To Orwell Today,

Hi there,

Please could you advise if there is any VHS DVD on the funeral of JKF.

Many thanks,
Angie

Greetings Angie,

As far as I know there isn't a video or DVD production of JFK's funeral which is actually quite surprising when one considers how important and historical an event it was.

Film footage of parts of JFK's funeral are included in many of the television documentaries that have aired over the years - usually on the anniversary of his assassination, although this year, November 22nd, 2005, I didn't notice any in the TV guide. It seems they are beginning to airbrush JFK out of history now that they've distorted his essence almost beyond recognition.

A video production which I have always wanted to see (if such a thing exists) is of Jackie Kennedy's White House Tour which aired on CBS television on February 14th, 1962.

A TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE WITH MRS JOHN F KENNEDY (On the night of 14 February 1962 three out of four television viewers tuned to CBS or NBC to watch a A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy...Correspondent Charles Collingwood who "escorts" Kennedy from room to room repeatedly walks out of the frame leaving her alone to deliver descriptions of White House decor and its national significance. Only at the very end of the program, when President Kennedy "drops in" for a brief interview, is Jacqueline repositioned in a subordinate role as wife and mother. Sitting quietly as the two men talk, she listens attentively while her husband hails her restoration efforts as a significant contribution to public awareness of the nation's heritage.)

Maybe there is an Orwell Today reader out there somewhere who can enlighten us as to whether or not there IS a video of JFK's funeral and Jackie's White House tour.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - I subsequently ordered Jackie's Tour of the White House from the JFK Presidential Libary and partially review it at LINCOLN DREAMS JFK FUNERAL

Upon watching it I noticed that many times Jackie mentioned Abraham Lincoln.

Firstly she described how his wife, Mary, upon his death, was left destitute and sold much of the furniture she had bought when she redecorated the White House in 1861. Now much of this furniture has been retrieved and is once again in the White House.

Secondly Jackie showed us the East Room of the White House - depicted as well in a painting - where Lincoln and his wife, before the start of the Civil War, held a grand reception showing off the newly decorated room - including the carpet the First Lady was so proud of (and which Lincoln was angry at her for spending so much money on). This is the place of Lincoln's funeral, where the biggest crowd in history had paraded past his flag-draped coffin.

Thirdly Jackie showed us the window (from the outside of the White House) of the room (near the pillars of the front poritico) where Lincoln at one time attended a seance (at the behest of his wife).

Fourthly Jackie showed various portraits of Lincoln focusing on how much he had aged since becoming president. Her comment was "This is what the presidency did to Lincoln". She drew attention to his "arched eyebrow".

Fifthly Jackie showed the staircase up to the second floor (where Lincoln had his office and which is now family quarters) upon which never-ending visitors to Lincoln used to come and go.

Sixthly Jackie showed us the Lincoln bedroom containing nothing but the furniture Mrs Lincoln had purchased - including the huge bed. Also there is Lincoln's dressing table and mirror.

Seventhly Jackie showed us the room next to Lincoln's office which will be used in the future as a waiting room for visitors to President Kennedy, but which for now was a storage room for artifacts. She pointed out, on the wall, a snippet of wallpaper taken from the room where Lincoln had died - "across the street from Ford's Theatre".

It isn't surprising that Jackie Kennedy mentioned Abraham Lincoln quite a few times during her White House tour because Lincoln was a hero of hers. President Kennedy had inspired in her an interest in American history, one of his favourite subjects, and she had done much reading on Lincoln and the Civil War.

That is how she came to be inspired - upon her own husband's assassination - to model his funeral after Lincoln's.

Most people know that JFK's funeral was modelled after Lincoln's funeral but I doubt that many people know that Lincoln's funeral was actually modelled after his very own dream, one that had disturbed him to such an extent that he couldn't get it out of his mind.

Three days before he was assassinated, Lincoln told his wife and some friends about his dream.

Just as Lincoln had a premonition of his assassination (expressed three days before it happened), JFK had a premonition of his assassination (expressed three hours before it happened)....

PPS - I subsequently found JACQUELINE KENNEDY'S WHITE HOUSE TOUR on YouTube (On Jan 13, 1962, fifty-four members of a CBS television crew set up in the White House to produce and record a unique event: the elegant First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, would conduct a personal tour of the presidential mansion for the benefit -- when the program would air that February -- of nearly 80 million Americans who would be tuned in.)

Producer looks back on Jackie's White House tour, CBS, Feb 15, 2012

Jackie Kennedy's devotion to White House revealed, CBS, Feb 14, 2012

JFK'S ASSASSINATION PREMONITION

JFK WE HARDLY KNEW YE SIGN (...I am the person who held up the placard "Johnny I hardly knew ye" during JFK's visit to New Ross, Ireland in 1963...I never met Kenny O'Donnell or Dave Powers as they had both passed on before I discovered that they had used the caption from the placard as the title for their book.... I was in Utica, New York working for General Electric on that sad day Friday November 22, 1963 when the tragic news came across the various radios we had playing in the Radio Receiver Design Lab on Broad Street. The place closed early and we all went home devastated. Next morning I was having a haircut in a Polish barber’s shop when I saw TV shots of the old zig-zag bridge in New Ross and Kennedy's visit there. I decided then and there that I would travel the 700 miles south by Greyhound bus to pay my respects at Kennedy's funeral in Washington. It was a sad time but I was glad to have been there to mourn the passing of a great man....)

Sheila says JFK's funeral is available on ebay

Roy is also looking to get a video or DVD of JFK's funeral

Edward says CBS broadcast large segments of the funeral on a Sunday morning special in November 1983

LINCOLN DREAMS JFK FUNERAL

Karl says a DVD of "Jackie's White House Tour" is availabe at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum

Karl has also been searching for a video of JFK's funeral

JACKIE'S TOUR & JFK FUNERAL

EAST ROOM MEMORIES JFK FUNERAL

READERS' JFK EMAIL

JFK TRUTHS & UNTRUTHS