DS, three pages, 8.5 x 11, December 26, 1939. A supplemental agreement between Welles and RKO. In part: “[In a previous agreement] the Distributor engaged the Actor to portray, and the Actor agreed to portray, the leading male role in two (2) motion pictures to be produced by Mercury Productions, Inc. The first of such two pictures is to be based upon the story entitled ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad…. Prior to the commencement of the services … in connection with … ‘Heart of Darkness,’ the Actor shall render his services in connection with a motion picture to be based upon either the story entitled ‘The Smiler with the Knife,’ by Nicholas Blake, or some other story to be selected by Mercury Productions, Inc. and the Distributor. The production of such picture shall be completed prior to April 1, 1940…. In consideration of his services in connection with the additional picture, and in connection with ‘Heart of Darkness,’ the Distributor shall pay the Actor a sum equal to twenty per cent … of the net profits … derived by the Distributor from the distribution of both of such pictures as a group….” The document goes on to specify details of compensation and scheduling. The present item is of especial historical significance for its direct and important association with Welles’s debut as a filmmaker. Hailed as an enfant terrible for his stage and radio productions (including the notorious War of the Worlds broadcast), Welles found an eager Hollywood suitor in RKO, which signed him to a two-picture contract. The deal represented an unprecedented opportunity in Hollywood: the untested Welles would not only star, but would also be given complete artistic control as director. While Welles was eager to make his directorial debut with the projects mentioned, budget considerations and the increasingly ominous political situation in Europe made RKO executives nervous about the anti-fascist thrust of Welles’s version of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. (The novel was later adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into the classic Apocalypse, Now.) Similarly, political considerations, as well as reservations about the casting of comedienne Lucille Ball in the female lead, put a damper on plans for Smiler with the Knife. Welles, together with collaborator Herman J. Mankiewicz, instead set to work on an original story that, two years later, would emerge as the most influential and universally acclaimed film in the history of the medium: Citizen Kane. The document is housed in its original stapled folder. In fine, clean condition. A remarkable relic from the birth of one of the most extraordinary film careers in history! RRAuction COA.
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