Lincoln in the White House
Lincoln in the White House is a 1939 American biographical short or historical "special" about United States President Abraham Lincoln, highlighting events during his first term of office, from his inaugural speech in 1861 to his delivery of the Gettysburg Address in 1863. Produced by Warner Bros. and directed by William C. McGann, the 21-minute Technicolor film stars Frank McGlynn Sr., a veteran actor who since 1915 had specialized in impersonating Lincoln on both stage and screen.
Plot
The film begins with Lincoln delivering part of his presidential inaugural speech in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1861. The next scene, six weeks later, is in the White House, where the president is talking with his wife Mary. Suddenly their young son Tad and Lincoln's assistant John Hay rush in to report that Confederate forces had bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The president, saddened by the news, kneels with Tad to pray for the nation.The story moves to December 1862, with Lincoln discussing the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation prior to its release. That scene transitions to July 1863, to Lincoln's cabinet members bickering about the president's war strategy, when news arrives of the Union army's victory at Gettysburg. As the men celebrate, Lincoln comes in to defend again his policies. Later in the White House, the president plays with Tad on the floor before meeting with a Mrs. Scott. She is there to plead for the life of her son, a young soldier who is to be executed for falling asleep while on sentry duty with the Wisconsin infantry at Gettysburg. Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, now enters and threatens to resign if the soldier is pardoned. Lincoln calms Stanton and then assures Mrs. Scott he will pardon her son.
The film now advances to November 1863. Tad is seriously ill, and his father, mother, and the attending doctor worry at his bedside. The president fears for his son's life, but he must depart for Gettysburg to take part in the dedication of the battlefield cemetery there. Once at the town, Lincoln stays in the home of attorney David Wills. That evening, while editing his speech for the dedication, the president instructs the army band outside to play "Dixie", a song deeply associated with the American South. A crowd in the street initially objects to the choice but begins cheering when the band performs what Lincoln calls a "mighty fine tune". The next day at the ceremony, as celebrated orator Edward Everett concludes his two-hour speech, Lincoln receives a telegram from Mary informing him that Tad is "much improved", news that noticeably relieves the president. He now stands and delivers his own speech, which lasts less than three minutes. At the end of his brief but historic address, the image of Lincoln's face fades out, gradually replaced by an American flag fluttering in the wind and accompanied musically by a rousing excerpt from the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
Cast
- Frank McGlynn Sr. as Abraham Lincoln
- Dickie Moore as Tad Lincoln
- John Harron as John Hay, Lincoln's assistant
- Raymond Brown as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
- Erville Alderson as Secretary of State William H. Seward
- Sibyl Harris as Mrs. Scott
- Nana Bryant as Mary Todd Lincoln
- Earl Dwire as David Wills
- Gordon Hart as Edward Everett
- Edward LeSaint as The Physician
Production
This short is one production in a series of Technicolor two-reel historical "specials" released by Warner Bros. between 1936 and 1940. Four other such color shorts on American history were released by the studio in 1939 after Lincoln in the White House. Their subjects include the Sons of Liberty, the Monroe Doctrine, the Bill of Rights, and Andrew Jackson.Costuming is one of the short's "ultra" production values that critics compliment in their 1939 reviews. Milo Anderson, a costumer for Warner Bros. since 1933, was responsible for the wardrobes in Lincoln in the White House. His work on this project is just one of at least 42 films he "attired" for Warner Bros. between 1937 and the latter months of 1939.
Filming the color short was essentially divided into two distinct parts: Wilfrid M. Cline served as chief cinematographer and Natalie Kalmus served as director of Technicolor, a color process that required special patented cameras that studios had to rent from the Technicolor Company. Those rentals also required that a representative from the company's "Advisory Service" be on site to oversee every production's color "palette". Kalmus was the company's representative on Lincoln in the White House. By 1939, the Technicolor process had improved substantially in quality since its first commercial use in Hollywood productions 17 years earlier; nevertheless, filming with the required cameras still demanded numerous and precise adjustments to lighting and careful color selections of set content in order to attain reasonably accurate and visually appealing reproductions of colors on a film's final print. Kalmus therefore worked closely with Milo Anderson in selecting costumes and with Charles Novi, the short's art director, in choosing rugs, curtains, upholsteries, and other set furnishings deemed acceptable to her in both color and tone.