So most people know I have had my head caught up in the likes of Marilyn Monroe for quite some time now.  The basic research is seeking a better understanding of this woman’s impact within her life-time, as well as after….and in general, how and why people respond to her so strongly.  After reaching a certain depth within research, it’s hard to ignore some of the other hugely culturally significant ladies…such as Ms Jacqueline (Bouvier) Kennedy (Onasis).

We know the basics of the story.  Jackie Kennedy (& that Bostonian husband of hers) changed the face of the White House and America’s image in the early 1960s.  In 1962, Jackie’s infamous televised broadcast A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F Kennedy aired internationally…and impacted  generations globally within their very own homes.  With it’s initial airing, 56 million American’s tuned in to see the stylish First Lady give a public tour of her private/public home/museum.   In addition, the tour was then syndicated to over 50 countries.  Jackie revamped how we see our country,our history, the role of First Lady, as well as the changing role of women in the private and public spheres.

In 2008, “A Tour of the White House” came back into the homes and TVs of Americans once more,…. as well as through computers, dvd players and probably some ipods.  This time is wasn’t the full hour-long broadcast, but clips via the characters’ TVs of AMC’s hit series Mad Men.  We see Sal, closet gay ad artman, watching the tour with his wife while quietly sitting on their couch.  Meanwhile Joan, the saucy Monroe-Jackie combo, is attempting to watch the tour while engaging in a steamy make-out session with her beau.  The show’s main couple, Betty & Don have a failed lovemaking attempt on Valentines day. After they give up, they order room service and watch the Kennedy White House tour from the bed of their hotel room. We see these various couples’ degrees of sex and lack there of, intertwined together by the fact that Jacqueline Kennedy is giving a tour of the White House on all of their TV sets.

Sal & His Wife, Mad Men Season 2

If 3/4 of the country was watching this broadcast in 62, then Mad Men is pretty dead on with the fact that Joan, Betty & Don, Sal & his wife all probably would have been watching Ms Kennedy.  Sure, we’ve got that other 1/4…but those were probably just the characters we didn’t see.  Now thanks to Mad Men, the broadcast familiar once more, but with younger generations.  Folks who didn’t get to watch the original broadcast when it aired (for whatever reasons, such as…not being born) now watched the characters watch and react to this iconic broadcast.  Folks who did watch the original broadcast, now relived a moment in ’62 that they all connected to.

The Drapers

Joan & Her New Beau

In 2010, it’s impossible for one form of media to have as a great impact as specific televised broadcasts had when Mrs. Kennedy was First Lady.    Three damn quarters of the country…using the same appliance, at the same time, watching the same formal televised broadcast.  It wasn’t because it was a national state of emergency, or the end of a pivotal presidential election.  It also wasn’t a scandalous interview with one of the worlds most iconic and reclusive pop stars.   It was a beautiful yet quirky, elegant yet mechanical well-bred woman from the New England/New York social circles, giving the interviewer, the camera, and the country a formal tour of her home/museum/ideal image.

I did a couple of performances recently for the first time in ages. I  am getting my Beverly Hills, 90210 body of work rolling, and along with it comes a cultural fascination with TV.  I really haven’t done much performance in a gallery type setting, and finally had some opportunities to try it out.  Q: Why the media of performance? A: Because other medias aren’t as applicable for conveying the desired result.  The Kennedy White House Tour, as it existed in 1962 is clearly impossible almost 40 years later. We have too many forms of media, outlets, and accessible information as a whole.  So why not just avoid the media battle, and give the White House Tour as Jackie herself?  Maybe by having an interactive, one-on-one personal encounter with the Mrs. Kennedy and her tour of the White House….Mrs. Kennedy’s White House tour can still make a lasting impact on people’s cluttered memories.

@ the Cannytrophic Design Expo 2010, courtesy of Stripy Cat

At the Cannytrophic Design Expo earlier this year, I tried to put this into practice. I was Jackie.  I had my Mid-restoration White House.  I had my objects to show.  Sometimes I had tours. A lot of the time people kept walking. …and then after 6 hours Jackie got tired.   Clearly, it is not 1962…but at least these folks will probably remember that quirky Jackie trying to give some Whitehouse Tours in the corner of a gallery.