RKO 281

The film shows RKO production chief George Schaefer announcing to Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz that he has lost his job on the very day of the opening of Citizen Kane (1941) in May 1941. In fact, Schaefer did not get fired until late in the following year, and this was less because he had promoted the film career of Orson Welles than because almost all the films RKO had made during his tenure had been flops.

In 1940, Disney was not the major studio it was today. It had few major releases by that date, all animated and all of which were released through other distributors. The meeting of studio chiefs depicted in the movie probably did not take place- certainly not in the form shown- but even if it had, Walt Disney would probably not have been invited. (Samuel Goldwyn, also shown as present, had sold his share in MGM to Louis Mayer years earlier, but was still a major producer.)

Epilogue:  "Citizen Kane was released in 1941 to critical acclaim and box office indifference.  William Randolph Hearst gradually withdrew from public life. Marion Davies continued to live with him as his mistress.  Until his death in 1951, Hearst never permitted a single advertisement or review of Citizen Kane in any of his newspapers.  Orson Welles struggled yet succeeded in making films for the rest of his life, including The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight. He died in 1985.  Citizen Kane is widely considered the greatest American film ever made."

Featured in The 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2000)