Klein Erna auf dem Jungfernstieg (1969)

Little Erna has not seen her father, Peter, for four years; he is at sea. Her mother, Käthe, works as a waitress in a small pub, so Little Erna and her friend Little Heini usually get up to mischief around Hamburg without being watched. Since Little Heini is the son of Käthe’s boss, who always suspects Little Erna of starting the pranks, Käthe is now threatened with dismissal. Käthe and Peter once had a house in Övelgönne, but had to give it up for financial reasons. Peter went to sea, promising to return when he could buy the house back and had a steady job. One day, the time comes, and Little Erna meets Peter at the house in Övelgönne. However, he still needs a steady job, so he makes Little Erna promise not to tell Käthe. Little Erna is on school holiday and has plenty of time for mischief. First, she spends her holiday with her Aunt Martha, who hates the child and dominates her husband, Fritz. Erna and Fritz join forces against Martha, who ends up being admitted to hospital on suspicion of rabies, even though Erna has only mixed dishwashing liquid into her orange juice, making her foam at the mouth. Little Erna then goes to her Aunt Frieda, Peter’s sister, but Frieda has found an admirer in Alois Hintermoser from Bavaria and wants to spend time with him. So Erna eventually ends up with Grandpa Jensen, who works as a keeper at Hagenbeck Zoo. Together with Heini, she keeps plotting pranks, until her mother is finally fired by her boss, Mrs. Nohr. Käthe now has to apply for a new job, unaware that Peter is back in town and has meanwhile secured a position as a hotel director through contacts he made on his sea voyage. Käthe applies at this hotel for a job as a dishwasher—and now sees her own husband standing before her as the director; he takes her in his arms and kisses her. And Little Erna, who immediately tries kissing out on Heini, realizes that it will become her hobby when she grows up.