by Chris Bodenner
A reader draws our attention to a great single-serving blog called "Historical Meet-Ups", which has this to say about the Wilde-Davis connection:
[Wilde] blew through Beauvoir, Mississippi on his way to Montgomery, Alabama to deliver a lecture on “Decorative Art” at the local opera house. The seemingly mismatched pair actually found they had a lot in common. Wilde remarked on the similarities between the American South and his native Ireland: both had fought to attain self-rule and both had lost. He went on to declare that “The principles for which Jefferson Davis and the South went to war cannot suffer defeat.”
As for the ensuing lecture, that proved to be something of a letdown.
“An immense assemblage of the morbidly curious will greet him,” declared the Selma Times in an article previewing the event. The Montgomery Advertiser was also eager to hear what the famous wit had to offer. “No lady has heard of Mr. Wilde that is not anxious to see and hear him; and, ‘tis said, he ‘adores the fair sex.’” But the Irishman’s observations on aesthetics, delivered in such a strange and exotic accent, were wasted on the Southern audience. “The lecture was one of the peculiar nature that should be heard to be appreciated,” the Advertiser summed up afterwards, “and a synopsis or even a brief sketch will not be attempted.
More mismatched meet-ups: Ronald Reagan and John Lennon and Samuel Beckett and Andre the Giant. And above all this one:
Inexplicably, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was seated next to John Riggins, the hulking running back for the Washington Redskins. “Riggo,” or “The Diesel,” as he was popularly known, had a bit too much to drink that night and was soon sidling up to O’Connor with decidedly seamy intentions. “Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You’re too tight,” he told her, and proceeded to pass out on the floor. According to newspaper reports, he lay there for several minutes while the wait staff served dessert to the mortified VIP diners.
The Dish 