Time to break open the piggy bank — a second revised final script for Citizen Kane is going on the auction block.
The 156-page script, co-written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, is dated July 9, 1940.
Handwritten in the top right corner of the worn, detached script cover is the word “Files” with a checkmark.
It is being offered by Heritage Auctions beginning on May 31, along with scripts for It’s a Wonderful Life, Rebecca and All About Eve. Bidding will close at the June 18-19 Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction.
The minimum bid has not yet been revealed.
A third revised final script of Citizen Kane was sold by Bonham’s for $35,000 in 2013, while a second draft once owned by Welles and marked “Mr. Welles working copy” was auctioned off at Sotheby’s for $164,797 a year later.
There were four draft scripts of Citizen Kane and then three revisions. The contributions made by Mankiewicz and Welles were documented in Robert L. Carringer’s illuminating The Scripts of Citizen Kane.
Welles went into filming at RKO Radio Pictures with the third revised final script dated July 16, 1940.
Film historian Harlan Lebo (Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey) has documented hundreds of deletions and additions made to that script by Welles during filming.
Learn more about the script and filming at our Citizen Kane Files page.
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