The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). rn VOLUME XVII. Later National Literature, Part II.
XVIII. The Drama, 1860–1918§ 24. George Ade
The use of a college theme first undertaken by George Ade in The College Widow (20 September, 1904) was imitated by William De Mille in Strongheart (30 January, 1905) and by Rida Johnson Young in Brown of Harvard (26 February, 1906); and George Ade carried to the stage the newspaper humour which reflected so well the national characteristics celebrated by Eugene Field, Peter Finley Dunne, and Ade himself, the one humorist who builded in the theatre better than any of his brotherhood before him. For the kind of satirical fun one saw in The Sultan of Sulu (Wallack’s Theatre, 29 December, 1902), The County Chairman (Wallack’s Theatre, 24 November, 1903), The Sho-Gun (10 October, 1904), and The College Widow (20 September, 1904) had a national tang which transcended the local pride of the Indiana School. His humour bears the same relation toward social things that Mr. Dooley’s political vein bears toward national politics.