Hollywood’s long dance with the White House

The motion picture industry’s political involvement in presidential campaigns goes back decades, almost to the advent of moviemaking. Some examples:

AL AND CAL: President Coolidge, left, poses with actor and singer Al Jolson at the White House in preparation for the 1924 campaign.

*

PRIME SEATING: Actor and singer Frank Sinatra, left, dines with President Kennedy at the Inaugural Ball in Washington in 1961.

*

GOP SUPPORTER: Actor Charlton Heston, left, introduces Phil Gramm at an Iowa event during the Republican senator’s presidential run in 1996.

*

* HOLLYWOOD FAVORITE: President-elect Clinton is handed the microphone by actor and singer Barbra Streisand after being

introduced at a presidential gala in Maryland in 1993. Many observers feel that Clinton brought the relationship between the White House and Hollywood to a new level.

Los Angeles Times