Universitatea Aurel Vlaicu – Arad

Română – Engleză – Anul I

Limba Engleză – Fonetică
Hanganu Denisa

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

My Fair Lady - Movie

 Universitatea Aurel Vlaicu – Arad
Română – Engleză – Anul I
Limba Engleză – Fonetică
Hanganu Denisa

Clothes make the man what one wears is taken by others as an essential signal of status. The
proverb is recorded in English from the early 15th century, but an earlier saying in classical
Greek is, ‘the man is his clothing.’
Clothes Really Do Make the Man. ... "Our research indicates that wearing clothes exerts
influence through this symbolic meaning." While Mark Twain may have been on to
something when he said clothes make the man, enclothed cognition only seems to work if
you hold your threads in high esteem.
My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with book and lyrics
by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a
Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist,
so that she may pass as a lady. The original Broadway and London shows starred Rex
Harrison and Julie Andrews.
The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a notable critical and popular success. It set a
record for the longest run of any show on Broadway up to that time. It was followed by a hit
London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. My Fair Lady has
frequently been called "the perfect musical".
n Edwardian London, Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), a scholar of phonetics,
believes that the accent and tone of one's voice determines a person's prospects in society. In
Covent Garden one evening, he boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering
(Wilfrid Hyde-White), himself an expert in phonetics, that he could teach any person to speak
in a way that he could pass them off as a duke or duchess at an embassy ball. Higgins selects
as an example a young flower seller, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who has a strong
Cockney accent. Eliza's ambition is to work in a flower shop, but her thick accent makes her
unsuitable. Having come from India to meet Higgins, Pickering is invited to stay with the
professor. The following morning, Eliza shows up at Higgins' home, seeking lessons.
Pickering is intrigued and offers to cover all expenses if the experiment should be successful.
Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle (Stanley Holloway), a dustman, shows up three days later,
ostensibly to protect his daughter's virtue, but in reality simply to extract some money from
Higgins, and is bought off with £5. Higgins is impressed by the man's honesty, his natural gift
for language, and especially his brazen lack of morals. Higgins recommends Alfred to a
wealthy American who is interested in morality. Eliza goes through many forms of speech
training, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth, enduring Higgins' harsh approach to
teaching and his treatment of her personally. She makes little progress, but just as she,
Higgins, and Pickering are about to give up, Eliza finally "gets it"; she instantly begins to
speak with an impeccable upper class accent.
As a test, Higgins takes her to Ascot Racecourse, where she makes a good impression
initially, only to shock everyone by a sudden lapse into vulgar Cockney while cheering on a
horse. Higgins, who dislikes the pretentiousness of the upper class, partly conceals a grin
behind his hand. Eliza poses as a mysterious lady at an embassy ball and even dances with a
foreign prince. At the ball is Zoltan Karpathy (Theodore Bikel), a Hungarian phonetics expert
trained by Higgins. After a brief conversation with Eliza, he certifies that she is not only
Hungarian, but of royal blood, declaring her to be a Princess.
After all the effort she has put in, however, Eliza's actions aren't even acknowledged; all the
praise going to Higgins. This, and his callous treatment towards her afterwards, especially his
indifference to her future, causes her to throw Higgins' slippers at him, and to walk out on
him, leaving him mystified by her ingratitude. Accompanied by Freddy Eynsford-Hill
(Jeremy Brett), a young man she met at Ascot and who is charmed by her, Eliza returns to her
old life, but finds that she no longer fits in. She meets her father, who has been left a large

My Fair Lady - Movie

 Universitatea Aurel Vlaicu – Arad
Română – Engleză – Anul I
Limba Engleză – Fonetică
Hanganu Denisa
fortune by the wealthy American to whom Higgins had recommended him, and is resigned to
marrying Eliza's stepmother. Alfred feels that Higgins has ruined him, since he is now bound
by morals and responsibility. Eventually, Eliza ends up visiting Higgins' mother (Gladys
Cooper), who is enraged at her son's behaviour.
The next day, Higgins finds Eliza gone and searches for her, eventually finding her at his
mother's house. Higgins attempts to talk Eliza into coming back to him. He becomes angered
when Eliza announces that she is going to marry Freddy and become Karpathy's assistant. He
makes his way home, stubbornly predicting that she will come crawling back. However, he
comes to the realization that he has "grown accustomed to her face." Henry returns to his
study to lament his loneliness. As he listens to Eliza's recorded voice, she reappears in the
doorway behind him, turning off the recording and saying in her old Cockney accent, "I
washed my hands and face before I come I did." Higgins looks surprised then pleased before
asking for his slippers once more as Eliza smiles on behind him, leaving the audience to
decide what happens next.

My Fair Lady - Movie