Mrs. Paine Returns - to the Scene of the Crime

Sixth Floor Museum – Dallas – Four Days In November Program Series

https://www.jfk.org/the-museum/public-programs/

[ BK NOTES: Sixth Floor curator Stephen Fagin, who has done an Oral History interview with Dr. Wecht, should use the opportunity to question Ruth Paine on camera when she appears there for this program. I intend to submit some questions for Ruth Paine that no one has yet asked her. While some consider her evil, others think her sincere, I think she has just not been asked the right questions. ] 

This program is part of a special four-day series commemorating the anniversary of the assassination.

Purchase a series ticket at a special value of $56. Series ticket includes all four programs and admission to the permanent exhibit John F. Kennedy and the Memory of a Nation on Friday, November 22.

The Last Days of Lee Harvey Oswald: A Conversation with Ruth Paine | Tuesday, November 19

Toward a Psychological Understanding of Lee Oswald, Assassin | Wednesday, November 20

Three Hours in Dallas: Film Premiere with Live Musical Score | Thursday, November 21

56th Anniversary Program: Living History with Bill Mercer | Friday, November 22

The Last Days of Lee Harvey Oswald: A Conversation with Ruth Paine

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 | Reception 6 p.m. | Program 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20 and include a wine reception

Thrust overnight into the center of an international tragedy, Ruth Paine still ponders a different outcome if she’d known Lee Harvey Oswald had stashed a rifle in her garage. For the first time ever, Ruth will share her story at the Museum, joining Curator Stephen Fagin in conversation as she reflects on her friendship with Marina Oswald and how the legacy of the Kennedy assassination continues to impact her life.

About Ruth Paine

A housewife living in Irving, Texas, Ruth Paine met Lee and Marina Oswald at a party in February 1963. Seven months later, when the Oswald marriage began to falter, Marina and her children moved into Ruth’s home. As a Quaker, Paine was opposed to weapons, and it wasn’t until the afternoon of November 22, 1963 that she learned Oswald had hidden his rifle in her garage.

Paine’s friendship with Marina and her proximity to Lee has placed her at the heart of this historic event; the aftermath of the events of 1963 still affect her today. In 2009, the City of Irving purchased her former home and restored it to its 1963 appearance, where it is now open to the public as a historic museum.

Toward a Psychological Understanding of Lee Oswald, Assassin

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 | Reception 6 p.m. | Program 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20 and include a wine reception

While many over the years have pondered Oswald’s motive, clinical psychologist Dr. Gene Riddle took a different tack – analyzing how Oswald became a person capable of assassinating a president. Over the course of six years, Dr. Riddle conducted an in-depth study of Lee Harvey Oswald as part of a book-length project for the Professional School of Psychology in Sacramento.

Join us as he shares the results and insights gleaned from his study, which examines the depth and breadth of Oswald’s psychological makeup and life experiences that led to November 22, 1963.

A short musical introduction will highlight a five-minute excerpt of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin accompanied by selected Kennedy images. Dr. Riddle’s lecture will be followed by a Q&A led by Museum Curator Stephen Fagin.

Dr. Gene Riddle was in the fall term of his senior year at a county high school just outside Washington D.C. at the time of the deaths of John Kennedy, J. D. Tippit, and Lee Harvey Oswald. A licensed clinical psychologist in California, with a 1997 PhD from the San Francisco campus of the Professional School of Psychology, Riddle became fascinated with the psyche of Lee Harvey Oswald and spent more than six years compiling a professional book-length study of him.Prior to entering the mental health profession, Dr. Riddle attained BA and MA degrees in Political Science and taught undergraduate political science courses at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Three Hours in Dallas: Film Premiere with Live Musical Score

Thursday, November 21, 2019 | Reception 6 p.m. | Program 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20 and include a wine reception

Join us for the world premiere of “Three Hours in Dallas,” an original musical composition scored to accompany an all-new compilation of historic motorcade film footage. Written by award-winning composer Jesus Martinez and performed by a percussion ensemble from Arlington’s Sam Houston High School, this unique immersive experience exemplifies President Kennedy’s affinity for the arts.

Linking the arts to the historic events of November 22, 1963, this cross-generational project spans 56 years.

The composer was born in 1987, and the performers were born in the early 2000s. The film score is meant to link sound effects and synchronized sound to specific scenes that will captivate the audience and create the sensation of personally witnessing the events of November 22, 1963. As President Kennedy himself said, “We must never forget…that art is not a form of propaganda…it is a form of truth.”

About Jesus Martinez

With a master’s degree in Music Composition from Southern Methodist University and a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from University of Texas at Arlington, Jesus Martinez has served as Composer-in-Residence for both the Alabama Orchestra Association and the Irving Symphony Orchestra. While at SMU, he studied primarily with composer Dr. Robert Frank and developed a special interest in film scoring and new music ensembles.

Martinez was commissioned to score the film “Mystery of Birds,” which premiered in Houston in 2011 and was selected to screen at the Los Angeles Black Film Festival. In 2012, the film won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Film by an African Living Abroad. Also in 2011, Martinez presented his 34-minute world premiere of “Threnody for 9/11 for Mixed Chamber Ensemble,” which received accolades in Texas print and broadcast media and a resolution in his name issued by the Texas State Legislature. Martinez scored the 2013 film “Take the Spotlight,” which premiered at four film festivals in Texas, Arkansas and Georgia, winning awards for best film and best director.

Most recently, Martinez composed “The Sixth Floor,” which premiered at the 30th anniversary of The Sixth Floor Museum on February 18, 2019.

56th Anniversary Program: Living History with Bill Mercer

Friday, November 22, 2019 | 11:30 a.m.

Free program | Reservations required

Reporting live from police headquarters, KRLD broadcaster Bill Mercer was the first to inform Lee Harvey Oswald he had been charged with the murder of President Kennedy. A member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and co-author of “When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963,” Mercer will interact with classrooms around the world and a live Museum audience on the anniversary of the assassination. Join us for this free Distance Learning Spotlight Session, followed by a moment of silence to recognize the 56th anniversary of the assassination at 12:30 p.m.

This Living History conversation, moderated by Museum Curator Stephen Fagin, will be enhanced with images and video footage from the Museum collections.

About Bill Mercer

An award-winning broadcast journalist, Bill Mercer is a Dallas Press Club Living Legend and a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. As a broadcaster with CBS affiliate KRLD Radio and Television in Dallas in 1963, Mercer covered the breaking news of the Kennedy assassination, reporting live from Dallas police headquarters. At a midnight press briefing on November 22, 1963, Mercer was the one to initially inform suspect Lee Harvey Oswald that he had been formally charged with the murder of President Kennedy.

Mercer is co-author of the memoir When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963. As part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Mercer taught a semester-long course on the Kennedy assassination at Duke University.

Well-known as a sportscaster and play-by-play announcer, Mercer was the voice of the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, the University of North Texas, Southwest Conference and Chicago White Sox. An internationally popular wrestling announcer, Mercer spent more than 35 years as a broadcast journalism professor at the University of North Texas.