The White House movie theater demolition ends a storied era in presidential history

[demmiblue]

It was, on occasion, used by presidents to rehearse important speeches such as the State of the Union address; and at other times, as a spot for visitors to dump their hats, bags and coats. But for more than 80 years, the White House movie theater was mostly a place where the first family and their guests went for entertainment.

Demolition began this week of the White House Family Theater — along with the rest of the White House's East Wing where the snug, shoe-box-shaped auditorium was located — to make way for a new $300 million ballroom. It marks the end of an era in American movie theater history.

Since its conversion from a cloakroom by Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, the private, 40-ish-seat theater has screened everything from newsreels and documentaries to westerns and musicals. It has been through several facelifts, most recently ditching cream and red floral curtains, and beige walls and seating for all-round "movie-palace red" ornamented with gold molding and dark wood trim following a renovation overseen by first lady Laura Bush in 2004.

"The best perk of the White House is not Air Force One or Camp David or anything else, it's the wonderful movie theater I get here," then-President Bill Clinton told film critic Roger Ebert in a 1999 interview.

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/25/nx-s1-5586110/white-house-movie-theater-cultural-history-demolition

[yellow dahlia]

1. I think providing a movie theater for the first family

and there guests makes total sense, given the lack of privacy once a family takes on that role.

I hope another movie theater is built in the future.