Volume II: Filmography

THE SCRUB LADY

British release title: THE CHAR-LADY

June 7, 1914 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (1,001 feet)

Character: Comedy

Scenario: John William Kellette

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

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

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, June 6, 1914:

"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."

REVIEW, The Bioscope, October 1, 1914:

"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."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 13, 1914:

"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."

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