fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi I L L U S TR fl TI O N S fi fi fi fl fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi John Drew $Photogravure) Fron tispiece w Mrs . Mrs . John Dre as Malaprop in p age The Rivals 4 Josephine Baker as Moya in $ The Shaugh raun 8 John Drew as the Adj utant in $ The Passing Regiment With Ada Rehan as Eric Thorndyk e and K ate V erity in The Sq uire With Ada Rehan as Mr . and Mrs . Ford in $ The Merry Wives of Windsor 2 0 As Belleville in $ The Country Girl 2 4 As Captain Plume in $ The Recruit ing O fficer 2 8 As Petruchio in $ The Taming of the Shrew With A d a Rehan as Howell Everett and V al O sprey in The Railroad of Love As O rlando in $ As Yo u Like It With Ada Rehan as Young Mirabel and O riana in The Inconstant ” fi fi e fi e m e e fi ufi fi e fi fi fi fi e e fi fi e I L L U S T R A T I O N S w $ John Dre as Charles Surface in The Page ” School for Scandal 5 4 As the K ing of Navarre in $ Love’ s ’ Labour s Lost 6 0 As Robin Hood in $ The Foresters 6 6 With Maude Adams as O ssian and ” Miriam 1n $ Butterflies A s V iscount Cliv eb ro o k e in $ The Bauble Shop K $ As Mr . ilroy in The Sq uire of Dames With Maude Adams as Sir Jasper ” and Dolly 1n $ Rosemary As the Comte de Cand ale in $ A Marriage of Convenience ” As Sir Christopher Deering in $ The Liars ” With Blanche Burton as Sir Christo Ebe rno e pher Deering and Mrs . in The Liars ” With Id a Conq uest and Arthur By ron in $ The Tyranny of Tears With Frank Lamb and Arthur Byron ” in $ The Tyranny of Tears Miss Ethel Barrymore fl fl fi fi fi fl fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fl fi fl fi fi 7 OHN DR E W fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fl fi fi fi fi 3h P a r t F i r s t NTIL very lately John Drew had been for years the most approved re pre se n tativ e on our dram atic stage of gay, volatile young gentlemen , and in this present hour , more because o f o f the accidents the play market , I believe , than for any signs of the flight o f years in his appearance or m his de eanour , he is accepted as the type of polite man of the world , the social philosopher , never too strenuously philosophical , the cour Wit tier , the , the diplomatist , just fi fl fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi 7 0 E N D R E W at the threshold of the middle D years . Mr . rew is , perhaps , the $ ” most essentially modern o f all His our actors . elegance is the elegance of a chapter of Henry James , rather than that of a scene He by Congreve . has acted with admirable skill in the old com e ’ dies , and with rare eloquence in plays of Shak espeare ; but in the public m ind he has been m ost closely associated with plays o f the m passing hour , and the oods and m m m anners of the i ediate present . He um is , in the popular phrase , f k theatrical . It is elt that he ta es the manners of polite society from the drawing - room directly to the fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi 7 o H N D R E W D stage . Yet Mr . rew is one of a com paratively few prominent actors of this day who were actually born He to the stage . is of the third generation of a theatrical family ; both of his parents were actors, He and so were their parents . began his theatrical career at the d age of nineteen years , and serve an apprenticeship in the stock com pany of the A rch Street Theatre P in hiladelphia , nearly two years before he got his opening in New York . I can recall vividly the impression 18 I received , in 7 5 , of the young actor who made his first appearance , I th February 5 of that year, at the fi n e fie e fi e n e e e fi e ue e e fi e e fi 7 0 H N D R E W Fifth A venue Theatre in the taking role of B o b Ruggles in Tfie B zg B ona nz a , a comedy in which the plot and characterisation of the U ” German ltimo, by Von Moser, were adapted as closely as possible to A Ru an merican environment . g gles was a glib but well - meaning youth who met a nice girl on her way home from boarding school , helped her out of some trifling pre d ic am e nt on the railroad, and there after paid successful court to her - an easy going , gracefully graceless, - light hearted , inconsequential sort of chap , with a saving sense of humour to restrain the follies of passion and lend piquant effect to MR S. JOHN DREW v As M rs M alap rop in The Ri als . 7 o H N D R E W his harmless gallantries . In fact, Ruggles was a typical $ light com ” edy part of the era, then declin $ ing, when lines were strictly o bserved and the parts in plays were cast by the stage managers A s almost as a matter of course . a light comedian , in the hour which L W ’ was still ester allack s , when , too , the polished assurance and brisk patter of Mathews were vividlyre D membered , young John rew had L many deficiencies . ightness of touch in any branch of art is not D easily acquired , and rew reached fame by no royal road . In 7723 B ig B ona nz a we all liked him , because his was a personality fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi 7 o H N D R E W new and pleasing , because he was unaffected and gentlemanly ; and some of us saw a promise of some in thing better his work . Yet the old stagers did not hesitate to say $they never hesitate to say anything cruel about young actors) , that he ” $ made nothing at all of his o p $ o rtunitie s He p . scarcely played up 3 to the experienced Fanny Davenport in his love scenes with her, to be sure, yet he had indi vid ualit y, and he walked the stage with the ease of one born to it . Drew remained at the Fifth A venue T heatre more than two years , until A D its manager, the late ugustin aly, suddenly gave up the lease at the 6 fi fifi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi 17 o H N D R E W very beginning o f the theatre sea o f I 8 — 8 son 7 7 , and probably in the interval he made some sort of pro gress toward popularity , but the company was numerous, and the D o b manager autocratic . Mr . aly ” served no $ lines in casting his plays, and although the youth from Philadelphia began in a $ light z comedy role, half a do en more experienced actors would have been fi delighted to get , yet he did not g ure conspicuously as a light com e dian in the distributions generally . ” L o w m $ co edy character parts , walking gentlem en and utilities - m k $chiefly the last na ed) , fell thic ly to his share , and he was accounted fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fl fi fif fl fi fi fi fl j o H N D R E W reasonably harmless in most of His D S them . udley mooth , in 18 6 unc o m 7 , seemed to me an m o nl y clever piece of work , but I suppose the veterans of that time considered that it lacked depth and weight . I liked him very much - as the rattle brained youngster, T G ll Pi ue horsby y , in q , which he . ff played with really buoyant e ect , but the performance did not set the town ablaze . D ’ $ Young rew s recognition , prop erly , was to be deferred till he grew artistically strong enough to bear He success . had two years of varied experiences , some of them picturesque , as a travelling actor 8 JOSE PHINE B A K ER $ h h ra u As Moya in The S aug n . fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi 7 o H N D R E W before his opportunity came .