ETHEL: Ethel and Bobby Kennedy with two of their
sons playing around during bedtime.
Photo Credit: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images / courtesy HBO
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The brand-new documentary ETHEL on HBO is exactly what we are looking for when we pick out top programming: it is top quality, it is all-American, and it is the inside story which is what the whole Whom You Know philosophy is dedicated to-who could produce a better film on a great historical figure like Ethel Kennedy better than her Emmy-award-winning daughter, Rory! We loved the interviews with her siblings throughout and we loved gaining perspective on what it is like to be the 11th child...(as the oldest of two, Peachy would have no idea!) The old family footage and photos are remarkable and clearly priceless and give value to the well-written script by Rory and narrated by her as well. We were particularly touched early on by the video of the Eternal Flame and the two white roses Ethel places on RFK's final resting place.
ETHEL: (L-R) Bobby & Ethel Kennedy greeting supporters
during the US presidential campaign during the May Oregon
Primary in 1968
Photo Credit: © Clyde Keller/ courtesy HBO
There is so much written on the Kennedy family, but secondhand observation does little for us. Rory Kennedy explores the history of her family with obvious passion and devotion, as she was the child Ethel was pregnant with when RFK was killed-so you could argue that her motivation would be the most curious of their 11 children as she was the only one that never met her dad- and her work is ultimately inspiring. Born six months after her father's death, Rory Kennedy was raised by her mother. The last piece on what the new story has been since 1968 was the best tribute to Ethel herself as she has had a tremendous impact on the lives of each child: they learned sports from their mom like skiing and football: she made sure they didn't sit around and feel sorry for themselves. Ethel is a leader and has successfully carried out her late husband's causes, as have their children and grandchildren.
ETHEL: (L-R) Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and his wife,
Ethel, standing behind him photographed in 1961.
Photo Credit: © Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS/ courtesy HBO
Considering the political climate of America today, RFK's words we hope will set an example for those that are not choosing to take the high road: "We need not division, not hatred, not violence, not lawlessness...We need love, wisdom, compassion towards one another."
ETHEL: Rory Kennedy
Photo Credit: Lyndie Benson/ courtesy HBO
Ethel and Bobby were both Irish Catholic, but had very different backgrounds in that Ethel was from a Republican family in Greenwich, Connecticut. Not as much is known about Ethel, and we are glad that the world has now become enlightened because she makes superwoman look tame. As a Skakel, Ethel had a healthy disregard for authority in all its forms (which we'd say would make her more fun!) and you're going to love to hear the story about how her brothers chose to ride the MTA's Metro North into Manhattan from Greenwich...Ethel went to Manhattanville College with Jean Kennedy and that's how she met Bobby, and it was on a skiing trip to be exact. Ethel we love what happened to the Demerit book...and thumbs up to Rory for finding the old records!
In 1946, Ethel helped on Jack Kennedy's first campaign for Congress, and we all know the political history of the Kennedy's...what you do not know is Rory's commentary into all of it as well as the inside commentary by her relatives uniquely captured by Rory. We love how Ethel placed importance on having her kids understand what their dad did firsthand and they really did enjoy the campaigning and we love Kerry's phone skills at a young age in her father's office!
Ethel is a total ticket during the Q and A sessions with Rory and is not afraid to say no to her...which will make you laugh! You'll have to watch to find out what she does say no to, and what she answers with a smile. Though the sad times are included-which they should be, and you'll see what Ethel does to get through them-the happy times are terrifically uplifting and are going to make you wish you were the 12th kid in this family.
ETHEL: (L-R) Ethel Kennedy & Robert F. Kennedy
Photo Credit: John F. Kennedy President Library Museum/ Courtesy HBO
Other aspects of ETHEL we loved:
*The 1950 wedding of Ethel and Bobby must have been amazing complete with 600 guests and fountains of champagne
*Who wouldn't want to have a pet seal~! What a fun mom she is.
*Ethel on a scooter in Italy....!
*How a present can sing in the rain
*An hour in to the documentary you'll see amazing 1964 footage of Manhattan
*The train ride from New York to Washington with RFK's remains was incredibly touching
Also, you should know that Kick Kennedy is one of the most popular Mover and Shaker interviews on Whom You Know...
ETHEL: (L-R) Robert F. Kennedy & Ethel Kennedy [1950 in Hawaii]
Photo Credit: Rory Kennedy/ courtesy HBO
Hats off to the last King of Ireland who today is Queen of Small Screen Scenes!
Bravo Rory Kennedy!
Ethel is Highly Recommended by Whom You Know.
Your parents are proud of you:
ETHEL: (L-R) Robert F. Kennedy & Ethel Kennedy [St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Greenwich, CT on June 17th, 1950]
Photo Credit: Rory Kennedy/ courtesy HBO
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When Robert F. Kennedy was U.S. attorney general, his wife, Ethel, would take their children to the FBI building to watch sharpshooters at target practice. It was fun for the kids, though they risked running into FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who disliked Robert Kennedy and didn’t care for children. So when Ethel came across a suggestion box, she wrote, “Get a new director,” on a piece of paper, and slipped it in the slot.
Directed by her Emmy®-winning daughter, Rory Kennedy (HBO’s “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”), ETHEL celebrates the remarkable life of the Kennedy matriarch, highlighted by revealing, little-known anecdotes from those who know her best: her family. Debuting THURSDAY, OCT. 18 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO, the feature-length documentary had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 18 (4:30 a.m.), 21 (1:45 p.m.), 24 (6:45 p.m.), 27 (9:45 a.m.) and 29 (3:15 p.m., 10:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Oct. 31 (8:00 p.m.)
This personal portrait, featuring candid interviews with Ethel – her first extended interview in more than two decades – and her children Kathleen, Joe, Bobby, Courtney, Kerry, Chris and Max, spans her political awakening, the life she shared with Robert Kennedy and the years following his death, when she raised their 11 children. ETHEL is the first film made about the Kennedys from within the family.
Now 84, Ethel is described by one of her daughters as “the most fiercely competitive person I’ve ever met.” On camera, she comes across as a force of nature who is also self-effacing.
Given the Kennedys’ place at the forefront of many of the pivotal events of the modern era, the documentary’s sweep is vast, ranging from the McCarthy hearings and the Civil Rights movement, to Vietnam and the anti-war movement, to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and beyond.
ETHEL includes rare home movies and dozens of personal photos, tracing the off-again, on-again courtship of Irish Catholics Ethel Skakel and Robert Kennedy, who married in 1950 and began raising a family. Having grown up more interested in sports and horses than public affairs, her political conscience didn’t stir until the Kennedy family poured itself into John Kennedy’s various campaign efforts, culminating in his 1960 presidential victory.
By then, she was hooked. Ethel hosted hugely popular tea parties to mobilize women voters, worked tirelessly on the campaign trail and traveled the world with Robert after he became attorney general, even though it meant disowning her conservative roots. “I just totally put the Republican part behind me,” Ethel says, quipping that her family thought she was “a little Communist.”
When the country and the world were in upheaval, Ethel’s unflagging spirits and mischievous sense of humor were often the perfect antidote to the stresses of Robert’s job. She had regular run-ins with the police, earning speeding tickets and even a court appearance for “stealing” a group of starving horses to save their lives. At many parties she hosted, Ethel had members of President Kennedy’s cabinet pushed into the family swimming pool.
“My father really had the weight of the world on him, and mummy was funny and fun and full of laughter,” recalls Kerry Kennedy.
Drawing on her deep Catholic faith, she was inspired by Robert’s fearless commitment to justice, whether he went after labor racketeer Jimmy Hoffa or tried to end racial segregation at the University of Alabama.
Following Robert’s lead, Ethel took pains to instill in their children the same courage and sense of social justice. The kids went along on campaigns, sat in on crucial hearings, and, when Robert Kennedy ran for senator from New York State, visited the Bronx and Harlem to appreciate how the less-privileged lived. No teachable moment was wasted.
ETHEL revisits the heartbreaking moments that tested her most. John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 unleashed, she says, “a tidal wave of grief…It was six months of just blackness.” Asked to comment on her husband’s assassination at age 42, five years later, Ethel demurs, except to say that her children, along with her faith, helped her get through it. “I'd wake up every morning and imagine him up there with Jack,” she says, referring to the late president.
“That’s carried her, I believe, through everything,” says Courtney Kennedy, including the deaths of Ethel’s sons David from a drug overdose in 1984 and Michael in a skiing accident in 1997. Rory’s birth, six months after Robert’s death, also helped with the healing, Ethel says.
Just as John Kennedy’s death moved Robert to step up to a greater level of public service, Robert’s death pushed Ethel to do the same. She founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and Justice to help carry on his work, and has participated in human rights delegations all over the world.
Today, many of her children work for social justice, which is often attributed to their father’s influence, but as Rory reminds Ethel, Robert Kennedy died when they were very young. She’ll have none of it. “I just don’t feel I can take the credit,” Ethel says, adding with a wisdom forged from hardship and triumph, “Nobody gets a free ride...so have your wits about you, and do what you can and dig in because it might not last.”
One of the final sequences of ETHEL shows her at the helm of the family sailboat, which is filled with her children and many of her 33 grandchildren, cleaving through choppy ocean waters. In spite of all she has lived through, Ethel Kennedy has stayed afloat, moving forward through buffeting winds and changing tides.
Co-founder and president of Moxie Firecracker Films, Emmy® winner Rory Kennedy has directed or produced more than 35 documentaries. Her films range from poverty to politics to human rights, and have been shown on HBO, A&E, MTV, Lifetime and PBS. She was a producer of the 2011 HBO documentary “Killing in the Name,” which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Documentary Short. Kennedy also directed and produced the HBO documentaries “The Fence (La Barda)” (2010); “Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House” (2008); “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” (2007), which won a Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Nonfiction Special; “A Boy’s Life” (2004); the five-part series “Pandemic: Facing AIDS” (2003); and “American Hollow” (1999).
For more on the film, please visit facebook.com/HBODocs, twitter.com @HBODocs #Ethel and youtube.com/hbodocs.
ETHEL is directed, produced and narrated by Rory Kennedy; producer, Jack Youngelson; co-producer, Veronica Brady; associate producer, Tina Leonard; edited by Azin Samari; writer, Mark Bailey; cinematography, Buddy Squires; original score by Miriam Cutler. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.