The Washington herald., 1907-08-18
ABOUT VAUDEVILLE PLAYERS
Their Lives Differ from the Legiti.
mate.
The Drew Family, Historic Names
on the stage, Represented in
the Continuous.

No phase Of the profession Of acting is
more interesting than the lives of the
players who appear in vaudeville. En-
tirely different from the humdrum ex-
lstence Of people in business life. and
quite the reverse Of the life of PLAYERS In
the so-called legitimate. your vaudevillan
ambles along rose-petaled pathway
from one seasons end 10 another. He is
never idle If he wishes to work; he Is
never dependent on the whin OF the pub
tic for his pay; he does not have to bow
down or kow-tow TO an autocratic man
ager, for he is his own manager. his own
star. and his own viii guides him in all
his Deregrinations.
Not that he lives a haphazard. devil
may-care existence. He is. on the con-
trary, the most methodical Of players. the
most business-like. and the most scrupu-
lously careful husbandman Of all the sock
and buskin cult. But, being free from
the domineering dictates OF managers.
having no star TO please bat himself. get
ting his weekly wage whether there is
business in the house or not (and there
usually Is IN vaudeville when it is the real
kind)-with all these things in his favor
the vaudeville topllner may laugh at his
brother OF the legitimate, and go along
his way rejoicing.
Naudeville's best examples play at
Chase's, in this city The bill presented
there this, the opening week. will illus
trate the difference between the lives of
members Of two branches of the profess
sion. When one sees some high-prieed
star playing for fifteen or twenty minutes
and then bowling goodnight. and going
whithersoever his viii dictates, to make
way for some equally prominent feature
one can realize what a boon to an actor
1t is to land right in vaudeville.
The Drews. who are on the bill are
descended from the best stock Of Amer
ican players, Sidney Drews father was
the celebrated comedian and Irish char
acter actor, John Drew, and his mother
was for many years a famous actress
one Of her latest successes being with
Joseph Jefferson in The Rivals" when
she played Mrs. Malaprop. His father
was manager of the Arch Street Theater
In Philadelphia, at the time Of his death
and Mrs. Drew maintained a stock COM
pany there until 1877. She died in August.
1897. Sidney IS a younger brother of John
Drew, the well-known society actor. and
like the latter, was educated at the Pro-
testant Episcopal Academy IN Philadel-
phia.
Mrs. Sidney Drew IS a daughter of the
late Mr.. and Mrs. Mckee Rankin. and a
sister Of Mrs. Harry Davenport She has
always played with her husband. either In
the companies with which he was star
ring or in his support in vaudeville. In
the seventeen years Of their married life
they have never separated. One son has
been born to the Drews, and when he IS
out of school he is always with his
mother and father on their travels Mr.
Drew resembles his brother John very
much, and both Of them strongly suggest
the features of their lamented mother
Unlike John, however. Sidney has never
gone in for social affairs, and. successful
as he has been. he has never gained the
wide fame that has come 70 the elder
brother. At one time, some ten OF twelve
years ago, the entire Drew family. in
eluding the mother. the sons, and their
wives, and some cousins of the same
name, were together for a summer sea-
son, playing at resorts, such as Newport
Long Branch, Lennox, and other fash.
ionabie spas. "Biliy's Tombstones." the
playette in which Mr. end Mrs. Drew ana
their company appear at Chase's this
week, has been described as the most
humorous farce that has ben turned ont
in vaudeville In years. 1t is entirely dif-
ferent from anything the Drews have
done, and is thoroughly original in char
acteT.