Petticoat Politics (1941)

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

Joe and Lil Higgins invest their life savings in a frontier hotel. Upon arrival, the family discovers that the establishment is smack dab in the middle of a ghost town that hasn't seen a human face in years.

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

It all begins when Joe Higgins, business manager of a prosperous candy-manufacturing firm, is ordered by his pompous boss Ellis to break up the romance between Ellis' son Bill and Joe's daughter Jean. Refusing, Joe quits his job and sets up his own candy company. It's a money-losing enterprise until Joe's wife Lil loses her diamond ring in a batch of candy and offers a $5000 reward to anyone who can retrieve the ring.

In this episode of the Higgins Family series, pandemonium ensues when Ma enters a dog biscuit contest. The prize is a whopping $50,000.

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.

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.