[00:00.00]Although William was closely
[00:03.15]involved in all aspects
[00:04.80]of the construction and decoration
[00:06.66]of the mansion, he continued
[00:08.96]his business and social interests.
[00:11.90]No stranger to scandal,
[00:13.99]in November 1924, he found
[00:17.49]himself in the topic of headlines.
[00:20.44]The most enduring rumor was that,
[00:23.39]during a party on his yacht,
[00:25.91]he had found Marion
[00:27.33]kissing Charlie Chaplin.
[00:29.85]In a fit of jealousy
[00:31.71]he took a shot at Chaplin,
[00:34.00]missed, and accidentally hit
[00:36.74]Thomas Ince, killing him.
[00:40.24]However, even though the morning papers
[00:43.20] carried the story, the evening paper
[00:45.39]and successive editions printed that
[00:48.12]Ince had died of acute indigestion.
[00:51.73]In 1945, William initiated
[00:55.89]the Hearst Foundation and created
[00:58.52]the California Charities Foundation
[01:01.14]in 1948 (the name was changed
[01:04.86]to the William Randolph Hearst Foundation
[01:07.27] soon after his death in 1951).
[01:10.44]The Great Depression took its toll
[01:14.37]on even the wealthiest and
[01:16.35]William Randolph Hearst was no exception.
[01:19.52] His fantastically decadent lifestyle
[01:22.59]couldn’t last forever, and
[01:24.67]gradually his finances began to suffer,
[01:27.94] beginning the next chapter
[01:30.46] in the saga of excesses.
[01:33.20] He came close to being bankrupt
[01:35.71] but Marion rescued him from debt,
[01:38.45]unselfishly selling her jewels
[01:41.07]and some other property
[01:42.93]to raise over a million dollars |