Ein tolles Früchtchen (1953)

The Strux family is constantly short of money: Mother Ilse poses for her husband, who makes a modest living as a modern painter, while their daughter Eva plays piano at an existentialist café run by the overwrought Madeleine. Every month, the family waits for a check from their wealthy Aunt Emilia, which helps them pay the rent. Along with the latest check, the family receives news that Emilia is coming to visit from faraway South America and will arrive that very day. The Struxes hurriedly rearrange their artists’ apartment and turn it into a luxurious one. But a much bigger problem than the high standard of living they have been pretending to maintain for years is their 20-year-old daughter Eva. She was born while Ilse and Gabriel were still living together unmarried. To avoid angering their morally strict aunt, they did not reveal Eva’s existence until after they married, which means that, theoretically, she should only be 11. Since Eva has hardly any feminine curves, they quickly put her in a little girl’s dress and pass her off as a child. Aunt Emilia also has a secret. In South America, she met and fell in love with the circus director Pedro, and the two got married. They run the Apollo Galotti Circus, the world’s largest traveling circus, to which they also owe their wealth. Suspecting that her relatives are strict about propriety, Emilia now presents herself as an elegant lady too and squeezes Pedro into a suit. Their first reunion is full of joy and little white lies; Emilia says, for instance, that her husband makes his money in imports and exports. Eva makes a convincing child, receives sweets and toys, and soon rushes off to her café to play the piano. To provide for Eva, Emilia plans to give her a $20,000 check for her “12th birthday,” which she can cash on her 21st birthday. Although the family had intended to confess everything to Emilia, they now decide to keep up the charade a little longer, since Eva’s 21st birthday is only two days away. Numerous mishaps occur in the meantime. Eva goes with Emilia to a department store and, dressed as a child, practices a jazz song on the piano. An employee, Paul Wiesinger, takes her for a child prodigy. Later, when he sees Eva playing “normally” at the café, she tells him she has a little sister, whom Paul is eager to have perform as an attraction at the department store the next day. Eva reluctantly agrees. Eva and her father go to a café, where they both smoke and drink, attracting the attention of a woman from the youth welfare office, who immediately suspects child endangerment. While playing ball in her child disguise, Eva interrupts a meeting between Paul, whom she has fallen in love with, and his admirer Nadine. Eva smears whipped cream on Nadine’s dress and gets slapped for it. This makes the youth welfare officer furious again, and she threatens consequences. Meanwhile, the Strux family discovers that Pedro and Emilia own a circus. However, because of the $20,000, they cannot reveal their secret. On her birthday, Eva first has to go to the circus with Pedro, who wants to turn her into an acrobat. When a circus elephant steals her little girl’s dress and throws it into the lions’ cage, Eva is late for her department-store performance. She arrives in an ordinary dress and initially passes herself off to Paul as the older sister. When Paul’s boss threatens to fire him over the embarrassment of the missed performance, Eva finally reveals her double life. She dresses up as a child and performs for the delighted audience. Meanwhile, Pedro is inconsolable, believing that a lion has eaten Eva. She appears at home shortly afterward, and everyone is happy. Paul arrives too, bringing a gift for everyone, including a new dress for Eva. The youth welfare officer also shows up to take Eva away from the family. Like Emilia, she is confused when Eva stands before her as an adult. Emilia now wants to take back the $20,000, but learns from Pedro that he has long since invested her fortune in the circus. A great reconciliation follows, and Eva, Ilse, Gabriel, the housemaid Cleopatra, and Eva’s fiancé Paul become part of the big circus family.