Why did LIFE MAGAZINE first publish frames from the Zapruder film in black and white…then in later issues switch to color…which it was originally filmed in?

What was the chain of custody of the film?

Upon returning to his office. Abraham Zapruder encountered “Dallas Morning News” reporter, Harry McCormick. McCormick then contacted Secret Service Agent, Forrest Sorrels.

The three brought the film to local tv station WFAA, where Zapruder went on air to describe what he saw.

At the same time Eastman Kodak's Dallas film processing facility developed the film, and Jamieson Film Company produced 3 copies

…THEN…
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Zapruder gave two of the copies to Secret Service Agent Sorrels. Those two copies were sent to Washington.

So right after the assassination we now have 4 Zapruder Film copies…
The original plus 3 copies.

Zapruder sold his film and copy to LIFE MAGAZINE. We already discussed what they did with it. They published frames from the film in black and white. Other issues had the color.

WARREN COMMISSION

The Zapruder film frames that were used by the Warren Commission were published in black and white.

☝️Commission Exhibit 885 in volume XVIII of the Hearings and Exhibits).

☝️☝️Why not in color? The Zapruder film was filmed in color after all.

What about the SECRET SERVICE Zapruder film copies? Remember…the Secret Service had 2 copies.

One of the first-generation Secret Service copies was loaned to the FBI in Washington, D.C.
The FBI also made a copy of the film.

The WARREN COMMISSION studied a copy of that copy…in January 1964.

The WARREN COMMISSION judged that the quality of that film (copy of a copy) to be inadequate…so they requested the original film.

Who had the original ZAPRUDER film at this point???

LIFE MAGAZINE!!

LIFE brought the original Zapruder film to Washington in Feb, 1964 for the Commission's viewing.

LIFE also made color 35mm slide enlargements from the relevant frames of the original film for the FBI.

Relevant?? Who decides what is relevant? I say it’s all relevant.

Why did LIFE make slides for the FBI? Were they asked to?
Or was this a CYA maneuver?

Then…it gets more twisted.

The FBI took those COLORED slides of the Zapruder film, that it received from LIFE MAGAZINE…and made a series of BLACK AND WHITE prints…which were then given to the WARREN COMMISSION for its use.

Does this sound like some kind of shell game…bait and switch con job??

Then we have evidence of splicing, frame removal, and frame duplications…

In October 1964, the U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE released 26 volumes of testimony and evidence from the Warren Commission.

Volume 18 had 158 frames from the Zapruder film. It was in BLACK AND WHITE.
Frames 208–211 were missing, Frames 207 & 212 were spliced. Frames 314 and 315 were switched around.
Frame 284 was a repeat of Frame 283.

Keep asking yourself why frames are missing, reversed, and spliced.

Also keep asking yourself why the film kept switching between black and white…and color….and visa versa.

How did they explain this?

FBI Director, J Edgar Hoover, wrote in 1965 that frames 314 and 315 had been swapped due to a printing error…and that the error did not exist in the original Warren Commission exhibits.

In early 1967, Life released a statement saying that four frames from the original (frames 208–211) were accidentally destroyed, and that the adjacent frames were damaged by a Life photo lab technician on November 23, 1963. That would be the day after the assassination.

Why didn’t they make a statement when it happened? They waited over 3 years to speak up??

Something is not right.

LIFE released those missing frames from the first-generation copy it had received from the film's original version.

Remember this was a copy!

Frames 155–157 and
Frame 341, were also damaged.

They were spliced out of the original rendition of the film…but are present in the copies.

What about New Orleans District Attorney, Jim Garrison’s trial against Clay Shaw in 1969? (Think of the movie JFK).
What film did he use?

Garrison subpoened the original film…but was denied.

A copy of the film…made several generations from the original (a copy of a copy of the original)…was subpoenaed and granted from Time Inc.

The courtroom showing of GARRISON’s copy in 1969 was the first time the Zapruder film had been shown in public as a film.

Garrison allowed copies of the film to be made…and these low quality copies began circulating among assassination researchers.