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Photograph of courtroom sketch during Jack Ruby trial
Photograph of courtroom sketch during Jack Ruby trial

Photograph of courtroom sketch during Jack Ruby trial

Object number2014.034.0006
DateFebruary 1964 - March 1964
ClassificationsArt
Artist Howard Brodie
ObjectCourtroom sketch
Credit LineTonahill Family Partners Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions14 1/2 × 19 5/16 in. (36.8 × 49.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionPhotograph of courtroom pencil sketch on paper by CBS News courtroom artist Howard Brodie. The sketch shows the courtroom during the Jack Ruby trial in February or March of 1964. The sketch shows Judge Joe B. Brown seated at the judge's bench in the center of the image. Towards the left is the defense table with Jack Ruby seated at the far left. Attorney Melvin Belli is standing next to Ruby and gesturing towards Judge Brown, and attorney Joe Tonahill is seated next to Belli. On the right-hand table is the prosecution team including (left to right) attorney Frank Watts, Assistant District Attorney William Alexander, and District Attorney Henry Wade. An unknown man is seated in the witness stand. Handwritten captions along the bottom edge of the image identifies the figures represented. Another caption in the bottom right corner reads "Ruby Trial Dallas." The artist's signature "Howard Brodie '64" is located in the lower right under the sketch. Brodie made the original pencil sketches for CBS News during the trial of Jack Ruby after the judge barred cameras from the courtroom. Brodie then gave Joe Tonahill this photograph of a courtroom sketch as part of a collection of more than 40 in 1964.
Curatorial Commentary
Howard Brodie (1915-2010) was a sports artist for the San Francisco Chronicle when he enlisted in the U.S. Army with America's entry into World War II. He ultimately became one of the best-known sketch artists of the war, frequently published in the weekly U.S. military magazine, Yank, which ran from June 1942 to December 1945. After the war, Brodie spent the next thirty-five years as a courtroom artist, attending several notable trials including the Chicago Seven, Charles Manson and, of course, the Jack Ruby trial in 1964. For the Ruby trial, Brodie worked as a CBS-TV artist correspondent. Mr. Brodie recorded an oral history with the Museum in 2006. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator