Photograph of courtroom sketch of defense team at Jack Ruby trial

Object number2014.034.0007

Date03/11/1964

ClassificationsArt

Artist Howard Brodie

ObjectCourtroom sketch

Credit LineTonahill Family Partners Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper

Dimensions14 11/16 × 19 1/4 in. (37.3 × 48.9 cm)

Terms

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 on March 11, 1964. Defense attorney Melvin Belli is standing before Judge Joe B. Brown with his back to the viewer. Joe Tonahill, another of Ruby's defense attorneys, is seated at the table to the left of Belli while the outlined figure on the far left is likely Jack Ruby. The two standing figures at the prosecution table to the right of Belli are likely attorneys Frank Watts and William Alexander. The court reporter is visible between the figures of Watts and Alexander. The handwritten caption in the lower right corner reads "Defense rests / 3/11/64." 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