Oscar Wilde

It was on this day in 1882 that the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde docked in New York. Customs asked him if he had anything to declare. Oscar Wilde replied, "Nothing but my genius." Wilde had come to the United States for a lecture tour, which was set up as a publicity stunt for a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta called Patience (1881), which poked fun at the Aesthetic movement. The producers of the operetta were concerned that the United States wouldn't know what Aestheticism was, since it was a British movement, and that they wouldn't think Patience was funny. So in order to educate the general public about Aestheticism before trying to satirize it, the producers arranged for a lecture tour from England's most prominent Aesthete personality, Oscar Wilde.Many people thought Wilde was ridiculous. But his lecture tour did well in surprising places, like the rough mining town of Leadville, Colorado, where the miners loved him, and he enjoyed himself, as well. It was there in Leadville that he saw a sign at the local saloon that said, "Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best." Oscar Wilde later said that it was "the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across."