/internal/media/dispatcher/43546/fullTower Varizoom 8mm movie cameracirca 19605 15/16 × 3 × 7 7/16 in. (15.1 × 7.6 × 18.9 cm)Metal, plasticTowner Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2015.009.00060One Sears-brand Tower Varizoom 8mm movie camera, model 584.91250, used by Tina Towner to film the presidential motorcade as it went through Dealey Plaza, on Friday, November 22, 1963, before and after shots were fired.
This camera is under the house brand "Tower" made by Sears. The case is black with silver, metal trim. The front shows a nameplate with "TOWER" above a grid design. Above the nameplate is the view window; below is a large lens. Text below the lens reads, "VARIZOOM." There is also text around the lens. The front and side have additional controls.
Note: measurements are approximate.Artifacts653227.620015240015.081280162643383Camera18.8912877826Sears' Tower brand Varizoom 8mm movie camera, model 584.91250, used by Tina Towner to film the presidential motorcade in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Towner's father Jim Towner took photos with a still camera while Tina used this camera to capture images of the limousine as it passed the front door of the Texas School Book Depository and of Dealey Plaza after shots were fired.
This camera was apparently manufactured for the department store Sears by Bell & Howell based on its Model 8125, under Sears' house brand "Tower." The case is black with silver-colored metal trim.
CamerasGrassy knollEyewitnessesDealey PlazaHome movieMotorcadeAssassinationTowner, TinaChicagoJapanThe two Towner cameras are both on display in the Museum's exhibit "John F. Kennedy and the Memory of a Nation." - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of CollectionsThe Towners' camera, like other 8mm cameras of the era, did not record sound. (Super 8mm cameras came along in the 1960s with the ability to record sound at the same time that moving images were captured.) Tina had operated the family camera before and knew how to use it. - Gary Mack, Curator