Mabel's Stratagem

1912 • Directed by

Mack Sennett

Fred Mace plays a businessman with two secretaries. He gets playful with the second secretary, Mabel Normand. His wife, Alice Davenport walks in on him. He does some nice embarrassed husband pantomime. Davenport fires the two secretaries and tell Fred that he will only have male secretaries from now on. The next day, Mabel arrives in drag as a boy to apply for the job. The wife takes him into the next office and starts to make a pass at him.