Higgins Movies

Pa Higgins has decided to retire but winds up being forced to run for mayor. Ladd is both boyfriend to the Higgins girl and the son of Pa's opponent.

Gran Higgins falls under the spell of a love-starved widow.

When Betty's father sees the condescending attitude displayed toward her by a rich family, he decides to get back at them by making them believe that his family has "royal" connections.

After selling their house, the Higgins family is convinced by a crafty real estate agent to invest the proceeds in a hotel at Coyote Wells, Nevada, sight unseen. Upon arriving at their new establishment, the Higginses find that what has been described as a thriving western community is actually a ghost town, inhabited by a gang of mobsters fleeing from the law. Things look bleak until two film actors, dressed as prospectors, appear in town and the Higginses mistake them for real gold miners and spread word of a gold strike. This announcement results in a rush of miners which transforms Coyote Wells into a boom town and the Higgins' hotel into a profitable enterprise. Their prosperity is short lived however, when the miners fail to discover gold and decide to lynch the family. Grandpa saves their hides by salting the abandoned mine with gold dust, but as he leaves the mine, he accidentally sets off a stick of dynamite. Hurrying back to Apache Wells, Grandpa rounds up the prospectors and takes them back to the mine where, much to everyone's amazement, Grandpa discovers that the explosion has uncovered a rich vein of gold. As the miners prepare to rush to the land office to file their claims, Mugsy, the head of the gangsters, pulls a gun and announces that he is holding everyone hostage until his men can file a claim on the mine. All seems lost until Grandpa mounts an old nag and gallops into town, where he convinces the movie extras, costumed as Indians, to stage a raid on the gangsters and free the miners.

When Joe Higgins returns home from a hard day's work at the Ellis Advertising Agency, he is furious to find that his wife Lil has not prepared dinner. Lil is instead at the home of her friend, Lucy Davis, working on a contest. Joe gets his dinner when Lil comes home and leaves afterwards for an evening meeting. He is forced to take his son Sidney's jalopy, when Sid and daughter Betty take his car to a dance, and at the meeting, he becomes a hero when he inadvertently gives Dover, an important new client, the idea to promote his dog biscuits with a contest. Joe's boss Ellis is impressed and promises to discuss a promotion with Joe if Joe gives him a ride home. Sid's jalopy is certainly not impressive, however, and Joe gives Ellis the keys to his car when they pass the dance hall where the children are. Unaware of his father's actions, Sid reports the car stolen, and Ellis spends the night in jail. Joe loses the promotion and is not the least sympathetic later that evening when Lil discovers that Lucy stole her slogan and won their contest with it. Lil takes out her anger on Lucy's son Bill, who is Betty's boyfriend, by throwing him out of the house. The next day, Lil apologizes to Lucy and Bill but is again enraged when she finds out that Lucy has bought the local store's supply of the dog biscuit boxes containing the new contest. Lil manages to get other boxes, however, and soon the house is overflowing with dog biscuits, which son Tommy suggests they dispose of by getting a dog. King, a Great Dane, is added to the household, much to Joe's consternation, and the next day, Lil finds what she believes is the winning box. Her joy is short-lived though, when she reads the rules and discovers that employees of the advertising agency and their families are not eligible to win. Lil convinces her father, Grandpa Ed Carson, to help her persuade Joe to resign so that she can collect the prize. Grandpa enlists the aid of his friend Irving, a custodian in the building where Brown, Ellis' chief competitor and Dover's former advertiser, works. Irving impersonates Brown and offers Joe the job of general manager. Joe accepts the job on Friday, but is humiliated on Monday when he meets the real Brown and discovers that he has been set up. Dover foils Lil's scheme by switching back to Brown when he hears that Joe now works there, and Brown calls Joe to offer him the job for real in order to retain Dover. When Joe leaves the house after receiving the call, he is pursued by Lil and Sid, who want to stop him from accepting. They in turn are followed by Grandpa, who heard on the radio that Lucy won the contest. After a mad dash, they all reach Brown's office, and the matter is straightened out to Joe's satisfaction. Lucy promises to use some of the $50,000 prize money to pay for Bill and Betty's honeymoon, and harmony is restored to the Higgins household, which is now devoid of contests.

The Higgins family prepares for a long-awaited cruise to Rio, but while father Joe bids farewell to his co-workers at the bank, mother Lil unwittingly sabotages their plans by telling insurance representative Wells that Joe is only forty-four, not forty-five, and is therefore ineligible to collect the annuity insurance that was to pay for the cruise. Ashamed to face their friends, Joe, Lil, daughter Betty and son Tommy decide to tag along with son Sidney and grandpa Ed Carson on their fishing trip. Grandpa is irritated to have his privacy disrupted, but the family sets out in their car and covered trailer. Ella Jones, a widow who feels an unrequited passion for Grandpa, follows them, but Grandpa siphons her gasoline and they escape. Back at Centerville, the town citizens are horrified to learn that enemy submarines have attacked the ocean liner on which they think the Higginses are traveling, and that the family is missing. While Joe's assistant, E. L. Beamish, takes advantage of Joe's disappearance by embezzling $100,000, the family is forced into hiding when Ella finds their campsite. They plead with Grandpa to lure her away, and after an encounter with a bear, Grandpa finally acquiesces. When Ella and Grandpa arrive at the Higginses' home, Joe's boss, Horace Cartwright, tells Grandpa that the family has been lost at sea. Grandpa's laughter and insistence that they are camping prompts Cartwright to bring a doctor, who puts Grandpa in an institution. Back at the campsite, Lil returns from a nearby general store, where she has paid for the groceries with a check. Furious that Lil has given a clue to their location, Joe rushes to the store to retrieve the check, but he is arrested for forgery, as the local sheriff believes Joe to be dead. While Joe stews in jail, Beamish blames him for the missing money, and Betty's boyfriend, Bill Williams, helps Grandpa escape from the institution. Grandpa goes to the jail where Joe is being held along with Lil and Sid, who tried to rescue him, and tricks the sheriff into releasing them. Later that afternoon, the sheriff finds out about the embezzlement and puts an all points bulletin out on Joe, which the family hears. As they flee, they are pursued by the sheriff, who, unknown to them, has been informed by Bill that Beamish is the real culprit and is on a train bound for Mexico. After a high-speed chase, Bill tells Joe that he is no longer under suspicion, and Joe and Bill jump onto Beamish's train. They apprehend him, and soon after, the family boards a cruise ship to Cuba, although Grandpa jumps overboard upon learning that Ella has followed him again.

Joe Higgins' wife gets the job meant for him, so he stays home to do the housework.

The second of the nine-film series based on "The Higgins Family" from Republic, with James and Lucile Gleason in the first seven, replaced by Roscoe Karns and Ruth Donnelly in the last two entries, "Meet the Missus" and "Petticoat Politics." In this one Joe Higgins buys his wife Lil an expensive ring for their 25th wedding anniversary on the installment plan, and loses his job at the candy factory owned by Mr. Ellis on the same day; Ellis' son Bill also announces his intention to marry the Higgins' daughter Jean, over the protests of Ellis and his snooty wife. Joe loses the ring and his dumb son Sidney thinks it is in a package of a new nickel candy bar, and offers a reward for its return. The sales of the candy skyrocket. Elsewhere, Grandpa, concerned over the family's financial affairs, decides to marry rich widow Jones, who has been pursuing him for years.

Pa Higgins' attempts at success in the advertising business are constantly frustrated by his eccentric family.