Waldorf Salad (Fawlty Towers)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Waldorf Salad
Series = Fawlty Towers


Caption = Major Gowen (Ballard Berkeley)
Season = 2
Episode = 3
Airdate = 5 March 1979
Production = 8
Writer = John Cleese & Connie Booth
Director = Bob Spiers
Guests =
Episode list =List of Fawlty Towers episodes
Prev = The Psychiatrist
Next = The Kipper and the Corpse

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

ynopsis

Mr and Mrs Hamilton check in after a gruelling journey from London. They want to have a proper meal but unfortunately the chef has finished his shift. Basil tries to bribe him to stay, but giving up on doing so, tries to cook the meal himself. Basil's maniacal behavior infuriates his wife.

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

Plot

In the dining room, 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 due to the fact that they wish the starter to be deducted from their bill. Meanwhile Sybil continues to talk to one of the guests leaving Basil to tend to the others.

An elegantly attractive English woman, Mrs. Hamilton, arrives at reception to check in. A brash American man follows in from the rain and complains about the weather as well as the journey from London (they had to take a "little back street", the M5), and other aspects of English life. Basil insults him to Mrs. Hamilton, only for her to introduce him as her husband. 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 but Hamilton is insistent and gives him £20 to keep the kitchen open.

Basil pockets the money and offers a lesser amount to Terry the chef to stay for half an hour. Terry initially refuses, claiming he has a martial arts lesson, but when Basil offers more, Terry agrees to stay and cook. Basil then learns from Polly that Terry's appointment was actually a date with his 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. Basil replies "I think we're just out of Waldorfs" and asks several times for clarification of the ingredients, enraging Mr. Hamilton, who shouts "Celery! Apples! Walnuts! Grapes! In a mayonnaise sauce!"

Basil goes into the kitchen and, unable to find the ingredients for the salad, panics. Sybil says she will handle it, but he remains flustered. Basil tries to persuade Mr Hamilton to try a "Ritz Salad", made up of the ingredients that "are" in the kitchen. Keeping up the pretence that the chef is still there, he pretends to loudly berate Terry for not knowing the ingredients of a Waldorf salad. Having been told by Mr. Hamilton that he should "bust [Terry's] ass", Basil shouts to "Terry" , "I'm going to break your bottom!" He apologises profusely to the Hamiltons and presents them with green salads. Meanwhile Sybil has already prepared and served the Waldorf salad.

The Hamiltons are happy with their meal, and seem prepared to ignore the confusion. Basil, however, is unable to leave things alone and pretends the chef is still there and responsible for the mistakes. He emerges from the kitchen wearing a hat to cover the eye that Sybill struck in the kitchen and also with a letter allegedly written by Terry, and reads it to the Hamiltons despite the fact they are uninterested and Mr. Hamilton is becoming increasingly agitated. After smoke is seen emerging from the kitchen, Basil returns to the kitchen and pretends to yell at Terry – 'What are you doing?! What do you mean, you've burnt it?!' Mr. Hamilton storms into the kitchen and finds Basil yelling at nobody. Even when caught out like this, Basil claims that the chef has just slipped out from under him during Mr Hamilton's entrance. Mr Hamilton sarcastically suggests that the chef went out to get something to eat.

Mr. Hamilton announces that they are leaving and confronts Basil in the foyer. In front of the other guests he berates Basil, his lack of professionalism - calling him the Donald Duck of the tourist industry - and brands the hotel a disgrace. Other guests join in complaining about the food and the service. Basil finally snaps by telling them all to leave. Sybil challenges him and he decides that instead "he" will leave, putting Sybil in charge of dealing with the guests and their complaints.

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

Connections and errors

*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 un-British manner, and Donald Sinclair commented xenophobically about this.
*This episode had the working title "The American".
*This episode marks the second appearance of Terence Conoley, the only male actor distinguished enough to appear in more than one episode playing a different character.
*It has been suggested that there is a plot hole in this episode, which occurs when Basil explains to Mr. Hamilton that his grocery delivery driver has broken his arm, resulting in the hotel not having the correct ingredients for the Waldorf Salad. When the salad duly arrives – courtesy of Sybil – Mr. Hamilton laughs and says; "Maybe Robinson's arm got better". Basil, however, hadn't mentioned the delivery man's name to his guest. In actuality, though, this is not a plot hole – Basil mentioned the name Mr Robinson during a loud "conversation" with the "chef", when he says in a whimpering voice "But Mr Robinson hurt his arm!", to which Basil "responds": "That's a bunch of arse!" The Hamiltons overheard this.
*Towards the end of the episode an error is made by John Cleese when he says, "you ponce in here expecting to be hand waited on hand and foot". Obviously he should have just said, "waited on hand and foot".

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)