Oscar Wilde In America

The Definitive Resource Of Oscar Wilde's Visits To America

The New Jersey Shore

—Verifications and Accommodation—

Unlike most tour stops which have their own pages, the New Jersey shore lectures (like his tour of the Catskills) are listed here as a group.

This is not merely because they are geographically connected, but also because Wilde, as he traveled around the resorts and points of interest, was often in various places on the same day. Further, it is difficult to be definitive about Wilde’s whereabouts during the Summer months when his movements were less well recorded, and sometimes inaccurately. Typically, however, he resided at the hotels in which he lectured.

Planned Tour Dates?

The above itinerary of Wilde lectures along the Jersey Shore was published on August 20th, 1882 and carries the imprimatur of Wilde’s tour sponsor Richard D’Oyly Carte. So in both authority and proximity to events one would expect the itinerary to be accurate. However, Wilde’s plans were changeable during the more relaxed summer months and there is doubt that the advertised lectures in Spring Lake and Ocean Beach (Belmar) took place.

Verification of date.

The Times (Philadelphia, PA), Aug 22, 1882, 4

Sea Bright [verified]

Octagon Hotel

Monday, August 21, 1882

Newspaper report

Red Bank Register, August 30, 1882

“Oscar Wilde recently lectured at Sea-bright, and according to the Sentinel, he was very dreary and uninteresting putting many of his audience to sleep.”

Long Branch [verified]

West End Hotel

Tuesday, August 22, 1882

Newspaper reports

The New York Herald, August 23, 1882, 10

The Boston Globe, August 23, 1882, 1

Wilde lectured in the evening to 400 people, mostly ladies in the dining hall of the hotel while music played in the nearby parlors.

Wilde may not have stayed at the hotel as he was guest of Alexander Henderson of the Standard Theatre, New York, where Patience , the opera ridiculing Wilde and his type, was playing.

Doubtful Lectures

August 23—25, 1882

The next three advertised lectures at Spring Lake, Asbury Park, and Ocean Beach were closely located on consecutive days. It may have been thought that three separate lectures could not be supported, as evidence of only one of them, in Asbury Park, has been verified.

Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, WI), Sep 7, 1882, 4

The Times (Philadelphia, PA), Aug 24, 1882

Spring Lake [likely]

Monmouth House

Wednesday, August 23, 1882

No newspaper reports have been found a testing to the lecture in Spring Lake taking place. This is supported by reports that Wilde, “who was to lecture” failed to appear as announced, and his absence led some local boys to hang (by the arm-pits) an effigy of Oscar from a flagpole, complete with corset, sunflower, knee-breeches and Japanese parasol.

Conversely, the accounts of Wilde’s touring manager indicate lecture receipts of $172 for Spring Lake on this day. Based on this electric seems likely and that the press overlooked it in favor of the more newsworthy story of the hanging in effigy.

Ocean Beach (Belmar)

Columbia House

Friday, August 25, 1882

There is no evidence that this lecture took place, and it does not appear in the accounts of Wilde’s touring manager.

Atlantic City?

Unknown

Friday, August 25, 1882, or matinee on

Saturday, August 26, 1882

There is no evidence that this lecture took place, and it does not appear in the accounts of Wilde’s touring manager.

Indication only (opposite)

The Democratic Advocate, August 26, 1882, 2

Reminiscence (opposite)

Wilde’s tour manager, Colonel W. M. Morse recalls accompanying Wilde on a lecture in Atlantic City.

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Together with Essays and Stories by Lady Wilde, Volume 15: Oscar Wilde, his life, with a critical estimate of his writers, ch. IV American Lectures. (Aldine, 1910)

The Philadelphia Times, Aug 27, 1882, 4

Bogus Agent

Compounding the doubts about Wilde’s itinerary during this week at the Jersey Shore were reports of a bogus agent promoting Wilde lectures.

Port Jervis, NY

Opposite is an advertisement for a lecture at Port Jervis which did not take place. See the accompanying report of a G.W. Henderson claiming to be an agent for Oscar Wilde.

The Evening Gazette (Port Jervis, NY), Aug 25, 1882
Tri-States Union, (Port Jervis, NY), Sep 1, 1882, 6

Englewood Cliffs?

There is also a possibility of a lecture at the Palisades Mountain House Englewood Cliffs. As no report of the lecture has been found, Englewood may have been a victim of the bogus agent noted above.

Ellmann notes a lecture at Palisades Mountain House and may have read the same misleading reports. Ellmann also has the location wrong; Palisades Mountain House was at Englewood, NJ, on the Hudson River, and would have required a day trip from where Wilde was lecturing on the Jersey shore.

Palisades Mountain House

Wednesday, August 23, 1882

Indication only (opposite)

Bergen Index, August 22, 1882

Transcribed:

“Oscar Wilde will lecture at the Palisade [sic] Mountain house, tomorrow evening. Those who are anxious to see this character an opportunity is hereby offered."

Image credit (with thanks):

Francesca Costa, Public Historian, Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey.