Dinner for One
Encyclopedia
Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German title, Der 90. Geburtstag, is a comedy sketch written by British
author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s.
German
television
station Norddeutscher Rundfunk
(NDR) recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language. This short comical play subsequently went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 1988-1995 eds.; later editions no longer have the category).
The 18 minute single take black-and-white
1963 TV recording featuring British comedian
s Freddie Frinton
and May Warden
has become an integral component of the New Year's Eve
schedule of several German television stations, Danish
, and Swedish national television
, a December 23 staple on Norwegian national television, and a cult television classic in Finland
, Estonia
, Faroe Islands
and Austria
; on New Year's Eve 2003 alone, the sketch was broadcast 19 times (on various channels). As of 2005, the sketch has been repeated more than 230 times. It is famous in other countries as well — including German-speaking Switzerland
and South Africa
. It is a New Year's Eve staple in Australia
on the SBS
network.
In 2003 the Danish TV producer Paul Anthony Sørensen produced and directed an international documentary about the sketch. In the documentary we meet the relatives of Freddie Frinton (the manservant James) and May Warden (Miss Sophie) and get to know the story behind the sketch. The documentary was nominated for the Rose d'Or
2004.
soup (Miss Sophie orders dry sherry
), North Sea haddock
(with white wine), chicken (with champagne), and fruit for dessert (with port) served by James, and so he finds himself raising (and emptying) his glass four times per course. That takes its toll, increasingly noticeable in James' growing difficulty in pouring the drinks, telling wine glasses from vases of flowers, and refraining from bursting into song. Even before the alcohol begins to exert its influence, he has trouble avoiding the head of a tiger skin lying on the floor between the dinner table and the buffet.
The crucial exchange during every course is:
After the dinner, Miss Sophie indicates to a very drunk James that she wishes to retire to bed, to which James responds:
in the early days of his career) at Imperial Theatre with Hermione Gingold
playing Miss Sophie, Billy DeWolfe as the butler, and apparently featuring four dead friends.
In 1962, German entertainer Peter Frankenfeld
and director Heinz Dunkhase discovered Dinner for One in Blackpool
. The sketch was staged in Frankenfeld's live show shortly thereafter, and recorded on July 8, 1963 at the Theater am Besenbinderhof, Hamburg in front of a live audience. The introductory theme was composed by Lew Pollack
and recorded by the Mantovani orchestra. According to the NDR, Frinton and Warden were paid DM 4,150. The show was re-run occasionally until it gained its fixed spot on New Year's Eve in 1972.
or Canada
. It is also shown on New Year’s Eve in many other mainland Europe
an countries, particularly Nordic countries
, and also screens on SBS
in Australia
. In Norway, however, it is shown every year on the evening of December 23. It is known as far away as South Africa
where it is also broadcast on New Year's Eve. In Sweden
, the show was put on hold for a period of six years, deemed "unsuitable" because of James' heavy drinking. However, the TV network then relented to popular demand and brought it back. In 2006 the Danish television network, DR, decided not to broadcast the sketch. However, the network received so many complaints, that they had to show it the next New Year's Eve. It has now become a tradition to show the sketch in Denmark, where it is shown every December 31.
Although the sketch is most popular in non-English speaking countries, it is typically shown in the original English without dubbing or subtitles. It is easy to understand with even the most basic knowledge of English, which helps explain this point. The performance remains practically unknown to the English speaking world. Many British people are surprised when encountering fans' ability to quote dialogue, they themselves, however, seemingly rarely share in the enthusiasm. Although a small clip was broadcast in an edition of QI
in January 2010, it has not been broadcast in its entirety on British TV for at least 30 years. It has never been shown in North America.
, WDR
, NDR
or BR
and others.
Danish TV shows a recording made by NDR on the same stage where no audience is heard.
A third, 11 minute version was recorded by the Swiss television
.
In 1999, the NDR released a post-processed coloured version.
In Denmark
, a parody of the sketch was filmed with the subtitle "The 80th Birthday" in which Miss Sophie's friends are still at the table (that the last of Miss Sophie's friends actually died 25 years ago is only known to those who have seen the NDR-version, where this is mentioned in the intro). Other versions include one in Low German
, various re-enactments or parodies by different comedians, and a version featuring the German puppet
character Bernd das Brot
(Bernd the Bread).
In 2008 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of German comedian Otto Waalkes
RTL Television
showed a parody of the sketch with Otto as "Miss Otti" and departed German comedians as her guests whom the butler (Ralf Schmitz) then impersonated. Whether Miss Otti's ordering of the wine before the fish was an accident or planned is a matter of debate but it brought the house down...
In August 2010, there was a stage production at the Hill Street theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh festival. Directed by David Lavender, it starred Chris Cresswell as James and Miriam King as Miss Sophie.
German narrator Heinz Piper originally made a grammatical mistake in his introduction to the 18 minute version: He misquoted Warden’s line “Same procedure as every year” as “Same procedure than every year”. While the mistake appears to have gone unnoticed initially, it later prompted annual protest letters to the NDR, most notably from German teachers of English. The NDR eventually responded by editing the recording slightly, substituting a small bit of its audio track with audio recorded during one of the rehearsals. Thus, in 1988, the error had been edited out and Piper could be heard to say “Same procedure as every year”. This in turn annoyed some purists who would rather respect the original.
Alternative versions
Articles
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s.
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
station Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
(NDR) recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language. This short comical play subsequently went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 1988-1995 eds.; later editions no longer have the category).
The 18 minute single take black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
1963 TV recording featuring British comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s Freddie Frinton
Freddie Frinton
Freddie Frinton, born Frederick Bittiner Coo was an English comedian who remains a household name in Germany and Scandinavia because of his performance in Dinner for One....
and May Warden
May Warden
May Warden was an English actress and comedienne.Although she played in other films and TV shows, in Germany and Scandinavia she is best known for her role as Miss Sophie in the comedy sketch Dinner for One along with Freddie Frinton in a 1963 recording.She married comedian Silvester Stewart May...
has become an integral component of the New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
schedule of several German television stations, Danish
Danmarks Radio
DR – officially rendered into English as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is today Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise...
, and Swedish national television
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
, a December 23 staple on Norwegian national television, and a cult television classic in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
; on New Year's Eve 2003 alone, the sketch was broadcast 19 times (on various channels). As of 2005, the sketch has been repeated more than 230 times. It is famous in other countries as well — including German-speaking Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is a New Year's Eve staple in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on the SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
network.
In 2003 the Danish TV producer Paul Anthony Sørensen produced and directed an international documentary about the sketch. In the documentary we meet the relatives of Freddie Frinton (the manservant James) and May Warden (Miss Sophie) and get to know the story behind the sketch. The documentary was nominated for the Rose d'Or
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
2004.
Story line
The sketch presents the 90th birthday of elderly upper-class Englishwoman Miss Sophie, who hosts a dinner every year for her close friends Mr Pommeroy, Mr Winterbottom, Sir Toby, and Admiral von Schneider to celebrate the occasion. (Note that the plot has nothing to do with New Year's Eve, as is often incorrectly stated. There is a "Happy new year" toast, but this is purely a reference to Miss Sophie's anniversary.) The problem is that given Miss Sophie's considerable age, she has outlived all of her friends, and so her equally aged manservant James makes his way around the table, impersonating each of the guests in turn. Miss Sophie decides on appropriate drinks to accompany the menu of the evening, consisting of MulligatawnyMulligatawny
Mulligatawny is a curry-flavoured soup of Anglo-Indian origin.Translated literally from Tamil, "Mulligatawny" or "Milagu Thanni" means "pepper water" . The dish the Anglo-Indians call "pepper water" is actually closer to Tamilian ரசம்-Rasam than "mulligatawny".There are many variations on the...
soup (Miss Sophie orders dry sherry
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
), North Sea haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
(with white wine), chicken (with champagne), and fruit for dessert (with port) served by James, and so he finds himself raising (and emptying) his glass four times per course. That takes its toll, increasingly noticeable in James' growing difficulty in pouring the drinks, telling wine glasses from vases of flowers, and refraining from bursting into song. Even before the alcohol begins to exert its influence, he has trouble avoiding the head of a tiger skin lying on the floor between the dinner table and the buffet.
The crucial exchange during every course is:
- James: The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?
- Miss Sophie: The same procedure as every year, James!
After the dinner, Miss Sophie indicates to a very drunk James that she wishes to retire to bed, to which James responds:
- James: By the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?
- Miss Sophie (delightedly): The same procedure as every year, James!
- James: Well, I'll do my very best!
Origin of the sketch
Wylie is said to have written the sketch in the 1920s. Some sources indicate that Frinton performed Dinner for One on stage with Warden on Britain's seaside piers as early as 1945, paying royalties for performing it to Wylie until buying the rights in the early 1950s. However the sketch was also staged elsewhere, for example in 1953 in John Murray Anderson's Almanac (the show that also featured Harry BelafonteHarry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
in the early days of his career) at Imperial Theatre with Hermione Gingold
Hermione Gingold
Hermione Gingold was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric persona, an image enhanced by her sharp nose and chin, as well as her deepening voice, a result of vocal nodes which her mother reportedly encouraged her not to remove. She starred on stage, on radio, in films, on...
playing Miss Sophie, Billy DeWolfe as the butler, and apparently featuring four dead friends.
In 1962, German entertainer Peter Frankenfeld
Peter Frankenfeld
Peter Frankenfeld was a German comedian, radio and television personality....
and director Heinz Dunkhase discovered Dinner for One in Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
. The sketch was staged in Frankenfeld's live show shortly thereafter, and recorded on July 8, 1963 at the Theater am Besenbinderhof, Hamburg in front of a live audience. The introductory theme was composed by Lew Pollack
Lew Pollack
Lew Pollack was a song composer active during the 1920s and the 1930s.Pollack was born in New York. Among his best known songs are "Charmaine" and "Diane" with Ernö Rapée, "Miss Annabelle Lee", "Two Cigarettes in the Dark", "At the Codfish Ball" , and Go In and Out The Window, now a...
and recorded by the Mantovani orchestra. According to the NDR, Frinton and Warden were paid DM 4,150. The show was re-run occasionally until it gained its fixed spot on New Year's Eve in 1972.
International broadcasts
It is a curiosity that this sketch has become a tradition in Germany, where up to half the population may see it every year, but it is almost totally unknown in Britain, the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is also shown on New Year’s Eve in many other mainland Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries, particularly Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
, and also screens on SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In Norway, however, it is shown every year on the evening of December 23. It is known as far away as South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
where it is also broadcast on New Year's Eve. In Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the show was put on hold for a period of six years, deemed "unsuitable" because of James' heavy drinking. However, the TV network then relented to popular demand and brought it back. In 2006 the Danish television network, DR, decided not to broadcast the sketch. However, the network received so many complaints, that they had to show it the next New Year's Eve. It has now become a tradition to show the sketch in Denmark, where it is shown every December 31.
Although the sketch is most popular in non-English speaking countries, it is typically shown in the original English without dubbing or subtitles. It is easy to understand with even the most basic knowledge of English, which helps explain this point. The performance remains practically unknown to the English speaking world. Many British people are surprised when encountering fans' ability to quote dialogue, they themselves, however, seemingly rarely share in the enthusiasm. Although a small clip was broadcast in an edition of QI
QI
QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
in January 2010, it has not been broadcast in its entirety on British TV for at least 30 years. It has never been shown in North America.
Different versions
The NDR television channel recorded several versions in 1963. Most well-known is the 18 minute version of the sketch traditionally shown in Germany. It has an introduction in German language by narrator Heinz Piper and an audience laughing in the background. Every year, there are normally about 15 rebroadcasts of the show on all of Germany's public regional stations like MDRMitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt...
, WDR
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
, NDR
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
or BR
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
and others.
Danish TV shows a recording made by NDR on the same stage where no audience is heard.
A third, 11 minute version was recorded by the Swiss television
Schweizer Fernsehen
Schweizer Fernsehen is the German language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in German for German-speaking Switzerland...
.
In 1999, the NDR released a post-processed coloured version.
In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, a parody of the sketch was filmed with the subtitle "The 80th Birthday" in which Miss Sophie's friends are still at the table (that the last of Miss Sophie's friends actually died 25 years ago is only known to those who have seen the NDR-version, where this is mentioned in the intro). Other versions include one in Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
, various re-enactments or parodies by different comedians, and a version featuring the German puppet
Hand puppet
A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the leg or face that occupies the interior of the puppet. Glove puppets are a variation of hand puppets...
character Bernd das Brot
Bernd das Brot
Bernd das Brot is a puppet character, star mascot and cult figure of the German children's television channel KI.KA, currently featured in the programs Bernd das Brot, Bravo Bernd and the KI.KA late night loop program....
(Bernd the Bread).
In 2008 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of German comedian Otto Waalkes
Otto Waalkes
Otto Gerhard Waalkes is a Frisian comedian and actor. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and movies. His perhaps most famous trademark are the 'Ottifanten' , elephant-like comic characters of his own design...
RTL Television
RTL Television
Rtl.de' redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.RTL Television , or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T , in larger population centres...
showed a parody of the sketch with Otto as "Miss Otti" and departed German comedians as her guests whom the butler (Ralf Schmitz) then impersonated. Whether Miss Otti's ordering of the wine before the fish was an accident or planned is a matter of debate but it brought the house down...
In August 2010, there was a stage production at the Hill Street theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh festival. Directed by David Lavender, it starred Chris Cresswell as James and Miriam King as Miss Sophie.
Catch phrase: “Same procedure as every year”
The line “Same procedure as every year” has become a very popular catchphrase in Germany, according to Tim Gruhl, the programme editor at the Hamburg-based television Channel NDR. The phrase “has made its way into everyday vocabulary, and even crops up in newspaper headlines and advertisements.”German narrator Heinz Piper originally made a grammatical mistake in his introduction to the 18 minute version: He misquoted Warden’s line “Same procedure as every year” as “Same procedure than every year”. While the mistake appears to have gone unnoticed initially, it later prompted annual protest letters to the NDR, most notably from German teachers of English. The NDR eventually responded by editing the recording slightly, substituting a small bit of its audio track with audio recorded during one of the rehearsals. Thus, in 1988, the error had been edited out and Piper could be heard to say “Same procedure as every year”. This in turn annoyed some purists who would rather respect the original.
See also
- From All of Us to All of YouFrom All of Us to All of YouFrom All of Us to All of You is an animated television Christmas special, produced by Walt Disney Productions and first presented on December 19, 1958 as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology series...
, a Donald Duck cartoon that has become a Christmas tradition in the Nordic countries
External links
Video- Video of 18 min Dinner for One 1963 on Google Video
- English transcript (NDR)
Alternative versions
- Bernd das Brot: part 1 part 2
- Lego version
Articles
- BBC News article 3 August 2009.
- 'Dinner for One' - A Sketch Well-known to all but the British
- British comedy lives on in German television in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(December 31, 2002) - The Mystery of Dinner for One. How an obscure British skit has become Germany's most popular New Year's tradition from Slate.com (Dec. 30, 2005)
- "Gesundheit to an old favourite", from The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
(December 30, 2006)