1991:
Gayle Nix Jackson, the daughter of Orville Nix Jr. who had heard the story from her father, sought to get the film back from UPI, as her grandfather had agreed with Burt Reinhardt on December 6, 1963. She contacted Worldwide Television News (WTN), the successor company to UPITN since 1985, and they contacted Reinhardt (who had left UPI many years earlier and became one of the founders of CNN), who promptly confirmed the 1963 oral agreement. WTN ultimately returned all copies of the Nix film they could find to Ms. Jackson, with the exception of the 8mm original, which could not be located.64
PRIOR TO FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1991:
Ms. Nix Jackson mentioned to Gary Mack that the family only had a well-worn 8mm copy of the film which she thought came from UPITN many years before. Unfortunately, it was in terrible condition, was badly scratched and had been broken and repaired by splicing. At Mack’s suggestion, Ms. Nix Jackson contacted the Dallas FBI office, where a female agent told her that they had a copy of the film which had been in their files since 1963 (presumably the copy made by Jamieson in Dallas, sent to Washington and later returned to Dallas). The FBI copy, which was “in near-pristine, beautiful condition” was given to Ms. Nix Jackson the next day, in exchange for the Nix family’s copy. According to the Sixth Floor Museum website ‘Collections’ section, their copy of the film is a “First-generation print of an 8mm color home movie by Orville Nix showing the presidential motorcade in Dealey Plaza… This first-generation print of the original home movie was originally made for the FBI.”65
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1991:
According to Gary Mack, Robert Groden drove from his home in New Jersey to New York City to collect all copies of the Nix film from WTN, and then flew to Dallas to deliver the reels to Ms. Nix Jackson. In his ARRB deposition, however, Groden said he took the material home, wrapped it up, and shipped it to her within three days – he denied making any copies of the material, saying that his copy was “far superior”.66 An effort to determine if a complete inventory of the material obtained from WTN is contained in the files of the ARRB is ongoing as of April 2014. The possible existence of a complete inventory of the material obtained from WTN was raised in Robert Groden’s deposition before the ARRB, and the author is currently engaged in e-mail correspondence with NARA regarding its possible existence within the records of the ARRB.67
1991:
Gayle Nix Jackson was asked to provide a videotape copy of the Nix film for a TV production. She asked Gary Mack for help and he took the reels to ‘Filmworkers’, a Dallas film post-production company founded in 1991. The best copy was a print made by UPITN in 1964, according to the film’s date code, that included slow motion and blow-up scenes (this could very possibly be the copy referred to by Richard Sprague in his 1973 “Computers and Automation” article – see earlier entry under “1964/1965”). The videotape was licensed to Oliver Stone for his movie, “JFK” (released in the USA in December 1991), and Ms. Jackson loaned the best reels to his production team. Stone later returned the films, with at least one new 35mm copy for Ms. Jackson’s own use.68 In the narrative on the 1995 “The Assassination Films” (15:20), Groden says: “This is the only known copy of the Nix film made directly from the original. The original is now lost. The copy negative this was made from unfortunately picked up a hair at the lower left-hand corner. It is included here because of its historic value. [A second version is now shown, as Groden continues to narrate…] This version is slightly slowed down, and is made from a duplicate negative that does not have the hair”. [These are similar to the words used (“a print of the copy negative”) in Groden’s ARRB deposition to describe the copy he got from David Lifton in 1973.] I have subsequently been told that Groden now admits that the hair in his copy of the film got there while he was copying a 16mm print.69
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1995:
Charles Mayn of NARA reported that the copy of the Nix film stored at NARA “is not an out-of-camera film”.70
TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1996:
Robert Groden turned over what he described as a second-generation 35mm colour print of the Nix film to the ARRB. Groden described this as the copy he received in 1973 from Mo Weitzman, and which he said was a copy made from a negative, which was made from the camera-original film, and to his knowledge it was the only surviving copy of the film made directly from the original.71
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1998:
A Kodak Technical Report (commonly referred to as the Zavada Report) revealed that the 35m copy of the film given to the ARRB in 1996 by Robert Groden was printed on 1992-manufactured Eastman colour print film stock, and the 35mm laboratory intermediate film from which it was printed was of 1991 manufacture.72
1999/2000:
The Nix family transferred ownership of the Nix film to The Sixth Floor Museum. The acquisition included the Nix film copyright along with all known copies of the film, including the FBI’s 8mm print, Oliver Stone’s 35mm copy, and the video tape transfer.
2011
Frames from “The Lost Bullet” (National Geographic, 2011), which also contain no ‘hair-like’ artefact, and which Gary Mack says are “HD scans of the first generation 8mm FBI print and a 16mm second generation copy print.”75 Mack also confirmed that “a first generation 16mm negative has not yet been scanned” - presumably by the Sixth Floor Museum?76 I suspect this could be the ‘missing’ first-generation negative from which Robert Groden claims to have received (through Mo Weitzman) his alleged second-generation print of the film in 1973.
NOTES
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Nix. Corrected by Gayle Nix Jackson’s “Orville Nix: The Missing Film of the JFK Assassination.” April, 2014.
2. See Sixth Floor Museum “Orville Nix Film Overview and Time Line” and “Curator’s Notes” relating to the Nix film, at http://www.jfk.org/go/collections/about/orville-nix-film-interview and http://emuseum.jfk.org/view/objects/asitem/search@/3/title-asc?t:state:flow=833edea1-cff8-4463-ab80-f06ad6f52ea8 respectively; see also CD 385, p. 70 – FBI lab report dated February 4, 1964.
3. “The Shadow of a Gunman”, by Maurice W. Schonfeld, published in July/August 1975 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, available online (with an additional Epilogue dated November 22, 2011) at http://www.cjr.org/fiftieth_anniversary/the_shadow_of_a_gunman.php?page=6
4. Schonfeld, op cit.; Richard Trask, “Pictures of the Pain”, citing Richard E. Sprague notes of telephone interview with Mrs. Orville Nix Jr., in 1968.
5. Schonfeld, op. cit.; SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit.; see http://www.city-data.com/zips/75247.html for reference to 3M/Dynacolor on Halifax Street, Dallas.
6. Trask, “Pictures of the Pain”, pp. 620-1;
7. Dale K. Myers, “Epipolar Geometric Analysis of Amateur Films Related to Acoustics Evidence in the John F. Kennedy Assassination”, Second Revision, November 1, 2010, Appendix III, pp. 135-6
8. “JFK Assassination: The complete Orville Nix film” on the JFK Assassination Forum website
9. Author’s calculations on April 14, 2014
10. See SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit.; Warren Commission Exhibit 2109 (also CD 385) - FBI interview by SA Joe B. Abernathy with Orville Nix on December 1, 1963. Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 14, p. 539
11. “Pictures of the Pain”, by Richard Trask, p. 183; FBI Airtel dated December 5, 1963 from SAC, Dallas to Director, J. Edgar Hoover, marked “Attention FBI Laboratory, #62-109060-2063”; FBI Memorandum from Cartha DeLoach to A. Rosen, dated November 18, 1966 in FBI headquarters file, 60-109060- 4275.
12. See Schonfeld, op. cit.
13. NARA FBI file 89-43-271 (or 1A271), dated January 11, 1968, which purports to be a “list of alleged photos pertinent to assassination and pertinent comments re each of those accounted for.” The list was compiled “By SA F.F. John”.
14. E-mail from Gayle Jackson, March 24, 2014; Schonfeld, op. cit.; SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit.
15. Gayle Jackson e-mail, March 24, 2014; Sixth Floor Museum, op. cit.
16.
FBI Memorandum from Director to SAIC, Dallas dated November 18, 1966, summarising the handling of the Nix film and camera – in FBI headquarters file 62-109060-4265
17. FBI Memo from Mr. Conrad to W.D. Griffith dated March 26, 1964 and letter to Kelley from Hoover dated March 3, 1964, in FBI headquarters file, 60- 109060-2519
18. FBI Airtel dated March 17, 1964 to Director from SAC, Dallas, in FBI headquarters file – 105-82555-2722; Airtel from Director, FBI to SAC, Dallas dated March 24, 1964; see also Richard Trask, “Pictures of the Pain”, pp. 183ff
19. FBI Memorandum from Director to SAIC, Dallas dated November 18, 1966, summarising the handling of the Nix film and camera – in FBI headquarters file 62-109060-4265.
20. Letter to Edward C. Kemper Jr., FBI, from John F. Novatney, Jr., Baker, Hostetler & Patterson dated August 12, 1964, in FBI headquarters file 60- 109060-3646
21. Commission Exhibit 885, in Volume 18 of the Warren Commission Hearings, pages 81-3
22. Richard E. Sprague, “The American News Media and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Accessories After The Fact”, in Computers and Automation, July 1973, p. 34. This article subsequently appeared in Sprague’s book, “The Taking of America 1-2-3” (1976 and 1979, Private Publication), pp. 115-120 and 100-103, respectively.
23. Harold Weisberg, “Photographic Whitewash” (Private publication: Hyattstown, Md. 20734; 1967), p. 296
24. Sprague, op. cit.
25. Schonfeld, op. cit.
26. Ibid.
27. “Nix Film Analysis”, dated 18 May 1967, produced by ITEK Corporation, Lexington, Mass. 02173, in author’s files.
28. Ibid. The manufacturer of the black and white negative and prints, and/or the colour transparencies is unclear – were they made by ITEK in 1967, or were at least some the work of Jones Harris and Bernie Hoffman, who studied the film in 1965/6? And was Moses Weitzman involved in the process in any way?
29. Ibid.
30. “Rush to Judgement”, starting at approx. 43 minutes into the film
31. Moses Weitzman ARRB interview, July 19, 1996 at 6 mins. 30 secs. into Side 1a of recording in author’s files
32. Sprague, op. cit.
33. Schonfeld, op. cit.
34. Groden ARRB deposition, p. 238
35. Schonfeld, op. cit.; Author’s correspondence with Cornell University and Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Lab from February through October, 1976; also referenced at 10:55 into Side 1b of recording in author’s files of Weitzman’s ARRB interview, June 19, 1996.
36. Dr. Castleman telephone conversation with Gayle Nix Jackson, April 11, 2014
37. Schonfeld, op. cit.
38. Kodak Technical Report 318420P, “Analysis of Selected Motion Picture Photographic Evidence”, dated September 25, 1998, authored by R.J. Zavada, on behalf of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), Study 2, Attachment 2-8. Note that Effects Unlimited (EFX) existed from 1968 to 1989, also according to this Zavada Report attachment. Note: Internet research (see http://ebookbrowsee.net/hazeltine-color-film-analyzer-brochure-sep69-pdf-d438393941) indicates that the correct spelling of the Analyser name is “‘Hazeltine”, and it operated with 16mm and 35mm film – the original Nix film was in 8mm format since the day it was processed, I believe.
39. Moses Weitzman telephone conversation with Gayle Nix Jackson on April 10, 2014.
40. Weitzman ARRB interview on July 19, 1996, starting at 39 minutes into Side 1b, and again at 25 minutes 13 seconds into Side 2b of recordings of the interview in author’s files.
41. Weitzman telephone conversation with Gayle Nix Jackson, April 10, 2014.
42. Weitzman ARRB interview on July 19, 1996 (beginning at 25 mins 13 secs into Side 2b of recording in author’s files)
43. Weitzman telephone conversation with Gayle Nix Jackson, April 10, 2014.
44. Robert Groden deposition before the ARRB, July 2 and August 20, 1996 – available on-line at http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/arrb/medical_testimony/pdf/Groden_7-2-96.pdf
45. Weitzman denied during his ARRB interview on July 19, 1996 (at 9 min 30 secs into Side 1b of recording in author’s files) that Groden ever got the ‘copy of a negative made from the camera-original Nix film’ from him
46. In a letter to me in August 1978, Lifton confirmed that he had received a 35mm copy of the film while working on “Executive Action”. See also “Pig On A Leash”, by David Lifton, in the compilation book “The Great Zapruder Film Hoax”, James H. Fetzer (ed.), (Catfish Press, 2003)
47. Groden ARRB deposition, op. cit.
48. Schonfeld, op. cit.; Gayle Nix Jackson e-mail to author, December 4, 2013; Schonfeld telephone conversation with Gayle Nix Jackson on April 16, 2014.
49. Burt Reinhardt (1920-2011) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Reinhardt
50. For a brief history of UPITN, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International_Television_News
51. Letters to the author from researcher Harry Erwin, dated April 8 and May 26, 1977, with an attachment dated April 3, 1977
52. Letters to UPI dated June 19 and July 12, 1977
53. http://gaylenixjackson.com/uncategorized/not-in-the-book-the-photographic-panel-of-the-hsca/
54. 54 HSCA Photographic Panel Report in HSCA Appendix to Hearings, Vol. 6, pp. 121, 126, 130-131
55. Robert J. Groden, “The Killing Of a President” (Viking Penguin: 1993), p. 32
56. Sixth Floor Museum Curator’s Notes, op. cit.; these notes must have been written after the Museum obtained the Nix material in 1999/2000
57. Schonfeld, op. cit. (only included in the November 2011 Epilogue, in the online version of the article)
58. UPI/Gayle Nix Jackson correspondence, 1981, referenced in Gayle Nix Jackson e-mail to the author, April 10, 2014
59. http://www.worldcat.org/title/assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/oclc/8551687 or http://www.worldcat.org/title/assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/oclc/9544941
60. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j35UxRKDW-s
61. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Charlier M. Charlier was born on October 30, 1924, and died on July 10, 1989.
62. Moses Weitzman ARRB interview, July 19, 1996 at 13 minutes into Side 1a recording in author’s files
63. Zavada Report, Study 2, Attachments A2-7 and 2-8
64. SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit; Schonfeld, op. cit.
65. SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit
66. SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit; Groden ARRB deposition, op. cit.
67. Author’s ongoing e-mail correspondence with NARA, which commenced on April 9, 2014.
68. SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Filmworkers-Dallas/339980002692629?sk=info
69. Gayle Nix Jackson e–mail to the author, April 4, 2014
70. James Fetzer, “Assassination Science” (Catfeet Press: 1998), p. 303
71. Groden ARRB deposition, op. cit.
72. KodakZavada Report, Study 2, pp. 1-9
73. SFM Curator’s Notes, op. cit.
74. http://www.jfk-online.com/1nix.html. My e-mail to Dave Reitzes of March 31, 2014, requesting any information he might be able to share regarding the source of this copy of the film has remained unanswered.
75. Gary Mack e-mail to Robin Unger, March 24, 2014
76. Ibid
AFTERWORD
A FEW LAST WORDS
“Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality”
John F. Kennedy
This section of the book is one I debated on including. Many told me to include it, others said not to. What good would this part do? How would it help find the film? I wrote this book as a testament to the life my grandfather lived after taking the film of the JFK assassination. I shared his foibles; I felt it only right to share mine. I have witnessed and been victim to many shameful acts regarding the Nix film. In the vein of true transparency, I have chosen to share my experiences and decisions
regarding my grandfather’s film.
The first one was in 1988, when I began negotiating with UPITN to get the rights back to the Nix family. My own family thought I was chasing a lost cause. How could someone like me, without a law degree, without even the benefit of a lawyer get them back from such a huge company? I have always thought, and still believe, that the truth will ultimately overcome the biggest of obstacles. Michael Veve, the lawyer for UPITN who was unjustly fired for agreeing to return the rights to my family was a kind man doing the right thing. Unfortunately, in business negotiations, doing the right thing doesn’t get you promoted. Though the agreement to return the rights was nothing more than a handshake between my grandfather and Burt Reinhardt, at one time, a handshake meant something…just like a promise used to mean something.
Michael Veve knew this. It also helped, of course that copyright law before 1978 was written in such a way that the original owner’s copyrights were renewable after twenty-five years.
After consulting with Reinhardt, who was no longer with UPITN, Veve agreed to return the rights to me and my family and was fired by UPITN. I soon got a letter from his successor saying Veve was wrong and that I would have to wait an additional two years. I am not a wealthy woman. I am not from a wealthy family. I could not afford to hire an attorney, yet I called one, Howard Key, and pleaded my case with him. For a small sum, he sent a few letters to UPITN on my behalf to request the film and copyright be returned. I still had to wait for several months.
The Missing JFK Assassination Film Page 24