CELEBRITY-IN-CHIEF

HOW SHOW BUSINESS TOOK OVER THE WHITE HOUSE

by Alan Schroeder ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2004

An Emmy-winning producer clearly demonstrates, in case you didn’t know, that politicians and performers share identical genetic codes.

Showbiz has increasingly been allied with politics, notes Schroeder (Journalism/ Northeastern Univ.). Franklin Roosevelt clearly enjoyed birthday tributes from Groucho Marx and Ginger Rogers, though he also favored Myrna Loy and Donald Duck. Later, JFK was famously partial to Marilyn Monroe, Gene Tierney, and (with brother-in-law Lawford’s aid) backlots-full of ingénues. Presley paid his bizarre visit to Nixon. Politicos took note of the Gipper, Murphy Brown, Wayne Newton, and Ozzy Osborne—sometimes understandably unsure which were fictional. Frank Sinatra, sometime pal to several presidents, seems to have played the White House as often as Vegas, especially during the Reagan administration. Comics, rappers, actors, instrumentalists, dancers, and generic show people have all done their thing for the chief executive in what are generally considered stressful gigs. Frequently, performers like John Wayne on the right hand or Eartha Kitt on the left ventured to advise the president. Sometimes their advice was even sought. Robert Montgomery supervised Eisenhower’s TV appearances. Producers Bill and Linda Thomason were longtime Friends of Bill. Consider Ambassador John Gavin, posted to Mexico perhaps because he was so handsome. It’s a symbiotic arrangement, like it or not. Ike was wary, and LBJ didn’t even like Bob Hope. The venue at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is now run by “perhaps the least culturally attuned chief executive in modern history”—but don’t discount a Top Gun aircraft carrier performance for presidential showmanship. More likely to read the trades, certainly, were Clinton, JFK, and Reagan, who played the role of his lifetime as president. Schroeder seems to have checked all the White House logs as well as the appropriate tabloids for his lively report.

No serious political science here, but these tales of the aristocracy of politics and showbiz joined at the hip offer enjoyable entertainment and star-studded pop culture.

Pub Date: March 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-8133-4137-X

Page Count: 384

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2004

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION