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Charles Dickens Comes To Buffalo

It was an exciting time to be in Buffalo. Mr. Dickens was coming! Charles Dickens visit to America in 1867-68 was bigger than almost anything we can imagine today. Think of Barbra Steisand on tour and multiply by a hundred! People waited in lines for hours, sometimes overnight (bringing blankets and mattresses) to shell out for the high priced Dickens tickets. Tickets were usually $2.00, but scalpers could get upwards to $25-$50. The big chatter moments prior to a Dickens Reading was "where did you get your ticket & how much did you pay?" Many people were turned away disappointed, because no matter how many seats they could squeeze into those 19th century halls (sometimes 3000 plus) there were never enough for all who wanted to attend a Dickens Reading.

    The author almost didn't go through with the American Reading Tour. Dickens did not want to have to deal with the details, and until he was sure that he could find a qualified tour manager, he wasn't going to tackle America. Also, on an earlier visit to the United States (1842) he'd found the natives crass, vulgar and not to his liking which would have been fine if he'd kept his opinions to himself but he wrote a book about it when he he got back to England. Bad move. While Americans may have been crass and vulgar many of them liked to read and many of them read Dickens book slamming America- and were able to hold a grudge for more than a 25 years!
    Eventually, he was able to find an experienced tour manager-George Dolby. Dickens sent Dolby to "test the waters", and make sure the author would be welcomed back to the U.S. Dolby discovered that there were still a few ticked off Americans, but not enough for Dickens to give up on the all the money that awaited him here. Mr. Dickens other hesitation was that his health had been failing. He was only in his mid fifties but his circulation was poor, and his feet were a mess and many people had notice how quickly he was aging. However, he figured as long as he could drag himself to the reading stand every night he was in business.
    The American tour was on and from the beginning Buffalo was on the itinerary. He had visited Buffalo 25 years earlier. At that time the city had a population of nearly 20,000 people. A quarter of a century later Buffalo had five times that many people and had become the 11th largest city in America.
It wasn't Buffalo that Mr. Dickens was interested in as much as the 7th Wonder Of The World in Buffalo's backyard, Niagara Falls. He had stopped there during his 1942 visit, and wanted to see it again. He probably felt about it the way the Americans felt about seeing him. While he was forced to cancel a number of Midwest venues from his tour including Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati, because of the lousy weather and his health, Buffalo remained on the itinerary because it afforded him an excuse to visit the Falls!
    George Dolby, brilliantly managed the entire reading tour. Dolby attended to every detail from the travel arrangements , hotel bookings, seating arrangements in the halls to answering Dickens's fan mail. Everything Dolby did was designed to free up Mr. Dickens to concentrate on his nightly performances. The worlds best known author visits America. He gives 76 performances in more than a dozen cities. He fights the flu, lack of sleep, a laundry list of health problems, awful weather, floods, bad hotels and horrible transportation and the one place he hits a snag on his tour, the one place he is almost shut down is Buffalo NY.! Go Buffalo!!
    Dolby details their visit to Western New York in his book "Charles Dickens as I Knew Him". He writes that he and Mr. Dickens were having dinner at a Buffalo eatery the night before the first reading. The waiter informed them that there were three men downstairs who wanted to see them. Dolby sprung into action.
    "I asked him if they had sent up their cards, or if he knew who they were." He guessed he didn't know them personally, but gave me to understand that he knew one of them was a sheriff's officer! I sent word down I would be with them immediately; and leaving the dinner table, went to my despatch box, putting the traveling letter into my pocket, and went downstairs to see my visitors.
    On being presented to them, I inquired their business, and was informed by one of them that he was a sheriff's officer, in the service of the Internal Revenue Department, and that his business was "with Mr. Dickens and nobody else." Here he politely introduced me to his two companions as his assistants. By this time a number of people had congregated, and had become interested in the interview.
   The sheriff's officer wore a seal skin cap, a thick muffler around his neck and a thick pea jacket, while in his hand he carried a thick stick. Mr. Dickens, I said, was at dinner, and could not be disturbed then; but any business he had to transact with Mr. Dickens, could be be as well transacted through me; and giving him my name as a proof of the relations that existed between Mr. Dickens and myself, I begged that he would state his business at once as I was in a hurry.
    "Wall" he said, "I've come to tell you that Mr.. Dickens can't read tonight."
    I pretended not to understand his meaning, and replied, "You are quite mistaken, for Mr. Dickens's cold has nearly left him, and he is in excellent voice."
    "I guess you don't understand who and what I am," he replied, "or what my power is."
    Being a foreigner, I regretted I did not.
    "Wall, then, to make the case clear to your British brain, I will explain," he proceeded. "I guess neither you nor Mr. Dickens have complied with the laws of this country in not getting a Mayor's license to read, and you haven't arranged with my department about the city tax."
    I explained "the Mayor being a friend of Mr. Dickens and myself, has informed me that in Mr. Dickens case no license is necessary, and with regard to the city tax, Mr. Dickens is not liable."
    Turning to his assistants, he ordered them to serve me notices prohibiting the Reading, and proceeding to leave the hotel himself, cautioned me that he was "going to place policemen at the entrance of the hall, to prevent the doors being opened." After he had gone a few paces I called him back, with a view, as he evidently thought, of making some arrangement with him, either in the form of a money compromise, or in free passes for himself and subordinates, which in reality, I afterwards ascertained, was what he wanted. After much persuasion, and a great show of indignation, he came back only to repeat his threats, when I drew from by breast pocket my letter of authority from the head of his department. He read it, and having done so, simply remarked, looking round at the assembled crowd, "Jerusalem, I'm beat;" and calling his assistants to follow him, took himself off, amidst the jeers and laughter of the company. However, he was called back again to partake of champagne with me, and further to accept an invitation to attend the Reading with his wife and family. He readily accepted the invitation, and came to me the following day with a request for similar treatment for that evening.
(editors note: the previous section was from the chapter in George Dolby's book called "Buffalo Ladies, Please Skip" read the next section and you'll know why!)
    "Besides being much struck with the change in Buffalo since he first visited it, Mr. Dickens was also much struck by the absence of female beauty from the Readings. In all the cites hitherto visited, the assemblage of pretty women was remarkable, but on reaching the frontier this seemed to fade away, and a sort of German-Irish-Scotch-mixed-with-Indian face took it's place. This was particularly noticeable in the streets, though we thought that when the evening came we should see a difference; but we had not a dozen pretty woman in the hall (which was crammed to suffocation). Nor were their toilettes at all comparable with those of the American ladies in other cities. These deficiencies, however, were fully compensated for by the brightness of their perception, and their appreciation of Mr. Dickens and his readings'.