Directed
by George Cukor
Produced by Herman Levin
and Jack Warner
From the play by Bernard Shaw
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe |

|
The Overture |
The Film opens
with the overture played over the title cards. |


|
Why Can't
the English |
The setting is 1915 London.After the opera at Covent Garden, Henry Higgins
takes advantage of the lingering crowd to analyse the variety of speech which surrounds
him. Clustered around the pillars of St Paul's Catherdral are an assortment of
cockneys and flowergirls.One particular girl, Eliza Doolittle, catches the attention of
the crowd after a public outcry. Higgins, a prefessor of phonetics, explains the important
of speech and the rapid decrease of its proper use in England society. |


|
Wouldn't it be
Loverly? |
Higgins
boasts to his friend Colonel Pickering that he can turn Eliza into lady within six months.
Eliza, curious about this man's proposal, is left alone with her fellow cockneys to
dream about a life "far away from the cold night air" |


|
Flower Market |
Alfred
Doolittle, Eliza's father, finds his daughter amongst the early morning hustle and bustle
of the local market.Desperate for "a drop of liquid protection", she lends him
some money that Higgins had donated the previous night in an act of kindness. As she
sorts through her flowers, Eliza considers Higgins' proposal and decides to pay the
professor a visit later that morning. |

|
Ordinary Man |
At
Higgins' residence, Eliza agrees to take him up on his offer and is taken to the bathroom
to be cleaned up. Pickering, who has willingly funded this project, is unsure of his
friend's motives. Could he grow attracted to this creature of the streets?
Higgins denies such accusations and laughingly explains his views on female
company. |


|
With a
Little Bit O' Luck |
Alfred
Doolittle is once again penniless and refuses to work. Hoping his luck will soon
change, he hears of Eliza's mysterious absence from Mrs Hopkins.
"Moved in with a swell, Eliza has...left here in a taxi...smart as paint and ain't
been home fore three days"
Alfred feels that this new venture will prove profitable. |


|
Just You Wait |
Eliza
is sick of continually repeating her vowels. Higgins threatens her with no lunch and
dinner. In a moment of solitude, she acts out Higgin's execution
and a world where she will be reigned as a lady. The mood is interrupted by Higgin's
entrance. |


|
Servants Chorus |
The
servants in the Higgins household are worried about their master's actions. On top
of driving Eliza to her absolute limits, they fear of his loss of sleep and starvation.
He fails to care as he spends the days teaching Eliza the speech of a lady. |


|
The Rain in Spain |
One
phrase is the key to Eliza's success. "The rain in spain stays mainly in the
plain", she says in a fit of
hope. Higgins and Pickering rejoice as Eliza begins to pronounce all her words with
perfection. She is ready for society and to be tested the next day at the Ascot
Races. |


|
I Could've
Danced All Night |
Eliza,
now living in a dream where reality and fiction clashes, refuses to sleep due to the
excitement of her new-found speech. The thought of sleep is far from her mind.
"I only know when he began to dance with me, I could've danced danced danced
all night!" Mrs Pearce, the housekeeper, with the help of maids, manage to put
her down to sleep but the excitement still lingers. |


|
Ascot Gavotte |
The
first exciting race at Ascot takes place and the crowd are left in a buzz of happiness.
"What a frenized moment that was, didn't they maintain an exhausting pace, What a
gripping absolutely ripping moment at the Ascot opening race"
Eliza makes her societal debut at Ascot and
wins the affections of local boy Freddy Eynsford-Hill. He kindly gives her his bet
for the second race.A horse called Dover. As the race begins, Eliza gradually begins
to cheer for her horse. In a moment of rage noticing the horse is coming last, she
yells "Come on, Dover! Move yer bloomin' arse!"
The result is a havoc and embarassment. |


|
On the Street
Where You Live |
Freddy,
not deterred by Eliza's behaviour at Ascot, pays a visit to the Higgins residence in the
hope of speaking with her once again. Mrs Pearce announces the fact that "Miss
Doolittle doesn't wish to see anyone ever again". Freddy, however,
refuses to leave and tells Mrs Pearce that he will stay on the footpath until she will see
him. |


|
Intermission |
Six weeks later.
Eliza descends the staircase in her ballgown,anxiously awaiting the Embassy Ball.
Higgins, offering an arm, leads her out of the house to the carriage and they
prepare to travel to Buckingham Palace. Pickering is having doubts as he remembers
Eliza's previous experiences in public. |

|
Transylvanian
March |
At Buckingham Palace, Higgins meets up with an old student, Zoltan
Karpathy, who tells him that he can detect imposters. Pickering's fears increase as
he
begs Higgins to take Eliza home immediately. The tension is broken by the arrival of the
Queen Of Transylvania. |

|
Embassy Waltz |
The
Queen Of Transylvania summons Eliza to dance with her son, Prince Gregor, and the couple
take up the floor. She is then led into the arms of Higgins and Karpathy, who aims
to discover Eliza's true identity. |

|
You did it |
Later
that night, Higgins and Pickering congratulate each other on the success of Eliza's
achievement and describe to the servants their experiences with Zoltan Karpathy. Eliza
fails to see theire excitement. She
worries about the future. |


|
Just You Wait
(reprise) |
Eliza
decides to leave the household after an argument with Higgins. In all his
selfishness, he tramples hers feelings which she can no longer stand. |

|
Show Me |
In the street, Eliza meets Freddy who agrees to accompany her.
Trapped in a world of words, Eliza describes her need for Freddy's affections.
"Don't talk of stars burning above - if you're in love show me!" |


|
Wouldn't it be
Loverly (reprise) |
Alone
at Covent Garden, Eliza appraoches the cockneys who fail to recognise her. She
realises that being a lady isn't what she truly wants and to herself she dreams of a world
of acceptance and love. |

|
Get Me to the
Church on Time |
Eliza
spots her father outside the pub and he tells her of his pending marriage to her step
mother. Wishing him luck, she leaves him to celebrate his last hours as a bachelor. |


|
A Hymn to Him |
After
discovering Eliza's sudden dissapearance, Higgins decides to search for her and Pickering
phones the police. Once again, Higgins ponders the female brain and speaks of his
confusion. |


|
Without You |
Higgins
finds Eliza at his mother's house. Alone, the two speak their minds and Eliza
explains her intentions to marry Freddy. Much to Higgin's disgust,
she refuses to return to his home and walks out leaving him confused and heartbroken. |


|
I've Grown Accustomed to her Face |
On
the way home, Higgins remembers his experiences with Eliza, trying deep
down to get over her.He finds this hard though knowing he will miss her
"idiotic notions".She "almost makes the day begin".
In his solitude, Higgins switches on his gramaphone to listen to the
crooning cockney voice of Eliza in earlier days.His loneliness is
interrupted by the machine switching off and a raspy voice saying "I washed
me face an' 'ands before I come I did".
Eliza has returned. |

Based on the stage play
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, MY FAIR LADY opened on Broadway in 1956 and opened in London on Wednesday 30th April 1958 in the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, England and ran for 2717. The longest musical run in history.
Eliza Doolittle has been referred to as perhaps the greatest stage role and was
brought to the musical stage by Julie Andrews who performed alongside Rex Harrison who
played Professor Henry Higgins. The screen rights for the musical were finally
granted to Warner Brothers for a cost of $5.5 million, on top of the $17 million
budget. It
was to be the most expensive Warners film to date. Casting the film was to cause
controversy. Whilst Julie Andrews wished to reprise her role on screen, Jack Warner feared
that casting an unknown actress, only known on the English stage, wouldn't work.
Audrey Hepburn, eventually earning one and a quarter million dollars, was cast as
the female lead and was to play alongside Rex Harrison who would reprise his stage role.
(Warner really wanted Cary Grant though) Hepburn was having second thoughts about playing
Eliza. Her singing voice was unsuitable so the production team called upon Marni Nixon
"Dubber To the Stars" (Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I, Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE
STORY) to sing Eliza's songs. The end result was 2% of the singing being Hepburn. MY
FAIR LADY went on to win eight Academy Awards for Best Picture (1964), Best Actor (Rex
Harrison), Best Picture (George Cukor), Cinematography, Art/Set Direction, Music (Score),
Sound Music (Score), Costume Design. Audrey Hepburn wasn't even nominated. |
If you would
like to discuss My Fair Lady |
contact Kristian Fletcher here... |
kfrhps75@hotmail.com |
|
If you would
like to discuss the website |
or to suggest
another Movie Musical, |
contact Glenn
Whelan here... |
glenn whelan
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