Black and white photograph of WFAA-TV news studio the day of the assassination

Object number1998.010.0189

Date11/22/1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Photographer WFAA-TV

ObjectPhotograph (b&w)

Credit LineWFAA-TV Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper

Dimensions8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionBlack and white photograph showing policemen and studio personnel at WFAA-TV during a live interview with assassination eyewitness Abraham Zapruder (off camera, to the right). This photograph was taken by an unknown promotions department employee two hours after the assassination. Police officers, C.R. Osburn (L) and Joe B. Jones (R), stand next to Erwin Schwartz, Abraham Zapruder's business partner. Schwartz holds a camera case over his right shoulder containing the camera and undeveloped film that Zapruder shot in Dealey Plaza during the assassination. The two policemen, at the request of police headquarters, drove Zapruder, Schwartz and Forrest Sorrels, head of the Dallas Secret Service office, to The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV hoping to have Zapruder's film processed. The two men wearing headsets are camera operators; the names of the five other men are unknown. In the background are a studio light, weather map and parts of backdrops for news programs.

Curatorial Commentary

While the interview was being conducted, assistant news director and chief photographer Bert Shipp called the Eastman Kodak lab in Dallas to arrange for processing. As soon as the 2:30 p.m. interview concluded, the officers drove Zapruder, Schwartz and Sorrels to Kodak, which was located near the south end of Love Field. They arrived moments after Air Force One took off for Washington. - Gary Mack, Curator