Bet, de koningin van den Jordaan

Summary

Farcical comedy about Bet Strik, an Amsterdam fishwife, who takes a short holiday in Scheveningen and Amsterdam with her husband Hein.

Bet Strik, nicknamed The Queen of the Jordaan (a working-class quarter in Amsterdam), has been selling fish at the market place for 25 years, a fact that her colleagues cannot allow to pass unnoticed. They decorate her stall and, on the stroke of four, come to collect her in a char-a-banc crammed full to overflowing with friends from the Jordaan. She is taken to a hall where the high jinks can really start. A reporter is there to interview her. When Bet decides to have a dance with him, her husband Hein flies into a passion. Peace is only restored when the guests get rid of the reporter.

The next day Bet tells Hein she would like to go to Scheveningen for a couple of days. With difficulty they manage to find accommodation in a third-rate hotel. There Bet's bed proves to be too frail to bear her considerable weight and immediately collapses. As Bet's fall makes a hole in the floor, the hotel manager has to move the Striks to the attic. The next day they enjoy all the pleasures Scheveningen offers. A walk on the pier inspires Bet to try her hand at angling. The fish do not bite and all that Bet gets on her fish-hook is the wig of a local Don Juan. A ride on a donkey ends up with Bet biting the sand.

That evening the Striks go to a cabaret. There Bet feels sorry for a young girl who is vainly trying to sell flowers. When told that the girl's mother is sick, Bet knows what to do. Taking the floor, she sings one of her Jordaan songs... and soon all of the girl's flowers are sold. Back in the hotel the Striks discover that a new room has been prepared for them, a bathroom in which Bet has to sleep in the tub.

Evicted from the hotel, the Striks return to Amsterdam where they first visit Artis, the local zoological garden. Their only misfortune there is that Bet loses her hat to a monkey. Back at home, they find their house and the street decorated in Bet's honour. The feast continues until Bet and Hein, overcome by sleep, dream of riches and luxury until the alarm-clock brings them back to reality.