Critics around the world agree that Citizen Kane is one of history's best films -- but who was the basis of this story? Listen in as Sarah and Katie take a look back on the life of William Randolph Hearst in this episode.
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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Hello and welcomed the pod cast, I'm here do member and unfair daddy and I got an email from a listening catch here this morning. Who was suggesting we deal upon cast on William Randolph Hearst, which was funny
at the time. I was researching that very man, you're Hearst, is actually
and on our short list of podcast topic. Since we talked about the new these a few months ago, if you heard of Hearst its probable
because of a little film called Citizen Kane, which often tops the list of best movies ever made, but it's a very hot
depiction of Hearst as a ruthless corrupt man
greedy for power and although
first was rich and powerful, with he also permanently damaged and corrupt from that wealth and power. Who you may also know him for his yellow
journalism, sensationalize journalism, his Hollywood mistress or for the castle that he named after himself, but maybe that's
The whole story, and fact each oh man, can once wrote her
deserves more and better of his country than he will ever get. It is the fashion to speak.
In the contemptuously with dark references to matters that are nobody's business. I think there is agreed
deal of envy and all this not many
Kenneth, even among millionaires, have ever been accused so beautifully. So what is that
behind William Randolph. First we're going to find out here
born April, twenty ninth eighteen, sixty three in San Francisco to George and Phoebe Hearst and
It hurts was a prospect, her and minor. He help develop the anaconda, copper, mine and Homestake Gold, mine and he's. Also. U S. Senator and George has a pretty good education. He goes to a knife, perhaps because they paused prep school in New Hampshire
and from there he goes to Harvard where he has a
alligator named Charlie. We thought this was a nice companion to Lord Byron,
They are the other guy Heloise pops up in our podcast right and he goes on academic probation at Harvard. As far as classes go he's not fantastic as far as such
life goes he's amazing,
because, although he has seen
as a bit of an hour of east, they do have plenty of money and he came by friends at will
entertainment style. He joined the hasty, putting theatre group and he even since chamber parts to his professors
that's not going to help you in your own academic, prove haitian little bit. It things it stories like that that he loves to tell about himself a childhood pranks behave itself, fireworks in his own room to get his parents attention or also in college when he through various huge
he's at Harvard yeah he's a real piece of electronic last, but William does
college, and he has to find a way to make his name, because that is important to him. So he decides he'd like to get into the newspaper business and luckily for him
Other George had bought the San Francisco examiner as a way to curry some political favour and William asked
for it and got it at age. Twenty four, it's a struggling paper, but he
turn it around and manages to make a profit with that, and not too long after with
honey from his mother. He buys the New York Journal for a hundred and fifty thousand again. This is not a successful paper until he gets his hands on it and he hired
the stable of very talented writers and illustrators, including Stephen Crane, and the guy, who drew the yellow kid cartoons who Heath notoriously hired away from just a Pulitzer New York World, and he makes this paper very successful. Two, they add lots.
Straightens, he adds color crazy headlines. Articles on crime and pseudoscience is more like what you think of today is a paper, or at least the tabloid, accept
got the addition of lots of political and foreign affairs kind of stories in its cheek to it's only a cent
Of course, we touched on in our knees podcast so
population wars between Hearst and Pulitzer go crazy and it all becomes about who has the best
has the better headline and who can sell more papers and this kind of leads to the rise of yellow journalism and as a good example of that, the competitors of that
called it a chamber of horrors, a brothel, a rattlesnake and moral disease. So there being justice sensational ass hers,
right and to give you an idea of how powerful and influential both Hearst an Pulitzer were won. Her Stylographer Kenneth White compares them to Google and Microsoft.
But in addition to having these incredibly successful businesses, they were also very politically involved. So imagine if the Google guys gonna
yeah? You alone in her spirits is full weight behind William Jennings Brian in the presidential election of eighteen, ninety six and he does really populous for this candidate. His paper
Actually, the only one who support spry and rightly other ones, were calling him a rattle painted vapid Mather of rottenness among other insults, so Hearst compared to them with much less
national and highly tame started at that point kind of championing the underdog that was another part of yellow journalism, and it works
because the day after the election, his paper cells over a million copies a year before that it had been selling fifty thousand a day, so do the math yeah and by eighteen. Eighty, seven, both Hearst and pilots are selling each about seven hundred fifty thousand papers a day. So that's Hearst as the newspaper man, but of course we want to get into some of the great myths surrounding him. Lay the accepted idea of Hearst is that
course send the news that he was completely shameless more so than has competitors and more sensationalist steak and just interested in these lurid stories. But it was all the papers who were doing you didn't start the fright he was just the best at it
What he was really good at too was
hiring more newsboys. That's a good way to increase your circulation,
a little kids out on the street hawking your papers, he runs
or additions and he's an audacious promoter of his papers and has also been
figuring out what the public wants to read, he knew how to entertain. He knew how to peek their interests and he knew how to provoke. But, unlike some of the other newspaper man, he didn't use ethnic slurs, which is something
they were known for Charles Dana of the sun called Pulitzer Joey, the Jew and Judas Pulitzer and Pulitzer said that Dana was Greek, which he wasn't and then called the greek race, a treacherous and drunk in one year.
Another charge. Often levelled against curse is that he stole writers away from Pulitzer
when in reality a lot of writers to some pellets very hard to work with and came to Hearst on their own and Hurstwood internationally good at managing
strong writers who liked to drink which, if you ve met any that's a real talent and
got a little humanitarian edge to his coverage to a lot of times. They'll be Europe
on a fire or something and offend people with blankets and food. So they get. The scoop therefrom
the demands of yellow journalism by their helping out a little too, but the greatest
charge levelled against Hearst or in favour of him, depending on which side you are as that he started the spanish american war.
Least had a major hand in it and supposedly he said to someone in a telegram. You furnish the pictures and all furnish the war. He probably didn't say this. He himself called it clotted nonsense, which I think would be a wonderful name for a banned if he certainly was involved. So let's get a little
context on that you're. So Cuba had been revolting against Spain for a while. The Americans were sympathetic but to isolation, is to want to get involved with it and other
all the papers are doing a little war. Drumming Hearst is definitely at the front of the pack. As far as that goes, he publishes one
line, feeding prisoners to sharks, that's about Spain, but I've spent a penny
I taught anyway that its I entirely true. They were feeding already dead prisoners to sharks, which isn't quite as bad but now still interesting, and he romanticize is it to its coverage of Adolfo Rodriguez. With these beautiful sketches, thy, Frederick Remington really gets people's hearts involved,
in this vein. The story going on in Cuba right there's. Another story- that's illustrated that's about these naked young american women being examined by spanish officers, but again it's exaggerated because it was female officers who are doing the examining. But in the story was so much more sufficient listing. If you have a man doing it
and then we have the story of eventually Nessus narrows. Who was a seventeen year old who is involved in the revolutionary movement, and Spain wanted to send her to an african prison for twenty years and hearst? Here's the story and thinks jackpot here, so he actually puts out put a petition to send two Maria Christine
Spain and the sign these include President Mckinley mother. For some reason, Julia word: how who wrote the battle him of the republic, though these famous people who are saying? No, you know she shouldn't be imprisoned in a great story, so they play the story out for as long as possible and figure they need to come to.
Pollution, so the journal ends up bribing a bunch of guards rescuing avenge Lena and taking her back to the United States, branding her the blame with flour of Cuba, making her stay here. The really big event that hearse gets involved with, and the war, though, is the explosion of the? U S as me
in Havanas Harbour, which killed two hundred and sixty six, you sailors, gray, and
no one knew what happened at the time was
entirely sure. Although modern forensics points to it being a problem with the ship itself, but at the time Hearst's paper and other papers jumped on it and said that it was Spain attacking
and so we should enter those of the kind of thing that get the war gone right. So Hearst goes to Cuba himself and reports right in the combat zone,
at the same time, he's managing to get the spanish and english traditions. The paper produced the rebels give him their flocks
and appreciation for all that he's done for them, and we have
predators like the post, even thing that it was hers too, blew up the main. So this story is just sensational in every respect and selling two point: seven million copies for the journal every day
was his coverage of the war exaggerated. Yes, definitely and was a dishonest. Maybe
did the end justifies. The means is the question because some people have made the point, including biographer Kenneth White, that three hundred thousand Cubans died in the last thirty years of spanish rules. So really did the? U S, help stuff then and save us now, gentlemen, I'd that's up to you! So hearse wasn't just involved in the politics of Cuba, though he also had a fairly unsuccessful career in the. U s he was elected to the house over
side of from New York in nineteen o chewing reelected inaction of oral. But, to be honest, he didn't do all that much. He ran for governor and lost. He ran for New York City near and lost, and politically throughout his life he's a bit of a flip flapper. He starts off like we set as a populist and somebody's very antitrust
later he goes anti war and kind of pro german firm world work one and then he turned
isolationist and thirty use. But in the forties becomes this rabid, anti communist crusader, but I think from
air we're gonna move on to his personal life, which is full of fallacious scandals, area of one of them. That's not a scandal. He married a chorus girl into Millicent Wilson.
Nineteen O three and they had five children together all boys
and remained married for the rest of his life, although not necessarily together, but a worthless famous relationship is not with his wife. It's with his mistress. Marian Davies was born Marian giraffe. They have a thirty four,
Long relationship filled Marian
the chorus girl at each thirteen and by nineteen seven
and she meets the fifty four year old, Hearst, well she's performing in the zigzag follies and they start
relationship that lasts until his death and nineteen. Fifty one an earth, Lakes Davies. So much because she's
a fine and irreverent and doesn't doesn't suck up to him. Like so many other people around him. She calls them. Pops are the old
and he spent a lot of money trying to launch her film career, which isn't isn't as successful as as it should a ban with how much funding when it
She was gonna, comedies thou like she was now the Patsy and show people and those were considered good, ended fairly well here, but it's not it's not a classic gold, digger chorus. Girl story, though, towards the end of her life. When he's suffering financial difficulties, she actually supports him with really
sound investment she made over the years gives him a check for a million dollars rate and again he is going through financial difficulties at the end, but she stays around. She doesn't leave in his bedroom where he spends his final year.
It's very bear. But one thing he does have is a picture of Marian Davies with an inscription from Romeo and Juliet my bounties is boundless see my love s deep, the more I give tee the more I have for both our internet after his death, though she's rejected by his family and marries a sea captain. Surprisingly, in
has a as the successful post Hollywood life like I said earlier, she's really good at business investments and when she d,
thirty, two years after her death, this woman
show Van Cleve Lake dies. I mean you might be thinking okay. Well, who is she she's burst? Open
child Marian sister rose, but Lakes relatives say that
the only child of Davies and harassed and that she was supported by them for must have her
she was left a lot of money by Davies and spent a lot of time with the two is law, which is a pretty cool, sidebar yeah, but as for the rest of his life, the parts not involving love affairs, he had a huge our collection. He spent a word.
Nicholas amount of money on it. It was museum, quality, everything from paintings to antique ceilings and in the night
twenty years he started building Hearst Castle, but that I think, is a subject that deserves its own podcast. Definitely Hearst was a bit of a strange character to
have some weird habits. Apparently, when he was working at the paper, he would appear at someone's door and grab both sides the frame and then he would start soft shoeing until he decided what he wanted to say, which is, I think, a good way to buy some time
I was asking Katy if it would bother her. If I started to dance and snap my fingers in my cue, which is right next to her. If I was working
Just. Let me know one of my first, but not switch gear is just a little bit
while the spanish American WAR was probably the biggest. She called scandal that the biggest story of his professional life, the biggest story of his personal life, may have been. The death of a man named Thomas ends the services of a really strong.
History. Mystery Thomas ends with a pioneer american motion picture director. He was somehow I consider the father of the western, but
more known for his mysterious death. Thou came shortly after,
an ill fated trip on hearse yacht Hurstwood, throwing him a birthday party,
and the gas included Marian Davies, her mistress, Charlie Chaplin occur
this Parsons and Doktor Daniel Carson Goodman, who was hers film production manager,
and wearily enough it's actually Missis
boat literally for him, no invert. I hear the yacht leaves without him and he has to join the group the next day. So Sunday
all party together, but Monday in, is taken from the yacht and bright
Shore, accompanied by Doktor Goodman, whose a licensed, although non, practicing physician and employee of hers by Tuesday instead and Doktor IDA Glasgow with, insists personal physician
find a death certificate saying that heart failure was the cause but Wednesday morning, papers,
movie producer, shot on Hearst Yacht, and this is so strange. These headlines
confessional headlines are gone by the evening. The story is totally dropped. Three implication.
That somebody children, a shower down. No corners in question is how the bodies cremated
so we can't exude. Unfortunately, you know their favorite in the first stories that run in her own papers are totally free.
It's. You know: o N Scott SEC, visiting hearse ranch, but too many people thought is getting on the on the yacht. Rather can't stick by these stories and Chaplain Secretary claims that he saw a bullet hole in his head ass, he was removed from the art only further fuels that rumours flying around. So it gets so bad that the idea of Santiago Husk involved. The only person who he caused testify, though, is Doctor Daniel good men who
Hearst Employee, and he says oh and has always been talk about his heart pains in his heart trouble. So it's been a long
This issue with him
The rumour that gets tossed around is that her
count Marian and Charlie Chaplin together that they were having a licit affair or may be about to start one. There is,
a full Marian screams. Other people come to to the area because they they hear the commotion in somehow Hearst shoots ends not chaplain, so we might not have an answer to that one, but as a sketchy kind of follow up colonists dwell. A parsons is rewarded. A lifetime contract with the hearse corporation and rescind occasion as expanded, so maybe Miss Parsons knew something she was now and it's a relaunch. The cats now
but speaking of hearse papers, his business dealings weren't just about newspapers. He also had magazines. He published fiction, he produced movies, especially ones starring, his mistress Marian Davies and nineteen. Thirty five is probably the peak of his.
Yeah right. He owns twenty eight major papers, eighteen magazines, radio stations, movie companies and new services.
He's also an early pioneer of tv and pretty much started comic strip. Indication, and this is my favorite part. He was
Billy and early adopter of synergy in every single time. I say this: I pictured Jack Donna Gate from thirty rock. He was good media tion. So a good example would be the perils of Pauline which, if you're into silence, fell on my phone history. You probably heard of that it was a silent film, cereal, that's not pioneer.
It made the damsel and distress extremely popular. She fought gypsies. She fought wrath.
She was tied to railroad tracks and hung off of cliffs poor Pauline
We did have a lot of perils to get through, but her signed a deal to distribute the films and promote them in his pay.
So, whenever a new episode came out of Pauline, he would make sure to have some sort of print tion and the paper,
You have the synergy even telling his mouth
being. Editors make sure that every story will be fit for moving pictures from them.
Make sure every article will be fit for a year,
got Hollywood in mind all the time right. But when they
depression, heads that's the beginning of the end for Hearst's fortune and also his own, extravagant spending habits. He ends up having to sell off bits of his empire and even having to sell a lot of his art and by nineteen. Forty he's on the fringes of that arm of his own horse empire that he set out very retreat,
since the collusion, basically at the end and dies that each eighty on August Fourteenth nineteen, fifty one in Beverly Hills and bringing up Marian
these again and those last year is a lot of the time they were just watch rolled down. He would tariff which, which side
His children went into media and maybe you ve heard of one of his descendants. Her name is Mattie Hearst and we're going to cover her, but I'm sure we have covered everything about William Randolph, firstly, wife. So there is a famous story that you ve missed. Please email S. History had cast at how stuff works not come. You could also search for tabloids on our home page at W W w dot how stuff works, dot com
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Transcript generated on 2020-02-06.