Janice Norman Bassett Oral History

Object number2015.001.0020

Date01/16/2015

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Janice Norman Bassett

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumBorn digital (.wav file)

DimensionsDuration: 43 Minutes

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DescriptionAudio oral history interview with Janice Norman Bassett. Bassett was a waitress at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club from December 1962 to July 1963. Following the assassination, her family cared for one of Ruby's dogs. Bassett, who was interviewed by the FBI, visited Ruby in jail in 1966. Interview conducted by telephone on January 16, 2015 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-three minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Janice Norman Bassett (nee Jones), also known as "Nessie," was interviewed by the FBI on December 20, 1963. In a two-paragraph summary, which appears as Warren Commission Exhibit No. 1652 in Volume 23, she describes her former employer as "a generous person who gave Christmas gifts to his employees." She also volunteered that Ruby was friendly with several Dallas police officers, offering them "a fifth of whisky" during the holiday season (even though it was illegal at that time for a Dallas nightclub to serve hard liquor) and always refusing to take money from officers. - Stephen Fagin, Curator