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Photo of Little Lynn and several others in a hallway during the Ruby trial
Photo of Little Lynn and several others in a hallway during the Ruby trial

Photo of Little Lynn and several others in a hallway during the Ruby trial

Object number1994.003.0151
Date02/17/1964 - 03/14/1964
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer Tom C. Dillard
ObjectPhotograph (b&w)
Credit LineTom C. Dillard Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper, Photo
Dimensions10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
DescriptionBlack and white photographic print by Dallas Morning News chief photographer Tom Dillard. The image shows Carousel Club exotic dancer Karen Lynn Bennett, aka "Little Lynn," in a fur collared coat standing with several other people in a hallway of the Dallas County Criminal Courts Building during the Jack Ruby trial between February 17, 1964 and March 14, 1964 in Dallas, Texas.
Curatorial Commentary
Karen Lynn Bennett Carlin, who performed as "Little Lynn" at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club, had a difficult life immediately following the assassination. In a 1964 interview, she expressed that she had been forced to change addresses multiple times that year, in part because she was tired of harassment but also because her landlords allegedly feared getting mixed up in the assassination or Jack Ruby controversy. She made her final appearance in burlesque in 1964, performing at the Skyliner Ballroom, where she was promptly arrested by Fort Worth police officers for indecent exposure. After paying a fine, she dropped out of public life. It was reported that she died from a gunshot wound in Houston later that year. However, author and researcher J. Gary Shaw spoke to a woman claiming to be Carlin in 1992. Years later, singer Beverly Oliver Massagee (a controversial self-identified assassination eyewitness) told Shaw that Carlin died in 2010 in Tennesse. Shaw apparently confirmed this after speaking with Carlin's sister. - Stephen Fagin, Curator