Early Life
On July 10, 1867, Ellen Finley Dunne gave birth to the fifth of her seven children. She named the boy Peter after her husband, with whom she raised an orthodox Irish Catholic family on Chicago’s west side. The neighborhood was full of Irish immigrants like the Dunnes.
We know little of Peter Jr.’s childhood save that he graduated from high school at age 17 and immediately began a career as a journalist in the newspaper business. His talent with a pen brought him up rapidly through the professional ranks.
Climbing the Newsie Ladder
After reporting on everything from sports to police courts for half a dozen dailies, he became city editor of the Chicago Times in 1888, at the age of 21. He had also prefixed his given name with his beloved mother’s maiden name, becoming legally known as Finley Peter Dunne.
Four years later, two significant events pushed Dunne’s life in a fateful direction. First, he joined the Chicago Evening Post as an editorial writer. Second, he met Margaret Ives Abbott, a book reviewer for the Post. (Abbott was the daughter of novelist Mary Ives Abbott, and was the first American woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal.) Abbott and Dunne took a shine to each other, and she mentored him and introduced him to Chicago society.
Mr. Dooley Is Born
Dunne began to experiment with dialectical writing, evoking the cultural richness of his Irish neighborhood with a characteristically skillful application of its language. He eventually created a character, one “Martin Dooley”, to give voice to his commentary on current events. “Mr. Dooley”, as he became known across the nation, was a 60-something saloonkeeper with a thick Irish brogue and a generous dose of common sense. Dunne also created “Bridgeport”, an entire fictional, working class neighborhood on Chicago’s south side to surround and support “Mr. Dooley’s” musings, the bulk of which the barman delivered over pints with longsuffering mill worker “Malachi Hennessy” or local politician “John McKenna”.
“Mr. Dooley’s” satirical observations on the Spanish-American War in 1898 gained Dunne’s editorials national syndication. He began them with a witty hook to the “hero of Manila”, writing about Admiral Dewey’s exploits and calling him, “Cousin George – Dewey or Dooley, ‘tis all th’ same.” His writing captured the jubilant mood of a victorious nation but soundly criticized the military and political bungling (and America’s budding imperialism) in that “splendid little war.” To the luckless Filipinos, “Mr. Dooley” cooed, “We treat ye th’ way a father shud treat his chilher if we have to break every bone in ye’er bodies. So come to our arms.”
The Big Apple and Marriage Beckon
In 1900, Dunne moved to New York and began to write columns for leading New York newspapers and national magazines. “Mr. Dooley” was now the most popular figure in American journalism and would remain so until the start of World War 1. Everything became fair game for “Mr. Dooley’s” opinions: Andrew Carnegie’s passion for libraries, society doings at Newport, even President Teddy Roosevelt’s health fads. (Roosevelt apparently did not mind the attention. He read “Mr. Dooley” aloud to his cabinet on more than one occasion.) Dunne collected his articles and published them in book form at the rate of one volume every two years for the next two decades. Today, critics generally agree that, Mr. Dooley in Peace and War and Mr. Dooley in the Hearts of His Countrymen are the picks of the litter.
Dunne finally tied the knot with Margaret Abbott on December 9, 1902. Eleven years his junior, she would bear him four children and eventually outlive him by nearly 20 years.
“Mr. Dooley” gave voice to the wisdom of the common person, often cutting through layers of façade to expose the heart of a matter. As he opined on an important and protracted legal battle, “Mr. Dooley” quipped that, “an appeal is when you ask one court to show its contempt for another court.” While pondering public naiveté concerning politics, he noted that, “A man that would expect to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic; but a man who thinks that men can be turned into angels by an election is a reformer and remains at large.”
The Mask Comes Off
After WWI, Mr. Dooley’s popularity began to decline. Dunne increasingly spoke his mind in his own voice, on a platform well earned and much respected. Still, “Mr. Dooley” was the undeniable zenith of his career. Through his famously beloved Irish saloonkeeper, Dunne had doggedly pursued his goal to “afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted.”
Finley Peter Dunne left us on April 24, 1936 in New York City, succumbing to cancer. He also left us a wealth of wisdom with a distinctive Irish flavor. After all, it was Finley Peter Dunne, “Mr. Dooley”, who wisely counseled all of us to:
"Trust ivrybody, but cut th’ cards.”
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