Chandler, Alfred, Jr. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.
Chandler, Charlotte. I Know Where I'm Going: Katharine Hepburn; A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.
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