Drew
Drew names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Drew JOHN, an American comedian
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN, an American comedian; born in Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 3, 1825. He made his first appearance at the Bowery Theater, New York, in 1845, and later became manager, in connection with William Wheatley, of the Arch Street Theater in Philadelphia. He acted in the principal cities of the United States and also in England and Australia. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., May 21, 1862. His wife, LOUISA DREW, born in London, England, Jan. 10, 1820, for a whole generation stood at the head of comedy actresses. Her greatest success was as Mrs. Malaprop in "The Rivals," After her husband's death Mrs. Drew managed the Arch Street Theater for a number of years. She died in Larchmont, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1897. Their son, JOHN DREW, born in Philadelphia, Nov. 13, 1853, first appeared at his father's theater in that city, and for a short season played there with Edwin Booth. He visited Europe in 1892 with Daly's company. He began his starring tours in the autumn of 1892, playing in "The Masked Ball." In 1901, he reduplicated some of his earlier successes in "The Second in Command." He has since toured the country in comedies by French and English dramatists with continued success.
Drew DANIEL, an American capitalist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
DANIEL, an American capitalist; born in Carmel, N. Y., in 1788. He was the founder of the Drew Ladies' Seminary at Carmel, and the Drew Theological Seminary at Madison, N. J. He also gave large sums of money to various Methodist colleges and schools. He died in New York City, Sept. 19, 1879.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 could still write of John Drew the younger touring "with continued success"; he died in San Francisco in 1927, and the family's fame passed to his sister Georgiana's children — Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore — and on to Drew Barrymore, born 1975 and named for the line. The Philadelphia Arch Street Theatre that Louisa Drew ran for three decades is long gone, and the Drews are now remembered chiefly as the root of the Barrymore acting dynasty rather than as stars in their own right. Daniel Drew is treated here purely as a philanthropist, with no mention of the speculation that made the money: his fight with Cornelius Vanderbilt for the Erie Railroad in 1868, the flood of watered stock, and the Panic of 1873, which left him bankrupt and dying with almost nothing. The seminary he endowed at Madison, New Jersey, became Drew University in 1928 and still carries his name; most modern sources give his birth year as 1797 rather than the 1788 printed here.
Written for this edition, 2026.