It's finally here! The first segment of Musical Mondays!
And we're so glad that you're here to join us.
We figured that for our first segment ever, we would just jump right in with one of our favorites,
so without further ado...
My Fair Lady
1964
Starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Stanley Holloway, and Gladys Cooper
In 1964, yet another film adaptation of the famous play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw was released. Though under the different name of My Fair Lady, it tells the same story with the same beloved characters.
Set in the early 1900s, My Fair Lady is about a young Englishwoman who struggles with her social status since she is poor and has a Cockney accent. One evening, a man by the name of Professor Henry Higgins (Harrison), a teacher in diction and elocution who possesses a very short temper, is accompanied by a friend named Colonel Hugh Pickering (Hyde-White), who is also a phonetics expert. The two of them are standing out in the open, discussing their similar interests when Professor Higgins voices his opinion that the only thing that truly determines one's place within society is the way they speak. Colonel Pickering, disbelieving, is assured by Professor Higgins that he could take any common girl off the street and give her lessons so that in time she could be passed off as "a duchess at an embassy ball." Enter Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn). To prove that he is not joking, Professor Higgins singles out Eliza who has a particularly bad Cockney accent. When he tells her what he and the Colonel are discussing, she also thinks he is mad. Plus she is too proud to accept his help, which suits Professor Higgins just fine because he was just pointing her out as an example.
Yet, even after Eliza has parted ways with the two gentlemen, she cannot seem to get the idea out of her head...She is a respectable girl who just has an unfortunate accent. But if Professor Higgins was telling the truth, then she could go to him for lessons and finally get a proper position instead of just selling flowers on the street. She decides to approach Professor Higgins in the hopes of taking him up on his offer. She dresses in her shabby best and makes her way to his house. Eliza tells him that she is a respectable girl who wishes to have speaking lessons and is willing to pay for them. Professor Higgins attempts to brush her aside, not having the time or the patience for her and her pittance of one shilling per lesson, but she refuses to leave. Finally, Colonel Pickering, who is staying with Professor Higgins for the time being, accuses Professor Higgins of not wanting to teach the girl because he thinks he can't do it. So, he offers to pay for Eliza's lessons himself, and encourages Professor Higgins to take the offer. Higgins, insulted that the Colonel thinks he could not make good his boast, finally agrees.
From that time on, Eliza moves into Professor Higgins' house. Day and night, the relentless professor makes her slave away with exercises to improve her speech. She speaks into a recorder for hours pronouncing her vowels, tries to speak with marbles in her mouth in order to enunciate, spends her evenings trying to say little ditties like, "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" to further help with her vowels, or "how KIND of you to let me come" to teach her inflection. She spends most of her days in tears because Professor Higgins is so harsh with her. All three of them--Eliza, Professor Higgins, and Colonel Pickering--are beginning to feel utterly hopeless about the whole idea one evening when finally, finally, Eliza understands. Everything just sort of clicks in her brain and she begins to speak properly.
Eliza keeps working and practicing, and therefore improving. Professor Higgins decides to take her for a "test run," so to speak, and tells her she is going to Ascot to see how she does in public with real members of the upper class. Colonel Pickering pulls out all the stops and makes sure she is dressed for the part. On the day of the event, it is obvious that she still needs to practice, yet she makes a favorable impression with everyone present until she gets caught up watching the race and shouts, "Come on, Dover! Move yer bloomin' arse!" Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering take her home to continue to work so that she will be ready for the embassy ball.
The evening of the ball comes and it is evident that Eliza has undergone a complete transformation. She is beautiful, with the manners of a genteel upper class woman, and a speaking voice to match. Higgins and Pickering take her to the ball and everyone there is intrigued by her. She is a big hit, and even dances with a prince from another country. Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering are relieved that she is doing so well. They have a slight moment of tension when she begins to dance with a foreign phonetics expert. However, once the expert says that he is sure that she must be a foreign dignitary of royal blood, Professor Higgins is over the moon. He is ecstatic and when they arrive back at the house late in the evening, he is in a celebratory mood. Eliza, however, is not. She is hurt and frustrated that all of the credit is going to Professor Higgins, while no one shows any appreciation for her or the hard work and effort she put into her lessons, nor her dedication to learn. In fact, Professor Higgins is just as harsh to her after her accomplishments as he was before. The two of them argue, and she walks out on him.
At first, Eliza returns to her home, but she realizes that with her new speaking voice, education and wardrobe, she does not belong there anymore. Not knowing where else to go, Eliza goes to the home of Henry's mother, whom she met at Ascot. Professor Higgins follows her there and the two have a confrontation that does not end well, as she walks out on him again. Professor Higgins returns home telling himself that it's of little to no importance because she's bound to come crawling back to him after all that he has done for her. But as he is faced with the silence of his big, empty house, he comes face-to-face with the realization that it is of great importance to him whether or not she comes back, because he actually cares for her. What if it wasn't an empty threat? What if she really never did come back and he never saw her again? Just then, Eliza surprises him by walking into his study.
"Eliza, you are to stay here for the next six months learning to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florist's shop. If you work hard and do as you're told, you shall sleep in a proper bedroom, have lots to eat, and money to buy chocolates and go for rides in taxis. But if you are naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen amongst the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months you will be taken to Buckingham Palace, in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the king finds out you are not a lady, you will be taken to the Tower of London where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptuous flower girls! But if you are not found out, you shall have a present of...ah...seven and six to start life with as a lady in a shop. If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you."
-Professor Henry Higgins
My Fair Lady is a wonderful, fun musical full of humor and a tiny hint of romance. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 8 including the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the Academy Award for Original Music Score. If you aren't really accustomed to watching a musical, then we think My Fair Lady would be a perfect starting point.
We will be posting musical tracks from the motion picture on our Facebook page later this evening:
You can watch the official trailer for My Fair Lady here:
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