Dream of the Rarebit Fiend He addressed religious leaders, alcoholism, homelessness, political speeches, suicide, fashion, and other topics, whereas his other strips were fantasy or had seemingly vague, timeless backgrounds. The strip referenced contemporary events such as the 1904 election of Theodore Roosevelt; the recently built Flatiron Building (1902) and St. Regis Hotel (1904) in New York City; and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. The rarebit is a dish typically made with rich cheese thinned with ale and served melted on toast with cayenne and mustard mixed in. McCay used it despite its innocuousness—cultural theorist Scott Bukatman states rarebit was not the sort of dish
Welsh rarebit calf prepared after the recipe of a she-banker." In H. G. Wells's 1898 short story "The Man Who Could Work Miracles (story)" Mr. Fotheringay helps himself to a couple of Welsh rarebits "out of vacancy". The comic strip "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend", by Winsor McCay, featured the fantastic dreams that various characters had because they ate a Welsh rarebit before going to bed. In "Gomer, the Welsh Rarebit Fiend", Season 3 Episode 24 of "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.", indulging in Welsh rarebit causes Gomer (and later Sgt. Carter) to sleepwalk. In the Neil Simon play Plaza Suite, Act I character