Happy New Year from Wyoming!
I'm ringing in the new year with Matthew and his family in Wyoming, where we are enjoying the snow and skiing. I lost a contact lens in the shower the first night here, so I'm relying on my glasses, and thankful they're a current prescription. I forgot to pack extra lenses. I also forgot to pack an annoying calculus assignment, so I had to ask my parents to scan and email it to me - all 35 pages of a packet - all due when I get back home.
We got 17" of fresh snowfall a couple of evenings ago, bringing the crowds to the slopes the next day. We decided to wait a day to avoid the long lines, so in between downhill skiing, cross country skiing, doing homework, and spending time with everyone here, I've also been working on updating Aliology, a project long overdue, and one that probably still won't be completed for a while yet. Bear with me. It's a work in progress. Finally. I'm also getting a few new photos taken, but will post those later.
My sister is visiting her boyfriend in Germany during the holidays this year, and during a New Year's Eve conversation with my parents via Skype, she told them about a traditional, cult-classic film they were preparing to watch as part of their New Year's Eve celebration. After finding it online, watching and laughing at it herself, my mom then shared links to it with me in Wyoming via email:
If you’re American or British, you have almost certainly never seen British actor Freddie Frinton's TV skit that was filmed (in English, with a German introduction) in Hamburg, Germany, and holds the Guinness Record for most all-time broadcasts. Dinner For One has been rebroadcast in Germany, and in several other European countries, for New Year’s just about every year since 1972. It was originally recorded in 1963, but the skit was written about 1920.
Der 90. Geburtstag oder Dinner for One:“The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?”
“The same procedure as every year, James.”
Except for the intro in German, the dialog is in English. Stick around for the ending.
(Full version with introduction in German by Heinz Piper - 18 min.) Embedded above.
Introduction in English:
Dear audience, ladies, and gentlemen, we're in Miss Sophie's manor house. The name of this ancient family shall remain secret for reasons of discretion. Her four best friends are coming to her birth dinner. They will be seated as follows: Miss Sophie will sit there, and Sir Toby here. Admiral von Schneider here, Mr. Pomeroy over there, and Mr. Winterbottom there.
Ladies and gentlemen, we do have a small problem. Miss Sophie's not all that young anymore. Today is her 90th birthday, and she's outlived her friends by many years. The last of her four friends was buried 25 years ago, yet Miss Sophie does not want to miss out on the birthday dinner, and since the gentlemen cannot attend in person, her butler James replaces them. As in past years, all will go well today as the pattern of this dinner for one hasn't changed in all those years.
(Full Version in two parts, with English subtitles for Intro)
(Colorized Version without narrator's intro; German subtitles - 15 min.) Soundtrack not quite in sync throughout.
(Swiss Television Version - 11 min.)
(Transcript)
(Trivia)
Why haven't we heard of this before?
(Dinner for Who?)
(Don't think it's funny?)