Role Playing

[David Andrews]

On 10/13/2022 at 1:12 PM, Lawrence Schnapf said:

I would not be surprised if LHO heard there was going to be a "demonstration" during the motorcade by exiles to  protest Cuban policy and that he could have been involved with the "protest" but then it turned out to be an assassination to his surprise.- FWIW 

...A demonstration by a man with an umbrella and a "Cuban" pumping his fist?

A minimal cast gathered by the Stemmons sign to keep the patsy relaxed, should he look down the street?

What they call today "crisis actors," told by radio how demonstrative to act?

Plan B: Umbrella Man, approached by cops, claims he's FPCC?

Edited October 16, 2022 by David Andrews

[David Lifton]

On 10/13/2022 at 7:40 AM, Pete Mellor said:

Ruth Paine was asked by the WC if she thought that LHO was a Soviet agent or a U.S. agent.

This testimony appears in WC Vol 2 pgs 510-512 with no mention of 'role playing'.

She also appears in Vols III, IX and XI, which will take some time to check. 

Somewhere in Ruth Paine's testimony (i.e., in one of her several appearances, since she testified more than once) she used the term "role player" (or possibly "role playing"; but I think it was the former).  As I recall, it was just a very brief one-time mention, and it is easily missed.   Please email me, if/when you locate it.   Please send your finding(s) to me at "dlifton @ gmail.com".  Thanks. DSL (10/17/22 - 2:30 PM PDT; 11 PM PDT)

Edited October 18, 2022 by David Lifton

[Joseph McBride]

A quick check shows that in her March 20, 1964, WC testimony, Ruth Paine

is questioned about Lee's "role" as husband. She

says she didn't use that expression but wasn't

sure what she had said in the conversation

being discussed.

[David Lifton]

8 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

A quick check shows that in her March 20, 1964, WC testimony, Ruth Paine

is questioned about Lee's "role" as husband. She

says she didn't use that expression but wasn't

sure what she had said in the conversation

being discussed.

Prefatory remark (added today, 10/17/22, 11:50 PM PDT:

Hi Joe,

IMHO, you cannot go to the present statements made by Ruth Paine about what she presently recollects about what she testified to  — under oath —to the Warren Commission over 50 years ago; and then rely on that (what the law calls her “present recollection”) as a valid indicator of what she actually testified to at that time. Unfortunately, one must return to the actual original transcript record.  

** ** ** **

I hope some member of this forum can find (or locate) just where it was --during one of her several appearances before the  Warren Commission --that Ruth Paine opined (almost as an aside) that Oswald either was a role player, or (she said) engaged in role playing.  Also, I'm wondering -- again assuming my memory is correct -- whether what I vividly recollect occurred not during one of her Warren Commission testimonies (Spring 1964), but whether it was during her (televised) appearance as a witness in that British documentary which was shown on SHOWTIME.  That show was produced by London Weekly Television (LWT) and the the producer was Mark Redhead.  As you may recall:  Bugliosi was prosecutor, and the defense attorney was Gerry Spence..

In any event, the search for the location of this simple two-word phrase --role player --and the difficulty in locating it in the published record provides a good example of why researching the JFK assassination has proven to be so difficult.  Just restricting oneself to the Warren Commission's 26 volumes, that represents a huge amount of available data.  Until personal computers (and search engines) became available, one could spend hours reading (and studying) the testimony, making notes, looking again at the testimony; doubling back and wondering "Now where the heck did I see that?" etc.

I remember Maggie Fields, one of the first-generation researchers who was very well off and lived in a lovely section of Beverly Hills, spending hours and hours and hours preparing "exhibit boards" (she had a more sophisticated term for them, "panoplies") -- each devoted to a separate facet of the case.  For example, one might be focused on the conflicting reports about the rifle recovered from the sixth floor of the TSBD.  She would tabulate reports that said the "found" rifle was "40" in length; others that said it was 36" long.  Maggie's exhibit would include clear photocopies of each exhibit, placed adjacent to one another.   In her Beverly Hills home, she had purchased two sets of the 26 volumes --one called the "upstairs" set; another, the "downstairs" set. Like many of us, she couldn't stop thinking about the case, and didn't want to waste time running up and down the stairs.

Now back to my concern, in this post: I know -- almost without question --that I read somewhere in Ruth Paine's testimony (I believe) -- that she (Ruth) referred to LHO as a role-player. As I recall, it was stated in passing.  Almost as an "aside."  I promise anyone who can come up with that quote (along with a proper citation)  an acknowledgment in FINAL CHARADE, and a good bag of chocolate chip cookies (or a reasonably priced bottle of wine).  

I'm sure that the truth --in this particular matter --is "out there"; I did not imagine reading it. So my sincere thanks, in advance, to whomever it is that can find it. (DSL, 10/17/22_ 5:10 PM, updated 11PM PDT)

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by David Lifton
Improve clarity.

[David Lifton]

3 hours ago, Miles Massicotte said:

Perhaps this is the passage:

To Miles:  Sorry to disappoint, but no, that is not the passage to which I was referring. I believe you're searching on the word "role."  That's completely different than the two-word expression, "role player."  DSL

[David Lifton]

No text. Sorry.  DSL

Edited October 18, 2022 by David Lifton