50 years ago, JFK and Jackie were expecting a baby. In Washington, this is no problem as there are plenty of medical facilities to care for them.
In Hyannis, MA, however, the closest medical facility for a president is located at Otis Air Force Base.
On July 24, 1963, the Washington Post reported that the Air Force spent over $5000 to refurbish a room to be used as Jackie’s maternity suite, just in case.
The story goes on to claim that all the furniture was purchased at the upscale store Jordan Marsh. Turns out, the story was not true.
But you would never know it from the phone call JFK placed to an Air Force General at the Pentagon. (Ironically, this general used to date Jackie, but this is not revealed in the movie.)
While looking at a Washington Post photo of Ernest Carlton standing next to a bed at Otis Air Force Base, JFK goes into a salty rant, referring to him as a “Silly Bastard” and saying the whole incident was a “fuck up” that will hurt the Air Force in their budget negotiations with Congress.
He ends by suggesting they might want to transfer the “Silly Bastard” to Alaska as JFK “wouldn’t have him running a cathouse.”
The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed is a hilarious seven minute short documentary that reveals Ernest Carlton’s reaction when he first learns that JFK called him a Silly Bastard–50 years after it happened! LanceAround ranks this short film as the best movie he saw at the 2014 FFF.
The amusement continues as LanceAround and Mrs. LanceAround get an exclusive interview with the “Silly Bastard”, his wife, Velma and Scott Calonico, the director who created the short film that made him even more famous than he was when his photo ran in the Washington Post fifty years ago.
It began with the most unusual question with which LanceAround has ever opened an interview…
LA: What does it feel like to be publicly called a “Silly Bastard” by the most iconic President of our generation?
