Mr. Palmer. Jack liked to pretend and let me know he was pretending to comply fully. Agreeably, I should say. His mode of compliance again was only a halfhearted thing, and he did take breaks which then split the show into four shows a night. But I informed him that the breaks weren’t adequate; they should be longer.
Mr. Griffin. How long were the breaks?
Mr. Palmer. They were supposed to be 40 minutes. He was taking a 20- to 30-minute break. I had to rely almost entirely on the emcees to clock this, other than sit in the club myself. When I sat in the club myself, they occurred. When I didn’t, I knew they weren’t occurring, so I had to rely on the emcees. And the emcees relied on Jack Ruby for employment, and often were not too stringent in clocking the breaks. So this, with the affidavits of B-drinking could be considered as creating a little pressure on Jack.
Mr. Griffin. You mentioned before that some of the employees couldn’t take the pace that Jack set. What did you have in mind when you referred to pace?
Mr. Palmer. I meant strictly from a legal standpoint. The continuous show policy; the idea of being on the premises at all times; plus Jack’s personality was not constantly one way or the other. It was a highly fluctuating thing and often led to misunderstandings.
Many masters of ceremony quit because they felt Jack was directing from the floor, which he has a right to do, but not to the embarrassment of an entertainer.
Mr. Griffin. How would he direct, from the floor?
Mr. Palmer. He would indicate on occasion that a dancer midway through her dance should cut it short, or the master of ceremonies should cut a specific routine of his short, often while he was doing the routine.
Mr. Griffin. Were you ever told, or did you ever observe any kind of performances that Jack Ruby didn’t approve of?
Mr. Palmer. Yes.