ncr
20-04-06, 01:31 AM
Another one from the " Nothing to do with Thailand, but interesting..." category:
Do you know Dinner for One, or The 90th Birthday?
Well, if you are a British or American citizen, most probably not.
This despite the fact that it is a skit in English language, performed by two British actors/comedians......
an old one though, filmed in black & white back in 1963.
If you happen to be from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, South Africa or Australia however, chances are that you know it very well.
And in Germany (plus, I think, also in Austria and Switzerland) virtually everyone will know it --- from the 5 year old child to the 80 year old grandmother. I mean, you could possibly enter a German pub full of (say) workers and retirees with little or no knowledge of English, recite the line "The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" in front of the patrons, and everyone would instantly recognize it. They might even reply, "The same procedure as every year, James!"
And this is only partly explained by the fact that the 18 minute film was recorded in front of a live audience in a theater in Hamburg.
No, the intriguing thing is that the showing of this quaint little piece of humour on TV has become an important ritual on New Year's Eve, across the majority of stations, with many of them repeating it several times on that single day! A tradition going back to the year 1972, it's essentially part of German popular culture now, strange as that may seem.
Likewise, Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr. Pommeroy and "my very dear friend" Mr. Winterbottom have become household names in Germany.
Try to talk about the film with an Englishman, though, and he will be dumbfounded - he has never heard about "Dinner for One", Freddie Frinton or May Warden. It is said it has never been shown on television in the UK. (Furthermore, it has been speculated that a Briton wouldn't even find the sketch funny.)
But how did that happen, do you ask me?
Well, I don't really know either........ you'd better read the whole story at:
* Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2133551/)
* IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121210/trivia)
* The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,866820,00.html)
* English Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One)
* German Wikipedia (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One), where it attained the status of a featured article
* more on Freddie Frinton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Frinton) aka "James", the main character
* complete script: North German television (NDR) website (http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID256092_REF_SPC258514,00.html) and also here (http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/dinnerforone.html) (with screengrabs)
VIDEOS:
* the -inferior- Swiss 11 minute version (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8908622153579785434&q=%2522dinner+for+one%2522) (filmed on a different occasion, with a less beautiful décor, bad camera angle, and slight differences/omissions (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One#Version_des_Schweizer_Fernsehens) in the acting and dialogue)
* excerpt of the 18 minute version (http://stream.ndr.de/bb/redirect.lsc?stream=ndr/video/vs/20031231_dinner_for_one_winterbottom_3.rm&content=content&media=rm) (the real thing!)
Well, maybe we can start a poll here where you have to say if you think it's funny, and state your nationality........ ;)
Do you know Dinner for One, or The 90th Birthday?
Well, if you are a British or American citizen, most probably not.
This despite the fact that it is a skit in English language, performed by two British actors/comedians......
an old one though, filmed in black & white back in 1963.
If you happen to be from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, South Africa or Australia however, chances are that you know it very well.
And in Germany (plus, I think, also in Austria and Switzerland) virtually everyone will know it --- from the 5 year old child to the 80 year old grandmother. I mean, you could possibly enter a German pub full of (say) workers and retirees with little or no knowledge of English, recite the line "The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" in front of the patrons, and everyone would instantly recognize it. They might even reply, "The same procedure as every year, James!"
And this is only partly explained by the fact that the 18 minute film was recorded in front of a live audience in a theater in Hamburg.
No, the intriguing thing is that the showing of this quaint little piece of humour on TV has become an important ritual on New Year's Eve, across the majority of stations, with many of them repeating it several times on that single day! A tradition going back to the year 1972, it's essentially part of German popular culture now, strange as that may seem.
Likewise, Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr. Pommeroy and "my very dear friend" Mr. Winterbottom have become household names in Germany.
Try to talk about the film with an Englishman, though, and he will be dumbfounded - he has never heard about "Dinner for One", Freddie Frinton or May Warden. It is said it has never been shown on television in the UK. (Furthermore, it has been speculated that a Briton wouldn't even find the sketch funny.)
But how did that happen, do you ask me?
Well, I don't really know either........ you'd better read the whole story at:
* Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2133551/)
* IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121210/trivia)
* The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,866820,00.html)
* English Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One)
* German Wikipedia (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One), where it attained the status of a featured article
* more on Freddie Frinton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Frinton) aka "James", the main character
* complete script: North German television (NDR) website (http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID256092_REF_SPC258514,00.html) and also here (http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/dinnerforone.html) (with screengrabs)
VIDEOS:
* the -inferior- Swiss 11 minute version (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8908622153579785434&q=%2522dinner+for+one%2522) (filmed on a different occasion, with a less beautiful décor, bad camera angle, and slight differences/omissions (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One#Version_des_Schweizer_Fernsehens) in the acting and dialogue)
* excerpt of the 18 minute version (http://stream.ndr.de/bb/redirect.lsc?stream=ndr/video/vs/20031231_dinner_for_one_winterbottom_3.rm&content=content&media=rm) (the real thing!)
Well, maybe we can start a poll here where you have to say if you think it's funny, and state your nationality........ ;)