McCay began cartooning in the 1890s and had a prolific output published in magazines and newspapers.
 He became known for his ability to draw quickly, a talent he often employed during chalk talks on the vaudeville stage (alongside the likes of Harry Houdini and W. C. Fields).
 Before Dream of the Rarebit Fiend and Little Nemo, McCay had shown an interest in the topic of dreams.
 Some of his earlier works, numbering at least 10 regular comic strips, had titles such as Daydreams and It Was Only a Dream.
 McCay's were not the first dream-themed comic strips to be published: McCay's employer, the New York Herald, had printed at least three such strips, beginning with Charles Reese's Drowsy Dick in 1902.
 Psychoanalysis and dream interpretation had begun to enter the public consciousness with the 1900 publication of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.

McCay first proposed a strip in which a tobacco fiend finds himself at the North Pole, unable to secure a cigarette and a light.
 In the last panel he awakens to find it a dream.
 The Herald asked McCay to make a series of the strip, but with a Welsh rarebit theme instead of tobacco, and McCay complied.
 The strip appeared in a Herald subsidiary, the Evening Telegram, and the Herald's editor required McCay to use a pseudonym for the strip work to keep it separate from his other work.
 McCay signed Rarebit Fiend strips as "Silas", a name he borrowed from a neighborhood garbage cart driver.
 After switching to William Randolph Hearst's New York American newspaper in 1911, McCay dropped the "Silas" pseudonym and signed his work with his own name.

McCay married in 1891, and the marriage was not a happy one.
 According to McCay biographer John Canemaker, McCay depicts marriage in Rarebit Fiend as "a minefield of hypocrisy, jealousy, and misunderstanding".
 McCay was a short man, barely five feet (150 cm) tall.
 He was dominated by his wife, who stood as tall as he was.
 Images of small, shy men dominated by their taller or fatter wives appear frequently in Rarebit Fiend.
 Gigantism, with characters overwhelmed by rapidly growing elements, was another recurring motif, perhaps as compensation on McCay's part for a sense of smallness.
 McCay's brother Arthur had been put in a mental asylum, which may have inspired the themes of insanity that are common in the strip.

Despite the strip's bleak view, McCay's work was so popular that William Randolph Hearst hired him in 1911 with a star's salary.
 Hearst editor Arthur Brisbane deemed McCay's work "serious, not funny", and had the cartoonist give up his comic strips (including Rarebit Fiend and Nemo) to work full-time illustrating editorials.
McCay began cartooning in the 1890s and had a prolific output published in magazines and newspapers.  He became known for his ability to draw quickly, a talent he often employed during chalk talks on the vaudeville stage (alongside the likes of Harry Houdini and W. C. Fields).  Before Dream of the Rarebit Fiend and Little Nemo, McCay had shown an interest in the topic of dreams.  Some of his earlier works, numbering at least 10 regular comic strips, had titles such as Daydreams and It Was Only a Dream.  McCay's were not the first dream-themed comic strips to be published: McCay's employer, the New York Herald, had printed at least three such strips, beginning with Charles Reese's Drowsy Dick in 1902.  Psychoanalysis and dream interpretation had begun to enter the public consciousness with the 1900 publication of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.
McCay first proposed a strip in which a tobacco fiend finds himself at the North Pole, unable to secure a cigarette and a light.  In the last panel he awakens to find it a dream.  The Herald asked McCay to make a series of the strip, but with a Welsh rarebit theme instead of tobacco, and McCay complied.  The strip appeared in a Herald subsidiary, the Evening Telegram, and the Herald's editor required McCay to use a pseudonym for the strip work to keep it separate from his other work.  McCay signed Rarebit Fiend strips as "Silas", a name he borrowed from a neighborhood garbage cart driver.  After switching to William Randolph Hearst's New York American newspaper in 1911, McCay dropped the "Silas" pseudonym and signed his work with his own name.
McCay married in 1891, and the marriage was not a happy one.  According to McCay biographer John Canemaker, McCay depicts marriage in Rarebit Fiend as "a minefield of hypocrisy, jealousy, and misunderstanding".  McCay was a short man, barely five feet (150 cm) tall.  He was dominated by his wife, who stood as tall as he was.  Images of small, shy men dominated by their taller or fatter wives appear frequently in Rarebit Fiend.  Gigantism, with characters overwhelmed by rapidly growing elements, was another recurring motif, perhaps as compensation on McCay's part for a sense of smallness.  McCay's brother Arthur had been put in a mental asylum, which may have inspired the themes of insanity that are common in the strip.
Despite the strip's bleak view, McCay's work was so popular that William Randolph Hearst hired him in 1911 with a star's salary.  Hearst editor Arthur Brisbane deemed McCay's work "serious, not funny", and had the cartoonist give up his comic strips (including Rarebit Fiend and Nemo) to work full-time illustrating editorials.
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend