the "new york times" critic brooks atkinson wrote in his review "sooner or later every one will have to see "life with father", which opened at the empire last evening. for the late clarence day's vastly amusing sketches of his despotic parent have now been translated into a perfect comedy by howard lindsay and russel crouse, and must be reckoned an authentic port of our american folklore." when "life with father" surpassed "tobacco road" as the longest-running broadway play, elliot norton of the "boston post" celebrated the play as "warmly human and heartily comical and completely inoffensive," thus restoring his faith in the theatre-going public. contemporary scholar jordan schildcrout describes "life with father" as "a comedy in which characters challenge and ultimately win over a figure of authority," which allows the play to appeal to nostalgia for more conservative times, while also finding pleasure in gentle subversion and anti-authoritarianism.