The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-25
NO lore MATINEE IDOLS.
W0lrEN NOWADAYS DON'T RAVE
ABOUT THEIR FATORITE ACTORS.

Attitude OF women Townro
the Popular Actors and singers-Men on the
stare who Were wOruhipped In the Past
Tho recent arrest of an actor for beating his
wife, said a theatrical manager. has brought
forth q great deal Of talk about the actors of to-
day who are fascinating to women as well as
about those of tho past. So far as these stories
relate to the past they may be all right. Harry
Montague, who is the man always referred to
when it comes to later days, was very much ad.
mired by women, who wrote to him, went to
tho theatre to see him, and gave him unmis-
taxable evidence Of their extraordinary interest
In him. The particular actor who has started
oil this talk was never admired by women In
the sense that Montague was. Apart from
his appearance at the Lyceum Theatre he had
played chiefly In melodrama at theatres to
which women who would have been attracted
by such a mar very rarely go. AS q matter OF
fact this actor was mover o matinee idol, as
some of tho stories printed about him have en-
deavored to mako him out, nor arc there any
actors to-day who are admired by women TO tho
same extent Montague was said to be.
THAT sort of admiration seems to have dis
appeared In the general Improvement OF hui
manity, and ne wspapers havo had q great deal
to do with It's disappearance. So much 10
printed nowadays in some newspapers about the
private lives of actors that nearly everything
about them Is known. 1t 10 known when they
arc married and when they are divorced. and
there Is disenchantment in the publication Of
some Of these facts which would cool the ardor
Of any girl who was chcrishing a secret passion
for an actor. / think the man on the stage to-
day most admired by women Is E. A. Sothern.
i Will wager that L. A. Sothern does not re-
ceive an average Of ten letters from girls during
his regular engagements horo every winter.
n hnr ..sl- - NJ, C~-lr II a~nn
tell. but l know that 80 far as this city is con-
cerned the notes which some OF the newspapers
print stories about are almost unknown. wo-
men like +. A. Sothern because he is q we'll
bred, gentlemanly fellow who makes love
divinely and dresses well. They go to see him
for that reason, and their admiration stops
there. Schoolgirls may buy his photograph.
but that 10 no evidence of an incurable affec-
ton for him.
John Drew stands next, I suppose, in tho
list, and he Is liked by women for very much the
same reasons; but 1t Is very well known that
Mr.. Drew Is an amiable man approaching mid
die age, who has to take a great deal Of exercise
to keep shape, and is:very much absorbed in.his
wife and family. When he does go anywhere
outside of tho homo circle it is likely to be
among his men friends. The women who enjoy
John Drew In the theatre do not trouble them
49, ho> AALA oAtSt NAo BhAy Al
over, and his list of notes, I am willing to bot, is
very much smaller than Mr.. Sothern's, and the
difference between Mr.. Drew's beauty and Mr..
6othern's might be taken as q cause of any such
discrepancy. II the women who admire these
mon on the stage like their polite manners and
agreeable personalities. 1t is Tor this reason they
go 10 sec them; but any talk about the hypnotic
control which any actor possesses over women
is stun and nonsense Of the worst type. There
are, OF course, women who would do anything.
a cable car conductor might iusDire them with
Henry Miller is another favorite actor with
ing man OF the Empire Theatre. as well as dur
ing the season which he played last year at tho
mash letters sent 10 him., although he never
looked better in his life than in the old.fashioned
costume he wore then. Tho influence of the
sible for the discontinuance Of the practice in
which silly girls used to indulge in just such
with three children to whom he is devoted, and
up TO a short time ago no lived very quietly in
his house on Tie Riverside Drive. Nothing
three sons, and he lately took them TO Paris to
be educated under their mothers care. Tho
first thing that he did at the close Of the season
this year was togo tuParis and join them. These
facts are very well known, and could any girl
ever become 80 infatuated AS 10 sit down and
write n letter TO a man who was known to DO
concerned wholly, with matters OF such a dit.
ferent naturei Maurice BARRYMORE, whose real
name happens TO be Klein, was always "a very
handsome man. but he never suffered particu.
Larry from the prosecutions OF women who fell
victims to his charms lie married so many
years aso that his son and daughter are both
old enough now to be on the stage. .Kyrle
Bellew did at one time attract considerable at.
%tention from New York girls. The stories of
two who pursued him with their attentions
were a joke al one time in New York, and l sup
pose since Montague no nan has been so much
admired 10y women and received so many pro-
testations of admiration; but all that happened
Potter has troubled Nm with any nuto. and
there is no man on the stage to-day who has any
particular cause for comr.atnt on this score,
today. Herbert Kslcoy, Who was always {
very good looking fellow, may serve as a demon
%stration of the fact that women do not look for
beauty in the man they want 10 admire on the
S senf ihn he JoGn D D1sw n1 Nng = the A. rage ssth to the %e s1'
although he, is really handsome than either.
He had a p~hlegmatic, elder brother, comfortable
enthusiasm. When Little Harry Woodruff
was acting at tho Madison square Theatre,
him after every matinee. They meyer met him
and never had u chance 10 81 oak to him. but for
a whole winter they watched him from a dis
lance and wondered IL they would ever have tho
Felicity OF addressing II word TO him. That was
a great many years ago, and they were very
Enthusiastically appiauded by women us the ten
ors are, very rarely receive notes from them.
the performances have clos ed, never received a
single motto last winter from q woman express
Ing her elimination for, HIM. and the same Is
800 '" ASAuI SltLApllllA. WV "up liC anu
soonest man that has been seen In New y ork
ior many q year. and was attractive TO women
In many ways.
THE .adored actor who has hundreds of
girls enthralledsb nv his charms In n thing that
exists only in newspapers. He may have been an
actualty several years ago. but no IL not now.
~ course, there are foolish women who write
letters 10 actors, but there arc also women who
write letters TO clerRymcn, cablo car conduc-
tors' postthen, and lawyers"
Dogs Among tho Things That Can he Hired.
Ono can hire a gun or a violin. a house or q
nresscoat. almost anything. in fact. including
dogs. Settlers and pointers are hired for hunt
ing purposes, and they can hc hired by the day
or the week or tho month. Scwfoundlands and
81. bernards are hired for watchdogs, usually
tor the summer, Wntchdogs are hired by care
takers OF buildings In the city, but oftener TO
tahs 10 country houses, where, utter boinR tied
up TOT q day or two, they become well enough ac-
quainted with their keeper TO follow him about.
BUY
THE GE n E!
M9Ak6,A
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