Milford chronicle., 1889-03-01
AN ACTORS LIFE.
FRED WREN, NOW MAKING BRICK,
GROWS REMINISCENT.

Thirty-three Years' Experience Makes
Young 0Ian a veteran-A Family o
Actors Who Early Utilize Their Talents
''MarlSs'' and the Bioodhounds.
WAS 1 ever bit by bloodhoundsgn echoeC
Fred Wren, the veteran comedian, as he and 4
News reporter chatted together the other day
"look here, and here, see the scarsl 1 hav,
marks all over my body from them, and yet
never got a scratch from them in earnest
have two big holes in my right leg, but ] got
them by interfering in a fight between two
bloodhounds. One made grab at the other
dog and caught me. The others are from
snaps made at canes umbrellas and so ON
Yes" he replied, in answer to question,
Il have quit the show business, and I'm going
TO make brick"
Mr.. Wren sat in his office at eight White
building. Some years ago he bought farm
at Lancaster, and finding that a brick clay
bed lay beneath the surface soil, has organized
a company, and the merry Marks promises to
mako as much money in brick as he made in
| his long theatrical career
"How did you come to buy farmln he
was asked
/ THE YEARNING FOR A ROME.
because l wanted a home. Not that
home was any use to me, for was hardly
ever home. But all actors have the same
longing. They all like to speak of home.
They say my home with tremor in their
voice when thousands of miles away. It Is
one of the bright spots in their memory. Joe
jefferson with all his wealth and his beautiful
home finds it no home to him, for he's there
but rarely. What are Booth and Barrett and
all the rest but ttramps-wanderers on the face
of the earthl l tell you Pm tired of it all, and
I've settled down here in my home and going
TO make brick I've got a nice home nice
wife, nice children, nice cook and nurse girl,
and I'm going to enjoy the rest Of my life"
How old are youf
About TO-" Then falling into Renaissance
Mr.. Wren continued; Its long time ago
since l took to the stage. Father had good
business here as vessel painter Old residents
will remember him. There were nine of us
and all but win took to tho stage. NY
brother George ran away 70 Cincinnati and
headed company with Barney bicAuley
He came back in two years and father for
gave him, and then gave him permission to
put mp little stage in the barn. That was
on Seventh street, above Maryland; / don't
know but the old barn stands there vet. Our
urst play was 'Bombastes Furioso, then we
played Timothy TOOdles, Burton's old play, 1
and be afterwards took me and taught me it |
well The Swan family We're with us, and |
tell you we played to crowded houses, for it |
was cheap. That went on for a year; then, |
In the winter Of 80 and '5G, George conceived |
theidea Of taking US on the road We played /
'Ioodles, Loan of a Lover, Crossing the |
Line, MILDLY Ashore Jenny Jones' a /
Tinker and Tailor and several other English |
comedies Of the day. We went through Can
ada and Michigan, doing well, got back home
and started out again That company was
the Wren Juvenile comedians eight Of the
Wren family in it, and we had good show.
We played before President Buchanan's
cabinet in the winter Of % and '5s.n
HIS LEGITIMATE" CAREER.
Mr. Wren talked away entertainingly
about his theatrical career before the war.
told Of his appearance in Barnum's museum
that was burned after Lincoln was killed; of
the long run made in Laura Kean's theatre
with Midsummer Nights Dream, with Fred
rs Puck 1t was run of four months. the
longest then known in this country Then
be told of his enlistment as a drummer bov
IN his twelfth birthday in the Sixty-first
New York, of how he was disabled at Nal
7ern Hill and spent three months at Car
7er hospital, and Of how he went into the
AeAf y IA tHA it was mustered out.
After the war he went to New Orleans, to
Tom Plaeide's theatre, in which 127 people
ltterward found a fiery death, the theatre
where Matilda Heron, who made $4,000 Us
camille, made her first great hit in the
haracter.
Once before he forsook tho stage, and went
nto Denton 81 Cottier's store to learn to be a
musician, but inside of a year was back in
heatrical harness. He married Maria Sullv.
whose father then owned the New England ,
otel, now the Fillmore house. He traced I
rs course in an interesting way until the
ime when he entered the stock" at the s
lcademy in this city. And hero all theatre
oers IN Buffalo take up the history of Fred I
Nren and it Is no use telling them anything Z
bout it,
Those were the halcyon days, when rare old q
ZEN Rogers and Fred Wren were the old and /
Dung comedians
And wish, says Fred Wren, ''the old /
ock days were come again. They gave an t
ctor home; now heisa well dressed tramp. b
believe if tho Meeches were to mako the n
cademy a stock house and get some of the 1
d people back again they'dfn it every night
} the doors And l believe it's coming that
ay. The best actors are firing of the life Il
uppose the Owl club Of Chicago or the 81
ress club Of Minneapolis or some other big V
ty does give a fellow a banquet. It's an T
onor, of course, but the actor comes to it "
red out, no brilliancy left in him, and he'sup "
nd away IN the morning again with a rush. a
x hundred odd miles from Denver to Omaha. ],
% miles again to Kansas City, rush, rush, n
sh; it wears ones life out. So I'm not II
'ing to make fun any more I'm going to ii
AXE brickn a,
After four seasons in the Academy stock n
mpany Fred Wren took the road with "On n,
me, and in the latter part of 10 struck w
S great success Uncle Tom, " and stuck to d,
for five years. He bred his own blood 81
'unds and always went armed to shoot if n,
ey tackled a man.-Buffalo News. h,