Red Head and Ma's Suitors
Directed by Norval MacGregorThe widow Murphy has two admirers, the ardent policeman, who is so spick and span on his "beat," and big Schmidt, the burly German, who has a large bank account, and both are as willing as she. Then Red Read, the angel-faced demon child, intervenes. She drops a cat from an upstairs window upon Policeman McGuire's neck, while he is on his way to interrupt a visit of Schmidt to the widow in the back yard. All the party become tangled up in clotheslines and there are many funny falls. When the suitors are again lured into the security of the widow's parlor, Red Head discovers a hole bored in the floor of the upstairs bathroom directly over the visitor's head. The plumber's melting pot suggests hot possibilities, so she pours sizzling solder down on Schmidt's head. He flits out of the scene, allegro. The widow is much puzzled at his quick exit, and returns to greet Policeman McGuire. He has hardly been seated under the hole in the ceiling and has a ring in his hand, when more lead comes sputtering down and hits him on the back of the neck. He makes a rush for the open with a yell. The widow herself catches some of the surplus in her hair, and also makes for the pump. She had hardly recovered from this adventure before she was noosed in a clothesline, pulled up at right angles, just as she was being courted by Schmidt. The policeman came in to lend a hand, and there was the usual mix-up between Germany and Ireland. Mother Murphy, however, observed Red Head and her friends at the other end of the rope, managed to get her hands upon her daughter, and thus reversing the position, laid violent hands upon her person.
