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Barrymores, Drews and EJ Phillips 

EJ Phillips knew and acted with Drews and Barrymores, particularly the good looking but rakish Maurice Barrymore.  The main Palmer plays EJ Phillips was in with him was Jim the Penman (and Pharisee 1891) and Lady Windermere's Fan..  He was Romeo to Olga Nethersole's Juliet, when EJ Phillips played the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet.

Barrymore was the original London Louis Percival in Jim the Penman, and opened in it in New York in Nov 1886 but was replaced by HM Pitt by the time EJ Phillips was performing in Boston in 1887.  She was with him in the 1892 revival. (Barrymore rejoined Palmer's company in Dec 1890.) Mrs. DP Bowers was the original Duchess of Berwick in Lady Windermere's Fan with Maurice Barrymore as Lord Darlington.

Louisa Lane Drew(1820-1897),  Mrs. John Drew [mother of Georgie Drew Barrymore, and grandmother of John, Lionel and Ethel] appeared in Toronto at John Nickinson's Royal Lyceum Theatre in 1858 with her third husband an Irish comedian, drawing good houses with familiar Irish comedies and farces: The Irish Ambassador, The Irish Emigrant and the Irish Lion wrote Toronto theatre historian  Mary Shortt.

John Nickinson had also played with Mrs Drew when she was Mrs. Mossop in 1842 and 1843 in New York at Mitchell’s Olympic Threatre. [History NY Stage]   

In 1871 EJ Phillips "began a three years engagement under the management of  Lawrence Barrett, and next appeared at the Chestnut Street Theatre in  Philadelphia, which was then controlled by FF Mackay.  The [New] Chestnut Street Theatre was built in 1862 on the north side of Chestnut Street between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets, a full seven blocks to the west of the old theatre, and considered by many too far removed from the theatre district to succeed.  But "the rapid westward expansion of center-city Philadelphia  soon made the new Chestnut Street Theatre the city's most fashionably located theatrical facility. ..  FF Mackay was manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre from 1875-78, along with William Gemmill (c. 1845- 1882 Catalog of Dramatic Portraits) and J. Frederick Scott. 

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_Street_Theatre  This may well be when she renewed her acquaintance with Mrs. Drew,

However in 1878 severe internal difficulties began and the Company's previously favorable position (as Philadelphia's only first-class resident company) began to erode. Many of the company's best actors resigned. [source?]  EJ Phillips joined New York's  in 1877

  Louisa Lane Drew c1840-1848      Mrs. Drew Strang's Players and Plays of the Last Quarter Century    Strang's Famous Actors       

Louisa Lane Drew (1820-1897) managed the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia for many years, "which she ran with an iron hand." from 1861 to1892; and established it as one of the greatest of American stock companies.  The house was under her control for the next 31 years. "She was not the first woman in America to manage a theatre and direct an acting company, but she was the first to do so on a considerable scale, and over a term of years...When she finally retired from the management she became the grande dame of the American Theatre." In her last years she was said to cheerfully travel 1000 miles for a chance to play Mrs. Malaprop.  Dictionary of American Biography  She took over the Arch St Theatre in 1862 after John Drew died aged 34/

EJ Phillips attended Louisa Lane Drew's funeral in Philadelphia, September 1897. Did she ever meet John, Ethel of Lionel?

3219 Clifford St
Phila Pa 
Septr 6th/97 

My dear daughter Neppie 

Yesterday I attended the funeral services of Mrs. John Drew at St Stephens Church and followed her to the cemetery [Laurel Hill] which is not far from us.  The Church was packed with people and the Cemetery was crowded.  There was no getting near her grave.  Mrs. Dolman was with me. I am still waiting for a manager to send for me but I think it likely I shall have to wait sometime, for I do not see anything in the papers of new productions.

St. Stephen's Church Philadelphia       

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Lane_Drew   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Lane_Drew#/media/File:Louisa_Lane_Drew_c1840-48.png 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Lane_Drew#/media/File:Drew-Mrs-Malaprop.jpg

Louisa Lane and John Drew http://www.barrymorefamily.com/fr_index.html?/drew.html

Frank Drew (1831-1903)  Played Uncle Bamberry in Saints and Sinners  in the first New York performance in November 1885, when EJ Phillips played Lydia.. Played McGillicuddy in Engaged February 23, 1886 with EJ Phillips playing Mrs. Macalister. He and EJ Phillips were also in Our Society in May 1886.
Frank Drew was the brother of John Drew Sr., so uncle to Georgie Drew Barrymore. John Drew Jr and Sidney White Drew.

 Frank Drew

John Drew (1853-1927) Uncle of Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, Drew was with Daly's company in New York for many years as a high comedian and noted for his Petruchio in the Taming of the Shrew.  Brother of Georgie Drew Barrymore and son of Louisa Lane Drew. 

New York Nov. 29, 1895 By today's Herald I see that Chas Frohman is going to put John Drew in Palmer's Theatre on Jany 6th, and that I guess has given rise to the report that he was trying to get a theatre to put us in on January 6th, but I guess we will have to go to Brooklyn and Harlem and dear knows where! before getting to Boston when we are to stay for a "run" (4 weeks I guess)

Strang writes of Drew that his "theatrical career naturally divides itself into three periods: From 1873, the time he made his debut in the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, which was then under the management of his mother, until 1879 when he became leading man of Augustin Daly's New York company, from 1879 until 1892 when he became a star; and from 1892 until the present time."

Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drew_Jr. 
My years on the stage 1922  http://books.google.com/books?id=HZQXAAAAYAAJ&dq=john+drew+my+years+on+thes+tage&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Georgie Drew Barrymore (1856-1893) was the wife of Maurice Barrymore and mother of John, Ethel and Lionel.  Her promising career was cut short by her early death at 37. .

TACOMA, Wash, June 23rd 1890  

Crane & Co played here last week and yesterday met them halfway between here and Portland. Both companies got out of the cars, and each greeted the other very warmly and ended in singing "Auld Lang Syne" in a very high key. It was very funny, and was thoroughly enjoyed by ourselves, as well as the natives, the latter looking on in blank amazement, but I do not think there were a quarter of the number Mr. Jarrett gives in his interview with the newspaper reporter.  I think 40 would be nearer the mark than 400. Of Cranes Company whom I knew were Mr. & Mrs. [William Henry] Crane, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Lizzie Hudson Collier, Mrs. Georgie Drew Barrymore, Mr. [George F.] DeVere and Mr. Herbert who was at the Chestnut St Theatre [Philadelphia] during my last season at that house. 

William Henry Crane (1845-1928) Most noted as a comedian, Autobiography Footprints and Echoes 1927. Contributed essays on acting and the theatre to contemporary popular journals. Successful as an actor-producer, beginning in 1890 in The Senator, in which he frankly imitated Senator Plumb of Kansas. Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre    Dictionary of American Biography 

Willard's Hotel 
 Washington D.C
 Jan^y 8th/93

Georgie Drew Barrymore has been taken very ill in San F'co and is being sent home by Sea. Poor woman she is having a hard time of it. [She died July 2, 1893 in Santa Barbara California.]

Last revised August 24, 2020

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