#The Top Toasts of 1895
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𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 .
i. what does your muse smell like?
a light, floral perfume - top notes of citrus, heart notes of tuberose and jasmine, and deep, underlying base notes of sandalwood and vanilla. it’s her signature scent - one she’s had created especially for her within columbia; and while it is often imitated, it is never duplicated. under that, she smells of fresh linens and lye soap, toasted sugar and caramel. if she’s stressed, however - or has been on her own - she’ll smell of too much perfume and the underlying, acrid bite of cigarette smoke.
ii. what do your muse’s hands feel like?
soft. she’s never done any hard labour in her life and is always wearing gloves and applying creams. she’s got long fingers and impeccably maintained and manicured nails - smooth, near perfect. there’s a callous that has formed on the left side of her right middle finger from where her pens constantly rest upon the skin when she writes - it’s the only noticeably rough area of her hands, and it shows up as a permanently raised bump when she is not wearing gloves.
iii. what does your muse usually eat in a day?
life at comstock house is dictated by schedules and briefings - and as lady of the house, amelia approves and runs these schedules, ensuring that all inside keep time properly. that being said - amelia usually plans her meals a week in advance, and every meal is always grand, given her status.
for breakfast, it depends on if she is receiving guests in the morning - if so, it will be a formal buffet breakfast in the informal dining room. beginning with fruit courses, it would then be followed by a mild dish based with cream before breakfast plates were laid. coffee and tea are readily available during this entire event - eggs of any sort (preferably boiled or poached) are served, followed by a light tomato salad, chicken, and rice. the final course would be a cold fruit dessert. this sort of breakfast only happens if the comstocks are having overnight guests - usually, amelia is served a breakfast of fruit, toast, and one soft boiled egg with tea in her bedroom via tray.
lunch is an equally elaborate affair, with service at the table from staff. again, it starts off with a fruit course, followed by a plain soup (usually broth), oysters and bread, roast chicken with mushroom sauce, and small filets with a spiced brown sauce. this would be accompanied with roast potatoes, salad with a vinaigrette, and then finished with parfaits, bonbons, cakes, and coffee. amelia prefers smaller scale lunches since she usually eats alone and will often take just a sandwich from dinner leftovers and coffee - but she is ever a perfect hostess, and must make sure her guests are fed when they are in her wing of the mansion for lunch; which happens more often than not.
dinner always has guests. always. there are always politicians, lawyers, administrators and more who show up for dinner and once again includes table service. dinner would start with another light soup paired with sherry, then a lightly spiced fish (usually bass or trout) with a white wine. then, the main course would come - usually fowl, mutton, or beef with champagne or claret wine. this part of dinner would also come with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables. the next course would be wild game such as pheasant or quail, with round potatoes and another round of claret. then, the vegetable courses and cheeses before the table was finally cleared and more wine was set out; followed by ice wine, sweets, cakes, and mousses. dinner would end with the ladies leaving to the drawing room to drink tea and coffee while the men would smoke and drink in the formal dining room before joining the women in the drawing room. amelia finds it exhausting.
iv. does your muse have a good singing voice?
she did. once. amelia had a fine singing voice that was light and clear - she might have been able to go upon a stage, had her station in life not been so secure. as it stands, it was always a treat to hear her sing at parties; and she had a great many admirer in her youth who would come flocking to her after hearing her sing and play. however, the attempt on her life in 1895 has left her with permanent damage in her throat in the form of one paralyzed vocal chord that she never quiet gained use of again after speech therapy. as such, she cannot sing - it’s hoarse and quite, and can send her into fits of coughing or cause her physical pain to sing. she doesn’t talk about it any more. no one asks.
v. does your muse have any bad habits or nervous ticks?
smoking and swearing. not that anyone will ever catch the holy mother doing either of these activities - but she is an avid smoker when stressed and could never quite muster the ability to quit; and while she knows it wouldn’t look right for the average worshipper to see the holy mother smoking a branded cigarette - she does partake in private quite often. in tandem with that, her time in new york’s underbelly and her own spiteful nature has armed her with an arsenal of swear words that she often uses when stressed or angry. it’s not uncommon for staff to hear muffled swearing from her office when passing by - and something that is better left unmentioned.
vi. what does your muse usually look like/wear?
amelia dresses in the latest fashions - often stolen from french papers below - and is always sumptuously dressed in exquisitely tailored gowns. the cuts and shapes are always perfectly fitted to her with nary a wrinkle, and are always ahead of the curve - however, her dresses are never garish or gaudy in nature. they’re usually relatively plain - blues of all shades in satins and velvet accented with white and the occasional gilt trim. subtle embroidery and lace inserts - always light and airy, never dark; never drab. everything lies in the cut of her gowns and the way they shape and form her. her shoes are always polished patent leather, her gloves are always buttoned at the wrist; accented with her wedding bands and at her throat her now iconic string of pearls and matching earrings. her hair is always done up in elaborate styles; accented with ribbon or pearls; obscured by a lace wimple that she often wears when out in lieu of hats. there is never a hair out of place, never anything off - she is, in essecence, practically perfect in appearance; as she must be a shining example for all.
vii. is your muse affectionate? how much? how so?
it depends. she’s long since given up on being affectionate towards her husband but her children inspire infinite amounts of verbal and physical affection; she’s always stroking their hair, cupping their face; giving them treats and fussing with their clothing. they are, after all, her family. with lovers she’s affectionate but distant - a hand on their arm; stroking a lock of hair behind their ear, a tap on the small of their back. with devotees and strangers, she keeps herself aloof. cold. untouchable. not even administrative workers or politicians can touch or approach her without her permission, and she prefers to keep others at arm’s length.
viii. what position does your muse sleep in?
on her left side, slightly curled up. she’s a light sleeper and wakes easily - be it via nightmares or sudden noises. even a creaking floorboard could wake her up; and she doesn’t fall back asleep easily.
ix. could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room?
no. amelia knows where the creaks and groans of the floorboards are in comstock house by now; and has trained herself to be a light and quick step. the only thing someone could hear is the rustling of her dress - but her footfalls are near silent. she wishes to pass through halls in peace. she wishes to be left alone.
tagged by: stole it from @sanguisvirginis bc i am a little dash goblin
tagging: STEAL IT TOO
#ask to tag //#strangulation mention //#🕊️❝ sanctify them by truth: your word is truth ( headcanons. )
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Puttin’ on the Ritz
No fame is more fleeting than the showbiz kind. Some entertainers are just too much in and of a particular time. In the 1920s Harry Richman was a big star, billed as the Greatest Entertainer In America. He could sing and play piano, dance and act a little; he ran a hugely successful nightclub, was the toast of Broadway and, very briefly, a star in Hollywood; he wrote or introduced several songs that are still sung. But most of all he just personified the Roaring Twenties. He was the sleek, rakish, vaguely smarmy bon vivant in top hat and tails who was enjoying the decade's non-stop party as much as you were. It's been said that he was to the 1920s what the Rat Pack were to their era. Harry's career peaked just as the party crashed to a halt at the end of the decade, and he faded out in the 1930s. If his name comes up at all today, it's probably less often as an entertainer than as a footnote in aviation history.
He was born Harry Reichman in Cincinnati in 1895. His dad, a Russian Jewish immigrant, started out peddling eyeglasses door to door, carrying all his equipment on his back. He worked his way up to a prosperous wholesale business and real estate empire, and developed a taste for the high life. It killed him by the time Harry was an adolescent. In his thoroughly entertaining (sometimes suspiciously so) 1966 autobiography A Hell of a Life, Harry paints himself as a fecklessly scheming kid who grew up quick. At nine, he writes, he was a weekend ticket taker at an amusement park, shortchanging every customer he could because he was saving up to marry his childhood sweetheart. One night he showed off his ill-gotten riches by taking the girl out on the town. They stayed out too late to go home, so Harry got them a hotel room. When the cops burst through the door in the wee hours they found the kids sleeping fully clothed on separate beds. A doctor confirmed that the girl's honor was intact. Her dad put the kibosh to their romance anyway.
Harry's mother bought him piano lessons, dreaming he'd be a concert pianist, but like most kids at the time he was more interested in ragtime and jazz. He left home at around fourteen and headed to Indianapolis. There he and a kid who played fiddle went door to door in the kind of neighborhoods where an upright in the parlor wasn't uncommon. They'd bang out a few popular tunes for spare change. As Remington & Reichman they were soon touring the very small-time Webster circuit of vaudeville theaters in the Dakotas and Canada, known to vaudevillians as the Death Trail. Harry kept working his way around the west, singing at the piano in saloons and whorehouses, working as a singing waiter in restaurants, as part of a "Hawaiian" hula act in a circus sideshow. At the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco he was in a musical act that opened for Harry Houdini, fifteen shows a day. Playing in Los Angeles clubs favored by the movie crowd he got to be pals with Charlie Chaplin and Al Jolson, whom he idolized. Jolson got him a shot at Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, the late-night club revue that gave Eddie Cantor his big break. Harry raced to New York, but flopped and was canned after only one night. He was so despondent he ran off and joined the Navy.
He arrived back in New York in 1920, just when Prohibition did too. Now he and the city were ready for each other. On vaudeville stages he found work as an accompanist for headliners like the singer Nora Bayes and the beautiful twin Dolly Sisters, and for a while was Mae West's on-stage pianist and straight man. He was reluctant to speak lines at first because he had a lisp that he could hide more easily when singing. West convinced him it was a distinguishing feature. He soon got top billing on his own on the Keith-Albee circuit. He also played at ritzy speakeasies like the Beaux Arts, where, he claims, Prohibition's hostess with the mostest Texas Guinan stole her signature line "Give the little girls a big hand" from him.
Nils T. Granlund, known as NTG, was both a radio pioneer and the publicist for Marcus Loew's movie theater empire. He hired Harry to headline live radio shows from Loew's State Theatre, the movie palace in Times Square. Harry plugged new songs on air, like Billy Rose's "Does the Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" With NTG's help he opened his own Club Richman just behind Carnegie Hall. Harry made it one of the most opulent and exclusive nightclub/speakeasies in town. A lot of Broadway and movie stars became regulars, as of course did Mayor Jimmy Walker, and the Vanderbilts and Whitneys, and foreign royalty -- you saw everybody who was anybody there.
Or wanted to be somebody, like the chorus girl Lucille Le Seur. Accounts vary as to how Lucille got into the swank club. In one version, she convinced NTG, her sugar daddy at the time, to get her a spot in the club dancing the Charleston. NTG introduced her to Loew, who arranged a screen test at MGM, where she'd get her first tiny roles in 1925. Studio chief Louis B. Mayer decided her name sounded like Le Sewer, so the studio ran a publicity campaign in which the fans got to give her a new name: Joan Crawford. She never liked it.
For his part, Harry claimed that he discovered Crawford. He did have an eye for the beauties. He was one of the first to spot Jean Harlow, Sally Rand and Maureen O'Sullivan. Harry was an infamous ladies' man, bedding a long line of beauties from chorus girls to socialites to Harlow, maybe Rand, and Clara Bow. According to Harry, his office at the club had a secret door for sneaking them in and out while their husbands or dates drummed their fingers at their tables thinking they were just taking a long time powdering their noses. He says that the Hollywood Bowl couldn't hold all the women he had, and classes himself "a specialist in man's favorite sport."
Between the club and his other gigs Harry minted money and became the playboy nonpareil. He wore the finest bespoke suits and carried a gold cigarette case with his initials on it in diamonds. He commuted in a Rolls from Manhattan to his big house out on the water in Beechhurst, Queens, where he had a yacht and threw Gatsby-like parties for celebrities, beauties and millionaires. He learned to fly and kept a growing fleet of planes at nearby Flushing Airport. Harry worked hard, played hard, drank oceans of booze and smoked whole fields of tobacco. Everyone marveled at his stamina and joie de vivre even in that over-the-top decade.
In 1926, while still playing the host at his club, Harry got a featured role on Broadway in George White's Scandals, one of several knockoffs of the Ziegfeld Follies. After a boffo year it toured other cities, including Cincinnati, where, he notes ruefully, it tanked. In 1930 he headlined Lew Leslie's International Revue, where he introduced "On the Sunny Side of the Street." And in 1931 he made it, finally, into the Follies as well. He got his choice of songs to perform, including "Lullaby of Broadway." He was at the top of his career in those shows, the king of Broadway; his friend Eddie Cantor memorably said he wore Broadway like a boutonniere.
He didn't do so well in Hollywood. He starred, playing himself as "Harry Raymond," in the 1930 musical Puttin' on the Ritz, in which he introduced the song by his pal Irving Berlin. The movie did mediocre business then and is barely watchable now except for that number, Harry gliding around in front of an army of dancers with his top hat tilted over one eye. His recording of the song, which some consider the best, was a hit. (Among his other records are Berlin's "Blue Skies," his own "Muddy Waters" and a pretty wonderful Jolson-ish rendition of "Ain't She Sweet.") While in Hollywood to make the film he met Clara Bow. Teamed up at first for publicity purposes only, they became a hot item and got engaged. Then she suddenly married someone else. Hearing the news, he says, was the only time in his life that he fainted.
He'd make only two more feature films and one short. He sums them up this way: "All were forgettable. It became clear to me that whatever I had was best projected in person, either on the stage or in a night club." By the time he made the last film, released in 1938, he was well past his prime. When the Depression hit and then Prohibition ended, guys like Harry, icons of the Roaring Twenties, just didn't fit the new reality. To his credit, he didn't hang around like some other ghosts of the 1920s did. He left New York and settled in Miami, which was booming and lousy with new nightclubs where he could coast for a few years on his dazzling past. He went fishing with Hemingway and played with his airplanes.
His real fame in the 1930s came in fact as a flyer. In the mid-1930s he'd set altitude and speed records. Then in 1935 he and the pilot Dick Merrill made the world's first round-trip transatlantic flight in a single-engine plane. They filled the plane with tens of thousands of ping-pong balls as flotation devices should they land in the soup. Harry being Harry, after reaching Wales on the outward leg of the trip, they flew on to Paris to party all night with Maurice Chevalier before making the return flight. They landed upside-down in a Newfoundland bog, but they made it. It wasn't as big a deal as Lindbergh's one-way crossing in 1927, but Harry calls it the high point of his life.
Harry didn't make much news after that. He played some clubs through the 1940s, his looks and voice rough from all that carousing and smoking. He still had lots of friends in the show business who tried to engineer comebacks for him, but the public had long since forgotten him. By the time A Hell of a Life came out in 1966 he'd spent the millions he'd made in his heyday and was living alone, quietly and frugally, in Burbank, an old guy who'd gone full-tilt as long as he could, had a hell of a lot of memories and not too many regrets. He died in 1972.
by John Strasbaugh
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Reassurance
Title: Reassurance
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/13793475
Square Filled: N4: Avengers Cuddle Pile!
Ship: None (Gen)
Rating: General Audiences
Major Tags: None
Summary: Following a hard battle, the Avengers rest, and make sure one of their own is okay.
Word Count: 1895
Created for @mcukinkbingo
Full Text Below:
Steve shuffled into the common room sluggishly, his feet dragging along the carpet. He should get a shower, but really, all he wanted to do right now was sleep. Still, the need to check on his teammates after the battle was persistent, and they’d all show up here eventually.
“Hey, Stevie,” Bucky muttered from his sprawl on the floor, his flesh arm thrown over his eyes and his metal one limp on the floor. It had taken a severe beating, and Steve was sure that Tony would get right on fixing it. In the morning. For now, the genius was probably so sleep-deprived that he’d end up blowing the lab sky high if he tried to tinker with anything.
“Mmph,” Steve replied, dropping down next to his friend, one arm flung over Bucky’s waist. “Wake me when I’m dead,” he managed to mutter. Bucky hummed in agreement, but otherwise didn’t move.
The sound of shuffling feet paused in the doorway, and Steve felt someone observing him and Bucky. “Oh, excellent. Heat,” Tony mumbled, staggering forward. A moment later, he was dropping down, directly on top of Steve’s back. Steve squeaked, his spine going tense as Tony’s freezing fingers tucked themselves against his back. Tony’s sigh of relief almost drowned out Bucky’s chuckle. Almost.
“Got some for you, too, Freezer Burn,” Tony told him blithely, then shifted. This time, Bucky made a pained sound, and Steve realized that Tony was now at an angle across the both of them, his hands still pressed to Steve’s back, and his feet off to the side - on top of Bucky.
“What the hell, Stark,” Bucky whined, though he made no moves to push the other man off.
“Yeah, turns out the ocean is pretty fucking cold this time of year,” Tony said almost conversationally, but Steve could hear the faint tremor in his voice, even as Tony’s teeth chattered. He slumped further against the floor, feeling guilty that he hadn’t been fast enough to stop the….acid, or whatever the hell it had been, from eating through Iron Man’s armor before a giant tentacle had slammed him into the water. Tony had been quick enough to call another suit to him - and War Machine had kept the giant kraken-snake hybrid occupied by shooting it in the eyes - and had managed to pull himself back out of the water within a few seconds, but it had been terrifying there for a few minutes.
“Ah, friend Anthony!” Thor greeted as he strode into the room, his exuberance almost painful to the men collapsed on the floor. How was it possible for the Asgardian to still have so much energy?! He had practically toasted the thing from the inside out with a huge bolt of lightning. The smell had been sickening. “It is good to see that you are well enough to have joined our Shield Brothers in their rest. Is there room for one more, perchance?”
“Knock it off with the perchances, and take a load off,” Tony told him, one hand sliding out to beckon at Thor before burrowing back to its spot between Tony’s chest and Steve’s spine.
“Thank you, my friends,” Thor exclaimed before settling himself nearby. He still smelled of storms and electricity. Steve could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise, electricity tingling across his scalp and shoulders.
“Dammit, Thor,” Bucky complained. “Why the fuck do you still have so much energy?”
Thor’s laughter rumbled through his chest as he settled on the floor by Steve. Tony promptly rolled over and dropped his head on Thor’s lap. “I find battle invigorating!” he exclaimed. “Do you not feel the same?”
Tony whined. “No, I don’t feel the same,” he grumbled. “Flying is exhilarating. Inventing a new element is exhilarating. Battling a giant demon squid-hydra hybrid is not fucking exhilarating!” Thor laughed again, joined by Steve while Bucky just mumbled his agreement.
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Sam asked, strolling casually into the room and eyeing the small pile of Avengers on the floor. “Giant demon squid-hydra hybrid?”
“I’d flip you off, but that would require actual effort,” Tony muttered. “You can call it whatever you want, I don’t care.”
Sam grinned, wandering into the kitchen and rummaging around in the fridge for a few minutes. The fridge door clinked, and a moment later, Sam dropped a pile of water bottles near them before settling himself on the floor, his back leaning against the couch behind him. He cracked open one of the water bottles and took a long drink, then let his head drop back against the couch. He stretched his legs out, burying them under Bucky’s thighs. The Soldier just glared at him, but didn’t bother moving, and Sam smirked.
“What’s this? Are we having a cuddle party and nobody told me?” Clint demanded, dragging a tolerantly amused Natasha into the room with him. “Not fair!” he protested.
“Oh my god, shut up, Katniss,” Tony told him. “How about you make yourself useful like Wilson here and get us some food?”
Clint laughed as he dropped next to them, pulling Natasha into his lap. “Sure! Jarvis, order us the usual post-mission feast, would you?” he asked.
“Of course, Agent Barton,” the AI replied politely. “Expected arrival is thirty-five minutes.”
“Thanks, J! You’re awesome,” Clint complimented him. Tony forgave him and moved enough to roll one of the water bottles his way. “Thanks,” Clint said, cracking it open and offering it to Natasha first, before taking a sip of his own. He rolled slightly to the side so that his shoulder was pressed against Sam’s. “So...that majorly sucked,” he said at last.
Tony snorted. “You think?” he asked sarcastically. “The Mark Forty-Seven is not made for underwater battle. If I had know that was going to happen, I would have brought the Rubber Duckie.”
There was a long moment of silence as the other Avengers contemplated the words that had just come out of Tony’s mouth. It was, naturally, Clint who then demanded, “Rubber Ducky? Do you really have an armor nicknamed Rubber Ducky?” When no answer was forthcoming, he turned to yell over his shoulder, “Does Tony really have a Rubber Ducky armor?”
“Stop saying Rubber Ducky, you sound like a two-year-old,” Rhodey told him; but he answered anyway. “Yes, Tony has an armor he designed solely for underwater combat. He nicknamed it Rubber Ducky.”
“I fail to see why this surprises you,” Natasha told Clint, her hands scritching lightly against the blonde’s scalp. “He has robots he built that he named DUM-E, Butterfingers, and U. I don’t know why you would expect the armors to be any different.”
“I’d resent that if it wasn’t true,” Tony admitted.
The eighth member of their little group wandered into the room and observed them all with mild consternation. “You do realize that there is actual furniture in this room?” he asked. “Very nice furniture, even.”
Tony lifted his head, his extremities finally warming up, thanks to super soldier heat output. “Well, yeah, but there’s not enough room on the couch for all of us,” he pointed out. “Which sort of defeats the purpose of a cuddle pile.” There were various murmurs of agreement from the others, and Phil just sighed quietly and walked over, eyeing the sprawled out Avengers again before shrugging and dropping to the couch, stretching out along its length. One of his hands reached down and brushed against Clint’s back, a small anchor to the rest of the group. Clint smiled, turning his head to kiss the inside of Phil’s wrist, while Natasha shifted enough to wrap one hand lightly around the Agent’s ankle.
“Excellent,” Tony murmured, noting that only one Avenger was missing. “Jarvis, where’s Bruce?” he asked, hoping that the other man would decide to join them tonight. The Hulk had been needed to take down their opponent this time, and that meant that Bruce might not be wanting anybody else’s company now.
“Bruce is right here,” he man in question spoke up as he entered, carrying a pile of familiar boxes with him. “The food arrived on my way up,” he added, dropping the boxes of pizza onto a nearby table before scooping up another bottle of water and dropping down to the floor, close to the rest of the group. Tony immediately abandoned the two soldiers in favor of rolling over and wrapping his arms around Bruce’s waist. Bruce looked down at him with a fond, quiet smile, one hand sliding upwards to run through Tony’s hair. The genius practically purred, making Bruce chuckle.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving,” Sam spoke up, groaning as he climbed to his feet, earning a protest from Clint as his support was suddenly taken away. “Anybody else?” he offered magnanimously. He got a chorus of enthusiastic approval and huffed as he started putting pizza on plates and handing them around.
Bruce accepted a plate for both himself and Tony, his hand moving from Tony’s hair to the back of his neck and then sliding down his arms to brush along his fingers. “Still cold?” he asked quietly, concern evident in his tone.
“A little,” Tony admitted, not able to lie to his best friend. It wasn’t like Bruce couldn’t feel how chilly his hands still were. “It’s a lot better now, though,” he added. “Steve and Buckaroo helped.”
“I’m sure,” Bruce murmured wryly, then looked up with a murmur of thanks at Phil, who had gotten up from the couch to offer them the afghan that sat along the back of it. Accepting it, Bruce dropped the heavy blanket over Tony and urged him to sit up so he could eat.
Tony grumbled at losing his comfortable spot, but sat up, shivering as the cooler air of the room hit him before the blanket settled back around his shoulders. Silently, Bruce shifted so that he leaned against Tony’s left side, a warm line of heat. Steve stood to help Sam distribute the pizza, handing out the last couple of pieces before dropping back to the floor, this time behind Tony, his legs on either side of Tony’s hips.
Once he was settled, Steve looked at Bucky pointedly. The Soldier rolled his eyes, but scooted over so that he was seated on Tony’s other side. It was sorely tempting to be a dick and sprawl across Tony’s lap, but since Tony had been hit with the acidic spit while knocking Bucky out of its way, he supposed he could at least loan his body heat to the other man.
Tony raised an eyebrow at him, then rolled his eyes, making it clear that he knew exactly what was going on, but he didn’t move from his position leaning tiredly against Bruce’s shoulder.
“Oooh! Are we cuddling Tony now?” Clint asked, as excitable as always. Natasha simply stood up and moved over, settling herself back down by Tony’s knees. Tony gave her a tired smile of thanks, then let his eyes drift shut. He was barely aware of the remaining Avengers moving to curl up around him, a show of solidarity and support. He was safe and warm and full, surrounded by people that he’d risk his life for, and that would do the same for him.
Safe in the middle of the Avengers Cuddle Pile, Tony slept.
#mcukinkbingo2017#celtic7irish#celtic's fics#avengers#mcu#tony stark#cuddles#fluff#friendship#bruce banner#bucky barnes#steve rogers#James Rhodey Rhoades#phil coulson#natasha romanov#clint barton#sam wilson#thor
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A long weekend in New Haven: where to eat, what to do, and where to stay
New Haven is Connecticut’s second-largest city, and to most it’s synonymous with two things: Yale University and pizza. Yale plays a large role in the city’s culture and the pizza is indeed up there with the best in America, but a recent visit at the invitation of Market New Haven revealed that New Haven is multi-layered and multi-faceted, a great walking town with a fascinating history, with an abundance of fun things to do and sights to see, making it a fabulous destination for a weekend jaunt.
New Haven was actually the very first planned city in America, laid out in 1638 by English Puritans according to a grid that today comprises the heart of downtown and is centered around New Haven Green, which is still the city’s town square. Like any American city that’s been around for so long, it played a role in the American Revolution (and, as it survived the Revolution relatively unscathed, many colonial features were saved), but its historical claims to fame go far beyond that: It’s where Eli Whitney developed the cotton gin and where Samuel Colt invented the revolver, it’s where the famous Amistad slave trial was held, and it’s the city that gave birth to the steamboat, the submarine, the corkscrew, the telephone directory and public phone, the lollipop, the Frisbee, the hamburger (more on that later), and the Erector Set. From the 1950s to the 1990s the city saw a period of decline (which necessitated — and was exacerbated by — an “urban renewal” project that saw parts of Downtown demolished), but within the past 20 years the city has bounced back with a vengeance, and it’s become a cultural destination for restaurants, bars, retail, and nightlife, with an influx of high-end housing developments and multi-use conversions of historic buildings making it a fantastic place to live and visit.
After a quick train ride from New York City (about an hour and 40 minutes) and a brief cab ride, we checked into our hotel, The Study at Yale, which we’d strongly recommend. It’s a short walk from the New Haven Green and is located right in the heart of Yale’s campus, so not only are you just a short jaunt from all of Yale’s theaters and museums (including its legendary Yale University Art Gallery), your hotel room might also provide a spectacular view of the campus and its Federal-style architecture. The hotel is sleek and modern, our room was bright and cozy, and the hotel’s restaurant, Heirloom, is a favorite among locals and visitors alike (more on that later).
If you have a free afternoon, just walking around Yale University’s campus and New Haven Green provides ample opportunity for distraction, but there are a few things you shouldn’t miss: the Art Gallery (which is home to more than 200,000 objects d’art), the Louis Khan-designed Yale Center for British Art, which is home to the largest collection of British art outside the U.K., and the famed Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which is home to an astonishing array of old books (including the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, which has never been deciphered).
After all that walking around, you’re going to get hungry, and if you’re in the mood for pizza, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re not familiar with New Haven-style pizza, it’s absolutely worth discovering if you consider yourself a pizza lover. And New Haven, with its large Italian population, is home to some of the country’s most legendary pizzerias, many of which date back to the 1920s and ‘30s. New Haven-style pizza is fired in a coal oven, and it typically has a thin, crisp, and chewy crust, a slightly oblong shape, and some amount of charring along the outside. It’s also unique in that a “plain” pie is only topped with tomato sauce, oregano, and a little pecorino romano — mozzarella cheese is considered a topping, and it needs to be requested.
The highlight of our visit was the opportunity to visit four legendary pizzerias — Frank Pepe, Sally’s Apizza, Modern Apizza, and the newer BAR — all in one afternoon, with Taste of New Haven’s Colin M. Caplan as our guide. Caplan is perhaps the country’s foremost authority on all things New Haven pizza (known around these parts as “apizza,” pronounced “ah-BEETZ”), as he’s literally written the book on New Haven Pizza and its storied history (you can buy a copy here).
We started at Frank Pepe, which opened here in 1925 and is widely credited with inventing New Haven-style pizza as we know it. (Not entirely coincidentally, it’s home to The Daily Meal’s pick for the best pizza in America, its signature white clam pie.) There are today 10 locations, but it all started right here, and many foodies consider a visit to Pepe’s a required culinary pilgrimage. If the concept of a mozzarella-free pie sounds weird to you, order the “plain” pie here, and the combination of the crisp, chewy crust, the slight char, the high-quality sauce (made with tomatoes delivered in Pepe-branded cans) and a sprinkle of pecorino will be a total paradigm-changer for you. You also owe it to yourself to order the famous white clam pie, which is topped simply with garlic, oregano, olive oil, grated pecorino, and freshly-shucked clams (and bacon if you’re feeling extra). It’s a masterpiece.
Up next, we visited BAR, which also happens to be one of the best bars in New Haven, serving a great assortment of beers (brewed in-house) in a fun and lively space. BAR’s pizzas are cooked in a brick oven, slightly less oblong than the competition, slightly less charred, and available with a wide array of toppings including oven-roasted hot peppers, roast chicken, shrimp and eggs. The mozzarella pie was fantastic, and the pepperoni was solid, but there’s one pizza that put this place on the map, and it’s a must-order: mashed potato and bacon. The crust gets a thin layer of creamy, garlicky mashed potatoes and a topping of crumbled bacon and fresh herbs; there’s nothing else quite like it, and it pairs perfectly with a house-brewed beer.
Up next, the legendary Sally’s Apizza. Sally’s was founded in 1938 by Frank Pepe’s sister, Filomena Pepe Consiglio, who named if after her son, Sal (who in turn ran the restaurant until his death in 1989). The pizza here will be familiar to you if you’ve been to Pepe’s: brick oven, slightly oblong, slightly charred. The plain, mozzarella, and pepperoni pies were all evenly cooked with a crisp, chewy crust and just the right amount of topping, and a real sleeper hit was the potato and onion pie, both sliced impossibly thin and artfully arranged from end to end. It was honestly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted, and that combined with the masterful preparation of the other pies made Sally’s my personal favorite apizza of the day (It was Sinatra’s favorite, as well).
With whatever stomach space remained rapidly dwindling, we made it to our last stop of the day: Modern Apizza. This was actually founded in 1934, even though it looks a lot newer than that (it resembles a traditional, newish Italian restaurant a lot more than the others do), and along with Pepe’s and Sally’s it forms what’s commonly referred to as the “Holy Trinity” of New Haven pizzerias. Pizzas here are fired in an oil-fueled brick oven (one of the last remaining examples in America, in fact), and as opposed to the light and crispy crusts of the competition, these pies were slightly heavier and wetter, and were the only ones of the bunch to have a sprinkling of cornmeal on the bottom. Both the plain and mozzarella were on-point if a little soggy (which isn’t a dig at all), and we were fans of the eggplant pie, which is topped with thin strips of fried eggplant. If you’re a fan of pizzas with lots of toppings, don’t miss the Italian Bomb, topped with sausage, bacon, pepperoni, mushrooms, onion, peppers, and garlic.
There should be one more stop on your New Haven food tour (after you’re regained your appetite, obviously): Louis Lunch, widely regarded as the birthplace of the hamburger. Founded as a tiny lunch wagon in 1895 and today only slightly larger than that, the diminutive restaurant (which founder Louis Lassen upgraded to in 1917) is perpetually crowded with pilgrims in search of the original burger, which (as legend has it) was invented by Lassen in 1900. The burgers served here are cooked in unique upright broilers (the same exact ones used by Lassen) and served on white toast, with cheese spread and sliced onions as the only optional toppings. Eating here is like stepping back in time, and it’s still run by the Lassen family.
Oh, and as for the burger? It’s exceptionally good: The beef is high-quality, fresh-ground in house daily, and formed into 6-ounce pucks, and eating it with just a slice of onion on toast really allows it to shine. The only rule? No ketchup!
Obviously, more restaurants have opened in New Haven since the 1930s, so if you’re looking for something other than pizza or a burger you’re in luck. Heirloom, the restaurant inside the Study at Yale (above), is one of the city’s best fine-dining restaurants, and is spacious and comfortable with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Chapel Street. The seasonally-driven menu is a real crowd-pleaser, with appetizers including warm local ricotta with thyme, truffle oil, and toast; a jar of whipped chicken liver pate with bacon jam; baked Connecticut clams; and roast octopus. Entrees include lamb ragù with house-made penne, seared Maine scallops with caramelized spaghetti squash, bouillabaisse, a grass-fed burger, and filet mignon. We really enjoyed our meal there; service was professional and knowledgeable, and the dining room has a really buzzy energy, especially around the bar area. It also serves breakfast, brunch, and lunch.
Another dinner option is Zinc, which is located right on New Haven Green and has been a local favorite since 1999. They’re sourcing ingredients from local farms and purveyors, and they’re turning them into creative New American dishes with a sprinkling of that oh-so-1999 trend, Asian fusion. Apps include a house-cured gravlax and sticky rice roll, Korean barbecue pork belly, and carrot and smoked cheddar fondue; and entrees include pork carnitas aji verde, ricotta gnocchi with sage brown butter and port-soaked figs, and Scottish salmon with risotto and roasted beets. Our meal there unfortunately had a couple issues — grilled rib-eye steak ordered medium-rare was served on the bloody side of rare, and we were seriously disappointed with the restaurant’s supposedly signature appetizer, duck nachos, which were essentially wonton chips doused in mayo and sour cream and topped with a heavy handful of microgreens; whatever scraps of duck were present were overcooked, flavorless pebbles (you can see one towards the bottom of the plate above). The salmon was nicely cooked, though, and honestly the best part of the meal were desserts from pastry chef Alba Estenoz: a pear perfectly poached in red wine and topped with homemade ice cream, and a multilayered “cake” of chocolate, rum, and caramel mousses served with a shot of caramel milk on the side. Both were spectacular, and worthy of a visit in their own right.
Another popular fine-dining destination is John Davenport’s, located on the top floor of the Omni Hotel on New Haven Green. We stopped in for a Saturday morning breakfast, and had a dizzying array of dishes to choose from — omelets, three Benedicts (traditional, smoked salmon, or lobster), smoked salmon platter, pancakes, waffles, French toast, corned beef hash, avocado toast — and a whole breakfast buffet! We settled on the lobster eggs Benedict and a Belgian waffle with strawberries and Vermont maple syrup. Both were expertly prepared — the lobster was fresh and nicely cooked, the hollandaise was perfectly tart and creamy, and the waffle was light and crisp.
Other standout restaurants in New Haven include Claire’s Corner Copia, serving healthy vegetarian fare since 1975; chef John Brennan’s Olives and Oil, serving creative Italian fare and top-notch cocktails in a cool and modern setting; Union League Café, a super high-end French restaurant; and Consiglio’s, an old-school red-sauce joint.
The cocktail scene in New Haven is also very strong. Ordinary is nestled into a bar room dating from 1910, inside a former hotel (the Taft) that can trace its roots to a colonial-era tavern. The bar room itself, and the back room, are covered in old wood, and it’s honestly one of the most beautiful, coziest bars I’ve ever imbibed in. The cocktails are creative and crafted with an eye for flavor and balance (they run the gamut from classic — like the Bee’s Knees to modern — like the Lawnmower Man (with cachaça, Suze, citrus, green juice, house celery bitters, and lemon verbena air) — and the punch bowls are parties unto themselves. Also worth visiting is Anchor Spa, a classic dive-turned classy cocktail bar; and Elm City Social, chef John Brennan’s first project, a fun and laid-back nightly party that also serves a killer lunch and dinner menu with something for everyone. Another ideal post-dinner retreat is Firehouse 12, a sleek and swanky cocktail bar and lounge that’s also home to a recording studio-grade music venue that plays host to mostly jazz musicians.
New Haven is a beautiful city, the perfect destination for an autumn retreat. Yale lends it a youthful energy, an influx of mixologists and chefs are revitalizing the dining and cocktail scene, it has a walkable and historic downtown, and it has some of the best pizza on Earth. It’s an ideal small city, and if you decide to spend a weekend taking it in, you won’t regret it.
The visit that was the subject of this review was hosted by Visit New Haven.
Source: https://www.thedailymeal.com/travel/long-weekend-new-haven
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Of Monocles and Mystery: Charles Douville Coburn
As Stanwyck’s shipboard cardsharp “father” in All About Eve (1942)
He’s one of the preeminent character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and, like Sydney Greenstreet and Marie Dressler, among the small club of performers who started hugely successful movie careers around age 60, which at the time was not “the new 50,” it was less Golden Age than Golden Years—time to sit on your laurels and yell “Hey, kids, get off my lawn!” Instead, having only months before lost Ivah, his beloved wife and professional partner of 31 years, Coburn got on a train to Hollywood for a one-picture deal at Metro and immediately became as indispensable to the movies as he had been to the American stage for nearly four decades.
I’m as fascinated by the latecomers as I am by the Rooneys, Garlands, and Dickie Moores who started their screen careers when they were barely out of diapers. I love to watch people grow up and find their voices, see how they chart their uncertain course in the business and in their personal lives. But those who come late to the party, fully formed and with full lives already behind them, are equally intriguing. What’s the story they carry in their voices and faces, where did they come from, what did life throw at them along the way, and how did they respond? What did life make of them, and what did they make of life?
In Coburn’s case, he was prominent enough that I figured there’d be a full-length biography, or if I got luckier, even a memoir.
I didn’t get lucky.
So after the obligatory stops at his Wiki and his entry in David Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film, I started nosing around for other blog posts. I read just one—Cliff Aliperti’s at his Immortal Ephemera site, mainly looking for clues and sources—and started poking around for online links.
This kind of research always puts me in mind of Citizen Kane, and I indulge in an entirely unearned identification with the nameless reporter character who spends the better part of a week trying to plumb the mystery of identity before wanly saying No, he hadn’t found out what Rosebud was, but in any case it wouldn’t have revealed who Kane really was—it was just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
Some of you know what this is like. You find contradictions and errors, or intriguing little factoids that raise way more questions than they answer.
With Coburn, this begins at the beginning, with his birth. Some bios say he was born in Savannah, Georgia, but it was actually, per Coburn himself, Macon, Georgia, in 1877, and it was a few years after that his family moved to Savannah. So Coburn was born in the heart of the Confederacy, where veterans of the war would have been everywhere and as Faulkner famously said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Do the place and era of his birth explain the fact that Coburn was supposedly a member of White Citizens’ Councils, white supremacist groups? He was a proud son of Georgia who left his papers to the University of Georgia. I ran across one reference to his railing against the 14th Amendment in a late-life interview. It is painful to confront things like this about a beloved actor, someone you feel as if you know. But of course, you don’t, and people are complicated.
All accounts say he began his theatrical career at the Savannah Theatre as a program boy, though he said he was 13 and other sources say 14—I’m inclined to go with his own recollection, though one can’t ever be sure the source isn’t exaggerating for effect….
But all sources including the primary one, our boy Charles, agree that having risen through all available jobs at the theater, when he was 18, he became the Savannah’s manager. This would make it 1895.
I found no references to his parents or the circumstances of his upbringing. Was he at the theater out of love, or did his family need the money? I’m thinking here of Claude Rains, who began his work in the theater at the age of 10, his childhood one of grinding poverty. But of Coburn, at least with what I found poking around online, we have to speculate or leave it alone.
Rich, pervy Uncle Stanley, In This Our Life (1942)
In 1901, he moved to New York. That leaves six years between 18 and 24 for him to practice his trade and prepare to take on the big time. He says he originally hoped to become a “light opera comedian,” but when he saw a Shakespeare play, he was lost, or maybe found. The classics would always be the foundation of his passion for theatre.
What was that New York like? Now I’m thinking of Marie Dressler in Dinner at Eight, her eyes misting with nostalgia as she recalls the New York of her greatest years, when she was the toast of the town, young, beautiful, talented, successful, and surrounded by adoring swains. She pictures snow, and carriage rides to Delmonico’s. Dressler could probably have drawn on her own memory for that moment. Coburn’s turn-of-the-century New York was probably a bit less misty, but it’s always a good idea to have one’s salad days in one’s youth, when one is strong and has a high tolerance for squalor.
But look, by 1905 he starts his own company, the Coburn Players, and meets Ivah. They marry in 1906 and until her death in 1937, they are partners in life and work. Supposedly they had six children. Supposedly one of them became an auto mechanic who married a teacher, moved to California, and fathered movie star James Coburn. Is this true? I do not know.
I found that Playbill has a terrific site with a database of old programs, and while it doesn’t list all of the 30-something Broadway shows in which Coburn was actor, director, producer, or all of the above, it did provide a bit of background for this largely ignored part of his career. Here’s Coburn’s bio from WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST of Around the Corner (1936); according to Playbill, it ran for only 16 performances:
WHO’S WHO IN THE CAST
CHARLES COBURN (Fred Perkins), one of America’s foremost actor-managers, was honored last June by Union College with the degree of Master of Letters in recognition of his services to the American theater. Having embarked to the “enchanted aisles,” that marital and professional partnership known as Mr. and Mrs. Coburn entered upon a lifelong devotion to the classics and other nobilities of the theatre, with a repertoire eventually accruing of sixteen plays of Shakespeare, one of Moliére, three from the Greek and more than a score of the Old English, early American and moderns. They have played under the auspices of a hundred colleges and universities and once—the only actors ever invited to do so—they gave an evening performance on the White House grounds. Some of Mr. Coburn’s most important New York appearances have been in “The Better ‘Ole,” “The Yellowjacket,” “The Imaginary Invalid,” “So This Is London,” “The Farmer’s Wife,” “French Leave,” “The Bronx Express,” “Old Bill, M.P.,” “Falstaff,” “The Plutocrat” and “Lysistrata.” Mr. Coburn was in the all-star casts of “Diplomacy,” “Peter Ibbetson,” “Trelawney of the Wells,” and The Players’ production of “Troilus and Cressida.” He was Father Quartermaine in “The First Legion.” Last season he was starred with William H. Gillette, and James Kirkwood in the revival of “Three Wise Fools,” and last June he played the title role in The Players’ revival of George Ade’s comedy, “The County Chairman.” Ol’ Bill, Falstaff, Macbeth, President of the Senate of Athens, Bob Acres, Rip Van Winkle, Col. Ibbetson, and Henry VIII are among the fine portraitures in his gallery of stage characters. At the invitation of President Dixon Ryan Fox of Union College, Schenectady, the Coburns have been importantly engaged during the past two summers in organizing and directing at that college The Mohawk Drama Festival and the separate but related enterprise, The Institute of the Theatre. The central feature of the Summer Session is a festival of great drama, presented by a distinguished professional company, now established as an annual event of national significance taking on a character similar to that of the Stratford and Malvern festivals in England. /
The Coburns were part of the top echelon of the New York theater scene. For the 31 years of their marriage, they moved in those circles. I found this 1942 New York Times piece on Coburn, which has some wonderful color and detail about his life, where he lived, his sense of humor.
“Piggy,” Lorelei Lee’s dishonorably intentioned diamond mine owning friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
NYT, 1/18/42, p162, by Theodore Strauss
via TimesMachine
A Man and His Monocle
Charles Coburn, Traditionalist, Keeps Step in a Changing (Show) World
Charles Coburn is 63, a fact which alone gives him the right to appear in public with a monocle. Happily he also has the rather special sort of face a monocle requires, a certain paternal austerity, a benign aloofness—in short, the countenance of a man well fed upon a rich tradition. If the man is also of a height ordinarily reached by other men only on stepladders, that helps greatly too. Most of all, however, it is the tradition that counts, and in Mr. Coburn’s case he has aplenty. He has been a pillar in our theatre for longer than most of us can remember, and if latterly he has made a pretty farthing by displaying his talents in the West Coast Shangri-La in such items as the forthcoming “King’s Row,” it is a tribute to his culture and attainments that Hollywood is the place where he works contentedly eight months a year. New York is where he lives.
It is understandable, of course. Mr. Coburn was nurtured in a mellower climate than that which made Sammy run. Though by no means an old fogy to sit in slippered state at The Players, his mind is solidly furnished; it has the bright polish of old brasswork. It is stocked with reminiscences of those years before the theatre became prohibitively expensive and movies alarmingly cheap, and it is strewn as full of Shakespearean quotations as a brook with pebbles. Over the years his mind has obviously assumed a sort of protective coloration that blends well with the comfortably old-fashioned furnishings of the lofty-ceilinged studio salon near Gramercy Square.
Charles Coburn, Esq.
Mr. Coburn first moved into the premises in 1919 when Bohemia still stood on a bearskin and daubed pigment on six-foot easels. Somberly paneled, and with a fireplace large enough to roast a fair-sized midget, the room itself is a veritable museum of carved mahogany, portrait paintings, and assorted abracadabra. Most of the furnishings, Mr. Coburn explains, are props accumulated from that long line of plays in which he and Mrs. Coburn appeared and often produced, from their marriage in 1906 until her death several years ago.
“I couldn’t sell the stuff for a nickel,” he confides gently. “But it’s a kind of reminder. It reflects the lives of a couple of people who lived here for quite a long time.”
Like an elder craftsman who can wear the toga with authority, Mr. Coburn is apt to become troubled over the future of the art of acting. America, he says, has not produced an outstanding actor since 1926. Personalities, yes, and glamour boys and girls, but not an actor who can play a gentleman one night and a guttersnipe the next with equal effect. The old stock companies, where a young actor could spend his apprenticeship among experienced performers, are gone, and the colleges, where acting could be taught in concert with more mature talents, have thus far failed. The result, Mr. Coburn gloomily believes, is an art dying in the hands of those who could still pass it on.
Cycles and Bicycles
Mr. Coburn himself began early. At 13, he took a job as program boy in the Savannah Theatre and five years later became its manager, the youngest entrepreneur in the country. During the two years under his aegis he saw such stars as Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Maxine Elliott, Mrs. Fiske, Modjeska, Otis Skinner, Richard Masterfield and Stuart Robson walk across his stage. Meanwhile he in turn was preparing for a career as a light opera comedian in amateur productions of “The Mikado,” or “The Little Tycoon,” and he still remembers the lingering glow of that night when Emma Abbott, a reigning favorite, snatched him from a crowd of enthusiasts and kissed him roundly. Ever since, he has been “flattered beyond words” by requests for autographs—thinking that perhaps some youngster may feel as he did. “That is as it should be,” he says, falling into quotation. “It is a world of make believe, and it is in ourselves that we are thus and so.”
In later years, and before his long association with Mrs. Coburn as an actor-manager, he spent his apprenticeship as utility man, advance agent, and once, as a means of making a living while looking for work in New York, as a member of the “greatest bicycle racing team of all time.” But when that career threatened to take him from his Broadway precincts, he pawned his bicycle for $29 and hasn’t been on a wheel since. In fact, Mr. Coburn no longer cares for healthy exertion as its own reward.
“Look at all those people who exercise regularly,” he exclaims. “What happens to them? They die!”
Listen to that—he sounds just like Charles Coburn!
And then in December, 1937, Ivah died, leaving Coburn bereft of his companion, his wife, his theatrical partner. But a man of such energies, an entrepreneur who had acted, directed, produced, and run his own touring company for decades, was not ready to fade away from grief at 60. Ten months later, in October, 1938, he got on a train and headed out west to begin his next act, the one we know him from.
NY Times, 10/10/37, no byline
CHARLES D. COBURN TO APPEAR IN FILM
Stage Actor Leaves for Coast for Role in “Benefits Forgot,” His First Motion Picture
Charles D. Coburn, stage actor, the director of the Mohawk Drama Festival at Union College, Schenectady, NY, left by train for Hollywood yesterday afternoon to appear in what was said to be his first motion picture.* He is to play in “Benefits Forgot,” a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, in which Walter Huston will be starred.
J. Robert Rubin, vice president and general counsel for M-G-M, said that Mr. Coburn had been signed to a one-picture contract with an option on his future services. Production work on “Benefits Forgot” will start next week, he said.
As director of the Mohawk Drama Festival, held every summer at Union College, Mr. Coburn has repeatedly voiced the belief that there is now a “crisis in the American theatre” because there were no stock companies to serve as a training school for young players.
Mr. Coburn appeared on Broadway in March in “Sun Kissed” and in 1936 played with the late William Gillette in “Three Wise Fools.” For many years Mr. Coburn appeared on the stage with his wife, the former Ivah Wills, who died last December 27.
A few months later, he’s comfortably ensconced in his Hollywood Blvd apartment, throwing a reunion for cast members of a popular show he had been in 30 years before. I’ve boldfaced names you’ll probably recognize…
NYT, 1/3/39,
“Old Bill” Holds Reunion
Coburn is New Year’s Host on Coast to ‘Better ‘Ole” Actors
Special to the New York Times
Hollywood, Calif., January 2—Survivors of “The Better ‘Ole’” company made New Year’s the occasion of their first reunion in twenty years as guests of Charles Coburn, the original Old Bill, at his apartment here.
Stage and film celebrities turned out to greet him and the others comprising “three muskrats,” Charles McNaughton, Bert, and Collin Campbell, Alf.
Others of the old troupe present were Mrs. Kenyon Bishop, the original Maggie; Lynn Starling, who played the French colonel; Eugene Borden, the French porter, and, collaterally, F.H. (Frankie) Day the Gramercy Park greeter of the dawn who played with Mr. Coburn in the sequel play, “Old Bill M.P.”
The “muskrats,” the Tommies created by the wartime crayon of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, donned white aprons in their post-war “pub” and served guests, who included several members of The Players in New York and many once associated with one of the five companies that played “The Better ‘Ole” on Broadway and on the road.
Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Guy Kibbee, Mr. and Mrs. Monte Blue, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth MacKenna, Mr. and Mrs. Patterson McNutt, Walter Connolly, Nedda Harrigan, Mr. and Mrs.Charles Judels, Pedro de Cordoba, Fritz Leiber, P.J. Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Andre Charlot, Janet Beecher, Olive Wyndam, Marcella Burke, Georgia Caine, Emma Dunn, Marjorie Wood, Frieda Inescourt, Esther Dale and Irene Rich.
Mr. Coburn is the only living Old Bill. The others were DeWolfe Hopper, James K. Hackett, Maclyn Arbuckle and Edmond Gurney. In the New York company, the late Mrs. Ivah Coburn played Victoire, the French maid.
So the years pass, with Coburn occupying himself on screen, stage, and radio, splitting his time between L.A. and New York.
Then, in 1959, the second-to-last mystery I found: his second marriage.
NY Times, 10/19/59
Charles Coburn Marries
LAS VEGAS, NEV., Oct. 18 (AP)—Charles Coburn, 82-year-old actor, dropping his famed monocle only to kiss his 41-year-old bride, today married Mrs. Winifred Jean Clements Natzka, widow of a New York Opera Company basso. The ceremony took place in the chambers of acting Justice of the Peace J.L. Bowler.
…and this leads to yet more questions. Did he marry for love, or for a tax deduction? He railed about tax rates in some of his late-life interviews, using the issue as a hook to promote You Can’t Take It With You, the show he was then touring.
And the final mystery: Most sources say this second marriage produced a child, a daughter. To which I say, seriously? Is an octogenarian Coburn supposed to have been up to siring a child? On the other hand, he managed to sire six of them 50 years before, and he was obviously a man of remarkable stamina. But perhaps his bride was pregnant by the opera singer who had widowed her, and that’s one reason why she was interested in marrying a man twice her age?
So, like Rosebud, none of these things definitively answer the riddle, Who was Charles Coburn? But they fill in some important blanks, they give us the flavor of his life in the New York theater, and the life he carried around inside himself when he made all those glorious movies we’re still watching.
And also like Charles Foster Kane, on August 30, 1961, death came for human dynamo Charles Douville Coburn, then 84, following minor surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. One obit said his wife and one of her two sons from her previous marriage were with him when he passed.
Not a word about the baby daughter, or, for that matter, any of the other six Coburn offspring, either in this obit as survivors, or mentioned a month later in a piece about his will and estate.
So if I ever get to have a cocktail with him in that cozy little bar in the sky, I’ll see if he can clear any of this up.
This was written for the 2019 What a Character! Blogathon, hosted by Aurora, Kellee, and Paula. Please go take a look at the other fabulous entries—you’ll be glad you did.
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Long Island is located on the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern New York State, east of New York City. Its famous Jones Beach State Park is a popular summer destination for the city folks, and it is home to the historic late-1700s Montauk Lighthouse, the world-famous Brooklyn Botanic Garden, several excellent art museums such as the Brooklyn Museum, fascinating Long Island Aquarium, and large parks such as Camp Hero State Park and Montauk Point State Park.
1. Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium
The Vanderbilt Museum is located in Centerport on the north bank of Long Island, on Eagle's Nest, on the 43-acre site of William K. Vanderbilt II. The museum includes the Vanderbilt Villa with all its furniture and art, a marine museum with a collection of natural historical specimens, a manager's home, a boat house, a garden, a house. contains hovercraft, and a collection of guns, swords, ship models, and various objects from Europe, Asia and Africa.
2. Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center
The Vanderbilt Museum is located in Centerport on the north bank of Long Island, on Eagle's Nest, on the 43-acre site of William K. Vanderbilt II. The museum includes the Vanderbilt Villa with all its furniture and art, a marine museum with a collection of natural historical specimens, a manager's home, a boat house, a garden, a house. contains hovercraft, and a collection of guns, swords, ship models, and various objects from Europe, Asia and Africa.
3. MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest non-profit contemporary art centers in the United States. Established in 1971, the museum serves as an exhibition space and has no permanent collections. In addition to art exhibitions, the museum also hosts a warm-up summer music series, a series of Sunday concerts, and the Young Architects Program, held in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art.
4. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a 52-acre garden located in Brooklyn's Prospect Park neighborhood, an interesting colorful oasis with more than 14,000 plant units from around the world. The garden is famous for its collection of "garden gardens", unique plant groups and plants like the famous cherry garden. When all 200 cherry trees are blooming in the spring, the garden hosts a month-long cherry festival at Cherry Esplanade called Hanami, which attracts thousands of visitors. The garden also has the Steinhardt Conservatory with the C. V. Starr Bonsai Museum, an aquarium plant made of cast iron and white glass, three climate-themed pavilions and an impressive art gallery.
5. Brooklyn Bridge
With huge granite towers and long steel cables, the Brooklyn Bridge has been a symbol of New York City since 1883, stretching across the East River and connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. Originally a pedestrian and non-motorized bridge, today it provides safe passage for trains, bicycles and cars, with millions of commuters and tourists passing by. It dominates the New York landscape and is one of the most recognizable features of the city skyline. Crossing the pedestrian bridge through the elevated walkway is one of the most memorable experiences for visitors.
6. Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is the third largest art museum in New York City. Founded in 1895 and housed in a beautiful art building designed by McKim, Mead and White, the museum was originally planned to be the largest art museum in the world. The most important museum collections are Egyptian artifacts, dating back more than 3,000 years, as well as artifacts from Europe, Africa, Oceania and Japan. There is a representative American art gallery beginning in the colonial period.
7. Coney Island
Once an outer fenced island, Coney Island was eventually connected to Long Island by a landfill to form a peninsula on Lower Bay in Brooklyn. This 60,000-person neighborhood morphs every summer into one of New York's most popular leisure destinations, bringing thousands of locals and visitors all the way to the long sandy beach, Luna Park with boats. famous Cyclone roller coaster and Wonder wheel.
8. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the largest park in Queens and the fourth largest in New York City, is famous for a range of facilities offered for a number of sports, including baseball, football, cricket, tennis. , and more. There is also a zoo as well as six children's playgrounds and the lovely Flushing Bay Walking Street for a leisurely stroll. The park became famous in 1939, when it hosted the New York World Fair, and its popularity flourished when it became the site of another World Fair in 1964. The park was a popular venue for weekend barbecues, fishing in Meadow Lake, skating in the winter, or catching a game of tennis at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
9. Ice and Vice Ice Cream
Ice and Vice Ice Cream is a unique experimental ice cream shop that offers a number of locations throughout the New York City area, including a Long Island City location. All ice cream is handcrafted in small batches, pushing envelopes with international flavor profiles and unique flavors. The standard taste ranges from the company's 9:00 am, infused into Vietnamese coffee and donuts, to Opium Den, with white sesame seeds, toasted poppy seeds and lemon bread. Smart seasonal flavors have unique ingredients such as ghost chili peppers, strawberry mole sauce, chicha morada and candy cactus candies.
10. White Post Farm
White Post Farms is a family farm that has been working in Huntington, New York, since 1886. Starting with vegetables for the local market, White Post Farms grew by the times and today is not just a working farm. but also a popular agricultural tourist destination for city dwellers who love to visit farm animals and pick up some fresh produce or a homemade cake. The farm has two giant birds with colorful parrots, buds, parrots, lorikeets and love birds. There are also horse rides, bouncers, train rides, playgrounds, and more.
From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-on-long-island-701122.html
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With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
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Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
0 notes
Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
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Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
0 notes
Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
0 notes
Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
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With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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The post How Oscar Wilde’s Libel Trial Backfired and Ruined His Life appeared first on Geek Sprinkles.
0 notes
Text
Getty Pictures
With their heady brew of well-known names, soiled secrets and techniques and Victorian ethical outrage, it’s no marvel the courtroom trials involving famend playwright Oscar Wilde enthralled most of the people through the last decade of the 19th century.
Wilde, an Anglo-Irish playwright and bon vivant, was recognized for his acerbic wit and celebrated works, together with Woman Windermere’s Fan, A Lady of No Significance, The Image of Dorian Grey and The Significance of Being Earnest. In early 1895, the husband and father of two was on the peak of his fame and success; his play, Earnest, had debuted to nice acclaim in February that yr, making him the toast of London.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
By the top of Might, Wilde’s life can be turned the wrong way up. Convicted of gross indecency, he was sentenced to 2 years of arduous labor in jail. Three years following his launch from jail, he would die, impoverished, in France.
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Thanks for watching!Go to Web site
Oscar Wilde together with his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, generally known as a spoilt dandy.
Getty Pictures
His lover’s father was disgusted by the liaison.
Wilde (1854–1900) met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas in the summertime of 1891 and the 2 quickly turned lovers. It was an affair of the guts that may span years, and continents, and would finally result in Wilde’s very public downfall. Douglas, the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was 16 years Wilde’s junior. Reportedly a dissolute, extravagant dandy, he was virtually inseparable from Wilde till the latter’s arrest 4 years later.
It was Douglas’s father’s response to the entire affair that prompted the fateful courtroom proceedings. Queensberry (John Sholto Douglas) was a Scottish nobleman greatest recognized for selling guidelines for novice boxing, the “Queensberry Guidelines.” By early 1894, Queensberry was sure the flamboyant Wilde was a gay and demanded his son reduce off contact with the author. (The Victorian period was particularly recognized for its tradition of sexual repression, and carnal exercise between males was a felony offense in the UK till the late 1960s.)
“Your intimacy with this man Wilde should both stop or I’ll disown you and cease all cash provides,” Queensberry wrote to his son in April of 1894. Douglas ignored his father’s rising condemnation of Wilde, incensing Queensberry and fueling his hostility towards his son’s alleged lover.
First, Queensberry tried to disrupt the debut of The Significance of Being Earnest, the place he deliberate to current the playwright with a bouquet of rotten greens and inform theatergoers of Wilde’s alleged scandalous way of life. Thwarted, he then visited London’s Albemarle Membership, of which Wilde and his spouse, Constance, have been members.
Queensberry left a card with the porter of the membership, asking that it’s handed to Wilde. Written on the cardboard was, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Affronted and embarrassed, Wilde wrote to Douglas, saying he believed there was nothing left to do however criminally prosecute Queensberry for libel. “My entire life appears ruined by this man. The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul factor,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde went on the offensive.
Throughout preparations for his case towards Queensberry, Wilde’s legal professionals requested him immediately whether or not there was any fact to the allegations of homosexuality. In line with Wilde, the allegations have been “completely false and groundless.” Forward of the April 1895 trial date, Wilde and Douglas journeyed collectively to the south of France.
Wilde’s first trial (Wilde v. Queensberry) started April three on the Central Legal Courtroom of England and Wales, generally often known as Previous Bailey. Trying to get forward of Queensberry’s accusations, Wilde’s lawyer Sir Edward Clarke, included the studying of one of many playwright’s letters to Douglas that would recommend a gay relationship between the correspondents. Whereas Clarke admitted the wording could seem “extravagant,” he reminded the courtroom that Wilde was a poet, and the letter ought to be learn as “the expression of true poetic feeling, and with no relation no matter to the hateful and repulsive recommendations put to it within the plea on this case,” in line with trial transcripts.
Wilde quickly took the stand, telling the courtroom of the harassment he had endured from Queensberry. Requested publicly if any of the allegations have been true, Wilde replied: “There isn’t a fact in any way in any of the allegations, no fact in any way.”
Cross-examined by Queensberry’s lawyer Edward Carson, Wilde was referred to as upon to defend his revealed works on the idea they contained immoral themes, or had gay overtones. He was then questioned about previous relationships he had had with younger males.
The ever-eloquent Wilde displayed a dexterous command of the English language—and a penchant for witticisms that might ultimately incriminate him in courtroom. On the second day, Wilde was questioned a few 16-year-old male acquaintance named Walter Grainger and whether or not or not he had kissed the teenager. “Oh, pricey no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, sadly extraordinarily ugly. I pitied him for it,” Wilde replied.
Urgent Wilde over his response, Carson continued to ask if that was the only cause he didn’t kiss the boy, just because he was ugly. “Why, why, why did you add that?” Carson demanded. Wilde’s reply? “You sting me and insult me and attempt to unnerve me; and at occasions one says issues flippantly when one ought to talk extra critically.”
The identical afternoon, the prosecution closed its arguments with out calling Douglas to testify as deliberate. It was not wanting good for Wilde.
Oscar Wilde Photograph By Napoleon Sarony by way of Wikimedia Commons
One trial beget one other.
In protection of Queensberry, Carson introduced in his opening speech that he meant to name to testify a lot of younger males with whom Wilde had had sexual encounters. Such accusations have been extra than simply phrases in 1895, when it was a criminal offense in England for any individual to commit “gross indecency,” because the regulation had been interpreted to criminalize any sort of sexual exercise between members of the identical intercourse. That night, afraid of the place the trial could lead on, Clarke urged Wilde to drop the case. The next morning, Clarke introduced the withdrawal of Wilde’s libel go well with towards Queensberry. A verdict of “not responsible” was the courtroom’s remaining choice within the matter.
Through the trial, Queensberry’s lawyer had forwarded copies of statements by the younger males scheduled to seem as witnesses to the director of public prosecutions, leading to a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on expenses of sodomy and gross indecency the identical day Queensberry’s “not responsible’ verdict was handed down.
Wilde would in a short time be again in courtroom—this time within the position of the accused.
The primary legal trial of Wilde (The Crown v. Wilde) started April 26. Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the person accused of procuring younger males for the playwright, confronted 25 counts of gross indecencies and conspiracy to commit gross indecencies. Wilde pleaded “not responsible” to the fees. Quite a few male witnesses testified for the prosecution, detailing their participation in sexual acts with Wilde. Most expressed disgrace over their actions.
In contrast to his look at Queensberry’s trial, a extra subdued Wilde took the stand on the fourth day. He continued to disclaim all fees towards him. Throughout his testimony, Prosecutor Charles Gill requested Wilde concerning the which means of a line in a poem by Douglas: “What’s ‘the love that dare not converse its identify’?”
“‘The love that dare not converse its identify’ on this century is such an excellent affection of an elder for a youthful man as there was between David and Jonathan, reminiscent of Plato made the very foundation of his philosophy, and resembling you discover within the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare,” Wilde answered. “It’s that deep religious affection that’s as pure as it’s good. It dictates and pervades nice artistic endeavors, like these of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and people two letters of mine, resembling they’re… It’s lovely, it’s fantastic, it’s the noblest type of affection. There’s nothing unnatural about it. It’s mental, and it repeatedly exists between an older man and a youthful man, when the older man has mind, and the youthful man has all the enjoyment, hope and glamor of life earlier than him. That it must be so, the world doesn’t perceive. The world mocks at it, and typically places one within the pillory for it.”
Although Wilde’s reply appeared to strengthen the fees towards him, the jury reportedly deliberated for 3 hours earlier than deciding they might not attain a verdict. Wilde was launched on bail.
A 3rd trial sealed the author’s destiny.
Three weeks later, on Might 20, Wilde was again in courtroom to face the identical costs. The federal government was pushing for a verdict.
The prosecution, spearheaded by solicitor common Frank Lockwood, had tightened its case towards Wilde, reportedly dropping weaker witnesses from the primary legal trial. Summing up, Lockwood said: “You can’t fail to place the interpretation on the conduct of the prisoner that he’s a responsible man, and also you should say so by your verdict.”
Hours of deliberation handed earlier than the jury handed down their conclusion: responsible on nearly all of counts. Reviews of the time say Wilde’s face turned grey when the decision was learn.
Wilde and Taylor have been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years exhausting labor, the utmost allowable for the crime. When the sentence was handed down, shouts of “Disgrace!” erupted within the courtroom. “And I? Might I say nothing, my Lord?” Wilde responded, however the courtroom was adjourned.
After his conviction, Wilde’s spouse Constance modified her and her sons’ final identify to Holland, in an effort to distance themselves from the much-discussed scandal, and moved to Switzerland the place she died in 1898. The couple by no means divorced.
Following his two years in jail, Wilde was bodily lowered and bankrupt. He went into exile in France, residing with buddies or staying in low cost lodging, writing little. Wilde died of meningitis on Nov. 30, 1900. He was 46.
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