Over the hills to the poor house

The widowed elderly mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, wishing to relieve herself of the burden of care of her property, decides to divide it up among her children. To her son Charles, a wild but kind young fellow, she leaves a small amount, feeling that he will soon run through it. The good-hearted boy is perfectly satisfied, believing in the wisdom of his mother's actions. He assumes she will find a home with one of his siblings, who are married and settled. The old woman moves in with her married son, but is driven out by his wife over an argument about her young granddaughter. She is forced to move into a squalid apartment in a cheap tenement house, but is evicted for failing to pay her rent. She appeals to her daughter, who refuses to take her in, suggesting she go to the public poor-house, which she does. She is toiling in the laundry when she is discovered by her son, Charles, who, learning of her abandonment, has been searching for her. The kind-hearted son helps his mother out of the poor-house, and takes her home to care for her.
H112129 U.S. Copyright Office
Based on the poem, Over the hill to the poor-house, by Will Carleton.
Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 20Jun1908; H112129.
Florence Auer, Edward Dillon, Mack Sennett, Anthony O'Sullivan, Wallace McCutcheon, Jr., Mrs. Wallace McCutcheon, Robert G. Vignola.
Camera, G.W. Bitzer, Arthur Marvin.
Cast members Wallace McCutcheon, Jr., Mrs. Wallace McCutcheon, Robert G. Vignola from Internet movie database.
According to notes in Mack Sennett's fun factory, p. 599, Over the hills to the poor house may have been directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Jr.
Photographed May 15 through May 22, 1908 mostly in the Biograph studio in New York City. Unable to determine where outdoor scenes were filmed.
Parts of summary from the Biograph bulletins, 1896-1908.
Biograph production no. 3426.
Paper print shelf number (LC 2669) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
Additional holdings for this title may be available. Contact reference librarian.
Sources used: Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 234-235; Biograph production logs; Biograph bulletins, 1908-1912, p. 362; AFI catalog, film beginnings, 1893-1910, p. 771; Internet movie database, viewed October 2, 2018; Walker, B. Mack Sennett's fun factory, p. 599; Moving picture world, v. 2, no. 26, June 27, 1908, p. 546 and 550, viewed online October 2, 2018 via the Internet Archive.
Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.