McCay was approached in early 1910 to bring his vaudeville show to Europe. McCay requested the "Herald"s permission, but the plans never materialized. His show stayed within the eastern U.S. until he ceased performing in 1917. Biographer John Canemaker assumed McCay's request to tour Europe was turned down, and that the refusal added to McCay's growing frustration with the "Herald". A distrust of big business became pronounced in McCay's work around this time, including a story arc in "Little Nemo" in which the characters visit a Mars oppressed by a greedy business magnate.