Book

I have looked on ebay-no luck yet. I could kick myself for throwing out my copy years ago. Thanks for the info.

Lillian Rogers Parks original memoir (not the Gwen Bagni/Paul Dubov novelization of the miniseries) is usually available in most public libraries. After going through the miniseries on DVD I went to the library to see how much of the original memoir was utilized in the miniseries.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that just about all of the major stories and events we see depicted in the miniseries do originate with her memoir. Woodrow Wilson turning out the light and going "Waste not, want not." Lillian as a child being found by President Taft in his room (not his bathtub though).

Also, the memoir reveals that of the other staff members (excluding the chief ushers and housekeepers, all of whom were real) we see in the miniseries, only John Mays (who was hired as a doorman for Taft but didn't become a barber until the Coolidge presidency) was an actual person and the rest are all fictional or composite characters. Lillian's brother Emmett was indeed gassed during WWI and forced to relocate to AZ but spent the rest of his life in southern CA, still attached to the military as a guard at a Coast Guard station.

I think the one thing the miniseries is a bit off on, is the harsh treatment of the Eisenhowers. Lillian had much kinder words for Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower in her book, and certainly understood that the President was just more of a solitary man not inclined to get to know the staff well.

First of all remember these books (plural) are now out of print, it is not Amazon selling them but Marketplace Sellers (third parties, some of them people like you and me). Second, my library as a kid in New York had both. Third, Some of these Amazon Marketplace Sellers have hardbacks of either at reasonable prices. Finally, as my namesake said, Bagni and Dubov's book is based on their screenplay, or vice versa, Lillian's autobiography focuses on her time.