Breck Wall Oral History

Object number1993.011.0020

Date12/28/1993

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Breck Wall

Oral history interviewer Bob Porter

ObjectOral history

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

MediumHi-8 videotape

Dimensions47 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Breck Wall. An entertainer in Dallas who created the popular "Bottoms Up" revue, Mr. Wall was one of Jack Ruby's best friends at the time of the assassination. He spoke to Ruby on the phone from Galveston the day before Oswald was shot and was one of the few individuals allowed to visit him in the Dallas County Jail. During the controversial assassination investigation by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, Wall was identified as one of several potential accomplices because of his friendship with Jack Ruby. However, no evidence was found and no charges were filed. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on December 28, 1993 by Bob Porter. The interview is forty-seven minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Mr. Wall passed away on November 15, 2010. Ironically, just two days earlier--on November 13, 2010--Wall's oral history was featured at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza for the first time as part of a Collections Spotlight exhibit on Jack Ruby. This display, which included artifacts, photographs and oral histories related to Jack Ruby, ran through August 7, 2011. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Curatorial Commentary

Breck Wall appears as a club emcee in the 1964 adult feature film Naughty Dallas.

Soon after the assassination, Diamond International Pictures acquired the rights to a 1959 feature titled A Stripper Is Born, a burlesque take-off on the classic A Star Is Born feature. Producers hired director Larry Buchanan to film new scenes with several of Jack Ruby's former attractions, including exotic dancer Jada and ventriloquist Bill DeMar. The performers recreated their stage routines, which were filmed at the Club Montmarte in downtown Dallas just around the corner from Ruby's Carousel Club. The new sequences, edited into A Stripper Is Born and reissued as Naughty Dallas, offer a fairly accurate look at the types of shows in strip clubs like Ruby's. Naughty Dallas, which was filmed in color, only shows an exterior view of the Carousel since Ruby's club closed in early 1964. - Gary Mack, Curator