I was recently reminded of this; it is a sketch starring Freddie Frinton as the butler, and several different actresses have played the dowager, but the most famous was May Warden. The comedy sketch was written by British author Lauri Wylie in the 1920s for the theatre.
My understanding is that the sketch first appeared in the British Music Halls, particularly in Blackpool and seaside piers as early as 1945 where I believe my parents must have seen it, because they talked about it when I was a boy before it was picked up for television in 1963. I happened to catch it in the early 1980s on HBO after they first started broadcasting, but it is not shown any longer.
My cousin in the south of France told me this morning (isn't that amazing?) that the sketch is played religiously on New Years Eve in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. Watching it has become a tradition. It is popular in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, too. Everyone watches it and laughs heartily every year as though it were the first time. Also, it is usually quoted around the dinner table on NYE and everyone falls around laughing!
German language introduction but the sketch is in English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc
Information from Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One
My understanding is that the sketch first appeared in the British Music Halls, particularly in Blackpool and seaside piers as early as 1945 where I believe my parents must have seen it, because they talked about it when I was a boy before it was picked up for television in 1963. I happened to catch it in the early 1980s on HBO after they first started broadcasting, but it is not shown any longer.
My cousin in the south of France told me this morning (isn't that amazing?) that the sketch is played religiously on New Years Eve in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. Watching it has become a tradition. It is popular in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, too. Everyone watches it and laughs heartily every year as though it were the first time. Also, it is usually quoted around the dinner table on NYE and everyone falls around laughing!
German language introduction but the sketch is in English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc
Information from Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One
