Starring John F. Kennedy as himself

Movies were very much a part of John F. Kennedy's life. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, helped create a major Hollywood studio, RKO. One of his brothers-in-law, Peter Lawford, was a film star. There were his trysts, real or supposed, with such actresses as Gene Tierney and Marilyn Monroe. And, of course, he's been played on-screen by such actors as Warren Beatty and William Devane.

Kennedy played himself, too -- and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has the proof. This afternoon at 2, the library will present several Kennedy home movies, many of them never previously shown to the public, as part of a program called "Vintage JFK."

All but two presidential libraries have home movies among their holdings. Who knew that Harry Truman's cousins, the Southerns, shot some footage when they had him and Bess over to dinner in 1934? Or that Lou Henry Hoover was such a home-movie enthusiast that her 16mm Kodak camera is on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library?

What sets apart the Kennedy home-movie holdings is their size. The library has 20 hours of footage, the most of any presidential library.

The earliest shows the Kennedy family meeting Pope Pius XII, in 1939. There's also footage shot in Palm Beach in 1940. But most of the movies were made while Kennedy was president. They're without audio, although nearly all are in color.

"The president would have them screened at Hyannis Port," says Allan Goodrich, the library's chief archivist, who'll introduce the program.

"It's not earth-shattering footage, but it shows the president and his family relaxing as a family. You don't know him as president in this footage -- except that when he's on the [presidential yacht] Honey Fitz you can see the Secret Service chase boats behind it. What you see isn't unlike other families' home movies. What makes them unique, you might say, is that they're not unique.

"You see visible proof of the love he had for his kids and the sheer enjoyment he had with them. He told the cameramen to focus on them, because that's what he wanted to see when the movies were screened.

"There are some great scenes. There's one of him coming out of a candy store in Hyannis Port holding John Jr.'s stuffed rabbit. There's another, taken at Camp David, where Caroline is riding her pony, Macaroni, with a saddle given her by the king of Morocco the week before. Charlie, the wire-haired terrier, is chasing a soccer ball and runs right into John Jr., who breaks into tears."

Not all the footage is of the family. There are movies of Kennedy playing golf from 1963 that were shot with an audience of one in mind. They were to be sent to Arnold Palmer, so he could offer long-distance instruction to improve the president's game.

"Palmer signed off on the idea," says Goodrich with a sigh, "but nothing ever came of it. The president went to Dallas before Palmer had a chance to see the footage."

Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.

Personal collections

Every presidential library except Bill Clinton's and Jimmy Carter's has home movies in its collection. Here are their holdings:

Herbert Hoover 6¾ hours

Franklin D. Roosevelt 1-2 hours

Harry S Truman 1 hour

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1 hour

John F. Kennedy 20 hours

Lyndon B. Johnson 9 hours

Richard M. Nixon 16-18 hours*

Gerald R. Ford 14 hours

Ronald Reagan 2 hours

George H.W. Bush 1 hour

* Ten hours are in the National Archives' Nixon Presidential Materials Project, which holds Nixon's presidential papers; the remaining footage is at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace.

SOURCES: Individual presidential libraries, National Archives and Records Administration.