she was very taken with mary todd lincoln. you do an audition. and then you get up on its feet, because the way james is writing, it reads like poetry. if i may say, because he is writing, years writing -- this is a very poetic play. he is writing people's feelings. mary is putting her feelings into words, which is poetic. i have said this a million times. it is beautifully written. i wanted to feel how it felt as drama, you know, as drama up on my feet. sometimes i don't know until i am up on my feet in an audition. that was intriguing. those are the two things i brought to it. >> is this your first historical character? >> gosh. my first historical character? >> if it doesn't immediately come to mind -- this has to be one of the best-known historical characters you have played. people have opinions and they have heard a lot about it. how did you prepare yourself to play this role? >> i found my mother-in-law's -- we pulled down a box of her stuff and she had four biographies. i started looking at them. and then i found that biographers really h

but she was very taken with mary todd lincoln. and then, you know, you do an audition and you get it up on its feet. because the way james is writing, it reads like poetry. and this is a very poetic play. i think, if i may say so, he's writing about -- he's writing -- he's writing people's feelings. mary is putting her feelings into words. which is poetic. and the way it's -- i've said this to him a million times, it was beautifully written. so i wanted to feel how it felt as a drama. you know as drama. up on my feet. and sometimes i don't know that until i'm up on my feet in an audition. wow, this really works. and that of course was intriguing. those are the two things i brought to it, my prior experience with james and then also -- >> is this your first historical character? >> oh, my gosh. i'm sure there's best known historical characters you've ever played. >> and again the people have opinions and they've read a lot. how did you, how did you prepare yourself to play this role? >> well i started then i found my mother-in-law'

when you look at the box on the left, the major and his wife and is that mary todd lincoln?>> i go to filmmaking technique here. yes >> that's the derringer? i go to filmmaking techniques here area the close-up, the cross cutting. this was revolutionary in a way. it used to be you put a camera down and had actors sort of performing in front of them. >> the stage and here comes the assassination. >> shifting points of view. >> john wilkes boothe jumping onto the stage. off he goes. >> cutting between perspectives, close-ups. the camera happens to be there and the narrative. >> it looks like ford theater does. >> yeah, photographs. i've seen plenty of still photographs of the set that was created. back in 1915, the audience was spellbound viewing this. and the music, you can hear the music. it was really important to griffith. this was an original score that he had a composer create. >> you said in your book, in boston there was a 40-piece orchestra. >> about 28-piece and in some places 40-piece. >> a 40-piece orchestra in the theater? >> to create the magic of it. the ushers

as you look at the box there on the left was major rathbone and his wife is that mary todd lincoln over>> yes. >> and that is the daringer? >> yes. >> and i go to film making technique here. the close-up and the cross cutting. it used to be -- again, this was revolutionary in a way. it used to be you put a camera down and you had actors performing in front of it. >> that is the stage. >> yep. >> and here comes the assassination. >> and the shifting points of view. >> john killks booth jumping-- john wilkes booth jumping on to the stage. there he go. >> and there is ben cameron there. there is your narrative threat. >> it looks just like ford theater does today. >> yeah. i know. i've seen still photographs, present of of them, the set they've created. back in 1915 to audiences, this was spell-binding creating this kind of film making. and you can hear the music, that was important to griffith. this was an original score. he had a leading composer create it. >> you said in your book, in boston there was a 40-piece orchestra. >> 28-piece in boston but in some there was a 40-piece orchestra

. >> well, we're moving on to mary todd lincoln, and this is quite a staggering looking gown. >> this is -- i will say this is not painted from life. this was painted by her niece after her -- i believe after her death, and when you advance the slide, you will notice it's modelled on a matthew brady photograph. >> so it's romanticized. >> it is a highly romanticized >> and it seems like she's wearing that dress with that head dress. >> that's a good point. >> could well be, yeah. >> she may very well be. >> i think it's modeled on that photograph. >> very interesting. >> now she also famously had dressmaker elizabeth kekly who was a well known african-american dressmaker. and she was criticized wasn't she, for being so interested in fashion. >> mary lincoln wanted to be dolley madison which was absolutely who you should be modeling yourself after and had war not broken out, she would have probably been an incredible successful white house hostess. the civil war broke out. on the one hand mary is doing the right thing which is showing the stature and stability of the presidency by ente

lincoln. by the way, very offensive to mary todd.ig bit while i sing "don't want to miss a thing." ♪ i don't want to close my eyes ♪ ♪ i don't want to fall asleep ♪ ♪ because i mitt you babe ♪ ♪ and i don't want to miss a things ♪ >> give some a hug with a knowing along and tell me it's all going to be okay. >> thank you. flotus wins the game. eat brighter. >> eat your vegetables. >> well you can eat lots of other stuff, too. >> well, great, thank you. >>> how effective is this? >> i think it's tremendously effective. we have seen in the recent past the president going on youtube to promote health care. i have to go and meet your audience where they are. it's a great way to promote healthy eating and a great way to ensure big bird keechts his job, given what mitt romney warranted to do to him during the elections. >> some say it's not what president president and first lady ought to be doing. >> people who hated mirnl obama before this will still hate. it's corrosive and rots of brain, hate. i would love to see her go a step further