By RAY KELLY
Marking Citizen Kane‘s 75th anniversary, Indiana University in Bloomington is showcasing part of its massive collection of Orson Welles’ papers.
Visitors will find “Thanks for the Use of the Hall”: Citizen Kane at 75 in two display cases in the Foyer entrance of the Lilly Library.
Lilly Library Manuscripts Archivist Craig Simpson described it as a small, but important exhibit, noting that Citizen Kane won its only Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Accusations that Welles had no hand in writing the movie, which continue to linger, do not stack up against the archival record, Simpson said.
Seven different drafts in the Welles Manuscripts at the Lilly Library, a collection purchased from Welles and his longtime associate Richard Wilson in 1978, meticulously trace the evolution of the script from conception to completion. Illustrative excerpts from these drafts, with accompanying photographs, storyboards, correspondence, and production materials, are among the items on display.
“As the title implies, the main objective of the exhibition is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Kane‘s premiere in New York City on May 1. Another goal was to trace the evolution of the screenplay and offer examples of both (Herman) Mankiewicz’s and Welles’ contributions,” Simpson said. “The Lilly’s Welles manuscripts – formerly the “Mercury files” of Welles and Richard Wilson – feature seven different drafts of the script. Excerpts from four of these drafts are on display in the exhibit. The first was not among the ‘RKO files’ examined by Robert Carringer in his book: an undated, annotated, incomplete 92-page draft that precedes the 325-page American draft. It begins with the title character’s name ‘Charles Foster Rogers’ crossed out and replaced with ‘Charles Foster Craig,'” and ends at the conclusion of the Thatcher Library sequence, with Thompson’s line, ‘Thanks for the use of the hall.'”
He added, “Another script in the exhibit is our ‘2nd Revised Final’ draft, dated July 9, 1940, which is preceded by a 1982 note from Richard Wilson, who explains that up to then this version had not been studied by Welles scholars, other than Carringer and Howard Suber, because he couldn’t identify the handwriting for the annotations. Wilson then includes an accompanying note from Welles’s secretary, Kathryn Trosper Popper, verifying her handwriting. Popper’s recent death, and her unwavering support for Welles and his work on the screenplay, made me eager to include an excerpt with her annotations from this draft.”
Unlike a Lilly exhibit last year using original materials, Thanks for the Use of the Hall”: Citizen Kane at 75 uses facsimiles for environmental and security concerns due to the Foyer’s proximity to the building’s entrance/exit doors.
Visitors can look at the originals via requests to the Reading Room.
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