Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? This verbal class distinction by now should be antique. If you spoke as she did, sir, instead of the way you do, Why, you might be selling flowers, too!
— Henry Higgins, "Why Can't The English?"
While most people are more familiar with the 1964 Audrey Hepburn film from Warner Bros., My Fair Lady started life as a stage musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. It was a smash hit when it opened in 1956, and set new records for the longest run in Broadway musical history (a title now held by The Phantom of the Opera, which is still running).The musical follows the young Eliza Doolittle, an outspoken and hopeful flower girl in Edwardian England who takes elocution lessons from Professor Henry Higgins, who (as a result of a bet with the kindly Colonel Pickering) promises to turn her into "a lady." He then trains her, day and night, using some downright bizarre machinery and techniques (the marbles make sense, but some of the others...)When Higgins attempts to try Eliza out on Society by introducing her into his mother's box at Ascot, the transfigured flower girl also encounters young Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who, unaware of Eliza's true social standing, is instantly smitten — despite Eliza's humiliating lapse into vulgarity at the running of the horserace itself.The lessons finally culminate in the Embassy Ball, at which ambassadors, lords, and the Queen and Prince of Transylvania will be present. The ball, despite the presence of the venal language expert Zoltan Kaparthy, goes incredibly well; Eliza dances with the prince and many at the ball believe Kaparthy's identification of Eliza as a Hungarian princess(!).Then the relationship between Eliza and Higgins, which had been steadily improving, takes a huge blow when Higgins takes all the credit for Eliza's success. Eliza is understandably saddened and enraged and she leaves the house after an outburst that leaves Higgins angry and confused; the rest of the play involves them figuring out their relationship in their own way, though if it works out in the end is left to the viewers' interpretations.The film follows this plot almost exactly, and was very well received as well, winning 8 Academy Awards. The filming of the movie took place at the time of President Kennedy's assassination; actress Audrey Hepburn made a speech to the cast and crew on the day.
This work provides examples of:
Adaptation Decay: Not enough, really. One peculiarity about the film is how it uses the old stage directions, even the meta jokes that don't work in a movie setting. Instances of this include Higgins doing a short jig at the horse race — a Call Back to "I Could Have Danced All Night" — but without the knowing laughter of a live audience, he merely looks a like a lunatic. He also sets a teacup on his hat, a gesture which would be funny on-stage, but looks really odd in this context.
Adorkable: Freddy gets positively randy over Eliza's bad social graces.
Alliterative Name: Henry Higgins. Eliza, a Cockney girl, struggles with dropping H's and calls him 'Enry 'Iggins.
Blessed with Suck: Alfred's windfall is a double-edged sword, as he's now forced to enter into legal marriage with "Mrs." Dolittle.
Bowdlerization: The name of the oily language expert was changed from Nepomuck to Zoltan Kaparthy, because St. John Nepomuck (as Shaw was well aware) was a Catholic saint and patron of the confessional.
Break the Haughty: Mrs. Higgin's favorite sport with her son, and delights in Eliza putting him in his place in front of her.
British Accents: Received Pronunciation ("Queen's English") as enforced by Henry Higgins. A wide variety of other, more common ones, especially during the opening scenes.
Eliza: "Eeyyyyaaaoooowwww!!"
(...)
Higgins: "How many vowel sounds did you hear altogether?"
Pickering: "l believe l counted 24."
Higgins: "Wrong by 100. To be exact you heard 130."
Costume Porn: Eliza's gorgeous dresses after her transformation.
Curse Cut Short: While singing "Without You", Eliza nearly tells Higgins he can go to Hell — but replaces it with "Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire" (echoing Higgins' speech exercise from earlier).
Freddy of all people does it during his first song when he is just about to quote Eliza's Precision F-Strike in song when Mrs Pearce opens the door.
Dawson Casting: Audrey Hepburn was in her mid-thirties when she played the 21-year-old Eliza in the film adaptation.
The life of an apparently quite poor flower girl in those days probably would have aged the character of Eliza beyond her years; in this case, Dawson Casting may have been justified.
Furthermore, Audrey Hepburn always looked younger than she actually was.
Deconfirmed Bachelor: Henry Higgins embodies this trope, having said 'So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so' and so much more. The only hang up is that he can actually be considered deconfirmed by the end—though most people agree he had at least befriended and came to care about Eliza by the end—and since he is such an extreme case that he'd never even had a female friend before, by his own admission, this could still be enough of an about face to qualify him.
Disproportionate Retribution: “Just You Wait”, in which Eliza wishes death on Professor Higgins in return for his rudeness.
Dogged Nice Guy: Freddy, in what would be considered stalking by today's terms.
And although she may have studied with an expert dialectitian and grammarian, I can tell that she was born — Hungarian! ...Not only Hungarian, but of royal blood.
Epic Movie: Huge cast, lavish sets and costumes, long (nearly 3 hours), highly promoted, award bait? Yep, it was an epic movie.
Got Me Doing It: The voice exercises start getting to poor Pickering after awhile. "'Ave you troid the ploin cayke?"
Grief Song: "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" arguably, since it's a combination of grief and anger.
Hates Everyone Equally: Higgins' defense to Eliza's charge that he still treats her like rubbish. In point of fact, he treats everyone like that — and he's proud of it, too.
He-Man Woman Hater: Henry is very misogynistic, though he insists he's not. In fact, he's got a whole song dedicated to whining about how much he dislikes women ("An Ordinary Man"). The end of the play may have helped him get over it, but again, it's up to viewer interpretation.
Two whole songs — there's also "A Hymn to Him" (a.k.a. "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?").
Heterosexual Life Partners: Both Higgins and Pickering have that "confirmed bachelor" vibe thing going for them.
Higgins even uses that exact phrase, then shudders at the idea of marriage. He also has a hard time admitting Eliza "might" be attractive when he suggests she marry herself off (cue flamboyant flourish), laments that women aren't more like men, and while all this might have been intended as Belligerent Sexual Tension it's taken so far that the idea of a sexual/romantic relationship between him and Eliza becomes ... a stretch.
Higgins asks Pickering where one can find a Ladies' Dress Shop. Pickering replies so quickly, Higgins asks how he would know. Pickering clears his throat and says "Common knowledge" (despite having just arrived in London from years living in India).
If you insist, you can interpret Higgins' "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man" number as evidence.
Hypocritical Humor: As they prepare for the ball, Pickering downs a glass of port while cursing Higgins for his constant serenity. Before they leave, however, Higgins peeks over his shoulder and gulps some wine.
I Am Song: "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "An Ordinary Man".
I Meant to Do That: In the midst of being thoroughly castigated by Eliza, Higgins springs up from his chair and claims credit for her self-confidence. What a chode.
Lyrical Dissonance: "Ascot Gavotte," wherein upper-class gents and ladies sing about "a ripping, absolutely gripping moment" with all the enthusiasm of a funeral host.
Maybe Ever After: Eliza and Henry are reconciled at the end, but are they a romantic couple now, or what? The answer is only hinted.
May-December Romance: What may have happened between the 21-year-old Eliza and the much older Higgins, who is at least twice her age.
Missing Mom: Seeing as Eliza's father remarries, and his side comments about his old wife are along the lines of "You look just like her, Eliza" and "Just like her, you never give me money!" it can be safely assumed Eliza's mother is dead.
Nice Hat: The racetrack scene goes crazy with this. Every lady has a hat nicer than the previous one. Eliza's hat is just massive, including the loads of feathers on the side.
Honorable mention goes to Henry's teacup and saucer.
No Sympathy: The servants express more compassion for Higgins than his hapless student (Doesn't rest / Doesn't eat / Doesn't touch a crumb!) Cut to Higgins munching on cakes while Eliza is wasting away.
Also, while trying to practice with marbles in her mouth, Eliza accidentally swallows one, but Higgins simply replies "Doesn't matter, I've got more", and puts more into her mouth.
Non-Singing Voice: Marni Nixon did most of Audrey Hepburn's singing for the movie; this is at least partially responsible for the Award Snub mentioned above. And no, Marni Nixon's name appeared nowhere in the original credits.
However, when video of Hepburn's original vocal performances was released in the 1990's, many fans found Nixon's overdubbing to be completely unnecessary.
Also, Jeremy Brett as Freddy was dubbed by Bill Shirley (AKA Roger (singing) and Prince Philip).
Out of all of them, Brett was the one who could sing. Look him up on YouTube. But his singing voice was thought too mature for Freddy.
Rex Harrison couldn't actually sing either, but he developed a sort of recitative to compensate.
Nursery Rhyme: The title, of course, comes from "London Bridge is falling down", a snatch of whose melody is heard at the beginning of "Get Me To The Church On Time".
Obsession Song: "On the Street Where You Live". Considering that Freddy continues to wait outside for several days: possibly weeks — this song can get creepy for some viewers.
One really should consider that he has no other polite way of contacting her, due to Higgins. It's not as if he could just text her.
The text of the musical says that he arrives at the house after Ascot. Six weeks later is the Transylvanian Embassy Ball, and the day after that is the first time we see Freddy again. He's been on that street for SIX WEEKS.
Parental Abandonment: Eliza's father pushes this into borderline abuse levels as he not only leaves all of his children to fend for themselves, he takes their hard-earned money for himself to waste on alcohol. (And he brags about this, no less!)
The line immediately following his proud description of his parenting style? "You've got a good heart, Alfie..."
Pass Fail: The plot is driven by Higgin's bet that he can train a rough, low-class flower girl into passing as a member of the aristocracy.
Pet the Dog: After a full day of nonstop, grueling exercises, an exhausted Higgins finally offers Eliza a few soft words of encouragement. At this, her voice instantly transforms into an impeccable upper class accent.
Alfie gets one when he cajoles Eliza to be self-reliant, as "she's a lady now."
Pimped-Out Dress: See the photo; also, her gown for the Embassy ball.
Pink Product Ploy: Every DVD cover since 2004 has a pink background. (The 2004 cover actually uses a 1964 poster which was pink to begin with.)
Plank Gag: Happens during the "With A Little Bit Of Luck" song, since Alfie Doolittle is singing in what seems to be a construction area and there is inevitably someone who swings a plank around and someone else gets hit by it.
Princess for a Day: Well, for several months. Eliza's training is to help her pass as a "lady."
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Though it's hard to fathom Higgins giving rise to someone even less ethical than he. Zoltan uses his linguistics abilities "more to blackmail and swindle than teach."
She Cleans Up Nicely: See the image; when first introduced Eliza's very dirty and wearing torn-up, worn clothing. The exact words of the trope are used by her father on first seeing her as a 'lady'.
Shot at Dawn: Eliza gleefully fantasizes about this happening to Higgins, who is very casual about the whole business before keeling over.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Eliza and Henry's relationship...and if the play is to be believed, no doubt this would have carried on.
Smug Snake: Higgins throughout most of the musical.
Sophisticated as Hell: What happens when you combine Eliza's blue language with a posh accent.
Springtime for Hitler: Higgins sarcastically writing a letter of recommendation for Alfred Dolittle, calling him "one of the original moralists in England." An American philanthropist dies and bequeaths a fortune to Alfie.
Stealth Insult: Eliza gets Higgins with a few. Higgins isn't so good at being stealthy with insults, but doesn't understand why he has to be.
Which is about the best you can hope for from Higgins. "I've learned something from your idiotic notions."
Stranger in a Familiar Land: Fed up with her keeper, Eliza returns to the old neighborhood after her blossoming into a lady, but no one recognizes her.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Higgins and Pickering are too stuffed to finish the last cake tart. Not to worry, says Higgins; he knows somebody who loves these. He marches right past a famished Eliza to feed it to a parrot.
Training from Hell: Linguistics training from hell, although not as over-the-top as some examples.
Tsundere: Eliza is Type A, though this largely comes through from being around Higgins; when left with her Cockney friends, she's more Type B.
Wasted Song: Though it gets plenty of screentime, you've got to mention that "On The Street Where You Live" is just too catchy and pretty a song for a secondary Love Interest who Did Not Get the Girl, at least in the film.
Westminster Chimes: A modified version begins every iteration of "Poor Professor Higgins".
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