Lost1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

The Scrub Lady

Name: The Scrub Lady
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1914-06-07

Also released as The Char-Lady

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“Josiah Stevens, a venerable lawyer, found his office a haven of refuge, for ‘the scrub lady’ ruled his household. At length things came to a crisis, and Mrs. Stevens summoned him home to discharge Theresa Evaleen O’Dougherty—which he did, after some little difficulty. Then Stevens’ wife told him to get another laundress. Preyed upon by the awful thought, he absent-mindedly gave a brooch, which his wife had asked him to get repaired, to Miss Featherly, the pretty stenographer at the office. Mrs. Stevens called at the office to see the applicants, and the stenographer mistook her for the new laundress. To convince her that her master-to-be was a kind and generous man, Miss Featherly showed her the brooch, saying that it was a present to her from Mr. Stevens. When the husband returned, there was trouble brewing—and only the intervention of James Olcott, a nimble-witted friend, saved the lawyer from disgrace in his old age.”

Summary from Reel Life · 6 June 1914

What the papers said

2 reviews

“Having at last got rid of that feminine worthy, Mr. Stevens decides upon a selection from numerous applicants. Mrs. Stevens is, through her plain attire, mistaken for one of these by the typist, who ‘confidentially’ displays some jewelry given by her kind employer. The result is a very lively one for all concerned.”

The Bioscope · 1 October 1914

Read in full · 1 min

“She is a fierce scrub lady and she goes on the warpath. The woman who owns the house has to telephone to her husband who is flirting with the stenographer. Brave husband comes home and has to give the scrub lady much money to get her to depart. A day or so later there is another fight; in the office this time. The wife is on the warpath—she has found one of her necklaces [sic; synopsis says brooch] on the stenographer. The woman who wouldn’t fight to free her home from a bad servant will fight to free her husband’s office from a bad stenographer. Let us tell the truth; it is a very vulgar picture and likely to offend the sensibilities of many, especially women.”

The Moving Picture World · 13 June 1914

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Cast and crew

Cast: Arthur Hoyt as James Olcott, a friend in need
: Carey L. Hastings as Mary Stevens, his wife
: Ethyle Cooke as Miss Featherly, a stenographer
: Fan Bourke as the scrub lady
: Riley Chamberlin as Josiah Stevens
Writer: John William Kellette

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes: The Moving Picture World repeatedly listed the title as The Scrumb Lady in schedules; a typographical error that was not corrected.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Scrub Lady”. thanhouser.org/films/the-scrub-lady/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known