Orson Welles made Citizen Kane (1943) in near secrecy. He had been granted unheard-of freedom by RKO Studios to produce, direct, star in, and edit his first film without studio interference. The film's actors were allowed to read only script pages for scenes in which they would appear, but RKO lawyers, checking for libel, were allowed to see the entire script. Thus, when Welles showed a "rough cut" of the film to several reviewers, the sensational news leaked out: Welles, age twenty-five, the enfant terrible of radio and theater, was attacking the eighty-year-old newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst with a story that paralleled his life. Hearst was incensed. He immediately ordered all mention of RKO Studios and anyone associated with the studio to be banished from Hearst newspapers. He canceled advertising deals with RKO and sent his Hollywood columnist, Louella...