Dinner for One: A German New Year's Eve Tradition

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Click here to watch:

The original 1963 NDR performance of the German Silvester ritual, originally a British music hall sketch.

Note: There is a brief introduction in German, but the play itself is in English. So hang in there. 

 

 

Dinner for One

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German alternative title, Der 90. Geburtstag, is a two-hander comedy sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre. German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language, with a short introduction in German. This comedy sketch went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever.[1]

 

The 18-minute single-take black-and-white 1963 TV recording featuring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden has become an integral component of the New Year's Eve schedule of several German television stations. Versions of the sketch are also shown by Danish and Swedish channels; it is a December 23 staple on Norwegian national television, and a cult television classic in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, the 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 had been repeated more than 230 times. It is famous in other countries as well — including German-speaking Switzerland and South Africa. It is likewise broadcast at New Year in Australia on SBS.[2]

 

Read more on Wikipedia..

 

[[be...]]

Oh how funny, watched the last seven minutes and it was a hoot, how he managed to stay on his feet?

 

I will watch the first part another time. Now I did not get the last words before they went up the stairs,

 

any way, it was really funny and made me laugh out loud!!!!!.

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Well, you'll have to watch the ending again.

What they say on the way up the stairs is the punchline of the whole play.

 

I think it's interesting that this little English vaudeville has become a New Year's Eve tradition in Germany, of all places.

And that line, "Same procedure as last year?" has become a part of the German language - in English -

but you won't understand why, unless you understand what they're saying, at the end, on their way up the stairs.

 

 

[[be...]]

I got it, I had to turn my volume up on my laptop, so those last words I can see them being used.

[[Be...]]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you. Happy new year!

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Evan, I keep going back to this and watching it is really funny, and just wanted to let you know I like your "FLY" 

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It does get better when you watch it again, doesn't it? I think maybe it's because when you know where it's going, you can appreciated how it gets there. "Same procedure as every year, James." 

 

buzz buzz buzz

[[be...]]

Honesty he really did a fantastic job of acting drunk, it will certainly be a place I visit when I want a good belly

 

Laugh. Thing about things that buzz buzz, they have to be watching all the time or it can be smacked!!!  :2funny:

 

[[lo...]]

OMG!!!  I probably saw it when it was first broadcast in 1963!!!!  I can't believe I am so old!!  :crazy:

 

It is really funny.  :D

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Fiona 

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I'm really glad you all enjoyed it. I was going to post a link to some Fred Astaire movie or what have you, but, you know - Been there done that. So I looked around to see what they watched in Europe on New Year's Eve, and I thought it was really cool that this little Brit skit was such a big hit in Germany - West Germany, back then. Maybe some could see it in the East too. Capitalist decadence and all that, wot wot? Of course, the acting is flawless - which seems to be the rule in Britannia.

[[be...]]

Well look who came back, Our Evan!!!!!!.

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Yeah, the fly was frightening the benzo buzzies.

And besides, it's too cold to be a bare-butt bug.

[[be...]]

Evan, only you can think on your feet or  wings  . :2funny: