In this series, I have argued that, notwithstanding a scene in the movie Topsy-Turvy, the only assertions that Sir Arthur Sullivan ever engaged the services of a sex worker in a brothel were made by his 20th century biographer Arthur Jacobs, and that I find those hypotheses unsupported by today’s available evidence. But I have also asked my dear readers for any evidence to support Jacob’s opinion.
Jacobs made his assertions based upon the Sullivan diary entries of 10 April, 1882 and 14 March, 1887. In the case of 1887, we have seen he was incorrect. The address he cited was the stately home of American millionaire John Mackay. For the events of 1882, his assertion is more easily entertained, but it requires us to believe that after a four-month separation from his mistress Franny Ronalds, Sullivan spent many more hours at a brothel in Paris than with her, or in fact with any other lover. And that he did so after refraining from visiting any brothels during his previous four months of travel.
Because even if the cited address, “4 Rue M.T.”, was not what I’ve posited—a place for Sullivan and Ronalds to meet privately during that week—there is still no evidence the address was that of a brothel. It might have been the home of another woman—an as yet unidentified Sullivan lover. The location of the address suggests it was not a brothel. But once again, if you know something, tell me something.
There is however another address from Sullivan’s diary, not mentioned by Jacobs, which has been suggested as a potential brothel. And in this case, whether or not the suggestion is true, it brings to light an interesting story. Sullivan’s diary entry for 11 July, 1885 reads, in part:
Took Miss Ulmar back to the boat to return
to Boston. Dined with Suydam at Del: &
went with him afterwards to some friends at
528 Seventh Ave: remained there some time & ..
then returned home.
Here in July, 1885, Sullivan is in New York. Tomorrow he will take off for a cross-country journey to Los Angeles. Fanny Ronalds is in London; next month she will sail for New York.
Today Sullivan has auditioned the American soprano Geraldine Ulmar, at the urging of both Richard Carte and John Stetson, for the role of Yum-Yum in the upcoming American premiere of The Mikado. Ulmar has taken a steamer from Boston to New York for her interview with Sullivan. Her audition went very well, and here Sullivan is personally escorting her back to a boat which will return her to Boston. This, and other attentions he will later pay to Miss Ulmar, result in rumors; see here for more details.
Suydam is Richard Suydam Grant, a scion of the banking and railroad family in New York; Sullivan maintains a close relationship with that family for many years. I believe Suydam was unmarried.
some friends at 528 Seventh Ave
This is the somewhat rare, delicious case in Sullivan’s diary where he gives us a definitive address, something we can search for. In 1884 a man called Harry Miner published a book called Harry Miner’s American Dramatic Directory for the Season of 1884-’85 which you can read here. In Miner’s directory we find:
This indicates that 528 Seventh Ave is the home of Miss Emily E. Baker. Miss Baker is an actress who plays “leads,” and she is currently employed by Bartley Campbell’s White Slave Co. (I really cannot make this stuff up). The White Slave is a play from 1882 written by the eccentric American playwright Bartley Campbell. The play was very successful and toured through several American cities. Campbell himself was eventually declared insane. But for several years, Miss Emily Baker was a lead actress in several of Campbell’s plays, including, in 1880, The Galley Slave.
In Sullivan’s diary for 3 January, 1880, written in New York, we read:
Went to Haverly’s [theater]
with them [the Woolseys] to see “The Galley Slave”.
bad piece, infamously acted.
Ouf! Sorry Emily. Actually, it’s possible she wasn’t in the cast that night, I haven’t verified that, and I have no evidence that Sullivan made Emily’s acquaintance in 1880, or at any other time. But given these connections, is it likely that the address 528 Seventh Ave was a brothel?
In summary, for me the idea of Arthur Sullivan ever visiting a brothel is tenuous, at best. Today I know of only three addresses from Sullivan’s diaries which have been suggested to be brothels. Two of them are well identified as private homes. That leaves only the mysterious “4 rue M.T.”, itself in a neighborhood of smart apartment buildings, none known to history as brothels.
The strongest evidence presented for “4 rue M.T.” are the facts that Sullivan visited there several times in one week, and on each visit included the code “()” with a number. If that is indicative of a brothel visit in Paris, why then do we find no other occasions of visits to unexplained addresses with “()” codes? Did Sullivan only visit that one brothel in Paris? Or is there more evidence of which I am as yet unaware?
Please update me!