My Fair Lady v Pygmalion

[hedgehog]

When I was a kid, we all thought My Fair Lady was the epitome of taste, and couldn't understand George Bernard Shaw's take at all. After seeing a recent high school production, I have to cringe at the "Bless their dear hearts, isn't it good women have us to run the world?" attitude crowned by Eliza's return to Professor Higgens.

comments?

[dhol82]

1. GBS hated the ending of the play that was finally produced

He was very much of the opinion that Eliza should be a liberated woman.


Ending

Pygmalion was the most broadly appealing of all Shaw's plays. But popular audiences, looking for pleasant entertainment with big stars in a West End venue, wanted a "Happy ending" for the characters they liked so well, as did some critics.[8] During the 1914 run, to Shaw's exasperation but not to his surprise, Tree sought to sweeten Shaw's ending to please himself and his record houses.[9] Shaw returned for the 100th performance and watched Higgins, standing at the window, toss a bouquet down to Eliza. "My ending makes money; you ought to be grateful," protested Tree. "Your ending is damnable; you ought to be shot."[10][11] Shaw remained sufficiently irritated to add a postscript essay, "'What Happened Afterwards,"[12] to the 1916 print edition for inclusion with subsequent editions, in which he explained precisely why it was impossible for the story to end with Higgins and Eliza getting married.

He continued to protect the play's and Eliza's integrity by protecting the last scene. For at least some performances during the 1920 revival, Shaw adjusted the ending in a way that underscored the Shavian message. In an undated note to Mrs. Campbell he wrote,

When Eliza emancipates herself – when Galatea comes to life – she must not relapse. She must retain her pride and triumph to the end. When Higgins takes your arm on 'consort battleship' you must instantly throw him off with implacable pride; and this is the note until the final 'Buy them yourself.' He will go out on the balcony to watch your departure; come back triumphantly into the room; exclaim 'Galatea!' (meaning that the statue has come to life at last); and – curtain. Thus he gets the last word; and you get it too.[13]

(This ending is not included in any print version of the play.)

Shaw fought uphill against such a reversal of fortune for Eliza all the way to 1938. He sent the film's harried producer, Gabriel Pascal, a concluding sequence which he felt offered a fair compromise: a romantically-set farewell scene between Higgins and Eliza, then Freddy and Eliza happy in their greengrocery/flower shop. Only at the sneak preview did he learn that Pascal had shot the "I washed my face and hands" conclusion, to reassure audiences that Shaw's Galatea wouldn't really come to life, after all.[citation needed]

[hedgehog]

2. I read the Shaw version in high school and hated it - now I love it.

What changes from 1974 to 2015!

[dhol82]

3. I played Eliza in my high school production

In 1963. We did the romantic ending.

I would not have wanted to end up with Freddy in a flower shop. He was too much of an idiot.

Just remember that I loved the line, 'And so you are a motor bus: all bounce and go, and no consideration for anyone. But I can do without you: don't think I can't.'

Watched the 1938 movie with Wendy Hiller and thought she was playing it too needy.