Zapruder Film Chronology -

The Zapruder Film Chronology – Not a Provenance that would be in more detail.

Nov. 22, 1963 12:30 PM CST – Abraham Zapruder films assassination; returns to his office.

11/22/63 – 2:00 PM CST – Secret Service agent Forest Sorrels meets Zapruder and requests copies.

11/22/63 – Before 9 PM CST – Dallas police arrive at Zapruder’s office with shotguns. Zapruder refuses to give film to police; insists on government representative.

11/22/63 – Before 9 PM CST – Zapruder and Sorrels take in camera film to Kodak-Dallas, develop film, and it is given Kodak perforation ID #0183. Kodak made arrangement with Jamison Film Company in Dallas to make three reversal duplicates using Kodachrome II camera stock furnished by Kodak’s Richard Blair. The three copies made from #0183 were numbered #0185, #0186, #0187. What happened to #0184? Was that the copy that went to H. L. Hunt?

11/22/63 – 10 PM – Zapruder and Swartz deliver one copy of the film to Secret Service office in Dallas, with understanding that it was to be sent immediately to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., by courier jet plane.

11/22/63 – Evening – H.L. Hunt purchases “first copy” of film through his security guard, Paul Rothermel, Jr.

11/22/63 – Midnight – Richard B. Stolley of Life magazine contacts Zapruder; asks to meet to view film; Zapruder agrees to meet at 9 a.m. Saturday.November 23, 1963 – One copy of film obtained by Secret Service inspector Thomas Kelley from Sorrels. Kelley then loaned it to the FBI on November 27. It was returned to SS office in Dallas on December 4, 1963, where it was retained.

11/23/63 – 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. - Stolley meets with Zapruder one hour early to view film, along with SS agents.  Stolley negotiates to purchase print rights to the film for $50,000. Zapruder turns “original” over to Stolley for Life magazine. (Richard Stolley takes Zapruder’s original and a copy when he left Zapruder’s office at 10 a.m.

11/23/63 – Saturday Midnight-Sunday early morning – NPIC director Art Lundal has Dino Brugioni use the Z-film to make enlargements of specific frames for use on two sets of briefing boards that when finished were turned over to Art Lundal. (See: Brugioni and First sets of Briefing Boards.)

November 24-25 Sunday night through Monday morning – 8 p.m – until morning – after normal hours – NPIC HQ at US Navy Yard, Anacosta, Washingtion D.C. SS Agent “Bill Smith” brings film from “Hawkeye Works” to NPIC where Captain Sands orders Homer McMahon, Ben Hunter and others worked on it all night identifying specific frames and enlarging them for a second set of printing boards. It is not known who would use these boards or who they would brief.

November 24, 1963 – “Original” film sent by courier to Life’s Chicago office where it is studied on a Moviola projector. Ten black-and-white prints made.

11/24/63 – 9:00 a.m. – Duplicate copy was sent to New York where it was shown to Time-Life executives including C.D. Jackson, Life’s publisher (ex-CIA, friend of Allen Dulles and contact with CIA). Jackson was “so upset” by head wound sequence that he proposed all rights be purchased from Zapruder and withheld from public viewing. (Life then purchases all rights for $150,000).

November 29, 1963 – Life publishes issue showing selected frames from Zapruder film. Not shown were any of the frames in the segments under question: (frames 302, 303, 315, 316, 317).

September, 1964 – Warren Commission publishes its report, showing all frames from 171 – 334 in poor quality.

October 2, 1964 – Life publishes issue showing fatal head shot.

Thanks to Noel Twyman, Martin Shackelford and Richard Bartholomew.

NOTE: Bruce Jamison told (Noel Twyman) that the three copies were made using the contact printing process, and that all of the information from the original would be exactly duplicated on the copies, including edge images and film stock symbols. Unless unique optical and film editing techniques were used, the only way in which the original would differ from the copies would be in the film stock I.D. printing on the film edge; the copies would almost certainly have two sets of I.D. printing – the original printings and printings of the camera stock used to make the reversal duplicates….

Zapruder’s partner Erwin Swartz….said he personally delivered the original to Stolley at the Adolophis Hotel in Dallas on November 26 -27, indicating Stolley may have only been given a copy on 11/23/63.

MORE TO COME -