New York
Music Hall
Friday, January 27, 1882
The English Renaissance
Newspaper report
Albany Evening Journal, Jan 28, 1882
There were about two hundred people in the hall, and as Wilde stepped out on the stage unattended, a ripple of amusement passed through the audience at his appearance. He was attired in a black dress coat, double-breasted white vest, white silk necktie, black knee breeches, black silk stockings and patent leather pumps. His long hair was parted in the middle and thrown back upon his shoulders, and a smile that was 'childlike and bland' rested upon his face. He is tall, square shouldered, and rather large bodied, while his legs are long and spare. Such an appearance was well calculated to cause amusement. He immediately commenced . . . his lecture. . . . His delivery was monotonous and his voice droning, two facts that tended to make his lecture as dreary as possibly could be imagined. Many left the hall before he concluded, and those who remained to the end uttered a sigh of relief as they rose from their seats at the conclusion of the last sentence.
Newspaper interview
Boston Herald, Jan 29, 1882
Mr. Oscar Wilde arrived in Boston Saturday morning...At noon Mr. Wilde received a caller from the Herald...said Mr. Wilde; "I lectured in Albany last night, you know."
Albany Evening Journal, Jan 28, 1882
Music Hall
S. Pearl and Beaver Streets, Albany, NY
Wilde did not stay overnight in Albany. As he told a reporter the next day in Boston, “I came in a late train from Albany last night.”
The Albany Times, January 28, 1882
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2023
