Kane Continued

Perched in his San Simeon splendor, Mr. Hearst was supposed to be hopping mad. This young Orson Welles had made for RKO an insulting movie about his life called Citizen Kane. Led by his official ministress to the movie capital, Columnist Lolly Parsons, many a Hearst favor-seeker sent word to The Chief that they could fix everything. Soon the machinery of Hollywood pressure began to throttle Citizen Kane.

First approach was to M. G. M. Headman Louis B. Mayer, an old Hearst friend and spiritual shepherd of Hollywood's producers. Mr. Mayer was warned that the release of Kane would mean a good, old-fashioned Hearstian attack on Hollywood--lots of stories on the intimate facts of the intimate lives of the movie colony. Hearst's gossip-dishing Adela Rogers St. Johns was placed on the firing line.

Louis Mayer gathered his forces and worked fast. RKO has few theatres in which to show its films, was reminded of its reliance on the theatres of the other major companies. There were warnings that the Hearst attack would harm the whole industry. There was even guarded talk that other studios would chip in to defray the $800,000 RKO had spent on Citizen Kane.

The muscles of the Hollywood hierarchy were sufficiently frightening. At an RKO sales meeting in Chicago last week, exhibitors were told that no decision had been reached on Kane. Then, at week's end, word leaked out of Hollywood that Mr. Hearst, who still hadn't seen the film, had been approached by an unhappy RKO stockholder. Mr. Hearst admitted he really didn't care whether the film was released or not. Chances looked good that after an RKO directors' meeting in Manhattan this week, a decision would at long last be made to release the picture. In Hollywood it meant the first challenge to the long, long reign of Louis B. Mayer and his court.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.