Rag Trade Sisters : The Barrymore Dynasty

John, Ethel & Lionel Barrymore, early 1900s. Isn't Ethel's blouse lovely!

As you might have discovered by now, I have a fascination with the 1920's - the fashion, the films, the culture, everything. Well...something put me in mind of the Barrymore's the other day. They are iconic. So I thought I'd share a few pictures of them with this blog.

We'll start with the children. I could start with Maurice Barrymore & Georgiana Drew, but I don't really know much about them, and this post is already in danger of being very long and full of pictures as it is! Suffice it to say, Maurice & Georgiana were also actors.

So, we'll start with Lionel Barrymore, the eldest of the Barrymore children. When I was a child, I knew him only in his role as the horrible Mr. Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life". I didn't get the concept then that people were in lots of films (I still remember my surprise when I realised that Clark Gable had other roles beyond Rett Butler!). I have since then seen Lionel Barrymore in some wonderful films. I think my personal favourite is "A Free Soul" (with Norma Shearer, Clark Gable & Leslie Howard. What a cast!). He began working in films around 1911, and despite being confined to a wheelchair later in his career, he continued film work until 1956.

Lionel with his second wife, Irene Fenwick, early 1920s. Though not as handsome as his brother John, there is a somewhat dashing quality to him in his younger years.

Ethel Barrymore was the second Barrymore, born a little over a year after Lionel. Ethel had a solemn-eyed, Gibson-girl type beauty in her younger years. Winston Churchill fell for her charms and asked her to marry him.

Sporting the fashionable large hats and fur of the early 1900s, circa 1905.

circa 1905-1907?

Ethel definitely had style, and even as an older woman retained poise, dignity & beauty.

Ethel, 1920s.

Ethel in "A Portrait of Jennie" 1948. One of my favourite films.

John Barrymore is, I feel, the most infamous of the siblings, perhaps because of his drinking problem, and the fact that he is Drew Barrymore's grandfather (I often excitedly tell people that Drew Barrymore's grandparents were silent stars. They don't usually appreciate it as much as I want them to!). John also starred in silent films, and all throughout his career played very different roles. He was adept in both serious and comic roles ("20th Century" and "Midnight" leave me in stitches). He was also roguishly debonair.

John Barrymore, 1920.

Since I'm including Drew Barrymore in this post, I thought it was only fair to say something about her grandmother, Dolores Costello, who also came from an acting family (her father Maurice was an actor). Besides, she was beautiful!

Dolores Costello. Look at that dress!

John & Dolores, 1928.

Again, ostensibly for room, I am skipping Drew Barrymore's parents (as I don't know much about them, and they had their prime in - to me - fashionably boring time) and heading straight on to Drew Barrymore. I think most of us know of her troubled past, which she has overcome remarkably well. I like Drew Barrymore as an actress. She's pretty and likeable in most of the roles I've seen her in. As well as acting, she has directed, she owns her own makeup line, and she just gave birth to her first child.