By RAY KELLY

Herman J. Mankiewicz co-wrote Citizen Kane and his kid brother, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, scripted and directed All About Eve — not too shabby for the sons of a school teacher and seamstress who left Germany for the United States shortly before the start of the 20th century.

Sydney Ladensohn Stern — author of Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique and Toyland: The High-Stakes Game of the Toy Industry — looks at the fascinating lives, achievements and relationships of the Oscar winning siblings in her new biography  The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics, which is now available from University Press of Mississippi.

Stern graciously took time to field a few questions about The Brothers Mankiewicz.

Since this is Wellesnet, let’s begin with the obvious — the authorship of Citizen Kane. Do you believe Herman Mankiewicz was the sole author of the film or co-writer with Welles?

Before I start, please let me thank you for including a piece about The Brothers Mankiewicz on Wellesnet.com. Your website was an important site for me in researching the chapter on Citizen Kane and remains compelling reading.

The short answer is No, I do not believe Herman was the sole author. A slightly longer answer: Not only did Orson Welles deserve credit as a co-writer, but I believe John Houseman could have claimed it as well.

Herman did the heavy lifting in writing the first draft, which I think most writers would agree, is the hardest part. And though “The American” (that first script) was much too long, a great deal of that very first draft is still there, word for word, in the final film.

I mention John Houseman because he worked with Herman the entire time Herman was writing that initial screenplay at a guest ranch in the Mojave Desert where they stayed to keep Herman away from alcohol. They discussed the increasingly complicated script every day, and Houseman himself wrote the opening newscast about Charles Kane’s death.

But before Herman started writing, Welles, Houseman, and Herman had already discussed it extensively. So Welles was shaping it even before Herman started, and he visited them while Herman was writing.

However, even as Herman’s biographer, I say without reservation that Citizen Kane is the iconic film it has become because of Orson Welles. It is Orson Welles’s movie.

Why has this been so hotly contested?

I think there are a number of reasons. The most obvious is that old adage, success has many parents while failure is an orphan. Who wouldn’t want to have written Citizen Kane?

In such a collaborative art form, credit allocations often seem unfair. Herman understood from the beginning that with Welles’s well-publicized contract promising him sole credit as writer, director, producer, and star, RKO had a financial interest in marketing him as the genius who could do it all. But the better the film became, the more frustrated Herman became.

Of course it is a great story, and my chapter on Citizen Kane is the book’s longest (longer, even, than the chapter on Cleopatra). I hope Welles fans read it for my take on the controversy.

What was Herman Mankiewicz’s opinion of Welles?

He recognized Welles’s genius, even when he got angry at him — and Herman got angry at everyone, sooner or later. They did not lose touch after Citizen Kane and remained fond of each other. They probably recognized that they were not dissimilar: both were brilliant, larger-than-life characters with a talent for self-destruction. Orson Welles is such a fascinating a character that he kept hijacking my narrative, and I had to continually remind myself to keep him in proportion in my history of Herman.

Herman Mankiewicz was the first of 10 screenwriters to work on The Wizard of Oz screenplay. What was his lasting contribution to the finished product?

Herman opposed making the book into a movie and wrote some ridiculous scenes that were quickly eliminated. But it was Herman who suggested they film the Kansas scenes in black and white and the Oz scenes in color. Furthermore, he specified that the black and white scenes should be in dull grays rather than vivid contrast, to reflect the boredom of Dorothy’s life in Kansas.

His younger brother, Joseph, arguably had a more successful run in Hollywood. What was the relationship like between the Mankiewicz brothers?

Ah, that is the question, isn’t it. My goal in tackling a biography of two screenwriter brothers was that the whole — a personal and professional portrait of the two men — should be greater than the sum of their two individual lives. I suppose the most accurate (and safely succinct) answer is, it’s complicated. There was everything between them. Love. Loyalty. Sibling rivalry. Oedipal competition. Mentoring. Rescuing. Their relationship was particularly complex because they were almost twelve years apart, so during Joe’s boyhood, Herman was an idolized father figure as well as a beloved older brother. Then he fell off his pedestal.

Joseph Mankiewicz’s career was undone by Cleopatra, which nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. How much of the blame should he rightfully shoulder?

I believe Cleopatra did Joe in, rather than vice versa. Because 20th Century Fox insisted he start shooting before he had a completed script, Joe had to shoot in continuity, directing scenes during the day and writing at night. It was ruinously expensive and wasteful, and Joe begged over and over to be allowed to shut down production until he finished writing. On top of all that, he had to manage Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton while they were scandalizing the world with their affair. Then when Fox fell apart, Joe was blamed for the excessive costs and publicly fired. Quoting Joe, I call the Cleopatra chapter, “The Toughest Three Pictures I Ever Made.”

What drew you to the Mankiewicz legacy?

I like to write about creative people and I wondered how a pair of brothers each came to write one of the most iconic films in Hollywood history, Citizen Kane and All About Eve. Coincidence? Or something about these two men? I also love reading about Hollywood’s studio system, and in my ignorance, I thought Herman Mankiewicz exemplified the classic screenwriter story of that era: seduced by Hollywood’s enormous salaries, they deserted promising careers in books, theater, journalism and then hated themselves for prostituting their talents. Herman’s story was actually much more complicated than that, as was Joe’s, though they were both very disenchanted. My original title for the book was a favorite refrain of Joe’s: When Life Louses Up the Script.

How much cooperation did you receive from the Mankiewicz family? What were some of your primary research sources?

Mankiewicz family members were terrific even if, as Tom Mankiewicz said to me the first time I interviewed him, “We are all wondering why you want to write about us.” I never met a Mankiewicz who wasn’t bright and witty. I don’t believe it’s allowed.

I interviewed Herman’s two sons many times, as well as a few of his grandsons. Joe’s widow, Rosemary, was very helpful, as well as Joe’s three sons and one daughter.

Primary documents were invaluable. Rosemary donated the Joseph L. Mankiewicz Papers to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library just as I began researching the project. The American Film Institute (AFI) provided recordings of interviews conducted by Kenneth Geist for his 1978 biography of Joe, many of them with people who have since died.

Also extremely important were private documents still in the hands of family members. Rosemary Mankiewicz allowed me full access to Joe’s diaries and other private papers, as did members of Herman’s family. Joe’s contemporaneous reactions to an event were a much more reliable source than his and others’ recollections in later interviews — they were all great embellishers. The letters Herman’s family members shared with me allowed me to provide a much more nuanced portrait of Herman. He is mostly remembered for his great wit, but punchlines alone do not a biography make. I was very fortunate and am very grateful.

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The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics by Sydney Ladensohn Stern is now available from University Press of Mississippi, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and other retailers.

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