"Mr. Dooley" was a product of the 1890s, a time when a memorable fictional character was likely to come not only from the pages of a novel or a play but also from a column in the newspaper. Chicago-born newspaper writer Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) created "Mr. Martin J. Dooley" as his satirical mouthpiece. Dooley was a saloon-keeper whose pronouncements on current events, both local and international, couched in a vivid, albeit questionable "Irish" dialect, were as humorous as they were pointed. Not until the country discovered a genuine "cracker-barrel philosopher" in cowboy Will Rogers was there a more popular commentator on war and peace, politics, and the passing parade.

By devising "Mr. Dooley" to express his thoughts and opinions, Dunne also managed to give voice to the disenfranchised blue-collar population of Irish immigrants who were beginning to form an important part of Chicago life at...