\n From sporting events to film screenings, the theater provided entertainment and enjoyment to presidents and their families since the latter part of Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s presidency.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to The White House Historical Association<\/a>, Roosevelt enjoyed watching World War II-era news reels in the former cloakroom in the East Terrace at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, \u201cand took special interest in the battles fought in Europe and Asia.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The 32nd US president demonstrated an understanding of the importance of pop culture, including movies.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEntertainment is always a national asset,\u201d Roosevelt said in 1943<\/a> as the United States was engaged in WWII. \u201cInvaluable in time of peace, it is indispensable in wartime.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Not that there weren\u2019t movies shown in the White House before that.\n <\/p>\n \n Well before the installation of the White House Family Theater, then-President Woodrow Wilson screened 1915\u2019s \u201cThe Birth of a Nation,\u201d with the film projected onto the walls of the East Room.\n <\/p>\n \n Later presidents greatly enjoyed showing movies in the theater, and the George W. Bush Library<\/a> detailed that film screenings would run the gamut from official events with members of the public invited as guests to \u201cprivate events and intended for the enjoyment of the President, his family, and his close friends and staff.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe best perk out in the White House is not Air Force One or Camp David or anything else,\u201d said former President Bill Clinton<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the wonderful movie theatre I get here, because people send me these movies all the time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The 42-seat theater had different looks over the years. Business Insider reported<\/a> that \u201cit went from green chairs and mustard curtains to white chairs and floral drapes\u201d before donning its most recent \u201call-red design.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Sometimes referred to as the \u201cfirst movie theatre,\u201d it hosted a variety of genres of film.\n <\/p>\n \n In January 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter let it be known<\/a> that only \u201cfamily friendly\u201d films should be shown, which was short-lived when, the following Christmas, he unwittingly screened an X-rated picture at the White House \u2013 John Schlesinger\u2019s Oscar-winning \u201cMidnight Cowboy,\u201d which tells the story of a male prostitute in the underbelly of 1960s-era in New York City.\n <\/p>\n
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