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Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jack Ruby trial courtroom dated March 12, 1964
Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jack Ruby trial courtroom dated March 12, 1964

Photograph of courtroom sketch of Jack Ruby trial courtroom dated March 12, 1964

Object number2014.034.0018
Date03/12/1964
ClassificationsArt
Artist Howard Brodie
ObjectCourtroom sketch
Credit LineTonahill Family Partners Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions15 1/4 × 19 15/16 in. (38.7 × 50.6 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 on March 12, 1964. The sketch shows an unknown man seated at the witness stand with a microphone positioned in front of him. Judge Joe B. Brown is seated at the judge's bench towards the center of the image. In the foreground are seated the attorneys, with Joe Tonahill positioned on the far left and District Attorney Henry Wade on the far right. It is likely that the figure seated next to Wade is Assistant District Attorney Bill Alexander. The other figures are likely the other Assistant District Attorneys for the prosecution. The artist's signature "Howard Brodie 3/12/64" 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