A RARE 'CORRECTION SCRIPT' FOR CITIZEN KANE, 1940

Footnotes

The 'Correction Script' for Citizen Kane: a unique document by Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz from the creation of America's greatest film
- By Harlan Lebo

Citizen Kane may be the most studied motion picture of all time, but the film still hides many secrets. Perhaps the most puzzling unanswered question about Citizen Kane is: how did Orson Welles create the final script that was used to shoot the film?

Between February and July 1940, seven official drafts of the script for Citizen Kane were written and edited by Orson Welles and co-writer Herman Mankiewicz. The last official draft – called the "Third Revised Final" – was released on July 16, 1940 [a copy of that script sold at Bonhams in 2013 for $35,000], as Mankiewicz completed his work on the production team. The official start of the shooting schedule began at RKO Studios two weeks later. At that point, Welles was on his own as a writer, and continued to edit and refine the text to achieve his vision for the production. How Welles accomplished this high-pressure work is largely unknown; a few scattered notes scribbled by Welles on drafts do not tell the story, and he never discussed this process in detail. But one thing is certain: The final film of Citizen Kane is significantly different from any draft script prepared before production began.

We have clues that show how Welles proceeded: in two files – one in the Special Collections Library at the University of Michigan, the other at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City – are copies of a document that appears to be Welles' "final" version of the script for Citizen Kane. Called the 'Correction Script' (the name scribbled decades ago on the museum folder that contains the document), these 85-page drafts are undated, do not include an official cover sheet from RKO, and are typed in a two-column format that is uncommon in Hollywood. Previously, the Correction Scripts at Michigan and MOMA were the only known versions of this draft. Until now. The 'Correction Script' in this auction is the only copy of the draft text for Citizen Kane in private hands. This document may be unique and is notably different from the copies at Michigan and MOMA: Included in this script is a cover page (the versions at Michigan and MOMA are coverless), and modest differences between this document and the other two reveal it is not an identical copy. Welles' work to create the Correction Script had practical results: this version, produced during the shooting schedule for Citizen Kane, is a significantly edited version of the "Third Revised Final" – changes by Welles that transformed the tone, pace, and character development.

How was the 'Correction Script' used? Most likely it was employed by Welles as he continued to refine the story and dialogue, and moved toward fulfilling his vision for the production. (Harlan Lebo provides more details about the frantic production of the motion picture in his book, Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker's Journey.) The Correction Script reveals Welles at his best as the last-minute editor (editing, by the way, during the heat of shooting while he was also directing, producing, and starring in the film). While the Correction Script does not achieve all of Welles' goals, most of the revised scenes and crisp dialogue in this version would be used in the final film. After the creation of the Correction Script, there would be many more edits to come by Welles later during production, including the addition of new scenes as well as changes literally at the last minute on the set, when he improvised changes with actors as they perfected the dialogue in the long rehearsals that peppered the shooting schedule in July-October 1940. None of those later changes exist on paper, so the Correction Script for Citizen Kane is likely the final version written for the production. No other draft for Citizen Kane includes text and edits that so closely resemble the final film.

The mystery continues. We may never know the full details of Welles' editing and additions during production of Citizen Kane, but in the Correction Script you can see the last written evidence of how the text evolved as Welles created the film. By continuing his revisions, Welles recrafted the script for Citizen Kane from a straightforward narrative into a platform for powerful visual images and innovative storytelling – the culmination of the extraordinary process that led a 25-year-old Hollywood novice to create the motion picture often called the best film ever made.

And this Correction Script may indeed be the last word.

Harlan Lebo is the author of Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker's Journey, the only book that focuses exclusively on the creation, filming and controversial release of Orson Welles' masterpiece. Bonhams is grateful to Mr. Lebo for his assistance in cataloguing this script.