Welles quote re Susan as most important?

[Colmena]

Somewhere... I came upon a quote by Welles pointing out that Susan is the most important character in CK. (Barring Kane himself, of course!) But I can't recall where I found it. I don't believe that it's from _This is OW_, where (for instance) it does not appear when the topic turns to Dorothy Comingore at p. 71f.

Also, I recall coming upon someone making the point that Comingore was especially daunted by having to play this most important role. Tho I can't recall if that was someone's conjecture, or if she actually said as much.

If anyone can re-direct me to either of these, esp. the first, I would be most appreciative!

PS James Naremore's _The Magic World of OW_ which is considered by many (including myself) to be the single best book on Welles, was re-issued in a third edition in 2015.

[NoFake]

While this doesn't specifically answer your questions, it's a fascinating -- and alternately infuriating, inspiring and heartbreaking -- read: https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/destroyed-by-huac-the-dorothy-comingore-story

[Colmena]

Thanks for the link. The author was given access to all her papers, so perhaps there's a bio in the works? Let's hope.

Here we have the post-CK decline of her career explained as follows:
After seeing Dorothy on the big screen, every studio in town wanted to borrow her. But RKO refused. She then fell so ill a doctor ordered bed rest. But when she didn’t show up for work, the studio suspended her. Dorothy had hoped to star in Sister Carrie, Jane Eyre, or some other classy production, but upon returning to work found nothing to do. “I must have said the wrong thing at the right time,” she told friends, “and I’d like to know what it is.”

On the other hand,
"According to Peter Bogdanovich in his DVD commentary on Citizen Kane, she impaired her subsequent career by turning down too many roles that she felt were uninteresting."

[NoFake]

Sounds a little like Welles himself. Remember what he told Barbara Leaming?

“ . . . Except that I’m my own worst enemy—everybody adds that.”

[Colmena]

But do you take that quote as a matter of Welles conceding that he is his own worst enemy, or just that that is the line on him-- which he would disagree with. Certainly he disputed the charge that he suffered a "fear of completion," as made by Higham et al.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that our tangent is not undermining my original query!
Where's that quote where Welles identifies Susan as the most important, if you please?

[NoFake]

Sorry to deflect attention from your original question. I, too, recall reading that somewhere, and would love to know where. As to your observation, "But do you take that quote as a matter of Welles conceding that he is his own worst enemy, or just that that is the line on him-- which he would disagree with," I think it's a bit of both. While he was certainly disparaging the Higham line (which was, shall we say, "dollar-book Freud," whose intent was to denigrate him), he also, in the dark of night, may have admitted that there was at least some truth in it.

[Colmena]

Found it. On p246 of the Frank Brady bio, he quotes from OW's notes: "Susan is probably the most important character in the picture."

[NoFake]

Thanks! Got it. I'd love to know if he went on to explain in those "personal notes" why he felt that way. (More important than Kane himself?) Brady does go on to elaborate that "Like a Kane counterpart, Susan is also viewed through different eyes and sentiments: . . . " but that still doesn't explain why Welles seemed to see her, at least by implication, as more important than even the title character.

[Colmena]

I'm sure that Welles did not mean that Susan was more important than Kane!
Rather, more important than Leland, Thatcher, Bernstein, or Emily.

[Colmena]

"Like a Kane counterpart, Susan is also viewed through different eyes and sentiments: . . ."

I don't find that Susan is viewed through different eyes. Except for her version of Salammbo vs. Leland's. Apart from that, our view of her is selective, but objective.

Picking up on this, Welles says repeatedly that the so-called "Roshomon" approach to Kane, using contradictory pov's, was set aside. (This being before Roshomon came out, of course!) This was his approach, not Mank's, one that he already made use of in "Marching Song" in regard to different opinions of John Brown. And it's also consistent with his notion that his heroes and his movies are complex, ambiguous, & multi-faceted. (A desideratum that begins with his appreciation of Shakespeare.)

But in Kane the retrospective reports are essentially objective, not subjective. In Colorado, we see a more or less objective view of Little Salem, not Thatcher's tunnel view. And, the most anomalous report of all, Leland's report of Kane's first evening with Susan, is an objective report, e.g. one that includes the snow-globe on the chiffonier!, not Leland's incomplete & second-hand (from Kane?) notion of what went on that evening.