Bedford Wynne at Texas Country Day School of Dallas

One of Many Illustrious Alumni

Bedford Shelmire Wynne received early lessons in elitism while attending the Texas Country Day School of Dallas (since merged into St. Mark's) as a child. Judging from its illustrious alumni, it was no ordinary school. His name was mentioned in the Galveston newspaper in 1938 as a member of a basketball team that lost to Tabor Academy of Massachusetts, playing in Galveston at the time. The school's headmaster, Kenneth Bouve, had come to Dallas from Tabor and often arranged the games with former associates of his old school.

Davey O'Brien was the football coach during the time Bedford Wynne was a student at the Texas Country Day School.

 Robert David O'Brien (June 22, 1917 – November 18, 1977) was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Texas Christian University and was drafted in the first round (fourth overall) of the 1939 NFL Draft. In 1938, O'Brien won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award. The Davey O'Brien Award, given annually to the best quarterback in collegiate football, is named for him....
 

After two seasons with the Eagles, O'Brien retired from football to become an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where he worked for ten years. After completing his training, he was assigned to the bureau’s field office in Springfield, Missouri. He was a firearms instructor at Quantico, Virginia, and spent the last five years of his FBI career in Dallas. He resigned from the bureau in 1950 and went to work for H. L. Hunt in land development. He later entered the oil business working for Dresser Atlas Industries of Dallas. O'Brien also served as president of the TCU Alumni Association, a YMCA board member, a chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, a supporter of Golden Gloves youth boxing programs, and a deacon of University Christian Church.

He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1956. From 1960–1964 he served as a color commentator for Dallas Cowboys television broadcasts. 

In 1971, O'Brien was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery to remove a kidney and part of his right lung. He died from cancer on November 18, 1977. O'Brien's 1938 Heisman Trophy combined with Tim Brown's 1987 Heisman Trophy gave Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas the distinction of being the first high school to produce two Heisman Trophy winners. In 1989, O'Brien and Brown were inducted together into Woodrow Wilson High School's Hall of Fame when it was created in celebration of the school's 60th Anniversary.

Most of these high-school age boys would end up in the war as they approached manhood in the early 1940's. Much would be expected of them as the world began to change before their very eyes. Some of his classmates would even help change that world. Bedford certainly contributed to those changes in his own inimitable way.

The Texas Country Day School was originally located on Preston Road at its intersection with Walnut Hill Lane. Now the school is situated in an area between Royal Lane to the north, Walnut Hill Lane to the south, and between Preston Road on the west and Hillcrest Road on the east, St. Marks School in Dallas is surrounded by some of the wealthiest families in Texas. 

Dallas' "most-established establishment"

Its history in brief: "St. Mark's was founded as a merger of the nonsectarian Texas Country Day School and the Episcopally-associated The Cathedral School. To solve the religious question, St. Mark's was founded as a nonsectarian school with the agreement that Chapel services would be Episcopalian, led by an ordained Episcopal minister. The school officially opened as St. Mark's School of Texas in 1953."

Another website states:

St. Mark’s School of Texas

10600 Preston Rd.

For years, St. Mark’s has been the place to send your son if you’re looking for an all-male, private school. And it’s no wonder, with a dynamite board of trustees, and a cluster of well-appointed buildings, including, would you believe, a planetarium.

St. Mark’s has the pedigree, dating back to 1933 when some of Dallas’ finest founded The Texas Country Day School, an ancestor of St. Mark’s.

Nowadays, an all-male student body isn’t particularly important to the school, because St. Mark’s graduates tend to flock to UT-Austin. Way back when, the prep school atmosphere was thought to be instrumental in preparing Dallas boys for places like Harvard and Yale.

During the 1960’s, St. Mark’s built a reputation on math and science, but now is trying to stress the arts too. The math emphasis still lingers and seniors score high on the college entrance exam math tests, but closer to average on verbal sections. Last spring produced a bumper crop of National Merit semi-finalists, 10, while usually the number is somewhat lower.

St. Mark’s each year accepts 25 first graders, 17 second graders and later adds 25 boys at the fifth grade and 50 more at the seventh. Thereafter only about one or two are admitted to each class every year.

St. Mark’s wants to see the boy grow into the man. Teachers have plenty of time to coach them at one thing or another -- football, photography, etc. Physical activity is important and sports abound. If you can’t handle football or basketball, there’s always inter scholastic water polo.

Another page of that website states:

THERE ARE some prep schools where the headmaster embodies the institution’s traditions and goals. St. Mark’s is not one of them. St. Mark’s has its roots in its board of directors, which in turn is rooted in the city’s most-established establishment - oil, high technology and, in the old days, cotton.

St. Mark’s predecessor, the Texas Country Day School, opened in the fall of 1933. Chief among its founders was Wirt Davis, an oilman with a young son who he thought should get a first-rate education without having to take a five-day train ride to the East. Davis got his friend Eugene McDermott of Geophysical Services Co. (now Texas Instruments) interested in the school as early as 1937. McDermott and his wife, Margaret, then got their friends Cecil and Ida Green interested in the school. Though they were childless themselves, Ralph Rogers, a former board president, recalls, the Greens "always felt that the country’s future depended on leadership... and that leadership depended on education."

Yet another states:

When it opened with ten students and four faculty members in September 1933, Texas Country Day School was located two miles north of the Dallas city limits. With the post-World War II economic boom, this area became an affluent suburban neighborhood, and many of its youth attended Texas Country Day School.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

San Antonio Express -JUNE 24, 1934

New Incorporations:

Texas Country Day School for Boys, Dallas. capital stock $10,000; education. Incorporators: Mrs. R.R. Penn, Wirt Davis, Arthur L. Kramer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

1938 Texas Country Day School of Dallas basketball team

On April 6, 1938 Bedford Wynne's name appeared in newspapers as a representative of a Texas Country Day School of Dallas basketball team. Players of the Dallas team were Gilbert and John Allen, Robert Giles Jr., Edwin Hopkins Jr., Latham Jones, Brown McGaughey, Robert Mead, Philip [O.] Montgomery Jr., John Shelton, Bedford Wynne, and Robert Raney. L.W. Hall was coach of the team. John Blade Jr., William Bullington, Cedric Burgher Jr., Everett DeGolyer Jr., Charles Dexter Jr., Henry Doscher, William Hoyes, Jon Hulsey, and Eugene Mead accompanied the team to Galveston, where they played Tabor Academy basketball team of Marion, Mass. Dallas lost the game.

[Names in the above excerpt from Galveston News have been researched and results are color-coded in articles below]:

The Dallas Morning News - August 15, 2009

Robert Byron Giles Jr.: Passion for research fueled his work in physics, medicine

Dr. Robert Byron Giles Jr. maintained his passion for research throughout his 40 years as a Dallas internist. His research background included working on the Manhattan Project during World War II and being one of the first Western doctors to explore the mysteries of the hantavirus as an Army medical officer during the Korean War. Dr. Giles, 87, died Dec. 16 of natural causes at the C.C. Young retirement community in Dallas. Services were Saturday in Dallas.
"He liked the challenging cases, where he really had to use his mind," said his daughter, Caroline Banks of Minneapolis. "The researcher in him was so strong. He liked the challenge and the pleasure of diagnosing something accurately in time to be of help."

Dr. Giles also liked people and often told his family about interesting patients, his daughter said.

Dr. Giles had a subspecialty in rheumatoid arthritis and saw patients from Central and South America. Some of those patients were accompanied by their extended families.

"The whole office would shut down, because he had not only the spouse, but aunts and uncles and children of these people from out of the country," Dr. Banks said.

Dr. Giles was born in Dallas, where he attended Texas Country Day School, now St. Mark's School of Texas.

Dr. Giles became a researcher after graduating from Dartmouth College.

"He was at the nuclear physics department at MIT," his daughter said. "He didn't know it at the time, but he was involved with the Manhattan Project."

Not knowing he was helping the Army develop the first atomic bomb, Dr. Giles repeatedly tried to enlist to serve in World War II. He had twin uncles who were generals in the Army Air Forces, his daughter said.

"He kept wanting to enlist, but he was told, 'No, your work here is too important,' " his daughter said.

In 1943, Dr. Giles married Patricia Wellington. Mrs. Giles died in 1992.

After the war, Dr. Giles attended medical school, graduating from a two-year program at Dartmouth and completing his medical degree at Harvard University. Dr. Giles completed his internship and began his residency and a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His studies, however, were interrupted when he was recruited as an Army medical officer for service during the Korean War. He was chief medical officer with the 8228th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. Dr. Giles soon found himself doing research in the war zone. Some Korean soldiers and civilians brought to his hospital had a disease unknown to Western medicine, his daughter said.

"He was one of the first Westerners to identify and research hemorrhagic fever," Dr. Banks said. "Because of his previous interest in research at MIT, he was very curious about the nature of this virus. He didn't want to just treat patients; he wanted to understand what it was."

The hantavirus was originally known as Korean hemorrhagic fever, and gets its name from the Hantaan River in Korea.

In 1953, Dr. Giles received an Army commendation for meritorious war-zone research, treatment and training in Korea.

After his military service, Dr. Giles completed his residency in Boston.

In the late 1950s, Dr. Giles returned to Dallas, where he was an assistant professor of medicine in charge of a research laboratory at what is now UT Southwestern Medical Center.

In the early 1960s, Dr. Giles entered private practice with his father, Robert B. Giles Sr., at the Medical Arts Building in downtown Dallas. When his father retired, Dr. Giles moved his practice to Presbyterian Hospital, where he became chief of the medical staff, his daughter said.

Dr. Giles was an accomplished and avid golfer. He also enjoyed sailing and watercolor painting.

In addition to his daughter, Dr. Giles is survived by his wife, Ann Baker Giles of Dallas; another daughter, Phoebe Giles of Dallas; two sons, Ben Giles of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Richard Giles of Great Barrington, Mass.; three sisters, Frederica Reily of Baton Rouge, La., Ann Kimbrough of Dallas and Marie Louise Baldwin of Dallas; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the Patricia and Robert Giles Jr. DMS 1945 Scholarship Fund at Dartmouth Medical School; in honor of Patricia Wellington Giles at Wellesley College; the Patricia Giles Endowed Memorial at Southern Methodist University; or to a charity of choice.

The Herald Banner, Greenville, TX June 17, 2009
Brown McGaughey

WICHITA FALLS — R. Brown McGaughey Sr., 88, of Wichita Falls, died the night of June 14, 2009, at Hospice of Wichita Falls. Services are at 11 a.m. today at University United Methodist Church with military honors, officiated by Pastor Bryan Payne, Pastor Travis McGaughey and Reverend Dean Libby. Interment will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at East Mount Cemetery in Greenville. Hampton Vaughan Funeral Home of Wichita Falls is in charge of arrangements.
Brown was born July 15, 1920, in Greenville to Winnie (Brown) and Wycliff P. McGaughey, DDS. He married Rowena McKinley on June 4, 1945, in Hamilton. He attended University of the South in Swanee, Tenn., for two years and then joined the Army Air Corps and graduated from Fort Stockton, Calif., with the class of 41-G. He served overseas in North Africa flying a C-47 with the 62nd Troop Carrier, pulling gliders and dropping paratroopers. Among his many heroic deeds was his participation in the invasion of Sicily. Brown McGaughey retired heavily decorated from the Air Force Reserves as a lieutenant colonel.
Following the war he returned to college and graduated from Texas A&M; with a degree in animal husbandry. He was employed as an assistant county agent of Denton County and then became a full-time farmer in Lavon. Mr. MGaughey was employed by the General Adjustment Bureau in 1954 and retired with GAB in 1985. He moved to Wichita Falls in 1993 and became a full-time rancher.
Mr. McGaughey was a member of the Shriners, and was an active member of University United Methodist Church and joined friends of his Sunday school class in worship and anticipated his weekly Thursday morning Men's Bible Study.
Mr. McGaughey was preceded in death by his brother, Wycliff McGaughey.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years; three children, Shannon Baade and husband Duane of Lewisville, Elizabeth Payne of Montgomery, Texas, and Robert McGaughey Jr. and wife Sheila of Wichita Falls; six grandchildren, April Lyle, Wendy Tinney, Bryan Payne, Travis McGaughey, Jayson McGaughey, Doug Wimberley; and six great-grandchildren with two more on the way.
Honorary pallbearers are grandsons Travis McGaughey, Jayson McGaughey, Bryan Payne, and great-grandsons Matthew Lyle, Scott Lyle, and Todd Lyle. The family requests memorial contributions be made to University United Methodist Church or Hospice of Wichita Falls.

Oil and Texas: A Cultural History

Several oil millionaires have supported mainly the fine arts and literature: Everette Lee DeGolyer of Dallas was active in petroleum exploration and production and in technological development, largely through Amerada, Texas Instruments and Texas Eastern Transmission. He and his wife supported the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and other Dallas-area musical groups. DeGolyer was also a collector of rare books; he donated 89,000 volumes of his personal collection to university libraries. He was one of the main financial backers of Texas Country Day School in Dallas, which became St. Mark's School of Texas. In 1942, DeGolyer rescued the Saturday Review, the greatly respected national literary magazine, from a serious financial crisis. DeGolyer had become friends with Norman Cousins, who was named editor at the height of the crisis. DeGolyer became publisher and subsidized the magazine until it regained its economic feet. 

  J. Henry Doscher, 50 year member of Sons of the Republic of Texas

Jurgen Henry Doscher, Jr., was commissioned an ensign in the navy in 1942 and assigned as executive officer aboard the USS SC-761 in January 1943. Soon after arriving in the Solomon Islands, he became the commanding officer of the subchaser and led it through the tough campaigns in the southwest Pacific. Following the war he became a successful lawyer and retired in 1985.

Jack Ruby's Money Man

 If you believe, as I do, that all research is really about following the money, it seems quite significant that behind most of Jack Ruby's business enterprises in Dallas was another man whose family were Russian Jewish emigrants who arrived in New York in about 1912. Ralph Paul, son of a fruit peddler in New York City, arrived in Dallas in about 1947 and was always there with money whenever Jack needed it.

Jack Ruby's Personal Lender, Ralph Paul

RALPH PAUL, also known as Raphael Paul, which he advised is his true name, was a white male, said be was born at Kiev,  Russia, December 17, 1899. He attended Public School #109, New York City. Owner, Bull Pen, Arlington, Texas, being sole owner since 1/1/63, and president of the Texas Corp., which owns this drive-in restaurant.

He [Ralph Paul] was a former partner with CHRIS SEYOS [sic] in the Miramar Drive-In, located 1922 Ft. Worth Avenue, Dallas, from April, 1954 to February, 1956, at which time be sold out to CHRIS SEMOS for $15,000 and on which transaction SEMOS still owes him $3,500. Prior to the above business connection, he had owned the Blue Bonnet Bar, located in the Blue Bonnet Hotel, Dallas, being so engaged from November, 1948 to September, 1953, at which time he sold this business to JOE BONDS for $3,000, which amount was never paid by BONDS. They had a verbal agreement. Prior to that, PAUL was part-owner of the Sky Club, located on West Commerce Street, Dallas, being so employed between January 1948 until May l948.

RALPH PAUL said he had come to Dallas on December 27, 1947 from New York City, at which place he was owner of Ralph's Fruit Exchange, 161st Street, between Walton and Girard Streets, Bronx, New York . He was there twenty years. From 1919 to 1927, he was in partnership with his father in Paul's Fruit Exchange, 159th Street, off Amsterdam Avenue in New York City. Prior to 1919, he had worked for his father, SAMUEL PAUL in the retail fruit business in New York City at the above address ....

His father, SAMUEL PAUL, died in 1945. His mother, TILLIE [Loby?] PAUL, resides at 2265 Sedgwick, New York City, telephone Cy 5-1623. His brothers are DAVID PAUL, address unknown but living in the Bronx and operating a parking lot on Brook or Brooking Avenue, and LOUIS PAUL, whose address is unknown but who is employed as a salesman of women's belts. LOUIS formerly operated the Pleasant Finance Co., Inc., 25 Main Street, Lodi, New Jersey, New Jersey license 857. His sister is LEE BERRY, 2565 Sedgwick; her husband is deceased . His aunts are "BUNNY" (LNU) and ETI L. PAUL, widow of RAFAEL PAUL, a paternal uncle. He has a cousin, MACK PAUL, address unknown, employed as a clerk in a grocery store in the Bronx, New York .

Ralph Paul and Chris Semos

The Bull Pen Drive-In Restaurant located at 1936 East Abram, Arlington, Texas, was mentioned in Contract on America: The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy by David E. Scheim. Chris Tom Semos operated a restaurant at 605 Fort Worth Avenue in Dallas, and was mentioned by Dallas MCA (Music Corp. of America) official Howard McElroy, who was contacted by the FBI a week following Kennedy's assassination. Since the Dallas MCA office closed in 1962, the FBI located McElmore (address given as 9033 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills Calif.) in Las Vegas at the Desert Inn. He told them Ralph Paul could be reach through Chris Semos.

Tom Semos & Co. owned the Semos Coffee Shop & Cafe in the Jefferson Hotel (built by Carl Mangold, the "Man Who Visioned Oak Cliff") at 312 S. Houston between Jackson and Wood Streets, just a block or so from Dealey Plaza in which his father Victor H. Semos was a partner. Victor also sold coffee wholesale at 555 W. Commerce. Tom had returned from Europe in 1928 with his Greek bride, Catina, who a year later gave birth to a son, Chris Tom, the man named in the Warren Commission records, whose father, Tom Semos, died in May 1963, leaving Chris Tom the coffee shop and a drive-in restaurant on Fort Worth Avenue. He would later own a Greek restaurant as well.

He had grown up in an exclusive neighborhood at 3114 Cornell Ave. and went to Highland Park High School, so it's easy to see why he would not have wanted people to know he was in any way associated with the likes of Jack Ruby. At the time the FBI interviewed Semos, his address was another exclusive area of Dallas at 1630 Cedar Hill  (north Oak Cliff), and he owned a restaurant at 605 Fort Worth Avenue. He s
aid he knew Jack Ruby through the Sky Club, which was near his restaurant.

OAK CLIFF WILL SEEK LIQUOR SALE

DALLAS — (AP) Oak Cliff wets voted last night to seek a vote during the November general elections on the sale of alcoholic beverages in the dry Oak Cliff section of Dallas. The area went dry in 1956 prohibition vote. Attorney. Art Clifton told about 130 persons at the Sky Club that Oak Cliff was losing $200,000 a month in sales to residents who cross the Trinity River to Dallas to buy alcoholic beverages and other merchandise. The group named restaurant operator Chris Semos to head a committee to raise the $20,000 to $30,000 Clifton said was needed to put over the campaign. More than 9,500 signatures would be needed on petitions for the Dallas County commissioners court to call the election. (August 1960 ).

Semos had very low regard for Ruby, as he revealed to the FBI in this excerpt from a somewhat disingenuous 1964 interrogation:

A card showing he [Ralph Paul] was a member of the Estacado Investment Association, Dallas, which he claimed was a group of about 25 persons who were banded together for the purpose of making investments in the stock market. He was unable to furnish any definite address or names of any of the members except that of a Mr. Smith, who be said was employed as a salesman by the Lone Star Wholesale Grocery, Dallas.

In the billfold was found a duplicate copy showing the issuance of cashiers check #61186 dated February 13, 1963, by First National Bank in Arlington, Arlington, Texas, showing purchaser to be RALPH PAUL, the check being payable to S&R, Inc., in amount 2,200. PAUL identified S&R, Inc. as the Carousel Club, 1312-1/2 Commerce Street, Dallas. He stated that in addition to the above amount loaned to S&R, Inc., he has invested approximately $3,000, owning 50 percent of the stock in the Carousel Club, which is operated by S&R, Inc., a Texas corporation in which JACK RUBY gave to him 50 percent of the club stock in exchange for the approximately $8,200 which PAUL has invested. He declined any knowledge of names of incorporators of S&R, Inc....

RALPH PAUL stated he first became acquainted with JACK RUBY, also known to him as JACK RUBENSTEIN, in 1948 at Dallas, Texas and recounted the following manner in which they first became acquainted. RUBY had introduced himself to PAUL at the Mercantile National Bank, where he, PAUL, was then doing business. This he said was a chance meeting, at which time RUBY asked "Are you connected with the Sky Club" and when PAUL told him he was, RUBY asked if he could come out to see the show and PAUL extended the invitation. RUBY accepted this invitation, saw the show at the Sky Club, and then RUBY invited PAUL to see his show at the Silver Spur night club which was being operated by RUBY.

PAUL accepted this invitation.

Their relationship afterwards continued on a personal basis, each seeing the other often. RUBY sold the Silver Spur in 1956 and continued to operate the Vegas Club, Dallas, and is still owner of that night spot. About 1959 or 1960, JACK RUBY opened the Carousel Club, being a partner with JOE SLATON, a bar business owner in Dallas. SLATON and RUBY had been friends, however in the operation of the Carousel Club business they had disagreed and following this falling out, RUBY came to him (PAUL) and requested a loan of $1,000 with which to carry on the business of the Carousel Club. This was about 1960 or 1961. Since that time, RUBY has continued to ask for loans which were granted by PAUL without security, no note or any evidence of this indebtedness to him, except cancelled checks reflecting the amount of loans made. JACK RUBY has never repaid any money loaned to him and/or the Carousel Club.

PAUL stated he believes JACK RUBY transacts his business with the Bank of Commerce, Dallas, Texas [it was located at Elm and Poydras, not far from Ben Gold's Nardis of Dallas]. RALPH PAUL considers himself as the closest friend of JACK RUBY. Any acquaintances or friends of JACK RUBY he could not recall, advising the man had no close associates or friends except possibly the two following persons who have worked for RUBY: WALLY SYESTON and EARL NORMAN, both comics....

Ralph Paul, Bert Bowman and Austin Cook
Census records show that, before he came to Dallas, the Paul family lived on East 100th Street in Manhattan, and his father peddled his fruit out of a wagon. When he died in 1975, Paul's residence was 2614 Plaza Street in Arlington, but at the time of the JFK assassination in 1963, he was living in the basement of the home of the Bert Bowman family on Copeland Road in Dallas. Bowman and Austin Cook had originally started the Bull Pen drive-in on W. Illinois in 1950 and ran it under that name until 1958. When Bowman dissolved the partnership, he acquired the name as one of the assets of the business and moved it to 1936 East Abram, Arlington, Texas, located a few blocks south of the baseball stadium where George W. Bush's Texas Rangers team later played. Some eight to ten years before the Warren Commission hearings, Bowman had sold this drive-in to Ralph Paul, according to Mrs. Bowman's statement cited at page 42 in HSCA Report, Volume XII.

Strangely enough, the original Bull Pen location at 2321 West Illinois in Dallas (name changed to Austin's Barbecue  in 1958) employed J.D. Tippit two nights a week as a security guard up until his murder in November 1963. Tippit reputedly worked many security jobs. It's difficult to know when he had time to sleep or visit his family.  

 J.D. Tippit's Security Work and the Top 10 Record Shop
According to Bill Drenas' article "J.D. Tippit and the Top Ten Record Shop" in the Dealey Plaza Echo (Part I) Officer Tippit often came into the record shop at 338 W. Jefferson Blvd. while he was on duty to use the telephone. A Tip Top employee said Tippit made a call from there less than ten minutes before he was killed on November 22, 1963, but got no answer after dialing. He then rushed outside to his car and sped away across Jefferson going north on Bishop, shortly before the shooting occurred at about 1:106 p.m. Besides his work at Austin Cook's drive-in restaurant, Tippit also had a security/bouncer job at Ship's Grill at 2100 Fort Worth Avenue and another at the Theater Lounge (a strip joint owned by Barney Weinstein) at 1326 Jackson Street.

In Part II, Drenas states that Tippit had been a policeman for 11 years, patrolling various districts in the Oak Cliff area, and he changes the address of Ship's Grill (a private club) to 2138 Fort Worth Avenue, and he says "on Sunday afternoons J D Tippit worked security as a deterrent to trouble at the Stevens Park Theater, located at the next block at 2007 Fort Worth Avenue." In attempting to confirm earlier reports, Drenas associate, Earl Golz interviewed Bill Anglin, a Tippit colleague, whom he quoted to the effect that Tippit could not have worked at the Theater Lounge because the police code of conduct forbade officers to work off-duty at any location where alcohol was served; in addition he considered himself to be a good enough friend to Tippit to have bee told by him if he worked there. This story was also confirmed by Detective Morris Brumley. Nevertheless, these two sources were contradicted by the Top Ten employee, Cortinas and another unnamed source.

As for Austin's Barbecue, Tippit's employment there was corroborated by numerous sources, none of whom indicated whether or not alcohol was served there, and a person named W.R. 'Dub' Stark who thought Tippit was having an affair with an employee at the barbecue restaurant. Stark, who was owner of the Top Ten Record Shop also said he had seen Lee Oswald with Marina and the children shopping there, and he thought that Oswald and Tippit knew each other. Stark sold the record shop in 1965.


In Part III of the series on the Top Ten Record Shop, Drenas related his discussion with Dub Stark's niece, Wanda Barnard, who told him Stark had bought the shop in the early 50's. When he sold it in 1965, he opened the W. R. Stark Garden Center next door at 336 W. Jefferson. Eventually, he took the record shop back and resold it in the early 1980's. Wanda then relating various stories she had heard from Stark, in order to substantiate what information Stark had relayed to Drenas and Golz.

Jack Ruby Night Clubs in Dallas

According to Morty Freedman's son, the businesses run by Morty moved to the Dal-Tex Building during the 1960's. He doesn't recall the exact year that happened, but remembers the previous location as 2135 S. Lamar St., near the Corinth Street railroad tunnels and bridges across the Trinity River, leading to Oak Cliff. The first street Corinth intersects with after passing the railroads is now called Riverfront, but in the 1960s it was still known as Industrial Blvd. At that intersection there was a night club built by Dallas real estate tycoon, O. L. Nelms in about 1950 during the heyday of "western swing" music. Called the Bob Wills Ranch House, it was built to showcase the talent of the Texas Playboys and which featured other recording artists, such as Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys (Capitol Records), who appeared at the Bob Wills Ranch House in 1952.

“Mr. Nelms originally built the Longhorn nightclub for Bob Wills,” Wisener says. “At first, it was called the Bob Wills Ranch House. Jack Ruby managed it for a short time." Jack Ruby had leased this club at one time, possibly from Ocie/Ossie Nelms, or more commonly called O.L. Nelms, and the Warren Commission heard testimony that Jack Ruby had even "dated" Nelms' ex-wife. Nelms owned a wholesale company in Dallas:

DALLAS, Tex. - (NEA) — O. L. Nelms is an appreciative millionaire who believes in letting the home town folk know it. He is not one of those suddenly rich, puffed up braggarts, either. When the subject of his millions comes up he points out an ad he runs in a local newspaper
and to billboards on the approaches to downtown that state simply:
"THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING O. L. NELMS MAKE ANOTHER MILLION."
Folk who read the ad or see the signs don't know exactly how they've helped Nelms, but it gives them a warm, happy feeling just to know they've helped somebody. And he insists that if
it wasn't for the people he would never have made his pile....With $30 as capital, Nelms he opened a wholesale tobacco and snuff business in Dallas in the Depression year of 1932 and parlayed this small endeavor into his far-flung real estate holdings which skyrocketed with the coming of the shopping center.
Although his money matters have been complicated through the years, it was only recently
that he needed the help of an accountant. He has acquired several corporations, but has dissolved them to "keep things simple enough for me to understand."

An obituary May 5, 1972 in the Abilene Reporter-News stated:

 Born near Palestine, Nelms often boasted of his lack of formal education He recalled that he left school after the third grade, came to Dallas when he was 17 and entered the wholesale
drug business, he liquidated a statewide drug distributorship in 1946.
With the capital from that sale, 'he invested in Dallas real estate.
In two of the largest auctions in Dallas history, Nelms again sold his holdings—for $6 million
in 1968 and $8 million in 1970. Two years ago, he estimated his personal wealth at "some
where between $15 and $25 million."

O.L. had a brother, B.B. Nelms, who also worked with him one of his wholesale companies (Joe Smith Wholesale Co.--a candy company at 2227 Bryan)  in the mid-1940s.  Some articles say Nelms gave it to Bob Wills, whose ownership was succeeded by Jack Ruby and later by Dewey Groom. However, the only way to know the ownership is to check the deed and tax records, evidence of which has not been shown. However, Vincent Bugliosi said on page 1089 of his much-maligned book, Reclaiming History:

Bugliosi says Jack Ruby was operating two clubs at the same time--the Bob Wills Ranch House and the Silver Spur and went bankrupt in 1952, at which point he moved to Chicago for several months and returned to Dallas where he soon was building up another night club called the Vegas on Oaklawn Avenue. In 1955 he added Hernando's Hideaway at 6854 Greenville Avenue to his portfolio of clubs. With his sister Eva managing the Vegas Club, by 1960 Ruby was doing well enough to go in with other investors in another hot spot at 1312-1/2 Commerce in downtown, initially called the Sovereign Club. Losing money for several months, the private club's main backers withdrew, leaving Jack Ruby, heavily in debt to his patron Ralph Paul (owner of the Bull Pen Restaurant and the Sky Club), to transform this location into his Carousel Club, a high-class strip joint.

  

Backing up, the first Dallas night club Ruby ran is mentioned in the HSCA chapter about Jack Ruby's associates in a section focused on Andrew Armstrong, Jr., who, intriguingly enough, also worked both for Morty Freedman at Marilyn Belts for a time, and for Jack Ruby's Carousel Club from June 1962 until Feb. 1964. In Andrew Armstrong's testimony this club was called the Longhorn Ranch club (or Longhorn Ballroom) on Corinth and Industrial Blvd. Associated with Jack Ruby in the Longhorn was Dewey Groom, about whom an Associated Press article in the Paris News Nov. 24, 1983 stated:

Dewey Groom, 65, who has owned the ballroom for 25 years, usually sings with the house band after the first set. "Your band is still here," reads a note tacked to a wall. "We want to see you on the bandstand." The weary Groom has lived the music. "I've been crying buckets of tears all day, and I've buckets more to cry before I'm through," he said in 1978, the day after a wife he married twice was shot and killed in another man's bedroom. Wilson Wren, the Longhorn's manager since 1974 and a janitor at the ballroom 10 years before that, says simply, "Mr. Groom is country. In his heart."... "I dressed flashy," he said. "I had all my clothes made in Fort Worth. I didn't have no money, but I had some fine clothes."
Groom sang and played with several bands over the next few years, but said he could not make a decent living at entertaining and opened a nightclub on his friends' urging. He called it the Longhorn Ranch. In 1952, he joined the late Jack Ruby and Chicagoan Hy Fader at the Longhorn Ballroom's predecessor, known as the Bob Wills Ranch House. After leaving the club over a dispute, he reopened the Longhorn Ranch, then left the business entirely for two years. He became a barber.

Whether it was the same club or another at the same intersection is hard to discern, although the Guthrey Club was also mentioned in an FBI report  was then located at that same intersection (214 Corinth). Dewey Groom was also the proprietor at this club, also called Guthrie.

Once you pass that intersection, there is a long bridge on Corinth, and the next street that intersects is Eighth, which, coincidentally, was the location of a mattress factory where the employment commission sent Lee  Oswald on an interview in 1963, the Burton-Dixie Corp. at 817 Corinth. Following 8th Street to the northwest will bring you to N. Beckley Avenue, only two blocks from Lee Oswald's rooming house at No. 1026.

Small world.

Close-Up of Abe Zapruder's Employer--Nardis of Dallas

Gregory Burnham has an article called "Amazing Web Of Abraham Zapruder, The Man Who Filmed JFK's Assassination" at John-F-Kennedy.net where we find the following excerpt:

The following may be of interest to those who would seek a glimpse at the beginning, even though it tends to raise questions about the only piece of evidence that we know is real, intact, unaltered, and 100% without blemish. Qualities that are curiously absent from the character of the one who filmed it...

Consider: 

• Abraham Zapruder-White Russian affiliation, 32nd degree Mason, active MEMBER of 2 CIA Proprietary Organizations: The Dallas Council On World Affairs and The Crusade For A Free Europe; 
• These two organizations were CIA (backed) Domestic Operations in Dallas whose membership included: 

• Abraham Zapruder,

• Clint Murchison (owner of the Dallas Cowboys at that time) ,

• Mr. Byrd, (owner of the Texas School Book Depository),

• Sarah Hughes, who swore LBJ in as the 36th President while Air Force One was still on the ground in Dallas,

• George DeMohrenschildt, (CIA contract agent AND best friend of LHO),

• George Bush (also close friend of George DeMohrenschildt),

• Neil Mallon, (mentor that Bush named his son, Neil, after),

• H.L. Hunt, &

• Demitri Von Mohrenschildt (George D's brother).

• 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.

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!]

Lyndon Baines Johnson's personal secretary, Marie Fehmer, who flew back to Washington on Air Force One with LBJ on 11-22-1963, just happens to be the daughter of Olga Fehmer, currently living in Tyler, Texas. Olga Fehmer ALSO worked at Nardis of Dallas with Abraham Zapruder and Jean LeGon DeMohrenshildt.

 Of course these little connections were all from the research of Bruce Campbell Adamson, without attribution of any kind, and without anything added. 

Len Colby did some follow up at the Education Forum, adding this:

I’m not sure how long they overlapped. Zapruder started his own company Jennifer Juniors and thus presumably left Nardis when he did, though it possible stayed with them for awhile. Some sources he started his company in 1949 others in 1954. The only one I’ve seen which provides reference is Wikipedia which cites “Business Charters", The Dallas Morning News, August 13, 1954, p. II-16”. The first reference I found to the company in the paper’s archive was “Dress Firm Moves to Larger Location”, July 17, 1956. So obviously the company was started before then. Unfortunately to have to pay to read the article ($10 for 24 hours access or more for longer periods). I also found an ad for a woman’s clothing store selling Jennifer Juniors coats in the February 27, 1952 Oelwein [Iowa] Daily Register which means they must have been a well established company to be known in a small town (current pop under 7000) 750 miles from their HQ (a lot closer to Chicago)

Not much, but at least it indicates a little research. More is added at the same thread of the Forum by Tom Scully, who quotes from Adamson's website:

......On other fronts, Marie Fehmer was top CIA senior officer while her mother Olga Fehmer had worked with, was friends with Mrs. George de Mohrenschildt and Abraham Zapruder. Marie Fehmer lives in D.C. and is a close friend of Senator Chuck Robb. Former Senator Robb of Virginia meets regularly with CIA Directors and is married LBJ's daughter. This was to my attention by JFK Assassination researcher Vincent Palmara. Vincent was kind enough to share with me the 1989 video of CIA agent Marie Fehmer on the Today Show being interviewed by Jane Pauley.

It is interesting to note that Ben Gold who owned the company Nardis of Dallas sold his home in the 1950s to the Haliburton oil family. This home Jeanne Le Gon-de Mohrenschildt lived with Gold from 1953-54. Olga Fehmer, Jeanne and Abraham Zapruder all worked at Nardis of Dallas at this time.

Scully also adds that "Jeanne Le Gon [De Mohrenschildt] was the talent, its seems she was a favorite of the Nardis owners, the Golds. Zapruder was capable enough, by 1959, to leave Nardis and to start his own successful business." He then pastes into the thread some long quotes from the Warren Commission testimony of Jeanne, wife of Lee Harvey Oswald's "friend," George De Mohrenschildt:

...Mr. JENNER. All right. Now, eventually, you reached Texas. How did that happen?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, my daughter had asthma. She is a very allergic child. And her health was really terrible. In spite of all the care given to her, she just could not stand the New York climate. And our family doctor said the only way to save her--she was getting really sick from antibiotics and penicillin--is to change the climate.
So I was very anxious to change the climate going to California, that was my aim.
But I could not reach California. Mr. Gold, of Nardis Sportswear in New York, wanted to open a suit department. And, of course, the buyers did know me all over the country--the same buyers--recommended to get in touch with me and engage me. And it was pretty good. It was $20,000 a year, plus two trips to Europe, with expenses paid, and about $7,000 to buy the models--you just cannot go in and look at the shows.
So I decided I am going to go and do it. And Texas is better climate wise than New York.
And, believe me, my daughter never had asthma since she left New York. It is a fantastic change.
Mr. JENNER. Now, when did you go to Texas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. I went to Texas in 1953, I believe.
Mr. JENNER. 1953. Did your husband accompany you?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. I came in the summer, and then I had to go immediately to Europe. And he came over in the fall, when my daughter returned from camp. He came over in the fall, and then shipped all the furniture.
In the meanwhile, I stayed with the Golds. They have a very big mansion.
Mr. JENNER. Your husband left Dallas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; he came in the fall of 1953.
Mr. JENNER. He came in the fall from New York City?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And he was there how long did he stay?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. He stayed there until about February of 1954.
Mr. JENNER. And then he did what?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Then he went to California.
Mr. JENNER. Was he working?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. No; he went to visit my brother for holidays. We always tried to go to California instead of going to Miami, to be with my brother. [Jeanne Fomenko LeGon's brother--a Russian named Fomenko--worked in California with Robert Oppenheimer!] And he liked it so much, and we wanted so much to move to California. So we thought if he goes there, maybe he can locate something while I finish my contract. My contract was expiring in the spring of 1954.
Mr. JENNER. Your contract with Nardis?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; then I would go there, also, also in the late spring or early summer--maybe he can locate something in the meanwhile, in California.
And then I was very lucky. It was Mr. Gold's tough luck. But it was good luck for me, because he was indicted for taxes. There was a tremendous scandal. And he had two buildings--he lost one of the buildings. In other words, he could not afford even to go into the suit operation, and go ahead with it. So he was very glad that I asked for release, and he was glad to give it to me. He thought I am going to demand money and everything, because he wants to drop the contract before. And I was very glad. It worked out very nice for me. We remained good friends. And then I went to California.
Mr. JENNER. Did you work in California?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; I worked with Style Garments, a coat and suit firm....

....Mr. JENNER. Now, when did you meet your present husband?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. 1956.
Mr. JENNER. When you came back to Dallas?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. To design a collection. I was working there.
Mr. JENNER. And did his daughter as well as your daughter join you?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. She did, but later on.
Mr. JENNER. When was that?
Mrs. De MOHRENSCHILDT. She joined us in, I think, the spring of 1959.

So, about the Golds' mansion in Dallas...We can learn from the Dallas city directory that its address was in what at that time was far north Dallas, 5811 Desco Drive, to be exact. The address no longer exists, the land around it having been divided up or combined to form palatial estates. 5909 DESCO DR, for example, a residence containing 8,500 square feet, is shown on today's tax rolls as being owned by a trust, has a value of more than $3 million. Nearby, 5914 DESCO Dr., has been owned by Theodore Strauss since 2000. Ted is the brother of the former head of the Democrat National Committee, Robert S. Strauss, and husband of former Dallas Mayor the late Annette Strauss. But 5811 is not listed on these rolls; 5809 Desco contains a house constructed in 2006, and it is adjacent to 5831, which was built in 2003. Thus we discern that Bernard L. Gold's former residence was located somewhere in between these two homes and is no longer extant. We do find, however that it would have been located within the El Parado neighborhood:

Right in the middle of original Preston Hollow is El Parado, a neighborhood of early estate homes. Preston Downs is on the south and Preston Elms is on the north. The southern boundary of El Parado is Park Lane, the eastern boundary is Preston Road, Douglas defines the western boundary and Falls Road is the northern boundary.

Hugh Windsor plotted this land in 1925 with Desco and Watson created as the east-west streets between Preston and Douglas. He then sold the land in large tracts through the 1930s. Gradually, individual acres of land were carved away from the original estates such as Lupshire and the Desco Estate. But these original estate homes still remain on the two acres or more. New homes have been built in the last decade showing a progression of architectural style and taste in this quiet neighborhood of impressive homes. The look and feel of the neighborhood, however, is still rooted in the original Preston Hollow estate homes that remain standing. Wide verandas, sweeping driveways and deep setbacks add to the mystique of these early 20th century mansions. Important families continue to call this neighborhood their home and new families are continually drawn to this delightful neighborhood.

For many years one of the closest neighbors of the Golds was a Dallas attorney named Joe E. Estes whose wife was a published writer of murder mysteries. He was appointed to be Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas before 1961 and had served on an American Bar Association committee with Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark, an old friend of Lyndon Johnson. In addition:

Judge Estes was born in Commerce, Tex., received his pre-law education at East Texas State Teachers College and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1927. While at East Texas State Teachers College he was editor of the college newspaper and an intercollegiate debating champion, and while attending the University of Texas School of Law he was president of the junior law class, a student editor of the Texas Law Review and was selected for membership in Chancellors and The Order of the Coif, legal honor societies. After graduation he entered the general practice of law at Commerce and served there as city attorney. In 1930 he joined a Fort Worth law firm and during the years that followed acquired statewide reputation as an outstanding oil and gas lawyer. In 1945 Judge Estes moved to Dallas, his present home, where he continued in the general practice of law until his appointment as United States District Judge on August 8, 1955. During his six years on the bench Judge Estes has disposed of approximately 2,500 civil cases in addition to handling his criminal docket and keeping it in current status. Only one of his cases has been sent back from the Appellate Courts for retrial. He is married to the former Carroll Virginia Cox of Fort Worth and has two children. Carl Lewis II and Carol Estes Thometz. Judge Estes reside at 5816 Desco Drive in Dallas. [Source: Abilene Reporter-News, Aug. 8, 1961]

Click to enlarge

 Next door to the Golds--from 1941 to 1950--lived Coleman Cooper at 5809, director of the Apollo Boys Choir. often referred to as the "American version of the Vienna Boys choir." Prior to the time Cooper lived in Dallas, he took his boys choir to the Georgia White House in 1935 where President Roosevelt often spent time.

After singing at a concert for a Parent-Teacher convention, attended by the First Lady, she arranged an improptu concert for the choir to sing to the President there in Warm Springs. The event was reported over the news media, leading to celebrity of a sort for the choir, which led to numerous engagements for fees. Six years later Cooper moved to Dallas. By 1952 the choir had been relocated to Palm Beach, Fla.

Dal-Tex Building at 501 Elm in Dallas

It seems that the companies which operated within the Dal-Tex Building were part of the textile industry which was marketed through the Dallas fashion center, which periodically changed its name to reflect a broader area it encompassed.

Ian Griggs posted the following:

The photograph of Day with the plaque behind him is in Matthew Smith's "JFK: The Second Plot" and several other books. The companies listed on the plaque are as follows:

Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
American Book Co.
Gregg Publishing Division
Lyons and Carnahan
McGraw Hill Book Co.
The MacMillan Co.
Scott, Foresman & Co. [employer of Vickie Adams, Girl on the Stairs]
Southwestern Publishing Co.

I think those are the only book and publishing companies which rente premises in the building. Employees from thoswe lodger companies did not all appear on the infamous list of absentees. For example, Warren Caster was the Regional Manager of Southwestern Publishing Company but his name was not on the list despite him being away in Denton all day. They didn't seem to bother about all the employees of the above companies.

 If you get around to the Dal-Tex Building, the following companies had premises inside the building:

M & B Manufacturing Co, Inc.
Eddie Mister, Inc.
Adaptables, Unc.
Marilyn Belt Manufacturing
Dallas Uranium & Oil (aka DUO)
Edward Barry Inc.
Miller Cupaioli, Inc.
Stanlea of Dallas
McKells Sportswear, Inc.
Edwill Fashions
Cupaioli/Leeds Ltd.
Jennifer Juniors, Inc.

Hope this helps.
IAN

We have already identified some of the above companies in previous blog posts. Jennifer Juniors, Inc. was Abraham Zapruder's company, and Morty Freedman operated M & B, Marilyn Belt, and Mr. Eddie's. We can learn more about the other companies, listed in boldface above, in various news media in the 1950's. Mildred Whiteacre, fashion editor for San Antonio's  Express and News boasted in a March 1955 item:

Whoops! I'm headed Northeast again—this time to Dallas and three style-packed days as guest ot the Dallas Fashion Center. More than 30 newspaper fashion editors will be on hand for a preview of the summer collections of 23 Dallas clothing and accessory manufacturers, all members of the Fashion Center. Texas is gaining more and more prominence in the ready-to-wear manufacturing picture each season, and fashion editors on hand for this current showing will represent cities throughout the country....

A preview of three Dallas manufactured ensembles to be presented during the Dallas Fashion Center's press week beginning Monday. Left, a subtly curved, soft suit of cotton and silk with printed silk collar and cuffs by Miller-Cupaioli.

M.C. Feldman was said to be president, and Clyda Johnson the director, of the Dallas Fashion Center.

Another news article (press release?) datelined Dallas 1958 that appeared in the Tucson Daily Citizen:

Boxy blouson jackets, ribbon trim and decorative use of white buttons marked the summer collection of Miller-Cupaioli Inc. and Edward Barry, Inc. This company, which manufactures under two labels—the Miller Cupaioli and Edward Barry, Inc., specializes, in high fashion silk ensembles—with emphasis on fabrics. They are the largest users of Italian silks in America.

When we search the phrase "Dallas Fashion Center," one of the hits discusses research of both Russ Baker (Family of Secrets) and Bruce Adamson in his self-published manuscripts about George de Mohrenschildt's many relationships. Adamson, who is not a writer, did a phenomenal amount of research. Unfortunately for him, research is not something that is subject to copyright laws; only the published words writing up that research can by protected under the federal law. Baker did give Adamson credit for discovering some priceless information and paid him for Adamson's self-published "books," but for some reason Adamson still felt miffed, as we detect here:

Bruce Adamson

Many people have watch [sic] author Russ Baker being interviewed on TV and Radio about his book Family Secrets. People who have studied the JFK assassination have said to me that he has stolen my work. Without making a judgment I can only point out that Russ Baker purchased my 14 volumes and made a threat he was going to use the material that I spent 19 years working on with or without my help.

One needs to only look at my radio shows since 1992 and my books to see that Baker has used in four of his chapters are identical material. Yet, different words. One can not copyright facts. If you have to read Family Secret's [sic] I recommend checking it out of the library.

As any literate person can see from this example, reading Adamson's work is nerve shattering for anyone with even a smattering of grammar and syntax, not to mention the ability to spell. Later in his diatribe, he writes: 

Baker p. 78-79; In 1953 Jeanne and Robert LeGon moved to Dallas. Her first job there was as a designer with Nardis Sportswear, which was owned by Bernard L. "Benny" Gold a tough-talking Russian-born Jew who had started out as Brooklyn cabdriver and ended up as a titan of the Dallas fashion scene. The store shipped goods out on planes via Slick Airways, owned by the oilman and renowned explorer Tom Slick, a Dresser Industries board member and good friend of Prescott Bush. Benny Gold knew everyone he was president of the Dallas Fashion Center and the huge parties. When Jeanne first arrived in town, Benny Gold put her up in his mansion. Gold joined all the anti-Communist groups as well as Neil Mallon's Dallas Council of World Affairs. He employed... Jeanne designed clothing, her coworker Abraham Zapruder cut the patterns and material. A decade later Zapruder, by then the owner of his own company would become world famous for his breathtaking home-movie footage of the Kennedy Assassination. Adamson vol. 1 p. 77-78. Adamson's discovery on Bernard Gold was published in the Dallas Morning News twice he ran ad to locate 4 people to confirm at a cost of $1,000 dollars for a month. [my emphasis added]

Russ Baker had contacted me some weeks before he even heard of Bruce Adamson. I know because I was the one who told him about the research Adamson had done, apologizing profusely for Adamson's inability to convey his ideas articulately. Baker looked at the information and together we verified everything before it was used in the book. He insisted on purchasing the work because he found it valuable, and he offered to work with Adamson further, but was refused. Yet Adamson still complains--whines--because he doesn't like the fact that he can't write. It's like a gold miner wanting credit for a gold ring a jeweler creates.

Adamson is his own worst enemy. The information, as I say, is priceless, but if he was willing to pay $1,000 a month to run an ad, he should have forked over an equal amount to pay someone to write the data up into a well-worded narrative about what happened.

For anyone who wants to know about George Bush's possible links to the Kennedy assassination, I highly recommend Baker's book, whose limited subject was about George W. Bush and how he was molded into the man he was by his father. This is not an assassination book per se, however. For anyone who considers himself/herself to be a researcher who can wade through redundant facts stated in a way that makes you want to cringe, I also recommend Adamson's work as a resource for further research, even though many of the conclusions he drew from the facts were somewhat laughable. I cannot praise his research skills enough!

The facts and data that researchers find, by whatever means and expense it takes to get there, are the truth. Truth cannot be copyrighted. Anyone can tell a story that is true in his own words without violating anyone's copyright. When Adamson published his research by furnishing copies of it and selling the copies, he more or less provided the work to anyone else to use without additional payment for the research. All he has left are sour grapes, but that's the law.

But that's enough carping. Onward and upward!

Further investigation into the history of the Dallas Fashion Center reveals in a 1965 Marketing masters thesis written by Edward Kay Fisher, that the Center began in 1942:

The Dallas market realized its potentialities in June, 1942, when the Dallas Fashion & Sportswear Center (later the Dallas Fashion Center, and eventually Texas Fashion Creators), was bom. Later, during the war years, traveling was difficult and the Office of War Transportation issued a directive canceling all conventions and trade shows....A growing problem in 1946 was the shortage of hotel rooms for buyers wishing to attend the market, A housing committee was established to assist in finding rooms in private residences where buyers could stay during Market Week, After the war, business was booming as more goods became available and the association grew rapidly.

The Dallas Fashion Center discussed in the above thesis was referred to as one "marketing group" utilized by textile manufacturers. In March of 1951 readers of the Ogden Standard-Examiner were told: "This week's style shows, designed to place the Lone Star state firmly on the world's fashion map, are sponsored by the Dallas Fashion Center, an organization of some 40 of the city's 80 apparel manufacturers, who do a total business of $150 million a year." Dallas directories show the center to have been located in the Chamber of Commerce building in Dallas at 1101 E. Commerce St.

Texas Fashion Creators began to evolve in 1961 out of the Dallas Fashion Manufacturers Association, already rated second to New York in the number of manufacturers of clothing in the United States. The Texas State Historical Association handbook tells us:

During the 1930s such Dallas companies as Nardis, Donovan, Marcy Lee and Justin McCarty capitalized on the marketability of the low-cost cotton house dress and produced new distinctive lines of sportswear, especially ladies' slacks, for national consumption. Texas had 73 clothing factories in 1917, 102 in 1929, and 103 in 1933. The receipt of federal contracts to manufacture large quantities of military uniforms during World War II enabled Texas firms to modernize plant machinery and expand national sales contacts. In 1942 manufacturers formed the Dallas Fashion and Sportswear Center, now the Southwest Apparel Manufacturers Association. This aggressive trade organization used advertisements in national fashion magazines, sponsored elaborate style shows, expanded the size and number of apparel markets held in Dallas, and published its own magazine, Dallas Fashion and Sportswear (later Texas Fashions) from 1942 to 1972....A catalyst to the continued growth of the Texas industry was the opening of the $15 million Apparel Mart building in Dallas in 1964. By 1984 it was the nation's largest wholesale fashion market under one roof, having 2.3 million square feet of space in seven stories with 2,000 separate showrooms. The Apparel Mart attracted approximately 80,000 buyers annually.

Time Magazine also did a close-up in 1950 on the man it called Benny Gold:

Tough-talking Benny Gold often sounds like a New York cab driver, and used to be one. Born in Russia, he started a taxicab company in Brooklyn soon after World War I, went broke when he tried to buck the cab drivers during a taxi strike in 1938. Confesses Benny: "They run me out."

Corduroy Man. Benny ran all the way to Texas, where his brother Irving was part owner of Nardis, a near-bankrupt dress firm which he wanted Benny to pull out of the red. To the horror of other Dallas garment-makers, who are still only 20% unionized, Benny called on the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union for help. I.L.G.W.U. engineers taught him an assembly-line method of making dresses. Benny not only signed a union contract but became the first Dallas manufacturer to employ Negroes....

As president of the Dallas Fashion Center, formed three years ago by 40 of the biggest manufacturers, he whooped it up with a welcoming party at Pappy's Showland nightclub, got up early to greet buyers at his own shop.

Texans in the late 1940's must have really freaked out when Gold brought in the union, which David Dubinsky led, and hired blacks to work alongside white workers.

Irving Gold in 1939 was involved in incorporating the Texas Novelty Jewelry Co., Inc., Dallas; manufacturing; capital stock. $10,000. Incorporators: Irving Gold, Fred Levy, and Martin Rosenbaum. Fred Levy was listed in a Dallas 1944-46 directory at the address 912 Commerce St., and Martin Rosenbaum (novelties) at 906 Commerce. There was no listing under the manufacturers agents for Irving Gold, but the name of Irving and Celia Gold did show up in a regular listing as a venetian blind maker at 216 N. Marsalis in Oak Cliff, while Fred S. Levy and his wife Hermine lived at 6113 Vincient (possibly Vincent Ave).