Lucille McVey

Lucille McVey (April 18, 1890 – November 3, 1925) also known as Mrs Sidney Drew, was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actress.

In April 1914, she and the other members of the company accompanied Drew to Florida for a stay of six weeks, which started the beginning of their personal and working relationship.

[3][1] Like many women of the period, such as Lillian Gish or Margery Wilson, McVey pursued opportunities to write and direct.

[3] Their first big success, Playing Dead (1915), was a five-reel "human interest drama" based on Richard Harding Davis's book.

[1] At the expiration of their Metro's contract, they decided to temporally retire from the screen and returned to the stage with Keep Her Smiling, a lightweight comedy in which they both starred.

Merely a year after Sidney Drew's death, Pathé Exchange sold a series of six to eight two-reel comedies made by McVey-Drew based on the After Thirty stories penned by Julian Stuart.

[3] She was one of the four women to direct at Vitagraph Studios after 1916 with Marguerite Bertsch, Lillian Josephine Chester and Paula Blackton.

[1][7] Despite her relative inexperience at her debut, she produced and directed more often than her husband and her input had an important impact on duo's creation.

"[8] For McVey, the essential of their ideas needed to be clear and thoughtful, inspired and based on real people and event.

[8] The Drew style was defined by the use of everyday situations of the bourgeois class turned into comical short comedies which was greatly acclaimed by the audience at their time.

Ad for the American comedy film The Amateur Liar (1919) with Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew
Ad for The Amateur Liar (1919)
Still from the American film Bunkered (1919) with Mrs. Sidney Drew
Still from Bunkered (1919)
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew