My Wife's Relations Trivia Quiz

Answer: He's pulling taffy in a candy store.

The introductory title card tells us, "In the foreign section of a big city -- where so many different languages are spoken, the people misunderstand each other perfectly -- there lived a young artist who was pulling to get ahead." Two little boys watch Buster eagerly as he pulls the taffy.

Buster has no job in "Hard Luck" (1921), is selling tintypes in "The Cameraman" (1928), and sells hats in "The Taming of the Snood" (1940).

Answer: Kat thought Buster had broken a window.

Buster's troubles begin when he accidentally smacks the mailman with a huge wad of taffy. The mailman throws a bottle at Buster, who has run outside. The bottle misses Buster, but breaks the judge's window. Buster, fleeing the wrathful mailman, trips over Kat, who assumes he's running because he's the one who broke the window. She grabs him and drags him in before the judge.

Answer: He switches the calendar to Friday so his Catholic in-laws won't eat their meat; he can have it all.

Buster has a hard time getting any food from the start, since the brothers keep him too busy passing things to eat his own meager portions. Then when Kat sets down the platter of meat, everybody snags a piece, leaving nothing for Buster. But the calendar trick works its magic.

Among Kat's brothers is Big Joe Roberts, one of Keaton's favorite comic foils. Keaton had known Roberts since his own childhood summers in Muskegon, Wisconsin. Roberts worked with Keaton up until his death from a stroke shortly after the filming of "Our Hospitality" (1923) was completed.

Answer: He smacks her with his arm while pretending to be asleep.

Kat gets her revenge on Buster, in turn, by smashing a pitcher on his head. She knocks him out, and finds him still unconscious when day breaks.

Answer: Pepper

Buster sneezes himself awake, spraying pepper all over the room and setting everybody else to sneezing as well. Kat and her family don't seem too happy to have revived Buster. He gets shoved and manhandled and left on the floor as everybody else stomps off into the kitchen for breakfast.

Answer: Rent a nice big place to live

The scene ends with Buster, whose arm has worked free of his pajamas during the fracas, handling the money with a confused air, while his father-in-law (Monte Collins Sr.) shakes the empty pajama sleeve as if shaking Buster's hand.

Monte Collins Sr. also played the parson in "Our Hospitality" in 1923. His son, Monte Collins Jr., played opposite Buster in several of the Columbia shorts Keaton starred in during the early 1940s.

Answer: On the floor

Buster finally dives between a brother-in-law's legs and poses on the floor between his wife and her father. The flash sends everybody leaping and tumbling.

Answer: In a huge mound of foam.

Earlier in the film, Buster had accidentally dumped a whole box of yeast into the home brew, which produced a massive amount of sudsy foam. He flees into the kitchen and nearly drowns in the foam. When his in-laws open the kitchen door, the foam spills out into the parlor. Buster's head pops out in a couple of different places before he bursts forth and heads for the exit.

Answer: He yanks the rug out from under them.

They chase Buster up the stairs. He jumps from the landing onto a chair below, then yanks the carpet out from under everybody else, gathered on the stairs.

Answer: He's on a train for Reno.

The presumption, of course, is that he's heading out for a quick divorce. We also see Buster with tickets for Reno in "Seven Chances" (1925); as he's waiting for a bride for a marriage of convenience, he checks that he has tickets for Niagara Falls (the honeymoon) and Reno (the divorce).