Mr. HUBERT. Who would come in and take pictures?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, there was this magazine that came in to make some
shots, but they required--that was for the magazine article did on the
Carousel Club, which, anybody that appeared in the picture that was a
customer signed a release on that picture, or if they did not sign a
release on the picture, it couldn’t be used.
Mr. HUBERT. When did that take place?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. That took place sometime between the last of October
and the first of November. Larry was there--he came there the last of
October--it must have been the first of November.
Mr. HUBERT. Must have been around the first of November--did he stay
just 1 night?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, no; 1 week.
Mr. HUBERT. What was the man’s name, do you know?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Offhand, I can’t recall his name.
Mr. HUBERT. Was his name Rocco?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Rocco; that’s right.
Mr. HUBERT. And he took a series of pictures?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He took a series of pictures.
Mr. HUBERT. He stayed about a week and then left?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. But other than that, there were no pictures taken?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, no other pictures.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know a man by the name of Jimmy Rhodes?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Who was he?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. He’s a photographer.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he come around?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he take pictures?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Of the girls--usually at his studio. If he made
any at the club, it was not during business. It was all right for
anybody--there was lots of pictures made, you know, like during the
day, if the girls wanted to come up and pose for the photographers and
things like that, that was okay, but when I said no other pictures were
made in the club, I was speaking of during business.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, there was no commercial photographer there
who would take the pictures of the patrons and sell them to them; is
that right?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. But anybody could take pictures if they wanted to?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, if they come in after I get there in the daytime
and tell me they would be there to make pictures.
Mr. HUBERT. I mean, during the shows?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, no; anybody couldn’t take pictures, if we saw anyone
with a camera we would take it away from them--they had to check them.
Mr. HUBERT. In other words, it was prohibited to take pictures?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. They was prohibited from taking pictures.
Mr. HUBERT. And nobody you knew of could take pictures except Jimmy
Rhodes and Rocco and of course you, with your Polaroid?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right, but Jimmy Rhodes could not take pictures during
business. In other words, when we had customers in the house and there
was a show going on, no one could take any pictures but Rocco is the
only one I know that made pictures, besides myself, when there was a
show going on and we had customers in the club. I’m speaking of before
this assassination.
Mr. HUBERT. Yes. Did you know Officer Tippit, the man that was shot by
Oswald?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, sir.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know whether Jack Ruby knew him?
Mr Armstrong. He said that he knew Officer Tippit, but from what I
gather later on--Mrs. Grant told me it was a different Officer Tippit
that he knew. In other words, there was two officers that had the name
of Tippit, from what I gather, and Jack said when the news was coming
over the radio about the policeman being shot, that it was Officer
Tippit; Jack jumped straight up and said, “I know him--I know him.”
Just like that.
Mr. HUBERT. What was his reaction to the shooting of Tippit?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he said--he was in a sort of--he said, “Isn’t it a
shame?” You know.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he seem to be as disturbed about the shooting of Tippit
as he was about the shooting of the President?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, he was already disturbed and he didn’t show to be
any more disturbed over that than he already were.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you know about a girl named Gloria?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. There was a girl named Gloria that worked up there--I
can’t recall how she looked, but I remember the name Gloria.
Mr. HUBERT. How do you remember her?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. By the name.
Mr. HUBERT. What was she doing in the club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. She was a waitress--I don’t know whether she did any
dancing or not on the amateurs, but I know that there was a girl by the
name of Gloria.
Mr. HUBERT. Was she with Ruby, did she date him, or what?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Not that I know of--it wasn’t one of the girls that I
hired, so he must have brought her in.
Mr. HUBERT. How long did she stay there?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Not long.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, how many days?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I couldn’t say--a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a month--I
don’t know. It couldn’t have been over a month though, because the
girls that stayed there usually stayed there a month or 2 months--I
usually remember them quite well.
Mr. HUBERT. Wasn’t there some girl that was going with Jack during the
last 2 or 3 days before the President was shot?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, not that I know of.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you remember a girl by the name of Joyce Lee McDonald?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What do you know about her?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. She is a stripper. Her name is--her stage name is Joy
Dale.
Mr. HUBERT. Was she at the club?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. She was at the club.
Mr. HUBERT. During what period?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Oh, during the period of--I would say 2 months before
the assassination through the end of the year. She left about the third
week in January, I would say, approximately 3 weeks she worked during
1964.
Mr. HUBERT. She was a stripper, was she?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. She was a stripper.
Mr. HUBERT. You have heard that Jack was supposed to have been in the B
& B Cafe with some girl either before the President was shot, the night
before or the night after, haven’t you?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, I heard that.
Mr. HUBERT. As a matter of fact, I think you were asked about that by
the FBI?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know--I don’t know whether I was or not.
Somebody asked me about it--yes, I’m pretty sure it must have been the
FBI.
Mr. HUBERT. Didn’t you identify the girl as being Joyce McDonald?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No, I don’t recall--no, I wouldn’t have--I wouldn’t have
identified the girl as being Joyce McDonald, because I wouldn’t have
had any way of knowing who it was unless they described her to me, and
as I said, it could have been Joyce.
Mr. HUBERT. You remember a girl who worked about 5 or 6 nights at the
Carousel Club and whom Ruby had taken home after closing hours on each
of the nights she worked?
This was a girl that you tried to locate after Oswald was shot to help
you run the club?
Do you remember looking for such a girl?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Oh, that was the lady--oh--I don’t recall her name
now--“Duckie” or something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. Tell us about that lady, in any case?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Well, all I know is that Jack had told me she had some
knowledge of club running and that she was very smart and sharp and
when I had went to see him, he had suggested that if I--he said----
Mr. HUBERT. You mean when you went to see him in jail?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes, he said, “I don’t want to be involved with the club
any more, but if you want to do it, you can contact this lady.” He give
me her name--it was “Duckie” or something like that, to come down and
give you a hand, because she knows something about operating a club and
you can talk to Ralph about it.
Mr. HUBERT. And you tried to find that girl?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I tried to contact her and I didn’t have any luck and I
told Ralph about it and he said “forget it.”
Mr. HUBERT. Now, that girl you remember as being the girl who had been
around the club four or five or six times; isn’t that correct?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Right.
Mr. HUBERT. And that Jack used to take home at night?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. I don’t mean to his house, but he did--he left with her, at
any rate?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. I don’t know whether he left with her or not because I
leave before he does.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, do you remember making the statement to the FBI to
the effect you knew of one girl there that worked for 5 or 6 nights,
it was the same girl you looked for later, and that Ruby had taken her
home after closing hours on each of the nights she had worked there?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. You say you went to see Jack in the jail?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. How many times did you go to see him?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Oh, five or six, maybe seven times.
Mr. HUBERT. Were you alone with him all the time?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No; there was always a policeman standing there. A guard.
Mr. HUBERT. Did he talk about his difficulties?
Mr. ARMSTRONG. No.
Mr. HUBERT. What did he talk about?