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31. 12. 11. - 09:00

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31. 12. 11. - 09:00

Dinner for Who?

Austrian's get down to celebrate the New Year with a viewing of a 20-minute short sketch - in English - shown this year at 23.30 on the ORF on 31 December (tonight).

Every Austrian alive today knows the entire sketch of "Dinner for One" -- shown every New Year's Eve -- by heart, and many will not believe it when told that the black and white performance is unknown in the English speaking world.

Also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German title, Der 90 Geburtstag, it 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 thanks to its performance largely on German language stations.

In contrast most Americans, Brits, Irishmen, Scots, South Africans, Canadians and New Zealanders haven't a clue what "Dinner for One" is all about. Only the Australians, it seems, have been introduced to the pleasures of this particular bit of black-and-white television buffoonery.

The story is pretty basic. Miss Sophie is a dotty old lady celebrating her 90th birthday in what she thinks is the presence of her old pals. The dinner guests, though, are all long dead so her obliging butler James fills in for each of them. Not only does he mimic their voices, but he also drinks each of their toasts in turn, getting steadily more smashed as the evening proceeds.

James, played by Freddie Frinton, is hardly the stiff-upper-lipped butler one might expect. Rather, he's a bit of an old codger and cavorts across the screen in convincing slapstick manner, increasingly slurring his words and fighting with a tendency to trip over a bearskin rug. As each course -- and round of drinks -- commences, the butler queries: "The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" To which the rejoinder is (as night follows day): "The same procedure as EVERY year James."

Indeed, the punch line of the whole sketch -- and delicate readers may want to stop here -- is that when the old dear heads off to bed, the manservant pops the same question. And is met with the same -- this time, of course, quite saucy -- reply.

What many people in Germany don't realize is that the film has never been shown in either the UK or the US, though it has had a few showings on Australian cable TV.

The attraction is that the sketch simply fits into a kind of prejudice about the English upper class as being daft, drunk and debauched. And it allows those with only rudimentary English skills to join in the fun of that famous British humor.

The two "stars" of the film, Freddie Frinton and May Warden, were British entertainers who had been performing this sketch at seaside resorts for years. It was written in the 1920s and Frinton bought the rights in the 1950s. During one performance in Brighton in 1963, the German TV presenter Peter Frankenfeld happened to be in the audience. He liked it so much he invited them to perform on his show. It was such a roaring success that the sketch was then performed in front of a live audience in Hamburg and recorded by the local station NDR -- and it is this version that is shown on German language TV screens to this day.

There are drinking games involving the various tipples imbibed; some fans even go so far as to cook the meal that Miss Sophie is served; there are trivia books dedicated to the theme; and even TV quizzes.

Ironically it is rather the opposite of the great Austrian classic that has proved such a hit in the English-speaking world: "The Sound of Music?" Most Austrians - it seems - have never heard of it.

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