Dinner For One. (oder der 90. Geburtstag)
Got half an hour to kill on New Years Eve? Want to see a strange bit of history? Tune into NDR, and see if you can find "Dinner For One". Its liberally scattered across the schedules, so you shouldnt have too much trouble finding it.
This is all a bit bizarre really. The sketch was originally performed in the 1920's in the British music halls.The 15 minute sketch is performed by Freddie Frinton and May Warden, and was filmed by NDR in Hamburg in 1963. In the early 1970's it became a regular part of the German New Years Eve celebrations.Over the years somehow, it has become a cult classic in Germany - to the extent that its shown on almost all the regional channels at some point during over New Year, and NDR shows it 6 or 7 times during New Year's Eve! Even one of the commercial stations will find a slot to show it in such is the popularity of the sketch. But its hardly known in the place it originated from - the UK. (Any tv executives reading this? - you could make a nice documentary about this programme).
This is from a Media Guardian article about the show, which was published on December 31st 2002:
"It usually has the highest rating of any programme shown during the year," said Jürgen Meier-Beer, NDR's head of light entertainment. "We have an average market share in our area of 8%. Dinner for One gets us up to 20% to 30% every time. We reckon that one in every two viewers in our area will watch it at some point on New Year's Eve."
Some facts about "Dinner for One":
- The sketch was filmed in
English (although you may run across a dubbed version - its been dubbed into the
northern German dialect of Plattdeutsche for starters).
- In 2000, the sketch was colourized, and there was an big outcry about the tampering with
the show. This version seems to have been quietly dropped now....
- The German airline LTU shows the sketch on all its flights between 28th December and 2nd
January - just to make sure no one misses their favourite show of the year.
- 2003 was the 40th anniversary of the show, and NDR had some special programming to
celebrate - including a half hour quiz show dedicated to the programme!
- Every year, numerous people have a "Dinner For One" party, and join in with
the sketch - drinking the same toasts as Freddie :-)
The storyline:
May Walden plays "Miss Sophie" - a lonely old lady celebrating her 90th birthday with 4 of her closest friends. (Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pommeroy, and Mr Winterbottom). Unfortunately, all the guests are long dead, so butler James (Freddie Frinton) has to drink their share of the wine and do all the toasts. With the inevitable result he gets increasingly drunk, and keeps falling over a tiger skin on the floor..... The catch phrase for the show is "same procedure as last year Miss Sophie? - Same procedure as every year James".
Update 1/1/2007: I had
an email from the Australia Television.au website this morning saying Dinner For One has
aired on the multicultural network SBS for at least the last 15 years! So thanks for that
info :-)
I also watched the spoof "Dinner for Brodt" version starrring "Bernd
Brodt" ( a sort of German "Spongebob Squarepants") that aired on Kika last
night at 1800 uk time. Its absolutely brilliant!
You Tube videos of Brodt: Part 1 Part 2 (Various bits are in German but live with it - its worth it)
The script:
| James : | Good evening, Miss Sophie, good evening. |
| Miss Sophie : | Good evening, James. |
| James : | You are looking very well this evening, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | Well, I am feeling very much better, thank you, James. |
| James : | Good, good... |
| Miss Sophie : | Well, I must say that everything looks nice. |
| James : | Thank you very much, Miss Sophie, thank you. |
| Miss Sophie : | Is everybody here? |
| James : | Indeed, they are, yeah. Yes... They are all here for your anniversary, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | All five places are laid out? |
| James : | All laid out as usual. |
| Miss Sophie : | Sir Toby? |
| James : | Sir Toby, yes, he's sitting here this year, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | Admiral von Schneider? |
| James : | Admiral von Schneider is sitting here, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Pommeroy? |
| James : | Mr. Pommeroy I put round here for you. |
| Miss Sophie : | And my very dear friend, Mr. Winterbottom? |
| James : | On your right, as you requested, Miss Sophie! |
| Miss Sophie : | Thank you, James. You may now serve the soup. |
| James : | The soup, thank you very much, Miss Sophie, thank you. They are all waiting for you. Little drop of mulligatawny soup, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | I am particularly fond of mulligatawny soup, James. |
| James : | Yes, I know you are. |
| Miss Sophie : | I think we'll have sherry with the soup. |
| James : | Sherry with the soup, yes... Oh, by the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | Same procedure as every year, James. |
| James : | Same procedure as every year, James... |
| Miss Sophie : | Is that a dry sherry, James? |
| James : | Yes, a very dry sherry, Miss Sophie... very dry. Straight out of the cellar, this morning, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | Sir Toby! |
| James : | Cheerio, Miss Sophie! |
| Miss Sophie : | Admiral von Schneider! |
| James : | Ad... Must I say it this year, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | Just to please me, James. |
| James : | Just to please you. Very good, yes, yes... Skol! |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Pommeroy! |
| James : | Happy New Year, Sophie! |
| Miss Sophie : | And dear Mr. Winterbottom! |
| James : | Well, here we are again, old lovely... |
| Miss Sophie : | You may now serve the fish. |
| James : | Fish. Very good, Miss Sophie. Did you enjoy the soup? |
| Miss Sophie : | Delicious, James. |
| James : | Thank you, Miss Sophie, glad you enjoyed it. Little bit of North Sea haddock, Miss Sophie. |
| Miss Sophie : | I think we'll have white wine with the fish. |
| James : | White wine with the fish? The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | The same procedure as every year, James! |
| James : | Yeah... |
| Miss Sophie : | Sir Toby! |
| James : | Cheerio, Miss Sophie, me gal... |
| Miss Sophie : | Admiral von Schneider! |
| James : | Oh, must I, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | James, please, please... |
| James : | Skol! |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Pommeroy! |
| James : | Happy New Year, Sophie gal! |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Winterbottom! |
| James : | You look younger than ever, love! Younger than ever! Ha, ha, ha... |
| Miss Sophie : | Please serve the chicken! |
| James : | Ya ... |
| Miss Sophie : | That looks a very fine bird! |
| James : | That's a lovely chu ... chuk ... chicken, that I'll tell you, a lovely ... |
| Miss Sophie : | I think we'll have champagne with the bird! |
| James : | Champagne, ya... Sssssame, same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | The same procedure as every year, James! |
| James : | Sophie, me gal ... |
| Miss Sophie : | Admiral von Schneider! |
| James : | Must I, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | James! |
| James : | Schkolll! |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Pommeroy! |
| James : | Happy New Year, Sophie, gal... |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Winterbottom! |
| James : | It's one of the
nicest little woman... hic... one of the nicest little woman, that's ever breathed, that's
ever breathed... I now declare this bazaar open! Would you like some fruit? |
| Miss Sophie : | I think we'll have port with the fruit! |
| James : | Oh, ... no! Shh...ame procedure as last... |
| Miss Sophie : | Yes, the same procedure as last year, James! |
| James : | ..............................!!! |
| Miss Sophie : | Sir Toby! |
| James : | Sugar in the morning, sugar... |
| Miss Sophie : | Admiral von Schneider! |
| James : | Schkolll! |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Pommoroy! |
| James : | I'm sorry, Madam, sorry. |
| Miss Sophie : | Mr. Winterbottom! |
| James : | Huuuhhh, I'll kill that cat! |
| Miss Sophie : | Well, James, it's been a wonderful party! |
| James : | Well, it's been most enjoyable. |
| Miss Sophie : | I think I'll retire. |
| James : | You're going to bed? |
| Miss Sophie : | Yes. |
| James : | Sit down, I'll give you a hand up, Madam. |
| Miss Sophie : | As I was saying, I'll retire... |
| James : | Ya... ya. By the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? |
| Miss Sophie : | The same procedure as every year James! |
| James : | Well, I'll do my very best! |
Who is showing it this year?:
New Years Eve 2005, and the following analogue channels appear to be showing it:
NDR / HR / WDR / MDR / SR / both SWR channels / BR & Kika (!)
Unless you try really hard, you cant miss it - according to one of the German tv schedules web sites, its was being shown at least 20 times on the 31st December this year across different channels! Best time to catch it is between about 1700 GMT and 2000GMT - its showing almost continuously on one channel or another this year during this time slot!
Go to www.tvtv.de and use the "suche" function down the bottom left of the screen. Put in Geburtstag (German for birthday) and look at the listings for Dec 31st
The screengrabs:
"Dinner For One" - the German title means "The 90th Birthday". The titles roll for one of the 40th anniversary screenings on Dec 31st 2003.
May Walden is "Miss Sophie"
Freddie Frinton is the butler "James"
Scholl ! - one of the many toasts poor James has to drink during the evening...
Some of the drinks are rather less palatable than others :-)
Close encounters of the furry kind - a running joke through the sketch is the problem James has with this tiger skin rug whilst he is serving the drinks and dinner. On one occasion the dinner platter goes over the scenery on the left side of the stage! :-)
Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?
Same procedure as every year James!
I'll do my very best....!
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