HIS AUDIENCE LOST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17081, 14 October 1929, Page 7

HIS AUDIENCE LOST

"THE HERO OF READING" PUBLIC INTEREST GONE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) ' LONDON, Oct. 12. Drew, the actor, who figured so prominently in the inquest on the murdered tobacconist at Reading, is no longer the local idol. The .orgy of hero-worship ceased as suddenly as it began, and Drew is able to walk with the same freedom as any other person. Yesterday his appeorance held up the traffic and thousands cheered, but to-day he is in solitude, like an actor who has lost his audience. When he posed for photographers outside the hotel, not more than a dozen loitereres looked on.

Drew says candidly he is an actor who likes publicity, Ibut he is perturbed at the thought that he may be regarded as a notoriety-seeker. Asked whether he thought the inquest would have any effect on his career, he replied: "I do not know. It may be a good thing, but notoriety may turn people against me. It will be an anxious moment when I make my next stage appearance. Producers have been tumbling over themselves for my services, and offer me £6O to appear in a five-minute talkie, but I have decided nothing yet. It is easy to commercialise publicity, but that is the last thing I intend to do." The question of coroners' powers continues to be widely discussed. Mr. Martin, the Reading coroner, said that Drew was treated fairly at the inquest, which was conducted in a similar manner to all others. He himself was inclined to agree that a coroner's duty should he confined to determining the cause of death, but this and the other points which have teen raised, were matters for the Legislature.