The theatre of science; a volume of progress and achievement in the motion picture industry (1914)

124 Ci)c Cl)eatre actors whose prolonged career on the stage was about on an even plane, scoring many notable successes, but always escaping stellar honors, though I recall Humphries as a co-star in "More Than Queen," with Julia Arthur when he distinguished himself by a portrayal none of us will ever forget, but when this sterling actor joined the Vitagraph Company he became almost instantly one of its greatest assets. Again may be noted the triple service so frequently in evidence in the film studio, for Humphries, like the Messrs. Kent, Costello, and Brooke, writes many of the photoplays he appears in, and directs so many Vitagraph productions in not all of which he acts himself, that lately . he is seen on the screen too rarely. Of all the Vitagraph players with long careers on the regular stage to their credit, Sydney Drew is perhaps the best known, because he has been appearing uninterruptedly in the older field for more than thirty years and was practically the last to capitulate to the lure of the studio. Mr. Drew came to the Brooklyn studio in 1913 direct from a vaudeville career wherein with Mrs. Drew, he appeared almost consecutively, for more than seventeen years, yet in all that time Mr. Drew did not require more than four playlets, one of these, "When Two Hearts Are One," had a practically uninterrupted vogue of ten years, and I venture to state if Drew ever does return to vaudeville, this vehicle will be demanded by the managers. I was particularly interested in Mr. Drew's coming into picturedom, fully aware of the significance of the advent therein of a man of his varied talents, who had always invested his stage work with what is called character drawing. There are many persons of high rating in the theatrical world who believe that Sydney