Waldorf Salad (Fawlty Towers)

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"Waldorf Salad"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 3
Written by	John Cleese & Connie Booth
Directed by	Bob Spiers
Production no.	8
Original airdate	5 March 1979
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Psychiatrist" "The Kipper and the Corpse"
List of Fawlty Towers episodes

"Waldorf Salad" is the third episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Plot 4 Trivia 5 Connections and Errors 6 References

[edit] Synopsis

American tourist Mr. Hamilton checks in with his wife. They want to have a proper meal, but Terry has finished his shift, and Mr. Hamilton begins ordering things that are not on the menu. In a panic, Basil tries to cook the meal himself, all the while attempting to keep Hamilton from discovering that Terry is gone.

[edit] Cast

• John Cleese as Basil Fawlty
• Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty
• Andrew Sachs as Manuel
• Connie Booth as Polly Sherman
• Ballard Berkeley as Major Gowen
• Brian Hall as Terry the Chef
• Gilly Flower as Miss Abitha Tibbs
• Renee Roberts as Miss Ursula Gatsby

With:

• Norman Bird as Mr. Arrad
• Bruce Boa as Mr. (Harry) Hamilton
• Terence Conoley as Mr. Johnston
• Anthony Dawes as Mr. Libson
• June Ellis as Mrs. Johnston
• Dorothy Frere as Miss Hare
• Claire Nielson as Mrs. Hamilton
• Beatrice Shaw as Miss Gurke
• Stella Tanner as Mrs. Arrad

[edit] Plot

During an exceptionally busy dinner time, several guests are dissatisfied with the quality of the food and the service. One guest complains that her prawns are "off," provoking an argument between Basil and her husband, because she has eaten half the dish but they wish the starter to be deducted from their bill. Another couple, meanwhile, have been waiting for a long time for their meal. However, when Basil comes to see if they are fine, they are unwilling to complain. Meanwhile, Sybil blithely and lazily continues to talk to one of the guests, who himself appears not to be enjoying her continued ramblings (to the point that she actually ignores two guests asking to cancel their orders), leaving Basil, Manuel and Polly to tend to the others. Basil attempts to alter her of her laziness in the midst of the rushing, but she ignores him.

An elegantly attractive English woman, Mrs. Hamilton, arrives at reception to check in and Basil takes a slight fancy to her. A rather loud and short-tempered American man follows her in from the rain and complains about the climate, as well as the journey from London (they had to take a "little back street", the M5), the size of the cars and the fact that the British drive on "the wrong side of the road." The patriotic Basil is irate and secretly insults the American back, only for Mrs. Hamilton to introduce him as her husband, which forces Basil into some cringeworthy backtracking. Mr. Hamilton demands that they be given a proper meal even though they have arrived after 9 pm and the kitchen is closed. Basil explains this and tells them that they can still be served if they go straight into the dining room, but they refuse, desiring a rest first. Basil insists that Terry will not stay just for two people, so Hamilton bribes him with 20 pounds to keep the kitchen open half an hour.

Basil pockets the money and offers a lesser amount to Terry to stay for half an hour. Terry initially refuses, claiming that he has a martial arts lesson, but when Basil offers more money Terry agrees to stay and cook. Basil then learns from Polly's inadvertent slip of the tongue that Terry's appointment was actually a date with his Finnish girlfriend. In response, he sends Terry away and plans to do the cooking himself.

The Hamiltons come downstairs for their meal and are offered drinks by Basil. They order screwdrivers, a drink with which Basil is unfamiliar. Hamilton then confuses Basil by asking for a Waldorf salad, followed by two rare steaks. Hamilton gets rather angry when Basil appears not to know about a Waldorf Salad, despite the fact that the meal is not on the menu, and demands the Waldorf Salad all the same, followed by two steaks, repeatedly telling Basil the ingredients and becoming more irritated all the while.

Basil goes into the kitchen, is unable to find all the ingredients, and panics. Sybil says that she will find the ingredients and handle it, but he remains unconvinced and flustered. Basil tries to persuade Mr. Hamilton to try a made-up "Ritz Salad", but Hamilton refuses and almost storms into the kitchen to shout at Terry, stopped only just by Basil, whom he tells to "bust Terry's ass if he doesn't get on the ball". Basil pretends to berate Terry in the kitchen, apologises profusely to the Hamiltons and presents them with green salads. Meanwhile, Sybil has already prepared and served the Waldorf salad. Basil initially removes Mr. Hamilton's Waldorf Salad to present it to Terry and demand an explanation, whereupon Sybil rescues it for Mr. Hamilton, Basil sustaining an unseen on screen (but subtly heard) punch in the process.

The Hamiltons are apparently happy with their starters, and seem prepared to ignore the confusion. Basil, however, is unable to leave things alone and tries to reinforce the myth that Terry is still there and responsible for the mistakes. He emerges from the kitchen wearing a hat, strategically tilted, to cover the bruise that Sybil gave him, and also with a letter allegedly written by Terry. Basil reads it to the Hamiltons, despite the fact that they are uninterested, and Mr. Hamilton becomes increasingly irritated. This distracts Basil so much that the steaks begin to burn. He returns to the kitchen and pretends to yell at Terry, but Mr. Hamilton, having finally reached his breaking point, storms into the kitchen to berate Terry himself, only to find Basil yelling at nobody and using a high-pitched falsetto voice as Terry.

Enraged at being conned like this, Mr. Hamilton announces that they are leaving and confronts Basil in the foyer. In front of the other guests he berates Basil about his lack of professionalism — calling him "the British Tourist Board's answer to Donald Duck" — and brands the hotel a disgrace. Basil challenges Hamilton by asking the guests, perticularly Major Gowen, Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby their opinions, who all claim to be satisfied, and Basil begins showering Hamilton with rather xenophobic insults about Americans and their supposed love for money, until one guest, Mr. Johnston, complains about how he was neglected at the beginning of the episode and his wife's prawns had been off, joined by the other guests, all of whom had been neglected or served bad food. Hamilton laughs triumphantly in Basil's face and peanuts his tie. Basil finally snaps and screams his head off at all the guests, including the Hamiltons, comparing them with Nazis and finally ordering them to leave. Sybil challenges him and, remembering her laziness earlier on, he decides that instead he will leave, putting Sybil in charge of dealing with the guests and their complaints, to her astonishment. Mr. Hamilton, meanwhile, calls a taxi.

Basil walks outside of the hotel to discover that it is still raining. After a few seconds he rethinks and returns to the hotel to ask for a room. The episode ends with Basil, driven over the edge, demanding breakfast in bed and a Waldorf salad with "lashings of hot screwdriver".

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

• The situation of the episode was based upon a real-life occurrence when John Cleese and the Monty Python team were staying in the Gleneagles hotel. American-born Terry Gilliam was eating dinner in an American manner, and Donald Sinclair commented xenophobically about this.
• This episode had the working title "The American".

[edit] Connections and Errors

• After 23:25, Sybil is seen pulling out a cigarette from its case and yet in the next cut, a second later it is lit and in her left hand.

[edit] References

• Fawlty Towers: A Worshipper's Companion, Leo Publishing, ISBN 91-973661-8-8
• The Complete Fawlty Towers by John Cleese & Connie Booth (1988, Methuen, London) ISBN 0-413-18390-4 (the complete text)

v • d • e Fawlty Towers Characters Basil Fawlty · Sybil Fawlty · Manuel · Polly Sherman · Major Gowen · Terry · Miss Tibbs & Miss Gatsby · Notable guests Series One episodes "A Touch of Class" · "The Builders" · "The Wedding Party" · "The Hotel Inspectors" · "Gourmet Night" · "The Germans" Series Two episodes "Communication Problems" · "The Psychiatrist" · "Waldorf Salad" · "The Kipper and the Corpse" · "The Anniversary" · "Basil the Rat" Related articles Donald Sinclair · Wooburn Grange Country Club · Torquay