Photographer to speak at JFK exhibit

North Little Rock native and former UPI photographer Willie Allen will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Saturday as part of the “JFK: 50 Years Later” photo exhibit in North Little Rock. Allen will share stories of his coverage of President John F. Kennedy in Fort Worth on the morning of the president’s assassination in Dallas in 1963.
North Little Rock native and former UPI photographer Willie Allen will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Saturday as part of the “JFK: 50 Years Later” photo exhibit in North Little Rock. Allen will share stories of his coverage of President John F. Kennedy in Fort Worth on the morning of the president’s assassination in Dallas in 1963.

Photographer Willie Allen left the Arkansas Gazette in 1960 to join United Press International.

He’d been taking pictures for about three years; the former sports writer hadn’t used a camera until a fellow Gazette employee showed him how to use a Speed Graphic. UPI put him to work in Austin, Texas, then moved him to Dallas in 1962.

Allen, using his Leica M 35mm camera, photographed President John F. Kennedy‘s spur-of-the moment speech outside the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of Nov. 22, 1963. He followed Kennedy inside the hotel to take more pictures.

“Back in those days, I could get within six feet of him,” Allen says. “Now, you couldn’t get within 500 yards of the president.”

A few hours after those pictures were taken, the president was dead, shot while riding in a convertible with his wife, Jacqueline, near the Texas School Book Depository.

Allen, now in his 70s, will share memories of photographing Kennedy at 6 p.m.

Wednesday at the Argenta Community Theater and 4 p.m. Saturday at The Joint, both on Main Street in North Little Rock’s Argenta neighborhood, as part of the exhibition, “JFK: 50 Years Later.”Allen, a North Little Rock native and North Little Rock High School graduate, now lives in Scott with his wife, Sally.

After Kennedy’s speech, Allen went to the Dallas Times-Herald to develop his film, print photos and put them on the UPI wire before rushing back out to catch up with Kennedy’s motorcade.

Before he could leave the office, the news broke: The president was shot.

Allen took photographs from the open window of the depository and the area that would become known as the Grassy Knoll. Later, he photographed Lee Harvey Oswald being escorted by police and Jack Ruby during his trial for killing Oswald.

“After he was arrested, the police brought Oswald out two or three times to speak with the media,” Allen says. “We had about 100 newspaper reporters and photographers in the hall with him and it was a narrow hall so you really had to jockey for a good position.”

What did Oswald say?

“He just kept saying, ‘I didn’t do it.’ He kept claiming that he was innocent,” Allen says.

In 1965, with his mother’s health failing and UPI planning to move him to Ottawa as a bureau chief, Allen moved back to central Arkansas to work as a commercial photographer. He is semiretired and still works at his studio at 417 N. Main St. in North Little Rock, which now houses Pennington Studios and Claytime Pottery.

“JFK: 50 Years Later” is a week-long exhibit of archival photographs featuring Kennedy, his family and his presidency. The photos, which will include some that have never been publicly displayed, are from the collection of Rogers Photo Archives and Argenta Images, both in North Little Rock. None of Allen’s photos taken during his days with UPI are in the archives and won’t be displayed.

Special events will be held along with the approximately 120 images in eight downtown North Little Rock galleries and restaurants. Some are free and open to those obtaining passes on Eventbrite.com; others are ticketed events to raise money for the Argenta Arts Foundation.

Other events held in conjunction with “JFK: 50 Years Later” include:

A screening of a short film about Kennedy by award-winning Little Rock filmmaker Craig Renaud at 7 p.m. Monday at The Joint and Gov. Mike Beebe’s reading of Kennedy’s inaugural speech at noon Tuesday on the steps of the Argenta Post Office at 420 Main St.

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, Tales From the South, a National Public Radio program which records its programs at the Starving Artist Cafe in downtown North Little Rock, will feature writers discussing “Where Were You?” Also on Thursday, the Argenta Film Series will screen Oliver Stone’s JFK at 7 p.m. at Argenta Community Theater.

The Exhibition Finale, 7 p.m. Saturday at the Argenta Community Theater, concludes the event with an auction of works depicting Kennedy and his family by Arkansas artists, including Kevin Kresse and Stephano Sutherlin. For tickets or information, visit argentaartsdistrict.org or call (501) 993-1234.

The photo exhibit’s North Little Rock locations and themes include: The Joint, 301 Main St., No. 102, “Moon Shot: The Space Race”; Thea Foundation, 401 Main St., “JFK: His Family”; Starving Artists Cafe, 411 Main St., “JFK: The Kennedy Clan”; Art Connection, 204 E. Fourth St., “JFK: The Arts and the Challenge for Public Service”; Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., “JFK: 1,000 Days of Camelot”; Pennington Studios, 417 Main St., “JFK: A Nation Mourns”; Greg Thompson Fine Art, 429 Main St., “JFK: From Campaigns to Cold War”; Paint Box Gallery, 705 Main St., “Jacqueline Kennedy.”

Style, Pages 45 on 03/24/2013

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