Written by James Costigan and Joseph P. Lash
Directed by Daniel Petrie

This award-winning mini-series was the product of an era when network television seemed to want to produce them in abundance.  There are only a few which still stand out in people’s minds, such as Roots and The Thorn Birds.  However, there are many lesser-known series which deserve attention for the quality all around.

Eleanor & Franklin: The Early Years is about the pre-White House life of Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt.  For most of us in high school, our education of American history does little to go into the background of any President, even our longest-serving one, not to mention his wife who was highly-regarded for her stance on many issues in her own right.

The series stars Edward Herrmann as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt.  It won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Drama.  The script was based on a book by Joseph P. Lash, who was a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt’s as well as being a journalist.

Told mostly in flashback, the mini-series actually begins in 1945 as Eleanor is receiving the news that Franklin has passed in Warm Springs, Georgia while she is still in Washington DC.  Eleanor flies to Georgia to take it all in and hears of Franklin’s last moments which greatly disturb her.  It seems they were spent in the presence of someone he had been well acquainted with previously, much to Eleanor’s chagrin.

From there, Eleanor & Franklin: The Early Years takes us back to the early years, and I do mean the early years.  The two are shown playing together as children in Eleanor’s memory.  Most of her childhood, though, is filled with memories of an alcoholic and depressed father (who was Theodore Roosevelt’s brother).  Her mother tried to keep the family together through all of this and had her own illnesses to contend with.  Eleanor was sent away to a school in a convent while this was going on.  When her mother passes, she and her two younger brothers go to live with her grandmother.  Despite her father’s weaknesses, Eleanor clearly loves him.  Yet her grandmother wants to keep him away from her.

As she grows she suffers the loss of one of her brothers to scarlet fever.  Although she and her father correspond, he still battles the same demons, which eventually cause his death.  Eleanor suffers from a poor self-image but studies hard and is bright.

MacKenzie Phillips portrays Eleanor as a teen.  It is at one of Uncle Teddy’s parties here that she becomes reacquainted with her cousin Franklin, who is considered quite good-looking.  This also establishes the great affection Franklin has for his mother, which will be a source of friction in the future.

Eleanor attends the prestigious Allenswood School in England.  There she flourishes, although her grandmother has her return after three years, more concerned with Eleanor “coming out” and taking her place in society than her education.  Still, her experiences here laid the groundwork for quite a bit of what people will know Eleanor Roosevelt for.  Franklin pursues her when she returns and although Eleanor seems to think they are nothing but good friends, Franklin is falling for her.  He sees in Eleanor an intelligence not present in other girls that surround him in society, and that is what he enjoys.  Still, Eleanor is reticent as she feels somewhat inferior to other society girls.  When Franklin proposes, he takes her completely by surprise.

The second part takes place after they are married.  The stage was set earlier in Franklin deferring to his mother’s wishes.  Anyone who is at all acquainted with the stories and rumors about their marriage is well aware of this situation.  Still, though, it is Franklin’s deferring to his mother that likely saves the marriage at one point.  Although there were rumors of many infidelities on his part, there is only one that is documented here, with Eleanor’s personal secretary that nearly broke the marriage apart and would have ended Franklin’s political aspirations.

The acting here is stellar.  Alexander is wonderful as the socially constrained Eleanor who had so much more potential than was ever realized.  It’s easy to see why she was regarded as one of the most influential First Ladies and it’s also easy to see how what Franklin first loved about her would eventually cause more friction.  Having a mind of your own can be a good thing, until you want something different.  Alexander manages to capture these facets of her in very subtle ways.  She portrays Eleanor with an almost single-minded fixation on social justice early on.  At the same time, she feels as if she doesn’t quite measure up and it’s one of the reasons she lets many walk on her.  It’s hard to imagine that lady who has been so revered by women of future generations as having self-image issues, but Alexander weaves them all into her portrayal quite well.

Herrmann as Franklin Roosevelt is really less of a performance than Alexander’s. He has the right amount of bravado in him to pull off the politician we’ve all seen in speeches, although none of them are in this part of the series.  I thought his younger days weren’t quite up to the performance he puts in as the series wears on.  His most challenging scenes come when he is afflicted with polio and this is when he really does well as an actor.

Rosemary Murphy is Franklin’s mother, Sara.  She is another interesting character, and Ms. Murphy is absolutely spot-on in the role.  The elder Mrs. Roosevelt doesn’t intend to be mean, she’s just been raised to believe certain things and acts in that way.  Eleanor chafes early on at her interference in their married life, but she also realizes it is a battle she will have to continually fight if she doesn’t make her peace with it.  The scenes between the two actresses are fantastic and it’s Ms. Murphy’s portrayal of Mrs. Roosevelt that really helps Alexander convey Eleanor’s insecurities.

I thought they made the jump to Jane Alexander as Eleanor a bit early.  She looks entirely too old to portray Eleanor when she’s just shy of eighteen as she’s already well into her thirties when the mini-series was filmed.  She looks considerably older than her cousin Alice (portrayed by Linda Purl) who was older than her earlier in the film.  This series ends just as he’s elected to the White House, so for more on that perspective, there’s a second mini-series based on those years. Some people might feel disappointed by what seems like an abrupt ending.

Other than that, I have little to complain about. From the sets to the script, this is a terrific mini-series that gives a history of one of our greatest Presidents and his equally influential wife that few would learn about otherwise.  It also provides an intriguing look into high society at the time, as well as family dynamics at a time when many things such as alcoholism and infidelity weren’t as out in the open as they often become now.   It’s definitely worth seeing.