Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the Kennedy Assassination
by Paula Bosse
by Paula Bosse
I started watching reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show on Channel 11 when I was a kid. I still love the show, and I’ve seen every episode countless times. Which is kind of an odd jumping-off point for a post on a Dallas clothing manufacturer, but there you are. The company was Nardis of Dallas, a successful manufacturer of women’s apparel, owned by the Russian-born Bernard “Ben” Gold who arrived here in 1938 from New York City where he had operated a taxi company for many years.
Gold moved to Dallas at the request of his brother who, along with a man named Joe Sidran (“Sidran” spelled backwards is “Nardis”) was an owner in a near-bankrupt dress company. Ben Gold became a part-owner (and later the sole owner) and quickly turned the business around. When he brought in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, other Dallas garment manufacturers were shocked (Time magazine used the word “horrified”). He also shook things up by employing African-American workers, the first such company in town to do so. The company eventually grew to become the largest clothing manufacturer in Dallas, with clients around the country and around the world. Nardis was one of the first Dallas clothing companies to have an apparel collection made in a foreign country: his upscale “House of Gold” boutique line specialized in silk, beaded, and sequined dresses and gowns, hand-made in Hong Kong.
Nardis of Dallas was originally located at 409 Browder, with factories at 211 North Austin, the 400 block of S. Poydras (at Wood Street), and, finally, at 1300 Corinth (at Gould St.), where they built their 75,000-square-foot “million-dollar plant” in 1964 (a quick check of Google Maps shows the building still there, but it appears to be vacant). Below are two photos of their S. Poydras location.
Above, Wood Street at the left (Andrew’s Cafe is listed at 1008 Wood St. in the 1960 Dallas directory); below, Nardis garment workers.
So how does this all connect to The Dick Van Dyke Show? If you’re a fan of the show and a faithful reader of closing credits like I am, you’ve probably seen the “Fashions by Nardis of Dallas” credit at the end of some episodes, right under the Botany 500 credit. And, like me, you might have wondered, “How did THAT happen?” How does an apparel-maker from Dallas network itself into a primo gig supplying fashions to a top Hollywood television show? I have no idea how the initial contact was made, but I DO know that Dick Van Dyke Show star Rose Marie and Nardis owner Ben Gold became very good friends while she was appearing in a production of Bye, Bye Birdie at the Dallas Summer Musicals in 1965. She mentions Gold several times in her autobiography.
Excerpt from “Hold the Roses” by Rose Marie
She spent much of her off-stage time in Dallas with Gold and his wife, and, in fact, when Gold was fatally injured in a traffic accident that summer, Rose Marie (then recently widowed herself) stayed with his wife Tina for several days at Tina’s request.
So, no big Dick Van Dyke Show story, but, as is no doubt known to the hyper-vigilant members of the JFK-assassination community, Nardis of Dallas DOES have an interesting connection to that. In 1941, Abraham Zapruder, who had worked in the garment industry in New York, moved to Dallas and began working for Ben Gold as a Nardis pattern-cutter. His name even appears in a couple of classified ads in The Dallas Morning News.
June 1945
While at Nardis — before he left to start his own clothing company — Zapruder worked with a woman named Jeanne LeGon (later Jeanne De Mohrenschildt) who, with her husband George (suspected by some of being a CIA operative), was friends with Lee Harvey Oswald in the early ’60s. Yep. That’s an interesting, head-spinning coincidence.
And I owe all this trivial Nardis-related knowledge to wondering for years about a single card seen in the closing credits of the unquestionably stylish and fashion-forward Dick Van Dyke Show.
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Sources & Notes
Fashion photographs from MyVintageVogue.com (1952, 1955, and 1956, respectively). Other Nardis fashion photos from My Vintage Vogue can be found here. (If you’re interested in vintage fashion, fashion photography, and vintage advertising, this is a great website.)
Photos of the Nardis plant at S. Poydras and Wood are by Squire Haskins, from the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections — more info on the exterior shot is here; more on the interior shot here.
Passage about Gold from Rose Marie’s autobiography, Hold the Roses (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002), p. 192.
Dick Van Dyke Show closing credits card from a 1965 episode.
Nardis of Dallas logo from a clothing tag, found on eBay.
Additional background information on Gold from Time magazine, June 12, 1950.
See another Flashback Dallas post on Nardis — “Nardis Sign-Painters: ‘Everything in Sportswear’ — 1948” — here.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved
I’d love to know the address of Ben Gold’s house near Walnut Hill & Marsh since I grew up there. I don’t have access to the obituary. Thanks!
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Check your email, Christina.
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It was not near Marsh. It is still there in the first block west of Preston. It was more elegant back then, before they widened the street. Ben was my step-grandfather. The house is a white colonial two-story. B
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Thank you, Suzanne, for the correction. The obituary that appeared in The Dallas Morning News on July 5, 1965 contained an incorrect address (in the 3800-block of Walnut Hill). I checked the 1964 city directory and see that you are correct. I’ve deleted the sentence about this from the post. Thank you!
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Susanne, are you Diane’s daughter? I am Diane’s cousin. Tina’s Aunt Lydia’s daughter.
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I have a Nardis sleeveless dress and matching coat that was my grandmother’s. It’s in very nice condition. Is there any place that is interested in buying a very nice set from the 60’s?
Thanks,
Ann Faulkner
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Try consigning at Lula B’s?
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years,
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Hi, Ann. There are a lot of resale shops around Dallas. One near me is Buffalo Exchange at Greenville and McCommas. There are a lot of Nardis pieces on eBay — you might check to see what people are asking for them.
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years,
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I have a photo of my grandmother at Nardis. I will look for it and post it.
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Hi Paula-
I was looking up some information on my grandfather, Ben Gold, and saw your article. I was so excited to see more information on him and confirm some of the things my grandmother, Tina, had told me. My grandmother passed away Jan. 26, 2013. She was a wonderful and beautiful woman and new so many people from Nardis and their travels. I was saddened when we were unable to find out names and phone numbers of their friends to let them know of her death. Ben’s son, Richard Gold, attended her service. I was able to visit with him and hear many stories about them that I hadn’t heard.
Thank you for posted your article!
Monica DeBolt
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Thank you, Monica. I’m glad you could find some info here on your family. Let me know if you’d like me to email you the full Dallas Morning News obituary of Ben Gold. I have your email address from your comment above.
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Yes, any information would be great. Thank you!
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Hi MONICA ,YOU DONT KNOW ME BUT BEN GOLD WAS MY GRANDFATHER I WOULD LIKE A COPY IF POSSIBLE MY ADDRESS IS 7028 LONGLEAF CREEK DR. PENSACOLA FLORIDA ,MY E-MAIL ADDRESS is little_lady_1234@yahoo.com.Thank you.
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Monica, was your mom Dianne?
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Hi Paula. Alicia here. I grew up in Dallas and so excited about the history of Nardis of Dallas. I have this beautiful aqua colored long dress that I would love to wear for nostelgia purposes with some updated Weitzman shoes.
Could you please send Ben Gold’s obituary? Would love to continue the Nardis legacy.
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years,
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years, My grandmother mentioned Mr Gold often.
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My 12 year old son and I live near Dallas and we were watching a Dick Van Dyke show tonight when we saw the Nardis credit at the end. We always research the history behind things we find interesting, and so we looked up Nardis and found this article! How cool to find this! My son is really into JFK history as well. My mom moved to Dallas in 1966 and she looked just like Mary Tyler Moore back then. I’ll ask her tomorrow if she remembers buying any of their clothes back then.
Thanks for the history lesson!
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Ha! Small world. Thanks for reading, Lori!
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years,
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Joe Sidran is my great grandfather.
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[…] My previous post on the Nardis company — “Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the Kennedy Assassination” — can be found here. […]
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[…] “Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the…: FINALLY, a sitcom has been dragged into the assassination literature! […]
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I have great memories of Nardis of Dallas. I was an AF pilot but got an eye problem and could no longer fly so I left the USAF. My neighbor drove a Lincoln and I drove a Chevy so I asked him what he did and he said he was an apparel salesman. It was 1971.
He gave me a list of the top 10 Dallas apparel houses and I interviewed with Richard Gold (one of Ben’s sons) and he said, “Go get a year of experience and come back.”
I went with the budget line Jones of Dallas for exactly a year and came back and was hired by Richard & Sherman Goodfriend for Nardis’s new Corinth Street “young missy” line in Georgia and Alabama. It was a great gig until my wife’s health would not let my travel those 80,000 miles a year by car, calling on stores.
The Gold’s were good people. I heard bad oil investments caused Nardis to fail. That was the rumor. Who knows but it was the end of a great era.
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I might add that my mother was a professor at TCU and she LOVED me working for Nardis. She was the best-dressed PhD on campus.
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Thanks for commenting, Michael. Does Dallas even have a “garment center” anymore?
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Not true about the close of Nardis. Allen and Richard the business and the new owner was in control when it closed.
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my father and uncle were major suppliers to Nardis and it was a sad day when they closed. if my memory serves me correctly, a reason they closed was they had enough of the criminal activities in the area and constant break-ins of their building.
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I was a friend of Diane Gold when I attended Hillcrest High School in the late 50’s & had fun times at their house. Mrs. Gold was indeed beautiful .i was told she had been a model at Nardis before she married Mr. Gold. Is Diana Gold still living?
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Diane Gold was my mother. She passed away in 2012. My grandmother, Tina, passed away the following January at 91. Do you still live in Dallas? I was told their house was torn down. I would appreciate any information you can share.
Thank you!
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Thank you Monica for the information. I am a cousin of Tina and Diane. Tina was Mother’s neice. I have searched for Diane for years. I think her birthday was May 1st. Mine is May 31. She was 11 months younger than me.
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Monica, email me. I am a cousin and have all the Wade history. Pictures to share. I am a daughter of your grand mother’s Aunt Lydia.
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Is there by chance a Donnis Searing in your family? I think she is Ben’s mother in law. My mom tells stories of Donnis and my grandmother being friends around 1963. Donnis worked at a store in Panorama City which is northwest of Studio City, CA.
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My dad, Irv Neyer was the sales rep in California for Nardis of Dallas. He was the go-between that actually got the clothes on the Dick Van Dyke show.
I remember going to a filming in ’64 or ’65 with my family. We got a chance to meet the cast. Boy, was Mary Tyler Moor great looking in person.
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How interesting! So THAT’S the connection! I’m sure meeting the stunning MTM in person was quite memorable! Thanks for the info, Todd.
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It would be even more interesting to meet a Moor named Mary Tyler.
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[…] Dallas posts on Nardis of Dallas can be found here and […]
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Aaron Spelling was from Dallas, there is or was a strong Hollywood connection to Texas
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I have a beautiful black, bugle beaded wool Botany Brand 100 percent virgin wool Nardis of Dallas jacket. It was an old boyfriends aunts that we found going through a box in the garage. I instantly loved it having been an SEG extra in the late 70’s and early 80’s when you were expected to have period pieces of your own for a good wardrobe. I wear it for special occasions. It hangs on my bedroom wall as art so in can admire
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Diana Martin was my Grandmother. She was the head designer at Nardis for many years. The Gold family were family friends and enabled her a great career. Thanks to Ben, Allen and Richard the family prospered. John Fuess.
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[…] Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the Kenned… […]
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How about Nardis of Dallas and Queen for a day? I remember a gift for the “Queen” was fashion from Nardis. It always sounded so fancy and stylish to me.
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I love the “Yep. That’s an interesting, head-spinning coincidence.” part because I feel like what that really meant was.. Yep! Coincidence my a**. LOL
If I may add a few intriguing facts for anyone else who just might be interested… the fact that Mr. Zaparoo had far more interesting connections to some rather very interesting, if not extremely shady people, which apparently the WC was in no way interested in pursuing.
And one can only imagine why, since those connections would clearly raise a ginormous sh*t ton of questions, including, but not limited to, his luck, or rather lack thereof, on that faithful yet infamous November day.
Because as it turns out, ol’ Abe and the babe Jeanne & George just happened to also be members of two CIA front organizations called, “The Dallas Council On World Affairs and Crusade For A Free Europe,” with other members, that included the Oil Tycoons of Doom, H.L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, Jack Crichon and noneother than Zappydoos office landlord / owner of the TSBD & Dal Tex buildings, Mr. Harold David Byrd aka It’s my damn building so I’m take the whole damn 6th floor window home for my own personal joy.
And of course ol’ HB, the Civil Air Patrol founder, which both David Ferrie & Oswald were members of, also happened to be into the age old hobby collecting Uranium (very important), and which just happened to directly connected him to both CIA & Mossad.
In fact, old Turdy Byrdy was even gracious enough to allow them to store crate loads of misc. weapons & other nefarious goodies, all while running a few ops here & there from generously donated office space utilized in both buildings. An extremely rare but true fact that only a handful of researchers at best have ever discovered.
Another lessor known fact, Higgity Bittity Boo Byrd, who despised Kennedy, had received his own special original copy of the Z film that very same night that Mr. Zoppy pants had supposedly only made 3 copies at Kodak. It’s also believed that H.L Hunt *unt received one of his own as well. Honestly, who really knows how many others may have too, considering the amount of time Zaprooper & SS storm trooper Forrest Sorrels spent there.
But wait, because it gets even better, when you find other members of two CIA gangster organizations had also included the likes of, George (I’m Oswald’s bestie) brother, Demitri ‘the Baron’ Von Mohrenschildt, and one barely known hobo by the name of George ‘Poppy’ Bush Sr., and Poppy B’s own mentor Neil Mallon, along with the Paines, as in Ruth (my whole family is CIA) & her lovey dovy husband Michael Paine, and, oh yeah, that one weird ass chick who swore LBJ in as 36th president on Air Force One, a one Sarah mother eff’n Hughes.
So, as you can see, Mr. 33rd Degree Mason Zapa-nuder had quite the little circle of friends. A most regular, yet highly impressive who’s who list of the worlds worst wacko crackos, global gangster bangerz, nasty nefarious knee-cappers, the commy-stazy posse, and all around murderous monsters of mayhem, which together all dwell deep within their very own low-life styles of the rich & hideous. Or in other words, some the dirtiest A holes to ever walk the planet Earth.
Men of greed so self centered that their whole body was their actual nuts.
And lest not forget the fact that Mr. “Oh no…I’m So Reluctant to Exploit the Film” Zapruder, did exactly that. Not in weeks, months or years, but the very next day when he sold the rights to the Time-Life Publisher / CIA Operative who put the Mocking in Operation Mocking Bird, Sir Charles Douglas ‘CD’ Jackson himself. How’s that for a perfectly splendid coincidence?!?
“Man… seriously, just what in the actual **** is this bat **** crazy lunatic even talking about, and why in the heck did I just read it all?”
Eh…who knows… I’m still just waiting to hear what all that (very important) Uranium hokey pokey was supposedly all about! Ah, yeah… you mean the Uranium business of old Harold ‘the Turd’ Byrd!?
Funny that coincidental story is in the whole entire realm of unimaginable infinite coincidences… that at least one of nine in an imaginary list of the top ten worst **** that could possibly happen to a president, should actually happen to Kennedy while president. What, you ask?
During his term, Kennedy was confronted with the most alarming realization that some one (or some group) had been late night waltzing their way into a little known nuclear facility located in a little known town called Apollo, Pennsylvania, silently and virtually undetected, with seemingly unrestricted free-reign of the entire facility to go and do as they please. And one of the things they were clearly pleased to do was five finger discount the weapons grade uranium isle.
Uh … yeah…just How in T actual F could something like that ever happen? And not just steal… Smuggle even. Right out of the damn country. With-out so much as even a trace.
As you can image… Full Panic Mode, Def Con 1, alert color “Holy Crap”. Talk about loss of sleep. Hush level – super duper a** tight. Because god forbid the public should ever find out that some unknown foreign country is able to slip right in & out of the worlds largest & most secure Super Power to simply swipe weapons grade uranium from what should be a highly security hardened nuclear facility, but instead is more like, easy as shoplifting gum from a Safeway at 3 am.
Frantic questions.. 1. Who in the..? 2. How in the …? and most importantly, 3. Why in the…? The answer comes sooner than later in the form of yet another 1 in the imaginary list of top ten worst **** for a president, when a supposed ally / frenemy is noticed secretly sneaking around doing weird stuff with France, like two guilty looking lesbian virgins locked in a dorm room for weeks. When asked about said activities at newly built factory in the Nagev desert called Dimona, the first reply is complete & utter BS.
“Huh …what, who us? Oh nothing! We’re just innocently working in our brand new giant textile factory for making women’s clothing.
“Wait… women’s clothing, you say?” Like … Nardis of Dallas type Women’s clothing? Or like …Zapruder’s office in the oil & uranium Harold Byrd’s Dal-Tex building type Women’s clothing? That type of women’s clothing? “Uh yeah! Exactly that type.” How weird is that?
“Ah, whatever. That aint no real coincidence. More like just a fluke.”
Uh Huh. Sure it is.Because clearly women’s clothing was not what they were working on. So again, they’re asked what’s going on. And this time the answer is different, but still the same, clear & blatant BS. “Oh. Okay. You got us. But just so you know, we’re not bumping clams or anything like that. We’re really just sort of experimenting with nuclear energy… ya know. Strictly or peaceful purposes.”
But Kennedy, not being a total idiot and all, still didn’t buy it. And after some spying & digging realizes what our lesbo frenemy’s are really up to. Not only were they full on Clam Bumping but even Brown Eye French Kissing. Or also known as Illegal nuclear weapons manufacturing. Which oddly enough also requires uranium. But not just any Uranium….the weapons grade type. Just like the same type being lifted from Apollo, Pennsylvania.
How long before Kennedy put 2 & 2 together you wonder? Likely 1 second. And just like that, he now knows the 2 worst &most major problems are from the same source. A battle of letters between Kennedy & Gurion follow, which reveal just how bat **** crazy it all really was. Threats of violence were even made towards Kennedy if he refused to back down over the Dimona. Kennedy gives a final ultimatum which leads Gurion to the conclusion… “Well…. I guess we have no choice but murder his ass”. And within a month Kennedy’s dead.
Another one of the many perfectly splendid coincidences? Eh. Maybe. NOT!
And one more for the grand finale.. the day of the assassination, none other than the future prime minister of Israel, Yitzahk Rabin, flew into Dallas for all of three hours, just long enough to catch the BIG EVENT!
Oh, and two of the actual gunmen, both Cuban exile members of the CIA’s assassination squad, Operation 40, just happened to also be posted directly behind Zapruder inside the concrete pergola. Hermanio Diaz made the actual head shot from the middle pergola window, while one Eladio del Valle missed & hit Connolly. Is that a fact? Absolutely. Is there proof? Abso-*******-lutely. The Moorman photo and Nix & Darnell films were so much more than anyone knew or could have imagined.
Huh. Could that be why they were so heavily degraded & edited? Just more coincidences? Who knows… is anyone else wondering where the hell the original Nix film is? I know I certainly am. But you really don’t need it if you can just simply pay attention to what we do have. Maybe throw it all on a much larger screen… like 50 to 60 inches. You’ll be amazed at what you can then see.
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Wow! What a flake!
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♥️My grandmother Melissa Smith was a seamstress at Nardis of Dallas in the 1950s. She always did beautiful work, and she’s the one who taught me how to sew. Thank You ♥️
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My name is Lisa Gardner. My black grandmother worked there for over 30 years. Erma D Wilson was the top seamstress. She would buy the clothing with defects. This all we wore. For years,
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Fascinating story! I’ve been a JFK assassination researcher for almost 50 yrs. I was 7 when JFK was assassinated and loved watching the MTM show as a kid! Who knew it had a connection to Nardis & Zapruder?! I didn’t. Thank you for your blog post! Your site is educational, thoroughly researched and fascinating.
Speaking of Dallas dress manufacturers connected to the assassination…have you done any research on the Justin McCarthy Dress Mfg Co. on Young Street? Two of the most famous photo/film documenters of the JFK assassination, worked there. Amateur photographer, Wilma Bond (a bookkeeper) and amateur camerawoman, Marie Mobley Muchmore, a secretary, and 4 still unidentified coworkers, came over to watch the Motorcade on their lunch hour, and took up positions near the NW the corner of Houston & Elm where they took photos and filmed.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145475331/marie-muchmore
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38338043/wilma-irene-bond
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Paula, FYI I clicked on the links to the Nardis photos on the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections and found they are now dead. Here is the new link to the collection:
https://library.uta.edu/digitalgallery/search?search_api_views_fulltext=Nardis&sort_by=search_api_relevance&sort_by=search_api_relevance&items_per_page=48
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My name is Nardis. My grandmother thought she was naming me after a “French dress designer”. I googled my name a few years ago, and found out who Nardis of Dallas was. Very interesting. Is the connection to JFK’s assassination the fact that Zapruder worked for Nardis of Dallas?
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