"'It's the president inviting guests into his family room, where people could lay back,' says Burt Kearns, co-director of the documentary All the Presidents' Movies. 'Through the study of the screening room, you get a sense not only of the president's taste but how it jibes with that of the general public.' Alongside fellow director Brett Hudson, Kearns helped shed light on the history of cinema in the White House, aided by the logs of theater projectionist Paul Fischer."
"Let's hope they're telling the truth about it being rebuilt and modernized. I think it's, sadly, a sign of the times that the White House theater was destroyed as sort of an afterthought. It's a valuable piece of American history that's gone. The screening room itself lasted 83 years. It was built from a cloakroom during the FDR administration and it lasted through Trump. They put in Dolby Sound during the Reagan administration and Laura Bush introduced plush chairs, red carpet, and, as"
An 83-year-old Family Theater in the White House East Wing was demolished during renovations that reduced the East Wing to rubble, removing a 42-seat screening room first created from an FDR cloakroom. The theater allowed presidents to request any film, including unreleased titles, for private screenings with family, guests, aides, and visiting leaders. Projectionist Paul Fischer logged more than 5,000 films shown between the Eisenhower and Reagan administrations and recorded attendees, providing pop-cultural context to political moments. The theater received upgrades over time, including Dolby sound in the Reagan years and plush seating and red carpet under Laura Bush.
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