Citizen Kane "Stage" magazine compared the film's narrative to "Faust" and made no mention of Hearst. The film was scheduled to premiere at RKO's flagship theater Radio City Music Hall on February 14, but in early January 1941 Welles was not finished with post-production work and told RKO that it still needed its musical score. Writers for national magazines had early deadlines and so a rough cut was previewed for a select few on January 3, 1941 for such magazines as "Life", "Look" and "Redbook". Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (and Hollywood correspondent for Hearst papers Louella Parsons' arch rival) showed up to
Hedda Hopper Best Actor. The rumor was untrue, but Hopper joked that she wished she had thought of it. Screenwriter Jay Bernstein related that when he told Hedda that because of her extreme conservatism many people in Hollywood privately called her a Nazi, the gossip columnist began to cry and replied: "Jay, all I've ever tried to be is a good American." Hopper was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Hollywood blacklist, using her 35 million strong readership to destroy the careers of those in the entertainment industry whom she suspected of being Communists, having Communist sympathies, being