Wednesday, March 25, 2009

On this Date "My Fair Lady"


On this date in 1976* “My Fair Lady” opened at St. James Theater in New York City and had 384 performances.

I didn’t see the play but did see the movie starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. I don’t remember much about it, but pretty much got the idea. It was about a professor of phonetics saying he take any wench out of the slums of London and turn her into a proper speaking lady with just a little training…. And I think there might have been a wager involved to make it more interesting… and probably their relationship developed into a romance, which even made it more interesting.

I only remember one line, which impressed me. Eliza Doolittle’s (Audrey Hepburn) father Alfred wanted some quick cash money for the professor to teach his daughter how to speak properly.

Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) said something like, “Good God man! Don’t you have any morals?”

And Alfred Doolittle said, “Morals? What’s that? – never mind! I can’t afford them!”

That is a complicated statement - just think about it.

*originally it first premiered on Broadway March 15, 1956, with Julie Andrews playing Eliza Doolittle.

1 comment:

Si's blog said...

It's more like "Morale, who can afford it" these days.

There must be a morals paraphrase to use about our beloved Congress but it is not coming to mind.