| "Waldorf Salad" | |
|---|---|
| Fawlty Towers episode | |
 Basil Fawlty attending to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton | |
| Episode no. | Series 2 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Bob Spiers |
| Written by | John Cleese and Connie Booth |
| Production code | 8 |
| Original air date | 5 March 1979 |
"Waldorf Salad" is the third episode of the second series of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers . Directed by Bob Spiers, it first aired on 5 March 1979. [1]
Dinner time is exceptionally busy at the hotel, and the guests complain to Sybil about the quality of the service. However, when Basil checks with the guests, they do not mention their complaints. As service is winding down, a new couple arrives, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. While Mrs. Hamilton is British, her husband is American, and gives vent to a list of complaints about their travels from London, compared with the United States. Because of their late arrival, Mr. Hamilton asks Basil to bribe the cook to keep the kitchen open so they can have a meal after they have unpacked. Basil tries to trick Terry the chef by giving him only half of what Mr. Hamilton has paid. Terry agrees, but claims it will cause him to miss a karate class. However, Polly reveals that she, Terry, Manuel, and Terry's Finnish girlfriend are going to have a night out. Irritated by Terry's fib, Basil sends them on their way, saying he will cook for the Hamiltons himself.
The Hamiltons first ask for screwdrivers, of which Basil has never heard, irritating Mr. Hamilton. He asks for a Waldorf salad, an item not on the menu, followed by two rare steaks. [2] Basil similarly has no idea what goes into a Waldorf salad, and his attempts to make it are criticised by Mr. Hamilton. Basil returns to the kitchen and shouts loudly as if he were yelling at the chef. Basil makes other excuses, unaware that Sybil has been able to prepare and serve the proper dish. On discovering that, Basil faux-yells at the chef, but Sybil follows him into the kitchen and slaps him for his antics. Later, Basil reads a letter, supposedly from Terry, that puts all the blame on the chef, but during that performance, the unattended steaks start to burn, drawing the hotel guests to the lobby.
Mr. Hamilton yells at Basil, stating the hotel is "the crummiest, shoddiest, most badly run hotel in Western Europe", and Basil is comparable to Donald Duck. Attracted by the noise, other guests gather and Basil browbeats them into acknowledging the quality of his hotel. However, as he continues to argue with Mr. Hamilton, the other guests start airing their own grievances. As he goes off to pack his bags, Mr. Hamilton laughs at Basil, who snaps at the other guests and tells Sybil that either the guests go, or he does. Sybil just stares at him. Basil stalks out of the hotel, only to return seconds later, after he realises it's raining, and requests a room and breakfast in bed, complete with a Waldorf Salad and "lashings of hot screwdriver".
With:
The episode has been described as being "massively popular" and a great commercial success internationally in the 1980s and 1990s. [3] Its source of amusement derives from the cultural differences between the Americans and the British and the perceived differences in manners. The American is very rude in expecting food which is not on the menu and complaining about the service in contrast to the English guests who are very guarded when it comes to complaining. [3] The book Great, Grand & Famous Hotels remarked that "Fawlty Towers is real to everybody who has ever worked in a hotel, anybody who has ever stayed in one, or anyone who has ever tried, unsuccessfully, to order a Waldorf salad." [4]
Fawlty Towers is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the Radio Times.
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and presenter. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983).
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales is a retired English actor. She portrayed Sybil Fawlty, the bossy wife of Basil Fawlty, in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers, Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution by Alan Bennett and appeared in the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2021), travelling on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West.
A Waldorf salad is a fruit and nut salad generally made of celery, fresh apples, walnuts, and grapes, dressed in mayonnaise, and traditionally served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The apples, celery, and grapes can all be green, which harmonizes the color palette of the dish.
The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story 625 ft (191 m) Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze and Weaver, which was completed in 1931. The building was the world's tallest hotel until 1963 when it was surpassed by Moscow's Hotel Ukraina. An icon of glamour and luxury, the Waldorf Astoria is one of the world's most prestigious and best-known hotels. Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts was a division of Hilton Hotels, and a portfolio of high-end properties around the world operates under the name, including in New York City. Both the exterior and the interior of the Waldorf Astoria are designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as official landmarks.
"The Germans" is the sixth episode of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. In the episode, while suffering the effects of a concussion, Basil Fawlty waits on a party of hotel guests from West Germany. Despite warning his staff "They're Germans! Don't mention the war", he keeps obliviously ignoring his own advice. His barrage of anti-German sentiment culminates in a goose-stepping impersonation of Adolf Hitler. The Germans are first deeply hurt, but are ultimately left wondering aloud how such idiots as Basil Fawlty and Major Gowen could ever have beaten their ancestors in two World Wars.
Brian Charles Hall was a British actor. He is best remembered for his role as hotel chef Terry Hughes in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Payne is a 1999 American sitcom adapted from the 1970s British television comedy Fawlty Towers. This adaptation, which was a mid-season replacement on CBS, originally aired from March 15 to May 4, 1999. It costars John Larroquette, who was also an executive producer for the series, and JoBeth Williams. Featured too as regular supporting characters are Julie Benz and Rick Batalla. Despite receiving the blessing of John Cleese, who reportedly agreed to be an "irregular cast member" and perform in a recurring role as a rival hotelier if Payne were renewed, the series was cancelled following the broadcast of its eighth episode. A total of nine episodes were filmed, but one was not aired as part of the series' original presentation on CBS.
Chef salad is an American salad consisting of hard-boiled eggs, one or more varieties of meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese, all placed upon a bed of tossed lettuce or other leaf vegetables. Several early recipes also include anchovies. A variety of dressings may be used with this salad.
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the 1970s British sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by John Cleese. The proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers, he is a cynical and misanthropic snob, desperate to attract hotel guests from the British upper class. His inept attempts to run an efficient hotel, however, usually end in farce. Possessing a dry, sarcastic wit, Basil has become an iconic British comedy character who remains widely known to the public despite only 12 half-hour episodes ever having been made. Cleese would receive the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Basil was ranked second on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Sybil Fawlty is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. She is played by Prunella Scales. She is listed as 34 years old as seen on her medical chart in the 1975 episode "The Germans", presumably indicating she was born in 1941. Scales was 43 years old when Fawlty Towers began production.
Manuel is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by Andrew Sachs. He reappeared for a small sketch with John Cleese in We Are Most Amused in November 2008.
Donald William Sinclair was the co-proprietor of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon, England. He helped manage the hotel after an extensive career as an officer in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, Sinclair twice survived the sinking of the ships on which he was serving.
John George Norman Bird was an English character actor.
Amanda's is an American sitcom television series based on the 1970s British sitcom Fawlty Towers that aired on ABC from February 10 to May 26, 1983. The series starred Bea Arthur as Amanda Cartwright, who owns a seaside hotel called "Amanda's by the Sea" and was Arthur's first return to series television since her sitcom Maude ended in 1978.
Claire Nielson is a Scottish actress primarily known for her television roles. On television, she played the wife of the belligerent American guest, Mr. Hamilton, in the "Waldorf Salad" episode of Fawlty Towers, appeared as Jean 'Porridge' Carter, Geoffrey Stock's secretary, in the popular 1960s crime series Ghost Squad and played the wife of Rikki Fulton's character in many sketches of the Scottish Hogmanay show Scotch and Wry from 1978 until 1993. Other TV credits include Upstairs, Downstairs, Monarch of the Glen, The Brothers, The Two Ronnies, Take The High Road, Z-Cars, Special Branch, Thriller and Taggart. She also appeared as Barbara Grant in the 1971 film version of Kidnapped, opposite Michael Caine and Trevor Howard.
Polly Sherman is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. Played by Connie Booth, she is Fawlty Towers' long-suffering waitress and hotel maid.
The Gleneagles Hotel was a hotel in Torquay, Devon, England. The 41-bed establishment, which opened in the 1960s, was the inspiration for Fawlty Towers, a British situation comedy first broadcast in the mid-1970s. John Cleese, and his then wife Connie Booth, were inspired to write the series after they had stayed at the hotel and witnessed the eccentric behaviour of its owner, Donald Sinclair. Later the hotel was managed by Best Western. In February 2015 the hotel closed. It has since been demolished and replaced by retirement apartments.
Babou was a pet ocelot and frequent companion of the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí in the 1960s. A cat lover, Dalí claimed to have been given the animal by the head of state of Colombia. Babou's date of death is unknown.