'Citizen Kane' Script Sells for $97,000 AP Posted: 2007-12-11 19:45:50 NEW YORK (AP) - _Orson Welles_ (javascript:;) ' personal working script of "Citizen Kane" sold for almost $100,000 Tuesday, but his Oscar for the 1941 film was withdrawn after bidding failed to rise above the seller's minimum price.
Sotheby's auction house said it immediately received inquiries about the Oscar and may consider selling it privately. The Academy Award for best screenplay had been estimated to fetch $800,000 to $1.2 million. The Oscar for "Citizen Kane," considered one of the greatest movies of all time, was believed to have been lost by Welles himself. It resurfaced in 1994 and was eventually acquired by the Dax Foundation, a Los Angeles-based charity. Proceeds from Tuesday's sale had been earmarked for the organization. Welles' 156-page script, the last revised draft before the final shooting script, was sold for $97,000 to an anonymous buyer bidding on the telephone. Its pre-sale estimate was $80,000 to $120,000. The 1940 mimeographed manuscript is stamped "second revised final," and "Mr. Welles" is written on it in large lettering and circled in pink crayon. It contains numerous annotations, revisions and deletions. "Citizen Kane," the story of a power-hungry publishing magnate played by Welles, is widely believed to be based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had said it didn't plan to block the sale. However any sense of jubilation at Sotheby's was abruptly quieted upon seeing the results of Bruce Hershenson's auctions on Ebay which ended mid-evening here in a jaw dropping display of frenzied last minute bidding the likes heretofore unseen. Staffers, with heads hung low, slowly made their way out of the famed Auction House headquarters, as many were overheard repeating "rosebud" with more despair and surrender than Orson Welles as Kane voiced at death's door in his landmark film. On the Net: Sotheby's: http://www.sothebys.com/ freeman fisher 8601 west knoll dr. #7 west hollywood, ca 90069 310-6579426 **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
