My Fair Lady

As great as "My Fair Lady" is, the film that is and the film that could have been are two vastly different things, and as was often the case with Old Hollywood films, the behind-the-scenes stuff is virtually as entertaining and dramatic as the finished product. On paper the film adaptation of Lerner and Loewe's smash Broadway hit, freely borrowing from George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmallion" play, seemed like an absolute slam dunk. Hailed as one of the greatest stage musicals ever, on par with Florenz Ziegfeld's landmark production of "Showboat", "My Fair Lady" stood to become a huge commercial and critical hit for Warner Bros. in 1964. However, if there is one rule to keep in mind when considering Old Hollywood, it is that the moguls ruled like kings, barking orders and dictating policy, and Jack Warner was one such mogul who was never shy to incorporate his own ideas into even the most revered material. Thus the studio mandated casting choice for Prof. Henry Higgins became Cary Grant. Legend has it that Cary Grant told Jack Warner that not only would he not take the role, but if he did not cast Rex Harrison he would not see the picture, nor would he ever appear in another Warner Bros. again. It is unknown how much haggling it took for Jack Warner to relent on his dream casting of Cary Grant, but Rex Harrison ended up with the part he had performed over a thousand times on stage. The casting debacle was only half over at this point however.

Julie Andrews had been a 19 year old newcomer when she assumed the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway. Despite starring in the show for years alongside Harrison, Jack Warner was unconvinced she was worthy of co-starring in the film version. Warner had already compromised once with the casting of Harrison and he was not going to back down this time. He fought for Audrey Hepburn, who was a huge star, but also could not sing very well, which makes her casting rather....silly. Other choices considered were Shirley Jones (who at least could sing) and Elizabeth Taylor (who was also a huge star at the time). But Audrey Hepburn won out and poor Julie Andrews had to watch her signature role played by someone else. Another mogul, Walt Disney, in a very shrewd act, snatched up Julie Andrews from this whirlwind of publicity and put her in the title role of his big budget film, "Mary Poppins". Revenge was particuarly sweet the following spring when Julie Andrews won best actress for "Mary Poppins" and Audrey Hepburn was not even nominated. With the two leads in place and key stage members Stanley Holloway (called into service when another member of Jack Warner's dream cast, James Cagney, bowed out last minute) as Eliza's father, and Wilfred Hyde-White as Col. Pickering on board, Warner Bros. finally got cameras rolling with Hollywood veteran George Cukor behind the camera. Despite not using Julie Andrews, the end result is still "loverly".

The plot is very old and very familiar (perhaps because it is based on an ancient Greek myth), and has before and since been adapted and spun off many times, (does "She's All That" sound familiar?). Tyrannical linguistics professor Henry Higgins makes a bet with Colonel Pickering (shirt equally stuffed) that he can transform Eliza Doolitte, a "common flowergirl" into whatever he wants, in this case royalty! He's so arrogant and insufferable though that even as he slowly does transform Eliza from a Cockney waif into an elegant and regal young lady, he demands all the platitudes, completely ignoring the long hours and hard work Eliza is putting into it as well. There is a great scene where Higgins takes Eliza to Ascot's opening day as a "dress rehearsel" and everything goes well until Eliza yells out "Come on Dover! Move yer bloomin' arse!" But these outbursts of "common-ness" occur less and less and finally Higgins presents Eliza at a grand ball, even fooling his equally insufferable and overbearing pupil, Zoltan Karpathy, into thinking she's Hungarian royalty. Eliza, now fully transformed, leaves Higgins, who realizes he may in fact love her, or as he says "has grown accustomed to her face", only to return to him, after denying the advances of clueless society boy Freddy (in my favorite song, "Show Me"). The final frame has Eliza silently stepping back into Higgins' study and without even turning around, Higgins' saying "Eliza where the devil are my slippers?". While its true Jack Warner should have cast Julie Andrews, its virtually impossible to argue to with the film, and the Academy agreed, bestowing Best Picture, Director and Actor on the film. The one exception though, Best Actress, serves fittingly as a reminder of just how "practically perfect" the film could have been.