Dinner for One – 1963 | 11 mins | Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

An 11 minute sketch performed by music hall artist and television actor Freddie Frinton and May Warden about a long-suffering butler, James, to the deluded ninety-year-old dowager, Miss Sophie. In the dining room, places are set for the guests: Sir Toby, gruff Yorkshireman Mr Winterbottom, German Admiral von Schneider and Mr Pommeroy – only all a deceased and James the butler must impersonate each one. As the meal begins to progress, James becomes increasingly inebriated…

Frinton and Warden had originally performed the sketch, thought to originate from the 1920s, in Blackpool in the 1960s, when Peter Frankenfeld, a German entertainer, invited them to perform it on his live show the following year. The skit was such a success that Frinton and Warden were asked to record it live for Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in the Hamburg’s Theater am Besenbinderhof in 1963. The sketch attracted a cult following in Germany and has been broadcast every New Year’s Eve since 1972.