These pictures show him at various points during his life, the first picture shows him as an adult, the second picture shows him as a child/teenager, third one shows him as a child, and the last picture shows him in his later years when he was performing under a different stage name.

He’s such a character and I love learning about him all the more because of that! I especially like the first picture of him, he has so much personality and charisma that you don’t always see in older pictures. He also looks great in the bowler hat in the second picture.

Some facts about him:

\-he was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. (Since he was born in Arkansas, there’s a big chance that he and his family were born into slavery, though not much is known about his childhood)

\-he was given several different birth years in the different newspaper sources I used, so it’s difficult to establish exactly when he was born. I picked 1855 as that seems to line up most with how he appeared in the 1920s and it was one of the years listed.

\-he began his sideshow career as a child and his mother would often accompany him. As he grew older he had his friends look out for him instead.

\-visitors who watched his performances said he was very quick witted and smart, and greatly enjoyed having conversations with new people.

\-he was never formally diagnosed during his lifetime, which makes it difficult to say exactly which medical condition he had (oftentimes there are medical conditions we know of now that were never labeled when these performers were alive) I try not to retroactively diagnose performers unless I’m absolutely sure, which is why for George I write that he was *likely* born with osteogenesis imperfecta.

\-﻿osteogenesis imperfecta causes very brittle bones and often chronic pain. Another name for the condition is 'brittle bone disease'. There are several different diagnosable variations of the condition, and because of that not everyone has the same body type.

\-he was paid $75 a week in the late 1800’s, which while less than some of his colleagues, was still a good amount of money for the time (it’s the equivalent of around $2,500 adjusted for inflation)

\-he was known as a ladies man, and was well liked by women.

\-he would typically mix comedy into his acts, and was known to be a good comedian.

\-he was given an animal based stage name, just as a lot of other performers were given, although his case is a bit humorous because a few reporters wrote that “Turtle Boy” felt like false advertising because clearly George was a man and didn’t have a shell he crawled out of (they seemed annoyed that they didn’t get to see someone crawling out of an actual giant turtle shell) a lot of his pitch booklets depicted him as having a shell like a turtle.

\-he was best friends with Laloo Ramparsad (who was born with a parasitic twin) and the two of them would play incredibly competitive rounds of cards and pool. It was described that prior to the sideshow opening for the day, the two of them would play cards, and then after work was done for the day they’d immediately go to the closest billiards  hall and play with some other colleagues.

\-George also asked that Laloo and his other friends follow ground rules he put in place to make sure he had just as fair of a chance as everyone else when playing cards and billiards.

\-an article written about him says that  he “always had a cheerful word to say for everybody.” \[except when he was in the middle of a competitive billiards game, in which he’d sometimes playfully “threaten” Laloo by shouting that if he caught him cheating, George would kick his sister (the sister in question was Laloo’s male parasitic twin that was dressed in feminine clothing and promoted as being female). George never actually followed through with this\]

\-he was super popular at different venues he performed at and news articles about him often said that just going to see George was worth the price of admission.

\-he traveled all throughout the United States.

\-he was a talented musician and could play the harmonica, flute, and French harp.

\-he expressed really enjoying his life as a sideshow performer.

\-at one point in his career, the dime museum he was working at was charged with exhibiting a minor with disabilities for profit. The case went to court, but George failed to show up and police failed to locate him. After a while of waiting the defendants (the owners of the dime museum) were ordered to pay a fine and then were able to leave. It was thought that a guest mistook George’s age because of his shorter height and reported the museum to the authorities. The reporter documenting the story explained that anyone who had ever gotten a close look at George could immediately tell that he was at the very least in his mid-twenties and no younger, one of his acts even included him shaving his beard while on stage. After this whole debacle it sounds like George appeared back at work as if nothing had happened.

\-he was extremely well off financially during his fifties, having been able to purchase 160 acres of land in Illinois and investing in some real estate.

\-he liked bubble gum.

\-it’s reported in 1910 that after he finished performing for the day at a fair in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he was kidnapped during a time when his manager was absent. Several days later he was discovered in York, Pennsylvania staying with a man named Michael Gillen. Gillen and George were both charged with larceny after it was discovered that some items belonging to George’s manager were with them. Though it appears that the charges against George were dropped.

\-he was unfortunately injured in the early 1920’s after his wheelchair overturned while he was outside.

\-he went by the stage name, King Dodo, in his later life and was performing well into his seventies.

\-I haven’t been  able to establish when he passed away, but it was sometime after the mid 1920s.

I’d love to have been able to meet him in person, he seems like he’d be so much fun to hang out with! I’d also want to see those competitive games of billiards he played with his friends, just sounds like a great time.

George Williams (1855?-after 1921) was an American sideshow performer, musician, and comedian who was likely born with a form of osteogenesis imperfecta. He was known to be a bit of a ladies man and enjoyed playing cards and billiards in his free time.