DALLAS, Aug 28, 2014/— Wild, irreverent, provocative – burlesque was a part of the 60s culture of the United States, and in Dallas, Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club was the place to go.
Nancy Myers was an exotic dancer there around the time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, under the stage name “Tammi True,” borrowed from the 1961 romantic comedy, Tammy Tell Me True, starring Sandra Dee.
Two days after the assassination, she watched in shock on live television as her boss shot and killed accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald during a routine police transfer.
Myers will talk about her memories of Ruby and the burlesque days of Dallas during The Sixth Floor Museum’s Living History presentation on Saturday, September 6, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 when combined with Museum admission or $10 for the program only. Advance tickets are recommended and may be purchased online at www.jfk.org.
Myers had known Ruby since she was a teenager, having met him at his Vegas Club on
Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas. After hearing of her striptease act in Fort Worth, Ruby called and, sight unseen, offered her a job at his Carousel Club.
In the oral history Myers provided
The Sixth Floor Museum, she remembers Ruby as “hyper” and “spontaneous,” yet “extremely protective” of his dancers. Myers retired from performing in the late 1960s. In 2013, she co-wrote with David Hopkins the book, The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True.
She was also featured that same year in the TV docudrama, True Tales. Following the presentation, Myers will sign her book, which is available for sale in both Museum stores.
The Living History Series links the past to the present through firsthand accounts from reporters, law enforcement officials, musicians and everyday citizens who witnessed the assassination or other historic events of the early 1960s. Each presenter in the monthly series has contributed to The Sixth Floor Museum’s ongoing Oral History Project.
The Sixth Floor Museum is located at 411 Elm Street in Dallas’ Historic West End. For more information, go to www.jfk.org or call 214.747.6660.
