The word, “Dude,”
first appeared in New York City to describe a new type of “dandy,” “swell,” or “lah-de-dah”
seen on the streets of New York. Within
New York, “Dudes,” generally, were a frequent target of satirists; outside of
New York, “New York Dudes,” specifically, came under fire:
At breakfast the
other morning a New York dude declined a piece
of shad. He had been told that fish food
made brain, and he did not want to unfit himself for the position he held in
society.
St. Tammany Farmer (Covington,
Louisiana), May 5, 1883, page 3.
A New York
dude
fell under a Broadway omnibus wheel the other day, and was completely sub-dude.
– Lowell Courier.
The Iola Register (Iola, Kansas), May
11, 1883, page 7.
“It is really quite
amusing,” remarked a New York dude after landing
in Philadelphia, “I am used to being admired by the women, you know, but to-day
as I came down the steps of the Broad Street Station a dozen men began
exclaiming: ‘Hansom! Hansom! Hansom!’ in such a loud tone of voice that I could
not help overhearing.
The Iola Register (Iola, Kansas), May
25, 1883, page 2.
Midwesterners who
mocked big city dudes may have secretly yearned to be Dudes:
The Dudes Have Come.
J. J. Bliss will take
pleasure in showing you the real New York dude, with largest, finest and
cheapest line of Millinery and Notions west of Chicago.
Omaha Daily Bee (Nebraska), October 3,
1883, page 7.
“New York
Dudes” became a stock character on the stage and in song:
““Yes,” said Mr. Tawmus, who is a very swell
young man, “that dude song of Roland Reed’s is a nuisance. The pesky thing gets to running in your head
and the first you know you’re walking along the street singing: ‘I’m a dude,
ha, ha!’ and folks are laughing at you.””
The News and Herald (Winnsboro, South
Carolina), October 23, 1883, page 4.
Roland Reed had
been performing the role of a New York “Dandy” or “Swell” in the hit play, Cheek, since May 1882. During the Dude-craze, he became a “Dude,”
and not just any “New York Dude” – he was a “Perfect New York Dude.”
“CHEEK.”
Everything new and
elegant, including a view of Madison Square, New York, under the Electric
Light. Incidental to the play, Mr. Reed
will introduce his latest successful son, “I’m a perfect New York Dude.”
Lancaster Daily Intelligencer
(Pennsylvania), November 13, 1883, page 3.
The lead
character in the racetrack farce, A Friendly Tip, was also a “New York Dude”:
Grand Opera House!
W. J. Ferguson,
In his great creation
Sir Chauncy Trip.
The New York Dude in J. H. Farrell’s farcical
Comedy,
A FRIENDLY TIP.
Daily Globe (St Paul Minnesota), October
24, 1883, page 1.
