Tim Landry's Blog
September 19, 2025
MYSTERY SOLVED!
You may recall I was discussing my Indiana Jones-like discovery that a photo at the Circus Museum Library of Jo-Jo the dog faced boy was actually autographed by the hand of the man himself!
He signed it with “Jo-Jo”, “Theodor” and--an unintelligible squiggle that I could not make out.
I reached out to my Ukrainian and Russian speaking contacts about the squiggle and they were just as puzzled as I was.
Then, out of the blue, I recently got this email from colleague Sandra Aguilar:
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Hi Tim,
I hope you are doing well. I saw your question on Linked In about the word written on the verso of the dog faced boy photo and asked my colleague Inna Gogina. She had this answer.
Yes, it is the 19th century Russian version of his name: Ѳео́доръ
Comes from Ancient Greek:
Θεόδωρος, gifted by God or God’s gift
Russian orthography went through several reforms: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/.../Reform......
Before the last reform Фёдор was written as Ѳео́доръ(Фео́дор). On the card, it is written in cursive, that’s why it looks a bit different. So basically, the three names on the card are his stage name, Jo Jo, and two versions of his first name, Фёдор.
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So now I pass the fedora and whip over to Sandra and her friend Inna for solving the mystery. Congratulations, ladies!
It’s amazing, though, how much we can deduce about this fascinating fellow from these three simple inscriptions of his name:
• He was generous, giving more in the way of an autograph than was expected of him.
• He was proud and confident, inscribing his names large and bold, doing so meticulously and beautifully.
• He was literate--well, duh--and confident enough to write cursively in multiple languages
• He was self-aware and far from ashamed of who he was.
And happily, all of this supports the accuracy of the character as he is portrayed in my Historical Fantasy novel Addie's Eyes.
Speaking of which, you can now get 20% off the Amazon price of the print editions of Addie’s Eyes by purchasing directly from the website: https://www.AddiesEyes.com.
You’ll love it, I promise.
He signed it with “Jo-Jo”, “Theodor” and--an unintelligible squiggle that I could not make out.
I reached out to my Ukrainian and Russian speaking contacts about the squiggle and they were just as puzzled as I was.
Then, out of the blue, I recently got this email from colleague Sandra Aguilar:
------------
Hi Tim,
I hope you are doing well. I saw your question on Linked In about the word written on the verso of the dog faced boy photo and asked my colleague Inna Gogina. She had this answer.
Yes, it is the 19th century Russian version of his name: Ѳео́доръ
Comes from Ancient Greek:
Θεόδωρος, gifted by God or God’s gift
Russian orthography went through several reforms: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/.../Reform......
Before the last reform Фёдор was written as Ѳео́доръ(Фео́дор). On the card, it is written in cursive, that’s why it looks a bit different. So basically, the three names on the card are his stage name, Jo Jo, and two versions of his first name, Фёдор.
------------
So now I pass the fedora and whip over to Sandra and her friend Inna for solving the mystery. Congratulations, ladies!
It’s amazing, though, how much we can deduce about this fascinating fellow from these three simple inscriptions of his name:
• He was generous, giving more in the way of an autograph than was expected of him.
• He was proud and confident, inscribing his names large and bold, doing so meticulously and beautifully.
• He was literate--well, duh--and confident enough to write cursively in multiple languages
• He was self-aware and far from ashamed of who he was.
And happily, all of this supports the accuracy of the character as he is portrayed in my Historical Fantasy novel Addie's Eyes.
Speaking of which, you can now get 20% off the Amazon price of the print editions of Addie’s Eyes by purchasing directly from the website: https://www.AddiesEyes.com.
You’ll love it, I promise.
My Indiana Jones Moment
About a year ago we were in Baraboo, Wisconsin visiting the Ringling Circus Museum Library where I did some research into Jo-Jo the Dog Faced Boy, who is a major character in my new novel, Addie’s Eyes.
The session was productive, but not as productive as I might like. The library had several folders full of material, mostly clippings from periodicals.
But there were a couple of items that sparked my interest. One was a 5x7 photo portrait of “Jo-Jo” from 1884 and another was a crumbling souvenir booklet about him from 1885. These were the only two items dating from his lifetime that they had.
And they actually allowed me to handle them. As I did so, I turned over the photo and discovered to my amazement, that Jo-Jo himself had autographed it—exactly as a newspaper reporter of the time had described it, in large flowing letters! Excited at my discovery I drew the librarian’s attention to the penciled link to the actual man himself. It turns out the library was unaware that they had an authentic autographed relic! Hand me my fedora and whip, please.
What’s more, upon further examining the souvenir booklet, I discovered that it, too, was autographed in the same way!
Both items had three things that Jo-Jo had written:
1. “Jo-Jo” Well, duh!
2. “Theodor” an Americanized version of Fedor or Fyodor, his real name.
3. A mysterious third word that appears to be “Ologopa” or something similar.
Was this third item a name? A greeting? A Russian term? When I find out, I’ll let you know.
The session was productive, but not as productive as I might like. The library had several folders full of material, mostly clippings from periodicals.
But there were a couple of items that sparked my interest. One was a 5x7 photo portrait of “Jo-Jo” from 1884 and another was a crumbling souvenir booklet about him from 1885. These were the only two items dating from his lifetime that they had.
And they actually allowed me to handle them. As I did so, I turned over the photo and discovered to my amazement, that Jo-Jo himself had autographed it—exactly as a newspaper reporter of the time had described it, in large flowing letters! Excited at my discovery I drew the librarian’s attention to the penciled link to the actual man himself. It turns out the library was unaware that they had an authentic autographed relic! Hand me my fedora and whip, please.
What’s more, upon further examining the souvenir booklet, I discovered that it, too, was autographed in the same way!
Both items had three things that Jo-Jo had written:
1. “Jo-Jo” Well, duh!
2. “Theodor” an Americanized version of Fedor or Fyodor, his real name.
3. A mysterious third word that appears to be “Ologopa” or something similar.
Was this third item a name? A greeting? A Russian term? When I find out, I’ll let you know.
