John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026

Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Boston

Massachusetts


Music Hall

Tuesday, January 31, 1882


The English Renaissance

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The Paterson Weekly Press, Feb 2, 1882, Oscar Wilde

Verification

Newspaper report

The Paterson Weekly Press, Feb 2, 1882, 2


This was the lecture when about 60 Harvard freshmen occupied the front rows dressed to imitate their aesthetic lecturer. Wilde, having changed his costume before coming on stage, looked around the hall and said: "Save me from my disciples!" (Harvard Crimson, Feb 1, 1882).


Michèle Mendelssohn posits that Wilde and his management had orchestrated this stunt by the students to redress the damage to Wilde reputation being perpetrated by those with a vested interest in his being used as a figure of ridicule.

Making Oscar Wilde, OUP Oxford (2018) p. 112.

Music Hall Music Hall Place, off Winter Street, Boston, MA (now 1 Hamilton Place off Tremont Street)

Venue

Music Hall

Music Hall Place, off Winter Street, Boston, MA (now 1 Hamilton Place off Tremont Street)

Built: 1852

Closed: 1900, converted for vaudeville use as the Orpheum Theatre

Substantially rebuilt: 1915 as a movie theater (The Orpheum), Thomas W. Lamb, architect

Building extant

Music Hall Music Hall Place, off Winter Street, Boston, MA (now 1 Hamilton Place off Tremont Street)

Accommodation

Vendome Hotel

SW corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA


Built: 1871 (William G. Preston, architect)

Sold: 1879

Expanded: 1881-82 (J.F. Ober, architect)

Sold: 1971, renovated

Partially destroyed (fire): June 17, 1972*. Subsequently rebuilt

Extant as an office and condominium complex


* In terms of loss of life, the Vendome fire is the worst fire-fighting disaster in Boston history. Nine fire-fighters died when a 40-by-45 foot section of wall collapsed burying a ladder truck (Ladder 15) and seventeen firefighters beneath a two-story pile of debris.

Vendome Hotel before extension
Vendome Hotel heyday
Vendome Hotel
Former Vendome Hotel

Related:

Short video of historical photographs (YouTube)

Back Bay Houses


John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026