Dinner for One (1963), also known as The 90th Birthday (German: Der 90. Geburtstag, Swedish: Grevinnan och betjänten), is an 11-minute comedy sketch, written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre that has become a viewing tradition in German-speaking countries, where, since 1972, up to half the population watch it every year on New Year’s Eve. Some die-hard fans even copy the meal served in the sketch. You can view the original German TV recording below or HERE.
The sketch is almost completely unknown in the United Kingdom, and its first national British television airing did not come until Sky broadcast the film on New Year’s Eve 2018. You really need to watch the sketch to fully appreciate the strangeness of this tradition. It begins with an introduction in German by actor Heinz Piper, followed by the main act in English.
Miss Sophie (May Warden) is celebrating her 90th birthday. As every year, she has invited her four closest friends to a birthday dinner: Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pomeroy and Mr Winterbottom. However, she has outlived all of them by 25 years, requiring her butler James (Freddie Frinton) to impersonate the absent guests.
James must not only serve Miss Sophie the four courses: mulligatawny soup, North Sea haddock, chicken and fruit – but also serve the four imaginary guests the drinks chosen by Miss Sophie (sherry, white wine, champagne and port respectively), slip into the role of each guest and drink a toast to Miss Sophie four times for each course. As a result, James becomes increasingly intoxicated and loses his dignified demeanour: he pours the drinks with reckless abandon, breaks into “Sugartime” by the McGuire Sisters for a brief moment, and at one point accidentally drinks from a flower vase. There are a number of running gags in the piece including one where James repeatedly trips over the head of a tiger skin rug. The rug has become sufficiently iconic to be available for sale on German Amazon “as featured in Dinner for One”.
Before each course, James asks: “The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?”; Miss Sophie replies “The same procedure as every year, James.” Both phrases are known to practically every German speaker who has any knowledge of English and have become part of the German language. As observed by Jude Stewart in a 2005 Slate piece titled “The Mystery of Dinner for One” … “ walk into any bar in Bavaria and shout the film’s refrain: ‘The same procedure as last year, madam?’ The whole crowd will shout back in automatic, if stilted, English: ‘The same procedure as every year, James.’” Oddball enough for ya?
There have been parodies: one featuring German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as her servant; and, in 2016, Netflix made a parody where the guests were replaced with characters from Netflix shows. [Ed: Why?]
Finally, in March 2023, King Charles III showed off his cross-cultural savvy by referring to Dinner for One during his state visit to Germany.
Why Germany finds Dinner for One so funny and the British don’t is, according to Der Spiegel’s Sebastian Knauer, “one of the last unsolved questions of European integration”.
Story Idea: Nigel Marsh (host of entertaining podcast The Five of My Life)
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Too funny!