Two weeks after Mankiewicz joined the RKO payroll, he and Houseman departed Hollywood for Victorville, at the time a small agricultural community in the desert ninety miles east of Hollywood.

Victorville was well-known to Hollywood filmmakers; westerns had been shot in the nearby scrub country since the early days of silent films. Two years before, director John Ford had filmed portions of Stagecoach on a nearby dry lake, including the climactic Indian chase.

With mutually agreed-upon ideas in mind, the story that would become Citizen Kane began to evolve, as Welles recalled, in two separate projects.

“Mankiewicz went to the desert to write his, and I stayed in Hollywood to write mine,” said Welles.

Houseman and Mankiewicz settled at the Kemper Campbell Ranch, also known as the Verde Guest Ranch, a small, out-of-the-way resort in Victorville. To Houseman, the location was ideal for a marathon writing session. Welles had agreed that his writers could work undisturbed by him, and the three-hour drive on Route 66 would discourage the director from dropping in unexpectedly to check on their progress.

The location also protected Mankiewicz from the big city and its temptations, especially high-stakes gambling and easy access to alcohol. Preventing Mankiewicz from indulging in his many vices was a difficult task, even with his leg still bound uncomfortably in a cast. While Houseman did some original writing in addition to editing and organizing the material, his most important daily duty was inspecting Mankiewicz’s room for hidden stashes of liquor.

Joining Houseman and Mankiewicz in Victorville was Rita Alexander, a secretary willing to tolerate the professional demands of the pair in their desert writing retreat. In addition to providing secretarial support, Alexander handled less traditional chores, such as helping Mankiewicz with his unique method of consuming regular doses of bicarbonate of soda: Alexander would pour a spoonful of powder into Mankiewicz’s mouth, and he washed it down with water as it frothed furiously while he erupted with belches…