By Diane Forrest
Every year on the first Saturday
in May the run for the roses takes place in Kentucky. Im talking about the Kentucky Derby. While I know nothing about horses, or
horse racing, and I’m not fond of mint juleps, I love to see the wonderful hats
the ladies wear. Even though I don’t
have any hats, they really don't look good on me, I love them and always wish
that I had been born during the Victorian era where they were so popular. A gorgeous hat, some gloves and a lace
parasol is the ultimate in chic. I don't
think there has ever been a more perfect outfit worn to the races than the one
Eliza Doolittle wore in the movie My
Fair Lady. In fact all the women
were dressed to the 9's in black and white.
In 1912, one hundred years ago,
famed playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote a play entitled Pygmalion. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion was the
creator of a statue, which came to life and was a popular subject for Victorian
era English playwrights. His play was
about a Professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, makes a bet that he can train a
bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an
ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the
most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech.
After Mr. Shaw's death in the
1930’s, the rights were purchased by film producer Gabriel Pascal who wanted to
make it a musical. He teamed with
Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner who wrote the music and lyrics, and titled
it My Fair Lady. In 1956 the first
Broadway production was performed with Julie Andrews as Eliza, and Rex Harrison
as Professor Higgins. It was proclaimed
the best play ever, and is still regarded as such. In 1964 a movie was made with Audrey Hepburn
in the role as Eliza, and I can't imagine anyone else in that role.
Eliza is a young English cockney
speaking lady who sells flowers on the street.
It is her goal to learn how to speak and act refined so that she can
open a flower shop and sell flowers to the fine ladies of the town. She seeks instruction from Professor Henry
Higgins who not only teaches her diction, but also how to behave like an
aristocrat. Her transformation is
perfect and her goals are achieved.
In my opinion this is a
movie/play about anyone can achieve what ever they want if they set their mind
to it and work hard to get it. Today is
Eliza Doolittle Day. Why not celebrate
it by setting some goals for yourself, or just watch the movie. You can see the movie on You Tube, however it
is in 10 to 20 increments, so it may take a while to watch it all, but it is
worth it.
(All images from Google)
