Ms Kathleen's

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The film opens with the sound of geese and chickens clucking in a street marketplace. A woman washes a window outside a shop featuring a poster of Lola (Marlene Dietrich) which causes the woman to pose in a similar fashion. A shot of a door which reads "Prof. Rath" introduces the other main character, Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) who is preparing for class. A bell is heard ringing in the background as teenage schoolboys run to class. The caretaker of the house is cleaning up the house as she reminds the Professor of breakfast. The Professor enters and has some tea/ coffee and begins to whistle to his bird. When he doesn't hear a reply he checks on the bird only to find it has died. This seems to sadden the professor, which is contrasted by the housekeeper taking the bird and dumping it in an open boiler. All she can say is: "Anyway, he stopped singing long ago." The Professor goes on with his breakfast.

We are then introduced to his class which is mostly composed of boys gathering in a group to look at a postcard, while one boy wipes a blackboard. The boy holding the card is blowing on it to make it react in a particular fashion that will be shown later. One boy sneaks up to the desk and takes the Professor's notebook and alters it to say Prof. Garbage (an easy pun in German, involving the mere addition of an "Un-" to the Professor's surname) and attempts to draw a crude illustration of the Professor until the pencil breaks.