-- New Year's Eve

NEW YEAR'S EVE

31 December 2012

“Dinner for One” television classic

Every year on December 31, the Germans enjoy the television broadcast of this short 1963 British comedy sketch as part of their New Year's tradition. The host, Heinz Piper, introduces the sketch in German, but the play is performed in English by two British actors, May Warden (Miss Sophie) and Freddie Frinton (James). Miss Sophie is celebrating her 90th birthday, and her dutiful butler James accommodates her eccentric wishes to serve the dinner guests. It's very silly and entertaining for both young and old. (warning: depicts heavy alcohol consumption)

Based on a British cabaret sketch from the 1920s, the play was filmed in Hamburg in 1963 for a German variety show, which aired on the Norddeutcher Rundfunk (NDR) television network. In years since, it became a regular feature on New Year’s Eve and has become a cult classic in Germany, while remaining virtually unknown in the UK and other parts of the English-speaking world. However, with the emergence of the Internet and YouTube, it is starting to gain international recognition in recent years. The show is only 11 minutes and is aired several times on New Year’s Eve, beginning late afternoon. Here are some options for viewing:

NDR: 17:40 & 19:40

NDR will broadcast the show twice on December 31 (17:40 and 19:40). You can also watch the program through livestream on their website if you don’t get NDR through your cable or satellite service. NDR will also offer the show as video on demand from their site from December 30 until January 5, so you can watch as many times as you like at your convenience.

SWR: 19:25

SWR will broadcast the show once on December 31. 

Watching anytime

YouTube

There are numerous YouTube entries for "Dinner for One," some the original broadcast, and some the less popular "Schweizer" version. These two links have the original NDR broadcast in its entirety.

B&W version

Colorized (without host's introduction) 

The "Schweizer" version

The Schweizer, or Swiss, version was a repeat performance of the skit, aired on Swiss television later the same year. This performance lacked some of the spontaneity and comic timing found in the original broadcast. If this were the only version you saw, you'd wonder why it was so popular. It simply isn't as funny. You can recognize it by the absence of the host's introduction and the show beginning with the opening of the stage curtains. Here is the Schweizer version on YouTube, if you want to compare it to the original.

DVD

You can buy the DVD on-line from Amazon, but you need to be sure it’s the version you want (NDR vs. Schweizer). The original NDR version was only released in 2010. Here is an example from the German Amazon site.

The Schweizer version has been available on DVD for a number of years, but as explained above, it’s not the favored one (and the video quality leaves something to be desired). 

COMPATIBILITY:  Note that the DVDs most likely are only compatible with PAL systems (Europe, Region 2) and not others, such as NTSC (US, Region 1). In that case, you can only view the DVD on a Region 2 or multi-region player (including computer DVD drives, which also may be region-specific). Read the fine print before you buy.

The Libretto

You can read the text of the skit (in English) here.