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

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.

An excavator works to clear rubble on Thursday after the East Wing of the White House was demolished in Washington, D.C. The historic White House Family Theater was destroyed as part of President Trump’s effort to make way for a new ballroom.

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Eric Lee/Getty Images

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.

April 14, 1989: President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush host a screening in the White House movie theater. The first lady is sharing a seat with her grandson Jebbie Bush.

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

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George Bush Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

Jimmy Carter was also a big fan. In a single term, the 39th president screened at least 400 films between this venue and Camp David, starting with All the President’s Men — a movie about the Watergate scandal — soon after he was sworn in. Richard Nixon saw Patton, about the controversial World War II Gen. George S. Patton, multiple times during the Vietnam War. Barack Obama’s many screenings at the theater ranged from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Selma to Julie & Julia and Star Wars Rogue One. President Trump’s picks have included Finding Dory and Sunset Boulevard. John F. Kennedy, who loved James Bond movies, saw From Russia With Love the day before he was assassinated in 1963.

U.S. first lady Melania Trump (R) and for education secretary Betsy DeVos host students for a screening of the motion picture ‘Wonder’ in the White House movie theater in 2018.

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Not all U.S. presidents were film buffs. According to a 1997 New York Times interview with Paul Fischer, who served as the White House’s projectionist from the 1950s to the ’80s, Lyndon B. Johnson slept through most screenings. (Fischer kept careful logs of all of the movies shown at the theater. A sample from Kennedy’s White House years can be seen here.)

“It was a place for the president to watch what America was watching,” said Matt Lambros, who authored several books about historic movie theaters, in an interview with NPR. “To have it destroyed is bulldozing a piece of American history.”

The White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment, nor confirm reports from other media outlets about plans to build a new movie theater as part of the East Wing’s redevelopment.

“We’re just going off of their word that a theater will be rebuilt,” said Lambros. “I hope that’s the case, and the next hundred years of presidents can enjoy it.”