cinelog.org

Film had a rather inappropriate (by today’s standards) debut at the White House, via the screening of D.W. Griffith’s racially controversial “Birth of a Nation”, in 1915. The film, which depicts extreme racial stereotypes and the Klu Klux Klan as heroic figures, was viewed by then president Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet, in conjunction with a visit from Thomas Dixon (author  of the film’s source play “The Clansman” and former classmate of Wilson’s). Wilson is infamously claimed to have remarked, “It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.”, in reaction to the film. However, later historians have cast some doubt as to the validity of this statement’s origin and speculated that it was actually a marketing fabrication by Dixon. For the next twenty-seven years, sporadic film screenings would be held in the White House’s second floor Central Hall.

 

A formal movie theatre wasn’t constructed at the White House until 1942, when president Roosevelt had a former cloakroom converted. The original theatre was little more than a long, narrow room with parlor chairs and a small screen, but this makeshift setting was eventually expanded upon by Dwight Eisenhower. President Eisenhower, who was a fan of western films, upgraded the projection equipment and installed four oversized executive armchairs in the front row (this executive seating remains the cinema’s hallmark to the present day). The only variance to the front row came with John F. Kennedy, for whom an orthopedic bed  was set up, to aid his chronically bad back. 

 

Initially, the White House Cinema featured an olive green and gold decor, but this was eventually remodeled in to a white and red floral design. The white and floral decor remained in place until 2004, when the Bush’s conducted a substantial remodel, converting the color scheme to a bright red. Oddly enough, the Bush’s remodel was the most extensive since Roosevelt’s original construction; former actor and well known film enthusiast, Ronald Reagan, who would seem the most likely candidate for a cinema expansion/remodel, actually preferred to watch films at presidential retreat, Camp David. The present day White House theatre features forty plush seats, set behind the Eisenhower executive armchairs, in a thoroughly modern, luxury home cinema, setting.

            

 

In part two, we will take a more in depth look at the films that have been shown at the White House and the genre preferences some of our presidents have had.