"The Spanking Age" is a re-working of "Cinderella"...with quite a few changes. One of the changes for the worse is that they made the step-mother a physically abusive monster. She spanks her step-kids, Mary Ann and Wheezer, for no reason AND she beats the stuffing out of her husband (he was a widower)! She clearly is a monster. While everything works out in the end, I really think having her be so violent was a big mistake as domestic violence isn't exactly comedy gold!
In the story, Mary Ann and Wheezer are being bad....but as the intertitle says, they'll get hit either way...so why not be bad?! At the same time, their step-mother has a horrid little girl who is doted upon and who is incredibly spoiled. After this brat goes off to a party...leaving the other two at home, Mary Ann decides to throw her own party and she spends much of the short film making food for the party. Now considering she's 6 years-old, you can expect the food to be god-awful...and it is. Is there any reprieve for these kids from the terrible step-mom? Watch it and seen.
While everything worked out fine in the end, this is a rather dark short and as a result, it's not one I recommend except to the most ardent fans of the series.