From the late nineteenth century until World War II ethnic humor and downright slurs, often good humored but also humiliating and insulting, were commonplace in American literature. Ethnic and racial stereotypes proliferated: Gallagher and Shean, Amos and Andy, Life with Luigi, Charlie Chan. Even a classic comedy act like the Marx Brothers was built around ethnic stereotypes. Chico was the dumb Italian, Harpo the country bumpkin while Groucho was the classic Jewish con artist.
During these years, no one handled the role of the ethnic commentator with greater imagination better than Finley Peter Dunne through his creation, the Chicago Irish bartender, Mr. Martin Dooley.
‘Mr. Dooley’ was one of the first and one of the shrewdest at the use of an ethnic stereotype but not just to garner laughs but also to make a serious point. Dunne used dialect humor, which was very popular then, to entertain but also as a form of political improvement. He was a classic product of the Progressive Era and brought a certain jaundiced kind of optimism and ability to laugh to a movement not noted for is sense of humor.
