WARM SPRINGS (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television production is about the period that Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent in Warm Springs, Georgia, while dealing with the effects of his polio. As the program opens, Franklin drags himself out of the water and pulls his lifeless legs onto the pier. He then reflects back to 1920 when he rushed to the podium to accept the Democratic National Convention’s nomination to be vice president under James Cox. Following Cox’s defeat, political adviser Louis Howe tells him to run for governor of New York. Shortly before leaving Springwood, his house in Hyde Park, N.Y., Franklin greets his wife Eleanor as she’s going over her day’s schedule with Lucy Mercer, her secretary. Upon reaching Washington D.C., Louis tells Franklin that everyone knows about his affair with Lucy. The next day, as Eleanor picks up Franklin’s clothes, she finds a love letter he wrote to Lucy. At dinner, Eleanor tells Louis and Franklin’s mother Sara that Franklin has accepted her offer to divorce. However, Sara informs her son that he’ll be cut off financially if he leaves Eleanor and creates a scandal. Later, while playing with his five children, Franklin first notices a problem with his ability to stand. The doctor subsequently makes a diagnosis of infantile paralysis. Louis and Eleanor maintain that Franklin can still pursue politics, though Sara objects. In 1924, Louis goes to see Franklin in Florida, where he is living on a boat after slipping into depression from wearing leg braces and sporting crutches. Franklin gets a letter from a man in Warm Springs, who suggests that the minerals in the waters there have a curative property for those with polio. Over Louis’s objections, Franklin goes to Warm Springs with Eleanor. There, Franklin meets Tom Loyless, who runs the Warm Springs Inn where Franklin is staying. Though Franklin finds that he can’t stand in the water, he decides to stay as Eleanor and Louis return to New York. Louis talks the shy Eleanor into making public speeches to keep the Roosevelt name alive. Meanwhile, Franklin learns to walk in the pool with help from Tom. Soon, he finds he has inspired others with similar afflictions. However, Franklin soon realizes that other patrons are afraid that his polio is contagious, necessitating his swimming – and dining -- in off-peak hours. Franklin rises to the challenge and galvanizes his colleagues. Elsewhere, Eleanor continues making speeches with Louis’s aid, helping her gain self-confidence. Physical therapist Helena Mahoney then arrives at Warm Springs and tells Franklin about her research on warm heat’s effect on infantile paralysis. With Helena’s urging, Franklin tells Tom that he wants to buy Warm Springs so that polio patients can get help without any restrictions. Later, Tom informs Franklin that he has cancer and is returning to his parents’ house to die. At Springfield, Sara blames Eleanor for Franklin “squandering” his trust fund on Warm Springs. When Eleanor and Louis subsequently visit Warm Springs to check on Franklin’s work, he picks them up by driving a car with hand controls. Though Eleanor has reservations about Franklin’s plans, she’s won over by residents’ accomplishments, including a performance by wheelchair-bound patients of “I Won’t Dance.” Telling Franklin of her emerging activism in New York, Eleanor helps her husband bring publicity to the financial needs of Warm Springs. The pair’s success puts new spark in their marriage, which both acknowledge before Louis and Eleanor return to New York. Later, a doctor’s published evaluation lauds the water’s positive effects, but casts doubt on Franklin’s ability to walk again. Meanwhile, Louis arranges for Franklin to officially nominate New York Governor Al Smith for president, thinking that the speech will be a springboard for Franklin to become New York’s next governor. As Franklin has reservations about people seeing him as “a cripple,” Helena teaches him how to walk to a podium by leaning on someone. Franklin also comes to terms with patients of Warm Springs who resent his insistence on “hiding” his handicap. Before leaving for the speech, Franklin tells his Warm Springs friends of his pride in their ability to help each other. In Houston for the speech, Franklin successfully “walks” to the podium with the help of one of his sons, as Eleanor and Louis cheer from the balcony. Graphics tell how Franklin became President of the United States four years later, as well as detailing his subsequent achievements.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: April 30, 2005 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:00:10
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:86647
- GENRE: Docudrama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Docudrama;
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2005
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Mark Gordon … Executive Producer
- Celia Costas … Executive Producer
- Chrisann Verges … Producer
- Juanita Diana Feeney … Associate Producer
- Tom Ford … Visual Effects Producer
- Julie Goldberg … Visual Effects Producer
- Joseph Sargent … Director
- Margaret Nagle … Writer
- Bruce Broughton … Music by
- Douglas Scott … Choreographer
- Kenneth Branagh … Cast, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Cynthia Nixon … Cast, Eleanor Roosevelt
- David Paymer … Cast, Louis Howe
- Tim Blake Nelson … Cast, Tom Loyless
- Matthew O'Leary … Cast, Fred Botts
- Matt Malloy … Cast, Lionel Purdy
- Andrew Davoli … Cast, Jake Perini
- Nelsan Ellis … Cast, Roy Collier
- Jane Alexander … Cast, Sara Roosevelt
- Kathy Bates … Cast, Helena Mahoney
- Melissa Ponzio … Cast, Lucy Mercer
- Quint Von Cannon … Cast, Stephen Teller
- Mike Pniewski … Cast, Mr. Hastings
- Grayce Spence … Cast, League Member
- Rand Hopkins … Cast, Dr. Lovett
- Brian Durkin … Cast, Elliot Roosevelt
- Carrie Adams … Cast, Anna, age 19
- Turner Dixon … Cast, James, age 11
- Devon Gearhart … Cast, Elliot, age 8-11
- Tripp Hennington … Cast, Franklin, Jr. age 9
- Sam Frihart … Cast, John, age 7
- Matt Stanton … Cast, Scoutmaster
- Jordan Guzman … Cast , Giuseppe
- Ron Clinton Smith … Cast, Eugene
- Lonnie Smith, Jr. … Cast, Stanley
- Jill Jane Clements … Cast, Waitress
- Dave Hager … Cast, Pat Doyle
- Felicia Day … Cast, Eloise Hutchinson
- Meggie Geisland … Cast, Daisy
- E. Roger Mitchell … Cast, Pete Collier
- Deborah Calloway Duke … Cast, Aunt Sally
- Bob Seel … Cast, Cleburne Gregory
- Brian Beegle … Cast, Benjamin Pendergrast
- Steve Coulter … Cast, Dr. Bissell
- Marianne Fraulo … Cast, Missy Lehand
- Jody Thompson … Cast, Woodhall Busey
- Frank Hoyt Taylor … Cast, Conductor
- Lori Beth Sikes Edgeman … Cast, Mary Beth
- Teal Sherer … Cast, Chorus Girl #1
- Margo Gathright-Dietrich … Cast, Chorus Girl #2
- Laurel Lawson … Cast, Chorus Girl #3
- Danny Nelson … Cast, Farmer
- Sharon Blackwood … Cast, Farmer's Wife
- Bart Hansard … Cast, Bullochsville Stationmaster
- Terry Loughlin … Cast, Dr. Peter Hebert
- Marc McPherson … Cast, Dr. Willis
- Chris Moses … Cast, Young Graduate
- J.L. Parker … Cast, Helena's Driver
- Wilbur Fitzgerald … Cast, Al Smith
- Terrence Gibney … Cast, Crony #1
- David Silverman … Cast, Crony #2
- Robert Treveiler … Cast, Dan Reed
- Greg Thompson … Cast, Photographer
- Carl McIntyre … Cast, Reporter
- Ron Goss … Cast, Convention Announcer
- Georgia Miles … Cast, Anna, age 12
- John Collier … Cast, Cafe Patron
- Danny Connell … Cast, Piano Player
- Justin Warren Downing … Cast, Young Doctor
- Michael Byrd Elliott … Cast, Pushboy
- Joey Goldman … Cast, Boy Scout
- Azel James … Cast, Young Reporter
- Seth Morris … Cast, Student
- Andy Rusk … Cast, Page
- James Cox