Citizen Kane

Theatrical poster
Directed by Orson Welles
Produced by Orson Welles
Written by Herman J. Mankiewicz
Orson Welles
Starring Orson Welles
Joseph Cotten
Dorothy Comingore
Ruth Warrick
Everett Sloane
George Coulouris
Ray Collins
Agnes Moorehead
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography Gregg Toland
Editing by Robert Wise
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s) United States:
May 1, 1941
Running time 119 minutes
Country USA
Language English
Budget $686,034 (est.)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
Citizen Kane is a 1941 classic American dramatic film, the first feature film directed by Orson Welles, who also co-authored the screenplay. It was released by RKO Pictures. The story, often considered to be a veiled portrayal of the life of William Randolph Hearst, is fictional.[1] Upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. The film traces the life and career of Charles Foster Kane, a man whose career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is revealed through the research of a newspaper reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word, "Rosebud".

Citizen Kane is often cited as being one of the most innovative works in the history of film. In 1997, the American Film Institute placed it at number one in its list of the 100 greatest U.S. movies of all time. In a recent poll of film critics and directors conducted by the British Film Institute, Citizen Kane was ranked the number one best film of all time by both groups.[2][3]

Contents [hide]
1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Development
3.1 Sources
3.1.1 Hearst
3.1.2 Welles as Kane
3.1.3 Jim Gettys
3.1.4 Rosebud
3.2 Production
3.3 Filmmaking innovations
4 Reception
4.1 Hearst's response
4.2 Awards
4.2.1 Academy Awards
4.3 Debate over authorship
4.4 Criticism
5 Prints
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links


[edit] Synopsis
When enormously-wealthy media magnate Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies, he utters the word "rosebud". An obituary newsreel documents the events in his public life. The producer of the newsreel asks a reporter, Jerry Thompson (William Alland), to find out about Kane's private life and personality, in particular to discover the meaning behind his last word. The reporter interviews the great man's friends and associates, and Kane's story unfolds as a series of flashbacks.

First, Thompson approaches Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), who refuses to tell him anything. Thompson then goes to the library of Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), a banker who served as Kane's guardian during his childhood. It is there that Thompson learns about Kane's childhood. In the first flashback, Kane as a young child is forced to leave his beloved mother (Agnes Moorehead) when he becomes suddenly wealthy, and is sent to live with Mr. Thatcher, despite the misgivings of Kane's abusive father.

Thompson then interviews Kane's personal business manager Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), best friend Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), Susan for a second time, and Kane's butler Raymond (Paul Stewart). Other flashbacks show Kane's entry into the newspaper business and his profit-seeking with low-quality "yellow journalism." He takes control of the newspaper, the New York Inquirer, and hires all the best journalists (which he gets from the Chronicle, the main rival of the Inquirer). His attempted rise to power is documented, including his first marriage to Emily Monroe Norton (Ruth Warrick), a President's niece, and his campaign for the office of governor of New York State. A "love nest" scandal ends both his marriage and his political aspirations. Kane remarries, but his domineering personality destroys his relationships and pushes away his loved ones.

Despite Thompson's interviews, he is unable to solve the mystery and concludes that "Rosebud" will forever remain an enigma. At that point, the camera pans over workers burning some of Kane's many possessions. One throws an old sled, with the word "Rosebud" painted on it, into the fire – the same sled that Kane was riding as a child the day his mother sent him away. There is a shot of a chimney with black smoke coming out. For the viewer this solves the "Rosebud" mystery: The sled is a token of the only time in his life when he was poor; but it also represents a time in which he was truly happy and wanted for nothing. After this twist ending, the film ends as it began, with the "No Trespassing" sign.


[edit] Cast
Actor Role
Orson Welles Charles Foster Kane
William Alland Jerry Thompson
Georgia Backus Bertha Anderson
Fortunio Bonanova Signor Matiste
Sonny Bupp Charles Foster Kane III
Ray Collins Jim W. Gettys
Dorothy Comingore Susan Alexander Kane
Joseph Cotten Jedediah Leland
George Coulouris Walter Parks Thatcher
Agnes Moorehead Mary Kane
Erskine Sanford Herbert Carter
Gus Schilling The Headwaiter
Harry Shannon Kane's Father
Everett Sloane Mr. Bernstein
Paul Stewart Raymond
Buddy Swan Young Charles Foster Kane
Ruth Warrick Emily Monroe Norton Kane
Philip Van Zandt Mr. Rawlston


[edit] Development
For some time, screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz had wanted to write a screenplay about a public figure – perhaps a gangster – whose story would be told by the people that knew him.[4] He had already written an unperformed play entitled, The Tree Will Grow about John Dillinger. Orson Welles liked the idea of multiple viewpoints but was not interested in playing Dillinger. Mankiewicz and Welles talked about picking someone else to use a model. They hit on the idea of using William Randolph Hearst as their central character.[4] Mankiewicz had frequented Hearst's parties until his alcoholism got him barred. Mankiewicz resented this and became obsessed with Hearst and Marion Davies.[4]

Once they settled on this project, Welles abandoned two other projects, The Smiler with a Knife and an adaptation of Heart of Darkness.[4] Mankiewicz was put under contract by Mercury Productions and was to receive no credit for his work as he was hired as a script doctor. According to his contract with RKO, Welles would be given sole screenplay credit. He had written a rough script consisting of 300 pages of dialogue with occasional stage directions under the title of John Citizen, USA.[4]


[edit] Sources
The principal source for the story of Citizen Kane was the life of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and the film is seen by critics as a fictionalized, unrelentingly hostile parody of Hearst. Hearst often entertained Hollywood celebrities at Hearst Castle (just north of San Luis Obispo, California) – but only as long as they revealed secrets that would be published the following week in the Hearst newspapers. This quid pro quo resulted in Hearst drawing wide resentment from many actors and directors in Hollywood, and Citizen Kane was seen by many as payback for Hearst's exploits. Welles was also inspired by other figures of the day, and the film also contains autobiographical elements.


[edit] Hearst
The most overt reference to Hearst comes early in the film, as Kane provides a quote that paraphrases an apocryphal quote attributed to Hearst on the Spanish American War: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." Kane states, "You provide the prose poems, I'll provide the war". In real life, Hearst denied saying it, and the only source for the quote is a James Creelman memoir published several years after the statement was reportedly made.

Welles himself insisted that there were also differences between the men. In 1968, he told Peter Bogdanovich, "You know, the real story of Hearst is quite different from Kane's. And Hearst himself—-as a man, I mean—-was very different." In his documentary F for Fake, Welles claims Kane was originally intended to be based on Howard Hughes (who was to be played by Joseph Cotten) but he later changed it to Hearst. Hearst's biographer, David Nasaw, finds the film's depiction of Hearst unfair:

Welles' Kane is a cartoon-like caricature of a man who is hollowed out on the inside, forlorn, defeated, solitary because he cannot command the total obedience, loyalty, devotion, and love of those around him. Hearst, to the contrary, never regarded himself as a failure, never recognized defeat, never stopped loving Marion [Davies] or his wife. He did not, at the end of his life, run away from the world to entomb himself in a vast, gloomy art-choked hermitage.[5]

Several other candidates for the basis of the Kane personality have been suggested, the most likely being that of Jules Brulatour, millionaire head of distribution for Eastman Kodak and co-founder of Universal Pictures. Brulatour's second and third wives, Dorothy Gibson and Hope Hampton, both fleeting stars of the silent screen who later had marginal careers in opera, are also believed to have provided inspiration for the Susan Alexander character.

Orson Welles also claimed that Harold Fowler McCormick's lavish promotion of his second wife Ganna Walska's opera career–despite her renown as a terrible singer–was a direct influence on the screenplay. Roger Ebert, in his DVD commentary on Citizen Kane, suggests that the Alexander character had very little to do with Davies, but, rather, that it was based on Walska, mistress and later wife of Chicago heir Harold Fowler McCormick.[6] McCormick spent thousands of dollars on voice lessons for her and even arranged for Walska to take the lead in a production of Zaza at the Chicago Opera in 1920. But unlike Alexander, Walska got into an argument with director Pietro Cimini during dress rehearsal and stormed out of the production before she appeared.

Like the Susan Alexander character, she had a terrible voice, pleasing only to McCormick. Other sources say the Alexander role - and the disastrous opera singing - is a composite of Hampton, Davies, Walska, and the story of Samuel Insull, who built the Chicago Civic Opera House in 1929 for his daughter, who hoped to become famous and sing at the Metropolitan Opera but never did.


[edit] Welles as Kane

Orson Welles as Charles Foster KaneThere are autobiographical elements to the film. Orson Welles lost his mother when he was only nine years old and his father when he was 15. After this, he became the ward of Chicago's Dr. Maurice Bernstein--and Bernstein is the last name of the only major character in Citizen Kane who receives a completely positive portrayal.

The documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane points out the great irony that Welles's own life story resembled that of Kane far more than Hearst's: an overreaching wunderkind who ended up mournful and lonely in his old age. Citizen Kane's editor Robert Wise summarized: "Well, I thought often afterwards, only in recent years when I saw the film again two or three years ago when they had the fiftieth anniversary, and I suddenly thought to myself, well, Orson was doing an autobiographical film and didn't realize it, because it's rather much the same, you know. You start here, and you have a big rise and tremendous prominence and fame and success and whatnot, and then tail off and tail off and tail off. And at least the arc of the two lives were very much the same..."[1]


[edit] Jim Gettys
The character of political boss Jim Gettys is based on Charles F. Murphy, a political leader in New York City's infamous Tammany Hall political machine, who was an enemy of Hearst. In one scene Gettys admonishes Kane for printing a cartoon showing him in prison stripes. This is based on the fact that Murphy, who was a horse-cart driver and owned several bars, was depicted in a 1903 Hearst cartoon wearing striped prison clothes. A caption, referring to the restaurant Murphy frequented, said: "Look out, Murphy. It’s a short lock-step from Delmonico’s to Sing Sing."


[edit] Rosebud
Orson Welles himself described Rosebud as: "It's a gimmick, really, and rather dollar-book Freud".[7] The symbolic sled 'Rosebud' used in the film was bought for $60,500 by film director Steven Spielberg in 1982. Spielberg commented, "Rosebud will go over my typewriter to remind me that quality in movies comes first".[8][9]

According to Louis Pizzitola, author of Hearst Over Hollywood, "Rosebud" was a nickname that Orrin Peck, a friend of William Randolph Hearst, gave to his mother, Phoebe Hearst.[10] It was said that Phoebe was as close, or even closer, to Orrin than she was to her own son, lending a bitter-sweet element to the word's use in a film about a boy being separated from his mother's love.

In 1989, essayist Gore Vidal cited contemporary rumors that "Rosebud" was a nickname Hearst used for his mistress Marion Davies; a reference to her clitoris,[11][12] a claim repeated as fact in the 1996 documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane. A resultant joke noted, with heavy innuendo, that Hearst and/or Kane died "with 'Rosebud' on his lips."[1]


[edit] Production
During production, Citizen Kane was referred to as RKO 281. Filming took place between June 29 and October 23, 1940. Welles prevented studio executives of RKO from visiting the set. He understood their desire to control projects and he knew they were expecting him to do an exciting film that would correspond to his The War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Welles' RKO contract had given him complete control over the production of the film when he signed on with the studio, something that he never again was allowed to exercise when making motion pictures.


[edit] Filmmaking innovations

A deep focus shot: everything, including the hat in the foreground and the boy in the distance, is in sharp focus.Film scholars and historians view Citizen Kane as Welles' attempt to create a new style of filmmaking by studying various forms of movie making, and combining them all into one. The most innovative technical aspect of Citizen Kane is the extended use of deep focus.[13] In nearly every scene in the film, the foreground, background and everything in between are all in sharp focus. This was done by renowned cinematographer Gregg Toland through his experimentation with lenses and lighting. Specifically, Toland often used telephoto lenses to shoot close-up scenes. Anytime deep focus was impossible — for example in the scene when Kane finishes a bad review of Alexander's opera while at the same time firing the person who started the review — Toland used an optical printer to make the whole screen appear in focus (visually layering one piece of film onto another). However, some apparently deep-focus shots were the result of in-camera effects, as in the famous example of the scene where Kane breaks into Susan Alexander's room after her suicide attempt. In the background, Kane and another man break into the room, while simultaneously the medicine bottle and a glass with a spoon in it are in closeup in the foreground. The shot was an in-camera matte shot. The foreground was shot first, with the background dark. Then the background was lit, the foreground darkened, the film rewound, and the scene re-shot with the background action.

Another unorthodox method used in the film was the way low-angle shots were used to display a point of view facing upwards, thus allowing ceilings to be shown in the background of several scenes.[14] Since movies were primarily filmed on sound stages and not on location during the era of the Hollywood studio system, it was impossible to film at an angle that showed ceilings because the stages had none. In some instances, Welles' crew used muslin draped above the set to produce the illusion of a regular room with a ceiling, while the boom mikes were hidden above the cloth.

One of the story-telling techniques introduced in this film was using an episodic sequence on the same set while the characters changed costume and make-up between cuts so that the scene following each cut would look as if it took place in the same location, but at a time long after the previous cut. In this way, Welles chronicled the breakdown of Kane's first marriage, which took years of story time, in a matter of minutes.

Welles also pioneered several visual effects in order to cheaply shoot things like crowd scenes and large interior spaces. For example, the scene where the camera in the opera house rises dramatically to the rafters to show the workmen showing a lack of appreciation for the second Mrs. Kane's performance was shot by panning a camera upwards over the performance scene, then a curtain wipe to a miniature of the upper regions of the house, and then another curtain wipe matching it again with the scene of the workmen. Other scenes effectively employed miniatures to make the film look much more expensive than it truly was, such as various shots of Xanadu. A loud, full screen closeup of the typewriter typing a single word magnifies the review for the Chicago Inquirer—"weak".[15]

The film broke new ground with its use of special effects makeup, created by makeup artist Maurice Seiderman, believably aging the cast many decades over the course of the story. The details extended down to hazy contact lenses to make Cotten's eyes look rheumy as an old man.[citation needed] Welles later claimed that his own dashing appearance as a young man also involved a lot of makeup (including some strategically applied surgical gauze and tape) skillfully applied by Maurice Seiderman to give him a mini-facelift.[citation needed]

Welles brought his experience with sound from radio along to filmmaking, producing a layered and complex soundtrack. In one scene, the elderly Kane strikes Susan in a tent on the beach, and the two characters silently glower at each other while a woman at the nearby party can be heard hysterically laughing in the background, her giddiness in grotesque counterpoint to the misery of Susan and Kane. Elsewhere, Welles skillfully employed reverberation to create a mood, such as the chilly echo of the monumental library, where the reporter is confronted by an intimidating, officious librarian.

In addition to expanding on the potential of sound as a creator of moods and emotions, Welles pioneered a new aural technique, known as the "lightning-mix". Welles used this technique to link complex montage sequences via a series of related sounds or phrases. In offering a continuous sound track, Welles was able to join what would otherwise be extremely rough cuts together into a smooth narrative. For example, the audience witnesses Kane grow from a child into a young man in just two shots. As Kane's guardian hands him his sled, Kane begrudingly wishes him a "Merry Christmas". Suddenly we are taken to a shot of his guardian fifteen years later, only to have the phrase completed for us: "and a Happy New Year". In this case, the continuity of the soundtrack, not the image, is what makes for a seamless narrative structure.[16]

Welles also carried over techniques from radio not yet popular in the movies (though they would become staples). Using a number of voices, each saying a sentence or sometimes merely a fragment of a sentence, and splicing the dialogue together in quick succession, the result gave the impression of a whole town talking - and, equally important, what the town was talking about. Welles also favored the overlapping of dialogue, considering it more realistic than the stage and movie tradition of characters not stepping on each other's sentences. He also pioneered the technique of putting the audio ahead of the visual in scene transitions (an L-cut); as a scene would come to a close, the audio would transition to the next scene before the visual did.


[edit] Reception
In a 1941 review, Jorge Luis Borges called Citizen Kane a "metaphysical detective story," in that "... [its] subject (both psychological and allegorical) is the investigation of a man's inner self, through the works he has wrought, the words he has spoken, the many lives he has ruined..." Borges noted that "Overwhelmingly, endlessly, Orson Welles shows fragments of the life of the man, Charles Foster Kane, and invites us to combine them and reconstruct him." As well, "Forms of multiplicity and incongruity abound in the film: the first scenes record the treasures amassed by Kane; in one of the last, a poor woman, luxuriant and suffering, plays with an enormous jigsaw puzzle on the floor of a palace that is also a museum." Borges points out, "At the end we realize that the fragments are not governed by a secret unity: the detested Charles Foster Kane is a simulacrum, a chaos of appearances."[17]

Despite numerous positive reviews from critics at the time,[18] the film was not a box office success, just making back enough to cover the budget, but not enough to make a profit. This resulted in Welles's career suffering a crippling blow. He spent the rest of his life struggling to make films on his own terms. He did live long enough to see his debut film acknowledged as a classic, and late in life he famously remarked that he'd started at the top and spent the rest of his life working his way down.

Due to the Second World War, Citizen Kane was little seen and virtually forgotten until its release in Europe in 1946, where it gained considerable acclaim, particularly from French film critics such as André Bazin. In the United States, it was neglected and forgotten until its revival in the late 1950s, and its critical fortunes have skyrocketed since. Critics worldwide began listing it among the best films ever made. The Sight & Sound Top Ten list, revised every ten years, began in 1952 and first listed Citizen Kane in 1962.[19]


[edit] Hearst's response
Hearing about the film enraged Hearst so much that he offered RKO Pictures $800,000 to destroy all prints of the film and burn the negative. Although it is often said that Hearst was upset because the film was about him, one alternative theory is that Hearst was more upset about the portrayal of his mistress, Marion Davies (as singer Susan Alexander) than himself in the film. Davies was a light comedic actress who was talked by Hearst into starring in pompous costume dramas many thought were out of her depth.[citation needed]

When RKO rejected Hearst's offer to suppress the film, Hearst flew into so extreme a rage that he banned every newspaper and station in his media conglomerate from reviewing — or even mentioning — the movie. The documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane lays the blame for Citizen Kane's relative failure squarely at the feet of Hearst. Even though it did decent business at the box-office and went on to be the sixth highest grossing film in its year of release, this fell short of its creators's expectations but was still acceptable to its backers. In The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst, David Nasaw points out that Hearst's actions were not the only reason Kane failed, however: the innovations Welles made with narrative, as well as the dark message at the heart of the film (that the pursuit of success is ultimately futile) meant that a popular audience could not appreciate its merits (Nasaw, 572-573).

In a series of documentaries about Welles's career made and broadcast by the BBC in 1982, Welles claimed that during opening week, a policeman approached him one night and told him: "Do not go to your hotel room tonight; Hearst has set up an undressed woman to leap into your arms when you enter and a photographer to take pictures of you. Hearst is planning to publish it in all of his papers." Welles thanked the man and stayed out all night. However, it is not confirmed whether this was true or not. Welles also described his only meeting with William Randolph Hearst: in an elevator in a building in San Francisco, where the film was being premiered. Welles offered Hearst some free tickets but the tycoon declined to answer; Welles later stated that Charles Foster Kane would probably have accepted the offer.

Although Hearst's efforts to suppress it damaged the film's success, they backfired in the long run, since almost every reference of Hearst's life and career made today typically includes a reference to the film's parallel to it. The irony of Hearst's efforts is that the film is now inexorably connected to him. This connection was reinforced by the publication in 1961 of W. A. Swanberg's extensive biography titled Citizen Hearst.


[edit] Awards

[edit] Academy Awards

Theatrical release posterWin:

Best Original Screenplay - Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz
Nominations:

Best Picture - Mercury
Best Director - Orson Welles
Best Actor - Orson Welles
Best Film Editing - Robert Wise
Best Art Direction - Perry Ferguson, A. Roland Fields, Van Nest Polglase, Darrell Silvera
Best Cinematography (black and white) - Gregg Toland
Best Sound Mixing - John Aalberg
Best Music Score - Bernard Herrmann
Boos were heard almost every time Citizen Kane was referred to during the Oscars ceremony that year.[20] Most of Hollywood did not want the film to see the light of day considering the threats that William Randolph Hearst had made if it did.

The American Film Institute put the film at the top of its "100 Greatest Movies" lists, having the top on the 1997 and 2007 lists. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. This film is consistently in the top 25 on the Internet Movie Database. Beginning in 1962, and every ten years since, it has been voted the best film ever made by the Sight and Sound critics' poll. The quote, "Rosebud," was listed as no. 17 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes. The film has also ranked number one in the following film "best of" lists: Editorial Jaguar, FIAF Centenary List, France Critics Top 10, Kinovedcheskie Russia Top 10, Romanian Critics Top 10, Time Out Magazine Greatest Films, and Village Voice 100 Greatest Films.

Other Awards

NYFCC Best Picture for 1941

[edit] Debate over authorship
One of the long standing academic debates of Citizen Kane has been the nature of the authorship of the original screenplay, which the opening credits attributes to both Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Most famously, film critic Pauline Kael, in an essay titled "Raising Kane" (originally published in The New Yorker in 1971 and later reprinted in The Citizen Kane Book and in her omnibus collection For Keeps) claims that Welles downplayed veteran screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz's contribution. Kael argues that Mankiewicz was the true author of the screenplay and therefore responsible for much of what made the movie great. This angered many critics of the day, most notably critic-turned-filmmaker (and close friend of Welles) Peter Bogdanovich, who rebutted many of Kael's claims.

Bernard Herrmann was equally vocal in his criticism of Kael's claim not only on her position that it was Mankiewicz, not Welles, who made the main thrust of the film but also in her assumptions about the use of music in the film without consulting him:

Pauline Kael has written in The Citizen Kane Book (1971), that the production wanted to use Massenet’s "Thais" but could not afford the fee. But Miss Kael never wrote or approached me to ask about the music. We could easily have afforded the fee. The point is that its lovely little strings would not have served the emotional purpose of the film.[21]

Robert L. Carringer, in a 1978 essay titled "The Scripts Of Citizen Kane," and in his 1985 book The Making Of Citizen Kane, refutes Kael's claim that Mankiewicz was the sole author of the screenplay. After analysis of the seven script revisions of the film, Carringer found the film's dual credit for both Welles and Mankiewicz to be accurate. The script revisions indicate the different contributions and the author of each of those contributions and prove, according to Carringer, that Mankiewicz did not write the script entirely on his own and that Welles contributed to it significantly.


[edit] Criticism
Despite its status, Citizen Kane is not entirely without its critics. Boston University film scholar Ray Carney, although noting its technical achievements, criticized what he saw as the film's lack of emotional depth, shallow characterization and empty metaphors. Listing it among the most overrated works within the film community, he accused the film of being "an all-American triumph of style over substance... indistinguishable from the opera production within it: attempting to conceal the banality of its performances by wrapping them in a thousand layers of acoustic and visual processing." Of its director, he went on to state, "Welles is Kane — in a sense he couldn't have intended — substituting razzle-dazzle for truth and hoping no one notices the sleight of hand." He also criticized critics and scholars of allowing themselves to be pandered to, stating "critics obviously enjoy being told what to think or they'd never sit still for the hammy acting, cartoon characterizations, tendentious photography, editorializing blockings, and absurdly grandiose (and annoyingly insistent) metaphors....When will film studies grow up? Even Jedediah Leland, the opera reviewer in the film, knew better than to be taken in by Salammbo's empty reverberations."[22]

Similarly, James Agate wrote, "I thought the photography quite good, but nothing to write to Moscow about, the acting middling, and the whole thing a little dull...Mr. Welles's high-brow direction is of that super-clever order which prevents you from seeing what that which is being directed is all about."[23]


[edit] Prints
Welles' original master film negative of Citizen Kane was destroyed in a fire in the 1970s at his villa in Madrid, Spain, along with the only known print of Welles' 1938 short film Too Much Johnson. Until 1991, all existing theatrical prints of the film were made from copies of the original. When the rights to the film were purchased by Ted Turner's Turner Entertainment (which bought the rights to the MGM and RKO film libraries), film restoration techniques were used to produce a pristine print for a 50th Anniversary theatrical revival reissue in 1991 (released by Paramount Pictures). The 2003 British DVD edition is taken from an interpositive held by the British Film Institute. The current US DVD version (released by Warner Home Video) is taken from another digital restoration, supervised by Turner. The transfer to Region 1 DVD has been criticised by some film experts for being too bright. Also, in the scene in Bernstein's office (chapter 10) rain falling outside the window has been digitally erased, probably because it was thought to be excessive film grain. These alterations are not present in the UK Region 2, which is also considered to be more accurate in terms of contrast and brightness.

In 2003, Orson Welles' daughter Beatrice sued Turner Entertainment and RKO Pictures, claiming that the Welles estate is the legal copyright holder of the film. Her attorney said that Orson Welles had left RKO with an exit deal terminating his contracts with the studio, meaning that Welles still had an interest in the film and his previous contract giving the studio the copyright of the film was null and void. Beatrice Welles also claimed that, if the courts did not uphold her claim of copyright, RKO nevertheless owes the estate 20% of the profits, from a previous contract which has not been lived up to.

On May 30, 2007, the appeals panel agreed that Beatrice Welles could proceed with the lawsuit against Turner Entertainment, the opinion partially overturns the 2004 decision by a lower court judge who had found in favor of Turner Entertainment on the issue of video rights.[24]

In the 1980s, this film became the catalyst in the controversy over the colorization of black and white films. When Ted Turner told members of the press that he was considering colorizing Citizen Kane, his comments led to an immediate public outcry. The uproar was for naught, as Turner Pictures had never actually announced that this was an upcoming planned project. Turner later claimed that this was a joke designed to needle colorization critics, and that he had never had any intention of colorizing the film. Turner could not have colorized the film had he wanted to. Welles' original contract prevented any alteration to the film without his, and eventually his estate's, express consent.

Devil Inside
Everybody wants me to be their angel
Everybody wants something they can cradle
They don't know I burn
They don't know I burn
They don't know I burn

[Chorus:]
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside of me
Devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil somewhere really deep inside me
Devil inside of me
Jealous angel deep inside me

You don't know cuz you're too busy reading labels
You're missing all the action underneath my table
I'm waiting for my turn
Waiting for my turn
Just waiting for my turn
Just waiting for my turn

[Chorus:]
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside of me
Devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil somewhere really deep inside me
Devil inside of me
Jealous angel deep inside me

Time to make it burn
This is how I burn

[Chorus:]
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil (or something like it) inside of me
Devil (or something like it) inside
Maybe there's a devil somewhere really deep inside me
Devil inside of me
Jealous angel deep inside me



Exodus '04
With you these streets are heaven
Now home feels so foreign
They told me I was mistaken, infatuated
And I was afraid to trust my hunches
Now I am ready

Daddy don't be mad that I'm leaving
Please let me worry about me
Mama don't you worry about me
This is my story

[Chorus:]
Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean, through the desert, snow
We'll say goodbye to the friends we know
This is our Exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our Exodus '04

Landscapes keep changing
History teaches something
I know I could be mistaken, but my heart has spoken
I cannot redirect my feelings
The waves have parted

Daddy don't be mad that I'm leaving
Please let me worry about me
Mama don't you worry about me
This is my story

[Chorus:]
Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean, through the desert, snow
We'll say goodbye to the friends we know
This is our Exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our Exodus '04

I'm listening to a music never ending
My baby don't you know I'll never let you down
You've opened me to so many different endings
But baby I know that you'll always be around

[Chorus:]
Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean, through the desert, snow
We'll say goodbye to the friends we know
This is our Exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our Exodus '04



The Workout
I was dancing with a dirty blond Texan
Charming accent but the music's playing too loud for talking
So I showed him how people in the Far East get down

Push it up, push it down
Pull it up, pull it down
Keep it up, keep it down
Now put me down
...what a workout!

If you want, you can come
Come get it, get it
If you don't you may really regret it, 'gret it
Up and down till your knees start shakin' shakin'
Ain't it good to be alive tonight

One life, two-time, 3 girls, 4 guys
Five ripples running up and down my spine
6.0 Make it sweet, drop another dime

I was talking with a born-again Christian
"So what's it like to start life all over?"
He said "Amen,
I feel like I've been rediscovering the tomb Tutankhamen."

Push it up, push it down
Pull it up, pull it down
Keep it up, keep it down
Baby don't put me down
...what a workout!

What you want, it's a done deal
Shake it, shake it
What you don't, you can forget about it, 'bout it
Up and down, feel your brainwaves jumpin' jumpin'
Make me wanna take a dive
As we count to five

One life, two-time, 3 girls, 4 guys
Five ripples running up and down my spine
Can you hold on someone's calling on the other line

Push it up, push it down
Pull it up, pull it down
Keep it up, keep it down
Now put me down
...what a workout!

If you want, you can come
Come get it, get it
If you don't you may really regret it, 'gret it
Up and down till your knees start shakin' shakin'
Ain't it good to be alive tonight

One life, two-time, 3 girls, 4 guys
Five ripples running up and down my spine
6.0 Make it sweet, drop another dime


Easy Breezy
[Chorus 1:]
I still remember the ways that you touched me
Now I know I don't mean anything to you
You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy
Soon you'll mean exactly nothing to me
And that means...

You look stupid telling all your friends how you got the best of me
I intended to share the pleasure only
Now I look stupid
We're living in a world with a lot of pressure
It's quite unneeded to put some pressure on me

You came and went and left my house
Like a breeze just passing by
Hello, Goodbye
You left a note saying "'Twas nice stopping by"
I should've never let you inside

[Chorus 2:]
I still remember the ways that you touched me
Now I know I don't mean anything to you
You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy
Soon you'll mean exactly nothing to me
Does that mean anything to you

Easy Breezy
Do you whistle to hide that you're feeling lonely
How do I breathe with all this pressure on me
Easy Breezy
When you wrestle, you know that you hurt somebody
How do I breathe with all this pressure on me

You came and went and left my house
Like a breeze just passing by
Konnichiwa, Sayonara
'Twas nice of you to stop by
Would it amuse you if I told you that I...

[Chorus 2:]
I still remember the ways that you touched me
Now I know I don't mean anything to you
You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy
Soon you'll mean exactly nothing to me
Does that mean anything to you

[Chorus 2:]
I still remember the ways that you touched me
Now I know I don't mean anything to you
You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy
Soon you'll mean exactly nothing to me
Does that mean anything to you

She's got a new microphone
She doesn't need you anymore



Tippy Toe
[Chorus:]
Every time I think about you
Heaven knows I fall into a groove
You're like a great interlude
Every time I think about your body my body says ooh ooh
Every time I think about you heaven needs a prayer
Cuz you're married and you've even got a family too
Pray that they don't hear you
Now let me see you dance on your tippy toe (Ooh)

What a perfect life they think you've got, right?
Problems kept inside, look neat and organized
What you need in life is some wonder
A new friend with visions like you

Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
Stay very close to the floor
Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
Careful when you close the door
Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
When we tippy toe, tippy toe (Just imagine)
My body under your body
Here we go everybody 3, 2, 1

[Chorus:]
Every time I think about you
Heaven knows I fall into a groove
You're like a great interlude
Every time I think about your body my body says ooh ooh
Every time I think about you heaven needs a prayer
Cuz you're married and you've even got a family too
Pray that they don't hear you
Now let me see you dance on your tippy toe (Ooh)

When the thrill subsides, will you still be mine?
Worry infiltrates my head till I kill it
I fill it instead with improper visions of you

Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
Stay very close to the floor
Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
Careful when you close the door
Nobody has to know (Synchronize it)
When we tippy toe, tippy toe (Just imagine)
Nobody has to know, body screaming MORE
On your mark set 3, 2, 1

[Chorus:]
Every time I think about you
Heaven knows I fall into a groove
You're like a great interlude
Every time I think about your body my body says ooh ooh
Every time I think about you heaven needs a prayer
Cuz you're married and you've even got a family too
Pray that they don't hear you
Now let me see you dance on your tippy toe (Ooh)

[Chorus:]
Every time I think about you
Heaven knows I fall into a groove
You're like a great interlude
Every time I think about your body my body says ooh ooh
Every time I think about you heaven needs a prayer
Cuz you're married and you've even got a family too
Pray that they don't hear you
Now let me see you dance on your tippy toe (Ooh)



Hotel Lobby
She rises with the sunset
She wonders, "When will this end?"
The world is full of money, full of money
She goes out unprotected
She doesn't listen to her best friend
It's only for the money, for the money, for the money

She doesn't want to be respected
Reality's her best friend
She needs the extra money, extra money
In the city, the town, and the household
So many things go unreported
So many things her eyes have seen, eyes have seen, eyes have seen

[Chorus:]
Meet me in the hotel lobby
Everybody's looking lonely
Watch me as I walk in slowly
When your eyes meet mine
It's in the mirrors of the hotel lobby

This is not what she expected
Her hopes, they stretch and they bend
Wrinkle like paper money, paper money
In the city, the town, and the household
So many things can be distorted
So if you want a true life story, bring money, bring money

[Chorus:]
Meet me in the hotel lobby
Everybody's looking lonely
Watch me as I walk in slowly
When your eyes meet mine
It's in the mirrors of the hotel lobby

[Chorus:]
Meet me in the hotel lobby
Everybody's looking lonely
Watch me as I walk in slowly
When your eyes meet mine
It's in the mirrors of the hotel lobby

She's unprotected
She's unprotected, oh
She's unprotected
She's unprotected, oh

[Chorus:]
Meet me in the hotel lobby
Everybody's looking lonely
Watch me as I walk in slowly
When your eyes meet mine
It's in the mirrors of the hotel lobby

Meet me in the hotel lobby
Everybody's looking lonely
Catch me because I think I'm falling
I'll be waiting in the mirrors of the hotel lobby



Animato
Somebody out there better get this
Not many people can do it like this
How about some speakers to amplify me
How about rhyme to fortify me
Life's messy so I clarify it
Simplifying things for everybody

[Chorus:]
I need someone who's true
Someone who does the laundry too
So what you gonna do
Please don't forget to follow-through
I take my diamond shoes
Someone who tries to be on time
Do what you said you'll do
I hope you like to follow-through

All that I need's a bit o'practice
My mind is set on bigger business
This is not a time for reminiscing
This is something new and interesting
Why are you trying to classify it
This is music for all humanity from me

Dreaming of hip hop tunes
They say you've got the proper tools
So what you gonna do
Keep doing things the way you do
I take my diamond shoes
Someone tries to be on time
Do what you came to do
I came to see you follow-through

[Chorus:]
I need someone who's true
Someone who does the laundry too
So what you gonna do
Please don't forget to follow-through
I take my diamond shoes
Someone who tries to be on time
Do what you said you'll do
I hope you like to follow-through

DVD's of Elvis Presley
BBC Sessions of Led Zeppelin
Singing along to F. Mercury
Wishing he was still performing



Crossover Interlude
I don't wanna crossover
Between this genre, that genre
Between you and I is where
I wanna crossover, the line

I just wanna go further
Between here and there grow wiser
Together you and I-we can
Cross all borders you and I

Only, only you can make me...



Kremlin Dusk
All along I was searching for my Lenore
In the words of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe
Now I'm sober and "Nevermore"
Will the Raven come to bother me at home

Calling you, calling you home
You... calling you, calling you home

By the door you said you had to go
Couldn't help me anymore
This I saw coming, long before
So I kept on staring out the window

Calling you, calling you home
You... calling you, calling you home

I am a natural entertainer, aren't we all
Holding pieces of dying ember
I'm just trying to remember who I can call
Who can I call

Home... calling you, calling you

I run a secret propaganda
Aren't we all hiding pieces of broken anger
I'm just trying to remember who I can call
Can I call

Born in a war of opposite attraction
It isn't, or is it a natural conception
Torn by the arms in opposite direction
It isn't or is it a Modernist reaction

Born in a war of opposite attraction
It isn't, or is it a natural conception
Torn by the arms in opposite direction
It isn't or is it a Modernist reaction

Is it like this
Is it always the same
When a heartache begins, is it like this

Do you like this
Is it always the same
Will you come back again
Do you like this

Is it always the same
Will come back again
Do you like this
Do you like this

Is it like this
Is it always the same
If you change your phone number, will you tell me

Is it like this
Is it always the same
When a heartache begins, is it like this

If you like this
Will you remember my name
Will you play it again, if you like this


You Make Me Want To Be A Man
[Chorus:]
I really wanna tell you something
This is just the way I am
I really wanna tell you something, but I can't
You make me want to be a man
Arguments that have no meaning
This is just the way I am
You really wanna tell me something, but you can't
You make me want to be a man

The thunder and the rain called you and you came
We didn't need to say much to communicate
Now it's different; 99% is misinterpreted

[Chorus:]
I really wanna tell you something
This is just the way I am
I really wanna tell you something, but I can't
You make me want to be a man
Arguments that have no meaning
This is just the way I am
You really wanna tell me something, but you can't
You make me want to be a man

Every word you say finds a home in me
Nothing that anyone could ever say
Could hurt me like this
Baby please, don't light that cigarette
Don't light that cigarette

[Chorus:]
I really wanna tell you something
This is just the way I am
I really wanna tell you something, but I can't
You make me want to be a man
Arguments that have no meaning
This is just the way I am
You really wanna tell me something, but you can't
You make me want to be a man

[Chorus:]
I really wanna tell you something
This is just the way I am
I really wanna tell you something, but I can't
You make me want to be a man
Arguments that have no meaning
This is just the way I am
You really wanna tell me something, but you can't
You make me want to be a man


Wonder 'Bout
Late at night I think about you sometimes
I don't cry, I wonder if you're alright
Late at night I think about you sometimes
Wonder why I wonder if you're alright

Thinking of the love we made
Ran around, out of town, now you're back again
Confusing true love and pain
Threw it down, now I'm back on my feet again

Are you asleep
Or are you still afraid of the dark
Hugs and kisses, pictures and romances
Things that I wish I could do without

[Chorus:]
How many nights did I wander in the dark
Counting secrets of my heart
Now and then I wonder 'bout
Who's eating, sleeping with you now
How many times did I kiss you in the dark
Watching memories depart
Then again I wonder 'bout
But I don't give a damn about you

Take a bite; the pleasure is all mine
Keep in mind I'll think about you sometimes
I'm alright; I'll think about you and I'll...
Turn this plight into a singer's delight

Living in a house of pain
Ran away, and I'm glad that I ran away
Rather be out in the rain
Now I understand why my mother ran away

No use asking
When did I start acting like such a jerk (you too)
Washing dishes, birthday wishes, watching baseball matches
The other future that I wonder 'bout
So many things I wish I didn't wonder 'bout

How many nights did I wander in the dark
Counting secrets of my heart
Now and then I wonder 'bout
Who's eating, sleeping with you now

How many times did I kiss you in the dark
Watching memories depart
Now and then I wonder but I betcha
I betcha don't give a damn about

[Chorus:]
How many nights did I wander in the dark
Counting secrets of my heart
Now and then I wonder 'bout
Who's eating, sleeping with you now
How many times did I kiss you in the dark
Watching memories depart
Then again I wonder 'bout
But I don't give a damn about you


Let Me Give You My Love
What a day, young boy next door passed away
Oh it makes me wanna say
I don't wanna waste another day
Can you and I start mixing gene pools
Eastern, Western people
Get naughty multilingual

I was sort of like soul searching
But your body's so jaw-dropping
Our chemistry's groundbreaking
Don't keep me waiting

[Chorus:]
Hurry up, baby hurry up, baby
Let me give you my love
Hurry up, let's turn this room into a melting pot
Giddy up, baby giddy up, baby
Let me give you my love
Buckle up, boy I know you gonna like what I got

Maybe it's not worth the wait
Maybe I should walk away
I don't wanna waste my energy
Can you and I stop acting like fools
Or move on to other people
It's funny, but I'd like to settle

I was sort of like soul searching
But your body's so jaw dropping
Some say it's rulebreaking
But times are changing

[Chorus:]
Hurry up, baby hurry up, baby
Let me give you my love
Hurry up, let's turn this room into a melting pot
Giddy up, baby giddy up, baby
Let me give you my love
Buckle up, boy I know you gonna like what I got

Let me know if what I'm feeling isn't mutual
All I know is that I'm feeling very very hot hot hot

[Chorus:]
Hurry up, baby hurry up, baby
Let me give you my love
Hurry up, let's turn this room into a melting pot
Giddy up, baby giddy up, baby
Let me give you my love
Buckle up, boy I know you gonna like what I got

[Chorus:]
Hurry up, baby hurry up, baby
Let me give you my love
Hurry up, let's turn this room into a melting pot
Giddy up, baby giddy up, baby
Let me give you my love
Buckle up, boy I know you gonna like what I got



About Me
My baby, there's something you should know
About me, before you propose
Although we have known each other for quite a while

Whenever you need me
I'm gonna try to make it through to you
But I'm not always ready to
When you are not watching
I prepare myself for you
But I worry that I might have been misunderstood

I gotta tell you, I wanna tell you
I can be lazy but I'll try not to
Maybe I'm not a very honest person
Right now you're sure that you love me
But are you really sure that you know all about me
Up and down and down down down down we go

My baby, a lot could happen before tomorrow
Think about the pain before you take another dose
Who knows if it could be good for you after all

Whatever you give me
I'm gonna try to give you something new
Not something you've already chewed
When you are not watching
I prepare myself for you
Because this could be good

What's buggin' you
I gotta tell you, I wanna tell you
I can be crazy when I don't want to
Maybe I'm not a very honest person
What if I don't want a baby yet
Is it okay if I'm not cute and naッve
Up and down and down down down down we go

This could be good
So I gotta tell you, I wanna tell you
You can be shady... Whatcha goin' through?
Maybe you're not a very honest person
You say you're sure that you love me
How could that be when you keep so much from me
Turn the tables 'round, "round and 'round we go

Right now you're sure that you love me
But are you really ready to know more about me
Up and down and down, 'round and 'round and 'round
Where do we go

By Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY
Los Angeles Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt sees a lot of Dennis Eckersley in Takashi Saito.
The pinpoint control. The vicious slider. The successful conversion from starter to reliever. The crestfallen reaction to the rare failure. To Honeycutt, those are all parallels between his former Oakland A's teammate and the Dodgers' All-Star closer.

The comparison to the Hall of Famer pleases Saito (pronounced Cy-to), who joined the Dodgers with little fanfare last year after 14 seasons in Japan.

It would make Saito even prouder if he actually knew who Eckersley is.

The gaps in his knowledge of America's national pastime are understandable. Harder to comprehend is the right-hander's transformation from a mediocre starter his last three years in Japan to one of the majors' premier closers.

"That's very puzzling to me as well," Saito, 37, said through interpreter Scott Akasaki, the Dodgers' manager of team travel, in San Francisco over the weekend for the series against the Giants.

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"The last couple of years in Japan I had a lot of injuries. There were a couple of surgeries, a herniated disk (in his back). But it is a mystery to me and something I think about from time to time, as to how I'm able to do well over here."

To say he's pitched "well" is an understatement. After setting a Dodgers rookie record with 24 saves last season, Saito goes into tonight's series opener vs. the San Diego Padres tied for the third-most saves in the National League with 37 in 40 opportunities. In July he became the first pitcher ever to record 47 saves in the first 50 chances of his career.

Saito's 1.26 earned-run average leads the majors among pitchers with at least 50 innings. Perhaps more impressive is his ratio of 7.1 strikeouts for every walk (71-10), which speaks to his combination of uncanny command of the strike zone with outstanding stuff.

That's partly what inspires the comparisons to Eckersley, who struck out 73 and walked four in 1990 as the A's closer.

"He's got more pitches than Eckersley did. Eck had pinpoint control but he was pretty much slider-fastball," says Honeycutt, who set up Eckersley from 1987-93. "Eck took anytime he did blow a save (hard). And I see the same in Sammy (Saito's nickname). He doesn't like to fail."

Leaving family, career behind

Saito took a distinctly different path to the majors than rookie Boston Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, a former high school sensation who commanded an investment of more than $102 million (including posting fee) and arrived in the USA with a horde of reporters following his every move.

There has been no talk of Saito throwing a "gyroball," the likely mythical pitch Matsuzaka supposedly imported from Japan. Instead, Saito delivers a two-seam fastball in the mid-90s that moves into right-handed hitters and away from lefties, and a slider that breaks a good 18 inches in the opposite direction.

"If you can hit both pitches, he's got a curveball for you," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin says. "And if you can hit that, too — which most guys don't — he has a splitter he uses once in a while. Normally he doesn't even need to use that."

Saito did not start pitching until his sophomore year at Tohoku Fukushi University, and his early memories of American baseball as a kid in Sendai, 190 miles north of Tokyo, revolved around Pete Rose sliding into home plate and Hank Aaron belting a home run.

Later, when the former infielder became a pitcher of some renown with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan's Central League, the majors seemed like a distant fantasy, even more so when his career took a downturn. Saito considered retiring after his contract with Yokohama expired in 2005 but yearned for a chance to toe a big-league rubber, even if just once.

He set out on his quest with nothing more than a minor-league contract, leaving behind his wife, Yukiko, and daughters Kurumi, now 12, and Mokoka, 9. In early April 2006, after a brief stint in the minors, Saito became, at 36, the oldest rookie in Dodgers history. He earned $365,000 and is up to $1 million now.

"I got to step on the mound and fulfilled my goal," says Saito, whose family has stayed home in Yokohama but visited him for the All-Star Game and in August. Manager "Grady (Little), my teammates, the support staff, I'm very thankful to them and I just want to sort of repay their help by doing the best I can for the team."

Injuries to Eric Gagne and Yhency Brazoban opened the way for Saito, who became the closer in mid-May of last season after Danys Baez struggled in that role.

"Many times this happens, a closer gets discovered out of desperation," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti says.

"When you think what he's accomplished, it's pretty stunning. And he walked into the shoes of Eric Gagne, who was one of the greatest closers in the history of the game for a period of time."

Throwing harder, more accurate

Baseball followers back home wonder how Saito continues to mow down major leaguers when he was so ineffective in recent years there.

A four-time All-Star in Japan, Saito was a starter for his first nine seasons (he sat out one following shoulder surgery), only twice compiling a winning record. After two successful seasons as a closer, he returned to the rotation and went a combined 11-16 with a 4.65 ERA over his last three years.

"He was off the radar. He was not a pitcher on the BayStars all of us were talking about," says Marty Kuehnert, assistant to the president of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Sendai.

"Saito and (Red Sox rookie Hideki) Okajima are pitching much better than just about anybody here expected. It's surprising."

Kuehnert says Saito is throwing harder and with better location than in Japan. Honeycutt didn't expect the 6-2, 205-pound Saito to reach 93, 94 mph consistently but says the adrenaline of closing and the short appearances — typically an inning — allow him to go all out.

Hitters have been taken aback.

"When we were playing the Nationals they were like, 'What's the deal with Saito?' " says first baseman/outfielder Mark Sweeney. "And I said, 'Man, you better get him early.' If you don't hit that first fastball, if you foul it off, you're pretty much an out."

Not everybody is ready to anoint Saito a latter-day Eck. San Francisco Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel, who faced Eckersley for years in the 1990s, says Saito's numbers are impressive, but lack of familiarity helps him.

"I think he's been successful because most hitters don't know him," says Vizquel, who is 0-for-7 against Saito.

Teammate Scott McClain agrees, but only to a point. McClain, a career minor-leaguer brought up to the Giants on Friday, clouted 71 home runs for the Seibu Lions from 2001-04 yet never hit above .247. He believes the level of play in Japan is underestimated here, especially the pitching.

"There's a few guys over there that threw anywhere from 90-95 (mph) and close, and you go up looking for that fastball and you see nothing but sliders, unlike our way of pitching over here," McClain says. "It takes some time to adjust to somebody like that. Shoot, if you only see him here for one inning, there's not too much time to adjust."

In nearly two seasons against Saito, they still haven't.

Posted 1d 10h ago
Updated 18h 49m ago E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |
To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.

【ヒューマン】菊川怜29歳、“東大”の呪縛も20代で卒業
 ドラマで女医役に初挑戦している菊川怜=東京都渋谷区

 女優、菊川怜(29)が20代最後の年を迎えた。東大2年時にスカウトされ、才色兼備の女優としてデビューしてから9年。ガムシャラに突っ走ってきたつもりだが、実はこの“東大”の2文字が、かえって自身を制限していたと振り返る。30代を前に「やっと気にしない自分になれた」。いま菊川の中で、大きく何かが変わろうとしている。


(ペン・古田 貴士 カメラ・今井 正人)




 取材し始めると、すぐに、あれ?なんか雰囲気が変わったなと感じた。

 出演中のNHK「病院のチカラ〜星空ホスピタル〜」(土曜後9・0)は、天才的な手術テクニックを持つが人に心を開かない、菊川演じる女医・ともみが、地方の病院で患者と触れ合い、徐々に生まれ変わっていくヒューマンドラマ。「この作品、役との出会いは貴重な経験になりました」と話す姿から、何か心境に大きな変化があったことがうかがえる。

 「ともみの行動が胸に響くんです。ともみって本当は人と触れ合うのがとっても怖い人。患者に感情移入しすぎちゃうから、自分の受け持った子が治らないことが辛くて耐えられない。だからこそ周りに壁を作っていた。天才なんて言われていますけど、ともみは完ぺきな人間ではないし、弱いところがいっぱいある。身近にいる人たちはそれに気づいてるんですね。そんなところにすごく共感できました」

 形は違うが自身も周りに壁を作ってきた。それはデビュー以来、必ずついて回った“東大出身の女優”という言葉が大きい。才色兼備と見る周りの目は、知らず知らずのうちに行動を制限した。


 「東大、東大と見られるのは嫌でしたね。それだけじゃないのに…とずっと思っていました。知らないうちに周りにガードを作るようになっていました」

 周囲が勝手な想像でイメージを膨らませるほど「どういう風に自分を表現していいのか分からない」と戸惑い、壁を厚くしていく。そんな悪循環を変えていったのは、これまでの数々の経験から生まれた自信だ。

 東大在学中に芸能界デビューして、はや9年。

 「高校時代はもともと進学校(東京・桜蔭高校)だし、周りに乗せられている感じもあって勉強していました。でもこのまま大学に入ってどうなるんだろうと考えたとき、私の夢って何だろうと思ったんです。映画の道に進みたいなと思ったのはそのとき。たまたまスカウトされて一生懸命頑張っていたら、いつの間にかこんなに時間がたっちゃった」

 20代で経験したドラマ、映画、CM、報道番組などあらゆる仕事は大きな財産。土台がしっかりしたからこそ、周りの言葉に左右されることなく、今ではあんなに嫌だった東大という言葉も笑って聞き流せる。

 「どうでもよくなりましたね。今はそのまま受け止めるようにしています。東大に行って勉強したことも私の大事な経験の一つ。自分の通ってきた道なんだから」

 30代を前に考えるのは「これからはきちんと自分と向き合って、自己管理をしっかりできる女性になりたい」ということ。ともみもだんだんと周りに心を開き、これまでの自分の生き方と向き合っていくが、「人と真剣に向き合うということは、自分の生き方もさらけ出すことにつながる。そうやって自分と向き合うことで、ともみは人として成長していくんです」と、まるで自分と重ねるように話す。

 仕事は充実しているようだが、プライベートは?

 「結婚は、相手がいないので…。縁だと思うから、ひそかに期待はしています(笑)。タイプは映画のウィル・スミスさんみたいな人。明るくて陽気で家族を大事にして、一緒にいて楽しくて、温かくて。あと、尊敬できる人がいいなぁ」

 そう言って「注文多すぎ?」とケラケラ。

 「この先自分はどうなっているんだろうって考えると、すごく楽しいことが待っているような気がするんですよ。芸能界の仕事ってハードな部分が多いけど、確実に私が成長するきっかけになっていると思うんです」

 いまはともみとともに成長中。きっとドラマが終わるころには、また新しい菊川怜が生まれていることだろう。


★「日曜日が楽しみ」な理由

 菊川にとって、いまや切っても切り離せない存在となったのが、平成14年10月からキャスターを務めている日本テレビ系報道番組「真相報道 バンキシャ!」だ。

 「毎週日曜日が楽しみなんです。ほかの仕事に追われていると、結構怠け者なんで視野が狭くなっちゃうんですけど、この番組のおかげで毎週新しい物に触れ合える。いつも良い空気を吸わせてもらってます」

 ちょっと気になったので、何カ国語ぐらい話せるのか聞いたところ、「そんなにしゃべれないですよ。日本語に、英語に、大学時代第2外国語に習っていたドイツ語。後はセリフで覚えた中国語ぐらいです。モンゴル語はあいさつぐらいなら」。

 十分だと思います。

C.J. Nitkowski pitched for several major league teams from 1995-2005. He's playing in Japan this year and will file periodic updates for The Associated Press on his experience. His stories will be archived on his Web site, www.cjbaseball.com

By C.J. NITKOWSKI

For The Associated Press

MIYAZAKI, Japan (AP) -After 12 spring trainings in major league baseball with seven different teams, I would have felt confident saying that I have seen all spring training could possibly have to offer. That was, of course, before I began my 13th spring training in professional baseball with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Pacific League in Japan. Japanese culture sharply contrasts that of the United States, and baseball is no different. Over here, it sincerely starts with the concept of team.

The Japanese players are very focused on the goals of the team. Individual goals are looked upon only as a way to help the team achieve its ultimate goal, winning a championship. When a player sets season goals here, it is for the benefit of the team, not for himself. One of the first things an American player would notice to be drastically different is the daily meetings the Hawks hold. Each morning at 7:40 all the players, coaches and staff meet outside of the team hotel in Miyazaki. Unlike in the U.S., all the players in major league camp stay at the team hotel.

With temperatures hovering around 38 degrees, not counting the wind that's coming from a couple of hundred yards off the Pacific Ocean, we begin with what amounts to a 2-to-3-minute stretch. Then one or two members of the team place themselves in the center among us and yell at the top of their lungs what their goals are for the season.

This ceremony, dubbed "the pep rally" by one of my American teammates, creates a serious level of accountability. The entire press corps, approximately 40 to 50 members, also is present at the ceremony, which is captured on video for the television stations back home in Fukuoka and around Kyushu Island.

When the players have concluded their declarations, we go back into the hotel and must be ready to board the buses to the spring training complex by 9:20. This type of tradition would certainly draw moans and groans and be dismissed as useless by many American players, but I have to be honest, it really isn't all that bad and the purpose behind it only benefits team chemistry.

Before you board one of the buses, you have a very important decision to make. This decision is one no American ballplayer in my generation has ever had to make - get on the smoking or nonsmoking bus. I was caught a little off-guard when I was presented with such an option. Around 40 percent of the players smoke, so separation is necessary. I opt to go smoke-free every day.

There is something about being trapped in a smoked-filled bus at 9:30 in the morning that just doesn't sound all that appealing. I guess that doesn't sound appealing to me at any time of the day.

I came here determined to experience all Japan has to offer. Whether it is food or local customs, I've told myself to be open-minded and try things I might otherwise never have the opportunity to experience. So when I was told the hotel had an onsen (Japanese hot spring), I decided I really wanted to try it.

My first thoughts were that a natural hot spring is just nature's hot tub. Having never been, I was briefed by one of the team's three interpreters they have provided for the four Americans. He told me that the Japanese use an onsen completely nude.

Now these are fairly large pools that could fit anywhere from 15 to 20 men, and I was having a hard time understanding why they wouldn't just wear bathing suits. He kind of agreed with me, so when I took my first trip to the onsen, I wore a suit.

There were two Japanese men inside the outer pool when I arrived, yes, both fully naked (the pools are only about 2 feet deep). Without making eye contact, I joined them. The hot spring experience was very nice and very relaxing, and a much different experience from a hot tub. The heated water combined with nature's minerals really provided a muscle relaxation experience I have never had before.

When I had relaxed enough, I dried off and made my way toward the exit. As I was leaving, I noticed a list of guidelines for using an onsen. Sure enough, as I worked down the list, I read that bathing suits are prohibited. It is birthday suit or the highway in the onsen.

I read somewhere that there is a Japanese virtue of "naked communion" where social barriers are broken down and you can get to know people in a relaxed atmosphere such as an onsen. As you may imagine, I was in quite the quandary. I had just experienced one of the really great things Japanese culture has to offer, but I am not completely sold on the "naked communion" part of it, especially with strangers of the same sex. However, after a long spring training workout, an onsen is an ideal way to finish the day.

What is an American to do?

Let me put it this way: Before the next day's workouts were even over, I couldn't wait to be a member of "naked communion." And so it goes, communion is no longer just on Sundays for me.

AP NEWS The Associated Press News Service

I already blogged Sergey Brin’s comments on the possibility of a Google office productivity suite. Here are some other quotes from his interview with John Battelle at Web 2.0.

Starting up: The number one success factor for Google was luck. We followed our hearts in terms of research areas and eventually we found we had something useful and we wanted to be impactful about it. We talked about open sourcing the code and working with universities, but it was difficult to do that because of the computational resources required–we needed money to pay for it.

On user-generated content and communications: We have focused on where we can impact something where people to spend a lot of time, such as e-mail. I don’t know if I am the best person to predict the next generation but there are obviously lots of ways to improve communications.We put up a lot of things on labs [Google Labs] because it’s really hard to predict. If I had proposed Wikipedia many years ago, I don’t think any of us, including myself, would have said it would work.

On Google focusing on user-generated and professional content like Yahoo, IAC and AOL: We fundamentally believe in giving people access to content, not producing it. If you search for stock symbol on Google, the first link could be from Yahoo Finance. We want to send people to best sites. We are really not about trying to create all of our own content to keep them on Google; we are about sending them off.

On video search: People underestimate the quality of video information. If you take a Discovery Channel special on whatever scientific question or a Nova show, they have extraordinarily high quality content. The key is not the format [text, audio, video, etc.]. It’s the effort and preparation. It just so happens some of the best content is in video form. Making it searchable will unlock it when you want to know about subject ‘X’. With good search over video people can be much better educated.

On Yahoo CEO Terry Semel’s remarks that Google is now a portal and would be ranked number 4: Based on my reading [on Semel’s remarks] that also makes us the underdog. [Then Brin started going sideways in his remarks, comparing Yahoo and Google cafeterias.]

In response to MSN chief Yusef Mehdi calling Microsoft the underdog: If we are number 4 and Microsoft is the underdog–skip that [laugh]. I’d be excited to be viewed as a leader in technology. We are not number one in doing big business deals or some huge platform or many other things Microsoft enjoys as an advantage. But from a technology viewpoint, we are a leader.

On Google’s valuation and search market share: I am not a valuation expert. There are a lot of complicated ways to value a company…I think in terms of search market share we are delighted that so many people use our product, primarily by word of mouth. We have a little promotion and partnerships, but people primarily come and stay because of the search experience.

On maintaining Google "clean" interface: I certainly hope we can continue to be clean, but obviously there are other kinds of products to explore that have arisen out of need. Gmail arose out of our frustration of not having a good solution to manage our own e-mail. There are areas that have been overlooked by the industry, as much as search quality and relevance were in the late 90’s by the major portals at the time. We have a lot of technologies, infrastructure and distribution that really allows us to help in some of those areas, and we’d be foolish not to make an impact when we can.

On choosing what to develop: I don’t know what is going to happen with the feed reader [Google Reader release today], but historically with Gmail it spurred a lot of M&A and investment activity in that area. We really care about enabling other businesses. Little web sites need to make money and we initially we spent a lot time trying to figure out the right platform [Google AdSense]….One of our big motivations was to create and sustain online businesses, and I think we have really helped do that.

On a Google Office: I don’t really think that the thing is to take a previous generation of technology and port them directly, and say can ‘we do the minicomuter on the Web on AJAX,’ makes sense. I’m not saying that’s what [Microsoft] Office is, I’m just saying that I think the Web and Web 2.0, if that’s what you want to call it, gives you the opportunity to do new and better things than the Office package and more. We don’t have any plans [to do an office suite].