Milwaukeeans looking to enjoy a Sunday night out had a few options on March 5, 1882. They could have gone over to the Academy of Music, which billed itself as "the only legitimate theater in the city," for the 8 p.m. performance of Audran's "The Mascotte!" For 25¢ they could enjoy 60 artists, including a full chorus of 30 fresh voices and an enlarged orchestra -- all part of Hess' Acme (no kidding!) Opera Co.
Or, you could have headed to Nunnemacher's Grand Opera House, which occupied the site of the Pabst Theatre, until it burned to the ground in 1893. You would have been among just a few hundred people who heard acclaimed -- and controversial -- Irish author Oscar Wilde speak. Wilde, a shameless self-promoter, was in Milwaukee as part of a months-long lecture tour of the United States. His "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was still nine years off and the success of "The Importance of Being Earnest" wouldn't come for another 13 years.
But Wilde, who was born in Dublin in 1854, was by no means unknown. As a proponent of Aestheticism, which lauded the beautiful works of nature over the accomplishments of man, Wilde was destined to be controversial. But that also had a lot to do with his much-discussed "effeminate" poses, long hair and outlandish clothing.
In fact, the Milwaukee Sentinel, in an interview with Wilde that was conducted the morning of his appearance (he had arrived at 11:30 p.m. the night before and checked into the Plankinton House hotel on Broadway and Michigan), couldn't help but poke some fun. Readers knew what to expect from the interview thanks to an accompanying line drawing of a limp-wristed dandy clasping a flower and the headlines:
{INSERT_RELATED}"Arrival in Milwaukee of the Distinguished Apostle of the Beautiful."
"How the Sunflower-and-Lily Young Man Looked and What He Had to Say."
"Long on Hair and Short on Breeches the Only Striking Peculiarities."
The next day's review of the 26-year-old Wilde's event packed a bit more punch, noting the small turnout and the audience's early departure and taking some shots.
"The eccentric genius who is in search of 'The Beautiful' and the Ducat, delivered a lecture on 'Decorative Art' a the Opera House last evening. The audience was distressingly small, not more than 200 or 300 people having gathered to hear the muchly-advertised patron saint of the sunflower and the lily followers. Probably one third of the audience left before the conclusion of the lecture, which was delivered in one hour and ten minutes."
In addition to the unnamed reviewer's suggestion in his lead that Wilde was driven by the dollar (Ducat) as much as by artistic considerations, he (or she, although it was 1882, wasn't it?) spent an inordinate number of column-inches describing Wilde's appearance and manners.
"Placing one of his white-gloved hands on the little stand and STRIKING AN AGONIZING ATTITUDE, rolled his eyes ceilingward and without a formal introduction or any introductory remarks, began his lecture, speaking with a most peculiar accent.
"He wore full aesthetic regalia: full dress-coat, double breasted white vest, turn-down collar, pale blue, almost white, cravat, white gloves, and tight-fitting knee-breeches. ... He is tall, not very well proportioned, round shouldered, with a head too large for the body, and wears long, wavy black hair. His face is not pleasant to look at, and the great Apostle of 'The Beautiful' cannot very well be called a thing of beauty. ... He speaks with a drawl and his voice is at times coarse and rasping. The lecture was not even interrupted by applause."
Ouch.
The reviewer followed with a fairly lengthy synopsis of Wilde's remarks and closed with an anecdote that was sure to illustrate the speaker's hypocrisy.
"At the close of the lecture the speaker made his bow and sought to leave the stage. ... He failed to find the exit. Turning again he bowed awkwardly to the audience and walked over behind the wings."
Wilde, apparently, proceeded to lash out at a Sentinel reporter (perhaps this explains the daily paper's vitriol) and at an employee who is quoted as saying "Mr. Wilde, we thought it would open."
According to the reporter, Wilde wasn't having it.
"'Don't "Mr. Wilde" me; I am of noble birth. Treat me as becomes my station -- with respect.' He then turned and walked away, shouting. ... Mr. Wilde will return to Chicago on the early train this morning."
But, it seems, despite the supposedly poor reception, neither the reviewer nor the previous morning's interviewer could help but add that Wilde had a favorable impression of Cream City.
"He took a ride yesterday afternoon," the former wrote, "and was greatly pleased with Milwaukee."
The latter wrote, "He said that his stay in America had been made pleasant in many ways and that he was glad to visit Milwaukee, which he had heard spoken of as a beautiful city. The weather permitting he expected to see a good deal of it to-day."
Good or bad, Milwaukee's press didn't linger long on the subject of Wilde's lankiness, long hair or beliefs. By Tuesday the Sentinel was concerned with more home-grown topics like the building of a new home for the common council, which the previous day adopted a resolution for a new city hall, which the Sentinel rightly described as "a splendid municipal building."
As for Wilde, he was convicted in 1895 of several counts of "gross indecency," and served two years hard labor. He was exiled to France upon his release from prison and died three years later in Paris, where he was buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery, where he rests for eternity with the likes of Edith Piaf, Amedeo Modigliani and some American guy named Jim Morrison.
The photos that accompany this story were taken in January 1882 during Wilde's U.S. tour. At the top is an advertisement for his Milwaukee appearance.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
