Citizen Kane Page #3

Shots with the date - 1898 (to be supplied)

Shots with the date - 1910 (to be supplied)

Shots with the date - 1922 (to be supplied)

Headlines, cartoons, contemporary newreels or stills of the

following:

1. WOMAN SUFFRAGE

The celebrated newsreel shot of about 1914.

2. PROHIBITION

Breaking up of a speakeasy and such.

3. T.V.A.

4. LABOR RIOTS

Brief clips of old newreel shots of William Jennings Bryan,

Theodore Roosevelt, Stalin, Walter P. Thatcher, Al Smith,

McKinley, Landon, Franklin D. Roosevelt and such. Also, recent

newsreels of the elderly Kane with such Nazis as Hitler and

Goering; and England's Chamberlain and Churchill.

Shot of a ramshackle building with old-fashioned presses showing

through plate glass windows and the name "Enquirer" in old-

fashioned gold letters. (1892)

DISSOLVE:

NARRATOR:

Kane's empire, in its glory, held

dominion over thirty-seven

newpapers, thirteen magazines, a

radio network. An empire upon an

empire. The first of grocery

stores, paper mills, apartment

buildings, factories, forests,

ocean-liners - An empire through

which for fifty years flowed, in

an unending stream, the wealth of

the earth's third richest gold

mine... Famed in American legend

is the origin of the Kane fortune...

How, to boarding housekeeper Mary

Kane, by a defaulting boarder, in

1868 was left the supposedly

worthless deed to an abandoned

mine shaft:
The Colorado Lode.

The magnificent Enquirer Building

of today.

1891-1911 - a map of the USA, covering the entire screen, which

in animated diagram shows the Kane publications spreading from

city to city. Starting from New York, minature newboys speed

madly to Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San

Francisco, Washington, Atlanta, El Paso, etc., screaming

"Wuxtry, Kane Papers, Wuxtry."

Shot of a large mine going full blast, chimneys belching smoke,

trains moving in and out, etc. A large sign reads "Colorado

Lode Mining Co." (1940) Sign reading; "Little Salem, CO - 25

MILES."

DISSOLVE:

An old still shot of Little Salem as it was 70 years ago

(identified by copper-plate caption beneath the still). (1870)

Shot of early tintype stills of Thomas Foster Kane and his

wife, Mary, on their wedding day. A similar picture of Mary

Kane some four or five years later with her little boy, Charles

Foster Kane.

NARRATOR:

Fifty-seven years later, before a

Congressional Investigation, Walter

P. Thatcher, grand old man of

Wall Street, for years chief target

of Kane papers' attack on "trusts,"

recalls a journey he made as a

youth...

Shot of Capitol, in Washington D.C.

Shot of Congressional Investigating Committee (reproduction of

existing J.P. Morgan newsreel). This runs silent under

narration. Walter P. Thatcher is on the stand. He is flanked

by his son, Walter P. Thatcher Jr., and other partners. He is

being questioned by some Merry Andrew congressmen. At this

moment, a baby alligator has just been placed in his lap,

causing considerable confusion and embarrassment.

Newsreel close-up of Thatcher, the soundtrack of which now

fades in.

THATCHER:

... because of that trivial

incident...

INVESTIGATOR:

It is a fact, however, is it not,

that in 1870, you did go to

Colorado?

THATCHER:

I did.

INVESTIGATOR:

In connection with the Kane affairs?

THATCHER:

Yes. My firm had been appointed

trustees by Mrs. Kane for the

fortune, which she had recently

acquired. It was her wish that I

should take charge of this boy,

Charles Foster Kane.

NARRATOR:

That same month in Union Square -

INVESTIGATOR:

Is it not a fact that on that

occasion, the boy personally

attacked you after striking you in

the stomach with a sled?

Loud laughter and confusion.

THATCHER:

Mr. Chairman, I will read to this

committee a prepared statement I

have brought with me - and I will

then refuse to answer any further

questions. Mr. Johnson, please!

A young assistant hands him a sheet of paper from a briefcase.

Rate this script:2.5 / 6 votes