Heidi (1937)

Mary Nash: Fraulein Rottenmeier

Photos 

Quotes 

• Fräulein Rottenmeier : [Heidi yawns at the dinner table]  Adelheid! Did I actually see you yawn? I'm horrified!

  Klara Sesemann : Don't scold her. She's had such a hard day.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : I am trying to be patient, Klara. But it is the height of impropreity to yawn at the dinner table. A yawn at any time is a sign of disrespect and lack of control. It shows that the attention is wandering and that the young person is not interested in the improvement of her mind.

  [Klara giggles] 

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Oh!

  [Heidi has fallen asleep] 

• Police Captain : You broke out of the Rittenstrasse jail. You took a sled that did not belong to you. You stole that child!

  Heidi : He didn't steal me!

  Adolph Kramer, The Grandfather : I tell you, she's mine!

  Police Captain : Silence!

  Police Lieutenant : Herr Captain, we have found the woman.

  Police Captain : Good, bring her in. Is this your child?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Yes, yes, Herr Captain.

  Heidi : No, I'm not!

  Police Captain : And is this the man who struck you in the street and took her away from you?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Yes.

  Adolph Kramer, The Grandfather : She's lying! I don't know who she is or what she's doing, but Heidi is mine!

  Police Captain : That's enough! You will be held for trial!

  Adolph Kramer, The Grandfather : You stupid fools! Can't you see what you're doing?

  Police Captain : Lock him up!

  Adolph Kramer, The Grandfather : You can't! You're not going to take her away from me again!

  Heidi : No! No! You mustn't take him away! He's telling the truth! He is my grandfather! My really and truly grandfather! Please! Please, let him go!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Come, Adelheid! Don't be hysterical!

  Heidi : Grandfather!

  Police Captain : You will be needed for the trial. You may take your child home.

  Heidi : I am not her child! She's a bad lady! She tried to sell me to gypsies! Please. Please, let the Grandfather take me home. He didn't mean to do anything bad. I'll work hard and pay back for everything he broke. So will Swanli and Bearli.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Pay no attention to her. She'll be all right when I get her to bed.

  Heidi : I won't go with her! She broke my snowstorm and sent my Aunt Dete away so she couldn't take me home to the mountains! If you don't believe me, just ask Herr Sesemann. He'll tell you the truth.

  Police Captain : Herr Sesemann? What has Herr Sesemann to do with this?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Nothing. Nothing at all.

  Heidi : He has, too. Aunt Dete brought me there to play with Klara, and I taught her how to walk.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Oh, this is ridiculous. Come along.

  Police Lieutenant : Now, just a minute.

  Police Captain : Well now, lieutenant?

  Police Lieutenant : Perhaps we'd better send for Herr Sesemann.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Oh! Absurd! We... Well, we visited the Sesemann house tonight. Christmas, you know. My sister's governess there. It would be highly improper to disturb Herr Sesemann at this hour.

  Police Lieutenant : I think you'd better wait until we hear what Herr Sesemann's got to say.

  Heidi : Grandfather! Grandfather!

• Fräulein Rottenmeier : That's enough! You will take that impossible child back!

  Dete : You'll have to give me more expense money then, and the fifty marks Herr Sesemann promised.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : You dare to speak to me like that? I'll not give you one pfennig.

  Dete : You'd better. I've brought just the kind of child Herr Sesemann asked for. Unless you have your own reasons for not wanting her.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Get out! And take your wretched niece with you!

  Dete : All right, but you'll give me the money, or I'll write to Herr Sesemann. You think I don't know what your little game is? A rich widower and his sick child. You don't want Klara to get well, not yet, not until you've made him think his little darling can't live without you. Now you can get rid of the impossible child yourself! Sell her to the gypsies for all I care!

• Heidi : I'm afraid the Grandfather will be worried. He didn't know I was going away, so I must go back tomorrow.

  Klara Sesemann : Didn't Dete tell you?

  Heidi : What?

  Klara Sesemann : That you're to live here with me.

  Heidi : No, she didn't tell me.

  Klara Sesemann : You see, my mama's dead, and my papa's business keeps him in Paris most of the time, and I haven't anyone to play with.

  Heidi : I can't live here! I'm going back to the Grandfather right away!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Indeed you are.

  Klara Sesemann : No! I like her!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Andrews will take you home in the morning.

  Klara Sesemann : No! I want her to stay!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : That is for ME to decide. I know what is best for you, Klara.

  Klara Sesemann : No! No! Papa sent for her and you've got to wait till he comes home!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Klara, you're not strong enough for this excitement. You'll make yourself ill.

  Klara Sesemann : YES, I WILL! I KNOW I WILL IF YOU DON'T LET ME KEEP HEIDI!

  Heidi : But, Klara, I can't stay!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Quiet, dear. Quiet. Remember what a sick little girl you are.

  Klara Sesemann : You DO want me to get well, don't you, Fraulein?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : How can you ask?

  Klara Sesemann : Then please let me keep Heidi!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Very well. For the present.

  Heidi : You can't keep me here! The Grandfather's waiting! He doesn't know where I am!

  [Andrews enters] 

  Andrews, the Butler : Dinner is served.

  Klara Sesemann : You'll like it here, Heidi. We'll have such a good time. And Fraulein can send word back to your grandfather.

  Heidi : No, no! Aunt Dete must take me home!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Dinner is waiting. We will attend to that in the morning.

  Heidi : If it's all right, then I can go?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : I said in the morning, Adelheid.

• [Fraulein Rottenmeier catches Heidi trying to sneak out of the house] 

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : What does this mean?

  Heidi : You mustn't stop me!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : [Heidi tries to run, but Fraulein Rottenmeier grabs her]  What have you got in that hat?

  [takes a dinner roll out of Heidi's hat] 

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Oh? So you were running away?

  Heidi : I wasn't running away! I was just going home by myself!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Andrews, throw these rolls in the dust bin.

  Heidi : Oh, no! They're for the grandmother! She can't eat her black bread!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : [to Andrews]  And throw that wretched hat in the dust bin too.

  Heidi : Oh, no! Not my hat! I need that to go home!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : That is all, Andrews.

  [Andrews leaves] 

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : [Heidi tries to run, but Fraulein Rottenmeier grabs her] 

  Heidi : If you stop me, I'll run away again! I can't stay here! There aren't any pine trees or any mountains and the grandfather doesn't know where I am! You've got to let me go!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : [shakes Heidi]  Stop this nonsense! You're not going home until I send you! Now you march upstairs!

  [Heidi walks up the stairs to her room] 

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : If you leave your room again today, you'll be whipped!

• Heidi : How do you do, Fräulein Rottenmeier?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : What is your name?

  Heidi : Heidi.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Heidi? Ridiculous. What name did they give you when you were baptized?

  Heidi : I don't remember that.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Are you being impudent?

  Dete : No, Fräulein. She didn't understand. She was baptized Adelheid.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Hmm. She looks too young. How old is she?

  Dete : She's older than she appears. She's nearly eleven.

  Heidi : Aunt Dete doesn't tell the truth. I'm eight years old today.

• Fräulein Rottenmeier : [reading]  "The quality of a young lady's breeding is indicated by her deportment when elders are present. At such times, her manner should be sedate and diffident."

  Klara Sesemann : It's time for them to be here, Fräulein!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Remember, Klara, no excitement. You're still an invalid. "The habit of interruption should always be frowned upon. The well-bred young lady always waits until her elders are silent."

  Klara Sesemann : I wonder what she'll be like.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Your father expects a healthy, unspoiled mountain child of your age to share your studies. Personally, I think the whole plan is a mistake.

  Klara Sesemann : Papa thought it might be good for me to have a playmate.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : But you have me. Don't I give you my entire time and devotion?

  Klara Sesemann : Yes, and it's very kind of you, but I don't have much fun.

• Fräulein Rottenmeier : Who let that beast in?

  Heidi : I did. But she was so cold out in the snow.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : That's no concern of ours.

  Klara Sesemann : Oh, please, Fräulein, it was my fault as much as hers.

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Such conduct is inexcusable! She shall be punished severely!

  Klara Sesemann : Don't you touch her or I'll write Papa!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Oh... I'm sorry, dear. Don't excite yourself. I'd forgotten it might upset you. Adelheid, you shall spend the rest of the day in your room.

  Heidi : I can't do that! Aunt Dete is going to take me home!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : Your aunt went away this morning.

  Heidi : She... went away? But she's coming back?

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : No, she's not. I discharged her.

  Heidi : But she's got to take me home!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : I'm afraid not. She cares nothing about you. She told me to sell you to the gypsies.

  Klara Sesemann : Oh, Fräulein, don't!

  Fräulein Rottenmeier : I doubt whether you will ever see your Aunt Dete again.