More on Orson Welles

In this post's comments -- last week's video interview with Orson Welles -- Scott Smith, who hosts a fine blog called Screenwriting From Iowa, provided a link with some interesting biographical background re Welles:

Orson Wells was born May 6, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His mother died when he was nine and his father when he was 15 and I’ve always wondered if there was a part of Welles that resonated with the young boy in Citizen Kane who is separated from his parents. Shortly after his mother died Welles began attending the Todd Seminary for Boys in Woodstock Illinois.

When he graduated in 1931 the school was called Todd School for Boys. According to Wikipedia the school was founded by Reverend R.K. Todd with the philosophy of “plain living and high thinking, and in harmony with Puritan traditions.” It was a boarding school. (In Citizen Kane you may recall, the parents own a boarding house.)

I suspect Scott is on target re the separation from his parents. Not to go overboard on the amateur psychologist front, it's at least intriguing and possibly instructive that Welles' mother is the first of his parents to die, then he's sent away from his home by his father to boarding school. It's not difficult to imagine how that plays into the fictionalization in Citizen Kane. Consider this scene where young Charles Foster Kane is about to be sent away back East under the care of Thatcher:

          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:

Per the father, it's even more provocative on film:



The father played as a shallow, dim-witted, and likely prone to physical violence toward young Charles (note along with the line of dialogue about "a good thrashing," how he takes a swing at Charles). The mother as distant, yet ultimately caring about his son ("That's why he's going to be brought up where you can't get at him").

So with the family dynamic in Citizen Kane, is it possible that by painting such a negative portrait of the father, Welles is in effect getting back at his real father for sending young Welles away, perhaps even blaming his father for his mother's death (not literally, but symbolically and emotionally)? After all, in the movie, even though it's his mother's decision to send Charles back East with Thatcher, it is the father who is responsible for separating Charles from his mother due to the threat he poses.

We'll never know, of course, but interesting to speculate.

By the way, Scott has a great quote from Welles in his post:

“I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.”

A "social act." Another way of saying that a scene should have multiple layers of meaning and emotional depth, inviting the reader to engage the action and dialogue at many points of connection. And the best way to engender that type of depth in the writing is to dig into the characters, their many layers of being and feeling, consciousness and unconsciousness.