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Whistle Stopper - Backstairs at the White House
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List Price: $59.99
Our Price: $40.40
Your Save: $ 19.59 ( 33% )
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Starring: Olivia Cole, Leslie Uggams, Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Hooks, Leslie Nielsen
Directed By: Michael O'Herlihy
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781569388037
Format: Box set
ISBN: 1569388032
Label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-11-01
Running Time: 444
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: 1979-01-29
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable!
Comment: I first saw this mini-series back in 1979 when it first aired. I was 10-years-old. I never ever forgot it (or the historical tidbits I learned from it), and I'm thrilled to now have a chance to view it again. This should be a must-see for all kids, especially those of middle school age. It makes a lasting imprint.
Customer Rating:
Summary: They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore
Comment: I remember watching this mini-series back in 1979 and I am so pleased to see it out on DVD now. In 1909, Maggie Rogers is hired at the White House as a maid to the Presidents family. She is the first African-American woman to hold this key position. Not much of a job considering the long hours, low wages and primadonna like behaviour of some of the President's and their families. The cast is superb and you come to care about each individual staff member as they endure personal tragedies while trying to maintain their jobs. The timeframe is 1909-1961 so there are two world wars, the depression and many other significant events of our history that are covered. Leslie Uggams, is brilliantly cast as Maggie's daughter Lillian who is proud, headstrong and sassy, traits that often drive her poor mother crazy but they love and support one another through life's tribulations in this turbulent era of war and poverty. Lillian starts working at the White House in 1931 because of her incredible skills as a seamstress. She had polio as a child and is left using a crutch for the rest of her life. As each President comes and goes we are treated to glimpses of their personalities. The Hoover's and the Eisenhower's are my least favorite inhabitants due to their vain and rather vapid approach to dealing with the staff. I highly recommend this tender sometimes heartbreaking, many times joyful account of life in the White House in the early years of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of two strong and very classy ladies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Backstairs at White House is winner
Comment: I found the DVD of Backstairs at the White House an excellent portrayal of several presidential administrations. It was also an eye-opener to how the servants were treated and to the quirks of the various presidents and first ladies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: Would recommend to anyone who likes good drama and wants to learn about the last century in the white house. This is not straight history, but is told from a human view point of the little man or the servants who work in the White House. Acting is inspired and though I doubt if the First Family actually interacted that much with the staff, it is still a sweet story suitable for the whole family.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Backstairs at the White House
Comment: I've been looking for Backstairs at the White House on video for years and was so happy to find it at Amazon. Though it had been nearly 30 years since I had seen it, I remembered a number of the deails vividly. It did not disappoint. I thought I had watched this on network television when I was in high school, but the release date is listed as 1979 - is this correct? I thought it was closer to 1973-74. Since my daughter is now living and working in Washington, D.C., watching it again was of particular interest. I am also reading The President's House, by Margaret Truman, which I would recommend as an excellent companion to the video.
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Editorial Reviews:
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From the golden age of television miniseries comes this prestigious 1979 production based on Lillian Rogers Parks's memoir, My Thirty Years at the White House, a real-life American Upstairs/Downstairs that chronicles her family's tenure on the White House servant staff through eight presidential administrations. Emmy nominee Oliva Cole stars as Maggie, a proud matriarch with "indomitable spirit and unfailing spunk," and who is determined that her children "are not going to have street ways." She becomes the first colored maid on the presidential family floor, beginning with the William Howard Taft administration. Her polio-stricken daughter, Lillian (portrayed as an adult by Leslie Uggams) eventually joins her during Herbert Hoover's administration and likewise rises through the ranks to to become a trusted confidante of the First Families. Backstairs at the White House works on several levels. It is the inspiring personal story of two extraordinary women who had a unique and privileged perspective of the people and events that shaped the first half of the 20th century. It also presents vivid snapshots of the presidents and their families in all their quirks (Mrs. Taft felt that bearded servants brought bad luck), failings, and greatness, as well as such now-obscure personages as New York critic Alexander Woolcott. The stellar cast is comprised of stage and screen veterans and TV favorites. Robert Vaughn (as Woodrow Wilson), Celeste Holm (as Florence Harding), and Ed Flanders (as Calvin Coolidge) were nominated for Emmys, as was Roots costar Louis Gossett Jr. as houseman Levi Mercer. Also notable are a pre-Airplane Leslie Nielsen as chief White House usher Ike Hoover, Cloris Leachman as the chilly supervising housekeeper Mrs. Jaffray, Victor Buono and Julie Harris as reluctant president William Howard Taft and his more formidable wife "Nellie," Eileen Heckart as energetic Eleanor Roosevelt, and Harry Morgan, giving 'em hell as Harry Truman. Backstairs at the White can be melodramatic ("You're not married to me, you're married to the White House," Lillian's estranged husband tells her at one point), but it never descends to soap opera. The Emmy-winning makeup is convincing, and the Emmy-nominated screenplay does an admirable job of compressing more than 50 years of history. "What is heard within the walls of the White House is to be forgotten," Maggie is instructed early in her employ. Luckily, daughter Lillian ignored this directive to create a compelling document that puts a human face on the occupants of the real West Wing. --Donald Liebenson
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