A Ready-Made Maid

In this rambunctious comedy, desperately job-needy Billie becomes "Bridget" to answer a "female wanted" ad for a housekeeper. Unfortunately, s/he is all thumbs, wreaking household havoc in no time. Popular British comedian Billie Reeves rose to fame in the company of music hall impresario Fred Karno (which was also the training ground for Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel). Director Arthur Hotaling was an American vaudevillian-turned-highly-prolific-director of short films in the 1910s, mostly for Florida-based Lubin Manufacturing Company. Unfortunately, the year MAID was produced would prove to be the company's last. A disastrous fire and other woes forced it into bankruptcy. - Dennis Harvey