There is a German phenomenon that I refuse to understand called “Dinner For One.” This English-language comedy sketch starring British performers Freddie Frinton and May Warden first aired in West German television sixty years ago as a time-filler. A subsequent New Year’s Eve showing in 1972 turned it into a bizarre cult activity. German television channels show it fifteen or twenty times every Silvester (New Year’s Eve), and for those who can’t make appointment television, it’s in the Mediathek.
The sketch itself dates back to Britain’s variety show circuit in the 1920s. A grand lady has invited four friends to a dinner in celebration of her birthday; unfortunately they are all dead. Her butler, James, sets out five places for the dinner anyway, and pretends to be each man in turn for several courses. As befitting the occasion, there is a toast before each course. The physical comedy of Frinton stumbling around after too much sherry is the key to the film’s enduring popularity, as far as I can figure.
While this particular recording was not aired in Britain until 2018, a Swiss version was shown in summer 1963, and Frinton continued to perform the sketch on live on stage and for foreign television until his death in 1968 at the age of 59. (The recording he made in Hamburg is in English with no subtitles or other translation because, as a veteran of WWII, Frinton was not a fan of Germans or their language. Respekt.)
Last Christmas the bears had made some noise about performing the sketch themselves, starring the polar bear Knut as the rug, but we had a lot going on with the Krampusse and such. And then they realized the biggest holiday of the year, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Opening Day, was the perfect setting for this sketch. Minus the rug, no one brings a rug to a tailgate party.
Oh, sure, baseball fans don’t know German television, and German television fans don’t know baseball, and her British friends don’t know either one, but writer/producer/director/star Hannele doesn’t make movies for the audience, she makes them for herself.
Without further ado, I present Tailgate For One! (Full disclosure, I am listed in the credits. Woo-hoo!) Don’t adjust your volume settings; it is a silent film.
