Hello! :)

The dinner is arranged in honor of mrs. Sophie's birthday, so that is the original occasion in the screenplay. The connection to New Year's Eve or the holidays after Christmas is a modern invention and not originally intended in the play, but playing this video near or on New Year's Eve does somehow add to the hilarity, when we as an audience are in a party mood as well.

@thomashubert2977

4 ай бұрын

She is Miss Sophie. Not married.

@TheNargana

4 ай бұрын

And since it is played every New year, it became like a running gag in Germany because it is always the same procedure as every year. Btw, as an explanation, in the german Version there is a spoken intro were you learn that it is miss sophies 90th birthday and she buried the last of her four friends 25 years ago, so James has played his four roles for at least 24 years.

In the introduction they say that the last of her friends passed away 20 years ago. It is her 90th birthday after all and her friends or maybe lovers were older than she was. The butler had to take over the parts of them. So he is doing this for 20 years.

@TheNargana

4 ай бұрын

25 years though, but otherwise correct

Well, dear Miss Sophie has outlived all her friends, now the butler James has to take over ther roles.

I love this sketch!😆 Been watching it every new years since I was a child! Great reaction, btw! Wish you a happy 2024!

@MaxSujyGermany

4 ай бұрын

Happy new year!

Dinner for one was produced by the entertainer and comedian Peter Frankenfeld for German television NDR. And now you can't think of New Year's Eve without it! It's part of it, like tinsel at Christmas. To the history. Miss Sophie always enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her 4 friends. But little by little they all died so that they all survived! Now, the butler took over the role.

They are drinking sherry with the soup - white wine with the fish - champagne with the chicken and finally port wine with the fruit. Quite a dinner - n'est-ce pas? There are actually two versions of this sketch - the original German and an almost identical Swiss production. The one you just watched is the Swiss one, which is broadcasted here in Sweden every New Year's Eve.

@MaxSujyGermany

5 ай бұрын

Speaking of Sweden, we have been reacting to Swedish content a lot lately here: www.youtube.com/@MaxSujyHere

@billythedog-309

4 ай бұрын

The original is English and, l don't know, maybe that's why they speak English.

@billythedog-309

4 ай бұрын

@@doesnotcompute6078 Thanks for explaining to me something l made clear in my comment.

The reason why "Dinner for One - or the 90th Birthday" was never known in the UK is that the sketch was only performed by the two actors on stage there, but never on television. It was only when two(?) programme directors of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Northern German Broadcasting) saw the sketch in England that it was recorded on film, albeit in Germany for German audiences.

@MaxSujyGermany

5 ай бұрын

Recorded by the same actors? So German TV went to them to recreate the sketch one more time but changed the location?

@DJKLProductions

5 ай бұрын

@@MaxSujyGermany No, the sketch was only recorded once. What I meant was that the acting duo with this sketch were discovered by two television directors or senior employees of NDR who were travelling together in the UK. However, a second recording was planned for 1968 in colour, but this could not be made because Freddie Frinton died unexpectedly. EDIT: I re-read the German Wikipedia article on Dinner for One to get back in the picture as to who discovered the sketch. It was an actor and a director.

@ichbinbluna3504

5 ай бұрын

@@DJKLProductionsNo, you're wrong. There are two recordings. Shown here is the swiss recording. The other is from the german regional TV station NDR (in Hamburg).

@schusterlehrling

4 ай бұрын

​​​@@DJKLProductions Actually it was produced twice, as later the Swiss Television came to like the sketch and recorded it again. This btw. is the Swiss Version.

@red.aries1444

4 ай бұрын

@@MaxSujyGermany And both recordings have taken place in 1963, so Miss Sophie can celebrate her 150th birthday this year.

Never saw this in the UK and I'm now in my sixties. However I did see it on German television (unusually with sub-titles) when we lived over there in the eighties and nineties. My German Father-in-law told me it's usually on every Christmas time.

@ichbinbluna3504

5 ай бұрын

A few years ago a private TV station in Britain showed the sketch but too few people watched it.

@Ul.B

24 күн бұрын

ardmediathek

Sadly, the German introduction is missing. In German TV there is a speaker introducing the following play. The words are roughly... Miss Sophie is celebrating her 90th birthday. As usual, her friends are invited. Alas, Miss Sophie did survive all her friends, so each of them get to be replaced by her butler, James. Then he does a quick translation of the most important dialogue parts of the play for those not being able to speak English. With these words spoken, the speaker goes off the stage and the play begins.

Pour miss sophie,cos nobody of her guests can't come anymore sins years cos she Servive all of them ,but she makes the best of that situ eith her i zhink best loyality buttler friend ever to fix it. ^^❤

Donde estaban amigos? Saludos

Sherry = Xeres Admiral = Almirante

I should also mention that back in 1980 when this video first arrived at Norwegian TV screens (back in the days when we only had 1 TV channel), one of the main newspapers took it upon them to expand our understanding of this phenomenal screenplay by describing the individual imaginary guests (sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, mr. Pomeroy, and mr. Winterbottom) as well as having a sketch artist draw them to make their personalities more vivid to us. I am fairly sure you have read the wikipedia article on this show, including the link just in case others want to have a look: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One

con el look de Luis Miguel.

Very very German think!!!!!

I'm not sure that is maybe the original Version. Because in the TV comes every year a other Version of Dinner For One. The location looks different. It's just funny to watch the butler getting drunker and drunker and still trying to impersonate Mrs Sophie's every guest. We germans have some other versions of this video. For Example: Dinner for Döner (Kebab) by Erkan and Strefan (two german comedians), or the Dinner for One by Cologne Dialect Version with Ralf Schmitz and Annette Frier. 11:36 I think you don't have understand what he mean with "I will do my very best" and winks with his eye.

@TheNargana

4 ай бұрын

This is the Show from austria or switzerland, not Sure wich.

That's the Swiss version, not what we watch in Germany. The German version lasts 18 minutes, not just 11 like the Swiss version. The Swiss version is also less funny than the German one. For example, Miss Sophie's question "Is this a dry sherry?" is missing. The tablecloth, candlestick and gong are also missing. Somehow loveless and rightly styleless. Maybe typically Swiss, but then please respond to the right dinner, not this Swiss economy version.

Bad version, again. Don't they have the original one in the USA ?

@MaxSujyGermany

4 ай бұрын

Why would they have the original in the USA? This is British. There is a German version and a Swiss version of the same sketch. This is the Swiss one with the same British actors.

@thies7831

4 ай бұрын

@@MaxSujyGermany Thanks for the info. So much confusion on such a funny simple sketch. I watched a few reactions from US folks and they used that strange version too. The German one filmed by NDR TV is the best in style and presentation. Actually, it was recorded in 1963 and therefore it would have been Mrs. Sophie's 150th birthday !! Certainly a "Dinner for No-One" ...

@MaxSujyGermany

4 ай бұрын

Is the other version available on KZread?

@marcgyver677

4 ай бұрын

@@MaxSujyGermany kzread.info/dash/bejne/hqNsyZuRqKTKiNY.html

@martinstock

3 ай бұрын

@@MaxSujyGermany couldn't find it either. Only as part of altered versions. But you can find it in the "ARD Mediathek". In the NDR version of "Dinner for One" there is an introduction in German by a speaker on the stage. Other differences are a fireplace behind the table and a considerably more realistic stairway to the upper floor.

humorlos