Oscar Wilde photographed at the start of his American lecture tour.
Oscar Wilde’s American lecture tour of 1882 began in New York on 9 January and ended in the same city on 27 November. Wilde travelled all the way to San Francisco, toured the Southern states as far west as Texas, and twice visited Canada.
The tour was promoted by Richard D’Oyly Carte, the impresario behind Gilbert and Sullivan’s succesful comedy operas, and managed by Colonel W. F. Morse from Carte’s offices on Broadway.
Quite a few of Wilde’s letters to Morse survive and are transcribed in Merlin Holland and Rupert Hart-Davis’s The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde (2000).Holland, M. & Hart-Davis, R. (eds)(2000) The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, Fourth Estate, 138, 141, 146–9, 155, 163, 169, 174, 183 But only one of Morse’s letters to Wilde is reproduced in Stuart Mason’s Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (1914).Mason, S. (ed.) (1914) Bibliography of Oscar Wilde, T. Werner Laurie, 257 This is to be regretted, as it means that the picture we have of the working relationship between the two men is visible largely through Wilde’s eyes rather than those of his manager.
Recently I requested from the Fales Library at New York University copies of a bundle of letters to Wilde, and found that it included two letters from Morse that have never, to my knowledge, been printed, although they were seen by Matthew Sturgis, author of the biography Oscar: A Life (2018). I transcribe them here, with annotations that explain Morse’s obscure references.
24 Apr. 1882
Dear Mr Wilde,
Yours of 17th relative to southern tour recd[.]Wilde wrote to Morse from Kansas City on 17 April, informing his manager that ‘I have received a good offer for two months’ light lecturing in the South which I am anxious to visit’ (Holland & Hart-Davis, 163). I have cabled to Mr Carte and can advise you as soon as his reply is recd.Carte had visited New York shortly after Wilde’s first American lecture but by this time had returned to the UK.
All the time is filled up to May 20th as per schedule herewith and will I think pay well.For Wilde’s lecture schedule, see https://www.oscarwilde.us/lectures-1882/the-full-list.html. On 20 May Wilde lectured in Montreal for the second time. Morse’s comments imply that the first tour of Canada was arranged in at least two parts: lectures up to 20 May were arranged first and then later dates in Canada were added later, and beyond the date when Morse had expected Wilde to return to the US.
For the New York lecture about May 10th I propose to announce the lecture on ‘Art Decoration’ as I think this would be a more popular subject than any other.Wilde lectured in New York on 11 May, after lecturing in Philadelphia on the 10th. The subject was as Morse advised.
The last lecture on about May 24 or 25th I propose to arrange for in Newport.As it would transpire, Wilde lectured in Canada between 15 and 31 May. The lecture in Newport, which was far from Wilde’s last, was given on 15 July. This will not be announced until I have seen you.
The cambric shirt will be ordered and ready for you when you arrive.In a letter tentatively dated to 26 February Wilde wrote to Morse from St Louis to request that his manager order two new costumes from a costumier in New York (Holland & Hart-Davis, 141). The items requested included ‘little ruffs of cambric coming up from under collar’.
Very truly
W. F. Morse
20 Nov. 1882
Dear Mr Wilde,
I enclose cheque for #500.Morse appears to use the symbol referred to as either a hash or pound sign. In the US, the pound sign was used to denote weight in pounds rather than value in UK currency, but Morse may be using it in the latter sense. Then again, £500 would be an extremely and improbably large amount of money, and Morse is much more likely to be referring to dollars. The whole amount due now is #550 11/ without a return from Moncton which has not yet come [illeg. wd.] and exclusive of the petty cash [?a/c] which is still open.Wilde lectured in Moncton on 12 October. I cannot get a box for the opening night of the new opera as all were taken a week ago.The new opera referred to must be Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, which opened at New York’s Standard Theatre on 25 November 1882. Wilde somehow obtained a ticket, as he was seen at the premiere (‘Pen and Pencil’, The New York Mirror (New York, NY), 2 Dec. 1882, 3). It is very doubtful if three decent seats can be had as all the house was sold except the very last row before 10 o clock today. I may be able to find some uncalled for and in that case can get them but it is very doubtful, as there are hundreds spoken for in advance that cannot be given. I have got track of the Australian man Lyons and have written him. At present it looks as though I could not go myself. I shall know definitely on Monday.Wilde had been telling interviewers since April that he was considering a tour of Australia. In an interview printed on 26 November he said, ‘I am waiting to go to Australia, because I cannot find anyone to go with’ (‘Oscar Wilde Prostrated’, The Cincinnati Commercial (Cincinnati, OH), 26 Nov. 1882, 7, in Marland, R. (ed.) (2022) Oscar Wilde: The Complete Interviews, I, Jena, 494–6, 496). He never visited Australia.
Yours truly
W. F. Morse