10 April 3 - 9, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents T he man looked to be in his 50s, wearing a tan sports coat with a light blue button-up underneath. On a sunny December afternoon, he stood outside Texas Theatre, a Santa hat sitting atop his salt-and-pepper combover. He had pinned a large button to the collar of his jacket and was caressing something in his hands. As he drew closer, it became clear the pin read, “Oswald Was Cute!” The thing in his hands was a doll with the face of Lee Harvey Oswald, who killed President John F. Kennedy. The man introduced himself as Paul Wil- son and the doll as “Wee Lee.” The doll was dressed in miniature black slacks and a white short-sleeve button-up with a thin black tie. It wore a bell around its neck and looked to have human hair glued to its chest and arms. Wilson explained that he was tak- ing Wee Lee on a tour of Dallas landmarks that the real Oswald infamously visited, al- though he wasn’t much interested in their historical significance. “The question isn’t whether or not Os- wald did it,” Wilson said. “It’s how much chest hair did Oswald have?” Come again? Wilson said Wee Lee’s bells are how it communicates, and Wilson can sometimes hear a little chime when Wee Lee scampers around his house. Wilson and his dolls re- side in Phoenix, and this was his first time visiting Dallas. He was delighted that there were T-shirts for sale inside the Texas The- atre with Oswald’s face on them. The the- ater is where police arrested Oswald after the assassination, and by dint of sheer en- thusiasm, he persuaded the theater’s man- ager to give him an impromptu tour before business hours. Wilson and I swapped email addresses before he entered for the tour. Weeks later, I finally heard from him. “Simon! Hello! “I hope this reaches you. “Well my stars did I have a fabulous time in your fair city! It’s all freeways and toll roads but we managed to avoid the tolls, anyway! I had never been, and had been wanting to go for some long time in my seeking of All that is Oswald. Or most of it, anyway. ...” Wilson had not intended to go to what he called “that 6th Floor Museum-thing” be- cause “that goes all against my construct of Lee Harvey as a fun and artistic venture, the re-invented imp who gets into all sorts of fun and mischief but NOT ass*ssinations.” Wilson — perhaps this is part of his charm — is long-winded when discussing Oswald. Those few sentences were the be- ginning of a 2,000-word email in which he touched on the background of his fascina- tion with Oswald and his philosophy. “I have to state right off that I do not es- chew the facts of 1963 (I was born two days before it happened), I simply choose not to focus on them or make them play into my construct. He is a fantasy-friend and more, and very positive. A force of gentleness as well as humor, allowing others maybe to see him as not a demon but a man, and, often, a very lighthearted, loving take on that man. “He remains, of course, a sex object, as well as a wee imp, as my research on his chest hair is a serious and ongoing excur- sion, but too, he continues as Lee Oswald, the real man who I would like to have at least glimpsed in the flesh if not met and dis- cussed art and (some) politics with. Ideally, in summer when his shirt might have been unbuttoned a tiny bit…” Wilson’s Dallas visit was during the win- ter, and he made time to stop at the Oswald Rooming House Museum and paid a reluc- tant visit to the Sixth Floor Museum. Pat Hall runs the Oswald Rooming House Museum. She was an 11-year-old girl when Oswald rented a room from her family’s house for a few weeks. Her museum/home on Beckley Avenue remains a popular, if not deep cut, in the Oswald tourism world. Wil- son mentioned that for his meeting with Hall, he kept Wee Lee’s shirt buttoned up and tie fastened so as not to scandalize her. ▼ Culture Jacob Dunn Paul Wilson is fascinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. He created a persona, Wee Lee, and makes dolls in Oswald’s likeness. >> p12 MURDERER OR MUSE? Presidential assassin and cop-killer Lee Harvey Oswald lives on to inspire art, including one hairy-chested little doll. BY SIMON PRUITT
