Orville answered as he pointed, “From that stockade fence over there.”
“CUT!” again the director barked.
Orville was baffled. I was a little scared. The director yelled loudly when he said, “Cut”. The make-up lady came over again and powdered my grandfather’s forehead. I suppose he was beginning to sweat a little from nervousness.
Mr. Barker walked over to the director and they conversed for a moment. I looked at my younger sister and brother who were still being quite still, sitting on the grass. We remained in awe of the whole scene: cameras, police cars, people, men everywhere in suits and a lady who was carrying a bouquet to the grassy knoll. Even at our young ages, we understood the solemnity of the place where we stood.
*****
ORVILLE WAS BAFFLED.
I WAS A LITTLE SCARED.
THE DIRECTOR YELLED LOUDLY WHEN HE SAID, “CUT”.
THE MAKE-UP LADY CAME OVER AGAIN AND POWDERED MY GRANDFATHER’S FOREHEAD.
I SUPPOSE HE WAS BEGINNING TO SWEAT A LITTLE FROM NERVOUSNESS.
Just then, Mr. Barker said, “Okay Mr. Nix, we’re ready to begin again.”
For the third time, the cameras rolled, the clapboard slammed, and Mr. Barker asked, “Mr. Nix, you heard shots. How many did you hear?”
Orville answered, “I heard one… ‘Bang,’ then a ‘Bang-Bang’ really fast. Then another loud ‘Bang.’ I would say four shots.”
Mr. Barker then asked, “And where did the shots come from?”
Orville answered, “From the fence area, over by the buildings there.”
Again the director yelled “CUT!” and again very loudly, so loudly we all jumped. Mr. Barker went to talk to the director again.
After several more takes, Mr. Birnbaum then came over to my grandfather with a kind smile. He said, “Orville, where did the Warren Commission say the shots came from?”
My grandfather answered slowly, now understanding what they wanted him to say, “Well, the School Book Depository Building.”
Mr. Birnbaum said, “Well, that’s what you need to say.”
Orville frowned, looked down then looked back up. Mr. Barker was again walking towards him, and they began again.
Mr. Barker asked, “Mr. Nix, you were a filmmaker that day, where did the shots come from?”
Orville answered, “The School Book Depository.”
That was the end of the filming. That was the last time my grandfather ever gave an interview on camera. I think I saw a bit of his spirit die that day.
On the way home, my brother and sister were in the back seat. Tired from the excitement, they soon fell asleep on the drive home. I could tell my grandfather wasn’t happy. He immediately lit a Lucky Strike cigarette and then hit the steering wheel with both of his hands. Startled, I questioned him, “What’s wrong, Paw-Paw?”
“Why did they try to make me feel stupid? Why did they make me feel ignorant? I’m not insane,” he mumbled as he hit the steering wheel again.
“What do you mean, Paw-Paw? I think you did good!” I assured him.
He looked over at me and I could see a tear in his eye. He just stared at me. I smiled and patted his back.
“Gayle, I want you to know something, I believe you’re old enough to understand what I’m saying to you. I was there that day. I know what I saw. The shots came from that fence area. You always remember that, will you?” he said to me solemnly.
“I will, Paw-Paw, I will.”
Though I didn’t understand it at the time, my grandfather was looking for reassurance. He was looking for validation. He never received it in his lifetime. He had been brow-beaten for so long: from men who were intimidating, like the rich Doctors at Riverlakes Country Club, worry of losing his Governmental job or the words placed in his mouth by the media. He just couldn’t take it any longer. He didn’t know that CBS was another media front for the CIA. How could he? Few people did. He trusted the government he so loved and would never think they would lie to him or insult him into repeating words they wanted to hear or have told. He didn’t know that others were treated the same as he. Many others don’t know either. For instance, Kenny O’Donnell, a confidant and adviser to JFK who was in the motorcade suffered the same intimidation as Orville Nix. In former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill’s book Man of The House, O’Neill describes a conversation with O’Donnell, who told him he was sure that two shots had come from the fence behind the grassy knoll. O’Neill said to O’Donnell, “That’s not what you told the Warren Commission.” O’Donnell responded, “You’re right, I told the FBI what I had heard, but they said it couldn’t have happened that way and that I must have been imagining things. So I testified the way they wanted me to. I just didn’t want to stir up any more pain and trouble for the family.”337
Whether it was for fear of their jobs, their lives or respect for the Kennedy family, many witnesses were scared to speak the truth, or worse, speak what they were told to speak by the powers that be. These innocent people had no idea that they were part of Operation Mockingbird to the nth degree. They were forced to repeat the governmental story, the truth be damned. I know many witnesses living today who feel the same. I have spoken with them personally. They are afraid to tell their stories for fear their families will suffer.
Later that year, Jim Garrison called Orville and asked him to testify at his now famous trial.338 Orville refused. He didn’t speak of his participation in history for the next five years. He died in January of 1972. Jones Harris worked on the Garrison team. He was never to meet Orville Nix.
Nor did Moses Weitzman. As Orville Nix was taking his last breaths in Oak Cliff, Moses Weitzman was enhancing the Nix film for UPI in downtown Manhattan at his lab, EFX Unlimited. His business was located at 321 W. 44th Street on the 4th floor. UPITN occupied the top floor of the same building. Weitzman had worked extensively on the Zapruder film for years. His clients included Time, Inc. as well as many movie and documentary producers. Since Weitzman was a photographic purist, the assassination of JFK was never of interest to him. He was more interested in the rapidly evolving techniques in regards to photo processing and of course, doing the best job he could for his clients. It is a story that Weitzman knew for years and only repeated two times… Once to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1997 and again to me in 2014. As he explained to the author:
“I believe the original Nix film has been destroyed. Here is why I think so. Maurice Schonfeld from UPI brought the Nix film to me in 1973 to see if I could find anything on it. I studied an original internegative. Using a Hazeltine Analyzer, I took it from 16mm to 35mm size. When I did, in it, very plain to me, was the image of a person wearing what seemed to be a red bandana, holding what appeared to be a metallic broomstick type object and the distinct pink flesh tones of hands holding the metallic object. This red bandana image is hidden in the brushy area and clearly moves along the fence after the head shot. It could be seen behind the picket fence area, on Zapruder’s right. Schonfeld was so excited; he decided to send it to the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. He paid me a large sum of money to make 24 copies: 12 black and white and 12 color under very hush hush orders. I had a Rolodex with business cards from my contacts at the JPL. I finished the copies and Schonfeld sent a black and white copy to California. Two weeks later, I came into my office to call my contact at the Jet Propulsion Lab and found that my office had been ransacked. Not only were the Rolodex entries missing for the Jet Propulsion Lab, but so was my Nix file. I really didn’t think much of it until later that day when I noticed many of the employees from the top floor leaving with tears in their eyes. It seemed UPI had gone out of business. I had been paid a nice sum, so that wasn’t my worry, but I still found it all odd. The next day, I looked up the number for the Jet Propulsion Lab and was told, ‘We are no longer working with you and are unable to answer any questions regarding the JFK Assassination. We are a governmental organization.’ As I was not a conspiracy buff, I didn’t think this was anything sinister, just stran
ge and I never mentioned it nor saw Mr. Schonfeld again.”339
Strangely, a report was manufactured by JPL, a copy of which was sent to Maurice Schonfeld. Several years later, Chris Scally, a well-respected and thorough JFK researcher contacted Dr. Alan Gillespie from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and requested a copy of the report. Dr. Gillespie’s reply to him was, “Under our agreement with Mr. Schonfeld we cannot supply you with a copy of that report…” In the letter, Gillespie further goes on to state that the JPL findings parallel the ITEK findings done a decade and a half before. Both reports conclude “it is impossible to use the Nix film to resolve the question conclusively either way.”340
This statement by Dr. Gillespie and the author’s telephonic interview with Dr. Kenneth Castleman confirm that it is imperative to find the original Nix film insomuch that both the ITEK and JPL/Caltech findings don’t preclude there is no evidence of a second gunman, rather it cannot be resolved conclusively. Does this mean there is not a second gunman? Absolutely not! In fact, Dr. Castleman told the author that JPL/Caltech didn’t study the picket fence area, but rather the pergola area that Jones Harris had initially discovered. In a later telephonic interview with Maurice Schonfeld, he too told me that he had never paid a photographic analysis lab to study anything but the object Harris had pointed out to him, and didn’t remember seeing the image to which Weitzman referred.341
So now the question becomes, “Why through all the many governmental studies, photographic analyses and viewings of the original Nix film did no one analyze the entirety of the original Nix film?”
* * * * *
In 1988, twenty-five years after the copyright would revert to its original owner as Reinhardt and Schonfeld told my grandfather and dad, I began my quest to get my grandfather’s film returned to our family. Not being a lawyer, I waged a one-woman war to get the film rightfully returned. I spoke with a kind man at UPI who was in their legal department. After telling him my story, he agreed to send the film back right away. A few days passed and I didn’t hear from him. Like my grandfather, I didn’t give up. When I called his number, I was told he was ‘no longer with the company.’342 At that time, UPI was still a powerful force with which to be reckoned and, unbeknownst to the public, on the verge of bankruptcy. Another lawyer told me I would have to wait until 1991 to get the film back. Finally, on June 4, 1991, I received a letter from UPI’s general counsel, Frank Kane stating: “UPI agrees that, in accordance with the oral agreement … UPI hereby releases all rights over the Nix Film to Mr. Nix’s heirs and assigns.”343 I felt so victorious! My grandfather’s film was now back where it belonged…or at least the rights to it were.
Unfortunately, I could not afford airfare at the time to go to Washington to retrieve my grandfather’s films, nor was I educated at the time as to how to distinguish between an original film and a copy. Gary Mack, a friend at the time, suggested I ask Robert Groden to retrieve the films and copies for me as well as inventory them. Since Robert Groden had worked on the HSCA staff as a photographic expert, Gary Mack trusted him. Since I then trusted Gary Mack, I agreed. Groden graciously retrieved the films for me. In the many canisters, strips and folders were frames and copies of the Nix film. But there was no original; at least that’s what Robert Groden told me. I called UPI and Worldwide Television News (WTN) to inquire. They were under the impression the original film was there, but could not verify for certain. I became worried. Why would the original film be missing? The House Select Committee on Assassinations had listed in their indices they had examined the original. Unfortunately, later in the back of the book the Nix film is indexed as a copy. I was stunned. Robert Groden seemed to be the answer. Not only had he worked for the HSCA, he had retrieved my films from UPI. I found out later that he also had access to the Nix film while working with Moses Weitzmann and UPI on the film, Executive Action.
*****
CHRIS, PLEASE TELL ME. DOES ROBERT HAVE MY FILM?”
I FELT BADLY PUTTING HER ON THE SPOT.
SHE NEVER ANSWERED ME.
SHE JUST STARED AT THE FLOOR.
I WAS LEFT WITH NO ANSWER AND NO ORIGINAL FILM.
I wanted to find my grandfather’s original film to have it analyzed. I couldn’t do that with 100% accuracy because I didn’t have the original film. I made up my mind to borrow the money and flew to meet Robert in his home in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania along with his first wife Chris. By the time I had flown to Pennsylvania, many people had suggested that Robert may have kept the original Nix film for himself. I thanked Robert for retrieving my films then asked him eye to eye, “Robert, do you have my grandfather’s original film in your possession?” He answered quickly and succinctly “no.” I noticed that as he answered, he did not look me in the eye. As a woman who believes one’s character speaks through their actions as well as their eyes, I was circumspect. I changed the subject and we discussed other things. A bit later, Chris was alone in her dining area. I walked over while Robert was looking at books and said, “Chris, please tell me. Does Robert have my film?” I felt badly putting her on the spot. She never answered me. She just stared at the floor. I was left with no answer and no original film.
When I got back to Texas, I immediately contacted G. Robert Blakey, the head of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That would be the beginning of many phone calls I have made over the years looking for the original Nix film. I soon received a letter that said the film had gone from the House Select Committee to the National Archives. I called the National Archives. It wasn’t there. I then called UPI again only to be told to contact their new owner, Worldwide Television News to see if they had transferred it to their new offices. They had not. The last official place the film was said to have been was in the House Select Committee on Assassinations files, but there was even a question as to whether or not they ever had the original as the indices state ‘original’ in one place and ‘copy’ in another. I again called G. Robert Blakey, the Chief Counsel for the HSCA. In his conversations with me, he took full responsibility for the loss of the film because as he stated, “It was his committee that was supposed to assure that all evidence was returned to its rightful owners.”344 He later said in an interview with PBS, “Significantly, the Warren Commission’s conclusion that the agencies of the government cooperated with it is, in retrospect, not the truth.”345 Could one of these agencies to which he referred have absconded with the Nix film?
Later, I confronted Reese Schonfeld as to the film’s whereabouts. I was nothing more than a bother to him, he didn’t show concern about the film’s loss at all. He said he had placed the Nix film in a safety deposit box before he left to begin CNN and had given the key to the safety deposit box to the UPI accountant, Alexander Boch. I contacted Boch. A month later, I received a letter from Boch saying he had no knowledge of the film and that the Clinton National Trust Bank was bought by Chase Manhattan and since been demolished.346 Could the Nix film be under a pile of cement in downtown Manhattan? Or could it have been stolen, as many researchers have thought, by a staff member of the HSCA? Since the HSCA indices mention the use of an “original” film in one place and a “copy” in the other, could the original film have been switched for a copy during that time? No one would have noticed; not even UPI when the film was supposedly returned. Why would they think to check to see if they were receiving the original film back? By that time, they were done with their “runt of the litter” film---the Nix Film.
Undaunted, I chased leads around the world. I spoke with Mexican President Vicente Fox because someone had heard that the Mexican government had JFK assassination evidence to keep the Oswald in Mexico City event quiet. I spoke with a sheikh in the United Arab Emirates as I was told from someone in Europe that the Nix film had been used as a ‘bribe’ in some oil negotiation. Because of Oliver Stone‘s movie and the loss of a key piece of evidence, I begged America to find it by appearing on several national television shows: Geraldo, Montel Williams, and even Entertainment Tonight.347 I have always found it
ironic that Oliver Stone, the man who was chastised for making a ‘fantasy film’ of the assassination by the mainstream media, did what the government could not or would not do: force the government to form another committee to find the files; the Assassination Record Review Board. I have since made a point of supporting those who aren’t part of the mainstream media. Without readers and viewers, the mainstream media cannot survive. This is one way to make a difference in our society.
As I shared my grandfather’s experiences, I found out first-hand how the media and people with agendas work. Many of the original researchers who helped me gave up on finding the film and moved on to proving their own theories, writing new books, and procuring new jobs. The media denied that what happened at my grandfather’s CBS interview occurred.348 I never received threatening phone calls, but I did receive phone calls from strange people who claimed to know where my grandfather’s film was, for a price.
There have been people in the past who have had to stop their conspiracy rhetoric for a myriad of reasons. At one time, the former mayor of Dallas (and a frequent visitor to Orville Nix‘s home) was Wes Wise. He was also a broadcaster for KRLD in Dallas. Wes Wise so strongly maintained his opinion about conspiracy that he broadcast appeals for new photographic evidence over the KRLD local TV shows. This was done against the orders of his boss at the time, Eddie Barker. Wise became Mayor of Dallas, elected in 1971 and defeated the Dallas-established oligarchy. He actually received a new piece of photographic evidence based on his TV appeal from a Dallas citizen named Richard Bothun, who had taken a picture of the grassy knoll a few moments after the shots.349 But in later years, he found it impractical to discuss conspiracy theories, becoming a champion for the City of Dallas instead. If he ever became part of the Dallas oligarchy, it has only been recently. During the fiftieth anniversary of the JFK assassination events and news, he was front and center in defending Dallas. One cannot blame him; he obviously knew that no one in the city would ever stand up to say, “We could have done better.” When I interviewed him in regards to his discussions with my grandfather, he didn’t want to talk long though he stated: “Orville Nix truly believed in what he saw that day and I believed him.”350
The Missing JFK Assassination Film Page 20