Burton, Depp Help The Obamas Host Secret "Alice in Wonderland" Mad Hatter Tea Party

Director Tim Burton does decorating duty; actor Johnny Depp emcees as Mad Hatter; George Lucas sends Chewbacca; vials of blood and bone-shaped meringues served as treats, according to Jodi Kantor's "The Obamas"...
UPDATE, Jan. 9: Party wasn't a secret, says White House
The White House was quick to dismiss Jodi Kantor's forthcoming "The Obamas" as an "overdramatization of old news," but there's plenty of new tidbits in the book, which hits stores on Jan. 10th. The New York Post is the latest to publish details from an advance copy, and re-tells Kantor's story about a lavish private costume ball that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted for Halloween 2009, kept top secret for fear of backlash since the rest of America was struggling with recession. The “Alice in Wonderland” themed party was put on by filmmaker Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp, who served as emcee, clad as the Mad Hatter. At the behest of the Obamas, director George Lucas even sent the original “Star Wars” character Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests, according to Kantor. The White House released an official photo of Chewbacca with Mr. and Mrs. Obama on the North Portico, as they handed out treat bags to local school kids before the party. A White House video about the Halloween fest was also released, but contained nothing about the Mad Hatter Tea Party. (Above, the Obamas with First Grandmother Marian Robinson and Chewbacca)

“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly," Kantor wrote. "And Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged."

The unemployment rate was about 10% at the time of the party, which was for children of military personnel and White House staffers, and came after the trick-or-treating. The White House allowed the media to observe the Presidential treat fest under the North Portico, and then the President's press pool was briefly allowed in to the East Room for the beginning of the party, but rushed out after just a few minutes. Unbeknownst to the press, Burton had transformed the State Dining Room, located on the other side of the historic building, into a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, according to Kantor. Burton's film version of Alice in Wonderland, starring Depp, was about to hit theaters. (Above: A publicity photo of Depp as the Mad Hatter)

Burton decorated the East Room "in his signature creepy-comic style...with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies,” Kantor writes. “Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar."

"Burton’s own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character.”

Obama daughters Malia and Sasha, then 11 and 8 respectively, “sat at the table, surrounded by a gaggle of their friends, and then proceeded to the next delight, a magic show in the East Room,” Kantor writes.

Former Social Secretary Desiree Rogers was in charge of events when the Mad Hatter Tea Party took place. The President and Mrs. Obama, like other Presidential couples before them, have hosted other social events that are closed to the press, including two similar Halloween parties for children of military families, in 2010 and 2011.

Kantor, a New York Times correspondent, interviewed 33 current and former White House aides for the book, though she did not interview the President and Mrs. Obama. Her story focuses on contentious relationships between Mrs. Obama and some of the President's Senior Advisors, including former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. In the acknowledgments, Kantor writes that Gibbs, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, the President's former top strategist David Axelrod, and Mrs. Obama's former chief of staff Susan Sher, as well as Obama Chicago friends Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt "gave me many hours of interview time each." Click here for an excerpt of the book in The New York Times. (Above: Another official White House photo from Halloween 2009, with Mrs. Obama handing out treats in the East Room, across the building from where the Tea Party was held)

"The book, an overdramatization of old news, is about a relationship between two people whom the author has not spoken to in years," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement on Friday.

"The author last interviewed the Obamas in 2009 for a magazine piece, and did not interview them for this book. The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author's own thoughts. These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated."

This White House video from Halloween 2009 shows President and Mrs. Obama speaking in the East Room rather than in the Mad Hatter'd State Dining Room:



*Photos by Pete Souza/White House; Depp photo by Disney Enterprises, INC. S/LMK