abraham zapruder
abraham zapruder alexandra zapruder dallas john f. kennedy latest news life magazine neal augenstein twenty - six seconds
this still from abraham zapruder’s home movie was captured seconds before the president was shot .
the movie remained in excellent shape five decades after abraham zapruder hit the record button .
in years to come, abraham zapruder remained traumatized about what he had seen through his viewfinder .
dallas garment manufacturer abraham zapruder filmed the assassination of president john f. kennedy on a home movie camera .
author alexandra zapruder, who has written about the book about the famous movie of the kennedy assassination filmed by her grandfather, abraham zapruder .
a national archives photo from the 1960s of the movie camera used by abraham zapruder when he filmed the kennedy assassination .
lillian and abraham zapruder pose in 1962 with his brand new bell and howell 8mm movie camera. in 1963, abraham zapruder was filming president john f. kennedy' s motorcade through dallas and inadvertently filmed the president' s assassination .
abraham zapruder famously filmed the assassination from the top of a concrete pedestal on elm street close to the grassy knoll .
abraham zapruder probably wished he hadn’t returned home to get his camera that morning of friday, nov. 22, 1963 .
in 1953 and 1954 a woman named, jeanne legon worked side by side with abraham zapruder at a high end clothing design firm called, nardis of dallas. jeanne legon designed the clothing and abraham zapruder cut the patterns and the material for her .
the amateur cameraman who became famous: abraham zapruder and his famous bell and howell camera that recorded the murder of the president .
has anyone could access to abraham zapruder' s unedited testimony before the warren commission? i am interested in his employment history .
( 3) abraham zapruder was interviewed by wesley j. liebeler, assistant counsel of the warren commission on 22nd july, 1964 .
( 4) abraham zapruder, interviewed by wesley j. liebeler, assistant counsel of the warren commission (22nd july, 1964) .
abraham zapruder, a home movie camera in his hand, found his unlikely niche in american history as the other shooter in dealey plaza .
russian born abraham zapruder immigrated in 1920 and worked in a new york dress factory. marrried in the 1930s, he and his wife lillian had two children, myrna and henry. he founded jennifer juniors of dallas in 1949 with abraham schwartz .
stage for an american horror story: abraham zapruder positioned himself on the “grassy knoll, ” not far from the texas school book depository building .
on november 22, 1963 john f. kennedy was assassinated in dallas texas. the only film record of this event was made by abraham zapruder .
abraham zapruder recorded a tragic moment in history when he captured president john f. kennedy ‘s assassination in full color on nov. 22, 1963 .
this fascinating account examines how abraham zapruder' s accidental footage of the kennedy assassination has been transformed from documentary evidence to an aesthetic and cultural lodestone .
abraham zapruder sold an original copy and the rights to life magazine for $ 150, 000 to help tell the story of that fateful day in dallas .
dil mein hulchul full video song | elaan | john abraham, lara dutta | k. k & sunidhi chauhan
on a home movie, abraham zapruder captured the assassination of president john f. kennedy on nov. 22, 1963. david greene talks to alexandra zapruder about her book: twenty - six seconds .
alexandra zapruder (pictured) is the granddaughter of abraham zapruder. she says if it were up to her grandfather, he' would have been happy to have never seen [ the film ] again'
an immigrant russian jew who became a successful clothing manufacturer in dallas, abraham zapruder went to dealey plaza to film kennedy' s motorcade, his granddaughter said .
according to mr. zapruder, the position of the assassin was behind mr. zapruder .
abraham woodhull was a member of the culper spy ring, which provided information to george washington during the american revolution .
“these images are the legacy of one man, ” the voice - over concludes as a full - screen photo appears of a dignified balding figure in a dark suit: abraham zapruder. “a man who never met john kennedy but whose name, zapruder, is inextricably linked to kennedy’s and to kennedy’s death. abraham zapruder, an unassuming man with an ordinary camera. ”
( 5) cyril h. wecht was interviewed by donald a. purdy for the select committee on assassinations about the abraham zapruder film (8th september, 1978 )
so when the presidential limousine with the flapping flags and d. c. license plates roared away toward parkland memorial hospital, abraham zapruder was sure the president was dead .
henry zapruder, left, was the son of abraham zapruder. on the right is henry' s daughter and abraham' s granddaughter, alexandra zapruder, who has written a new book her family' s experience surrounding her grandfather' s famous home movie depicting the assassination of president john f. kennedy. this photo was taken in 1987 at alexandra' s alma mater, smith college .
zapruder' s book examines her grandfather' s filming of jfk assassination on a home movie, abraham zapruder captured the assassination of president john f. kennedy on nov. 22, 1963. david greene talks to alexandra zapruder about her book: twenty - six seconds .
the granddaughter of abraham zapruder reveals the back - story and long - lasting effects of the 26 - second home movie that documented the assassination of president john f. kennedy .
this fall, tom hanks will produce another cinematic version of the assassination, a movie called parkland (after the dallas hospital), with paul giamatti playing our man abraham zapruder .
abraham zapruder was filming jfk' s motorcade on november 22, 1963 when the president was shot and killed by lee harvey oswald. above, a different picture taken from that moment
arbitrators declared tuesday the government must pay the heirs of abraham zapruder $ 16 million for film he took of the assassination of president john f. kennedy, the justice department said .
abraham zapruder testified before the u. s government' s warren commission investigating the assassination. the commission concluded that a lone gunman, lee harvey oswald, killed the president and wounded texas governor john connally. zapruder died in 1970 .
with his home film camera, dallas businessman abraham zapruder recorded the assassination of president john f. kennedy in 1963. this footage is one of the few films of this historic event .
abraham zapruder, 58 years old at the time, was a dress manufacturer who owned jennifer juniors, inc. , which was located across the street from the texas school book depository .
frame 313. the frame that gave abraham zapruder nightmares, the frame he insisted be withheld from the public—a single frame of film that can be said to have changed american history and culture .
abraham zapruder began filming from the grassy knoll along elm street as the limousine carrying president and jacqueline kennedy, and texas governor john connally and his wife, nellie, approached his vantage point .
abraham zapruder sold the rights to the film to life magazine the day after the assassination, for $ 25, 000 a year for six years — a total of $ 150, 000 .
u. s. psychologist abraham maslow was a practitioner of humanistic psychology. he is known for his theory of “self - actualization. ”
, granddaughter alexandra zapruder offers, as the subtitle says ,
a personal history of the zapruder film .
abraham zapruder was a 58 - year - old dressmaker when the president' s motorcade began but he has since gone down in history as being the man who played a pivotal role in the ensuing investigation .
according to gregory burnham zapruder worked with jeanne legon at the company :
in 1953 and 1954 a woman named, jeanne legon worked side by side with abraham zapruder at a high end clothing design firm called, nardis of dallas. jeanne legon designed the clothing and abraham zapruder cut the patterns and the material for her .
in 1954, zapruder co - founded jennifer juniors, a company that produced two clothing brands, chalet and jennifer juniors. his offices were located in the dal - tex building, just off dealey plaza in dallas .
november 22, 1963 - dallas businessman abraham zapruder left work to get his eight millimeter movie camera. abe, papa abe, mr. z - that' s how family and friends knew him - loved making home movies. the film in his camera that day already had footage of grandkids, also scenes from inside his dress manufacturing company. but what abraham zapruder captured next forever changed him and his family and also changed america .
on november 22, 1963, abraham zapruder, a devoted supporter of kennedy and his vision for america, shot a home movie on 8 mm film that became the best - known moving image of the kennedy assassination .
andy warhol loved it – so do conspiracy theorists the world over. but how exactly did abraham zapruder' s fuzzy home movie of the kennedy assassination 50 years ago became one of the great cultural icons of our time ?
abraham zapruder’s amateur footage of the john f. kennedy assassination is one of the world’s most instantly recognizable clips. zapruder himself doesn’t get quite as much press, so let’s take a look at five things you might not know about the cameraman and the odd journey his film has taken .
abraham lincoln was the 16th president of the united states. he preserved the union during the u. s. civil war and brought about the emancipation of slaves .
washington (cnn) - - nearly 36 years after dallas dressmaker abraham zapruder captured the assassination of president john f. kennedy on a home movie camera, zapruder' s heirs learned tuesday how much money the historic film is worth: $ 16 million, about half what the family wanted .
before the dreadful news clattered over the teletypes that day, before it hit tv, even before the president reached the dallas hospital, a 58 - year - old russian immigrant named abraham zapruder knew john f. kennedy was dead .
abraham zapruder' s whole film of the john f. kennedy assassination from start to end, digitized for stability & clarity. jfk' s skull is seen opening up like an eggshell. pretty horrific, very, very sad .
a divided federal arbitration panel announced today that the government must pay the heirs of abraham zapruder $ 16 million for his film of president john f. kennedy' s assassination, the highest price ever paid for a historical american artifact .
abraham zapruder, next to his wife, lillian zapruder, poses for a photograph holding his brand - new bell & howell 8mm camera soon after he had purchased it in 1962. in 1963, he created a landmark film by using it to film president kennedy' s motorcade parade in downtown dallas .
on nov. 22, 1963, abraham zapruder stood on a concrete abutment on what is now known as the grassy knoll and, with his bell & howell camera, filmed what may be the 26 most momentous seconds in cinematic history .
a dallas dress manufacturer and kennedy admirer was filming president john f. kennedy’s motorcade as it passed the texas school book depository building when shots rang out. abraham zapruder’s 8mm bell and howell camera captured the entire 26. 6 seconds of horror .
the 26 - second silent, color film, shot by dallas dress manufacturer abraham zapruder, consists of 486 frames of standard 8mm kodachrome ii safety film. known as the zapruder film, the movie captures the assassination of president john f. kennedy, in dallas, texas, on nov. 22, 1963 .
excerpted from “the zapruder legacy, ” the day kennedy died, published by life books. copyright 2013 by alexandra zapruder. all rights reserved .
on april 24, 1997, the board declared the zapruder film public property, and the government began negotiations to compensate zapruder’s children and widow .
abraham zapruder was born into a russian - jewish family in the city of kovel in ukraine on 15th may, 1905. during the turmoil of the russian civil war, the family emigrated to the united states and in 1920 settled in brooklyn, new york .
teen heartthrob zac efron stars as one of the doctors who treated kennedy, and jacki weaver plays lee harvey oswald’s mother. paul giamatti plays dallas businessman abraham zapruder, who was filming the presidential motorcade with his home movie camera when the fateful shots were fired .
abraham zapruder' s 8 mm camera captured iconic images of kennedy' s assassination .
the film was a burden on my grandfather ,
says alexandra zapruder
i am certain that he wished he had never taken it, and that no one would have to see it. ” (brendan smialowski / afp / getty images )
the american public got its first look at the full film when abc’s good night america (with geraldo rivera) ran it as part of a march 1975 broadcast. the next month time inc. sold the copyright and the original film back to the zapruder family for $ 1. (abraham zapruder had died of stomach cancer in 1970. )
mccormack “wanted to know what he had on his camera, ” said abraham zapruder’s granddaughter. “he said right in that moment, and continued to say for the whole day, that he wanted to get it in the hands of the federal authorities first and foremost. ”
according to the book, the zapruders had great love for the kennedy family. zapruder’s son henry (the author’s father) had just been assigned a position in the justice department under the kennedy administration. so when abraham zapruder unintentionally filmed kennedy’s death as the commander in chief rode with first lady jacqueline in the presidential limo in dallas, zapruder’s granddaughter writes that he could remember nothing afterwards “except for his own anguished screams. ”
born in russia in 1905, abraham zapruder immigrated to the united states as a teenager. he first arrived in brooklyn, new york, where he worked in the garment business. in the early 1940s, zapruder moved to dallas, texas. he eventually started up his own dress company called jennifer juniors, inc. on november 22, 1963, zapruder filmed the assassination of president john f. kennedy. he sold the rights to the film to life magazine. zapruder died in texas in 1970 .
tourist stands where zapruder filmed. © barbara davidson / dallas morning news / corbis
update: alexandra zapruder, granddaughter of abraham zapruder, will be discussing her memoir twenty - six seconds: a personal history of the zapruder film on thursday, oct. 26 at southern methodist university' s dallas hall. a 5: 30 p. m. reception will be followed by a 6 p. m. lecture and book signing. register at 214 - 768 - 3210 or cphinfo @ smu. edu. details are here .
f. murray abraham is an oscar - winning actor known for films like' amadeus,'' finding forrester,'' mighty aphrodite,'' inside llewyn davis' and' the grand budapest hotel.'
the zapruder legacy: a vital witness to president john f. kennedy' s assassination
zapruder (right) during a televised interview about the assassination that appeared on abc .
alexandra zapruder is writing a history of the film to be published by twelve books .
the famous film might not even exist if not for the persistence of zapruder’s secretary .
mr. liebeler - are you in business here in dallas, mr. zapruder ?
one frame of the zapruder film has long been considered too graphic for public view .
the reporter saw zapruder’s camera and asked if he caught the shooting. zapruder thought about jackie kennedy and how her pink suit splattered with blood was streaked along the back of the speeding car just minutes before. zapruder didn’t want to add to her misery .
as the fiftieth anniversary of the kennedy assassination approaches, the traumatic aspects of the tragedy continue to haunt our perceptions of the 1960s. one reason for this lies in the home movie of the incident filmed by abraham zapruder, a bystander who became one of the twentieth century' s most important accidental documentarians .
she plucked the book “the death of a president” from a shelf, flipped to the index and there he was – “zapruder, abraham. ” the dallas businessman had been a reluctant witness when in 1963 he was filming his hero, john f. kennedy, as the president’s motorcade passed the man’s dress shop .
zapruder later testified before the warren commission, and the cbs: the warren report. the zapruder film was also an important part of the evidence used by the warren commission .
just seconds after kennedy came into zapruder’s view, a rifle shot cracked the air, screams tore through the plaza and zapruder froze, his home camera capturing the gory assassination of america’s leader. those 26 seconds would bring zapruder years of consternation, fear and pain .
zapruder watched kennedy’s elbows fly up as he clutched at the wound in an awkward dance .
eddie barker: abraham zapruder, whose film of the assassination was studied at length on last night' s program, was standing up on this little wall right at the edge of the grassy knoll. now, shots from behind that picket fence over there would have almost had to whistle by his ear. mr. zapruder, when we interviewed him here, tended to agree that the knoll was not involved .
the reproduction rights for the film, basically a home movie taken by mr. zapruder, were sold to time inc. shortly after the assassination, but in 1975 time returned the rights to the zapruder family for a dollar. mr. zapruder died of cancer in 1970 .
in her new book, “twenty - six seconds, ” zapruder’s granddaughter alexandra zapruder details the film’s effect on her grandfather, their family, the government, the media and artistic communities .
after zapruder died in 1970, the public and media often weighed in on the zapruder family’s attempt to maintain control of the original film, while sharing the images for research and investigation .
abraham zapruder, a dress manufacturer, was standing by the route taken by the presidential motorcade through dallas on november 22, 1963, and was filming the event when the fatal shots rang out. the colour film shows the president grab his chest after the first shot, before his head disintegrates under the force of the second bullet .
the testimony of abraham zapruder was taken at 1 p. m. , on july 22, 1964, in the office of the u. s. attorney, 301 post office building, bryan and ervay streets, dallas, tex. , by mr. wesley j. liebeler, assistant counsel of the president' s commission .
abraham zapruder took the most famous 26 - second home movie in history on november 22, 1963, when he filmed the assassination of president john f. kennedy in dallas, texas. at 2: 31 pm, central standard time, on 11 / 22 / 63 (which was two hours and one minute after jfk was shot), zapruder was interviewed on live television at the studios of wfaa - tv in dallas. this video contains jay watson' s complete interview with mr. zapruder. also included here is a stabilized version of the zapruder film (in slow motion). related link: urltoken
one little known piece of evidence can be found at the end of the famous film footage by abraham zapruder, as the presidential limo is about to go under the triple overpass, says wnd senior writer jerome corsi, author of the newly released “who really killed kennedy? 50 years later: stunning new revelations about the jfk assassination. ”
greene: alexandra zapruder has no memory of her grandfather. she was just a baby when he died. but she has spent time studying his memories of that day 53 years ago. president kennedy and his wife, jackie, were in the back of that limo, and abraham zapruder wound up making a home movie of a presidential assassination. and we should say this story does include a graphic description that listeners might find disturbing .
stolley described sitting in the room when zapruder first showed the film to him and two secret service agents. (one of zapruder’s first instincts was to get the film to government authorities. )
zapruder, after initially blanching, finally agreed — a choice that came to define his life .
simply stated, the zapruder film is one of a kind ,
the panel ruled .
abraham zapruder died in 1970. were he alive today, the uses to which his home movie has been put over the years would undoubtedly bemuse him. zapruder would also be surprised to learn that he is considered an early example of the “citizen - journalist” that digital media has made possible today. youtube, facebook and twitter are children of the zapruder film. while it is true that zapruder needed the assistance of established media to publish his images, he was nonetheless able to use his bell & howell zoomatic as a 1960s - era version of a cell phone camera. it enabled him to “tell” his version of the events in dealey plaza on november 22, 1963 to the american people. zapruder thus struck one ...
born in 1905 in kovel, russia (now part of ukraine), abraham zapruder proved to be an important witness to the assassination of president john f. kennedy in 1963. he captured the event on film, making one of the few visual records of this american tragedy. zapruder immigrated to the united states as a teenager. at first he lived in brooklyn, new york, where he found work as a pattern maker in the garment industry .
abraham zapruder died of cancer in 1970 at 65, leaving the family to determine the film' s destiny. oliver stone obtained permission to use the film in his 1991 pro - conspiracy movie, jfk. as the book reveals, the family agreed to a routine licensing fee paid by camelot productions, which never mentioned being an agent of stone' s .
it’s been called the most important 26 seconds of film in history: the 486 frames of 8 - millimeter bell + howell home movie footage shot in the midday sun of dallas on november 22, 1963, by a dressmaker named abraham zapruder. twenty - six seconds that included a historic, horrific, all - too - clear vision of a presidential assassination .
in 1999, a special arbitration panel of the justice department awarded $ 16 million plus interest to the zapruder family as compensation for the government' s forced acquisition of the film. in 2000, the zapruder family donated its collection of zapruder films and photographs, along with all copyrights of the film, to the sixth floor museum at dealey plaza, where alexandra zapruder will speak on nov. 22 .
zapruder’s view of kennedy was briefly interrupted, as the limousine passed behind a stemmons freeway exit sign .
yet, the public didn’t see the zapruder film, in its original form, for many years .
by lunchtime, zapruder had stationed himself on a 4 - foot - high wall in dealey plaza .
the distraught zapruder, as if in a trance, kept his camera trained on the presidential limo .
zapruder film goes on sale the 26 seconds of film footage of president kennedy' s assassination, filmed on an 8mm bell and howell by dallas dress manufacturer abraham zapruder, will be released on video to the general public tomorrow. the video will include a documentary on the digital restoration of the footage and an interview with the late abraham zapruder, who died in 1970. while the family owns almost all rights to the footage (except print rights, which are owned by time, inc .), a 1992 law apparently requires the family to hand the film over to the government and has set a deadline next month for the family and the government to come to terms. but the family wants $ 18 million and the government only wants to pay $ 3 million. some say the marketing of the video is an attempt by the family to make some extra cash. the family lawyer says it won' t pay back what the restoration cost. some say it' s tasteless. but why shouldn' t the family make some money? after all, abraham zapruder shot the film and dealt with the aftermath of owning this artifact. npr' s dean olsher reports on the controversy .
when stolley arrived at zapruder’s office the morning after the assassination, two secret service agents were already there .
zapruder' s roughly 26 - second film would be the only known recording to capture the entire assassination .
greene: the new book is called
twenty - six seconds .
the author is alexandra zapruder .
zapruder recruited people who could translate from the various languages, including polish, yiddish, romanian and hebrew .
within minutes, reporters were on the plaza, and one walked up to a dazed and weeping zapruder .
zapruder' s 8mm bell & howell camera. click for larger versions. (courtesy marcel dehaeseleer. )
although there was no sound, the zapruder film allowed investigators and researchers to establish the interval between gunshots .
the odyssey of that small rectangle of sprocket - pocked celluloid is fascinating. knowing that his home movie would have both historic and forensic value, abraham zapruder had three copies of his original film made for government investigators. he sold the rights to the original to life magazine for a reported $ 150, 000. zapruder made clear frame 313 gave him nightmares and he didn’t want to be the one to inflict them on the rest of america. ultimately life decided to withhold frame 313 .
abraham zapruder: i' m not a ballistics expert, but i believe that if there were shots that come from my right ear, i would hear a different sound. i heard shots coming from - i wouldn' t know which direction to say - but they was driven from the texas book depository and they all sounded alike. there was no difference in sound at all .
the 26 seconds of film footage of president kennedy' s assassination, filmed on an 8mm bell and howell by dallas dress manufacturer abraham zapruder, will be released on video to the general public tomorrow. the video will include a documentary on the digital restoration of the footage and an interview with the late abraham zapruder, who died in 1970. while the family owns almost all rights to the footage (except print rights, which are owned by time, inc .), a 1992 law apparently requires the family to hand the film over to the government and has set a deadline next month for the family and the government to come to terms. but the family wants $ 18 million and the government only wants to pay $ 3 million. some say the marketing of the video is an attempt by the family to make some extra cash. the family lawyer says it won' t pay back what the restoration cost. some say it' s tasteless. but why shouldn' t the family make some money? after all, abraham zapruder shot the film and dealt with the aftermath of owning this artifact. npr' s dean olsher reports on the controversy .
later that day, zapruder would recount the next few moments to abc news' dallas affiliate wfaa - tv .
zapruder, and then his son ,
did the best they could to balance the public' s interest in it with a genuine desire to keep the president' s death from being sensationalized ,
said alexandra zapruder .
zapruder broke down in a new orleans courtroom as the footage of the president' s murder was shown repeatedly .
the real abe zapruder never shot another second of home movies; he died of stomach cancer in august 1970 .
incidentally, abraham zapruder' s obituary mis - states the date / year that he departed nardis of dallas, incorrectly citing 1949. the correct year was 1959, [ the same year that his
partner in design
jeanne legon became known as, jean legon demohrenschildt... she had married lee oswald' s best friend (to be), cia contract agent, george demohrenschildt! ] .
archivists at the sixth floor museum examine the zapruder film in 2000. (mona reeder / the dallas morning news )
it is the ultimate version of the zapruder film, or at least of frame 313, and it is agonizing .
within seconds of watching kennedy being shot, a distraught zapruder was immediately approached by dallas morning news reporter harry mccormack .
“there’s really no way to show the zapruder film tastefully — that’s a contradiction in terms, ” said his granddaughter .
a historical film — and narration: the zapruder film was essential to the warren commission’s findings in the kennedy assassination. marvin scott’s interview with zapruder three years later has added to our understanding of the events, an expert told pix11 .
the first time i saw a screening of the zapruder film, i realized that a portion of my interview could be synced to it to make it sound like zapruder was actually narrating it. it took many decades to achieve that .
alexandra zapruder said it became almost impossible for family members to escape her grandfather' s movie in the digital age .
zapruder had the film developed and three copies made - two of which he gave to the secret service and fbi .
abraham zapruder was a dressmaker who owned jennifer juniors, a shop on the edge of dealey plaza. he was 58 on the day the president came to dallas. as filmmakers go, he was, in every sense of the word, an amateur. so, what allowed him to keep filming after shots rang out? how could he hold the camera so still, even with abject horror exploding in front of him ?
zapruder’s daughter said her father’s childhood in russia had been one of misery and starvation. zapruder’s father, israel, had emigrated to the united states about 1915, during the chaos of world war i. zapruder followed in 1920. he was 15. he learned english and went to work as a pattern maker on seventh avenue in new york’s garment district .
was given to bell & howell in exchange for a sound projector which zapruder donated to the golden age group seniors home .
zapruder said his camera was home, according to author william manchester’s book about the assassination, “death of a president. ”
by midday the weather had brightened up, and zapruder’s secretary convinced him that it was worth the trouble to go home and retrieve the camera. zapruder eventually relented. he then headed out to dealey plaza to find a good place to film .
but what no one really knew — until now — is the impact zapruder' s film had on his own family .
zapruder, a kennedy fan, left his bell & howell film camera at home since the morning was overcast. at lunchtime, zapruder' s assistant urged him to go home and get the camera before the president' s motorcade came by .
he lost sight of kennedy and his wife briefly as the limousine rode in front of a street sign. zapruder then noticed the president clasping both hands to his throat. then the explosion. kennedy’s “head practically opened up, ” zapruder would say later that day during an interview. he knew the president was dead – the man couldn’t have survived what zapruder saw .
' he said he would have been happy to have never seen it again,' alexandra zapruder said of her grandfather .
for many of us, especially those who weren’t alive when it happened, we’re all watching that event through zapruder’s lens .
zapruder heard an initial bang but never lost his focus. there was a second shot, followed instantly by the image that stayed with zapruder until his own death: jfk' s head exploding at the moment of the bullet' s impact .
in 1975, the rights to the film were sold back to the zapruder family by time - life for $ 1 .
garment manufacturer abraham zapruder was a spectator at dealey plaza who captured the entire shooting sequence with his cheap movie camera. life magazine immediately snapped up the film for an untold sum. although life ran several frames in its cover story on the warren commission report, the motion picture itself had never been shown in public. (not even members of the commission had seen it .) now it had surfaced, courtesy of la bell france .
still, the price for the film is the most ever paid for a historical american artifact. an original print of the declaration of independence sold for more than $ 2 million, and a manuscript of president abraham lincoln' s'' house divided'' speech opposing slavery sold for $ 1. 5 million .
the warren commission, which investigated kennedy & apos; s assassination, relied heavily on zapruder & apos; s film. the film was used by fbi to establish the sequence and timing of events in the assassination. its final report, issued in 1964, included still images from zapruder & apos; s film. zapruder himself also testified in front of the commission .
because the president' s limousine passed almost exactly in front of dallas clothing manufacturer abraham zapruder on nov. 22, 1963, just as he was playing with his new film camera, and precisely at the moment that lee harvey oswald fired his rifle from a nearby books depository, his silent, 26. 6 - second home movie has become the focal point of america' s collective memory on that weird day. for many of us, especially those who weren' t alive when it happened, we' re all watching that event through zapruder' s lens .
the events of november 22, 1963, have been pored over endlessly, and abraham zapruder’s infamous footage of the shooting remains one of the most studied pieces of film in the world. shot innocuously at a time when it was still novel to own a camera, it emphasized questions about individuals’ documentation of historic events, and about the role that these materials play in cultural narratives, especially those as significant j. f. k. ’s death .
after being escorted to wfaa studios by policemen, abraham zapruder (right), a dallas amateur photographer, describes to wfaa - tv program director jay watson (left) and to the nation, via the abc - tv network, the assassination of president john f. kennedy as he viewed and filmed it. zapruder later contributed the $ 25, 000 he received for publication rights for the historic film to the family of police officer j. d. tippit who was slain as he attempted to capture the president' s accused killer. (the dallas morning news archives )
the zapruder lawyers argued it was a unique artefact like a vincent van gogh painting or an andy warhol print, and should be valued accordingly. the panel ruled by 2 votes to 1 that :
the zapruder film is one of a kind
.
zapruder sold it with the promise that the magazine wouldn’t print the most violent scenes, particularly frame 313. the magazine agreed .
delillo wants to take a scientific approach to the assassination. but zapruder' s ghostly footage doesn' t make things easier .
the importance of the few frames at the end of the zapruder film is the fleeting view of the back of jfk’s head .
a us arbitration panel put a price on the world' s most famous home movie yesterday when it agreed to award $ 16m in compensation to the family of abraham zapruder, whose 26 - second film of the assassination of president kennedy has become a national relic. lawyers for the zapruder family had been asking for $ 30m in return for surrendering the film to the national archives, but they called yesterday' s ruling
thorough and thoughtful
. however, a dissenting member of the three - member arbitration board argued the award was too large for a damaged strip of 8mm celluloid .
after learning the sixth floor museum at dealey plaza had been given the licensing rights by the zapruder family, i made a deal with the museum. i would donate my original recording of the zapruder interview in exchange for permission to use the film on wpix .
on 22nd november, 1963, abraham zapruder filmed the motorcade of president john f. kennedy. he later explained to wesley j. liebeler about the background to the filming .
i didn' t have my camera but my secretary (lillian rogers) asked me why i don' t have it and i told her i wouldn' t have a chance even to see the president and somehow she urged me and i went home and got my camera .
mr. zapruder - i' m sorry - i' m ashamed of myself really, but i couldn' t help it .
zapruder endures, too: actor paul giamatti — born in 1967 — portrayed the family patriarch in the new movie
parkland .
zapruder got the film developed that afternoon. the press began offering money for the film. a wire service offered $ 100, 000. someone else offered $ 200 a frame. three photographers offered schwartz $ 10, 000 if he would introduce them to zapruder immediately .
the reporter found a secret service official and brought him to zapruder. it took hours to find a shop that could process the film and make duplicates. when zapruder finally saw what he recorded, he was horrified. copies were flown to washington, d. c. , and he took a copy and the original home. reporters were already calling and offering thousands of dollars while zapruder was still numb .
a life reporter arranged a meeting with zapruder the next morning, and zapruder felt good about the man. he decided to sell the film to the magazine for $ 150, 000. zapruder donated the first $ 25, 000 to the widow of j. d. tippit. he was the police officer who’d been shot and killed by lee harvey oswald, the man being hunted for assassinating the president .
dallas historian darwin payne, 79, then a reporter for the dallas times herald, found zapruder moments after the shooting. for about an hour, he interviewed zapruder in his office, on an upper floor of the building on the northeast corner of elm and houston streets .
each item looks brand - spanking new, as if a half - century had not passed since abe zapruder' s movie was shot .
and finally we have parkland, a new big - budget dramatisation of events, produced by tom hanks. centred on the hospital that treated both kennedy and oswald after they were shot, it includes all the now - familiar suspects: agent sorrels (played by billy bob thornton), the dallas police, oswald and his family, and here' s our man zapruder, played by the eminently sympathetic paul giamatti. parkland almost functions as a zapruder
making of
. rather than restaging the assassination yet again, it homes in on zapruder' s face during those moments, registering his shock as he films. similarly, the only time we see zapruder' s film, it' s reflected in the spectacles of zapruder himself. giamatti found the experience overwhelming, says parkland' s writer and director, peter landesman .
he had a little nervous breakdown before he started. he' s playing zapruder, in zapruder' s clothes, where zapruder was in dealey plaza. it was a very weird out - of - body experience. he enjoyed it but it was a very freaky thing .
“i certainly have a much better sense of the life of the zapruder film and what it has meant to american history and culture, ” zapruder said. “and i have a better understanding of why it was so painful inside our family, first my grandfather and my father. ”
zapruder had moved to dallas from brooklyn in 1941 with his wife, lillian, and their children myrna, 6, and henry, 2 .
zapruder had set up a projector on a table in small room with no windows. the projector was aimed at a blank, whitewashed wall .
zapruder went to night school to learn english. he found work in the garment district of manhatten as a clothing pattern maker. he and his wife lillian married in 1933, and had two children. in 1941 zapruder moved to dallas to work for nardis, a local sportswear company .
i have now seen the full transcript of zapruder’s testimony, unlike most of the other witnesses he did not provide details of his employment history .
abc news reports that mr zapruder, who died in 1970, was urged to go home and get his camera during lunch by his secretary .
not only was zapruder reeling from what he’d filmed, the book describes a man plagued by reporters who wanted the film for their news organizations. as a result, the offer stolley made on behalf of life magazine was a “safe harbor in a sea of sharks, ” alexandra zapruder writes .
richard stolley, then pacific bureau editor for life magazine, had flown in from los angeles and reached zapruder by phone around 11 p. m. the next morning, he was in zapruder' s office at jennifer juniors, inc. , watching the film with two secret service agents .
the president casually raises his right hand to wave, and then around frame 201 he starts to disappear behind the highway sign that blocks zapruder’s view .
growing up in washington, d. c. , where her father, henry zapruder, worked as a government attorney, alexandra zapruder, an author and member of the founding staff of the u. s. holocaust memorial museum in washington, knew little of the film' s back story .
the zapruder film is a home movie that runs about eighteen seconds and could probably fuel college courses in a dozen subjects from history to physics. and every new generation of technical experts gets to take a crack at the zapruder film. the film represents all the hopefulness we invest in technology. a new enhancement technique or a new computer analysis—not only of zapruder but of other key footage and still photographs—will finally tell us precisely what happened .
zapruder was one of three people to film the scene, but the images captured by his bell and howell silent camera are considered the most complete .
the black camera bag owned by zapruder, along with his camera, are also property of the archive — both still bearing their fbi evidence tags .
through the lens of his bell & howell movie camera, zapruder said he heard a shot and saw kennedy lean over and grab his left chest .
before nov. 22, 1963, abraham zapruder was an ordinary citizen of dallas: a 58 - year - old prosperous manufacturer of women’s clothing who had arrived in the city from russia by way of brooklyn. if that day had unfolded differently, that is most likely what he would have remained. but like a small but growing number of americans at the time, he was also a home - movie hobbyist. with his receptionist, marilyn sitzman, as location scout and technical support, zapruder took his 414pd director series bell and howell 8 - millimeter camera to a spot on elm street, not far from his office, hoping to film the presidential motorcade as it drove past .
fifty years ago friday, with his bell & howell zoomatic, zapruder watched the sparkling motorcade round the corner at dealey plaza and turn onto elm street .
zapruder had been making home movies for decades. the 8mm film in the camera that day contained footage of two of his grandbabies toddling around a patio .
but even without the film itself and only rather' s flawed description, zapruder' s footage had already begun to affix itself to the national brain .
zapruder took the famous footage on november 22, 1963, when he joined a crowd to watch kennedy' s motorcade sweep through dealy plaza in dallas .
though zapruder need only walk outside the door of his elm st. business to see the motorcade, his trip to texas took a more circuitous route .
a three - member arbitration board was established when lawyers on both sides failed to agree on the level of compensation for the film, which was owned by the zapruder family but held in storage by the national archives. the zapruder family had asked for $ 30 million; the government offered $ 1 million .
zapruder didn’t hoard the money, though. his lawyer worried that the story of a jewish man cashing in on the assassination might incite anti - semitic sentiment around dallas, so zapruder gave the first $ 25, 000 payment to the widow of policeman j. d. tippit, one of oswald’s other victims .
in 1975, life magazine sold zapruder & apos; s original film and all the rights to zapruder & apos; s family for $ 1. they soon established the lmh company to handle business related to the film. three years later, the family gave the original film to the national archives for safekeeping .
fifty - three years later, granddaughter alexandra zapruder adds a fresh narrative to an old tragedy with the release of twenty - six seconds: a personal history of the zapruder film. the book, out last month, delves into the story of her grandfather, who was traumatized after making a home movie that serves as the only complete record of kennedy’s death. twenty - six seconds also fleshes out the complex situation in which the zapruder family found itself after the assassination .
an anguished zapruder was certain of this before almost anyone else because he had watched the assassination through the viewfinder of his wind - up home - movie camera .
zapruder had not brought his snazzy movie camera to work the morning of nov. 22, 1963, and his secretary, lillian rogers, noticed right away .
a jfk devotee, zapruder loved the idea of a presidential parade passing by his office, having no clue of the surreal, spectacular fallout fate would inflict .
as they spoke, the two men watched walter cronkite deliver the news of the shooting on television. it was then that zapruder gave payne an incredible quote .
zapruder — who screened the original film on his home movie projector hours after the shooting — tried to avoid watching the footage for the rest of his life .
the government has to compensate the zapruder family because the assassination records review board in 1997 declared the film the permanent possession of the people of the united states.
abraham zapruder ( may 15 , 1905 – august 30 , 1970 ) was a russian-born american clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of president john f. kennedy in dallas , texas , on november 22 , 1963 . zapruder unexpectedly captured the event in a home movie while filming the presidential limousine and motorcade as it traveled through dealey plaza . 
abraham zapruder (may 15, 1905 – august 30, 1970) was a russian-born american clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of president john f. kennedy in dallas, texas, on november 22, 1963. zapruder unexpectedly captured the event in a home movie while filming the presidential limousine and motorcade as it traveled through dealey plaza.
abraham zapruder (may 15, 1905 – august 30, 1970) was a russian-born american clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of president john f. kennedy in dallas, texas, on november 22, 1963. zapruder unexpectedly captured the event in a home movie while filming the presidential limousine and motorcade as it traveled through dealey plaza.