TV and Movies

[Oznell]

5:00 p.m. Eastern--  "My Fair Lady"  Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Mona Washbourne

The film version of the musical as famous for its superb production design and "visuals" (courtesy of legend Cecil Beaton) as much for that lilting, eminently "hummable"  Lerner-Loewe musical score.  The fanciful sets and highly stylized Edwardian costumes are a source of delight.

The "Pygmalian" story snags us all, and Audrey and Rex give it their own, quite original twist. True, her singing was dubbed, and that detracts, for me at least.  Rex invented his own funny talk/warble that somehow works, with his iconoclastic professor character.

I only wish they had let adorable Jeremy Brett, (who'd later become a brilliantly inventive, quirky "Sherlock Holmes" on PBS), who could actually sing in real life, do his own vocals on my favorite song in the whole caboodle-- the joyously romantic "On the Street Where You Live"... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I57BVLgtUvk

[Oznell]

"Are there lilac trees in the heart of town,

Can you hear a lark in any other part of town....."

Swoon!

[NickNack]

Thank you for posting this @Oznell .  I love that movie.  I remember my mother always thought they should have given the role to Julie Andrews.  She performed in My Fair Lady on Broadway and was excellent, and of course, has a beautiful singing voice.  I guess the people casting the movie didn't feel like she was well known enough for a movie at that time.  I'm not sure how long after that The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were made.

[Vivian]

I have seen My Fair Lady on Broadway six times, and have watched the movie at least twice that many times. The play and the musical are magnificent.

[just bee]

[kaydee50]

Having seen the movie more than once and on the stage more than once to me the "star" of My Fair Lady is the music.  Every song is relevant to the plot and characters, melodic, hummable, unforgetable.  A truly great musical by Lerner & Lowe who also did memorable music for Brigadoon and Camelot.    

[drizzellla]

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@NickNack wrote:

Thank you for posting this @Oznell .  I love that movie.  I remember my mother always thought they should have given the role to Julie Andrews.  She performed in My Fair Lady on Broadway and was excellent, and of course, has a beautiful singing voice.  I guess the people casting the movie didn't feel like she was well known enough for a movie at that time.  I'm not sure how long after that The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were made.

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Both movies were released December 1964.

My Mom felt the same way as your Mom. She was so disappointed Julie Andrews was not in My Fair Lady. My Dad and Mom had seen Julie Andrews on Broadway. And Mom was so impressed with Julie Andrews. She couldn't see anyone else in the role.

[Group 5 minus 1]

Not a well received film. SHould have been Julie Andrews. Wait,wasn't she in Mary Poppins?

[just bee]

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@NickNack wrote:

Thank you for posting this @Oznell .  I love that movie.  I remember my mother always thought they should have given the role to Julie Andrews.  She performed in My Fair Lady on Broadway and was excellent, and of course, has a beautiful singing voice.  I guess the people casting the movie didn't feel like she was well known enough for a movie at that time.  I'm not sure how long after that The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were made.

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@NickNack 

Both My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins were released in 1964; The Sound of Music came out in 1965.

[Oznell]

Yeah, gang, that was a bitter pill for Julie Andrews-- especially with her spectacular successes in the later films you mention.  I think I read that she did reconcile herself to the loss, and there was not any bad blood with Audrey...

Another interesting tidbit of casting is that at first they wanted Cary Grant for the "Henry Higgins" role.  He laughed at that-- he said, "The way I talk now, is the way Eliza talks in the beginning!"   In other words, he was acknowledging that his own accent and speech were far from "proper" (his English accent was a crazy melange, showing his own 'common' Bristol origins, and even some Cockney elements, like Eliza.)

One of the things I love about Cary Grant-- he knew who he was, and had the wit and self-deprecation to know when a role wasn't quite right for him!

@just bee, I can never get over those costumes-- just scrumptious!