Maybe This Is Where My Passion For Pink Originated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     Back in 1964, before "The Sound Of Music" shattered all box-office records, the most important film property of the day up till then, and as far back as 1956, was the musical "My Fair Lady."  It was, to us Baby Boomer children, what "Gone With The Wind" must have been to our parents.  Not only that, it became a cottage industry, with a Soundtrack Album-- biggest selling of its day, I believe--Colorforms sets, board games, coloring books, and the like.  Children of 1964 were not aware then, but I do realize now, how subtly and skillfully they were being molded to appreciate elegance, sophistication, language, and style.  Unlike today's Millennials who would never tolerate this film, but, instead, go ga-ga over a piece of crap like "La La Land!!!!!!!"

                                    I hadn't seen this film on the screen for about twenty years, so when the opportunity came, I grabbed it.  My David had never seen it on the screen.  How could I allow such cultural deprivation???????????

                                    Girls, I am telling you, from the moment the first note of the Overture sounded, and those floral images appeared on the screen, tears began cascading down my face, and I went through the clouds, not returning to Earth, until the film was over.  The whole thing is a stunning visual and musical collage, knit seamlessly by the talents of George Cukor, Cecil Beaton, and the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe.  I just gasped at the stunning costume display of the patrons exiting the opera house in Covent Garden--my God, the hats!!--as well as Ascot, where one of Audrey's two most exquisite outfits is first seen!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Doesn't this sight  just take one's breath away???????????

                                    "My Fair Lady" is one of the most perfectly structured musicals ever created.  For once, the score was tampered with, or changed, and while there is dubbing, it goes virtually unnoticed.  Except for Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway, recreating the roles they originated on Broadway, and now own forever, no one else, I think, does their own singing.  Including Jeremy Brett,  as Freddy, whose "On The Street Where You Love" is an indisputably classic moment!!!!!!

  Now, about Audrey Hepburn.  When the film was being put together, there was controversy over her being cast.  The Original Cast Album had become something of a national treasure by then, so even people who had never seen the show on stage, knew Julie Andrews' voice, and thought she should have been cast.  But Jack L. Warner dug in his heels, saying the film needed at least one name in the cast to draw audiences.  This was when Cary Grant, who was being considered for the role of Henry Higgins, told Jack L. Warner, to his face, that if Rex Harrison was not given the part, he would refuse to see the picture.  Which told Warner how important casting was to this film, and that he damn well better get it right.

                                         Which he did, even with Audrey.  Marni Nixon, of renown, fills in for her here on the vocals, though one can hear a little of Audrey in "Just You Wait," and can tell when she segues into Marni.   But her acting is exquisite.  No one, and I mean no one, could have worn the Cecil Beaton clothes as captivatingly as Audrey.  Beaton had a dream assignment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          When the music starts, the camera moves, and Eliza appears at the top of the stairs, dressed in the ball gown, I burst into tears, and there were gasps from the audience.  There is no more breathtaking moment in this film, but here, and I think all burgeoning gay children should see this film, to learn, as my generation did, about style, color, elegance, and language. More than to be found in "La La Land."

                                            There are any number of stunning moments--Eliza gliding down the wheelbarrow on the high notes of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," the entire "Ascot Gavotte,"  the return to Covent Garden, where Audrey delivers the famous line, "No, Freddy....I'm all finished here," with just the right note of truth and regret.  Audrey enacts this character superbly, from start to finish.  If you want Julie, darlings, by all means put the cast album on at home, and give it a listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               The film version of "My Fair Lady," after 53 years, is as loverly as work of art as ever.  I keep saying there are certain films that need to be seen on screen.  This is certainly one of them.

                                  Here is the ball gown!  What perfection!  Not to mention Gladys Cooper, Mona Washbourne, and Wilfred-Hyde White, the definitive Colonel Pickering!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Who could go to bed, after watching "My Fair Lady?"  As one of the songs says, it could have gone on "all night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                    You understand, dears?  It's all so grand, dears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!