Searching for Camelot Part Three, America’s Queen of Camelot

 

Person with long hair raises arms toward a castle reflected in a calm lake.
Bride and groom in vintage wedding attire outdoors with long veil and rustic fence.
A family portrait with parents and two children on a porch at sunset.
Jacqueline Kennedy in mourning attire at a solemn event, surrounded by children and adults.
Jackie Kennedy featured on the May 2004 Vanity Fair cover.
Vintage black and white photo of a woman holding a classic camera.
People magazine cover remembering Jackie Kennedy, June 6, 1994.
Black and white photo of a man and woman standing between trees.
Person with long hair raises arms toward a castle reflected in a calm lake. Bride and groom in vintage wedding attire outdoors with long veil and rustic fence. A family portrait with parents and two children on a porch at sunset. Jacqueline Kennedy in mourning attire at a solemn event, surrounded by children and adults. Jackie Kennedy featured on the May 2004 Vanity Fair cover. Vintage black and white photo of a woman holding a classic camera. People magazine cover remembering Jackie Kennedy, June 6, 1994. Black and white photo of a man and woman standing between trees.

 

Searching for Camelot Part 3, America’s Queen of Camelot

This series is not yet completed.  Still in development.  Stay tuned.

Movie “¢ 1 hr 31 min “¢ Documentary, Drama, History, Biography

Directed by Roger Paradiso, featuring Sarah Bradshaw, Mark Crispin Miller, Siobhan Doyle-McKinley, Dermot McEvoy, Tom Chapin, David Amram, Jack Engelhard, Jack Viertel, Donna Schaper, Chris Johnson, John Bredin and many others

I had read many books on Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, but one stood out from the rest and that was Sarah Bradford’s “America’s Queen”.    I interviewed Sarah for the film because she got down to the roots of “Jackie’s” early years and how that affected her life.  To understand the creation of “Camelot” you must understand the early years of Jacqueline Bouvier’s life.

Two men working on music production in a home studio with headphones and microphone.

She became the darling of Washington and the young couple made the society scene. It was fascinating to me that John and Black Jack got along extremely well.   And Jackie got along very well with the old man, Joe Kennedy.  There was a common thread here.  They reminded her of her father whom she loved.

Summer’s in the Hamptons or Newport were part of Jackie’s life since she was born.  Becoming a Kennedy meant the compound of Hyannis Port, on Cape Cod, was now her summer home while she was married to Jack.  It was interesting that at the end of her life she was split in residences.  She had her New York apartment across from Central Park since 1964, but she also built her own house on Martha’s Vineyard an island off of Cape Cod, thanks to Ari’s divorce settlement.

Two men working on music production in a home studio with headphones and microphone.

The stars were aligned for Jacqueline and John to become the first lady and president of the United States of America.   They were swept in by the change that is often needed.   Not only did John represent many of the servicemen from World War Two who went on to form the greatest middle class in modern history, but Jackie represented, in her own way, the women who wanted to be more than house wives.  Each of them appealed to the middle-class voters yet they were members of the Upper Class. But in their speeches and in their actions, they fought for the American Dream. And that was their connection to the middle class.  We all wanted to be like them.

It was an American fairy tale come true, this tale of Camelot.   And it is still here in the ether. And this concept of Camelot all came from a young girl playing in Central Park, reading about King Arthur and following her dream wherever it led. Her greatest contribution to history may be “Camelot”.

I can only hope that I have captured some of it in my film.

What is history, but a fable agreed upon?
– Napoleon Bonaparte