When the film was finally returned, I then had the burden of retrieving all existing copies. Again, finances became an issue. By this time, the local newspaper had heard my story and the wire picked it up. I was interviewed by several daily newspapers and eventually met Gary Mack. At that time, he was working for the local NBC affiliate as a voice-over man with a penchant for the JFK assassination. He had gotten a copy of the Moorman photo from Robert Groden. Since he and Groden were friends and Robert lived near New York where the UPI offices were, he suggested I have Groden not only pick up my copies from UPITN, but also check to see if the original Nix film was housed at the National Archives. It wasn’t. In fact, the copy at the National Archives wasn’t even as good as the copy Groden owned. How could that be?
One reason is because UPITN, unlike Life Magazine, wasn’t diligent in their safe-keeping of the Nix film. During his tenure at Life, one of the jobs James Wagenvoord had was ensuring the safety of the Zapruder film. He knew where it was at all times and who had access to it. That wasn’t the case for the Nix film. In 1971, when the movie Executive Action was made, the Nix film was sent to Moe Weitzman’s studio, Manhattan Effects, later called EFX Unlimited. Weitzman used a liquid gate to get high quality 35mm images that were quite ahead of their time. It just so happened that Robert Groden worked there as well. He testified to the ARRB that he never made copies of the Nix film and that the copies he owned and gave to me were second and third generation copies, but many researchers, including David Lifton, disagree with this.
In hearing these stories of how Groden had several ‘missing’ pieces of photographic evidence in his possession, I became worried. Not only had he worked for EFX where he had access to the camera original film, he was also the photographic consultant for the HSCA. Then, I trusted him (on Gary Mack‘s advice) to retrieve my copies from UPI. He had three different shots at taking the original Nix film, one of which I personally gave him. Worried, I gathered the funds to meet Groden and his late wife in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. I asked him face to face if he had the original, assuring him I wasn’t the litigious type and just wanted the film back. He swore to me he didn’t have it. Later in the day I asked his wife. She never answered me; she just looked down at the floor. I left Pennsylvania still unsure.
I decided to hire a copyright attorney. I wanted one that was familiar with the JFK assassination and knew how often the footage was used worldwide. I came upon Jamie Silverberg.
Silverberg was the attorney for the Zapruder family (one of many). After speaking with him and believing in his assurance that in no way would his representation of the Nix film be a conflict of interest with the Zapruder film, he became the Nix film representative. I will say, my little voice told me I probably shouldn’t do this, but since I was becoming jaded by all the dishonesty I was finding within the JFK community, I silenced the little voice by reasoning it was just my neuroticism. The Silverberg relationship didn’t last long due to this and his fees were a little higher than most copyright attorneys charged. No matter, I was fine with it as I was in graduate school and I didn’t have to put money upfront. Silverberg was paid from the proceeds of the royalties.
By 1999, I was over forty and pregnant with my son. I was forced to quit work on my PhD as my pregnancy was considered high-risk due to my age. My parents decided that they and my growing family should buy a country estate in East Texas and raise my children the Emersonian way—near nature. My husband and I put in all our savings for the down payment as did my parents. Fate had other plans. Unfortunately, the owner decided she needed an additional sum of money down before we could purchase the home. My mother, who I believe knew she was terminally ill, was very upset. Her dream of living where she could raise a vegetable garden, have goats and enjoy the pine trees of East Texas was fading quickly. She loved this property with its 20+ acres, 3 homes and a pool house with a cabana. She envisioned having her children and grandchildren there during vacation times while enjoying the new lives of her two youngest grandchildren; my daughter and son. My father wanted to ensure my mother could realize her dream, as did I. So he suggested I sell the film. As much as I love my mother, I knew it was the wrong thing to do. Six months earlier, a newspaper owner in Chicago had offered me four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the film. I thanked him and kindly declined his offer. In retrospect, probably not the best idea, but it had taken me so long to get the film back into the family; I couldn’t bear to part with it. It was an important piece of history that my grandfather had taken and I wanted to keep it for my family. I didn’t want it for the money, I wanted it for history.
My father disagreed.
I called the man in Chicago to see if he was still interested in buying the film. He had just learned he had terminal cancer and was unwilling to make the purchase. I understood. I quickly called some of the more influential people I know in finance to see if they knew of anyone who would want to buy the film. Time was of the essence and I didn’t have enough of it to find a buyer before the owner rescinded the offer on the home my Mother dearly loved.
I had only one choice.
We ‘donated’ the film to the Sixth Floor Museum against my wishes. I called my one-time friend Gary Mack and begged him to explain to the then director, Jeff West, how very valuable the film was and that the amount they were offering would indeed be what my family needed to purchase the home, but wasn’t fair or equitable. He told me he couldn’t help me and hung up. I was crushed. I thought of Gary as a friend. That was the last time I would talk to him until I began to write this book in 2013. As the ‘go-to’ person for worldwide researchers as well as the media, I will probably be blacklisted by the Sixth Floor Museum for writing about my experiences. It is the risk I must take in the name of truth.
Silverberg, against my wishes but with my father’s blessing, negotiated the deal with the Sixth Floor Museum for less than a third of what the Zapruder family received from Life magazine in 1963. Little did I or the public know that at the same time Silverberg, and a team of lawyers, were negotiating a donation for the Nix film with the Sixth Floor Museum, he was also negotiating with the U.S. government to pay the Zapruder family over $16.5 million dollars. After this deal, I fired him. The Sixth Floor Museum then employed him.
I questioned my judgement. Could this be coincidence? Bad business on our part? Having faith that people will do the right thing? How could I have been so trusting? How could I have allowed what happened to my grandfather happen again but this time to me? I became disheartened with the whole “take advantage while you can” mindset that seemed to contaminate everyone I had trusted or known. I truly knew how my grandfather felt.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just people within the community. It was my family as well. My mother passed away in 2001 after only living for two years in her dream home. My father spiraled into the depths of grief and depression; a grief that still rears its ugly head from time to time today. He lives with me and my family. When I contacted the Sixth Floor Museum about using frames of my grandfather’s film for the book, Gary Mack said I would have to license it for a fee. I, the granddaughter of Orville Nix would have to license my grandfather’s film. Time/Life had sold the Zapruder family the rights back to their film for one dollar. That was after years of giving half of all the royalties Life received to the Zapruder family as well. Yet I was told I would have to pay for the rights to use the Nix film in my book. I asked Gary to send me the contract, as I remembered making a stipulation that if the original was ever found, it would belong to me. I also wanted to reread it as to what I could or couldn’t say. I was not allowed to disclose how much my family was paid for our “donation.”
Surprisingly, another two contracts were sent to me in July of 2013. Both were between my father and the Museum; one dated 2002 the other 2004. Unbeknownst to me, the 2002 contract was for all the letters, correspondence and research I had kept after my grandfather died and all the letters and research I had accrued through my search for the original film and in its ret
urn to my family. My father had every right to donate my grandfather’s letters as an only child heir, but he had no right to donate my research and letters. The Sixth Floor Museum took it all anyway, though half of the letters and research were addressed to me: Gayle Nix Jackson. How they could legally enter into a contract like that is a mystery to me, though I know that my father was grieving during that time and was obviously not thinking with a clear mind. The Sixth Floor, Gary Mack, and the late Jeff West (who was later fired from his position there) took full advantage of the situation. They were to me what Burt Reinhardt and Maurice Schonfeld were to my grandfather. My father had never taken a big interest in finding out the truth about my grandfather’s film, and after my disgust in dealing with Gary Mack, he must have felt I wouldn’t mind that he took my personal work and sold it to the Museum. It makes me wonder how many other people this has happened to during the Sixth Floor’s tenure. I am appalled it happened to me, but it did and short of suing the father I love but was very upset with, I forgave him. It took me months to do so.
The 2004 contract was for the camera my grandfather used, a donation my father had told me he was going to make. During that meeting with Gary Mack and the Sixth Floor, my father gave him all the home movies of vacations, family trips, and more that my grandfather had taken until he died. Gary promised to transfer them all digitally for my father (as of this writing it hasn’t been done since 2004) and then told my father that he had a lead on the original film. He told my father that seeing the other films might help him determine if the lead, a woman in South Texas, had the original film or not. He never told my father whether or not the lead was real and still has all my grandfather’s personal film reels. Of course my father never called Gary and asked about the lead. He, as I mentioned, has never had the interest I had and shared with his dad, my grandfather, about the Nix film.
Again, with the transparency I would like to see the media and our government practice, I will admit that if there was any way I could get the Nix film copyright back from the Sixth Floor Museum I would do so. The Nix film has been used more times than one can count and the Museum has made more money from it than my family or my grandfather ever made. Furthermore, I am dismayed by the stance they now take in regards to those who don’t believe the “official record” of the JFK assassination. To not take a stance is to take one. To not elaborate on both sides of the story with equal vigor is also taking a stance. I would recommend that the Museum not take any stance at all and curate with truth, not agenda. Though I have tried, it does seem that some circles can’t be broken. It is up to those individuals, like you the reader, who will find the truth as to what really happened on November 22, 1963. Reread the words of Jones Harris. Look at the pictures in this book of the photographic work done on the Nix film by Rick Needham. Go to the JFK Assassination Forum and see his work as well as the work of Martin Hinrichs. In seeing those, how can you not question the existence of another gunman?
For posterity, for the past, for our history, don’t allow the powers that be ignore your questions. Demand answers while we have the ability to ask questions. The circle of historical lies, misinformation and disinformation must be broken.
Now is the time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gayle Nix Jackson describes herself as a “one time goddess who had a reality check.” To the rest of the world, she’s that woman that loves the Texas Rangers and knows more about baseball than household cleaning.
Gayle holds an undergraduate degree in English and Business from Dallas Baptist University and an MA in English and Rhetoric from Texas Woman’s University. While beginning her PhD studies, she found she was pregnant with her and her husband Darryl’s first child, Taylor, after being told by physicians for twelve years she would never have children. Three years later, she became pregnant with her son, Chance. She has been married for 30 years.
Gayle was in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963 the day her grandfather, Orville Nix, took the famous Nix film of the assassination. In 1988, twenty-five years after he sold his film to UPI, she negotiated with the now defunct company to have the film returned to the Nix family. It was then she discovered the camera original Nix film is missing.
She has been searching for it ever since.
Oliver Stone used a copy of the film in his blockbuster JFK and she appeared on several national television shows including Geraldo, Montel Williams, and Entertainment Tonight pleading for its return. John Barbour, the godfather of reality TV, included an interview with her in his award-winning documentary, The Garrison Tapes.
Orville Nix: The Missing JFK Assassination Film is Nix-Jackson’s first of three books regarding the horrific events of November 22, 1963. She hopes her readers will educate their children and others as to the mishandling of the JFK assassination investigation and the loss of key evidence, like the original Nix film.
Gayle is currently working on her next JFK book.
Read Gayle’s blog and get updates at: www.gaylenixjackson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gayle.nixjackson
Twitter: @gaylejack
INDEX
A
Abernathy
FBI Agent Joe
96, 131, 194, 207
Austin’s Barbecue
79, 233
Aynesworth
Hugh
121
B
Babushka Lady
161, 163, 186
Badge Man
180
Baker
Bobby
50, 120, 195, 207
Barker
Eddie
167, 168, 169, 174
Bay of Pigs
51, 81, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 164
Billings
Richard
121, 126
Birnbaum
Bernard
167, 168, 233
Black Dog Man
162, 180
Blahut
Regis
187
Boch
Alexander
173
Bowers
Lee
159, 180
Brown
Bill
181
George
50
Maggie
138
Byrd
D. Harold
29, 40, 50, 61, 106
C
Cabell
Charles
51
Earl
40, 51, 111
Captain Fritz
81, 82, 144, 248
Carousel Club
53, 84, 244
Carpenter
Chapin
99
Carr
Waggoner
128, 129
Castleman
Dr. Kenneth
151, 152, 171, 198, 208, 234
Castro
Fidel
39, 102, 113, 114, 115, 128, 130, 151, 184, 232, 248
CBS
16, 64, 82, 120, 121, 149, 166, 167, 169, 174, 190, 242
classic gunman
161, 190, 199, 200
Connally
Governor John
37, 41, 42, 49, 50, 51, 84, 91, 137, 185, 235
Curry
Dallas Police Chief Jesse
42, 50, 51, 95, 140, 141, 248
Curtis
Dr. Don Teal
184
Tony
144
Cutler
R.B.
158
D
Dal-Tex
40, 48, 55, 56, 62, 77
Davis
Mike
50
Davis Jr.
Sammy
144
de Morhenschildt
George
30, 114
Jeanne
30
Dealey
Ted
50
Dealey Plaza
15, 17, 23, 45, 47, 55, 62, 75, 79, 92, 130, 141, 147, 159, 166, 185, 186, 190
, 191, 203, 233, 236, 242, 244, 250
Derrida
Jacques
108
Dipprey
Dr. Eual
71
Dulles
Allen
113, 114, 164
Dynacolor Film Processing
14, 44, 88, 89, 90, 92, 95, 130, 194, 206, 244
E
Edisen
Adele
161, 235
Epstein
Jay158, 235
Estes
Billie Sol
50, 72
F
Ferrell
Mary
9, 158, 232, 234, 235, 237, 239, 248
Foucault
Michael
108
Frederickson
Cora Lacy
20
G
Garrison
Jim
121, 163, 164, 170, 184, 218, 236, 247
The Missing JFK Assassination Film Page 25