REEL MEMORIES NO. 114

My Fair Lady

by

William V. Reynolds

If you think the idea of the make over is modern, you are sadly mistaken. Although it has become

popular in recent years on television and other locations, the idea goes back to the days of Greek

mythology. Pygmalion, the King of Cyprus, either hires a sculpture or does the work himself creating

an image of a beautiful woman. According to the stories she is supposed to be his idea of the perfect

female. After Pygmalion prays to Aphrodite, the statute comes to life.

This story has been retold a number of times including a tale by Shakespeare in A Winter’s Tale. About

1912 George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, retold the story in a stage play. The play was

produced a number of times in different places. Finally, producers began to make movies based on his

play. In 1938 Leslie Howard made a movie called Pygmalion based on Shaw’s stage play with

additional material by the playwright.

In 1956 the play was brought to the stage as a musical and eight years later Warner Brothers brought it

to the screen as the delightful My Fair Lady (1964). A number of actors had done the roles on

Broadway including Rex Harrison who would reprise his role as Henry Higgins in the movie.

Shaw’s version tells the story of a Cockney girl, Eliza (Audrey Hepburn), who meets Professor Henry

Higgins while selling flowers to people waiting for a taxi after attending the opera. When Eliza learns

that Higgins is taking down everything she says, she becomes terribly upset raising a row with him.

But later she visits him wanting him to teach her to speak like a lady so she can work in a flower shop

instead of selling flowers on the street.

Egged on by his new acquaintance, Col. Pickering (Alfred Hyde White), Higgins accepts the challenge

of turning Eliza into a lady by transforming her speech. The conflict between Higgins and Eliza is

delightfully done with musical interludes expressing each other’s feelings. Finally Eliza is tried out in

polite society where she makes a hit when she falls into her Cockney accent.

Higgins is triumphant when he succeeds in passing Eliza off as a Romanian countess at a royal ball.

But Eliza is crestfallen when she realizes that she no longer fits into her old society. Angry with

Higgins she makes plans to exclude him from her life. But the story ends with the suggestion that they

get together again.

The show contains many delightful songs–some of them performed by Alfred Doolittle (Stanley

Holloway), Eliza’s father. His two songs are among my favorites, With a Little Bit of Luck and Get Me

to the Church on Time.

Today we give a reel memories salute to the cast and crew of My Fair Lady.

William V. Reynolds is the author of “Life with Charlie” available at McCaysville Public Market and

Pat’s Country Kitchen in McCaysville; Parris Pharmacy, The Book Nook and Ingles in Blue Ridge;

Book Nook in Blairsville; and Phillips and Lloyd in Hayesville.