Ade, George (1866-1944)

American author and dramatist, born in Kentland, Indiana. His work includes examples of a modern form of fable. After graduating from Purdue University in Lafayette in 1887, Ade worked as a reporter for a newspaper, The Lafayette Call, for three years. He then transferred to Chicago, where he continued his newspaper career on the Chicago Record from 1890 to 1900. After 1893 he conducted a story column for this paper, and he derived three of his early books from the column, Artie (1896), Pink Marsh (1897), and Doc Horne (1899). His Fables in Slang (1900) and its several sequels were modelled on the fables of the ancient Greek writer Aesop.

In 1900 Ade retired from the newspaper and travelled in Asia. His experiences on this trip inspired his operetta, The Sultan of Sulu (1902). He continued his career writing for the theatre with The County Chairman (1903), a satire on local politics, and The College Widow (1904). Ade's other works include The Girl Proposition (1902), People You Knew (1903), Breaking Into Society (1903), Father and the Boys (1907), Knocking the Neighbors (1912), and The Old-Time Saloon (1931). He also worked in films and in 1922 wrote the stories for Back Home and Broke and Our Leading Citizen.