Saturday, October 05, 2013

Down the backstairs into no-man's land....

Last night, I finished watching the four DVD's (thank you Netflix) of the mini-series "Backstairs At The White House".  


I remember watching it when it first aired, back in 1979.  I was captivated by it.  I attribute my love,  my obsessive interest in Presidents, and politics, to this mini-series.  

It follows a mother and daughter, both maids who work at the White House, from 1908 to 1961, covering 8 administrations.  Seeing it for the first time, I was amazed and awed by it all.  Seeing it now...well, it was lacking in quite a bit (seeing it at 45 versus seeing it at 12 makes all the difference I guess) but it was still entertaining.

I fell in love with that miniseries.  I bought the book and read it so many times, both the front and back covers fell off.  I bought a second copy, and the same thing happened.  And just a few years ago, I bought another copy at a used bookstore, but I've only read that one once, and taken much better care of it.

Little (or not-so-little actually) 12 year old Polt, after watching the mini-series, learned the order of the presidents from Taft onwards by memory (13 presidents, in order), and was quite proud of himself. (And I can now name them all from Washington to Obama, forwards and backwards, in less than three minutes)

The mini-series, upon seeing it anew, has the production value and budget of...well, a late 70s tv miniseries, which means it wasn't terribly impressive.  But as I said it was entertaining and enjoyable.  

it's also more proof that you indeed can not go home again.

POLT

1 comment:

vuboq said...

I think we need to see video proof of you naming the presidents from Washington to Obama forwards and backwards in less than three minutes ...