My Fair Lady (film)

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My Fair Lady (film)
movie poster by Bill Gold original illustration by Bob Peak
Directed by	George Cukor
Produced by	Jack L. Warner
Written by	Alan Jay Lerner George Bernard Shaw
Starring	Audrey Hepburn Rex Harrison
Music by	Frederick Loewe (music) Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)
Cinematography	Harry Stradling Sr.
Editing by	William H. Ziegler
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	25 December 1964
Running time	171 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17,000,000
Gross revenue	$72,000,000

My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, My Fair Lady, based on the film adaptation of the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ending and the ballroom scene are from the 1938 film Pygmalion rather than Shaw's original stage play. The film was directed by George Cukor and stars Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.

The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 The ending 2 Production 2.1 Andrews vs. Hepburn 2.2 Order of musical numbers 2.3 Dubbing 2.4 Copyright issues 2.5 Art direction 3 Musical numbers 3.1 Act I 3.2 Act II 3.3 Soundtrack album as heard on the original LP 4 Awards and honors 4.1 Academy Awards - 1964 4.2 Golden Globe Awards 4.3 BAFTA Awards 4.4 Others 5 Restoration 6 Past animated remake 7 Possible remake 8 References 8.1 Notes 8.2 Bibliography 9 External links

[edit] Plot

In London, Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), an arrogant, irascible, misogynistic professor of phonetics, believes that it is the accent and tone of one's voice which determines a person's prospects in society. He boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), himself an expert in phonetics, that he can teach any woman to speak so "properly" that he could pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball, citing, as an example, a young flower seller called Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who has a strong Cockney accent.

Eliza later goes to Higgins seeking speech lessons. Her great ambition is to work in a flower shop, but her thick working-class accent makes her unsuitable for such a position. All she can afford to pay is a shilling per lesson, whereas Higgins is used to training wealthier members of society.^[1] Pickering, who is staying with Higgins, is intrigued by the idea and bets Higgins all the expenses that he will not be able to do it. Inspired by the challenge, Higgins accepts.

Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle (Stanley Holloway), a dustman, shows up three days later, ostensibly to protect his daughter's virtue, but in reality simply to extract some money from Higgins, and is bought off with £5. Higgins is impressed by the man's honesty, his natural gift for language, and especially his brazen lack of morals (Doolittle explains, "Can't afford 'em!"). Higgins sends Doolittle to make a speech for a wealthy American who is interested in morality.

Eliza goes through many forms of speech training, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth. At first, she makes no progress, but just as she, Higgins, and Pickering are about to give up, Eliza tries one more time and finally "gets it"; she instantly begins to speak with an impeccable upper class accent.

As a test, Higgins takes her to Ascot Racecourse, where she makes a good impression with her stilted, but genteel manners, only to shock everyone by a sudden and vulgar lapse into Cockney while encouraging a horse to win a race: "C'mon Dover, move your bloomin' arse!" Higgins, who dislikes the pretentiousness of the upper class, partly conceals a grin behind his hand.

The bet is won when Eliza successfully passes as a mysterious lady of patently noble rank at an embassy ball and even dances with a foreign prince. Also at the ball is Zoltan Karpathy (Theodore Bikel), a Hungarian phonetics expert also trained by Higgins. After a brief conversation with Eliza, he certifies that she is of royal blood. This makes Higgins' evening, since he has always looked upon Karpathy as a bounder and a crook.

After all the effort she has put in however, Eliza is given hardly any credit, all the praise going to Higgins. This, and his callous treatment towards her afterwards, especially his indifference to her future, causes her to walk out on him, leaving him mystified by her ingratitude.

Accompanied by Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett), a young man she met at Ascot and who has become enamoured of her, Eliza returns to her old stomping ground at Covent Garden, but finds that with her genteel manners, upper-class accent and lovely clothes, she no longer fits in. She meets Alfred, who was left a large fortune by the wealthy American Higgins had sent his name to, and is set to marry Eliza's step-mother (he feels that Higgins has ruined him, since he is now essentially more bound in life by morals and responsibility). Eventually, Eliza ends up visiting Higgins' mother who is incensed at her son's behaviour.

Higgins finds Eliza the next day and attempts to talk her into coming back to him. During a testy exchange, Higgins's ego gets the better of him and he explodes when Eliza announces that she is going to marry Freddy and become Karpathy's assistant (as well as his dislike of Karpathy, Higgins considers Freddy pathetic and not up to Eliza's new standards). Eliza is satisfied that she has had her "own back" and rejects him. Higgins has to admit that rather than being a "a millstone around my neck... now you're a tower of strength, a consort battleship. I like you this way." Eliza leaves, saying they will never meet again.

After an argument with his mother - in which he concludes that he does not need Eliza or anyone else in life - Higgins makes his way home, stubbornly predicting that Eliza will come crawling back. However, he comes to the horrified realization that he has "grown accustomed to her face". He is reduced to playing an old phonograph recording of her voice lessons. Then, to his great delight, Eliza suddenly returns.

[edit] The ending

In the ending of the original play Eliza makes it clear that she will marry Freddy. Shaw later wrote an essay^[2] in which he explained precisely why it was impossible for the story to end with Higgins and Eliza getting married, though they would continue to be close throughout their lives. Higgins himself does not appear to want to marry Eliza. Towards the end of the original play, he sees the future as "You and I and Pickering will be three old bachelors together instead of only two men and a silly girl."

This alternative ending, in which they are reconciled, comes from the 1938 film version of Pygmalion starring Leslie Howard.

[edit] Production

[edit] Andrews vs. Hepburn

Julie Andrews had been Harrison's stage partner, playing the part of Eliza on Broadway, but, despite lobbying from screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner, Jack Warner of Warner Brothers insisted on having Audrey Hepburn for the film version since she was a box office star while Andrews was an untested screen presence. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly fought long and hard for the role as well.

Andrews' subsequent Academy Award for Mary Poppins — and the lack of a nomination for Hepburn (due to her being dubbed by Marni Nixon) — was seen by many as vindication for Julie Andrews, though both actresses denied that there was ever any animosity between them.

Three years later, when Warner Bros. offered Andrews the role of Guinevere in the film adaptation of the Lerner and Lowe musical Camelot (which she also originated to great acclaim on Broadway), Andrews asked for $7 million, effectively declining the offer. Vanessa Redgrave took the role, although she was quoted as saying that, had Julie Andrews wanted to play the role, she certainly would have.

[edit] Order of musical numbers

The order of the songs in the show was followed faithfully, except for With A Little Bit of Luck. The song is listed as being the third musical number in the play; in the film it is the fourth. Onstage, the song is split into two parts sung in two different scenes. Part of the song is sung by Doolittle and his cronies just after Eliza gives him part of her earnings, immediately before she makes the decision to go to Higgins's house to ask for speech lessons. The second half of the song is sung by Doolittle just after he discovers that Eliza is now living with Higgins. In the film, the entire song is sung in one scene that takes place just after Higgins has sung I'm An Ordinary Man.

The instrumental Busker Sequence, which opens the play immediately after the Overture, is the only musical number from the play omitted in the film version.

[edit] Dubbing

Hepburn's singing was judged inadequate, and she was dubbed by Marni Nixon.^[3] Some of Hepburn's original vocal performances for the film were released in the 1990s, affording audiences an opportunity to judge whether the dubbing was necessary. Less well known is the dubbing of Jeremy Brett's songs (as Freddy) by Bill Shirley.^[4]

Rex Harrison declined to pre-record his musical numbers for the film, explaining that he had never talked his way through the songs the same way twice and thus couldn't convincingly lip-sync to a playback during filming (as musical stars had been doing in Hollywood since the dawn of talking pictures). In order to permit Harrison to sing his songs live during filming, the Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, under the direction of George Groves, implanted a wireless microphone in Harrison's neckties, marking the first time in film history that one was used to record sound during filming. André Previn then conducted the final version of the music to the voice recording. The sound department earned an Academy Award for its efforts.

[edit] Copyright issues

The head of CBS put up the money for the original Broadway production in exchange for the rights to the cast album (through Columbia Records). When Warner bought the film rights in February 1962 for the then-unprecedented sum of $5 million, it was agreed that the rights to the film would revert to CBS seven years after its release.

The first video release was by MGM/CBS Home Video in 1981, and was re-released by CBS/Fox Video in 1984, 1986, 1991, and 1994.

Warner owned the film's original copyright, but it was renewed by CBS due to the 1972 rights reversion. Currently, Warner owns the DVD rights to the film (under license from CBS), while CBS Television Distribution owns the television rights. This makes My Fair Lady the only theatrical film whose ancillary rights are owned by CBS that is not distributed by CBS Home Entertainment.

A VHS release by Paramount Pictures in 2001 is currently out of print.

[edit] Art direction

The art direction was by Cecil Beaton, who won an Oscar. Beaton's inspiration for the library in Henry Higgins' home, where much of the action takes place, was a room at the Château de Groussay, Montfort-l'Amaury, in France, which had been decorated opulently by its owner Carlos de Beistegui.

[edit] Musical numbers

[edit] Act I

• "Overture"
• "Why Can't the English?"
• "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"
• "An Ordinary Man"
• "With a Little Bit of Luck"
• "Just You Wait"
• "Servants Chorus"
• "The Rain in Spain"
• "I Could Have Danced All Night"
• "Ascot Gavotte"
• "Ascot Gavotte (Reprise)"
• "On the Street Where You Live"
• "Intermission"

[edit] Act II

• "Transylvanian March"
• "Embassy Waltz"
• "You Did It"
• "Just You Wait (Reprise)"
• "On The Street Where You Live" (reprise)
• "Show Me"
• "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" (reprise)
• "Get Me to the Church on Time"
• "A Hymn to Him"
• "Without You"
• "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"
• "Finale"
• "Exit Music"

[edit] Soundtrack album as heard on the original LP

1. "'Overture" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
2. "'Why Can't the English?" Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn and/or Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Wilfrid Hyde-White, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
3. "'Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
4. "'I'm Just an Ordinary Man" Rex Harrison, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
5. "'With a Little Bit of Luck" Stanley Holloway, Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
6. "'Just You Wait" Audrey Hepburn, Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
7. "'The Rain in Spain" Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Wilfrid Hyde-White, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
8. "'I Could Have Danced All Night" Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
9. "'Ascot Gavotte" Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
10. "'On the Street Where You Live" Bill Shirley (for Jeremy Brett), The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
11. "'You Did It" Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
12. "'Show Me" Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Bill Shirley (for Jeremy Brett), The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
13. "'Get Me to the Church on Time" Stanley Holloway, Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
14. "'A Hymn to Him" Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
15. "'Without You" Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Rex Harrison,The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn
16. "'I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" Rex Harrison, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn

'Previously Unreleased on LP, Included on the CD'

1. "'The Flower Market" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
2. "'Servants' Chorus" Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
3. "'Ascot Gavotte (Reprise)" Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
4. "'Intermission" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
5. "'The Transylvanian March" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
6. "'The Embassy Waltz" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
7. "'Just You Wait (Reprise)" Audrey Hepburn and/or Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
8. "'On the Street Where You Live (Reprise)" Bill Shirley (for Jeremy Brett), The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
9. "'The Flowermarket (containing the reprise of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?") Marni Nixon (for Audrey Hepburn), Ensemble, The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previouly unreleased
10. "'End Titles" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased
11. "'Exit Music" The Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, André Previn - previously unreleased

[edit] Awards and honors

Academy Awards record
1. Best Actor, Rex Harrison
2. Best Art Direction, Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton, George James Hopkins
3. Best Cinematography, Harry Stradling Sr.
4. Best Costume Design, Cecil Beaton
5. Best Director, George Cukor
6. Best Original Score, André Previn
7. Best Picture, Jack L. Warner
8. Best Sound, George Groves
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
2. Best Actor - Musical or Comedy, Rex Harrison
3. Best Director, George Cukor
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Film from any Source, George Cukor

[edit] Academy Awards - 1964

My Fair Lady won eight Oscars:^[5]

• Academy Award for Best Picture - Jack L. Warner
• Academy Award for Directing - George Cukor
• Academy Award for Best Actor - Rex Harrison
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Harry Stradling
• Academy Award for Sound - George R. Groves, Warner Brothers Studio
• Academy Award for Original Music Score - Andre Previn
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins
• Academy Award for Costume Design - Cecil Beaton

It was nominated for four other Oscars:

• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay - Alan Jay Lerner
• Academy Award for Film Editing - William Ziegler
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Holloway
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Gladys Cooper

[edit] Golden Globe Awards

My Fair Lady won three Golden Globes

• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
• Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture - George Cukor
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Rex Harrison

[edit] BAFTA Awards

• My Fair Lady won the BAFTA Award for Best Film from any source.

[edit] Others

American Film Institute recognition

• 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #91
• 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #12
• 2004 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
  • "I Could Have Danced All Night" #17
• 2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #8

[edit] Restoration

By the 1990s, the original film elements had fallen into disrepair from heavy printing and there was fear of total deterioration. When CBS discovered this after two controversial widescreen laserdiscs that won "Worst Laserdisc of the Year" two years running, even after an attempt to improve the master, film restorers Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox (whose home video division previously held the rights to the CBS library including My Fair Lady), were brought in to save the film. They succeeded in preserving the film's image quality for future generations. A 30th anniversary theatrical re-issue in 1994 by Fox (with new 70mm prints struck) reinforced the film's popularity.

[edit] Past animated remake

In 1995 Fox executives gave animation directors/producers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, then newly appointed as the creative heads of Fox Animation Studios, the choice between creating an animated re-make of either My Fair Lady or the 1956 Fox film Anastasia. Bluth and Goldman chose to make the animated film Anastasia, which became the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film in 1997.

[edit] Possible remake

In early June 2008 it was reported that a remake of My Fair Lady is being planned, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Keira Knightley^[6] as Eliza Doolittle, for release in 2009 or 2010.^[7] It would be produced by Duncan Kenworthy (Love Actually) and co-developed by Columbia Pictures and CBS Films. Emma Thompson was reported to be set to write the script.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

• Lees, Gene (2005). The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe. Publisher: Bison Books ISBN 080328040
• Green, Benny, Editor (1987). A Hymn to Him : The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0879101091
• Lerner, Alan Jay (1985). The Street Where I Live. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306806029

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: My Fair Lady (film)

• Official site
• My Fair Lady at the Internet Movie Database
• My Fair Lady at the TCM Movie Database
• My Fair Lady at Allmovie
• My Fair Lady at Box Office Mojo
• Complete list of actors who were considered for roles
• The Socio-Economic Development of Southern California as Testified by the Extras in 'My Fair Lady' (PostModern Joan)

Awards
Preceded by Tom Jones	Academy Award for Best Picture 1964	Succeeded by The Sound of Music
Preceded by Dr Strangelove	BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source 1965	Succeeded by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Picture West Side Story (1961) · Lawrence of Arabia (1962) · Tom Jones (1963) · My Fair Lady (1964) · The Sound of Music (1965) · A Man for All Seasons (1966) · In the Heat of the Night (1967) · Oliver! (1968) · Midnight Cowboy (1969) · Patton (1970) · The French Connection (1971) · The Godfather (1972) · The Sting (1973) · The Godfather Part II (1974) · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · Rocky (1976) · Annie Hall (1977) · The Deer Hunter (1978) · Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) · Ordinary People (1980) Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy West Side Story/A Majority of One (1961) · The Music Man/That Touch of Mink (1962) · Tom Jones (1963) · My Fair Lady (1964) · The Sound of Music (1965) · The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) · The Graduate (1967) · Oliver! (1968) · The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) · MASH (1970) · Fiddler on the Roof (1971) · Cabaret (1972) · American Graffiti (1973) · The Longest Yard (1974) · The Sunshine Boys (1975) · A Star Is Born (1976) · The Goodbye Girl (1977) · Heaven Can Wait (1978) · Breaking Away (1979) · Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) Complete List · (1951–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Films directed by George Cukor Grumpy (1930) · The Virtuous Sin (1930) · The Royal Family of Broadway (1930) · Tarnished Lady (1931) · Girls About Town (1931) · A Bill of Divorcement (1932) · Rockabye (1932) · What Price Hollywood? (1932) · Dinner at Eight (1933) · Our Betters (1933) · Little Women (1933) · David Copperfield (1935) · No More Ladies (1935) · Sylvia Scarlett (1935) · Camille (1936) · Romeo and Juliet (1936) · Holiday (1938) · Zaza (1939) · The Women (1939) · The Philadelphia Story (1940) · Susan and God (1940) · Two-Faced Woman (1941) · A Woman's Face (1941) · Her Cardboard Lover (1942) · Keeper of the Flame (1942) · Gaslight (1944) · Winged Victory (1944) · A Double Life (1947) · Edward, My Son (1949) · Adam's Rib (1949) · Born Yesterday (1950) · A Life of Her Own (1950) · The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) · The Marrying Kind (1952) · Pat and Mike (1952) · The Actress (1953) · A Star Is Born (1954) · It Should Happen to You (1954) · Bhowani Junction (1956) · Les Girls (1957) · Wild Is the Wind (1957) · Heller in Pink Tights (1960) · Let's Make Love (1960) · The Chapman Report (1962) · My Fair Lady (1964) · Justine (1969) · Travels with My Aunt (1972) · The Blue Bird (1976) · The Corn is Green (1979) · Rich and Famous (1981)