Photograph of courtroom sketch of attorneys and Judge Brown at Ruby trial

Object number2014.034.0038

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 1/4 in. (36.8 × 48.9 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionPhotograph of courtroom pencil sketch on paper by CBS News courtroom artist Howard Brodie. The sketch shows the attorneys and Judge Joe B. Brown during the Jack Ruby trial in February or March of 1964. The sketch shows the attorneys table from behind with figures identified as, from left to right, defense attorney Melvin Belli, defense attorney Joe Tonahill, defendant Jack Ruby, Assistant District Attorney Bill Alexander, and District Attorney Henry Wade. Belli, Tonahill, and Alexander are all standing and pointing to something on the table while Ruby and Wade remain seated. A handwritten note along the bottom edge of the image reads "Big argument about pamphlets." 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