By Robert Willmann
A short comedy sketch is a staple on New Year's Eve in Germany, featuring Miss Sophie and James the butler. The introduction is in German and the skit is in English. Happy New Year to All, and fireworks may well extend to and beyond the 6th of January–
https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/Dinner-for-One-Das-Original,dinnerforone191.html
May you and your committee have health, wealth, and happiness throughout 2021.
First came across Dinner For One while on a business trip to Germany in 1992. I think the reason it has never become an institution in the UK is because we have the Queen’s speech which is far more soporific after turkey than Dinner For One.
Fireworks, yes. Let us hope the Greatest Showman has saved the really spectacular illuminations for his forthcoming Epiphany Show.
Happy New Year to all.
Remember it all too well. Never understood why it was so popular but all were amazed that I’d never heard of it before and ever so slightly put out that I never wanted to hear of it again.
I used to sit through it hoping the Heimat film would follow. That was a genre that I did go for, again slightly suprising everyone. Heimat films were rather looked down on. But we all enjoyed Der Alte and Derrick and Tatort, the various Krimis that don’t seem to surface on German TV any more. Not that I’d know right now. Covid rather put a stop to moving around recently.
I looked up “Dinner for one” on Wiki. Still seems to be popular over much of the continent. Might account for the fact that while we English don’t really get the continentals, there’s no doubt that the continentals don’t get us at all.
Thanks for putting it up, Mr Willmann. Brought back a lot of memories. All of them good.
Robert, you might find this interesting, in case it hasn’t already been brought to your attention:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/01/donald-trump-courts-election-legal-hangover-453217
“The president and his allies have lost suit after suit seeking to overturn the election.
But the victories could ultimately prove costly for the left.”
I used to sit through it hoping the Heimat film would follow.
Strange statement, although I may not quite grasp it.
Heimat film?
Lux – escapist films set in an idealised rural Germany. The Reitz Heimat trilogy is a different kettle of fish.
Friends who grew up in the DDR as was also love this –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uhh4NjEVuw
Might account for the fact that while we English don’t really get the continentals, there’s no doubt that the continentals don’t get us at all.
Ok, back to the above, maybe the author Lauri Wylie at the time the scetch/farce was written wasn’t really a solidly true Brit yet? How many generations would that take? Meaning: How long would one remain an English Outsider on the Isle?
Lydia suggests in a comment here:
http://phindie.com/17019-17019-dinner-for-one-the-greatest-cult-film-youve-never-heard-of/-
A true Brit would never laugh about someone stumpling across a tiger-skin rug. Maybe there’s the link to the German Heimatfilm/Volkfilm tradition on your mind? His ancestors may have been Prussian emigrees.
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Renationalizing the cult: The almost true story of the Dinner:
http://www.dinner-auf-gothsch.de/geschichte