                              Citizen Kane
                                    by
                            Herman J. Mankiewicz
                                   amp;&
                                Orson Welles

                              Typed/Donated by
                                John Powers
                                Jon Reifler

PROLOGUE

FADE IN:

EXT. XANADU - FAINT DAWN - 1940 (MINIATURE)

Window, very small in the distance, illuminated.

All around this is an almost totally black screen.  Now, as the camera moves slowly towards the window which is almost a postage stamp in the frame, other forms appear; barbed wire, cyclone fencing, and now, looming up against an early morning sky, enormous iron grille work.  Camera travels up what is now shown to be a gateway of gigantic proportions and holds on the top of it - a huge initial "K" showing darker and darker against the dawn sky.  Through this and beyond we see the fairy-tale moun

DISSOLVE:

(A SERIES OF SET-UPS, EACH CLOSER TO THE GREAT WINDOW, ALL TELLING SOMETHING OF:)

The literally incredible domain of CHARLES FOSTER KANE.



DISSOLVE:

GOLF LINKS (MINIATURE)

Past which we move.  The greens are straggly and overgrown, the fairways wild with tropical weeds, the links unused and not seriously tended for a long time.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

WHAT WAS ONCE A GOOD-SIZED ZOO (MINIATURE)

Of the Hagenbeck type.  All that now remains, with one exception, are the individual plots, surrounded by moats, on which the animals are kept, free and yet safe from each other and the landscape at large.  (Signs on several of the plots indicate that here there were once tigers, lions, girrafes.)

DISSOLVE:

THE MONKEY TERRACE (MINIATURE)

In the foreground, a great obscene ape is outlined against the dawn murk.  He is scratching himself slowly, thoughtfully, looking out across the estates of Charles Foster Kane, to the distant light glowing in the castle on the hill.

DISSOLVE:

THE ALLIGATOR PIT (MINIATURE)

The idiot pile of sleepy dragons.  Reflected in the muddy water - the lighted window.

THE LAGOON (MINIATURE)

The boat landing sags.  An old newspaper floats on the surface of the water - a copy of the New York Enquirer."  As it moves across the frame, it discloses again the reflection of the window in the castle, closer than before.

THE GREAT SWIMMING POOL (MINIATURE)

It is empty.  A newspaper blows across the cracked floor of the tank.

DISSOLVE:

THE COTTAGES (MINIATURE)

In the shadows, literally the shadows, of the castle.  As we move by, we see that their doors and windows are boarded up and locked, with heavy bars as further protection and sealing.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

A DRAWBRIDGE (MINIATURE)



DISSOLVE:

THE WINDOW (MINIATURE)

Camera moves in until the frame of the window fills the frame of the screen.  Suddenly, the light within goes out.  This stops the action of the camera and cuts the music which has been accompanying the sequence.  In the glass panes of the window, we see reflected the ripe, dreary landscape of Mr. Kane's estate behind and the dawn sky.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S BEDROOM - FAINT DAWN - 1940

A very long shot of Kane's enormous bed, silhouetted against the enormous window.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S BEDROOM - FAINT DAWN - 1940

A snow scene.  An incredible one.  Big, impossible flakes of snow, a too picturesque farmhouse and a snow man.  The jingling of sleigh bells in the musical score now makes an ironic reference to Indian Temple bells - the music freezes -

                                            KANE'S OLD OLD
                                                VOICE
                            Rosebud...

The camera pulls back, showing the whole scene to be contained in one of those glass balls which are sold in novelty stores all over the world.  A hand - Kane's hand, which has been holding the ball, relaxes.  The ball falls out of his hand and bounds down two carpeted steps leading to the bed, the camera following.  The ball falls off the last step onto the marble floor where it breaks, the fragments glittering in the first rays of the morning sun.  This ray cuts an angular pattern across the f

The foot of Kane's bed.  The camera very close.  Outlined against the shuttered window, we can see a form - the form of a nurse, as she pulls the sheet up over his head.  The camera follows this action up the length of the bed and arrives at the face after the sheet has covered it.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. OF A MOTION PICTURE PROJECTION ROOM

On the screen as the camera moves in are the words:

"MAIN TITLE"

Stirring, brassy music is heard on the soundtrack (which, of course, sounds more like a soundtrack than ours.)

The screen in the projection room fills our screen as the second title appears:

"CREDITS"

NOTE:  Here follows a typical news digest short, one of the regular monthly or bi-monthly features, based on public events or personalities.  These are distinguished from ordinary newsreels and short subjects in that they have a fully developed editorial or storyline.  Some of the more obvious characteristics of the "March of Time," for example, as well as other documentary shorts, will be combined to give an authentic impression of this now familiar type of short subject.  As is the accepted pr

FADE OUT:

NEWS DIGEST

                                            NARRATOR
                            Legendary was the Xanadu where Kubla
                            Kahn decreed his stately pleasure
                            dome -
                                    (with quotes in his voice)
                            "Where twice five miles of fertile
                            ground, with walls and towers were
                            girdled 'round."
                                    (dropping the quotes)
                            Today, almost as legendary is Florida's
                            XANADU - world's largest private
                            pleasure ground.  Here, on the deserts
                            of the Gulf Coast, a private mountain
                            was commissioned, successfully built
                            for its landlord.  Here in a private
                            valley, as in the Coleridge poem,
                            "blossoms many an incense-bearing tree."
                            Verily, "a miracle of rare device."

U.S.A.
CHARLES FOSTER KANE

Opening shot of great desolate expanse of Florida coastline (1940 - DAY)

DISSOLVE:

Series of shots showing various aspects of Xanadu, all as they might be photographed by an ordinary newsreel cameraman - nicely photographed, but not atmospheric to the extreme extent of the Prologue (1940).

                                            NARRATOR
                                    (dropping the quotes)
                            Here, for Xanadu's landlord, will be
                            held 1940's biggest, strangest funeral;
                            here this week is laid to rest a potent
                            figure of our Century - America's Kubla
                            Kahn - Charles Foster Kane.
                            In journalism's history, other names
                            are honored more than Charles Foster
                            Kane's, more justly revered.  Among
                            publishers, second only to James Gordon
                            Bennet the First: his dashing, expatriate
                            son; England's Northcliffe and Beaverbrook;
                            Chicago's Patterson and McCormick;

TITLE:

TO FORTY-FOUR MILLION U.S. NEWS BUYERS, MORE NEWSWORTHY THAN THE NAMES IN HIS OWN HEADLINES, WAS KANE HIMSELF, GREATEST NEWSPAPER TYCOON OF THIS OR ANY OTHER GENERATION.

Shot of a huge, screen-filling picture of Kane.  Pull back to show that it is a picture on the front page of the "Enquirer," surrounded by the reversed rules of mourning, with masthead and headlines. (1940)

DISSOLVE:

A great number of headlines, set in different types and different styles, obviously from different papers, all announcing Kane's death, all appearing over photographs of Kane himself (perhaps a fifth of the headlines are in foreign languages).  An important item in connection with the headlines is that many of them - positively not all - reveal passionately conflicting opinions about Kane.  Thus, they contain variously the words "patriot," "democrat," "pacifist," "war-monger," "traitor," "ideali

TITLE:

1895 TO 1940 - ALL OF THESE YEARS HE COVERED, MANY OF THESE YEARS HE WAS.

Newsreel shots of San Francisco during and after the fire, followed by shots of special trains with large streamers: "Kane Relief Organization."  Over these shots superimpose the date - 1906.

Artist's painting of Foch's railroad car and peace negotiators, if actual newsreel shot unavailable.  Over this shot sumperimpose the date - 1918.

                                            NARRATOR
                            Denver's Bonfils and Sommes; New York's
                            late, great Joseph Pulitzer; America's
                            emperor of the news syndicate, another
                            editorialist and landlord, the still
                            mighty and once mightier Hearst.  Great
                            names all of them - but none of them so
                            loved, hated, feared, so often spoken -
                            as Charles Foster Kane.
                            The San Francisco earthquake.  First with
                            the news were the Kane papers.  First with
                            Relief of the Sufferers, First with the
                            news of their Relief of the Sufferers.
                            Kane papers scoop the world on the
                            Armistice - publish, eight hours before
                            competitors, complete details of the
                            Armistice teams granted the Germans by
                            Marshall Foch from his railroad car in the
                            Forest of Compeigne.
                            For forty years appeared in Kane newsprint
                            no public issue on which Kane papers took
                            no stand.
                            No public man whom Kane himself did not
                            support or denounce - often support, then
                            denounce.
                            Its humble beginnings, a dying dailey -

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.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (reading it)
                            "With full awareness of the meaning of
                            my words and the responsibility of what
                            I am about to say, it is my considered
                            belief that Mr. Charles Foster Kane, in
                            every essence of his social beliefs and
                            by the dangerous manner in which he has
                            persistently attacked the American
                            traditions of private property, initiative
                            and opportunity for advancement, is - in
                            fact - nothing more or less than a
                            Communist."

Newsreel of Union Square meeting, section of crowd carrying banners urging the boycott of Kane papers.  A speaker is on the platform above the crowd.

                                            SPEAKER
                                    (fading in on soundtrack)
                            - till the words "Charles Foster Kane"
                            are a menace to every working man in
                            this land.  He is today what he has
                            always been and always will be - A
                            FASCIST!

                                            NARRATOR
                            And yet another opinion - Kane's own.

Silent newsreel on a windy platform, flag-draped, in front of the magnificent Enquirer building.  On platform, in full ceremonial dress, is Charles Foster Kane.  He orates silently.

TITLE:

"I AM, HAVE BEEN, AND WILL BE ONLY ONE THING - AN AMERICAN."  CHARLES FOSTER KANE.

Same locale, Kane shaking hands out of frame.

Another newsreel shot, much later, very brief, showing Kane, older and much fatter, very tired-looking, seated with his second wife in a nightclub.  He looks lonely and unhappy in the midst of the gaiety.

                                            NARRATOR
                            Twice married, twice divorced - first
                            to a president's niece, Emily Norton -
                            today, by her second marriage, chatelaine
                            of the oldest of England's stately homes.
                            Sixteen years after that - two weeks after
                            his divorce from Emily Norton - Kane
                            married Susan Alexander, singer, at the
                            Town Hall in Trenton, New Jersey.

TITLE:

FEW PRIVATE LIVES WERE MORE PUBLIC.

Period still of Emily Norton (1900).

DISSOLVE:

Reconstructed silent newsreel.  Kane, Susan, and Bernstein emerging from side doorway of City Hall into a ring of press photographers, reporters, etc.  Kane looks startled, recoils for an instance, then charges down upon the photographers, laying about him with his stick, smashing whatever he can hit.

                                            NARRATOR
                            For wife two, one-time opera singing
                            Susan Alexander, Kane built Chicago's
                            Municipal Opera House.  Cost: three
                            million dollars.  Conceived for Susan
                            Alexander Kane, half-finished before
                            she divorced him, the still unfinished
                            Xanadu.  Cost: no man can say.

Still of architect's sketch with typically glorified "rendering" of the Chicago Municipal Opera House.

DISSOLVE:

A glamorous shot of the almost-finished Xanadu, a magnificent fairy-tale estate built on a mountain. (1920)

Then shots of its preparation. (1917)

Shots of truck after truck, train after train, flashing by with tremendous noise.

Shots of vast dredges, steamshovels.

Shot of ship standing offshore unloading its lighters.

In quick succession, shots follow each other, some reconstructed, some in miniature, some real shots (maybe from the dam projects) of building, digging, pouring concrete, etc.

                                            NARRATOR
                            One hundred thousand trees, twenty
                            thousand tons of marble, are the
                            ingredients of Xanadu's mountain.
                            Xanadu's livestock: the fowl of the
                            air, the fish of the sea, the beast
                            of the field and jungle - two of each;
                            the biggest private zoo since Noah.
                            Contents of Kane's palace: paintings,
                            pictures, statues, the very stones of
                            many another palace, shipped to Florida
                            from every corner of the earth, from
                            other Kane houses, warehouses, where
                            they mouldered for years.  Enough for
                            ten museums - the loot of the world.

More shots as before, only this time we see (in miniature) a large mountain - at different periods in its development - rising out of the sands.

Shots of elephants, apes, zebras, etc. being herded, unloaded, shipped, etc. in various ways.

Shots of packing cases being unloaded from ships, from trains, from trucks, with various kinds of lettering on them (Italian, Arabian, Chinese, etc.) but all consigned to Charles Foster Kane, Xanadu, Florida.

A reconstructed still of Xanadu - the main terrace.  A group of persons in clothes of the period of 1917.  In their midst, clearly recognizable, are Kane and Susan.

                                            NARRATOR
                            Kane urged his country's entry into
                            one war, opposed participation in
                            another.  Swung the election to one
                            American President at least, was
                            called another's assassin.  Thus,
                            Kane's papers might never have
                            survived - had not the President.

TITLE:

FROM XANADU, FOR THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, ALL KANE ENTERPRISES HAVE BEEN DIRECTED, MANY OF THE NATIONS DESTINIES SHAPED.

Shots of various authentically worded headlines of American papers since 1895.

Spanish-American War shots. (1898)

A graveyard in France of the World War and hundreds of crosses. (1919)

Old newsreels of a political campaign.

Insert of a particularly virulent headline and/or cartoon.

HEADLINE: "PRESIDENT SHOT"

                                            NARRATOR
                            Kane, molder of mass opinion though he
                            was, in all his life was never granted
                            elective office by the voters of his
                            country.
                            Few U.S. news publishers have been.
                            Few, like one-time Congressman Hearst,
                            have ever run for any office - most know
                            better - conclude with other political
                            observers that one man's press has power
                            enough for himself.  But Kane papers were
                            once strong indeed, and once the prize
                            seemed almost his.  In 1910, as Independent
                            Candidate for governor, the best elements
                            of the state behind him - the White House
                            seemingly the next easy step in a lightning
                            political career -

Night shot of crowd burning Charles Foster Kane in effigy.  The dummy bears a grotesque, comic resemblance to Kane.  It is tossed into the flames, which burn up -

- and then down...  (1910)

FADE OUT:

TITLE:

IN POLITICS - ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, NEVER A BRIDE

Newsreel shots of great crowds streaming into a building - Madison Square Garden - then shots inside the vast auditorium, at one end of which is a huge picture of Kane.  (1910)

Shot of box containing the first Mrs. Kane and young Howard Kane, age five.  They are acknowledging the cheers of the crowd.  (Silent Shot)  (1910)

Newreel shot of dignitaries on platform, with Kane, alongside of speaker's table, beaming, hand upraised to silence the crowd.  (Silent Shot)  (1910)

                                            NARRATOR
                            Then, suddenly - less than one week
                            before election - defeat!  Shameful,
                            ignominious - defeat that set back
                            for twenty years the cause of reform
                            in the U.S., forever cancelled political
                            chances for Charles Foster Kane.
                            Then, in the third year of the Great
                            Depression...  As to all publishers, it
                            sometimes must - to Bennett, to Munsey
                            and Hearst it did - a paper closes!  For
                            Kane, in four short years: collapse!
                            Eleven Kane papers, four Kane magazines
                            merged, more sold, scrapped -

Newreel shot - closeup of Kane delivering a speech...  (1910)

The front page of a contemporary paper - a screaming headline.  Twin phots of Kane and Susan.  (1910)

Printed title about Depression.

Once more repeat the map of the USA 1932-1939.  Suddenly, the cartoon goes into reverse, the empire begins to shrink, illustrating the narrator's words.

The door of a newspaper office with the signs: "Closed."

                                            NARRATOR
                            Then four long years more - alone in
                            his never-finished, already decaying,
                            pleasure palace, aloof, seldom visited,
                            never photographed, Charles Foster Kane
                            continued to direct his falling empire
                            ... vainly attempting to sway, as he
                            once did, the destinies of a nation that
                            has ceased to listen to him ... ceased
                            to trust him...

Shots of Xanadu.  (1940)

Series of shots, entirely modern, but rather jumpy and obviously bootlegged, showing Kane in a bath chair, swathed in summer rugs, being perambulated through his rose garden, a desolate figure in the sunshine.  (1935)

                                            NARRATOR
                            Last week, death came to sit upon the
                            throne of America's Kubla Khan - last
                            week, as it must to all men, death came
                            to Charles Foster Kane.

DISSOLVE:

Cabinent Photograph (Full Screen) of Kane as an old, old man.  This image remains constant on the screen (as camera pulls back, taking in the interior of a dark projection room.

INT. PROJECTION ROOM - DAY - 1940

A fairly large one, with a long throw to the screen.  It is dark.

The image of Kane as an old man remains constant on the screen as camera pulls back, slowly taking in and registering Projection Room.  This action occurs, however, only after the first few lines of encuring dialogue have been spoken.  The shadows of the men speaking appear as they rise from their chairs - black against the image of Kane's face on the screen.

NOTE:  These are the editors of a "News Digest" short, and of the Rawlston magazines.  All his enterprises are represented in the projection room, and Rawlston himself, that great man, is present also and will shortly speak up.

During the entire course of this scene, nobody's face is really seen.  Sections of their bodies are picked out by a table light, a silhouette is thrown on the screen, and their faces and bodies are themselves thrown into silhouette against the brilliant slanting rays of light from the projection room.

A Third Man is on the telephone.  We see a corner of his head and the phone.

                                            THIRD MAN
                                    (at phone)
                            Stand by.  I'll tell you if we want
                            to run it again.
                                    (hangs up)

                                            THOMPSON'S VOICE
                            Well?

A short pause.

                                            A MAN'S VOICE
                            It's a tough thing to do in a newsreel.
                            Seventy years of a man's life -

Murmur of highly salaried assent at this.  Rawlston walks toward camera and out of the picture.  Others are rising.  Camera during all of this, apparently does its best to follow action and pick up faces, but fails.  Actually, all set-ups are to be planned very carefully to exclude the element of personality from this scene; which is expressed entirely by voices, shadows, sillhouettes and the big, bright image of Kane himself on the screen.

                                            A VOICE
                            See what Arthur Ellis wrote about him
                            in the American review?

                                            THIRD MAN
                            I read it.

                                            THE VOICE
                                    (its owner is already leaning
                                     across the table, holding a
                                     piece of paper under the desk
                                     light and reading from it)
                            Listen:  Kane is dead.  He contributed
                            to the journalism of his day - the
                            talent of a mountebank, the morals of a
                            bootlegger, and the manners of a pasha.
                            He and his kind have almost succeeded in
                            transforming a once noble profession into
                            a seven percent security - no longer secure.

                                             ANOTHER VOICE
                            That's what Arthur Ellis is writing now.
                            Thirty years ago, when Kane gave him his
                            chance to clean up Detroit and Chicago and
                            St. Louis, Kane was the greatest guy in the
                            world.  If you ask me -

                                            ANOTHER VOICE
                            Charles Foster Kane was a...

Then observations are made almost simultaneous.

                                            RAWLSTON'S VOICE
                            Just a minute!

Camera moves to take in his bulk outlined against the glow from the projection room.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            What were Kane's last words?

A silence greets this.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            What were the last words he said on
                            earth?  Thompson, you've made us a
                            good short, but it needs character -

                                            SOMEBODY'S VOICE
                            Motivation -

                                            RAWLSTON
                            That's it - motivation.  What made Kane
                            what he was?  And, for that matter, what
                            was he?  What we've just seen are the
                            outlines of a career - what's behind the
                            career?  What's the man?  Was he good or
                            bad?  Strong or foolish?  Tragic or silly?
                            Why did he do all those things?  What was
                            he after?
                                    (then, appreciating his point)
                            Maybe he told us on his death bed.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Yes, and maybe he didn't.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            Ask the question anyway, Thompson!
                            Build the picture around the question,
                            even if you can't answer it.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I know, but -

                                            RAWLSTON
                                    (riding over him like any
                                     other producer)
                            All we saw on that screen was a big
                            American -

                                            A VOICE
                            One of the biggest.

                                            RAWLSTON
                                    (without pausing for this)
                            But how is he different from Ford?
                            Or Hearst for that matter?  Or
                            Rockefeller - or John Doe?

                                            A VOICE
                            I know people worked for Kane will tell
                            you - not only in the newspaper business
                            - look how he raised salaries.  You don't
                            want to forget -

                                            ANOTHER VOICE
                            You take his labor record alone, they
                            ought to hang him up like a dog.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            I tell you, Thompson - a man's dying
                            words -

                                            SOMEBODY'S VOICE
                            What were they?

Silence.

                                            SOMEBODY'S VOICE
                                    (hesitant)
                            Yes, Mr. Rawlston, what were Kane's
                            dying words?

                                            RAWLSTON
                                    (with disgust)
                            Rosebud!

A little ripple of laughter at this, which is promptly silenced by Rawlston.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            That's right.

                                            A VOICE
                            Tough guy, huh?
                                    (derisively)
                            Dies calling for Rosebud!

                                            RAWLSTON
                            Here's a man who might have been
                            President.  He's been loved and
                            hated and talked about as much as
                            any man in our time - but when he
                            comes to die, he's got something on
                            his mind called "Rosebud."  What
                            does that mean?

                                            ANOTHER VOICE
                            A racehorse he bet on once, probably,
                            that didn't come in - Rosebud!

                                            RAWLSTON
                            All right.  But what was the race?

There is a short silence.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            Thompson!

                                            THOMPSON
                            Yes, sir.

                                            RAWLSTON
                            Hold this thing up for a week.  Two
                            weeks if you have to...

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (feebly)
                            But don't you think if we release it
                            now - he's only been dead four days
                            - it might be better than if -

                                            RAWLSTON
                                    (decisively)
                            Nothing is ever better than finding
                            out what makes people tick.  Go after
                            the people that knew Kane well.  That
                            manager of his - the little guy,
                            Bernstein, those two wives, all the
                            people who knew him, had worked for
                            him, who loved him, who hated his guts -
                                    (pauses)
                            I don't mean go through the City
                            Directory, of course -

The Third Man gives a hearty "yes-man" laugh.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'll get to it right away, Mr.
                            Rawlston.

                                            RAWLSTON
                                    (rising)
                            Good!

The camera from behind him, outlines his back against Kane's picture on the screen.

                                            RAWLSTON'S VOICE
                                    (continued)
                            It'll probably turn out to be a very
                            simple thing...

FADE OUT:

NOTE:  Now begins the story proper - the seach by Thompson for the facts about Kane - his researches ... his interviews with the people who knew Kane.

It is important to remember always that only at the very end of the story is Thompson himself a personality.  Until then, throughout the picture, we photograph only Thompson's back, shoulders, or his shadow - sometimes we only record his voice.  He is not until the final scene a "character".  He is the personification of the search for the truth about Charles Foster Kane.  He is the investigator.

FADE IN:

EXT. CHEAP CABARET - "EL RANCHO" - ATLANTIC CITY - NIGHT - 1940 (MINIATURE) - RAIN

The first image to register is a sign:

"EL RANCHO"
FLOOR SHOW
SUSAN ALEXANDER KANE
TWICE NIGHTLY

These words, spelled out in neon, glow out of the darkness at the end of the fade out.  Then there is lightning which reveals a squalid roof-top on which the sign stands.  Thunder again, and faintly the sound of music from within.  A light glows from a skylight.  The camera moves to this and closes in.  Through the splashes of rain, we see through the skylight down into the interior of the cabaret.  Directly below us at a table sits the lone figure of a woman, drinking by herself.

DISSOLVE:

INT. "EL RANCO" CABARET - NIGHT - 1940

Medium shot of the same woman as before, finishing the drink she started to take above.  It is Susie.  The music, of course, is now very loud.  Thompson, his back to the camera, moves into the picture in the close foreground.  A Captain appears behind Susie, speaking across her to Thompson.

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                                    (a Greek)
                            This is Mr. Thompson, Miss Alexander.

Susan looks up into Thompson's face.  She is fifty, trying to look much younger, cheaply blonded, in a cheap, enormously generous evening dress.  Blinking up into Thompson's face, she throws a crink into ther mouth.  Her eyes, which she thinks is keeping commandingly on his, are bleared and watery.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (to the Captain)
                            I want another drink, John.

Low thunder from outside.

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                                    (seeing his chance)
                            Right away.  Will you have something,
                            Mr. Thompson?

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (staring to sit down)
                            I'll have a highball.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (so insistently as to make
                                     Thompson change his mind
                                     and stand up again)
                            Who told you you could sit down here?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Oh!  I thought maybe we could have
                            a drink together?

                                            SUSAN
                            Think again!

There is an awkward pause as Thompson looks from her to the Captain.

                                            SUSAN
                            Why don't you people let me alone?
                            I'm minding my own business.  You
                            mind yours.

                                            THOMPSON
                            If you'd just let me talk to you
                            for a little while, Miss Alexander.
                            All I want to ask you...

                                            SUSAN
                            Get out of here!
                                    (almost hysterical)
                            Get out!  Get out!

Thompson looks at the Captain, who shrugs his shoulders.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'm sorry.  Maybe some other time -

If he thought he would get a response from Susan, who thinks she is looking at him steelily, he realizes his error.  He nods and walks off, following the Captain out the door.

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                            She's just not talking to anybody
                            from the newspapers, Mr. Thompson.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'm not from a newspaper exactly, I -

They have come upon a waiter standing in front of a booth.

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                                    (to the waiter)
                            Get her another highball.

                                            THE WAITER
                            Another double?

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                                    (after a moment, pityingly)
                            Yes.

They walk to the door.

                                            THOMPSON
                            She's plastered, isn't she?

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                            She'll snap out of it.  Why, until he
                            died, she'd just as soon talk about
                            Mr. Kane as about anybody.  Sooner.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'll come down in a week or so and
                            see her again.  Say, you might be able
                            to help me.  When she used to talk
                            about Kane - did she ever happen to say
                            anything - about Rosebud?

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                            Rosebud?

Thompson has just handed him a bill.  The Captain pockets it.

                                            THE CAPTAIN
                            Thank you, sir.  As a matter of fact,
                            yesterday afternoon, when it was in
                            all the papers - I asked her.  She
                            never heard of Rosebud.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY - 1940

An excruciatingly noble interpretation of Mr. Thatcher himself executed in expensive marble.  He is shown seated on one of those improbable Edwin Booth chairs and is looking down, his stone eyes fixed on the camera.

We move down off of this, showing the impressive pedestal on which the monument is founded.  The words, "Walter Parks Thatcher" are prominently and elegantly engraved thereon.  Immediately below the inscription we encounter, in a medium shot, the person of Bertha Anderson, an elderly, manish spinnster, seated behind her desk.  Thompson, his hat in his hand, is standing before her.  Bertha is on the phone.

                                            BERTHA
                                    (into phone)
                            Yes.  I'll take him in now.
                                    (hangs up and looks at
                                     Thompson)
                            The directors of the Thatcher Library
                            have asked me to remind you again of
                            the condition under which you may
                            inspect certain portions of Mr.
                            Thatcher's unpublished memoirs.  Under
                            no circumstances are direct quotations
                            from his manuscript to be used by you.

                                            THOMPSON
                            That's all right.

                                            BERTHA
                            You may come with me.

Without watching whether he is following her or not, she rises and starts towards a distant and imposingly framed door.  Thompson, with a bit of a sigh, follows.

        DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. THE VAULT ROOM - THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY - 1940

A room with all the warmth and charm of Napolean's tomb.



                                            BERTHA
                                    (to the guard)
                            Pages eighty-three to one hundred
                            and forty-two, Jennings.

                                            GUARD
                            Yes, Miss Anderson.

                                            BERTHA
                                    (to Thompson)
                            You will confine yourself, it is our
                            understanding, to the chapter dealing
                            with Mr. Kane.

                                            THOMPSON
                            That's all I'm interested in.

The guard has, by this time, delivered the precious journal.  Bertha places it reverently on the table before Thompson.

                                            BERTHA
                            You will be required to leave this
                            room at four-thirty promptly.

She leaves.  Thompson starts to light a cigarette.  The guard shakes his head.  With a sigh, Thompson bends over to read the manuscript.  Camera moves down over his shoulder onto page of manuscript.

Manuscript, neatly and precisely written:

"CHARLES FOSTER KANE

WHEN THESE LINES APPEAR IN PRINT, FIFTY YEARS AFTER MY DEATH, I AM CONFIDENT THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WILL AGREE WITH MY OPINION OF CHARLES FOSTER KANE, ASSUMING THAT HE IS NOT THEN COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN, WHICH I REGARD AS EXTREMELY LIKELY.  A GOOD DEAL OF NONSENSE HAS APPEARED ABOUT MY FIRST MEETING WITH KANE, WHEN HE WAS SIX YEARS OLD...  THE FACTS ARE SIMPLE.  IN THE WINTER OF 1870..."

The camera has not held on the entire page.  It has been following the words with the same action that the eye does the reading.  On the last words, the white page of the paper

DISSOLVES INTO:

EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

The white of a great field of snow, seen from the angle of a parlor window.

In the same position of the last word in above Insert, appears the tiny figure of Charles Foster Kane, aged five (almost like an animated cartoon).  He is in the act of throwing a snowball at the camera.  It sails toward us and over our heads, out of scene.

Reverse angle - on the house featuring a large sign reading:

MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE
HIGH CLASS MEALS AND LODGING
INQUIRE WITHIN

Charles Kane's snowball hits the sign.

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Camera is angling through the window, but the window-frame is not cut into scene.  We see only the field of snow again, same angle as in previous scene.  Charles is manufacturing another snowball.  Now -

Camera pulls back, the frame of the window appearing, and we are inside the parlor of the boardinghouse.  Mrs. Kane, aged about 28, is looking out towards her son.  Just as we take her in she speaks:

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (calling out)
                            Be careful, Charles!

                                            THATCHER'S VOICE
                            Mrs. Kane -

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (calling out the window
                                     almost on top of this)
                            Pull your muffler around your neck,
                            Charles -

But Charles, deliriously happy in the snow, is oblivious to this and is running away.  Mrs. Kane turns into camera and we see her face - a strong face, worn and kind.

                                            THATCHER'S VOICE
                            I think we'll have to tell him now -

Camera now pulls back further, showing Thatcher standing before a table on which is his stove-pipe hat and an imposing multiplicity of official-looking documents.  He is 26 and, as might be expected, a very stuffy young man, already very expensive and conservative looking, even in Colorado.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            I'll sign those papers -

                                            KANE SR.
                            You people seem to forget that I'm
                            the boy's father.

At the sound of Kane Sr.'s voice, both have turned to him and the camera pulls back still further, taking him in.

Kane Sr., who is the assistant curator in a livery stable, has been groomed as elegantly as is likely for this meeting ever since daybreak.

From outside the window can be heard faintly the wild and cheerful cries of the boy, blissfully cavorting in the snow.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            It's going to be done exactly the
                            way I've told Mr. Thatcher -

                                            KANE SR.
                            If I want to, I can go to court.
                            A father has a right to -

                                            THATCHER
                                    (annoyed)
                            Mr. Kane, the certificates that Mr.
                            Graves left here are made out to Mrs.
                            Kane, in her name.  Hers to do with
                            as she pleases -

                                            KANE SR.
                            Well, I don't hold with signing my
                            boy away to any bank as guardian
                            just because -

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (quietly)
                            I want you to stop all this nonsense,
                            Jim.

                                            THATCHER
                            The Bank's decision in all matters
                            concerning his education, his place of
                            residence and similar subjects will be
                            final.
                                    (clears his throat)

                                            KANE SR.
                            The idea of a bank being the guardian -

Mrs. Kane has met his eye.  Her triumph over him finds expression in his failure to finish his sentence.

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (even more quietly)
                            I want you to stop all this nonsense,
                            Jim.

                                            THATCHER
                            We will assume full management of the
                            Colorado Lode - of which you, Mrs. Kane,
                            are the sole owner.

Kane Sr. opens his mouth once or twice, as if to say something, but chokes down his opinion.

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (has been reading past
                                     Thatcher's shoulder as he
                                     talked)
                            Where do I sign, Mr. Thatcher?

                                            THATCHER
                            Right here, Mrs. Kane.

                                            KANE SR.
                                    (sulkily)
                            Don't say I didn't warn you.

Mrs. Kane lifts the quill pen.

                                            KANE SR.
                            Mary, I'm asking you for the last
                            time - anyon'd think I hadn't been
                            a good husband and a -

Mrs. Kane looks at him slowly.  He stops his speech.

                                            THATCHER
                            The sum of fifty thousand dollars a
                            year is to be paid to yourself and
                            Mr. Kane as long as you both live,
                            and thereafter the survivor -

Mrs. Kane puts pen to the paper and signs.

                                            KANE SR.
                            Well, let's hope it's all for the best.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            It is.  Go on, Mr. Thatcher -

Mrs. Kane, listening to Thatcher, of course has had her other ear bent in the direction of the boy's voice.  Thatcher is aware both of the boy's voice, which is counter to his own, and of Mrs. Kane's divided attention.  As he pauses, Kane Sr. genteelly walks over to close the window.

EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Kane Jr., seen from Kane Sr.'s position at the window.  He is advancing on the snowman, snowballs in his hands, dropping to one knee the better to confound his adversary.

                                            KANE
                            If the rebels want a fight boys,
                            let's give it to 'em!

He throws two snowballs, missing widely, and gets up and advances another five feet before getting on his knees again.

                                            KANE
                            The terms are underconditional
                            surrender.  Up and at 'em!  The
                            Union forever!

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Kane Sr. closes the window.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (over the boy's voice)
                            Everything else - the principal as
                            well as all monies earned - is to be
                            administered by the bank in trust for
                            your son, Charles Foster Kane, until
                            his twenty-fifth birthday, at which
                            time he is to come into complete
                            possession.

Mrs. Kane rises and goes to the window.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            Go on, Mr. Thatcher.

Thatcher continues as she opens the window.  His voice, as before, is heard with overtones of the boy's.

EXT. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Kane Jr., seen from Mrs. Kane's position at the window.  He is now within ten feet of the snowman, with one snowball left which he is holding back in his right hand.

                                            KANE
                            You can't lick Andy Jackson!  Old
                            Hickory, that's me!

He fires his snowball, well wide of the mark and falls flat on his stomach, starting to crawl carefully toward the snowman.

                                            THATCHER'S VOICE
                            It's nearly five, Mrs. Kane, don't
                            you think I'd better meet the boy -

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Mrs. Kane at the window.  Thatcher is now standing at her side.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            I've got his trunk all packed -
                                    (she chokes a little)
                            I've it packed for a couple of weeks -

She can't say anymore.  She starts for the hall day.  Kane Sr., ill at ease, has no idea of how to comfort her.

                                            THATCHER
                            I've arranged for a tutor to meet
                            us in Chicago.  I'd have brought
                            him along with me, but you were so
                            anxious to keep everything secret -

He stops as he realizes that Mrs. Kane has paid no attention to him and, having opened the door, is already well into the hall that leads to the side door of the house.  He takes a look at Kane Sr., tightens his lips and follows Mrs. Kane.  Kane, shoulders thrown back like one who bears defeat bravely, follows him.

EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY - 1870

Kane, in the snow-covered field.  With the snowman between him and the house, he is holding the sled in his hand, just about to make the little run that prefaces a belly-flop.  The Kane house, in the background, is a dilapidated, shabby, two-story frame building, with a wooden outhouse.  Kane looks up as he sees the single file procession, Mrs. Kane at its head, coming toward him.

                                            KANE
                            H'ya, Mom.

Mrs. Kane smiles.

                                            KANE
                                    (gesturing at the snowman)
                            See, Mom?  I took the pipe out of
                            his mouth.  If it keeps on snowin',
                            maybe I'll make some teeth and -

                                            MRS. KANE
                            You better come inside, son.  You
                            and I have got to get you all ready
                            for - for -

                                            THATCHER
                            Charles, my name is Mr. Thatcher -

                                            MRS. KANE
                            This is Mr. Thatcher, Charles.

                                            THATCHER
                            How do you do, Charles?

                                            KANE SR.
                            He comes from the east.

                                            KANE
                            Hello.  Hello, Pop.

                                            KANE SR.
                            Hello, Charlie!

                                            MRS. KANE
                            Mr. Thatcher is going to take you on
                            a trip with him tonight, Charles.
                            You'll be leaving on Number Ten.

                                            KANE SR.
                            That's the train with all the lights.

                                            KANE
                            You goin', Mom?

                                            THATCHER
                            Your mother won't be going right away,
                            Charles -

                                            KANE
                            Where'm I going?

                                            KANE SR.
                            You're going to see Chicago and New
                            York - and Washington, maybe...
                            Isn't he, Mr. Thatcher?

                                            THATCHER
                                    (heartily)
                            He certainly is.  I wish I were a
                            little boy and going to make a trip
                            like that for the first time.

                                            KANE
                            Why aren't you comin' with us, Mom?

                                            MRS. KANE
                            We have to stay here, Charles.

                                            KANE SR.
                            You're going to live with Mr. Thatcher
                            from now on, Charlie!  You're going to
                            be rich.  Your Ma figures - that is,
                            er - she and I have decided that this
                            isn't the place for you to grow up in.
                            You'll probably be the richest man in
                            America someday and you ought to -

                                            MRS. KANE
                            You won't be lonely, Charles...

                                            THATCHER
                            We're going to have a lot of good times
                            together, Charles...  Really we are.

Kane stares at him.

                                            THATCHER
                            Come on, Charles.  Let's shake hands.
                                    (extends his hand.  Charles
                                     continues to look at him)
                            Now, now!  I'm not as frightening as
                            all that!  Let's shake, what do you
                            say?

He reaches out for Charles's hand.  Without a word, Charles hits him in the stomach with the sled.  Thatcher stumbles back a few feet, gasping.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (with a sickly grin)
                            You almost hurt me, Charles.
                                    (moves towards him)
                            Sleds aren't to hit people with.
                            Sleds are to - to sleigh on.  When
                            we get to New York, Charles, we'll
                            get you a sled that will -

He's near enough to try to put a hand on Kane's shoulder.  As he does, Kane kicks him in the ankle.

                                            MRS. KANE
                            Charles!

He throws himself on her, his arms around her.  Slowly Mrs. Kane puts her arms around him.

                                            KANE
                                    (frightened)
                            Mom!  Mom!

                                            MRS. KANE
                            It's all right, Charles, it's all
                            right.

Thatcher is looking on indignantly, occasionally bending over to rub his ankle.

                                            KANE SR.
                            Sorry, Mr. Thatcher!  What the kid
                            needs is a good thrashing!

                                            MRS. KANE
                            That's what you think, is it, Jim?

                                            KANE SR.
                            Yes.

Mrs. Kane looks slowly at Mr. Kane.

                                            MRS. KANE
                                    (slowly)
                            That's why he's going to be brought
                            up where you can't get at him.

DISSOLVE:

1870 - NIGHT (STOCK OR MINIATURE)

Old-fashioned railroad wheels underneath a sleeper, spinning along the track.

DISSOLVE:

INT. TRAIN - OLD-FASHIONED DRAWING ROOM - NIGHT - 1870

Thatcher, with a look of mingled exasperation, annoyance, sympathy and inability to handle the situation, is standing alongside a berth, looking at Kane.  Kane, his face in the pillow, is crying with heartbreaking sobs.

                                            KANE
                            Mom!  Mom!

DISSOLVE OUT:

The white page of the Thatcher manuscript.  We pick up the words:

"HE WAS, I REPEAT, A COMMON ADVENTURER, SPOILED, UNSCRUPULOUS, IRRESPONSIBLE."

The words are followed by printed headline on "Enquirer" copy (as in following scene).

INT. ENQUIRER CITY ROOM - DAY - 1898

Close-up on printed headline which reads:

"ENEMY ARMADA OFF JERSEY COAST"

Camera pulls back to reveal Thatcher holding the "Enquirer" copy, on which we read the headline.  He is standing near the editorial round table around which a section of the staff, including Reilly, Leland and Kane are eating lunch.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (coldly)
                            Is that really your idea of how to
                            run a newspaper?

                                            KANE
                            I don't know how to run a newspaper,
                            Mr. Thatcher.  I just try everything
                            I can think of.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (reading headline of paper
                                     he is still holding)
                            "Enemy Armada Off Jersey Coast."  You
                            know you haven't the slightest proof
                            that this - this armada - is off the
                            Jersey Coast.

                                            KANE
                            Can you prove it isn't?

Bernstein has come into the picture.  He has a cable in his hand.  He stops when he sees Thatcher.

                                            KANE
                            Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Thatcher -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            How are you, Mr. Thatcher?

                                            THATCHER
                            How do you do? -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            We just had a wire from Cuba, Mr. Kane -
                                    (stops, embarrassed)

                                            KANE
                            That's all right.  We have no secrets
                            from our readers.  Mr. Thatcher is
                            one of our most devoted readers, Mr.
                            Bernstein.  He knows what's wrong with
                            every issue since I've taken charge.
                            What's the cable?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (reading)
                            The food is marvelous in Cuba the
                            senoritas are beautiful stop I could
                            send you prose poems of palm trees and
                            sunrises and tropical colors blending in
                            far off landscapes but don't feel right
                            in spending your money for this stop
                            there's no war in Cuba regards Wheeler.

                                            THATCHER
                            You see!  There hasn't been a true word -

                                            KANE
                            I think we'll have to send our friend
                            Wheeler a cable, Mr. Bernstein.  Of
                            course, we'll have to make it shorter
                            than his, because he's working on an
                            expense account and we're not.  Let
                            me see -
                                    (snaps his fingers)
                            Mike!

                                            MIKE
                                    (a fairly tough customer
                                     prepares to take dictation,
                                     his mouth still full of food)
                            Go ahead, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Dear Wheeler -
                                    (pauses a moment)
                            You provide the prose poems - I'll
                            provide the war.

Laughter from the boys and girls at the table.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            That's fine, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            I rather like it myself.  Send it
                            right away.

                                            MIKE
                            Right away.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Right away.

Mike and Bernstein leave.  Kane looks up, grinning at Thatcher, who is bursting with indignation but controls himself.  After a moment of indecision, he decides to make one last try.

                                            THATCHER
                            I came to see you, Charles, about
                            your - about the Enquirer's campaign
                            against the Metropolitan Transfer
                            Company.

                                            KANE
                            Won't you step into my office, Mr.
                            Thatcher?

They cross the City Room together.

                                            THATCHER
                            I think I should remind you, Charles,
                            of a fact you seem to have forgotten.
                            You are yourself one of the largest
                            individual stockholders.

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - DAY - 1898

Kane holds the door open for Thatcher.  They come in together.

                                            KANE
                            Mr. Thatcher, isn't everything I've
                            been saying in the Enquirer about
                            the traction trust absolutely true?

                                            THATCHER
                                    (angrily)
                            They're all part of your general
                            attack - your senseless attack -
                            on everything and everybody who's
                            got more than ten cents in his pocket.
                            They're -

                                            KANE
                            The trouble is, Mr. Thatcher, you
                            don't realize you're talking to
                            two people.

Kane moves around behind his desk.  Thatcher doesn't understand, looks at him.

                                            KANE
                            As Charles Foster Kane, who has                         eighty-two thousand, six hundred
                            and thirty-one shares of Metropolitan
                            Transfer - you see, I do have a rough
                            idea of my holdings - I sympathize
                            with you.  Charles Foster Kane is a
                            dangerous scoundrel, his paper should
                            be run out of town and a committee
                            should be formed to boycott him.  You
                            may, if you can form such a committee,
                            put me down for a contribution of one
                            thousand dollars.

                                            THATCHER
                                    (angrily)
                            Charles, my time is too valuable for
                            me -

                                            KANE
                            On the other hand -
                                    (his manner becomes serious)
                            I am the publisher of the Enquirer.
                            As such, it is my duty - I'll let you
                            in on a little secret, it is also my
                            pleasure - to see to it that decent,
                            hard-working people of this city are
                            not robbed blind by a group of money-
                            mad pirates because, God help them,
                            they have no one to look after their
                            interests!  I'll let you in on another
                            little secret, Mr. Thatcher.  I think
                            I'm the man to do it.  You see, I have
                            money and property -

Thatcher doesn't understand him.

                                            KANE
                            If I don't defend the interests of
                            the underprivileged, somebody else
                            will - maybe somebody without any
                            money or any property and that would
                            be too bad.

Thatcher glares at him, unable to answer.  Kane starts to dance.

                                            KANE
                            Do you know how to tap, Mr. Thatcher?
                            You ought to learn -
                                    (humming quietly, he
                                     continues to dance)

Thatcher puts on his hat.

                                            THATCHER
                            I happened to see your consolidated
                            statement yesterday, Charles.  Could
                            I not suggest to you that it is
                            unwise for you to continue this
                            philanthropic enterprise -
                                    (sneeringly)
                            this Enquirer - that is costing you
                            one million dollars a year?

                                            KANE
                            You're right.  We did lose a million
                            dollars last year.

Thatcher thinks maybe the point has registered.

                                            KANE
                            We expect to lost a million next
                            year, too.  You know, Mr. Thatcher -
                                    (starts tapping quietly)
                            at the rate of a million a year -
                            we'll have to close this place in
                            sixty years.

DISSOLVE:

INT. THE VAULT ROOM - THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY

Thompson - at the desk.  With a gesture of annoyance, he is closing the manuscript.

Camera arcs quickly around from over his shoulder to hold on door behind him, missing his face as he rises and turns to confront Miss Anderson, who has come into the room to shoo him out.  Very prominent on this wall is an over-sized oil painting of Thatcher in the best Union League Club renaissance style.

                                            MISS ANDERSON
                            You have enjoyed a very rare
                            privilege, young man.  Did you find
                            what you were looking for?

                                            THOMPSON
                            No.  Tell me something, Miss Anderson.
                            You're not Rosebud, are you?

                                            MISS ANDERSON
                            What?

                                            THOMPSON
                            I didn't think you were.  Well, thanks
                            for the use of the hall.

He puts his hat on his head and starts out, lighting a cigarette as he goes.  Miss Anderson, scandalized, watches him.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER SKYSCRAPER - DAY - 1940

Closeup of a still of Kane, aged about sixty-five.  Camera pulls back, showing it is a framed photograph on the wall.  Over the picture are crossed American flags.  Under it sits Bernstein, back of his desk.  Bernstein, always an undersized Jew, now seems even smaller than in his youth.  He is bald as an egg, spry, with remarkably intense eyes.  As camera continues to travel back, the back of Thompson's head and his shoulders come into the picture.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (wryly)
                            Who's a busy man?  Me?  I'm Chairman
                            of the Board.  I got nothing but time
                            ...  What do you want to know?

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (still explaining)
                            Well, Mr. Bernstein, you were with Mr.
                            Kane from the very beginning -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            From before the beginning, young fellow.
                            And now it's after the end.
                                    (turns to Thompson)
                            Anything you want to know about him -
                            about the paper -

                                            THOMPSON
                            -  We thought maybe, if we can find out
                            what he meant by that last word - as he
                            was dying -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            That Rosebud?  Maybe some girl?  There
                            were a lot of them back in the early
                            days, and -

                                            THOMPSON
                            Not some girl he knew casually and
                            then remembered after fifty years,
                            on his death bed -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            You're pretty young, Mr. -
                                    (remembers the name)
                            Mr. Thompson.  A fellow will remember
                            things you wouldn't think he'd remember.
                            You take me.  One day, back in 1896, I
                            was crossing over to Jersey on a ferry
                            and as we pulled out, there was another
                            ferry pulling in -
                                    (slowly)
                            - and on it, there was a girl waiting
                            to get off.  A white dress she had on
                            - and she was carrying a white pastrol
                            - and I only saw her for one second and
                            she didn't see me at all - but I'll bet
                            a month hasn't gone by since that I
                            haven't thought of that girl.
                                    (triumphantly)
                            See what I mean?
                                    (smiles)
                            Well, so what are you doing about this
                            "Rosebud," Mr. Thompson.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'm calling on people who knew Mr. Kane.
                            I'm calling on you.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Who else you been to see?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Well, I went down to Atlantic City -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Susie?  I called her myself the day
                            after he died.  I thought maybe
                            somebody ought to...
                                    (sadly)
                            She couldn't even come to the 'phone.

                                            THOMPSON
                            You know why?  She was so -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Sure, sure.

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'm going back there.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Who else did you see?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Nobody else, but I've been through
                            that stuff of Walter Thatcher's.
                            That journal of his -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Thatcher!  That man was the biggest
                            darn fool I ever met -

                                            THOMPSON
                            He made an awful lot of money.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            It's not trick to make an awful lot
                            of money if all you want is to make
                            a lot of money.
                                    (his eyes get reflective)
                            Thatcher!

Bernstein looks out of the window and keeps on looking, seeming to see something as he talks.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            He never knew there was anything in
                            the world but money.  That kind of
                            fellow you can fool every day in the
                            week - and twice on Sundays!
                                    (reflectively)
                            The time he came to Rome for Mr. Kane's
                            twenty-fifth birthday...  You know,
                            when Mr. Kane got control of his own
                            money...  Such a fool like Thatcher -
                            I tell you, nobody's business!

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - DAY - 1940

Bernstein speaking to Thompson.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            He knew what he wanted, Mr. Kane did,
                            and he got it!  Thatcher never did
                            figure him out.  He was hard to figure
                            sometimes, even for me.  Mr. Kane was
                            a genius like he said.  He had that
                            funny sense of humor.  Sometimes even
                            I didn't get the joke.  Like that night
                            the opera house of his opened in
                            Chicago...  You know, the opera house
                            he built for Susie, she should be an
                            opera singer...
                                    (indicates with a little wave
                                     of his hand what he thinks of
                                     that; sighing)
                            That was years later, of course - 1914
                            it was.  Mrs. Kane took the leading part
                            in the opera, and she was terrible.  But
                            nobody had the nerve to say so - not even
                            the critics.  Mr. Kane was a big man in
                            those days.  But this one fellow, this
                            friend of his, Branford Leland -

He leaves the sentence up in the air, as we

DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1914

It is late.  The room is almost empty.  Nobody is at work at the desks.  Bernstein, fifty, is waiting anxiously with a little group of Kane's hirelings, most of them in evening dress with overcoats and hats.  Eveybody is tense and expectant.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                                    (turns to a young hireling;
                                     quietly)
                            What about Branford Leland?  Has he
                            got in his copy?

                                            HIRELING
                            Not yet.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Go in and ask him to hurry.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Well, why don't you, Mr. Bernstein?
                            You know Mr. Leland.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looks at him for a moment;
                                     then slowly)
                            I might make him nervous.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                                    (after a pause)
                            You and Leland and Mr. Kane - you were
                            great friends back in the old days, I
                            understand.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (with a smile)
                            That's right.  They called us the
                            "Three Musketeers."

Somebody behind Bernstein has trouble concealing his laughter.  The City Editor speaks quickly to cover the situation.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            He's a great guy - Leland.
                                    (another little pause)
                            Why'd he ever leave New York?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (he isn't saying)
                            That's a long story.

                                            ANOTHER HIRELING
                                    (a tactless one)
                            Wasn't there some sort of quarrel between -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (quickly)
                            I had nothing to do with it.
                                    (then, somberly)
                            It was Leland and Mr. Kane, and you
                            couldn't call it a quarrel exactly.
                            Better we should forget such things -
                                    (turning to City Editor)
                            Leland is writing it up from the dramatic
                            angle?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Yes.  I thought it was a good idea.
                            We've covered it from the news end,
                            of course.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            And the social.  How about the music
                            notice?  You got that in?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Oh, yes, it's already made up.  Our
                            Mr. Mervin wrote a small review.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Enthusiastic?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Yes, very!
                                    (quietly)
                            Naturally.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Well, well - isn't that nice?

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            Mr. Bernstein -

Bernstein turns.

Medium long shot of Kane, now forty-nine, already quite stout.  He is in white tie, wearing his overcoat and carrying a folded opera hat.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Hello, Mr. Kane.

The Hirelings rush, with Bernstein, to Kane's side.  Widespread, half-suppressed sensation.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Mr. Kane, this is a surprise!

                                            KANE
                            We've got a nice plant here.

Everybody falls silent.  There isn't anything to say.

                                            KANE
                            Was the show covered by every department?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Exactly according to your instructions,
                            Mr. Kane.  We've got two spreads of
                            pictures.

                                            KANE
                                    (very, very casually)
                            And the notice?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Yes - Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                                    (quietly)
                            Is it good?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Yes, Mr. kane.

Kane looks at him for a minute.

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            But there's another one still to come
                            - the dramatic notice.

                                            KANE
                                    (sharply)
                            It isn't finished?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            No, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            That's Leland, isn't it?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            Yes, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Has he said when he'll finish?

                                            CITY EDITOR
                            We haven't heard from him.

                                            KANE
                            He used to work fast - didn't he,
                            Mr. Bernstein?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            He sure did, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Where is he?

                                            ANOTHER HIRELING
                            Right in there, Mr. Kane.

The Hireling indicates the closed glass door of a little office at the other end of the City Room.  Kane takes it in.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (helpless, but very concerned)
                            Mr. Kane -

                                            KANE
                            That's all right, Mr. Bernstein.

Kane crosses the length of the long City Room to the glass door indicated before by the Hireling.  The City Editor looks at Bernstein.  Kane opens the door and goes into the office, closing the door behind him.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Leland and Mr. Kane - they haven't
                            spoke together for ten years.
                                    (long pause; finally)
                            Excuse me.
                                    (starts toward the door)

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1914

Bernstein comes in.  An empty bottle is standing on Leland's desk.  He has fallen over his typewriter, his face on the keys.  A sheet of paper is in the machine.  A paragraph has been typed.  Kane is standing at the other side of the desk looking down on him.  This is the first time we see murder in Kane's face.  Bernstein looks at Kane, then crosses to Leland.  He shakes him.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Hey, Brad!  Brad!
                                    (he straightens, looks at
                                     Kane; pause)
                            He ain't been drinking before, Mr. Kane.
                            Never.  We would have heard.

                                            KANE
                                    (finally; after a pause)
                            What does it say there?

Bernstein stares at him.

                                            KANE
                            What's he written?

Bernstein looks over nearsightedly, painfully reading the paragraph written on the page.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (reading)
                            "Miss Susan Alexander, a pretty but
                            hopelessly incompetent amateur -
                                    (he waits for a minute to
                                     catch his breath; he doesn't
                                     like it)
                            - last night opened the new Chicago
                            Opera House in a performance of - of
                            -"
                                    (looks up miserably)
                            I can't pronounce that name, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Thais.

Bernstein looks at Kane for a moment, then looks back, tortured.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (reading again)
                            "Her singing, happily, is no concern
                            of this department.  Of her acting,
                            it is absolutely impossible to..."
                                    (he continues to stare at
                                     the page)

                                            KANE
                                    (after a short silence)
                            Go on!

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (without looking up)
                            That's all there is.

Kane snatches the paper from the roller and reads it for himself.  Slowly, a queer look comes over his face.  Then he speaks, very quietly.

                                            KANE
                            Of her acting, it is absolutely
                            impossible to say anything except
                            that it represents a new low...
                                    (then sharply)
                            Have you got that, Mr. Bernstein?
                            In the opinion of this reviewer -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (miserably)
                            I didn't see that.

                                            KANE
                            It isn't here, Mr. Bernstein.  I'm
                            dictating it.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looks at him)
                            I can't take shorthand.

                                            KANE
                            Get me a typewriter.  I'll finish
                            the notice.

Bernstein retreats from the room.

QUICK DISSOLVE OUT:

QUICK DISSOLVE IN:

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1914

Long shot of Kane in his shirt sleeves, illuminated by a desk light, typing furiously.  As the camera starts to pull even farther away from this, and as Bernstein - as narrator - begins to speak -

QUICK DISSOLVE:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - DAY - 1940

Bernstein speaking to Thompson.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            He finished it.  He wrote the worst
                            notice I ever read about the girl he
                            loved.  We ran it in every paper.

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (after a pause)
                            I guess Mr. Kane didn't think so well
                            of Susie's art anyway.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looks at him very soberly)
                            He thought she was great, Mr. Thompson.
                            He really believed that.  He put all
                            his ambition on that girl.  After she
                            came along, he never really cared for
                            himself like he used to.  Oh, I don't
                            blame Susie -

                                            THOMPSON
                            Well, then, how could he write that
                            roast?  The notices in the Kane papers
                            were always very kind to her.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Oh, yes.  He saw to that.  I tell you,
                            Mr. Thompson, he was a hard man to
                            figure out.  He had that funny sense
                            of humor.  And then, too, maybe he
                            thought by finishing that piece he
                            could show Leland he was an honest man.
                            You see, Leland didn't think so.  I
                            guess he showed him all right.  He's a
                            nice fellow, but he's a dreamer.  They
                            were always together in those early days
                            when we just started the Enquirer.

On these last words, we

DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY - 1891

The front half of the second floor constitutes one large City Room.  Despite the brilliant sunshine outside, very little of it is actually getting into the room because the windows are small and narrow.  There are about a dozen tables and desks, of the old-fashioned type, not flat, available for reporters.  Two tables, on a raised platform at the end of the room, obviously serve the city room executives.  To the left of the platform is an open door which leads into the Sanctrum.

As Kane and Leland enter the room, an elderly, stout gent on the raised platform, strikes a bell and the other eight occupants of the room - all men - rise and face the new arrivals.  Carter, the elderly gent, in formal clothes, rises and starts toward them.

                                            CARTER
                            Welcome, Mr. Kane, to the "Enquirer."
                            I am Herbert Carter.

                                            KANE
                            Thank you, Mr Carter.  This is Mr.
                            Leland.

                                            CARTER
                                    (bowing)
                            How do you do, Mr. Leland?

                                            KANE
                                    (pointing to the standing
                                     reporters)
                            Are they standing for me?

                                            CARTER
                            I thought it would be a nice gesture
                            - the new publisher -

                                            KANE
                                    (grinning)
                            Ask them to sit down.

                                            CARTER
                            You may resume your work, gentlemen.
                                    (to Kane)
                            I didn't know your plans and so I was
                            unable to make any preparations.

                                            KANE
                            I don't my plans myself.

They are following Carter to his raised platform.

                                            KANE
                            As a matter of fact, I haven't got
                            any.  Except to get out a newspaper.

There is a terrific crash at the doorway.  They all turn to see Bernstein sprawled at the entrance.  A roll of bedding, a suitcase, and two framed pictures were too much for him.

                                            KANE
                            Oh, Mr. Bernstein!

Bernstein looks up.

                                            KANE
                            If you would come here a moment,
                            please, Mr. Bernstein?

Bernstein rises and comes over, tidying himself as he comes.

                                            KANE
                            Mr. Carter, this is Mr. Bernstein.
                            Mr. Bernstein is my general manager.

                                            CARTER
                                    (frigidly)
                            How do you do, Mr. Bernstein?

                                            KANE
                            You've got a private office here,
                            haven't you?

The delivery wagon driver has now appeared in the entrance with parts of the bedstead and other furniture.  He is looking about, a bit bewildered.

                                            CARTER
                                    (indicating open door to
                                     left of platform)
                            My little sanctum is at your disposal.
                            But I don't think I understand -

                                            KANE
                            I'm going to live right here.
                                    (reflectively)
                            As long as I have to.

                                            CARTER
                            But a morning newspaper, Mr. Kane.
                            After all, we're practically closed
                            twelve hours a day - except for the
                            business offices -

                                            KANE
                            That's one of the things I think
                            must be changed, Mr. Carter.  The
                            news goes on for twenty-four hours
                            a day.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - LATE DAY - 1891

Kane, in his shirt sleeves, at a roll-top desk in the Sanctum, is working feverishly on copy and eating a very sizeable meal at the same time.  Carter, still formally coated, is seated alongside him.  Leland, seated in a corner, is looking on, detached, amused.  The furniture has been pushed around and Kane's effects are somewhat in place.  On a corner of the desk, Bernstein is writing down figures.  No one pays any attention to him.

                                            KANE
                            I'm not criticizing, Mr. Carter,
                            but here's what I mean.  There's a
                            front page story in the "Chronicle,"
                                    (points to it)
                            and a picture - of a woman in Brooklyn
                            who is missing.  Probably murdered.
                                    (looks to make sure of the name)
                            A Mrs. Harry Silverstone.  Why didn't
                            the "Enquirer" have that this morning?

                                            CARTER
                                    (stiffly)
                            Because we're running a newspaper, Mr.
                            Kane, not a scandal sheet.

Kane has finished eating.  He pushes away his plates.

                                            KANE
                            I'm still hungry, Brad.  Let's go
                            to Rector's and get something decent.
                                    (pointing to the "Chronicle"
                                     before him)
                            The "Chronicle" has a two-column
                            headline, Mr. Carter.  Why haven't we?

                                            CARTER
                            There is no news big enough.

                                            KANE
                            If the headline is big enough, it
                            makes the new big enough.  The murder
                            of Mrs. Harry Silverstone -

                                            CARTER
                                    (hotly)
                            As a matter of fact, we sent a man
                            to the Silverstone home yesterday
                            afternoon.
                                    (triumphantly)
                            Our man even arrived before the
                            "Chronicle" reporter.  And there's no
                            proof that the woman was murdered -
                            or even that she's dead.

                                            KANE
                                    (smiling a bit)
                            The "Chronicle" doesn't say she's
                            murdered, Mr. Carter.  It says the
                          neighbors are getting suspicious.

                                            CARTER
                                    (stiffly)
                            It's not our function to report the
                            gossip of housewives.  If we were
                            interested in that kind of thing,
                            Mr. Kane, we could fill the paper
                            twice over daily -

                                            KANE
                                    (gently)
                            That's the kind of thing we are
                            going to be interested in from now
                            on, Mr. Carter.  Right now, I wish
                            you'd send your best man up to see
                            Mr. Silverstone.  Have him tell Mr.
                            Silverstone if he doesn't produce his
                            wife at once, the "Enquirer" will
                            have him arrested.
                                    (he gets an idea)
                            Have him tell Mr. Silverstone he's a
                            detective from the Central Office.
                            If Mr. Silverstone asks to see his
                            badge, your man is to get indignant
                            and call Mr. Silverstone an anarchist.
                            Loudly, so that the neighbors can hear.

                                            CARTER
                            Really, Mr. Kane, I can't see the
                            function of a respectable newspaper -

Kane isn't listening to him.

                                            KANE
                            Oh, Mr. Bernstein!

Bernstein looks up from his figures.

                                            KANE
                            I've just made a shocking discovery.
                            The "Enquirer" is without a telephone.
                            Have two installed at once!

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            I ordered six already this morning!
                            Got a discount!

Kane looks at Leland with a fond nod of his head at Bernstein.  Leland grins back.  Mr. Carter, meantime, has risen stiffly.

                                            CARTER
                            But, Mr. Kane -

                                            KANE
                            That'll be all today, Mr. Carter.
                            You've been most understanding.
                            Good day, Mr. Carter!

Carter, with a look that runs just short of apoplexy, leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

                                            LELAND
                            Poor Mr. Carter!

                                            KANE
                                    (shakes his head)
                            What makes those fellows think that
                            a newspaper is something rigid,
                            something inflexible, that people
                            are supposed to pay two cents for -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (without looking up)
                            Three cents.

                                            KANE
                                    (calmly)
                            Two cents.

Bernstein lifts his head and looks at Kane.  Kane gazes back at him.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (tapping on the paper)
                            This is all figured at three cents
                            a copy.

                                            KANE
                            Re-figure it, Mr. Bernstein, at
                            two cents.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (sighs and puts papers
                                     in his pocket)
                            All right, but I'll keep these figures,
                            too, just in case.

                                            KANE
                            Ready for dinner, Brad?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Mr. Leland, if Mr. Kane, he should
                            decide to drop the price to one cent,
                            or maybe even he should make up his
                            mind to give the paper away with a
                            half-pound of tea - you'll just hold
                            him until I get back, won't you?

                                            LELAND
                            I'm not guaranteeing a thing, Mr.
                            Bernstein.  You people work too fast
                            for me!  Talk about new brooms!

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Who said anything about brooms?

                                            KANE
                            It's a saying, Mr. Bernstein.  A new
                            broom sweeps clean.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Oh!

DISSOLVE:

INT.PRIMITIVE COMPOSING AND PRESSROOM - NEW YORK ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1891

The ground floor witht he windows on the street - of the "Enquirer."  It is almost midnight by an old-fashioned clock on the wall.  Grouped around a large table, on which are several locked forms of type, very old-fashioned of course, but true to the period - are Kane and Leland in elegant evening clothes, Bernstein, unchanged from the afternoon, and Smathers, the composing room foreman, nervous and harassed.

                                            SMATHERS
                            But it's impossible, Mr. Kane.  We
                            can't remake these pages.

                                            KANE
                            These pages aren't made up as I want
                            them, Mr. Smathers.  We go to press
                            in five minutes.

                                            CARTER
                                    (about to crack up)
                            The "Enquirer" has an old and honored
                            tradition, Mr. Kane...  The "Enquirer"
                            is not in competition with those other
                            rags.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            We should be publishing such rags,
                            that's all I wish.  Why, the "Enquirer" -
                            I wouldn't wrap up the liver for the
                            cat in the "Enquirer" -

                                            CARTER
                                    (enraged)
                            Mr. Kane, I must ask you to see to
                            it that this - this person learns to
                            control his tongue.

Kane looks up.

                                            CARTER
                            I've been a newspaperman my whole life
                            and I don't intend -
                                    (he starts to sputter)
                            - if it's your intention that I should
                            continue to be harassed by this - this -
                                    (he's really sore)
                            I warn you, Mr. Kane, it would go against
                            my grain to desert you when you need me
                            so badly - but I would feel obliged to
                            ask that my resignation be accepted.

                                            KANE
                            It is accepted, Mr. Carter, with
                            assurances of my deepest regard.

                                            CARTER
                            But Mr. Kane, I meant -

Kane turns his back on him, speaks again to the composing room foreman.

                                            KANE
                                    (quietly)
                            Let's remake these pages, Mr. Smathers.
                            We'll have to publish a half hour late,
                            that's all.

                                            SMATHERS
                                    (as though Kane were
                                     talking Greek)
                            We can't remake them, Mr. Kane.  We
                            go to press in five minutes.

Kane sighs, unperturbed, as he reaches out his hand and shoves the forms off the table onto the floor, where they scatter into hundreds of bits.

                                            KANE
                            You can remake them now, can't you,
                            Mr. Smathers?

Smather's mouth opens wider and wider.  Bradford and Bernstein are grinning.

                                            KANE
                            After the types 've been reset and
                            the pages have been remade according
                            to the way I told you before, Mr.
                            Smathers, kindly have proofs pulled
                            and bring them to me.  Then, if I
                            can't find any way to improve them
                            again -
                                    (almost as if reluctantly)
                            - I suppose we'll have to go to press.

He starts out of the room, followed by Leland.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (to Smathers)
                            In case you don't understand, Mr.
                            Smathers - he's a new broom.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. NEW YORK STREET - VERY EARLY DAWN - 1891

The picture is mainly occupied by a large building, on the roof of which the lights spell out the word "Enquirer" against the sunrise.  We do not see the street or the first few stories of this building, the windows of which would be certainly illuminated.  What we do see is the floor on which is located the City Room.  Over this scene, newboys are heard selling the Chronicle, their voices growing in volume.

As the dissolve complete itself, camera moves toward the one lighted window - the window of the Sanctrum.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - VERY EARLY DAWN - 1891

The newsboys are still heard from the street below - fainter but very insistent.

Kane's office is gas-lit, of course, as is the rest of the Enquirer building.

Kane, in his shirt sleeves, stands at the open window looking out.  The bed is already made up.  On it is seated Bernstein, smoking the end of a cigar.  Leland is in a chair.

                                            NEWSBOYS' VOICES
                            CHRONICLE!  CHRONICLE!  H'YA - THE
                            CHRONICLE - GET YA!  CHRONICLE!

Kane, taking a deep breath of the morning air, closes the window and turns to the others.  The voices of the newsboys, naturally, are very much fainter after this.

                                            LELAND
                            We'll be on the street soon, Charlie
                            - another ten minutes.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looking at his watch)
                            It's three hours and fifty minutes
                            late - but we did it -

Leland rises from the chair, stretching painfully.

                                            KANE
                            Tired?

                                            LELAND
                            It's been a tough day.

                                            KANE
                            A wasted day.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looking up)
                            Wasted?

                                            LELAND
                                    (incredulously)
                            Charlie?!

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            You just made the paper over four
                            times today, Mr. Kane.  That's all -

                                            KANE
                            I've changed the front page a little,
                            Mr. Bernstein.  That's not enough -
                            There's something I've got to get into
                            this paper besides pictures and print
                            -  I've got to make the "New York
                            Enquirer" as important to New York as
                            the gas in that light.

                                            LELAND
                                    (quietly)
                            What're you going to do, Charlie?

Kane looks at him for a minute with a queer smile of happy concentration.

                                            KANE
                            My Declaration of Principles -
                                    (he says it with quotes
                                     around it)
                            Don't smile, Brad -
                                    (getting the idea)
                            Take dictation, Mr. Bernstein -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            I can't take shorthand, Mr. Kane -

                                            KANE
                            I'll write it myself.

Kane grabs a piece of rough paper and a grease crayon.  Sitting down on the bed next to Bernstein, he starts to write.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looking over his shoulder)
                            You don't wanta make any promises,
                            Mr. Kane, you don't wanta keep.

                                            KANE
                                    (as he writes)
                            These'll be kept.
                                    (stops for a minute and
                                     reads what he has written;
                                     reading)
                            I'll provide the people of this city
                            with a daily paper that will tell
                            all the news honestly.
                                    (starts to write again;
                                     reading as he writes)
                            I will also provide them -

                                            LELAND
                            That's the second sentence you've
                            started with "I" -

                                            KANE
                                    (looking up)
                            People are going to know who's
                            responsible.  And they're going to
                            get the news - the true news -
                            quickly and simply and entertainingly.
                                    (he speaks with real
                                     conviction)
                            And no special interests will be
                            allowed to interfere with the truth
                            of that news.

He looks at Leland for a minute and goes back to his writing, reading as he writes.

Bernstein has risen and crossed to one side of Kane.  They both stand looking out.  Leland joins him on the other side.  Their three heads are silhouetted against the sky.  Leland's head is seen to turn slightly as he looks into Kane's face - camera very close on this - Kane turns to him and we know their eyes have met, although their faces are almost in sillhouette.  Bernstein is still smoking a cigar.

DISSOLVE:

Front page of the "Enquirer" shows big boxed editorial with heading:

MY PRINCIPLES - A DECLARATION
BY CHARLES FOSTER KANE

Camera continues pulling back and shows newspaper to be on the top of a pile of newspapers.  As we draw further back, we see four piles, and as camera contines to pull back, we see six piles and go on back until we see a big field of "Enquirers" - piles of "Enquirers" - all 26,000 copies ready for distribution.

A wagon with a huge sign on its side reading

"ENQUIRER - CIRCULATION 26,000"

passes through foreground, and we wipe to:

A pile of "Enquirers" for sale on a broken down wooden box on a street corner, obviously a poor district.  A couple of coins fall on the pile.

The stoop of a period door with old-fashioned enamel milk can and a bag of rolls.  Across the sidewalk before this, moves the shadow of an old-fashioned bicycle with an enormous front wheel.  A copy of the "Enquirer" is tossed on the stoop.

A breakfast table - beautiful linen and beautiful silver - everything very expensive, gleaming in the sunshine.  Into a silver newspaper rack there is slipped a copy of the "Enquirer".  Here, as before, the boxed editorial reading MY PRINCIPLES - A DECLARATION BY CHARLES FOSTER KANE, is very prominent on the front page.

The wooden floor of a railroad station, flashing light and dark as a train behind the camera rushes by.  On the floor, there is tossed a bound bundle of the "New York Enquirer" - the Declaration of Principles still prominent.

Rural Delivery - a copy of the "Enquirer"s being put into bins, showing state distribution.

The railroad platform again.  We stay here for four images.  On each image, the speed of the train is faster and the piles of the "Enquirer" are larger.  On the first image, we move in to hold on the words "CIRCULATION - 31,000."  We are this close for the next pile which reads 40,000; the next one which reads 55,000, and the last which is 62,000.  In each instance, the bundles of newspapers are thicker and the speed of the moving train behind the camera is increased.

The entire montage above indicated is accompanied by a descriptive complement of sound - the traffic noises of New York in the 1890's; wheels on cobblestones and horses' hooves; bicycle bells; the mooning of cattle and the crowing of roosters (in the RFD shot), and in all cases where the railroad platform is used - the mounting sound of the railroad train.

The last figure "62,000" opposite the word "CIRCULATION" on the "Enquirer" masthead changes to:

EXT. STREET AND CHRONICLE BUIDING - DAY - 1895

Angle up to wall of building - a painter on a cradle is putting the last zero to the figure "62,000" on an enormous sign advertising the "Enquirer."  It reads:

THE ENQUIRER
THE PEOPLE'S NEWSPAPER
CIRCULATION 62,000

Camera travels down side of building - takes in another building on which there is a sign which reads:

READ THE ENQUIRER
AMERICA'S FINEST
CIRCULATION 62,000

Camera continues to travel down to sidewalk in front of the Chronicle office.  The Chronicle office has a plateglass window in which is reflected traffic moving up and down the street, also the figures of Kane, Leland and Bernstein, who are munching peanuts.

Inside the window, almost filling it, is a large photograph of the "Chronicle" staff, with Reilly prominently seated in the center.  A sign over the photo reads: EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE STAFF OF THE NEW YORK CHRONICLE.  A sign beneath it reads: GREATEST NEWSPAPER STAFF IN THE WORLD.  The sign also includes the "Chronicle" circulation figure.  There are nine men in the photo.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (looking up at the sign -
                                     happily)
                            Sixty-two thousand -

                                            LELAND
                            That looks pretty nice.

                                            KANE
                                    (indicating the Chronicle
                                     Building)
                            Let's hope they like it there.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            From the Chronicle Building that sign
                            is the biggest thing you can see -
                            every floor guaranteed - let's hope
                            it bothers them - it cost us enough.

                                            KANE
                                    (pointing to the sign over
                                     the photograph in the
                                     window)
                            Look at that.

                                            LELAND
                            The "Chronicle" is a good newspaper.

                                            KANE
                            It's a good idea for a newspaper.
                                    (reading the figures)
                            Four hundred sixy thousand.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Say, with them fellows -
                                    (referring to the photo)
                            - it's no trick to get circulation.

                                            KANE
                            You're right, Mr. Bernstein.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (sighs)
                            You know how long it took the "Chronicle"
                            to get that staff together?  Twenty years.

                                            KANE
                            I know.

Kane, smiling, lights a cigarette, at the same time looking into the window.  Camera moves in to hold on the photograph of nine men, still holding the reflection of Kane's smiling face.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - THE ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1895

Nine men, arrayed as in the photograph, but with Kane beaming in the center of the first row.  The men, variously with mustaches, beards, bald heads, etc. are easily identified as being the same men, Reilly prominent amongst them.

As camera pulls back, it is revealed that they are being photographed - by an old-type professional photographer, big box, black hood and all - in a corner of the room.  It is 1:30 at night.  Desks, etc. have been pushed against the wall.  Running down the center of the room is a long banquet table, at which twenty diners have finished their meals.  The eleven remaining at their seats - these include Bernstein and Leland - are amusedly watching the photographic ceremonies.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            That's all.  Thank you.

The photographic subjects rise.

                                            KANE
                                    (a sudden thought)
                            Make up an extra copy and mail it
                            to the "Chronicle."

Chuckling and beaming, he makes his way to his place at the head of the table.  The others have already sat down.  Kane gets his guests' attention by rapping on the table with a knife.

                                            KANE
                            Gentlemen of the "Enquirer"!  This
                            has, I think, been a fitting welcome
                            to those distinguished journalists -
                                    (indicates the eight men)
                            Mr. Reilly in particular - who are
                            the latest additions to our ranks.
                            It will make them happy to learn that
                            the "Enquirer's" circulation this
                            morning passed the two hundred thousand
                            mark.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Two hundred and one thousand, six
                            hundred and forty-seven.

General applause.

                                            KANE
                            All of you - new and old -  You're
                            all getting the best salaries in
                            town.  Not one of you has been hired
                            because of his loyalty.  It's your
                            talent I'm interested in.  That talent
                            that's going to make the "Enquirer"
                            the kind of paper I want - the best
                            newspaper in the world!

Applause.

                                            KANE
                            However, I think you'll agree we've
                            heard enough about newspapers and
                            the newspaper business for one night.
                            There are other subjects in the world.

He puts his two fingers in his mouth and lets out a shrill whistle.  This is a signal.  A band strikes up a lively ditty of the period and enters in advance a regiment of very magnificent maidens, as daringly arrayed as possible in the chorus costumes of the day.  The rest of this episode will be planned and staged later.  Its essence is that Kane is just a healthy and happy young man having a wonderful time.

As some of the girls are detached from the line and made into partners for individual dancing -

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

The "Enquirer" sign:

THE ENQUIRER
AMERICA'S FINEST
CIRCULATION
274,321

Dissolve just completes itself - the image of Kane dancing with a girl on each arm just disappears as camera pans down off the Temple Bldg. in the same action as the previous street scene.  There is a new sign on the side of the building below.  It reads:

READ THE ENQUIRER
GREATEST STAFF IN THE WORLD

Camera continues panning as we

DISSOLVE:

A montage of various scenes, between the years 1891-1900.

The scenes indicate the growth of the "Enquirer" under the impulse of Kane's personal drive.  Kane is shown, thus, at various activities:

Move down from the sign:

READ THE ENQUIRER
GREATEST STAFF IN THE WORLD

to street in front of saloon with parade passing (boys going off to the Spanish-American War)-  A torchlight parade with the torches reflected in the glass window of the saloon - the sound of brass band playing "It's a Hot Time."  In the window of the saloon is a large sign or poster

"REMEMBER THE MAINE"

INSERT:  Remington drawing of American boys, similar to the parade above, in which "Our Boys" in the expeditionary hats are seen marching off to war.

Back of observation car.  Shot of Kane congratulating Teddy Roosevelt (the same shot as in the News Digest - without flickering).

The wooden floor of the railroad platform again - a bundle of "Enquirers" - this time an enormous bundle - is thrown down, and the moving shadows of the train behind the camera indicate that it is going like a bat out of hell.  A reproduction of Kane and Teddy shaking hands as above is very prominent in the frame and almost hogs the entire front page.  The headline indicates the surrender of Cuba.

INT. ENQUIRER OFFICE

Cartoon, highly dramatic and very involved as to content - lousy with captions, labels, and symbolic figures, the most gruesome and recognizable - "Capitalistic Greed."  This cartoon is almost finished and is on a drawing board before which stand Kane and the artist himself.  Kane is grinning over some suggestion he has made.

DISSOLVE:

The cartoon finished and reproduced on the editorial page of the "Enquirer" - in quite close, with an editorial and several faces of caps shown underneath.  The entire newspaper is crushed with an angry gesture and thrown down into an expensive-looking wastebasket (which is primarily for ticker tape) tape is pouring.

INT. ENQUIRER OFFICE

Cartoonist and Kane working on comic strip of "Johnny the Monk."

DISSOLVE:

Floor of room -  Two kids on floor, with newspaper spread out, looking at the same comic strip.

Kane's photographic gallery with photographers, stooges, and Kane himself in attendance on a very hot-looking item of the period.  A sob sister is interviewing this hot number and Kane is arranging her dress to look more seductive.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

The hot number reproduced and prominently displayed and covering almost half a page of the "Enquirer."  It is being read in a barber shop and is seen in an over-shoulder shot of the man who is reading it.  He is getting a shine, a manicure, and a haircut.  The sob-sister caption over the photograph reveals: "I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING, SAYS DANCER.  EVERYTHING WENT RED."  An oval photograph of the gun is included in the lay-out of the pretty lady with a headline which says: "DEATH GUN."

STREET - SHOT OF BUCKET BRIGADE

Shot of Kane, in evening clothes, in obvious position of danger, grabbing camera from photographer.  Before him rages a terrific tenement fire.

DISSOLVE:

INSERT:  Headline about inadequacy of present fire equipment.

DISSOLVE:

Final shot of a new horse-drawn steam engine roaring around a street corner (Stock).

DISSOLVE:

A black pattern of iron bars.  We are in a prison cell.  The door is opened and a condemned man, with priest, warden and the usual attendants, moves into foreground and starts up the hall past a group which includes phtographers, Kane's sob-sister, and Kane.  The photographers take pictures with a mighty flash of old-fashioned flash powder.  The condemned man in the foreground (in silhouette) is startled by this.

DISSOLVE:

A copy of the "Enquirer" spread out on a table.  A big lay-out of the execution story includes the killer as photographed by Kane's photographers, and nearby on the other page there is a large picture of the new steam fire engine (made from the stock shot) with a headline indicating that the "Enquirer" has won its campaign for better equipment.  A cup of coffee and a doughnut are on the newspaper, and a servant girl - over whose shoulder we see the paper - is stirring the coffee.

The Beaux Art Ball.  A number of elderly swells are jammed into a hallway.  Servants suddenly divest them of their furs, overcoats and wraps, revealing them to be in fancy dress costume, pink fleshings, etc., the effect to be very surprising, very lavish and very very ridiculous.  We see, among others, Mr. Thatcher himself (as Ben Hur) ribbon around, his bald head and all.  At the conclusion of this tableau, the image freezes and we pull back to show it reproduced on the society page of the "New

Over the "Enquirer"'s pictorial version of the Beaux Art Ball is thrown a huge fish - then coffee grounds - altogether a pretty repulsive sight.

The whole thing is bundled up and thrown into a garbage can.

Extreme close-up of the words: "OCCUPATION - JOUNALIST."

Camera pulls back to show passport open to the photograph page which shows Kane, registering birth, race, and nationality.  Passport cover is closed, showing it to be an American passport.

EXT. CUNARD DOCKS - GANGPLANK AND DECK OF BOAT - NIGHT - 1900

As camera pulls back over shoulder of official, taking in Kane, Leland, and Bernstein, we see the bustle and noise of departing ocean liner.  Behind the principles can be seen an enormous plain sign which reads: "FIRST CLASS."  From offstage can be heard the steward's cry, indispensable in any Mercury production, the old familiar cry, "All Ashore That's Going Ashore!" - gongs, also blasts of the great whistle and all the rest of it.

                                            THE OFFICIAL
                            There you are, Mr. Kane.  Everything
                            in order.

                                            KANE
                            Thank you.

Kane and Leland and Bernstein start up the gangplank.

                                            THE OFFICIAL
                                    (calling)
                            Have a good rest, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Thanks.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            But please, Mr. Kane, don't buy any
                            more paintings.  Nine Venuses already
                            we got, twenty-six Virgins - two
                            whole warehouses full of stuff -

                                            KANE
                            I promise not to bring any more
                            Venuses and not to worry - and not
                            to try to get in touch with any of
                            the papers -

                                            STEWARD'S VOICE
                            All ashore!

                                            KANE
                            - and to forget about the new feature
                            sections - and not to try to think
                            up and ideas for comic sections.

                                            STEWARD'S VOICE
                            All ashore that's going ashore!

Kane leaves Leland and Bernstein midway up gangplank, as he rushes up to it, calling back with a wave:

                                            KANE
                            Goodbye, gents!
                                    (at the top of the gangplank,
                                     he turns and calls down)
                            Hey!

                                            KANE
                                    (calling down to them)
                            You don't expect me to keep any
                            of those promises, do you?

A band on deck strikes up "Auld Lang Syne."  Bernstein and Leland turn to each other.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Do you, Mr. Leland?

                                            LELAND
                                    (smiling)
                            Certainly not.

They start down the gangplank together.

DISSOLVE:

LONG SHOT OF THE ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT

The pattern of telegraph wires, dripping with rain, through which we see the same old building but now rendered fairly remarkable by tremendous outline sign in gold which reads "THE NEW YORK DAILY ENQUIRER."  A couple of lights show in the building.  We start toward the window where the lights show, as we -

DISSOLVE:

EXT. OUTSIDE THE WINDOW AT BERNSTEIN'S DESK - NIGHT

The light in the window in the former shot was showing behind the letter "E" of the Enquirer sign.  Now the letter "E" is even larger than the frame of the camera.  Rain drips disconsolately off the middle part of the figure.  We see through this and through the drizzle of the window to Bernstein's desk where he sits working under a blue shaded light.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

Same setup as before except that it is now late afternoon and late in the winter of the year.  The outline "E" is hung with icicles which are melting, dripping despairingly between us and Mr. Bernstein, still seated at his desk - still working.

DISSOLVE:

Same setup as before except that it is spring.  Instead of the sad sounds of dripping rain or dripping icicles, we hear the melancholy cry of a hurdy-gurdy in the street below.  It is spring and through the letter "E" we can see Bernstein working at his desk.  Pigeons are gathering on the "E" and on the sill.  Bernstein looks up and sees them.  He takes some crumbs from his little homemade lunch which is spread out on the desk before him, carries them to the windows and feeds the pigeons, lookin

DISSOLVE:

The same setup again, it is now summer.  The window was half-open before .. now it's open all the way and Bernstein has gone so far as to take off his coat.  His shirt and his celluloid collar are wringing wet.  Camera moves toward the window to tighten on Bernstein and to take in the City Room behind him, which is absolutely deserted.  It is clear that there is almost nothing more for Bernstein to do.  The hurdy-gurdy in the street is playing as before, but a new tune.

DISSOLVE:

A beach on Coney Island.

Bernstein in a rented period bathing suit sits alone in the sand, reading a copy of the "Enquirer."

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY - 1900

The whole floor is now a City Room.  It is twice its former size, yet not too large for all the desks and the people using them.  The windows have been enlarged, providing a good deal more light and air.  A wall calendar says September 9th.

Kane and Bernstein enter and stand in the entrance a moment.  Kane, who really did look a bit peaked before, is now clear-eyed and tanned.  He is wearing new English clothes.  As they come into the room, Bernstein practically walking sideways, is doing nothing but beaming and admiring Kane, quelling like a mother at the Carnegie Hall debut of her son.  Seeing and recognizing Kane, the entire staff rises to its feet.

                                            KANE
                                    (referring to the staff;
                                     with a smile)
                            Ask them to sit down, Mr. Bernstein.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Sit down, everybody - for heaven's
                            sake!

The order is immediately obeyed, everybody going into business of feverish activity.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            So then, tonight, we go over everything
                            thoroughly, eh?  Especially the new
                            papers -

                                            KANE
                            We certainly do.  Vacation's over -
                            starting right after dinner.  But
                            right now - that lady over there -
                                    (he indicates a woman
                                     at the desk)
                            - that's the new society editor, I
                            take it?  You think I could interrupt
                            her a moment, Mr. Bernstein?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Huh?  Oh, I forgot - you've been
                            away so long I forgot about your
                            joking -

He trails after Kane as he approaches the Society Editor's desk.  The Society Editor, a middle-aged spinster, sees him approaching and starts to quake all over, but tries to pretend she isn't aware of him.  An envelope in her hand shakes violently.  Kane and Bernstein stop at her desk.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Miss Townsend -

Miss Townsend looks up and is so surprised to see Bernstein with a stranger.

                                            MISS TOWNSEND
                            Good afternoon, Mr. Bernstein.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            This is Mr. Kane, Miss Townsend.

Miss Townsend can't stick to her plan.  She starts to rise, but her legs are none too good under her.  She knocks over a tray of copy paper as she rises, and bends to pick it up.

                                            KANE
                                    (very hesitatingly and
                                     very softly)
                            Miss Townsend -

At the sound of his voice, she straightens up.  She is very close to death from excitement.

                                            KANE
                            I've been away for several months,
                            and I don't know exactly how these
                            things are handled now.  But one
                            thing I wanted to be sure of is that
                            you won't treat this little
                            announcement any differently than
                            you would any other similar
                            announcement.

He hands her an envelope.  She has difficulty in holding on to it.

                                            KANE
                                    (gently)
                            Read it, Miss Townsend.  And remember
                            - just the regular treatment!
                            See you at nine o'clock, Mr. Bernstein!

Kane leaves.  Bernstein looks after him, then at the paper.  Miss Townsend finally manages to open the envelope.  A piece of flimsy paper, with a few written lines, is her reward.

                                            MISS TOWNSEND
                                    (reading)
                            Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore Norton
                            announce the engagement of their
                            daughter, Emily Monroe Norton, to Mr.
                            Charles Foster Kane.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (starts to read it)
                            Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore Norton
                            announce -

                                            MISS TOWNSEND
                                    (fluttering - on top of him)
                            She's - she's the niece of - of the
                            President of the United States -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (nodding proudly)
                            I know.  Come on, Miss Townsend -
                            From the window, maybe we can get a
                            look.

He takes her by the hand and leads her off.

Angle toward open window.  Bernstein and Miss Townsend, backs to camera, rushing to the window.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY - 1900

High angle downward - what Bernstein and Miss Townsend see from the window.

Kane is just stepping into an elegant barouch, drawn up at the curb, in which sits Miss Emily Norton.  He kisses her full on the lips before he sits down.  She acts a bit taken aback, because of the public nature of the scene, but she isn't really annoyed.  As the barouche starts off, she is looking at him adoringly.  He, however, has turned his head and is looking adoringly at the "Enquirer."  He apparently sees Bernstein and Miss Townsed and waves his hand.

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER - DAY - 1900

Bernstein and Miss Townsend at window.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            A girl like that, believe me, she's
                            lucky!  Presiden't niece, huh!  Say,
                            before he's through, she'll be a
                            Presiden't wife.

Miss Townsend is now dewey-eyed.  She looks at Bernstein, who has turned away, gazing down at the departing couple.

DISSOLVE:

Front page of the "Enquirer."  Large picture of the young couple - Kane and Emily - occupying four columns - very happy.

DISSOLVE:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER - DAY - 1940

Bernstein and Thompson.  As the dissolve comes, Bernstein's voice is heard.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            The way things turned out, I don't
                            need to tell you - Miss Emily Norton
                            was no rosebud!

                                            THOMPSON
                            It didn't end very well, did it?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (shaking his head)
                            It ended -
                                    (a slight pause)
                            Then there was Susie - that ended, too.
                                    (shrugs, a pause; then
                                     looking up into Thompson's
                                     eyes)
                            I guess he didn't make her very happy -
                                    (a pause)
                            You know, I was thinking - that Rosebud
                            you're trying to find out about -

                                            THOMPSON
                            Yes -

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Maybe that was something he lost.
                            Mr. Kane was a man that lost - almost
                            everything he had -
                                    (a pause)
                            You ought to talk to Bradford Leland.
                            He could tell you a lot.  I wish I
                            could tell you where Leland is, but I
                            don't know myself.  He may be out of
                            town somewhere - he may be dead.

                                            THOMPSON
                            In case you'd like to know, Mr.
                            Bernstein, he's at the Huntington
                            Memorial Hospital on 180th Street.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            You don't say!  Why I had no idea -

                                            THOMPSON
                            Nothing particular the matter with
                            him, they tell me.  Just -
                                    (controls himself)

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Just old age.
                                    (smiles sadly)
                            It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson,
                            you don't look forward to being cured
                            of.
                                    (pauses)
                            You ought to see Mr. Leland.  There's
                            a whole lot of things he could tell
                            you - if he wanted to.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY - 1940

Close shot - Thompson.  He is tilted back in a chair which seems to be, and is, leaning against a chimney.  Leland's voice is heard for a few moments before Leland is seen.

                                            LELAND'S VOICE
                            When you get to my age, young man,
                            you don't miss anything.  Unless
                            maybe it's a good drink of bourbon.
                            Even that doesn't make much difference,
                            if you remember there hasn't been
                            any good bourbon in this country for
                            twenty years.

Camera has pulled back, during above speech, revealing that Leland, wrapped in a blanket, is in a wheel chair, talking to Thompson.  They are on the flat roof of a hospital.  Other people in wheel chairs can be seen in the background, along with a nurse or two.  They are all sunning themselves.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Mr. Leland, you were -

                                            LELAND
                            You don't happen to have a cigar,
                            do you?  I've got a young physician
                            - must remember to ask to see his
                            license - the odds are a hundred to
                            one he hasn't got one - who thinks
                            I'm going to stop smoking...  I
                            changed the subject, didn't I?  Dear,
                            dear!  What a disagreeable old man
                            I've become.  You want to know what I
                            think of Charlie Kane?  Well - I suppose
                            he has some private sort of greatness.
                            But he kept it to himself.
                                    (grinning)
                            He never - gave himself away -  He
                            never gave anything away.  He just -
                            left you a tip.  He had a generous
                            mind.  I don't suppose anybody ever had
                            so many opinions.  That was because
                            he had the power to express them, and
                            Charlie lived on power and the excitement
                            of using it -  But he didn't believe in
                            anything except Charlie Kane.  He never
                            had a conviction in his life.  I guess
                            he died without one -  That must have
                            been pretty unpleasant.  Of course, a
                            lot of us check out with no special
                            conviction about death.  But we do know
                            what we're leaving ... we believe in
                            something.
                                    (looks sharply at Thompson)
                            You're absolutely sure you haven't got
                            a cigar?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Sorry, Mr. Leland.

                                            LELAND
                            Never mind -  Bernstein told you about
                            the first days at the office, didn't
                            he?  Well, Charlie was a bad newspaper
                            man even then.  He entertained his
                            readers, but he never told them the
                            truth.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Maybe you could remember something
                            that -

                                            LELAND
                            I can remember everything.  That's
                            my curse, young man.  It's the
                            greatest curse that's ever been
                            inflicted on the human race.  Memory
                            -  I was his oldest friend.
                                    (slowly)
                            As far as I was concerned, he
                            behaved like swine.  Maybe I wasnt'
                            his friend.  If I wasn't, he never
                            had one.  Maybe I was what nowadays
                            you call a stooge -

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. CITY ROOM - THE ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1895

The party (previously shown in the Bernstein sequence).

We start this sequence toward the end of the former one, but from a fresh angle, holding on Leland, who is at the end of the table.  Kane is heard off, making a speech.

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            Not one of you has been hired
                            because of his loyalty.  It's your
                            talent I'm interested in.  That talent
                            that's going to make the "Enquirer"
                            the kind of paper I want - the best
                            newspaper in the world!

Applause.  During above, Bernstein has come to Leland's side.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Isn't it wonderful?  Such a party!

                                            LELAND
                            Yes.

His tone causes Bernstein to look at him.

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            However, I think you'll agree we've
                            heard enough about newspapers and
                            the newspaper business for one night.

The above speeches are heard under the following dialogue.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (to Leland)
                            What's the matter?

                                            LELAND
                            Mr. Bernstein, these men who are now
                            with the "Enquirer" - who were with
                            the "Chronicle" until yesterday -
                            weren't they just as devoted to the
                            "Chronicle" kind of paper as they
                            are now to - our kind of paper?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Sure.  They're like anybody else.
                            They got work to do.  They do it.
                                    (proudly)
                            Only they happen to be the best men
                            in the business.

                                            KANE
                                    (finishing his speech)
                            There are other subjects in the world -

Kane whistles.  The band and the chorus girls enter and hell breaks loose all around Leland and Bernstein.

                                            LELAND
                                    (after a minute)
                            Do we stand for the same things
                            that the "Chronicle" stands for,
                            Mr. Bernstein?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (indignantly)
                            Certainly not.  So what's that got
                            to do with it?  Mr. Kane, he'll
                            have them changed to his kind of
                            newspapermen in a week.

                                            LELAND
                            Probably.  There's always a chance,
                            of course, that they'll change Mr.
                            Kane - without his knowing it.

Kane has come up to Leland and Bernstein.  He sits down next to them, lighting a cigarette.

                                            KANE
                            Well, gentlemen, are we going to
                            war?

                                            LELAND
                            Our readers are, anyway, I don't
                            know about the rest of the country.

                                            KANE
                                    (enthusiastically)
                            It'll be our first foreign war in
                            fifty years, Brad.  We'll cover it
                            the way the "Hickville Gazette" covers
                            the church social!  The names of
                            everybody there; what they wore; what
                            they ate; who won the prizes; who
                            gave the prizes -
                                    (gets excited)
                            I tell you, Brad, I envy you.
                                    (quoting)
                            By Bradford Leland, the "Enquirer's"
                            Special Correspondent at the Front.
                            I'm almost tempted -

                                            LELAND
                            But there is no Front, Charlie.
                            There's a very doubtful civil war.
                            Besides, I don't want the job.

                                            KANE
                            All right, Brad, all right - you
                            don't have to be a war correspondent
                            unless you want to - I'd want to.
                                    (looking up)
                            Hello, Georgie.

Georgie, a very handsome madam has walked into the picture, stands behind him.  She leans over and speaks quietly in his ear.

                                            GEORGIE
                            Is everything the way you want it,
                            dear?

                                            KANE
                                    (looking around)
                            If everybody's having fun, that's
                            the way I want it.

                                            GEORGIE
                            I've got some other little girls
                            coming over -

                                            LELAND
                                    (interrupting)
                            Charles, I tell you there is no war!
                            There's a condition that should be
                            remedied - but between that and a -

                                            KANE
                                    (seriously)
                            How would the "Enquirer" look with
                            no news about this non-existent war
                            - with Benton, Pulitzer and Heart
                            devoting twenty columns a day to it?

                                            LELAND
                            They do it only because you do!

                                            KANE
                                    (grins)
                            And I do it because they do it, and
                            they do it - it's a vicious circle,
                            isn't it?
                                    (rises)
                            I'm going over to Georgie's, Brad -
                            you know, Georgie, don't you?

Leland nods.

                                            GEORGIE
                                    (over Kane's next lines)
                            Glad to meet you, Brad.

Leland shudders.

                                            KANE
                            I told you about Brad, Georgie.
                            He needs to relax.

Brad doesn't answer.

                                            KANE
                            Some ships with wonderful wines
                            have managed to slip through the
                            enemy fleet that's blockading New
                            York harbor -
                                    (grins)
                            Georgie knows a young lady whom I'm
                            sure you'd adore - wouldn't he,
                            Georgie?  Why only the other evening
                            I said to myself, if Brad were only
                            here to adore this young lady - this -
                                    (snaps his fingers)
                            What's her name again?

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. GEORGIE'S PLACE - NIGHT - 1895

Georgie is introducing a young lady to Branford Leland.  On sound track we hear piano music.

                                            GEORGIE
                                    (right on cue from
                                     preceding scene)
                            Ethel - this gentlemen has been
                            very anxious to meet you -  This
                            is Ethel.

                                            ETHEL
                            Hello, Mr. Leland.

Camera pans to include Kane, seated at piano, with girls gathered around him.

                                            ONE OF THE GIRLS
                            Charlie!  Play the song about you.

                                            ANOTHER GIRL
                            Is there a song about Charlie?

Kane has broken into "Oh, Mr. Kane!" and Charlie and the girls start to sing.  Ethel leads the unhappy Leland over to the group.  Kane, seeing Leland and taking his eye, motions to the professor who has been standing next to him to take over.  The professor does so.  The singing continues.  Kane rises and crosses to Leland.

                                            KANE
                            Say, Brad.
                                    (draws him slightly aside)
                            I've got an idea.

                                            LELAND
                            Yes?

                                            KANE
                            I mean I've got a job for you.

                                            LELAND
                            Good.

                                            KANE
                            You don't want to be a war
                            correspondent - how about being a
                            dramatic critic?

                                            LELAND
                                    (sincerely, but not
                                     gushing; seriously)
                            I'd like that.

Kane starts quietly to dance in time to the music.  Leland smiles at him.

                                            KANE
                            You start tomorrow night.  Richard
                            Carl in "The Spring Chicken."
                                    (or supply show)
                            I'll get us some girls.  You get
                            tickets.  A drama critic gets them
                            free, you know.
                                    (grins)
                            Rector's at seven?

                                            LELAND
                            Charlie -

                                            KANE
                            Yes?

                                            LELAND
                                    (still smiling)
                            It doesn't make any difference about
                            me, but one of these days you're
                            going to find out that all this
                            charm of yours won't be enough -

                                            KANE
                                    (has stopped dancing)
                            You're wrong.  It does make a
                            difference to you -  Rector's,
                            Brad?
                                    (starts to dance again)
                            Come to think of it, I don't blame
                            you for not wanting to be a war
                            correspondent.  You won't miss
                            anything.  It isn't much of a war.
                            Besides, they tell me there isn't
                            a decent restaurant on the whole
                            island.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. RECTOR'S - NIGHT - 1898

Leland, Kane, two young ladies at Rector's.  Popular music is heard over the soundtrack.  Everybody is laughing very, very hard at something Kane has said.  The girls are hysterical.  Kane can hardly breathe.  As Leland's laughter becomes more and more hearty, it only increases the laughter of the others.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. CUNARD LOCKS - GANGPLANK AND DECK OF BOAT - NIGHT - 1900

As told by Bernstein.  Kane is calling down to Leland and Bernstein (as before).

                                            KANE
                            You don't expect me to keep any
                            of those promises, do you?

A band on deck strikes up "Auld Lang Syne" and further ship-to-shore conversation is rendered unfeasible.

Bernstein and Leland on deck.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (turns to Leland)
                            Do you, Mr. Leland?

                                            LELAND
                                    (smiling)
                            Certainly not.

Slight pause.  They continue on their way.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Mr. Leland, why didn't you go to
                            Europe with him?  He wanted you
                            to.  He said to me just yesterday -

                                            LELAND
                            I wanted him to have fun - and with
                            me along -

This stops Bernstein.  Bernstein looks at him.

                                            LELAND
                            Mr. Bernstein, I wish you'd let me
                            ask you a few questions, and answer
                            me truthfully.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Don't I always?  Most of the time?

                                            LELAND
                            Mr. Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt?
                            Am I a horse-faced hypocrite?  Am I
                            a New England school-marm?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Yes.

Leland is surprised.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            If you thought I'd answer different
                            from what Mr. Kane tells you - well,
                            I wouldn't.

                                            LELAND
                                    (good naturedly)
                            You're in a conspiracy against me,
                            you two.  You always have been.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Against me there should be such a
                            conspiracy some time!

He pauses.  "Auld Lang Syne" can still be heard from the deck of the department steamer.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (with a hopeful look in
                                     his eyes)
                            Well, he'll be coming back in September.
                            The Majestic.  I got the reservations.
                            It gets in on the ninth.

                                            LELAND
                            September the ninth?

Leland puts his hand in his pocket, pulls out a pencil and small engagement book, opens the book and starts to write.

Leland's pencil writing on a page in the engagement book open to September 9: "Rector's - 8:30 p.m."

DISSOLVE:

Front page "Enquirer."  Large picture of the young couple - Kane and Emily - occupying four columns - very happy.

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY - 1940

Leland and Thompson.  Leland is speaking as we dissolve.

                                            LELAND
                            I used to go to dancing school with
                            her.

Thompson had handed Leland a paper.

                                            LELAND
                            What's this?

                                            THOMPSON
                            It's a letter from her lawyers.

                                            LELAND
                                    (reading aloud from
                                     the letter)
                            David, Grobleski & Davis -  My
                            dear Rawlston -
                                    (looks up)

                                            THOMPSON
                            Rawlston is my boss.

                                            LELAND
                            Oh, yes.  I know about Mr. Rawlston.

                                            THOMPSON
                            He knows the first Mrs. Kane socially
                            -  That's the answer we got.

                                            LELAND
                                    (reading)
                            I am in receipt of your favor of
                            yesterday.  I beg you to do me the
                            courtesy of accepting my assurance
                            that Mrs. Whitehall cannot be induced
                            to contribute any more information
                            on the career of Charles Foster Kane.
                            She has authorized me to state on
                            previous occasions that she regards
                            their brief marriage as a distateful
                            episode in her life that she prefers
                            to forget.  With assurances of the
                            highest esteem -

Leland hands the paper back to Thompson.

                                            LELAND
                            Brief marriage!  Ten years!
                                    (sighs)

                                            THOMPSON
                            Was he in love?

                                            LELAND
                            He married for love -
                                    (a little laugh)
                            That's why he did everything.  That's
                            why he went into politics.  It seems
                            we weren't enough.  He wanted all the
                            voters to love him, too.  All he
                            really wanted out of life was love.
                            That's Charlie's story - it's the
                            story of how he lost it.  You see, he
                            just didn't have any to give.  He
                            loved Charlie Kane, of course, very
                            dearly - and his mother, I guess he
                            always loved her.  As for Emily -
                            well, all I can tell you is Emily's
                            story as she told it to me, which
                            probably isn't fair - there's supposed
                            to be two sides to every story - and
                            I guess there are.  I guess there's
                            more than two sides -

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

Newspaper - Kane's marriage to Emily with still of group on White House lawn, same setup as early newsreel in News Digest.

DISSOLVE:

Screaming headline:

OIL SCANDAL!

DISSOLVE:

Headline reading:

KANE TO SEE PRESIDENT

DISSOLVE:

Big headline on "Enquirer" front page which reads:

KANE TO SEE PRESIDENT

Under this, one of those big box signed editorials, typical of Kane, illustrated, on subject of the power of the president, expressed in about nine different cases of type, and illustrated by a cartoon of the White House, on which camera tightens, as we -

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - THE PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIVE OFFICE - DAY - 1900

This scene is shot so as never to show the President - or at least never his face.  There is present the President's Secretary, sitting on one side of the desk, intently taking notes.  Kane is on his feet, in front of the desk, tense and glaring.

                                            THE PRESIDENT
                            It is the unanimous opinion of my
                            Cabinent - in which I concur - that
                            the proposed leases are in the best
                            interests of the Governement and the
                            people.
                                    (pauses)
                            You are not, I hope, suggesting that
                            these interests are not indentical?

                                            KANE
                            I'm not suggesting anything, Mr.
                            President!  I've come here to tell
                            you that, unless some action is taken
                            promptly - and you are the only one
                            who can take it - the oil that is the
                            property of the people of this country
                            will be turned over for a song to a
                            gang of high-pressure crooks!

                                            THE PRESIDENT
                                    (calmly)
                            I must refuse to allow you to continue
                            in this vein, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                                    (screaming)
                            It's the only vein I know.  I tell
                            the facts the way I see them.  And
                            any man that knows that facts -

                                            THE PRESIDENT
                            I know the facts, Mr. Kane.  And I
                            happen to have the incredible insolence
                            to differ with you as to what they
                            mean.
                                    (pause)
                            You're a man of great talents, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Thanks.

                                            THE PRESIDENT
                            I understand that you have political
                            ambitions.  Unfortunately, you seem
                            incapable of allowing any other opinion
                            but your own -

                                            KANE
                                    (building to a frenzy)
                            I'm much obliged, Mr. President, for
                            your concern about me.  However, I
                            happen to be concerned at this moment
                            with the matter of extensive oil
                            lands belonging to the people of the
                            United States, and I say that if this
                            lease goes through, the property of
                            the people of the United States goes
                            into the hands of -

                                            THE PRESIDENT
                                    (interrupting)
                            You've made your point perfectly clear,
                            Mr. Kane.  Good day.

The Secretary rises.  Kane, with every bit of will power remotely at his disposal to control what might become an hysterical outburst, manages to bow.

                                            KANE
                            Mr. President.

He starts out of the office.

DISSOLVE:

INT. COMPOSING ROOM - ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1902

Kane, Reilly, Leland and a composing room Foreman, in working clothes, bending over a table with several forms of type.  They are looking, at this moment, at a made-up headline - but Kane's back is in the way ... so we can't read it.

                                            FOREMAN
                            How about it, Mr. Kane?

Reilly glances at his wrist watch and makes a face.  Kane smiles as he notices this.

                                            KANE
                            All right.  Let her slide!

He turns away, and we can now read the headline.

Insert of the headline, which reads:

"OIL THEFT BECOMES LAW AS
PRESIDENT WITHOLDS VETO"

DISSOLVE:

Here follows a quick montage (presently to be worked out) of no more than four or five images in which the President, by means of cartoons, editorials, headlines (all faithfully reproduced from period yellow journalism) is violently attacked.  The montage ends on the word TREASON.  The music cuts.

A hand reaches in a side pocket which contains a newspaper - recognizably the "Enquirer."  The hand removes a gun.  The gun is shot.  Many arms seize the hand which is pulled up - gun still firing.  As the arm is raised in the air, we see that the other arms holding the arm and struggling with it are uniformed, and we see the White House beyond.

DISSOLVE:

News ticker which is spelling out the words:

"ASSASSINATED 7:45 P.M."

NOTE:  Under the following - a down shot, below the "Enquirer," shows a crowd forming, looking angrily up toward the camera.  Crowd noises on the soundtrack under music.

A hand snatches the ticker tape away and as the image of the crowd dissolves out, we pull back to show:

INT. OF KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT - 1902

The ticker tape is in Reilly's hand.  Reilly has a phone to his ear.

                                            REILLY
                            Looks bad for us, Mr. Kane.  How
                            shall we handle it?

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. GEORGIE'S PLACE - 1902

Kane in shirtsleeves at phone.

                                            KANE
                            It's a news story!  Get it on
                            the street!

DISSOLVE:

Headline under "Enquirer" masthead which reads:

"PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED"

A newsboy is crying the headline at the same time.  We pull back to show him and -

DISSOLVE:

INT. THEATRE - NIGHT

The camera is in tight on a box which contains Emily and distinguished elderly ladies and gentlemen, obviously family and friends.  On the soundtrack, very limpid opera music.  Another elderly gent, in white tie but still wearing an overcoat, comes into the box and whispers to Emily.  He has a copy of the "Enquirer" in his hand.  Emily rises.  He shows the paper to her.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT - 1902

An angry crowd seen from the window of Kane's office.  They make a deep threatening sound which is audible during the following scene.  Across the heads of the crowd are two great squares of light from the windows above them.  One of these disappears as the blind is pulled.  As the dissolve completes itself, the second square of light commences to reduce in size, and then the entire street is cut off by a blind which Leland pulls down, covering the entire frame.

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1902

The staff standing around, worried to death, in their shirtsleeves.

                                            KANE
                                    (to Reilly)
                            Take dictation -  Front page
                            editorial -  "This afternoon a
                            great man was assassinated.  He
                            was the President of the United
                            States -"

                                            LELAND
                            Charlie -

                                            KANE
                            Yes?

                                            LELAND
                            Do you think you're the one who
                            should call him a great man?

                                            KANE
                            Why not?

                                            LELAND
                            Why not?  Well - nobody's a great
                            man in your estimation until he's
                            dead.

                                            REILLY
                                    (quickly)
                            Maybe we'd better wait for more
                            word on the President's condition.

                                            KANE
                                    (still looking at Leland)
                            What do you mean by that?

                                            LELAND
                                    (quietly)
                            Competition.

                                            REILLY
                            He may recover -

                                            KANE
                                    (still holding on Leland)
                            What do you mean by that?

                                            LELAND
                                    (steadily)
                            Yesterday morning you called the
                            President a traitor.  What do you
                            think that crowd is doing down
                            there?  They think you murdered him.

                                            KANE
                            Because the crackpot who did it
                            had a copy of the "Enquirer" in his
                            pocket?

                                            LELAND
                            - and that copy of the "Enquirer"
                            said the President should be killed.

                                            KANE
                            I said treason was a capital offense
                            punishable by death -

                                            LELAND
                            You've said a lot of things about
                            the President in the last few months.

                                            KANE
                            They're true!  Everything I said!
                            Witholding that veto was treason!

                                            LELAND
                                    (interrupting)
                            Charlie!

                                            KANE
                                    (riding over him)
                            Oil belonging to the people of the
                            United States was leased out for a
                            song to a gang of high-pressure
                            crooks -  Nobody can blame me because -

                                            LELAND
                            Look out that window.

Kane stops - looks at him.

                                            LELAND
                            There are the people of the United
                            States, and they are blaming you -
                            Oh, I know it doesn't make any sense,
                            but at least you can learn a lesson
                            from it.

                                            KANE
                                    (snarling)
                            What lesson?  Not to expose fraud
                            when I see it?  Not to fight for the
                            right of the people to own their own
                            property?
                                    (he turns to Reilly)
                            Run it the way I said, Reilly - "This
                            afternoon a great man was assassinated -"

                                            LELAND
                            Charlie!  Now you're not making sense.

                                            KANE
                                    (sharply)
                            I don't have to.  I run a newspaper
                            with half a million readers and
                            they're getting a martyred president
                            this morning with their breakfast.
                            I can't help that.  Besides, they all
                            know I'm married to his niece.  I've
                            got to think of her.

                                            LELAND
                            What?

                                            KANE
                            I've got to think of Emily -

                                            LELAND
                                    (after a silence)
                            I'd like to talk to you about that.

                                            KANE
                            Go ahead.

Leland looks back at Kane, is conscious of the boys standing around.

                                            LELAND
                            Finish your editorial.

Leland walks out in to the City Room.  More staff members in shirt sleeves in a state of panic.  Leland goes to his desk, takes out a bottle, pours himself a very stiff drink.  A door opens.  A Policeman enters with Bernstein.  Bernstein is badly battered.  The boys crowd around.

                                            LELAND
                                    (worried)
                            What's happened?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (smiling)
                            I'm all right, Mr. Leland.  Only
                            there was some fellows out front
                            that thought they ought to take
                            things up with me.  I learned 'em!
                            Didn't I, officer?

                                            THE COP
                                    (grinning)
                            You sure did -  Say, the Commissioner
                            said I was to stand by and protect
                            Mr. Kane until further orders, no
                            matter how he felt about it.  Where
                            is he?

                                            LELAND
                                    (finishing his drink)
                            In there.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            If you hadn't come along and
                            protected me when you did, I'd have
                            killed them fellows.

                                            LELAND
                                    (pouring himself another
                                     drink)
                            Go and get yourself washed up, Mr.
                            Bernstein.
                                    (he looks his face over
                                     thoroughly)
                            There doesn't seem to be an serious
                            injury.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Not to me.  But you will let that
                            cop go home with Mr. Kane, won't you?

                                            LELAND
                            Yes, Mr. Bernstein.

Bernstein leaves the picture with sympathetic attendance.  Leland finishes his second drink.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT - 1902

The bottle is finished.  The door in the Sanctrum opens.  Reilly and the others leave.

                                            REILLY
                                    (as they go)
                            Goodnight, Mr. Kane.

Kane stands in the door, waiting for Leland.  Leland gets up and moves toward the office - goes in, sits down across from Kane at the desk.  An uncomfortable pause.  Then Kane smiles ingratiatingly.  Leland tries to cope with this.

                                            LELAND
                            First of all -
                                    (he can't go on)

                                            KANE
                                    (not cruelly -
                                     genuinely kind)
                            What's wrong, Brad?

                                            LELAND
                            I'm drunk.

                                            KANE
                            I'll get you some coffee.

He rises and goes to the door.

                                            LELAND
                            First of all, I will not write a
                            good review of a play because
                            somebody paid a thousand dollars
                            for an advertisement in the
                            "Enquirer."

                                            KANE
                                    (gently - opening the
                                     door)
                            That's just a little promotion scheme.
                            Nobody expects you -
                                    (calling)
                            Mike, will you try and get Mr. Leland
                            some coffee?

                                            MIKE'S VOICE
                            Sure thing, Mr. Kane.

Kane turns back to Leland.  Leland doesn't look up at him.

                                            LELAND
                            Charlie, it's just no go.  We
                            can't agree anymore.  I wish you'd
                            let me go to Chicago.

                                            KANE
                            Why, Brad?

                                            LELAND
                            I want to be transferred to the new
                            paper.  You've been saying yourself
                            you wish you had somebody to -
                                    (he is heartsick, inarticulate)
                            That's not what I wanted to talk
                            about.

Kane goes around behind the desk and sits down.

                                            KANE
                            I'll tell you what I'll do, Brad -
                            I'll get drunk, too - maybe that'll
                            help.

                                            LELAND
                            No, that won't help.  Besides, you
                            never get drunk.  I wanted to talk
                            about you and Emily.

Kane looks at Leland sharply before he speaks.

                                            KANE
                                    (quietly)
                            All right.

                                            LELAND
                                    (without looking at him)
                            She's going to leave you -

                                            KANE
                            I don't think so, Brad.  We've
                            just had word that the President
                            is out of danger.
                                    (ruefully)
                            It seems I didn't kill him after all.

                                            LELAND
                                    (takes his eye)
                            She was going to leave you anyway -

Kane takes this in.

                                            LELAND
                            Emily's going south next week with
                            the child.  As far as anybody's to
                            know, it's a holiday.  When they get
                            back -

                                            KANE
                                    (sharply)
                            Brad, you are drunk.

                                            LELAND
                            Sure I am.  She wants full custody
                            of the child no matter what happens.
                            If you won't agree to that, she'll
                            apply for a divorce regardless of
                            the President's wishes.  I can't tell
                            her she's wrong, because she isn't
                            wrong -

                                            KANE
                            Why is she leaving me?

                                            LELAND
                                    (it's very hard for him
                                     to say all this)
                            She hasn't any friends left sine
                            you started this oil business, and
                            she never sees you.

                                            KANE
                            Do you think the "Enquirer" shouldn't
                            have campaigned against the oil leases?

                                            LELAND
                                    (hesitating)
                            You might have made the whole thing
                            less personal!

No answer from Kane.

                                            LELAND
                            It isn't just that the President
                            was her uncle - everyone she knows,
                            all the people she's been brought
                            up with, everything she's ever been
                            taught to believe is important -

Still no answer from Kane.

                                            LELAND
                            There's no reason why this - this
                            savage personal note -

                                            KANE
                            The personal note is all there is
                            to it.  It's all there ever is to
                            it.  It's all there every is to
                            anything!  Stupidity in our government,
                            complacency and self-satisfaction
                            and unwillingness to believe that
                            anything done by a certain class of
                            people can be wrong - you can't
                            fight those things impersonally.
                            They're not impersonal crimes against
                            people.  They're being done by actual
                            persons - with actual names and
                            positions and - the right of the
                            American people to own their own
                            country is not an academic issue, Brad,
                            that you debate - and then the judges
                            retire to return a verdict and the
                            winners give a dinner for the losers.

                                            LELAND
                            You almost convince me.
                                    (rising)
                            I'm just drunk enough to tell you the
                            truth.  I have to be a little drunk
                            for that because I'm a coward.  You
                            know that.  That's why you keep me
                            around.
                                    (smiles)
                            You only associate with your inferiors,
                            Charlie.  I guess that's why you ran
                            away from Emily.  Because you can't
                            stand the company of your equals.  You
                            don't like to admit they exist - the
                            other big people in your world are dead.
                            I told you that.

Kane looks at Leland, but Leland can't be stopped now.  He speaks very quietly - no poison in his voice - no personal indignation - as though he were explaining the nature of a disease.

                                            LELAND
                            You talk about the people of the
                            United States as though they
                            belonged to you.  When you find
                            out they don't think they are,
                            you'll lose interest.  You talk about
                            giving them their rights as though
                            you could make a present of liberty.
                            Remember the working man?  You used
                            to defend him quite a good deal.
                            Well, he's turning into something
                            called organized labor and you don't
                            like that at all.  And listen, when
                            your precious underprivileged really
                            get together - that's going to add
                            up to something bigger than - than
                            your privilege and then I don't know
                            what you'll do - sail away to a desert
                            island, probably, and lord it over the
                            monkeys.

                                            KANE
                            Are you finished?

                                            LELAND
                            Yes.
                                    (looking down)
                            Now, will you let me go to Chicago?

                                            KANE
                                    (with a little smile)
                            You're not going to like it in
                            Chicago.  They wind comes howling
                            in from the lake.  And there's
                            practically no opera season at all -
                            and the Lord only knows whether
                            they've ever heard of Lobster Newburg -

                                            LELAND
                            That's all right.
                                    (he won't be charmed
                                     out of his duty)
                            What are you going to do about Emily?

                                            KANE
                                    (his face hardning a
                                     little)
                            Nothing - if she dosen't love me -

Leland has risen.  He speaks as he turns away, starting towards the door.

                                            LELAND
                            You want love on your own terms,
                            don't you, Charlie -
                                    (he stops - his back
                                     turned to Kane)
                            Love according to your own rules.
                            And if anything goes wrong and
                            you're hurt - then the game stops,
                            and you've got to be soothed and
                            nursed, no matter what else is
                            happening - and no matter who else
                            is hurt!

                                            KANE
                            It's simpler than that, Brad.  A
                            society girl can't stand the gaff,
                            that's all.  Other things are
                            important to her - social position,
                            what they're saying on the front
                            porches at Southampton, is it going
                            to be embarrassing to meet somebody
                            or the other at dinner -

Leland has turned, taking his eye again.  Now Kane stops and smiles.

                                            KANE
                            She can leave me.  As a matter of
                            fact, I've already left her.  Don't
                            worry, Brad - I'll live.

                                            LELAND
                            I know you will.

                                            KANE
                                    (with all his charm)
                            Hey, Brad!  I've been analyzed an
                            awful lot tonight - let's have
                            another brandy.

Leland shakes his head.  Kane lifts his glass.

                                            KANE
                            To love on my terms.  Those are
                            the only terms anybody knows ...
                            his own.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT - 1902

Kane, Leland, and a couple of policemen make their way out of the front toward a hansom cab.

                                            A VOICE FROM
                                            THE CROWD
                            You moiderer!

A rock is thrown.  It hits Leland on the face.  A little blood flows.  Kane doesn't see it at first.  Then when he's in the hansom cab, he turns and notices it.

                                            KANE
                            Are you hurt?

Leland has a handkerchief to his face.

                                            LELAND
                            No.  I wish you'd go home to Emily.
                            She'll be pretty upset by all this -
                            She still loves you -

The crowd, pushed by the cops, retreats in the background, but still hard by.

                                            KANE
                            You still want to be transferred
                            to the other paper?

                                            LELAND
                            Yes.

                                            KANE
                                    (leaning out of the
                                     hansom cab)
                            Well, you've been getting a pretty
                            low salary here in New York.  It
                            seems to me that the new dramatic
                            critic of our Chicago paper should
                            get what he's worth.
                                    (almost as a question)

                                            LELAND
                                    (with handkerchief still
                                     attached to his face)
                            I couldn't possibly live on as
                            little as that, Charlie.  We'll let
                            the salary stay where it is.

The hansom cab starts up.  We hold on Leland's face as we

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - KANE'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING - 1902

Emily is in bed, a damp cloth over her temples.  Kane is standing at the foot of the bed.  The baby's bed is in a corner of the room.  The baby's nurse is standing near the crib, a nurse for Emily is near her.  Kane is looking fixedly on Emily, who is staring tiredly at the ceiling.

                                            KANE
                                    (to the nurse)
                            Excuse us a moment, please.

The nurse looks at Emily.

                                            KANE
                                    (peremptorily)
                            I said, excuse us a moment.

The nurse, unwilling, leaves.

                                            KANE
                            I've been talking to Leland.  Emily -
                            You can't leave me now - not now -

Silence.

                                            KANE
                            It isn't what it would do to my
                            changes in politics, Emily -  That
                            isn't it -  They were talking of
                            running me for governor, but now,
                            of course, we'll have to wait -
                            It isn't that, Emily -  It's just -
                            the president is your uncle and
                            they're saying I killed him.

Still silence.

                                            KANE
                            That story about the murderer having
                            a copy of the "Enquirer" in his
                            pocket - the "Chronicle" made that up
                            out of whole cloth -  Emily, please -
                            He's going to be all right, you know,
                            he's going to recover -
                                    (bitterly)
                            If it will make you any happier, we
                            had nine pages of advertising
                            cancelled in the first mail this
                            morning.  Bernstein is afraid to open
                            any more letters.  He -

He stops.  He sees that he's getting no place with Emily.

                                            KANE
                                    (exasperated)
                            What do you expect me to do?  What
                            in the world -

                                            EMILY
                                    (weakly)
                            Charles.

He waits for her to continue.

                                            EMILY
                            Do you really think -
                                    (she can't continue)
                            Those threatening letters, can
                            they really -

She sits up and looks at the crib.  She almost continues to look at the crib, with almost unseeing eyes.

                                            KANE
                                    (uncomfortably)
                            They won't do anything to Junior,
                            darling.
                                    (contemptuously)
                            Anonymous letter writers -   I've
                            got guards in front of the house,
                            and I'm going to arrange -

                                            EMILY
                                    (turning her face
                                     toward him)
                            Please don't talk any more, Charles.

Kane is about to say something, but bites his lips instead.  Emily keeps staring at him.

                                            EMILY
                            Have they heard from father yet?
                            Has he seen -

                                            KANE
                            I've tried to tell you, Emily.
                            The President's going to be all
                            right.  He had a comfortable night.
                            There's no danger of any kind.

Emily nods several times.  There is an uncomforable silence.  Suddenly there is a cry from the crib.  Emily leaps from the bed and rushes to him.  She bends over the crib.

                                            EMILY
                                    (murmuring)
                            Here I am, darling...  Darling!...
                            Darling, it's all right...  Mother's
                            here.

                                            KANE
                            Emily - you musn't leave me now -
                            you can't do that to me.

                                            EMILY
                            They won't hurt you, darling.
                            Mother's with you!  Mother's looking
                            after you!

Kane, unwanted, ignored, looks on.  Tightening his lips, he walks out.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT

By the desk light, Kane is seen working with his usual intensity,  Reilly standing beside him at the desk.

                                            KANE
                            We'll withdraw support completely.
                            Anything else?

                                            REILLY
                            Mr. Leland sent back that check.

                                            KANE
                            What check?

                                            REILLY
                            You made it out to him last week
                            after he left for Chicago.

                                            KANE
                            Oh, yes, the bonus.

                                            REILLY
                            It was for twenty-five thousand
                            dollars.

Kane is perplexed and worried, but we can see in a moment his mind will be on something else.

                                            REILLY
                            He sent it back torn up - all
                            torn up into little bits, and
                            he enclosed something else -  I
                            can't make it out.

Kane doesn't answer.  Reilly goes on.  He has brought out a piece of paper and is reading it.

                                            REILLY
                            It says here, "A Declaration of
                            Principles" -
                                    (he still reads)
                            "I will provide the people of this
                            city with a daily paper that will
                            tell all the news honestly" -

Kane has looked up sharply.  Reilly, sensing his look, stops reading and meets his eye.  Slowly, Kane reaches out his hand.  Reilly hands him the piece of paper.  Without reading it, Kane tears it up, throws it into the wastebasket at his side.

DISSOLVE:

INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT - 1910

The evening of the final great rally.  These shots remind us of and are identical with and supplementary to the "News Digest" scenes earlier.  The vast auditorium with a huge picture of Kane, cheering crowds, etc.  Emily and Junior are to be seen in the front of a box.  Emily is tired and wears a forced smile on her face.  Junior, now aged nine and a half, is eager, bright-eyed and excited.  Kane is just finishing his speech.

                                            KANE
                            It is no secret that I entered
                            upon this campaign with no thought
                            that I could be elected Governor of
                            this state!  It is now no secret that
                            every straw vote, every independent
                            pole, shows that I will be elected.
                            And I repeat to you - my first official
                            act as Governor will be to appoint a
                            special District Attorney to arrange
                            for the indictment, prosecution and
                            conviction of Boss Edward G. Rogers!

Terrific screaming and cheering from the audience.

DISSOLVE OUT:

INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT - 1910

The Speaker's Platform.  Numerous officials and civic leaders are crowding around Kane.  Cameramen take flash photographs with old-fashioined flash powder.

                                            FIRST CIVIC LEADER
                            Great speech, Mr. Kane.

                                            SECOND LEADER
                                    (pompous)
                            One of the most notable public
                            utterances ever made by a candidate
                            in this state -

                                            KANE
                            Thank you, gentlemen.  Thank you.

He looks up and notices that the box in which Emily and the boy were sitting is now empty.  He starts toward the rear of the platform, through the press of people, Reilly approaches him.

                                            REILLY
                            A wonderful speech, Mr. Kane.

Kane pats him on the shoulder as he walks along.

                                            REILLY
                            I just got word from Buffalo, Mr.
                            Kane.  They're going to throw you
                            the organization vote - and take a
                            chance maybe you'll give them a
                            break -

This is said almost inquiringly, as if he were hoping that Kane would give him some assurance that McDonald is not making a mistake.  There is no answer from Kane.

                                            REILLY
                            On an independent ticket there's
                            never been anything like it!  If
                            the election were held today, you'd
                            be elected by a hundred thousand
                            votes - and every day between now
                            and November 7th is just going to
                            add to your majority.

Kane is very pleased.  He continues with Reilly slowly through the crowd - a band playing off.  Bernstein joins him.

                                            KANE
                            It does seem too good to be true,
                            doesn't it, Mr. Bernstein?

                                            REILLY
                            Rogers isn't even pretending.  He
                            isn't just scared anymore.  He's
                            sick.  Frank Norris told me last
                            night he hasn't known Rogers to be
                            that worried in twenty-five years.

                                            KANE
                            I think it's beginning to dawn on
                            Mr. Rogers that I mean what I say.
                            With Mr. Rogers out of the way, Reilly,
                            I think we may really begin to hope
                            for a good government in this state.
                                    (stopping)
                            Well, Mr. Bernstein?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (clearly not meaning it)
                            It's wonderful, Mr. Kane.  Wonderful.
                            Wonderful.

                                            KANE
                            You don't really think so?

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            I do.  I do.  I mean, since you're
                            running for Governor - and you want
                            to be elected -  I think it's wonderful
                            you're going to be elected.  Only -
                                    (interrupts himself)
                            -  Can I say something?

                                            KANE
                            Please, Mr. Bernstein.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Well, the way I look at it -
                                    (comes out with it)
                            -  You want to know what I really
                            think would be wonderful?

Kane indicates he is to proceed.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Well, you're running for Governor
                            and going to be elected - my idea
                            is how wonderful it would be if you
                            don't run at all and don't get
                            elected.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. ONE OF THE EXITS - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT - 1910

Emily and Junior are standing, waiting for Kane.

                                            JUNIOR
                            Is Pop Governor yet, Mom?

Just then, Kane appears, with Reilly and several other men.  Kane rushes toward Emily and Junior, as the men politely greet Emily.

                                            KANE
                            Hello, Butch!  Did you like your
                            old man's speech?

                                            JUNIOR
                            Hello, Pop!  I was in a box.  I
                            could hear every word.

                                            KANE
                            I saw you!
                                    (he has his arm around
                                     Junior's shoulder)
                            Good night, gentlemen.

There are good nights.  Kane's car is at the curb and he starts to walk toward it with Junior and Emily.

                                            EMILY
                            I'm sending Junior home in the
                            car, Charles - with Oliver -

                                            KANE
                            But I'd arranged to go home with
                            you myself.

                                            EMILY
                            There's a call I want you to
                            make with me, Charles.

                                            KANE
                            It can wait.

                                            EMILY
                            No, it can't.
                                    (she bends down and
                                     kisses Junior)
                            Good night, darling.

                                            JUNIOR
                            Good night, Mom.

The driver is holding the rear door open as Emily guides Junior in.

                                            KANE
                                    (as car starts to
                                     drive off)
                            What's this all about, Emily?  I've
                            had a very tiring day and -

                                            EMILY
                            It may not be about anything at all.

A cab has pulled up.

                                            THE DRIVER
                            Cab?

Emily nods to him.

                                            EMILY
                            I intend to find out.

                                            KANE
                            I insist on being told exactly what
                            you have in mind.

                                            EMILY
                            I'm going to -
                                    (she looks at a slip
                                     of paper in her hand)
                            - 185 West 74th Street.

Kane's reaction indicates that the address definitely means something to him.

                                            EMILY
                            If you wish, you can come with me...

Kane nods.

                                            KANE
                            I'll go with you.

He opens the door and she enters the cab.  He follows her.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CAB - NIGHT - 1910

Kane and Emily.  He looks at her, in search of some kind of enlightenment.  Her face is set and impassive.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. AND INT. APARTMENT HOUSE HALLWAY - NIGHT - 1910

Kane and Emily, in front of an apartment door.  Emily is pressing the bell.

                                            KANE
                            I had no idea you had this flair
                            for melodrama, Emiliy.

Emily does not answer.  The door is opened by a maid, who recognizes Kane.

                                            THE MAID
                            Come in, Mr. Kane, come in.

They enter, Emily first.

INT. SUSAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - 1910

There is first a tiny reception room, through which an open door shows the living room.  Kane and Emily enter from the hallway and cross to the living room.  As they enter, Susan rises from a chair.  The other person  in the room - a big, heavyset man, a little past middle age - stays where he is, leaning back in his chair, regarding Kane intently.

                                            SUSAN
                            It wasn't my fault, Charlie.  He
                            made me send your wife a note.
                            He said I'd - oh, he's been saying
                            the most terrible things, I didn't
                            know what to do...  I -
                                    (she catches sight of Emily)

                                            ROGERS
                            Good evening, Mr. Kane.
                                    (he rises)
                            I don't suppose anybody would
                            introduce us.  Mrs. Kane, I am
                            Edward Rogers.

                                            EMILY
                            How do you do?
                                    (pauses)
                            I came here - and I made Mr. Kane
                            come with me...
                                    (she consults the note
                                     in her hand without
                                     reading it again)
                            because I recieved this note -

                                            ROGERS
                            I made Miss - Miss Alexander send
                            you the note.  She was a little
                            unwilling at first -
                                    (he smiles grimly)
                            but she did it.

                                            SUSAN
                            I can't tell you the things he
                            said, Charlie.  You haven't got
                            any idea -

                                            KANE
                                    (turning on Rogers)
                            Rogers, I don't think I will
                            postpone doing something about
                            you until I'm elected.
                                    (he starts toward him)
                            To start with, I'll break your neck.

                                            ROGERS
                                    (not giving way an inch)
                            Maybe you can do it and maybe you
                            can't, Mr. Kane.

                                            EMILY
                            Charles!
                                    (he stops to look at her)
                            Your - your breaking this man's
                            neck -
                                    (she is clearly disgusted)
                            would scarcely explain this note -
                                    (glancing at the note)
                            Serious consequences for Mr. Kane -
                                    (slowly)
                            for myself, and for my son.  What
                            does this note mean, Miss -

                                            SUSAN
                                    (stiffly)
                            I'm Susan Alexander.
                                    (pauses)
                            I know what you think, Mrs. Kane,
                            but -

                                            EMILY
                                    (ignoring this)
                            What does this note mean, Miss
                            Alexander?

                                            ROGERS
                            She doesn't know, Mrs. Kane.  She
                            just sent it - because I made her
                            see it wouldn't be smart for her
                            not to send it.

                                            KANE
                            In case you don't know, Emily,
                            this - this gentleman -
                                    (he puts a world of
                                     scorn into the word)
                            is -

                                            ROGERS
                            I'm not a gentleman, Mrs. Kane,
                            and your husband is just trying
                            to be funny calling me one.  I don't
                            even know what a gentleman is.
                                    (tensely, with all the
                                     hatred and venom in the
                                     world)
                            You see, my idea of a gentleman, Mrs.
                            Kane - well, if I owned a newspaper
                            and if I didn't like the way somebody
                            else was doing things - some politican,
                            say - I'd fight them with everything
                            I had.  Only I wouldn't show him in
                            a convict suit, with stripes - so his
                            children could see the picture in the
                            paper.  Or his mother.
                                    (he has to control himself
                                     from hurling himself at Kane)
                            It's pretty clear - I'm not a gentleman.

                                            EMILY
                            Oh!!

                                            KANE
                            You're a cheap, crooked grafter -
                            and your concern for your children
                            and your mother -

                                            ROGERS
                            Anything you say, Mr. Kane.  Only
                            we're talking now about what you
                            are.  That's what the note is about,
                            Mrs. Kane.  Now I'm going to lay
                            all my cards on the table.  I'm
                            fighting for my life.  Not just my
                            political life.  My life.  If your
                            husband is elected governor -

                                            KANE
                            I'm going to be elected governor.
                            And the first thing I'm going to
                            do -

                                            EMILY
                            Let him finish, Charles.

                                            ROGERS
                            I'm protecting myself every way I
                            know how, Mrs. Kane.  This last
                            week, I finally found out how I can
                            stop your husband from being elected.
                            If the people of this state learn what
                            I found out this week, he wouldn't have
                            a chance to - he couldn't be elected
                            Dog Catcher.  Well, what I'm interested
                            in is seeing that he's not elected.  I
                            don't care whether they know what I
                            know about him.  Let him keep right on
                            being the Great, Noble, Moral -
                                    (he stresses the world)
                            Champeen of the people.  Just as long
                            as -

                                            EMILY
                            I think I understand, Mr. Rogers, but
                            I wonder if -
                                    (she leaves her sentence
                                     unfinished)

                                            KANE
                            You can't blackmail me, Rogers, you
                            can't -

                                            SUSAN
                                    (excitedly)
                            Charlie, he said, unless you withdrew
                            your name -

                                            ROGERS
                            That's the chance I'm willing to
                            give you, Mr. Kane.  More of a
                            chance than you'd give me.  Unless
                            you make up your mind by tomorrow
                            that you're so sick that you've got
                            to go away for a year or two -  Monday
                            morning every paper in this State
                            will carry the story I'm going to give
                            them.

Kane starts to stare at him intently.

                                            EMILY
                            What story, Mr. Rogers?

                                            ROGERS
                            The story about him and Miss Alexander,
                            Mrs. Kane.

Emily looks at Kane.

                                            SUSAN
                            There is no story.  It's all lies.
                            Mr. Kane is just -

                                            ROGERS
                                    (to Susan)
                            Shut up!
                                    (to Kane)
                            I've had a dozen men doing nothing
                            but run this thing down - we've got
                            evidence enough to - well, the
                            evidence would stand up in any court
                            of law.  You want me to give you the
                            evidence, Mr. Kane?

                                            KANE
                            You do anything you want to do.
                            The people of this state can decide
                            which one of us to trust.  If you
                            want to know, they've already decided.
                            The election Tuesday'll be only -

                                            ROGERS
                            Mrs. Kane, I'm not asking you to
                            believe me.  I'd like to show you -

                                            EMILY
                            You don't have to show me anything,
                            Mr. Rogers.  I believe you.

                                            ROGERS
                            I'd rather Mr. Kane withdrew without
                            having to get the story published.
                            Not that I care about him.  But I'd
                            be better off that way -
                                    (he pauses)
                            - and so would you, Mrs. Kane.

                                            SUSAN
                            What about me?
                                    (to Kane)
                            He said my name'd be dragged through
                            the mud.  He said everywhere I'd go
                            from now on -

                                            EMILY
                            There seems to be only one decision
                            you can make, Charles.  I'd say that
                            it has been made for you.
                                    (pauses)
                            I suppose the details can be arranged
                            tomorrow, Mr. Rogers.  About the
                            statements by the doctors -

                                            KANE
                            Have you gone completely mad, Emily?

Emily looks at him.

                                            KANE
                            You don't think I'm going to let
                            this blackmailer intimidate me,
                            do you?

                                            EMILY
                            I don't see what else you can do,
                            Charles.  If he's right - and the
                            papers publish this story he has -

                                            KANE
                            Oh, they'll publish it all right.
                            But that's not going to stop me -

                                            EMILY
                            Charles, this - this story - doesn't
                            concern only you.  I'll be in it,
                            too, won't I?
                                    (quickly)
                            And Junior?

                                            KANE
                                    (squirming a bit)
                            I suppose so, but - I'm not afraid
                            of the story.  You can't tell me
                            that the voters of this state -

                                            EMILY
                            I'm not interested in the voters
                            of this state right now.  I am
                            interested in - well, Junior, for
                            one thing.

                                            SUSAN
                            Charlie!  If they publish this
                            story -

                                            EMILY
                            They won't.  Goodnight, Mr. Rogers.
                                    (she starts out)
                            There's nothing more to be said,
                            Charles.

                                            KANE
                            Oh yes, there is.

                                            EMILY
                            I don't think so.  Are you coming,
                            Charles?

                                            KANE
                            No.

She looks at him.  He starts to work himself into a rage.

                                            KANE
                            There's only one person in the
                            world to decide what I'm going
                            to do - and that's me.  And if
                            you think - if any of you think -

                                            EMILY
                            You decided what you were going
                            to do, Charles - some time ago.
                                    (she looks at Susan)
                            You can't always have it your own
                            way, regardless of anything else
                            that may have happened.
                                    (she sighs)
                            Come on, Charles.

                                            KANE
                            Go on!  Get out!  I can fight this
                            thing all alone!

                                            ROGERS
                            You're making a bigger fool of
                            yourself than I thought you would,
                            Mr. Kane.  You're licked.  Why don't
                            you -

                                            KANE
                                    (turning on him)
                            Get out!  I've got nothing to talk
                            to you about.  If you want to see
                            me, have the Warden write me a letter.

                                            ROGERS
                            I see!
                                    (he starts toward the door)

                                            SUSAN
                                    (starting to cry)
                            Charlie, you're just excited.  You
                            don't realize -

                                            KANE
                            I know exactly what I'm doing.
                                    (he is screaming)
                            Get out!

                                            EMILY
                                    (quietly)
                            Charles, if you don't listen to
                            reason, it may be too late -

                                            KANE
                            Too late for what?  Too late for
                            you and this -
                                    (he can't find the adjective)
                            this public thief to take the love
                            of the people of this state away
                            from me?  Well, you won't do it,
                            I tell you.  You won't do it!

                                            SUSAN
                            Charlie, there are other things
                            to think of.
                                    (a sly look comes into
                                     her eyes)
                            Your son - you don't want him to
                            read in the papers -

                                            EMILY
                            It is too late now, Charles.

                                            KANE
                                    (rushes to the door
                                     and opens it)
                            Get out, both of you!

                                            SUSAN
                                    (rushes to him)
                            Charlie, please don't -

                                            KANE
                            What are you waiting here for?
                            Why don't you go?

                                            EMILY
                            Goodnight, Charles.

She walks out.  Rogers stops as he gets directly in front of Kane.

                                            ROGERS
                            You're the greatest fool I've
                            ever known, Kane.  If it was
                            anybody else, I'd say what's
                            going to happen to you would be
                            a lesson to you.  Only you're
                            going to need more than one lesson.
                            And you're going to get more than
                            one lesson.
                                    (he walks past Kane)

                                            KANE
                            Don't you worry about me.  I'm
                            Charles Foster Kane.  I'm no cheap,
                            crooked politician, trying to save
                            himself from the consequences of
                            his crimes -

INT. APARTMENT HOUSE HALLWAY - NIGHT - 1910

Camera angling toward Kane from other end of the hall.  Rogers and Emily are already down the hall, moving toward foreground.  Kane in apartment doorway background.

                                            KANE
                                    (screams louder)
                            I'm going to send you to Sing
                            Sing, Rogers.  Sing Sing!

Kane is trembling with rage as he shakes his fist at Rogers's back.  Susan, quieter now, has snuggled into the hollow of his shoulder as they stand in the doorway.

DISSOLVE:

The "Chronicle" front page with photograph (as in the "News Digest") revealing Kane's relations with Susan.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

Front page of "Chronicle" - Headline which reads:

ROGERS ELECTED

DISSOLVE:

Front page of "Enquirer" - Headline which reads:

FRAUD AT POLLS

DISSOLVE:

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1910

Emily is opening the door for Leland.

                                            EMILY
                            Hello, Brad -

                                            LELAND
                            Emily -

He pauses.  Leland comes in.  Emily closes the door.

                                            EMILY
                            I'm sorry I sent for you, Brad -
                            I didn't -

                                            LELAND
                            Chicago is pretty close to New
                            York nowadays - only twenty hours -

She doesn't have anything to say.

                                            LELAND
                            I'm glad to see you.

She smiles at him and we know that there isn't anybody else in the world for her to smile at.  She's too grateful to talk.

                                            EMILY
                            Are all the returns in?

Leland puts his hat unconsciously on his coat by the newspaper.

                                            EMILY
                            Let me see it.

Leland takes the newspaper out of his pocket and hands it to her.  She takes it.  We see the headline, not an insert, but it registers.  It reads: "Fraud at Polls."  Emily is looking at the paper with unseeing eyes, and a little smile.

                                            LELAND
                                    (after a pause)
                            Almost two to one -

                                            EMILY
                            I'm surprised he got the votes he
                            did.

                                            LELAND
                            Emily!

                                            EMILY
                            Why should anyone vote for him?
                            He's made it quite clear to the
                            people what he thinks of them.
                            Children - to be told one thing
                            one day, something else the next,
                            as the whim seizes him.  And they're
                            supposed to be grateful and love
                            and adore him - because he sees to
                            it that they get cheap ice and only
                            pay a nickel in the street cars.

                                            LELAND
                            Emily, you're being - a little
                            unfair -  You know what I think of
                            Charles' behavior - about your
                            personal lives -

                                            EMILY
                            There aren't any personal lives
                            for people like us.  He made that
                            very clear to me nine years ago -
                            If I'd thought of my life with
                            Charles as a personal life, I'd
                            have left him then -

                                            LELAND
                            I know that, Emily -

                                            EMILY
                                    (on top of Leland)
                            Maybe I should have - the first
                            time he showed me what a mad dog
                            he really was.

                                            LELAND
                                    (on the cue "dog")
                            Emily, you -

                                            EMILY
                            Brad, I'm -  I'm not an old woman
                            yet -

                                            LELAND
                            It's - all over -

He stops himself.

                                            EMILY
                                    (after a pause)
                            I know it is, Brad -

                                            LELAND
                            He's paying for it, Emily.  Those
                            returns tonight - he's finished.
                            Politically -
                                    (he thinks)
                            - socially, everywhere, I guess.
                            I don't know about the papers, but -

                                            EMILY
                            If you're asking me to sympathize
                            with him, Brad, you're wasting
                            your time.
                                    (pauses)
                            There's only one person I'm sorry
                            for, as a matter of fact.  That -
                            that shabby little girl.  I'm really
                            sorry for her, Brad.

DISSOLVE:

Front page Chicago "Enquirer," with photograph proclaiming that Susan Alexander opens at new Chicago Opera House in "Thais," as in "News Digest."

On soundtrack during above we hear the big, expectant murmur of an opening night audience and the noodling of the orchestra.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - SET FOR "THAIS" - 1914



DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1914

Leland, as in the same scene in the Bernstein sequence, is sprawled across his typewriter, his head on the keys.  The paper is gone from the roller.  Leland stirs and looks up drunkenly, his eyes encountering Bernstein, who stands beside him (also as in the previous scene).

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            Hello, Mr. Leland.

                                            LELAND
                            Hello, Bernstein.

Leland makes a terrific effort to pull himself together.  He straightens and reaches for the keys - then sees the paper is gone from the machine.

                                            LELAND
                            Where is it - where's my notice?
                            I've got to finish it!

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (quietly)
                            Mr. Kane is finishing it.

                                            LELAND
                            Kane?  Charlie?
                                    (painfully, he rises
                                     to his feet)
                            Where is he?

During all this, the sound of a typewriter has been heard off - a busy typewriter.  Leland's eyes follow the sound.  Slowly he registers Kane in the City Room beyond.  This is almost the same shot as in the previous Bernstein story.

INT. CITY ROOM - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT - 1914

Kane, in white tie and shirt sleeves, is typing away at a machine, his fingers working briskly and efficiently, his face, seen by the desk light before him, set in a strange half-smile.

Leland stands in the door of his office, staring across at him.

                                            LELAND
                            I suppose he's fixing it up - I
                            know I'd never get that through.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                                    (moving to his side)
                            Mr. Kane is finishing your piece
                            the way you started it.

Leland turns incredulously to Bernstein.

                                            BERNSTEIN
                            He's writing a roast like you wanted
                            it to be -
                                    (then suddnely - with a
                                     kind of quiet passion
                                     rather than a triumph)
                            - I guess that'll show you.

Leland picks his way across the City Room to Kane's side.  Kane goes on typing, without looking up.  After a pause, Kane speaks.

                                            KANE
                            Hello, Brad.

                                            LELAND
                            Hello, Charlie -
                                    (another pause)
                            I didn't know we were speaking.

Kane stops typing, but doesn't turn.

                                            KANE
                            Sure, we're speaking, Brad -
                            you're fired.

He starts typing again, the expression on his face doesn't change.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY - 1940

Thompson and Leland on the roof, which is now deserted.  It is getting late.  The sun has just about gone down.

                                            LELAND
                            Well, that's about all there is -
                            and I'm getting chills.  Hey, nurse!
                                    (pause)
                            Five years ago, he wrote from that
                            place of his down South -
                                    (as if trying to think)
                            - you know.  Shangri-la?  El Dorado?
                                    (pauses)
                            Sloppy Joe's?  What's the name of
                            that place?  You know...  All right.
                            Xanadu.  I knew what it was all the
                            time.  You caught on, didn't you?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Yes.

                                            LELAND
                            I guess maybe I'm not as hard to
                            see through as I think.  Anyway, I
                            never even answered his letter.
                            Maybe I should have.  I guess he was
                            pretty lonely down there those last
                            years.  He hadn't finished it when
                            she left him - he never finished it -
                            he never finished anything.  Of course,
                            he built it for her -

                                            THOMPSON
                            That must have been love.

                                            LELAND
                            I don't know.  He was disappointed in
                            the world.  So he built one of his
                            own -  An absolute monarchy -  It was
                            something bigger than an opera house
                            anyway -
                                    (calls)
                            Nurse!
                                    (lowers his voice)
                            Say, I'll tell you one thing you can
                            do for me, young fellow.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Sure.

                                            LELAND
                            On your way out, stop at a cigar
                            store, will you, and send me up a
                            couple of cigars?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Sure, Mr. Leland.  I'll be glad to.

                                            LELAND
                            Hey, Nurse!

A Nurse appears.

                                            NURSE
                            Hello, Mr. Leland.

                                            LELAND
                            I'm ready to go in now.  You know
                            when I was a young man, there was
                            an impression around that nurses
                            were pretty.  It was no truer then
                            than it is now.

                                            NURSE
                            Here, let me take your arm, Mr. Leland.

                                            LELAND
                                    (testily)
                            All right, all right.
                                    (he has begun to move
                                     forward on the Nurse's
                                     arm; turning to Thompson)
                            You won't forget, will you, about
                            the cigars?  And tell them to wrap
                            them up to look like toothpaste,
                            or something, or they'll stop them
                            at the desk.  That young doctor I
                            was telling you about, he's got an
                            idea he wants to keep me alive.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET IN ATLANTIC CITY - EARLY DAWN - 1940

Neon sign on the roof:

"EL RANCHO"
FLOOR SHOW
SUSAN ALEXANDER KANE
TWICE NIGHTLY

glows on the dark screen as in the previous sequence earlier in the script.  Behind the lights and through them, we see a nasty early morning.  Camera as before, moves through the lights of the sign and down on the skylight, through which is seen Susan at her regular table,  Thompson seated across from her.

Very faintly during this, idle piano music playing.

DISSOLVE:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - EARLY DAWN - 1940

Susan and Thompson are facing each other.  The place is almost deserted.  Susan is sober.  On the other side of the room, somebody is playing a piano.

                                            SUSAN
                            How do you want to handle the whole
                            thing - ask questions?

                                            THOMPSON
                            I'd rather you just talked.  Anything
                            that comes into your mind - about
                            yourself and Mr. Kane.

                                            SUSAN
                            You wouldn't want to hear a lot of
                            what comes into my mind about myself
                            and Mr. Charlie Kane.

Susan is thinking.

                                            THOMPSON
                            How did you meet him?

                                            SUSAN
                            I had a toothache.

Thompson looks at her.

                                            SUSAN
                            That was thiry years ago - and I
                            still remember that toothache.
                            Boy!  That toothache was just
                            driving me crazy...

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. CORNER DRUG STORE AND STREET ON THE WEST SIDE OF NEW YORK - NIGHT - 1909

Susan, aged twenty, neatly but cheaply dressed in the style of the period, is leaving the drug store.  It's about 8 o'clock at night.  With a large, man-sized handkerchief pressed to her cheek, she is in considerable pain.  The street is wet - after a recent rain.

She walks a few steps towards the middle of the block, and can stand it no longer.  She stops, opens a bottle of Oil of Cloves that she has in her hand, applies some to her finger, and rubs her gums.

She walks on, the pain only a bit better.  Four or five houses farther along, she comes to what is clearly her own doorway - a shabby, old four-story apartment house.  She turns toward the doorway, which is up a tiny stoop, about three steps.

As she does so, Kane, coming from the opposite direction, almost bumps into her and turns to his left to avoid her.  His shoulder bumps hers and she turns.  As she does so, Kane, forced to change his course, steps on the loose end of a plank which covers a puddle in the bad sidewalk.  The plank rises up and cracks him on the knee, also covering him with mud.

                                            KANE
                                    (hopping up and down
                                     and rubbing his knee)
                            Ow!

Susan, taking her handkerchief from her jaw, roars with laughter.

                                            KANE
                            It's not funny.

He bites his lip and rubs his knee again.  Susan tries to control her laughter, but not very successfully.  Kane glares at her.

                                            SUSAN
                            I'm sorry, mister - but you do
                            look awful funny.

Suddenly, the pain returns and she claps her hand to her jaw.

                                            SUSAN
                            Ow!

                                            KANE
                            What's the matter with you?

                                            SUSAN
                            Toothache.

                                            KANE
                            Hmm!

He has been rubbing his clothes with his handkerchief.

                                            SUSAN
                            You've got some on your face.

                                            KANE
                            If these sidewalks were kept in
                            condition - instead of the money
                            going to some cheap grafter -

Susan starts to laugh again.

                                            KANE
                            What's funny now?

                                            SUSAN
                            You are.  You look like you've
                            been making mud pies.

In the middle of her smile, the pain returns.

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh!

                                            KANE
                            You're no Venus de Milo.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (points to the downstair
                                     window)
                            If you want to come in and wash
                            your face -  I can get you some
                            hot water to get that dirt off
                            your trousers -

                                            KANE
                            Thanks.

Susan starts, with Kane following her.

DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - NIGHT - 1909

It's in moderate disorder.  The Mansbach gas lights are on.  It's not really a classy room, but it's exactly what you're entitled to in 1910, for $5.00 a week including breakfast.

There is a bed, a couple of chairs, a chiffonier, and a few personal belongings on the chiffonier.  These include a photograph of a gent and lady, obviously Susan's parents, and a few objets d'art.  One, "At the Japanese Rolling Ball Game at Coney Island," and - perhaps this is part of the Japanese loot - the glass globe with the snow scene Kane was holding in his hand in the first sequence.

Susan comes into the room, carrying a basin, with towels over her arm.  Kane is waiting for her.  She doesn't close the door.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (by way of explanation)
                            My landlady prefers me to keep
                            this door open when I have a
                            gentleman caller.
                                    (starts to put the basin down)
                            She's a very decent woman.
                                    (making a face)
                            Ow!

Kane rushes to take the basin from her, putting it on the chiffonier.  To do this, he has to shove the photograph to one side of the basin.  Susan grabs the photograph as it is about to fall over.

                                            SUSAN
                            Hey, you should be more careful.
                            That's my ma and pa.

                                            KANE
                            I'm sorry.  They live here, too?

                                            SUSAN
                            No.  They've passed on.

Again she puts her hand to her jaw.

                                            KANE
                            Where's the soap?

                                            SUSAN
                            In the water.

Kane fishes the soap out of the water.  It is slippery, however, and slips out of his hand, hitting him in the chest before it falls to the floor.  Susan laughs as he bends over.

                                            KANE
                                    (starting to wash
                                     his hands)
                            You're very easily amused.

                                            SUSAN
                            I always like to see the funny
                            side of things.  No sense crying
                            when you don't have to.  And you're
                            so funny.  Looking at you, I forget
                            all about my toothache.

Her face distorts in pain again.

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh!

                                            KANE
                            I can't stay here all night chasing
                            your pain away.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (laughs)
                            I know...  But you do look so silly.

Kane, with soaped hands, has rubbed his face and now cannot open his eyes, for fear of getting soap in them.

                                            KANE
                            Where's the towel?

                                            SUSAN
                            On the chiffonier.  Here.

                                            KANE
                                    (rubs his face dry)
                            Thanks.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (on her way to closet)
                            I've got a brush in the closet.  As
                            soon as the mud on your trousers is
                            all dry - you just brush it off.

                                            KANE
                            I'll get these streets fixed, if
                            it's the last thing I do.

Susan comes out of the closet.  She holds out the brush with her left hand, her right hand to her jaw in real distress.

                                            KANE
                                    (takes the brush)
                            You are in pain, aren't you, you
                            poor kid?

Susan can't stand it anymore and sits down in a chair, bent over, whimpering a bit.

                                            KANE
                                    (brushing himself)
                            I wish there was something I could -

He stops and thinks.  Susan, her face averted, is still trying hard not to cry.

                                            KANE
                            I've got an idea, young lady.
                                    (there is no response)
                            Turn around and look at me.
                                    (there is still no response)
                            I said, turn around and look at
                            me, young lady.

Slowly, Susan turns.

                                            KANE
                            Did you ever see anybody wiggle
                            both his ears at the same time?

It takes a second for Susan to adapt herself to this.

                                            KANE
                            Watch closely!
                                    (he wiggles his ears)
                            It took me two solid years at the
                            finest boys' school in the world
                            to learn that trick.  The fellow
                            who taught me is President of
                            Venezuela now.

He's still wiggling his ears as Susan starts to smile.

                                            KANE
                            That's it!  Smile!

Susan smiles, very broadly.

DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - NIGHT - 1910

Closeup of a duck, camera pulls back showing it to be a shadowgraph on the wall, made by Kane, who is now in his shirt sleeves.  It is about an hour later than preceding sequence.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (hesitatingly)
                            A chicken?

                                            KANE
                            No.  But you're close.

                                            SUSAN
                            A rooster?

                                            KANE
                            You're getting farther away all
                            the time.  It's a duck.

                                            SUSAN
                            Excuse me, Mr. Kane.  I know this
                            takes a lot of nerve, but - who are
                            you?  I mean - I'm pretty ignorant,
                            I guess you caught on to that -

                                            KANE
                                    (looks squarely at her)
                            You really don't know who I am?

                                            SUSAN
                            No.  That is, I bet it turns out
                            I've heard your name a million times,
                            only you know how it is -

                                            KANE
                            But you like me, don't you?  Even
                            though you don't know who I am?

                                            SUSAN
                            You've been wonderful!  I can't tell
                            you how glad I am you're here, I don't
                            know many people and -
                                    (she stops)

                                            KANE
                            And I know too many people.  Obviously,
                            we're both lonely.
                                    (he smiles)
                            Would you like to know where I was
                            going tonight - when you ran into me
                            and ruined my Sunday clothes?

                                            SUSAN
                            I didn't run into you and I bet
                            they're not your Sunday clothes.
                            You've probably got a lot of clothes.

                                            KANE
                                    (as if defending himself
                                     from a terrible onslaught)
                            I was only joking!
                                    (pauses)
                            This evening I was on my way to
                            the Western Manhattan Warehouses -
                            in search of my youth.

Susan is bewildered.

                                            KANE
                            You see, my mother died, too - a
                            long time ago.  Her things were
                            put into storage out west because
                            I had no place to put them then.
                            I still haven't.  But now I've sent
                            for them just the same.  And tonight
                            I'd planned to make a sort of
                            sentimental journey -
                                    (slowly)
                            - to the scenes of my youth - my
                            childhood, I suppose - to look again
                            at -
                                    (he changes mood slightly)
                            - and now -

Kane doesn't finish.  He looks at Susan.  Silence.

                                            KANE
                            Who am I?  Well, let's see.  Charles
                            Foster Kane was born in New Salem,
                            Colorado in eighteen six -
                                    (he stops on the word
                                     "sixty" - obviously a
                                     little embarrassed)
                            I run a couple of newspapers.  How
                            about you?

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh, me -

                                            KANE
                            How old did you say you were?

                                            SUSAN
                                    (very bright)
                            I didn't say.

                                            KANE
                            I didn't think you did.  If you
                            had, I wouldn't have asked you
                            again, because I'd have remembered.
                            How old?

                                            SUSAN
                            Pretty old.  I'll be twenty-two in
                            August.

                                            KANE
                                    (looks at her silently
                                     for a moment)
                            That's a ripe old age -  What do
                            you do?

                                            SUSAN
                            I work at Seligman's.

                                            KANE
                            Is that what you want to do?

                                            SUSAN
                            I want to be a singer.
                                    (she thinks for a moment)
                            I mean, I didn't.  Mother did for
                            me.

                                            KANE
                                    (sympathetically)
                            What happened to the singing?
                            You're not in a show, are you?

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh, no!  Nothing like that.  Mother
                            always thought - she used to talk
                            about Grand Opera for me.  Imagine!
                            An American girl, for one thing -
                            and then my voice isn't really that
                            kind anyway, it's just that Mother -
                            you know what mothers are like.

A sudden look comes over Kane's face.

                                            KANE
                            Yes -

                                            SUSAN
                            As a matter of fact, I do sing a
                            little.

                                            KANE
                                    (points to the piano)
                            Would you sing for me?

                                            SUSAN
                                    (bashful)
                            Oh, you wouldn't want to hear
                            me sing.

                                            KANE
                            Yes, I would.  That's why I asked.

                                            SUSAN
                            Well, I -

                                            KANE
                            Don't tell me your toothache is
                            bothering you again?

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh, no, that's all gone.

                                            KANE
                            Then you have no alibi at all.
                            Please sing.

Susan, with a tiny ladylike hesitancy, goes to the piano and sings a polite song.  Sweetly, nicely, she sings with a small, untrained voice.  Kane listens.  He is relaxed, at ease with the world.

DISSOLVE:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - EARLY DAWN - 1940

Susan tosses down a drink, then goes on with her story.

                                            SUSAN
                            I did a lot of singing after that.
                            I sang for Charlie -  I sang for
                            teachers at a hundred bucks an
                            hour - the teachers got that, I
                            didn't -

                                            THOMPSON
                            What did you get?

                                            SUSAN
                                    (glares at him balefully)
                            What do you mean?

Thompson doesn't answer.

                                            SUSAN
                            I didn't get a thing.  Just the
                            music lessons.  That's all there
                            was to it.

                                            THOMPSON
                            He married you, didn't he?

                                            SUSAN
                            He was in love with me.  But he
                            never told me so until after it
                            all came out in the papers about
                            us - and he lost the election and
                            that Norton woman divorced him.

                                            THOMPSON
                            What about that apartment?

                                            SUSAN
                            He wanted me to be comfortable -
                            Oh, why should I bother?  You don't
                            believe me, but it's true.  It just
                            happens to be true.  He was really
                            interested in my voice.
                                    (sharply)
                            What are you smiling for?  What do
                            you think he built that opera house
                            for?  I didn't want it.  I didn't
                            want to sing.  It was his idea -
                            everything was his idea - except my
                            leaving him.

DISSOLVE:

INT. LIVING ROOM OF KANE'S HOUSE IN NEW YORK - DAY - 1913

Susan is singing.  Matisti, her voice teacher, is playing the piano.  Kane is seated nearby.  Matisti stops.

                                            MATISTI
                            Impossible!  Impossible!

                                            KANE
                            Your job isn't to give Mrs. Kane
                            your opinion of her talents.
                            You're supposed to train her voice.
                            Nothing more.

                                            MATISTI
                                    (sweating)
                            But, it is impossible.  I will be
                            the laughingstock of the musical
                            world!  People will say -

                                            KANE
                            If you're interested in what people
                            say, Signor Matisti, I may be able
                            to enlighten you a bit.  The
                            newspapers, for instance.  I'm an
                            authority on what the papers will
                            say, Signor Matisti, because I own
                            eight of them between here and San
                            Francisco...  It's all right, dear.
                            Signor Matisti is going to listen to
                            reason.  Aren't you, maestro?
                                    (he looks him square
                                     in the eyes)

                                            MATISTI
                            Mr. Kane, how can I persuade you -

                                            KANE
                            You can't.

There is a silence.  Matisti rises.

                                            KANE
                            I knew you'd see it my way.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1914



Closeup of Kane's face - seated in the audience - listening.

A sudden but perfectly correct lull in the music reveals a voice from the audience - a few words from a sentence - the kind of thing that often happens in a theatre -

                                            THE VOICE
                            - really pathetic.

Music crashes in and drowns out the rest of the sentence, but hundreds of people around the voice have heard it (as well as Kane) and there are titters which grow in volume.

Closeup of Susan's face - singing.

Closeup of Kane's face - listening.

There is the ghastly sound of three thousand people applauding as little as possible.  Kane still looks.  Then, near the camera, there is the sound of about a dozen people applauding very, very loudly.  Camera moves back, revealing Bernstein and Reilly and other Kane stooges, seated around him, beating their palms together.  The curtain is falling - as we can see by the light which shutters down off their faces.

The stage from Kane's angle.

The curtain is down - the lights glowing on it.  Still, the polite applause dying fast.  Nobody comes out for a bow.

Closeup of Kane - breathing heavily.  Suddenly he starts to applaud furiously.

The stage from the audience again.

Susan appears for her bow.  She can hardly walk.  There is a little polite crescendo of applause, but it is sickly.

Closeup of Kane - still applauding very, very hard, his eyes on Susan.

The stage again.

Susan, finishing her bow, goes out through the curtains.  The light on the curtain goes out and the houselights go on.

Closeup of Kane - still applauding very, very hard.

DISSOLVE:

INT. STUDY - KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - DAY - 1914

Some weeks later.  Susan, in a negligee, is at the window.  There are the remains of her breakfast tray on a little table.

                                            SUSAN
                            You don't propose to have yourself
                            made ridiculous?  What about me?
                            I'm the one that has to do the singing.
                            I'm the one that gets the razzberries.
                                    (pauses)
                            Last week, when I was shopping, one
                            of the salesgirls did an imitation of
                            me for another girl.  She thought I
                            didn't see her, but -  Charlie, you
                            might as well make up your mind to it.
                            This is one thing you're not going to
                            have your own way about.  I can't sing
                            and you know it -  Why can't you just -

Kane rises and walks toward her.  There is cold menace in his walk.  Susan shrinks a little as he draws closer to her.

                                            KANE
                            My reasons satisfy me, Susan.  You
                            seem unable to understand them.  I
                            will not tell them to you again.
                                    (he is very close to her)
                            You will continue with your singing.

His eyes are relentlessly upon her.  She sees something in them that frightens her.  She nods her head slowly, indicating surrender.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

Front page of the "San Francisco Enquirer" containing a large portrait of Susan as Thais (as before).  It is announced that Susan will open an independent season in San Francisco in "Thais."  The picture remains constant but the names of the papers change from New York to St. Louis, to Los Angeles to Cleveland, to Denver to Philadelphia - all "Enquirers."

During all this, on the soundtrack, Susan's voice is heard singing her aria very faintly and far away, her voice cracking a little.

At the conclusion of this above, Susan has finished her song, and there is the same mild applause as before - over the sound of this, one man loudly applauding.  This fades out as we -

DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S BEDROOM - KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - LATE NIGHT - 1916

The camera angles across the bed and Susan's form towards the door, from the other side of which voices can be heard.

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            Let's have your keys, Raymond.

                                            RAYMOND'S VOICE
                            Yes, sir.

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            The key must be in the other side.
                                    (pause)
                            We'll knock the door down, Raymond.

                                            RAYMOND'S VOICE
                                    (calling)
                            Mrs. Kane -

                                            KANE'S VOICE
                            Do what I say.

The door crashes open, light floods in the room, revealing Susan, fully dressed, stretched out on the bed, one arm dangling over the side.  Kane rushes to her.

                                            KANE
                            Get Dr. Corey.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes, sir.

He rushes out.  Susan is breathing, but heavily.  Kane loosens the lace collar at her throat.

DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - LATE NIGHT - 1916

A little later.  All the lights are lit.  Susan, in a nightgown, is in bed, asleep.  Raymond and a nurse are just leaving the room, Raymond closing the door quietly behind him.  Dr. Corey rises.

                                            DR. COREY
                            She'll be perfectly all right
                            in a day or two, Mr. Kane.

Kane nods.  He has a smal bottle in his hand.

                                            DR. COREY
                            The nurse has complete instructions,
                            but if you care to talk to me at any
                            time, I should be only too glad -  I
                            shall be here in the morning.

                                            KANE
                            Thank you.  I can't imagine how
                            Mrs. Kane came to make such a silly
                            mistake.  The sedative Dr. Wagner
                            gave her is in a somewhat larger
                            bottle -  I suppose the strain of
                            preparing for her trip has excited
                            and confused her.

                                            DR. COREY
                            I'm sure that's it.
                                    (he starts out)

                                            KANE
                            There are no objections to my
                            staying here with her, are there?

                                            DR. COREY
                            Not at all.  I'd like the nurse
                            to be here, too.

                                            KANE
                            Of course.

Dr. Corey leaves.  Kane settles himself in a chair next to the bed, looking at Susan.  In a moment, the nurse enters, goes to a chair in the corner of the room, and sits down.

DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - DAY - 1916

Susan, utterly spent, is lying flat on her back in her bed.  Kane is in the chair beside her.  The nurse is out of the room.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (in a voice that comes
                                     from far away)
                            I couldn't make you see how I felt,
                            Charlie.  I just couldn't -  I
                            couldn't go threw with singing again.
                            You don't know what it means to feel -
                            to know that people - that an audience
                            don't want you.  That if you haven't
                            got what they want - a real voice -
                            they just don't care about you.  Even
                            when they're polite - and they don't
                            laugh or get restless or - you know...
                            They don't want you.  They just 0

                                            KANE
                                    (angrily)
                            That's when you've got to fight them.
                            That's when you've got to make them.
                            That's -

Susan's head turns and she looks at him silently with pathetic eyes.

                                            KANE
                            I'm sorry.
                                    (he leans over to
                                     pat her hand)
                            You won't have to fight them anymore.
                                    (he smiles a little)
                            It's their loss.

Gratefully, Susan, with difficulty, brings her other hand over to cover his.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT OF XANADU - HALF BUILT

INT. THE GRAND HALL IN XANADU - 1925

Closeup of an enormous jigsaw puzzle.  A hand is putting in the last piece.  Camera moves back to reveal jigsaw puzzle spread out on the floor.

Susan is on the floor before her jigsaw puzzle.  Kane is in an easy chair.  Behind them towers the massive Renaissance fireplace.  It is night and Baroque candelabra illuminates the scene.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (with a sigh)
                            What time is it?

There is no answer.

                                            SUSAN
                            Charlie!  I said, what time is it?

                                            KANE
                                    (looks up - consults
                                     his watch)
                            Half past eleven.

                                            SUSAN
                            I mean in New York.

                                            KANE
                            Half past eleven.

                                            SUSAN
                            At night?

                                            KANE
                            Yes.  The bulldog's just gone to
                            press.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (sarcastically)
                            Hurray for the bulldog!
                                    (sighs)
                            Half past eleven!  The shows have
                            just let out.  People are going to
                            night clubs and restaurants.  Of
                            course, we're different.  We live in
                            a palace - at the end of the world.

                                            KANE
                            You always said you wanted to live
                            in a palace.

                                            SUSAN
                            Can't we go back, Charlie?

Kane looks at her smilingly and turns back to his work.

                                            SUSAN
                            Charlie -

There is no answer.

                                            SUSAN
                            If I promise to be a good girl!
                            Not to drink - and to entertain
                            all the governors and the senators
                            with dignity -
                                    (she puts a slur into the word)
                            Charlie -

There is still no answer.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

Another picture puzzle - Susan's hands fitting in a missing piece.

DISSOLVE:

Another picture puzzle - Susan's hands fitting in a missing piece.

DISSOLVE:

INT. XANADU - LIVING ROOM - DAY - 1928

Another picture puzzle.

Camera pulls back to show Kane and Susan in much the same positions as before, except that they are older.

                                            KANE
                            One thing I've never been able
                            to understand, Susan.  How do
                            you know you haven't done them
                            before?

Susan shoots him an angry glance.  She isn't amused.

                                            SUSAN
                            It makes a whole lot more sense
                            than collecting Venuses.

                                            KANE
                            You may be right -  I sometimes
                            wonder - but you get into the
                            habit -

                                            SUSAN
                                    (snapping)
                            It's not a habit.  I do it because
                            I like it.

                                            KANE
                            I was referring to myself.
                                    (pauses)
                            I thought we might have a picnic
                            tomorrow - it might be a nice
                            change after the Wild West party
                            tonight.  Invite everybody to go
                            to the Everglades -

                                            SUSAN
                                    (throws down a piece of the
                                     jigsaw puzzle and rises)
                            Invite everybody!  Order everybody,
                            you mean, and make them sleep in
                            tents!  Who wants to sleep in tents
                            when they have a nice room of their
                            own - with their own bath, where they
                            know where everything is?

Kane has looked at her steadily, not hostilely.

                                            KANE
                            I thought we might invite everybody
                            to go on a picnic tomorrow.  Stay
                            at Everglades overnight.
                                    (he pats her lightly on
                                     the shoulder)
                            Please see that the arrangements are
                            made, Susan.

Kane turns away - to Bernstein.

                                            KANE
                            You remember my son, Mr. Bernstein.

On the soundtrack we hear the following lines of dialogue:

                                            BERNSTEIN'S
                                            VOICE
                                    (embarrased)
                            Oh, yes.  How do you do, Mr. Kane?

                                            CHARLIE JR.'S
                                            VOICE
                            Hello.

During this, camera holds on closeup of Susan's face.  She is very angry.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. THE EVERGLADES CAMP - NIGHT - 1928

Long shot - of a number of classy tents.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. LARGE TENT - EVERGLADES CAMP - NIGHT - 1928

Two real beds have been set up on each side of the tent.  A rather classy dressing table is in the rear, at which Susan is preparing for bed.  Kane, in his shirt-sleeves, is in an easy chair, reading.  Susan is very sullen.

                                            SUSAN
                            I'm not going to put up with it.

Kane turns to look at her.

                                            SUSAN
                            I mean it.
                                    (she catches a slight
                                     flicker on Kane's face)
                            Oh, I know I always say I mean it,
                            and then I don't - or you get me so
                            I don't do what I say I'm going to -
                            but -

                                            KANE
                                    (interrupting)
                            You're in a tent, darling.  You're
                            not at home.  And I can hear you
                            very well if you just talk in a
                            normal tone of voice.

                                            SUSAN
                            I'm not going to have my guests
                            insulted, just because you think -
                                    (in a rage)
                            - if people want to bring a drink
                            or two along on a picnic, that's
                            their business.  You've got no right -

                                            KANE
                                    (quickly)
                            I've got more than a right as far
                            as you're concerned, Susan.

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh, I'm sick and tired of you
                            telling me what I must and what I
                            musn't do!

                                            KANE
                                    (gently)
                            You're my wife, Susan, and -

                                            SUSAN
                            I'm not just your wife, I'm a
                            person all by myself - or I ought
                            to be.  I was once.  Sometimes you
                            get me to believing I never was.

                                            KANE
                            We can discuss all this some other
                            time, Susan.  Right now -

                                            SUSAN
                            I'll discuss what's on my mind when
                            I want to.  You're not going to keep
                            on running my life the way you want it.

                                            KANE
                            As far as you're concerned, Susan,
                            I've never wanted anything -  I don't
                            want anything now - except what you
                            want.

                                            SUSAN
                            What you want me to want, you mean.
                            What you've decided I ought to have
                            - what you'd want if you were me.
                            But you've never given me anything
                            that -

                                            KANE
                            Susan, I really think -

                                            SUSAN
                            Oh, I don't mean the things you've
                            given me - that don't mean anything
                            to you.  What's the difference
                            between giving me a bracelet or
                            giving somebody else a hundred thousand
                            dollars for a statue you're going to
                            keep crated up and never look at?  It's
                            only money.  It doesn't mean anything.
                            You're not really giving anything that
                            belongs to you, that you care about.

                                            KANE
                                    (he has risen)
                            Susan, I want you to stop this.
                            And right now!

                                            SUSAN
                            Well, I'm not going to stop it.  I'm
                            going to say exactly what I think.
                                    (she screams)
                            You've never given me anything.  You've
                            tried to buy me into giving you
                            something.  You're -
                                    (a sudden notion)
                            - it's like you were bribing me!  That's
                            what it's been from the first moment I
                            met you.  No matter how much it cost
                            you - your time, your money - that's
                            what you've done with everybody you've
                            ever known.  Tried to bribe them!

                                            KANE
                            Susan!

She looks at him, with no lessening of her passion.

                                            KANE
                            You're talking an incredible amount
                            of nonsense, Susan.
                                    (quietly)
                            Whatever I do -  I do - because I
                            love you.

                                            SUSAN
                            Love!  You don't love anybody!  Me
                            or anybody else!  You want to be
                            loved - that's all you want!  I'm
                            Charles Foster Kane.  Whatever you
                            want - just name it and it's yours!
                            Only love me!  Don't expect me to
                            love you -

Without a word, Kane slaps her across the face.  They look at each other.

                                            SUSAN
                            You - you hit me.

Kane continues to look at her.

                                            SUSAN
                            You'll never have another chance to
                            hit me again.
                                    (pauses)
                            I never knew till this minute -

                                            KANE
                            Susan, it seems to me -

                                            SUSAN
                            Don't tell me you're sorry.

                                            KANE
                            I'm not sorry.

                                            SUSAN
                            I'm going to leave you.

                                            KANE
                            No, you're not.

                                            SUSAN
                                    (nods)
                            Yes.

They look at each other, fixedly, but she doesn't give way.  In fact, the camera on Kane's face shows the beginning of a startled look, as of one who sees something unfamiliar and unbelievable.

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S STUDY - XANADU - DAY - 1929

Kane is a the window looking out.  He turns as he hears Raymond enter.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Mrs. Kane would like to see you,
                            Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            All right.

Raymond waits as Kane hesitates.

                                            KANE
                            Is Mrs. Kane -
                                    (he can't finish)

                                            RAYMOND
                            Marie has been packing since morning,
                            Mr. Kane.

Kane impetuously walks past him out of the room.

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - XANADU - DAY - 1929

Packed suitcases are on the floor, Susan is completely dressed for travelling.  Kane bursts into the room.

                                            SUSAN
                            Tell Arnold I'm ready, Marie.  He
                            can get the bags.

                                            MARIE
                            Yes, Mrs. Kane.

She leaves.  Kane closes the door behind her.

                                            KANE
                            Have you gone completely crazy?

Susan looks at him.

                                            KANE
                            Don't you realize that everybody
                            here is going to know about this?
                            That you've packed your bags and
                            ordered the car and -

                                            SUSAN
                            - And left?  Of course they'll
                            hear.  I'm not saying goodbye -
                            except to you - but I never
                            imagined that people wouldn't know.

Kane is standing against the door as if physically barring her way.

                                            KANE
                            I won't let you go.

                                            SUSAN
                            You can't stop me.

Kane keeps looking at her.  Susan reaches out her hand.

                                            SUSAN
                            Goodbye, Charlie.

                                            KANE
                                    (suddenly)
                            Don't go, Susan.

                                            SUSAN
                            Let's not start all over again,
                            Charlie.  We've said everything
                            that can be said.

                                            KANE
                            Susan, don't go!  Susan, please!

He has lost all pride.  Susan stops.  She is affected by this.

                                            KANE
                            You mustn't go, Susan.  Everything'll
                            be exactly the way you want it.  Not
                            the way I think you want it - by your
                            way.  Please, Susan - Susan!

She is staring at him.  She might weaken.

                                            KANE
                            Don't go, Susan!  You mustn't go!
                                    (almost blubbering)
                            You - you can't do this to me,
                            Susan -

It's as if he had thrown ice water into her face.  She freezes.

                                            SUSAN
                            I see - it's you that this is
                            being done to!  It's not me at
                            all.  Not how I feel.  Not what
                            it means to me.
                                    (she laughs)
                            I can't do this to you!
                                    (she looks at him)
                            Oh, yes I can.

She walks out, past Kane, who turns to watch her go, like a very tired old man.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - NIGHT - 1940

Susan and Thompson at a table.  There is silence between them for a moment.

                                            SUSAN
                            In case you've never heard of how
                            I lost all my money - and it was
                            plenty, believe me -

                                            THOMPSON
                            The last ten years have been tough
                            on a lot of people.

                                            SUSAN
                            They haven't been tough on me.  I
                            just lost my money.  But when I
                            compare these last ten years with
                            the twenty I spent with him -

                                            THOMPSON
                            I feel kind of sorry for him, all
                            the same -

                                            SUSAN
                                    (harshly)
                            Don't you think I do?
                                    (pause)
                            You say you're going down to Xanadu?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Monday, with some of the boys from
                            the office.  Mr. Rawlston wants the
                            whole place photographed carefully -
                            all that art stuff.  We run a picture
                            magazine, you know -

                                            SUSAN
                            I know.  If you're smart, you'll
                            talk to Raymond.  That's the butler.
                            You can learn a lot from him.  He
                            knows where the bodies are buried.

She shivers.  The dawn light from the skylight above has grown brighter, making the artificial light in the night club look particularly ghastly, revealing mercilessly every year of Susan's age.

                                            SUSAN
                            Well, what do you know?  It's morning
                            already.
                                    (looks at him)
                            You must come around and tell me the
                            story of your life sometime.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT - 1940

An open door shows the pantry, which is dark.  Thompson and Raymond are at a table.  There is a pitcher of beer and a plate of sandwiches before them.  Raymond drinks a glass of beer and settles back.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes, sir - yes, sir, I knew how to
                            handle the old man.  He was kind of
                            queer, but I knew how to handle him.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Queer?

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yeah.  I guess he wasn't very happy
                            those last years - he didn't have
                            much reason to be -

DISSOLVE:

INT. CORRIDOR AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE - XANADU - NIGHT - 1929

Raymond walking rapidly along corridor.  He pushes open a door.  At a desk in a fairly elaborate telegraph office sits a wireless operator named Fred.  Near him at a telephone switchboard sits a female operator named Katherine (not that it matters).

                                            RAYMOND
                                    (reading)
                            Mr. Charles Foster Kane announced
                            today that Mrs. Charles Foster Kane
                            has left Xanadu, his Florida home,
                            under the terms of a peaceful and
                            friendly agreement with the intention
                            of filing suit for divorce at an
                            early date.  Mrs. Kane said that she
                            does not intend to return to the
                            operatic career which she gave up a
                            few years after her marriage, at Mr.
                            Kane's request.  Signed, Charles Foster
                            Kane.

Fred finishes typing and then looks up.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Exclusive for immediate transmission.
                            Urgent priority all Kane papers.

                                            FRED
                            Okay.

There is the sound of the buzzer on the switchboard.  Katherine puts in a plug and answers the call.

                                            KATHERINE
                            Yes ... yes...  Mrs. Tinsdall -
                            Very well.
                                    (turns to Raymond)
                            It's the housekeeper.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes?

                                            KATHERINE
                            She says there's some sort of
                            disturbance up in Mrs. Alexander's
                            room.  She's afraid to go in.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU - NIGHT - 1929

The housekeeper, Mrs. Tinsdall, and a couple of maids are near the door but are too afraid to be in front of it.  From inside can be heard a terrible banging and crashing.  Raymond hurries into scene, opens the door and goes in.

INT. SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU - 1929

Kane, in a truly terrible and absolutely silent rage, is literally breaking up the room - yanking pictures, hooks and all off the wall, smashing them to bits - ugly, gaudy pictures - Susie's pictures in Susie's bad taste.  Off of occasional tables, bureaus, he sweeps Susie's whorish accumulation of bric-a-brac.

Raymond stands in the doorway watching him.  Kane says nothing.  He continues with tremendous speed and surprising strength, still wordlessly, tearing the room to bits.  The curtains (too frilly - overly pretty) are pulled off the windows in a single gesture, and from the bookshelves he pulls down double armloads of cheap novels - discovers a half-empty bottle of liquor and dashes it across the room.  Finally he stops.  Susie's cozy little chamber is an incredible shambles all around him.

He stands for a minute breathing heavily, and his eye lights on a hanging what-not in a corner which had escaped his notice.  Prominent on its center shelf is the little glass ball with the snowstorm in it.  He yanks it down.  Something made of china breaks, but not the glass ball.  It bounces on the carpet and rolls to his feet, the snow in a flurry.  His eye follows it.  He stoops to pick it up - can't make it.  Raymond picks it up for him; hands it to him.  Kane takes it sheepishly - looks at

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU - 1929

Kane comes out of the door.  Mrs. Tinsdall has been joined now by a fairly sizable turnout of servants.  They move back away from Kane, staring at him.  Raymond is in the doorway behind Kane.  Kane looks at the glass ball.

                                            KANE
                                    (without turning)
                            Close the door, Raymond.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes, sir.
                                    (he closes it)

                                            KANE
                            Lock it - and keep it locked.

Raymond locks the door and comes to his side.  There is a long pause - servants staring in silence.  Kane gives the glass ball a gentle shake and starts another snowstorm.

                                            KANE
                            Raymond -
                                    (he is almost in a trance)

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes, sir -

One of the younger servants giggles and is hushed up.  Kane shakes the ball again.  Another flurry of snow.  He watches the flakes settle - then looks up.  Finally, taking in the pack of servants and something of the situations, he puts the glass ball in his coat pocket.  He speaks very quietly to Raymond, so quietly it only seems he's talking to himself.

                                            KANE
                            Keep it locked.

He slowly walks off down the corridor, the servants giving way to let him pass, and watching him as he goes.  He is an old, old man!

DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S CHAPEL - XANADU - LATE AFTERNOON - 1939

As the dissolve completes itself, camera is travellling across the floor of the chapel past the crypts of Kane's father and mother - (marked: James Kane - 18- TO 19-; Mary Kane - 18- TO 19-;) - past a blank crypt, and then holding on the burial of Kane's son.  A group of ordinary workmen in ordinary clothes are lowering a very expensive-looking coffin into its crypt.  Kane stands nearby with Raymond, looking on.  The men strain and grunt as the coffin bangs on the stone floor.  The men now place

CHARLES FOSTER KANE II.
1907 - 1938



                                            ONE OF THE
                                            WORKMEN
                            Sorry, Mr. Kane, we won't be able
                            to cement it till tommorrow.  We -

Kane looks right through him.  Raymond cuts him short.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Okay.

The men tip their hats and shuffle out of the chapel.  Kane raises his head, looks at the inscription on the wall.  It is a little to one side of Junior's grave, directly over the blank place which will be occupied by Kane himself.

                                            KANE
                            Do you like poetry, Raymond?

                                            RAYMOND
                            Can't say, sir.

                                            KANE
                            Mrs. Kane liked poetry -

Raymond is now convinced that the old master is very far gone indeed - not to say off his trolley.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Not my wife - not either of them.

He looks at the grave next to his son's - the grave marked "MARY KANE."

                                            RAYMOND
                                    (catching on)
                            Oh, yes, sir.

                                            KANE
                                    (looking back up
                                     at the wall)
                            Do you know what that is?

                                            RAYMOND
                                    (more his keeper than
                                     his butler now)
                            It's a wall you bought in China,
                            Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            Persia.  It belonged to a king.

                                            RAYMOND
                            How did you get him to part with
                            it, Mr. Kane?

                                            KANE
                            He was dead...  That's a poem.  Do
                            you know what it means?

                                            RAYMOND
                            No, I don't, Mr. Kane.

                                            KANE
                            I didn't used to be afraid of it.

A short pause.  His eyes still on the wall, but looking through it, Kane quotes the translation.

                                            KANE
                            The drunkeness of youth has passed like a fever,
                            And yet I saw many things,
                            Seeing my glory in the days of my glory,
                            I thought my power eternal
                            And the days of my life
                            Fixed surely in the years
                            But a whisper came to me
                            From Him who dies not.
                            I called my tributary kings together
                            And those who were proud rulers under me,
                            I opened the boxes of my treasure to them, saying:
                            "Take hills of gold, moutains of silver,
                            And give me only one more day upon the earth."
                            But they stood silent,
                            Looking upon the ground;
                            So that I died
                            And Death came to sit upon my throne.

                            O sons of men
                            You see a stranger upon the road,
                            You call to him and he does not step.
                            He is your life
                            Walking towards time,
                            Hurrying to meet the kings of India and China.
                                    (quoting)
                            O sons of men
                            You are caught in the web of the world
                            And the spider Nothing waits behind it.
                            Where are the men with towering hopes?
                            They have changed places with owls,
                            Owls who have lived in tombs
                            And now inhabit a palace.

Kane still stares at the wall, through it, and way beyond it.  Raymond looks at him.

DISSOLVE OUT:

DISSOLVE IN:

INT. GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT - 1940

Thompson and Raymond.  Raymond has finished his beer.

                                            RAYMOND
                                    (callously)
                            That's the whole works, right up
                            to date.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Sentimental fellow, aren't you?

                                            RAYMOND
                            Yes and no.

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (getting to his feet)
                            Well, thanks a lot.

                                            RAYMOND
                            See what I mean?  He was a little
                            gone in the head - the last couple
                            of years, anyway - but I knew how
                            to handle him.
                                    (rises)
                            That "Rosebud" - that don't mean
                            anything.  I heard him say it.
                            He just said "Rosebud" and then he
                            dropped that glass ball and it broke
                            on the floor.  He didn't say anything
                            about that, so I knew he was dead -
                            He said all kind of things I couldn't
                            make out.  But I knew how to take care
                            of him.

Thompson doesn't answer.

                                            RAYMOND
                            You can go on asking questions if
                            you want to.

                                            THOMPSON
                                    (coldly)
                            We're leaving tonight.  As soon
                            as they're through photographing
                            the stuff -

Thompson has risen.  Raymond gets to his feet and goes to the door, opening it for him.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Allow yourself plenty of time.  The
                            train stops at the Junction On signal
                            - but they don't like to wait.  Not
                            now.  I can remember when they'd wait
                            all day ... if Mr. Kane said so.

Raymond ushes Thompson into

INT. THE GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT - 1940

The magnificent tapestries, candelabra, etc., are still there, but now several large packing cases are piled against the walls, some broken open, some shut and a number of objects, great and small, are piled pell mell all over the place.  Furniture, statues, paintings, bric-a-brac - things of obviously enormous value are standing beside a kitchen stove, an old rocking chair and other junk, among which is also an old sled, the self-same story.  Somewhere in the back, one of the vast Gothic window

In the center of the hall, a Photographer and his Assistant are busy photographing the sundry objects.  The floor is littered with burnt-out flash bulbs.  They continue their work throughout the early part of the scene so that now and then a flash bulb goes off.  In addition to the Photographer and his Assistant, there are a Girl and Two Newspaperment - the Second and Third Men of the projection room scene - also Thompson and Raymond.

The Girl and the Second Man, who wears a hat, are dancing somewhere in the back of the hall to the music of a phonograph.  A flash bulb goes off.  The Photographer has just photographed a picture, obviously of great value, an Italian primitive.  The Assistant consults a label on the back of it.

ASSISTANT NO. 9182

The Third Newspaperman starts to jot this information down.

                                            ASSISTANT
                            "Nativity" - attributed to Donatello,
                            acquired Florence 1921, cost 45,000
                            lira.  Got that?

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Yeah.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            All right!  Next!  Better get that
                            statue over there.

                                            ASSISTANT
                            Okay.

The Photographer and his Assitant start to move off with their equipment towards a large sculpture in another part of the hall.

                                            RAYMOND
                            What do you think all that is
                            worth, Mr. Thompson?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Millions - if anybody wants it.

                                            RAYMOND
                            The banks are out of luck, eh?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Oh, I don't know.  They'll clear
                            all right.

                                            ASSISTANT
                            "Venus," Fourth Century.  Acquired
                            1911.  Cost twenty-three thousand.
                            Got it?

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Okay.

                                            ASSISTANT
                                    (patting the statue
                                     on the fanny)
                            That's a lot of money to pay for a
                            dame without a head.

                                            SECOND ASSISTANT
                                    (reading a label)
                            No. 483.  One desk from the estate
                            of Mary Kane, Little Salem, Colorado.
                            Value $6.00.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Okay.

A flashlight bulb goes off.

                                            SECOND ASSISTANT
                            We're all set to get everything.  The
                            junk as well as the art.

Thompson has opened a box and is idly playing with a handful of little pieces of cardboard.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            What's that?

                                            RAYMOND
                            It's a jigsaw puzzle.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            We got a lot of those.  There's a
                            Burmese  Temple and three Spanish
                            ceilings down the hall.

Raymond laughs.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            Yeah, all in crates.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            There's a part of a Scotch castle
                            over there, but we haven't bothered
                            to unwrap it.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            I wonder how they put all those
                            pieces together?

                                            ASSISTANT
                                    (reading a label)
                            Iron stove.  Estate of Mary Kane.
                            Value $2.00.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            Put it over by that statue.  It'll
                            make a good setup.

                                            GIRL
                                    (calling out)
                            Who is she anyway?

                                            SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Venus.  She always is.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            He sure liked to collect things,
                            didn't he?

                                            RAYMOND
                            He went right on buying - right up
                            to the end.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            Anything and everything - he was a
                            regular crow.

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            I wonder -  You put all this together -
                            the palaces and the paintings and the
                            toys and everything - what would it spell?

Thompson has turned around.  He is facing the camera for the first time.

                                            THOMPSON
                            Charles Foster Kane.

Another flash bulb goes off.  The Photographer turns to Thompson with a grin.

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            Or Rosebud?  How about it, Jerry?

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                                    (to the dancers)
                            Turn that thing off, will you?  It's
                            driving me nuts!  What's Rosebud?

                                            PHOTOGRAPHER
                            Kane's last words, aren't they, Jerry?
                                    (to the Third Newspaperman)
                            That was Jerry's angle, wasn't it, Jerry?
                            Did you ever find out what it means, Jerry?

                                            THOMPSON
                            No, I didn't.

The music has stopped.  The dancers have come over to Thompson.

                                            SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Say, what did you find out about him,
                            anyway, Jerry?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Not much.

                                            SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Well, what have you been doing?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Playing with a jigsaw puzzle -   I
                            talked to a lot of people who knew him.

                                            GIRL
                            What do they say?

                                            THOMPSON
                            Well - it's become a very clear picture.
                            He was the most honest man who ever
                            lived, with a streak of crookedness
                            a yard wide.  He was a liberal and a
                            reactionary; he was tolerant - "Live
                            and Let Live" - that was his motto.
                            But he had no use for anybody who
                            disagreed with him on any point, no
                            matter how small it was.  He was a
                            loving husband and a good father -
                            and both his wives left him and his
                            son got himself killed about as
                            shabbily as you can do it.  He had a
                            gift for friendship such as few men
                            have - he broke his oldest friend's
                            heart like you'd throw away a cigarette
                            you were through with.  Outside of that -

                                            THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
                            Okay, okay.

                                            GIRL
                            What about Rosebud?  Don't you
                            think that explains anything?

                                            THOMPSON
                            No, I don't.  Not much anway.  Charles
                            Foster Kane was a man who got everything
                            he wanted, and then lost it.  Maybe
                            Rosebud was something he couldn't get
                            or lost.  No, I don't think it explains
                            anything.  I don't think any word explains
                            a man's life.  No -  I guess Rosebud is
                            just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle - a
                            missing piece.

He drops the jigsaw pieces back into the box, looking at his watch.

                                            THOMPSON
                            We'd better get along.  We'll miss
                            the train.

He picks up his overcoat - it has been resting on a little sled - the little sled young Charles Foster Kane hit Thatcher with at the opening of the picture.  Camera doesn't close in on this.  It just registers the sled as the newspaper people, picking up their clothes and equipment, move out of the great hall.

DISSOLVE:

INT. CELLAR - XANADU - NIGHT - 1940

A large furnace, with an open door, dominates the scene.  Two laborers, with shovels, are shovelling things into the furnace.  Raymond is about ten feet away.

                                            RAYMOND
                            Throw that junk in, too.

Camera travels to the pile that he has indicated.  It is mostly bits of broken packing cases, excelsior, etc.  The sled is on top of the pile.  As camera comes close, it shows the faded rosebud and, though the letters are faded, unmistakably the word "ROSEBUD" across it.  The laborer drops his shovel, takes the sled in his hand and throws it into the furnace.  The flames start to devour it.

EXT. XANADU - NIGHT - 1940

No lights are to be seen.  Smoke is coming from a chimney.

Camera reverses the path it took at the beginning of the picture, perhaps omitting some of the stages.  It moves finally through the gates, which close behind it.  As camera pauses for a moment, the letter "K" is prominent in the moonlight.

Just before we fade out, there comes again into the picture the pattern of barbed wire and cyclone fencing.  On the fence is a sign which reads:

"PRIVATE - NO TRESPASSING"

FADE OUT:

                                  THE END
