Tradition Lost: Death of John Drew

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 134, 27 August 1927, Page 22

Tradition Lost: Death of John Drew

A Famous Player SUCCESSION OF SUCCESSES Through the death of John Drew the American stage has lost not only one of its most prominent figures, but also one of its chief traditions. At the end of a career embracing 'f years behind the footlights, Mr. Drew had become more than an actor who teas a leading exponent of polite comedy, for he stood as a symbol to the “profession ” and to laymen alilce of all that wah best in the American theatre. He was born to the stage and was a member of a family identified exclus-

ively with acting or theatrical management. “The Drews and the Barrymores” have for years been regarded as probably the American theatres’ leading family, and that opinion was so firmly established that when Ethel Barrymore, the actor’s niece, made her stage debut, she was audibly admonished by a gallery patron “to speak up. The Drews is all good actors.” His father, also named John Drew, had been an Irish comedian of talent and his mother, Louisa Lane Drew, was, in her time, regarded as one of the most versatile actresses on the Amrican stage. In addition to their son, the couple had a daughter, Georgie Drew, who likewise was successful as a performer and who became the wife of Maurice Barrymore. Their three children, Lionel, Ethel and John, are also following the family tradition. Began His Stage Career at 20 Mr. Drew began his stage career at the age of 20. It was a career for which he was obviously fitted and his preparation for it had been personally directed by his mother. Before that time —lie was born in Philadelphia on November 13, 1853 —he had been privately educated and had attended for a while the Episcopal Academy, but liis whole training had been pointed toward the theatre. “Cool As a Cucumber” was his first play, and in it he essayed the role of Plumper. During the next two years he acted many parts and resultantly won the attention of Augustin Daly, who brought the young actor to New York, \yhere he made his appearance at Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1875 in “The Big Bonanza.” That began a long succession of plays which, for the most part, called upon him to exercise the manners and characteristics of a gentleman. So often did he portray that sort of role and so completely did he become the prototype of the gentleman in the theatre that this stage figure became known as a “John Drew part.” He became known as the best-dressed man on the American stage and an arbiter of good taste in all matters. After “The Big Bonanza” he played various parts, including a long succession of secondary roles with Edwin Booth’s Shakespearean company. In 1577-78 he was a member of Fanny Davenport’s company and the following year he toured the country with his brother-in-law, Maurice Barrymore. in “Diplomacy.” He afterward returned to Daly’s company and remained under that management until 1892, playing several London engagements during that time. With Ada Rehan as his leading woman, his most notable successes under the Daly banner were “Divorce,” “Love On Crutches,” “The Great Unknown,” and “Love’s Labour Lost.” Starred by Late Charles Frohman While Mr. Drew had been leading man at Daly’s Theatre, it was the late Charles Frohman who gave him his first opportunity for stardom. That was in 1892, when he played with Maude Adams in “The Masked Ball” at Palmer’s Theatre. He remained under Mr. Froham’s management until 1915, appearing regularly in a new play each season on Broadway and making