My Fair Lady (1964) - full transcript

Pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. His subject turns out to be the lovely Eliza Doolittle, who agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond -- one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor.

Splendid.
Sorry, sir, I've already got one there.
Over here, sir, over here.
Coming through.
Over here, sir.
Make way.
Freddy, oh, it's already very late.
Move it, darn it.
Freddy, go and find a cab.
Do you want me
to catch pneumonia?
Watch out, daffy.
He calls me a daffy.
Don't just stand there, Freddy.
Go and find a cab.
All right, I'll get it. I'll get it.
I'm getting wet.
I'm so sorry.
Look where you're going, dear.
Look where you're going.
I'm so sorry.
Two bunches of violets
trod in the mud.
A full day's wages.
Freddy.
Freddy, go and find a cab.
Yes, Mother.
Oh, he's your son, is he?
Well, if you'd done your duty by him
as a mother should,
you wouldn't let him spoil
a poor girl's flowers
and then run away without paying.
Oh, go about your business, my girl.
And you wouldn't go off
without paying either.
Two bunches of violets
trod in the mud.
Good heavens.
- Sir, is there any sign of it stopping?
- I'm afraid not.
- It's worse than before.
- Oh, dear.
If it's worse,
it's a sign it's nearly over.
Cheer up, captain.
Buy a flower off a poor girl.
I'm sorry, I haven't any change.
Oh, I can change half a crown.
Here, take this for tuppence.
I told you, I'm awfully sorry,
I haven't--
Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes.
Here's three ha'pence,
if that's any use to you.
Thank you, sir.
Here, you be careful.
Better give him a flower for it.
There is a bloke here
behind that pillar
taking down every blessed word
you're saying.
I ain't done nothing wrong
by speaking to the gentleman.
I've a right to sell flowers
if I keep off the curb.
I'm a respectable girl, so help me.
I never spoke to him except to ask him
to buy a flower off me.
- Don't start.
- What's all the noise?
There's a tec taking her down.
I'm making an honest living.
Who's doing all that shouting?
- Where is it coming from?
- Well...
Oh, sir, don't let him charge me.
They don't know what it means to me.
They'll take away me character
and drive me on the streets
for speaking to gentlemen.
There, there, there.
Who's hurting you, you silly girl?
What you take me for?
On my Bible oath,
I never spoke a word.
Shut up. Do I look like a policeman?
Then what did you take down
me words for?
How do I know
you took me down right?
You just show me
what you wrote about me.
Oh.
What's that?
That ain't proper writing.
- I can't read it.
- I can.
"I say, captain,
now buy a flower off a poor girl."
Oh, it's because
I called him "captain."
Oh, I meant no harm.
Sir, don't let him lay a charge
against me for a word like that.
I'll make no charge.
Really, sir, if you are a detective,
you needn't begin protecting me
against molestation
from young women until I ask you.
Anyone could tell the girl
meant no harm.
He ain't no tec.
He's a gentleman.
Look at his boots.
How are all your people
down at Selsey?
Who told you
my people come from Selsey?
Never mind. They do.
How do you come to be
up so far east?
You were born in Lisson Grove.
Oh, what harm is there my leaving
Lisson Grove?
It weren't fit for a pig to live in
and I had to pay 4 and 6 a week--
Live where you like,
but stop that noise.
Come, come, he can't touch you.
You've a right to live where you please.
- I'm a good girl, I am.
- Yes, yes, yes.
Where do I come from?
Hoxton.
Well, who said I didn't?
Blimey, you know everything, you do.
You, sir, do you think
you could find me a taxi?
I don't know whether you've noticed,
but it's stopped raining.
You can get a motor bus
to Hampton Court.
Well, that's where you live, isn't it?
What impertinence.
Hey, tell him where he comes from,
you wanna go fortune-telling.
Cheltenham,
Harrow,
Cambridge and, uh, India?
Quite right.
Blimey, he ain't a tec,
he's a blooming busybody.
If I may ask, sir, do you do this sort
of thing for a living at a music hall?
Well, I have thought of it.
Perhaps I will one day.
He's no gentleman.
He ain't, to interfere with a poor girl.
How do you do it, may I ask?
Simple phonetics.
The science of speech.
That's my profession.
Also my hobby.
Anyone can spot an Irishman
or a Yorkshireman by his brogue,
but I can place a man
within six miles.
I can place him
within two miles in London.
Sometimes within two streets.
Ought to be ashamed of himself,
unmanly coward.
Is there a living in that?
Oh, yes, quite a fat one.
Let him mind his own business
and leave a poor girl--
Woman! Cease this detestable
boohooing instantly
or else seek the shelter
of some other place of worship.
I have a right to be here if I like,
same as you.
Woman who utters such disgusting
and depressing noises
has no right to be anywhere.
No right to live.
Remember that you're a human being
with a soul
and the divine gift
of articulate speech.
That your native language
is the language of Shakespeare
and Milton and the Bible.
Don't sit there
crooning like a bilious pigeon.
Ow!
Look at her
A prisoner of the gutters
Condemned by every syllable
She utters
By right
She should be taken out and hung
For the cold-blooded murder
Of the English tongue
Ow!
Heavens! What a sound!
This is what the British population
Calls an elementary education.
Come, sir,
I think you picked a poor example.
Did I?
Hear them down in Soho Square
Dropping H's everywhere
Speaking English any way they like
Hey, you, sir, did you go to school?
What do you take me for, a fool?
Well, no one taught him "take"
Instead of "tike"
Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse
Hear a Cornishman converse
I'd rather hear a choir singing flat
Chickens, cackling in a barn
Just like this one
Garn.
"Garn."
I ask you, sir,
what sort of word is that?
It's "ow" and "garn"
That keep her in her place
Not her wretched clothes
And dirty face
Why can't the English
Teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction
By now, should be antique
If you spoke as she does, sir
Instead of the way you do
Why, you might be selling flowers too
I beg your pardon.
An Englishman's way of speaking
Absolutely classifies him
The moment he talks
He makes some other Englishman
Despise him
One common language
I'm afraid we'll never get
Oh, why can't the English learn to
Set a good example to people
Whose English is painful to your ears
The Scotch and the Irish
Leave you close to tears
There even are places
Where English completely disappears
Why, in America
They haven't used it for years
Why can't the English
Teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian
The Greeks are taught their Greek
In France every Frenchman knows
His language from A to Z
The French don't care
what they do actually,
as long as they pronounce it properly.
Arabians learn Arabian
With the speed of summer lightning
The Hebrews learn it backwards
Which is absolutely frightening
Use proper English
You're regarded as a freak
Oh, why can't the English...
Why can't the English
Learn to speak?
Thank you.
You see this creature
with her curbstone English?
The English that'll keep her
in the gutter till the end of her days?
Well, sir, in six months,
I could pass her off
as a duchess at an Embassy Ball.
I could even get her a job
as a lady's maid or a shop assistant,
which requires better English.
Here, what's that you say?
Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf.
You disgrace to the noble architecture
of these columns.
You incarnate insult
to the English language,
I could pass you off
as the Queen of Sheba.
Oh, you don't believe that, captain.
Anything's possible.
I myself am a student
of Indian dialects.
Are you?
Do you know Colonel Pickering,
the author of Spoken Sanskrit?
I am Colonel Pickering.
Who are you?
I'm Henry Higgins,
author of Higgins Universal Alphabet.
I came from India to meet you.
I was going to India to meet you.
- Higgins.
- Pickering.
Higgins.
- Where are you staying?
At the Carlton.
No, you're not.
You're staying at 27A Wimpole Street.
You come with me.
We'll have a little jaw over supper.
- Right you are.
- Indian dialects always fascinated me.
Buy a flower, kind sir.
I'm short for me lodgings.
Liar.
You said you could change
half a crown.
You ought to be stuffed with nails,
you ought.
Here, take the whole blooming basket
for sixpence.
A reminder.
How many are there actually?
How many what?
Indian dialects.
No fewer than 147 distinct languages
are recorded as vernacular in India.
Ow.
Ah.
Shouldn't we stand up, gentlemen?
We've got a blooming heiress
in our midst.
Would you be looking
for a good butler, Eliza?
Well, you won't do.
It's rather dull in town
I think I'll take me to Paris
The missus wants to open up
The castle in Capri
Me doctor recommends
A quiet summer by the sea
Wouldn't it be loverly
Where you bound for this year, Eliza?
Biarritz?
All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of coal makin' lots of heat
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Oh, so loverly sittin'
Abso-bloomin'-lutely still
I would never budge till spring
Crept over the windowsill
Someone's head restin' on my knee
Warm and tender as he can be
Who takes good care of me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Loverly, loverly
Loverly, loverly
All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of coal makin' lots of heat
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Oh, so loverly sittin'
Abso-bloomin'-lutely still
I would never budge till spring
Crept over the windowsill
Someone's head restin' on my knee
Warm and tender as he can be
Who takes good care of me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Loverly
Loverly
Loverly
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Loverly
Loverly
Loverly
Wouldn't it be loverly?
Come on, Alfie, let's go home
now. This place is giving me the willies.
Home?
What do you want to go home for?
It's nearly 5:00.
My daughter, Eliza,
will be along soon.
She ought to be good
for a half a crown
for a father what loves her.
Loves her? That's a laugh.
You ain't been near her for months.
What's that got to do with it?
What's half a crown
after all I've give her?
When did you
ever give her anything?
Anything? I give her everything.
I give her the greatest gift
any human being can give to another.
Life.
I introduced her to this here planet,
I did, with all its wonders and marvels.
The sun that shines,
the moon that glows.
Hyde Park to walk through
on a fine spring night.
The whole ruddy city of London
to roam around in,
selling her blooming flowers.
I give her all that.
Then I disappears
and leaves her on her own to enjoy it.
Now, if that ain't worth half a crown
now and again,
I'll take my belt off
and give her what for.
You got a good heart, Alfie.
But you want that half a crown
out of Eliza,
you better have a good story
to go with it.
Leave that to me, my boy.
Good morning, George.
Not a brass farthing.
Good morning to you, Algernon.
Not a brass farthing.
Move on, please. Come on.
Get your moving ass out of here.
On with it.
Veggies. Get your veggies.
Here we are. Nice salad greens.
Lovely Spanish onion...
Five pounds...
This is it. Nice bunches of veggies.
- Take your pick.
- There she is.
Tomatoes over here.
Nice garden tomatoes.
Very tempting.
Why, Eliza, what a surprise.
Hop along, Charlie,
you're too old for me.
- Don't know your own daughter?
- How you gonna find her
- if you don't know what she looks like?
- I know her. Come on.
I'll find her.
Eliza, what a surprise.
Not a brass farthing.
Here, you come here, Eliza.
I ain't gonna take me
hard-earned wages
and let you pass them on
to a bloody pub keeper.
Eliza, you wouldn't have the heart
to send me home to your stepmother
without a drop of liquid protection,
now, would you?
Stepmother indeed.
Well, I'm willing to marry her.
It's me that suffers by it.
I'm a slave to that woman, Eliza.
Just because I ain't
her lawful husband.
Come on, slip your old dad
just half a crown to go home on.
Well, I had a bit of luck myself
last night.
Yeah?
So here.
But don't keep coming around
counting on half crowns from me.
Thank you, Eliza.
You're a noble daughter.
Beer, beer, glorious beer
Fill yourself right up
Do you know where she's been?
Yeah, I know. Wayne is always asking.
That one, Ginny.
Leave me alone.
You see this creature
with her curbstone English?
The English that will keep her
in the gutter till the end of her days?
In six months, I could pass her off
as a duchess at an Embassy Ball.
I could even get her a job
as a lady's maid or a shop assistant,
which requires better English.
You disgrace to the noble
architecture of these columns.
I could even get her a job
as a lady's maid or a shop assistant,
which requires better English.
A.
E. U. A...
Now, how many vowel sounds
do you think you heard altogether?
I believe I counted 24.
- Wrong by a hundred.
- What?
To be exact, you heard 130.
Now, listen to them one at a time.
Must I? I'm really quite done up
for one morning.
Your name, please.
Your name, miss.
My name is of no concern
to you whatsoever.
One moment, please.
Oh, London is getting
so dirty these days.
I'm Mrs. Pearce,
the housekeeper. Can I help you?
Oh, good morning, missus.
I'd like to see the professor, please.
Could you tell me what it's about?
- It's business of a personal nature.
- Oh.
One moment, please.
Mr. Higgins.
What is it, Mrs. Pearce?
There's a young woman
who wants to see you, sir.
A young woman?
What does she want?
She's quite a common girl, sir.
Very common indeed.
I should have sent her away,
only I thought perhaps you wanted her
to talk into your machine.
- Has she an interesting accent?
- Simply ghastly, Mr. Higgins.
Good. Let's have her in.
Show her in, Mrs. Pearce.
Very well, sir. It's for you to say.
This is rather a bit of luck.
I'll show you how I make records.
We'll set her talking and then I'll take
her down first in Bell's Visible Speech,
then in Broad Romic, and then
we'll get her on the phonograph
so that you can turn her on
whenever you want
with the written transcript
before you.
This is the young woman, sir.
Good morning, my good man.
Might I have the pleasure
of a word with you face-to-face?
Oh, no, no, no.
This is the girl I jotted down last night.
She's no use. I've got all the records
I want of the Lisson Grove lingo.
I'm not gonna waste
another cylinder on that.
Now, be off with you.
I don't want you.
Don't be so saucy.
You ain't heard what I come for yet.
Did you tell him I come in a taxi?
Nonsense, girl.
What do you think a gentleman like
Mr. Higgins cares what you came in?
Oh, we are proud.
Well, he ain't above giving lessons.
Not him.
I heard him say so.
Well, I ain't come here
to ask for any compliment,
and if my money's not good enough,
I can go elsewhere.
Good enough for what?
Good enough for you.
Now you know, don't you?
I'm come to have lessons, I am.
And to pay for them too.
Make no mistake.
Well...
And what do you expect me to say?
Well, if you was a gentleman,
you might ask me to sit down, I think.
Don't I tell you
I'm bringing you business?
Pickering, should we ask this baggage
to sit down
or shall we just throw her
out of the window?
Ow! I won't be called a baggage.
Not when I've offered to pay
like any lady.
What do you want, my girl?
I-- I want to be a lady in a flower shop
instead of selling at the corner
of Tottenham Court Road.
But they won't take me
unless I can talk more genteel.
He said he could teach me.
Well, here I am.
Ready to pay him,
not asking any favor.
And he treats me as if I was dirt.
I know what lessons cost as well
as you do, and I'm ready to pay.
How much?
Now you're talking.
I thought you'd come off it when you
saw a chance of getting back
a bit of what you chucked at me.
- You'd had a drop in, hadn't you, eh?
- Sit down.
If you're going to make
a compliment of it--
Sit down!
Sit down, girl. Do as you're told.
What's your name?
Eliza Doolittle.
Won't you sit down, Miss Doolittle?
Oh.
I don't mind if I do.
Now, how much do you propose
to pay me for these lessons?
Oh, I know what's right.
A lady friend of mine gets French
lessons for 18 pence an hour
from a real French gentleman.
Well, you wouldn't have the face
to ask me the same
for teaching me my own language
as you would for French.
So I won't give more than a shilling.
Take it or leave it.
Do you know, Pickering, if you think
of a shilling not as a simple shilling
but as a percentage
of this girl's income,
it works out as fully equivalent
of 60 or 70 pounds
from a millionaire.
By George, it's enormous.
It's the biggest offer I ever had.
Sixty pounds?
What are you talking about?
Where would I get 60 pounds?
I never offered you 60 pounds.
- Hold your tongue.
- But I ain't got 60 pounds.
Don't cry, you silly girl.
Sit down.
Nobody's going to touch your money.
Somebody's going to touch you
with a broomstick
if you don't stop sniveling.
Sit down!
Oh, anybody would think
you was my father.
If I decide to teach you,
I'll be worse than two fathers to you.
Here.
- What's this for?
- To wipe your eyes.
To wipe any part of your face
that feels moist.
And remember, that's your
handkerchief and that's your sleeve.
And don't confuse the one
with the other
if you want to become
a lady in a shop.
It's no use to talk to her like that,
Mr. Higgins.
She doesn't understand you.
Here, give the handkerchief to me.
He give it to me, not to you.
Higgins, I'm interested.
What about your boast that you
could pass her off as a duchess
at the Embassy Ball, eh?
I'll say you're the greatest teacher alive
if you can make that good.
I'll bet you all the expenses
of the experiment that you can't do it.
I'll even pay for the lessons.
Oh, you're real good.
Thank you, captain.
You know, it's almost irresistible.
She's so deliciously low.
So horribly dirty.
I ain't dirty.
I washed my face and hands
before I come, I did.
I'll take it.
I'll make a duchess
of this draggle-tailed guttersnipe.
We'll start today. Now. This moment.
Take her away and clean her.
Sandpaper if it won't come off
any other way.
- Is there a good fire in the kitchen?
- Yes, but--
Take all her clothes, burn them,
and order new ones.
Just wrap her in brown paper
till they come.
You're no gentleman.
You're not to talk of such things.
I'm a good girl, I am.
And I know what the likes of you are,
I do.
We want none of your
slum prudery here, young woman.
You've got to learn to behave
like a duchess.
Now take her away, Mrs. Pearce.
If she gives you any trouble,
wallop her.
I'll call the police, I will.
I've got no place to put her.
- Well, put her in the dustbin.
- Ow!
Come, Higgins, be reasonable.
You must be reasonable, Mr. Higgins,
really, you must.
You can't walk
over everybody like this.
I?
Walk over everybody?
My dear Mrs. Pearce,
my dear Pickering.
I had no intention
of walking over anybody.
I merely suggested
we should be kind to this poor girl.
I didn't express myself clearly
because I didn't wish to hurt
her delicacy.
Or yours.
But, sir, you can't take a girl up
like that
as if you were
picking up a pebble on the beach.
Why not?
Why not?
But you don't know
anything about her.
What about her parents?
She may be married.
Garn.
There.
As the girl very properly says, "Garn."
Who'd marry me?
By George, Eliza.
The streets will be strewn
with the bodies of men
shooting themselves for your sake
before I'm done with you.
Here. I'm going.
He's off his chump, he is.
- I don't want no barmies teaching me.
- Oh, mad, am I?
All right,
don't ring up and order those clothes.
- Throw her out.
- Stop, Mr. Higgins, I won't allow it.
Go home to your parents.
I ain't got no parents.
There you are.
She ain't got no parents.
What's all the fuss?
Nobody wants her.
She's no use to anybody but me.
Take her upstairs.
But what's to become of her?
Is she to be paid anything?
Oh, do be sensible, sir.
What would she do with money?
She'll have food and clothes.
She'll only drink
if you give her money.
Oh, you are a brute. It's a lie.
Nobody ever saw
the sign of liquor on me.
Oh, sir, you're a gentleman.
Don't let him speak to me like that.
Does it occur to you, Higgins,
the girl has some feelings?
Oh, no, I don't think so.
No feelings we need worry about.
Well, have you, Eliza?
I got my feelings
same as anyone else.
Mr. Higgins, I must know
on what terms the girl is to be here.
What's to become of her
when you've finished your teaching?
You must look ahead a little, sir.
What's to become of her
if we leave her in the gutter?
- Answer me that, Mrs. Pearce.
- That's her own business, not yours.
When I'm done, we'll throw her back,
then it will be her own business again.
That will be all right, won't it?
You've no feeling heart in you.
You don't care for nothing
but yourself.
I've had enough of this.
I'm going, I am.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself,
you ought.
Have some chocolates, Eliza.
How do I know
what might be in them?
I've heard of girls being drugged
by the likes of you.
Pledge of good faith.
I'll take one half
and you take the other.
You'll have boxes of them,
barrels of them every day.
You'll live on them, eh?
I wouldn't have ate it,
only I'm too ladylike
to take it out of my mouth.
Think of it, Eliza.
Think of chocolates
and taxis and gold and diamonds.
Ow! I don't want no gold
and no diamonds.
I'm a good girl, I am.
Higgins, I really must interfere.
Mrs. Pearce is quite right.
If this girl's gonna put herself
in your hands for six months
for an experiment in teaching,
she must understand thoroughly
what she's doing.
Mm.
Eliza, you are to stay here
for the next six months
learning how to speak beautifully,
like a lady in a florist shop.
If you're good
and do whatever you're told,
you shall sleep in a proper bedroom,
have lots to eat
and money to buy chocolates
and take rides in taxis.
But if you are naughty and idle,
you shall sleep in the back kitchen
amongst the black beetles
and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce
with a broomstick.
At the end of six months,
you shall be taken
to Buckingham Palace
in a carriage, beautifully dressed.
If the king finds out
that you're not a lady,
the police will take you
to the Tower of London
where your head will be cut off
as a warning
to other presumptuous flower girls.
But if you are not found out,
you shall have a present
of seven and six to start life with
as a lady in a shop.
If you refuse this offer,
you will be the most ungrateful,
wicked girl
and the angels will weep for you.
Now, are you satisfied, Pickering?
I don't understand
what you're talking about.
Oh, could I put it more plainly
or fairly, Mrs. Pearce?
Come with me, Eliza.
That's right, Mrs. Pearce.
Bundle her off to the bathroom.
You're a great bully, you are.
I won't stay here if I don't like it.
I won't let nobody wallop me.
Don't answer back, girl.
If I'd known what I was letting
myself in for, I wouldn't have come here.
I've always been a good girl,
I am, and I won't be put upon.
In six months--
In three if she has a good ear
and a quick tongue.
--I'll take her anywhere
and I'll pass her off as anything.
I'll make a queen
of that barbarous wretch.
I've never had a bath in my life.
Not what you'd call a proper one.
You know, you can't be a nice girl
inside if you're dirty outside.
I'll have to put you in here.
This will be your bedroom.
Oh, I couldn't sleep here, missus.
It's too good for the likes of me.
I should be afraid to touch anything.
I ain't a duchess yet, you know?
Oh, what's this?
This where you wash clothes?
This is where we wash
ourselves, Eliza.
And where I'm going to wash you.
You expect me to get into that
and wet myself all over?
Not me.
I shall catch my death.
Come along now.
Come along. Take your clothes off.
Come on, girl, do as you're told.
Take your clothes off.
- Here, come on, help me take these.
- Ow! No, I won't.
- Come out of that.
- No, I won't.
- Everyone.
- No!
I won't. Take your hands off me.
- No.
- Oh, dear.
No. Ow!
- No, I won't. Let go.
- Eliza, keep still.
- Take a bath.
- No!
No!
I'm a good girl, I am.
Well, they won't like the
smell of you if you don't have a bath.
It ain't right. It ain't decent.
Let go of my coat.
Take your hands off me.
Come here.
- No.
- I won't hurt you.
Let me go.
Take your hands off me.
I'm a good girl, I am.
Take your hands off me, you hear.
Eliza, I won't have it.
I wouldn't hurt you.
Higgins, forgive the bluntness,
but if I'm to be in this business,
I shall feel responsible for the girl.
I hope it's clearly understood
that no advantage
is to be taken of her position.
What, that thing?
Sacred, I assure you.
Come now, Higgins,
you know what I mean.
This is no trifling matter.
Are you a man of good character
where women are concerned?
Have you ever met a man
of good character
where women are concerned?
Yes, very frequently.
Well, I haven't.
I find the moment
I let a woman make friends with me,
she becomes jealous, exacting,
suspicious and a damned nuisance.
And I find the moment
that I make friends with a woman,
I become selfish and tyrannical.
So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor
and likely to remain so.
Well, after all, Pickering
I'm an ordinary man
Who desires nothing more
Than just an ordinary chance
To live exactly as he likes
And do precisely what he wants
An average man am I
Of no eccentric whim
Who likes to live his life
Free of strife
Doing whatever he thinks
Is best for him
Well, just an ordinary man
But let a woman in your life
And your serenity is through
She'll redecorate your home
From the cellar to the dome
Then go on to the enthralling fun
Of overhauling you
Let a woman in your life
And you're up against a wall
Make a plan and you will find
She has something else in mind
And so rather than do either
You do something else
That neither likes at all
You want to talk of Keats or Milton
She only wants to talk of love
You go to see a play or ballet
And spend it searching for her glove
Let a woman in your life
And you invite eternal strife
Let them buy their wedding bands
For those anxious little hands
I'd be equally as willing
For a dentist to be drilling
Than to ever let a woman in my life
I'm a very gentle man
Even-tempered and good-natured
Who you never hear complain
Who has the milk of human kindness
By the quart in every vein
A patient man am I
Down to my fingertips
The sort who never could
Ever would
Let an insulting remark escape his lips
A very gentle man
But let a woman in your life
And patience hasn't got a chance
She will beg you for advice
Your reply will be concise
And she'll listen very nicely
Then go out
And do precisely what she wants
You are a man of grace and polish
Who never spoke above a hush
Now all at once you're using language
That would make a sailor blush
Let a woman in your life
And you're plunging in a knife
Let the others of my sex
Tie the knot around their necks
I'd prefer a new edition
Of the Spanish Inquisition
Than to ever let a woman in my life
I'm a quiet-living man
Who prefers to spend the evenings
In the silence of his room
Who likes an atmosphere as restful
As an undiscovered tomb
A pensive man am I
Of philosophic joys
Who likes to meditate, contemplate
Free from humanity's mad
Inhuman noise
A quiet living man
But let a woman in your life
And your sabbatical is through
In a line that never ends
Come an army of her friends
Come to jabber and to chatter
And to tell her what the matter
Is with you
She'll have a booming
Boisterous family
Who will descend
On you en masse
She'll have a large Wagnerian mother
With a voice that shatters glass
Let a woman in your life
Let a woman in your life
I shall never let a woman in my life
Get out of here.
The two of you get out too.
Come on, Doolittle.
And remember,
drinks are to be paid for or not drunk.
Thanks for your hospitality, George.
Send the bill to Buckingham Palace.
Come on.
Well, Alfie, there's nothing else to do.
I guess it's back to work.
What?
Don't you dare mention
that word in my presence again.
Look at all these poor blighters
down here.
I used to do that sort of thing once,
just for exercise.
It's not worth it.
Takes up your whole day.
Oh, don't worry, boys.
We'll get out of this somehow.
How do you think
you're going to do that, Alfie?
How? Same as always.
Faith, hope and a little bit of luck.
The Lord above gave man
An arm of iron
So he could do his job
And never shirk
The Lord above gave man
An arm of iron but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
Someone else'll do
The blinkin' work
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
You'll never work
The Lord above made liquor
For temptation
To see if man could turn away
From sin
The Lord above made liquor
For temptation but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
When temptation comes
You'll give right in
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
You'll give right in
Oh, you can walk
The straight and narrow
But with a little bit of luck
You'll run amuck
The gentle sex
Was made for man to marry
To share his nest
And see his food is cooked
The gentle sex
Was made for man to marry but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
You can have it all
And not get hooked
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
You won't get hooked
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin' luck
They're always throwin'
Goodness at you
But with a little bit of luck
A man can duck
The Lord above made man
To help his neighbor
No matter where
On land, or sea, or foam
The Lord above made man
To help his neighbor but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
When he comes around
You won't be home
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
You won't be home
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin' luck
You make a good suffragette, Alfie.
Oh, get along with you.
Why, there's the lucky man now.
The Honorable Alfie Doolittle.
What are you doing in Eliza's house?
Her former residence.
You can buy your own drinks now,
Alfie Doolittle.
Fallen into a tub of butter, you have.
- What are you talking about?
- Your daughter, Eliza.
You're a lucky man, Alfie Doolittle.
Well, what about Eliza?
Oh! He don't know.
Her own father and he don't know.
Moved in with a swell, Eliza has.
Left here in a taxi all by herself,
smart as paint.
- And ain't been home for three days.
- Go on.
Then this morning,
I get a message from her.
She wants her things sent over.
To 27A Wimpole Street,
care of Professor Higgins.
- And what things does she want?
- What?
Her birdcage and her Chinese fan.
"But," she says,
"never mind about
sending any clothes."
I knew she had a career
in front of her.
Harry boy,
we're in for a booze-up.
The sun is shining
on Alfred P. Doolittle.
A man was made
To help support his children
Which is the right
And proper thing to do
A man was made
To help support his children but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
They'll go out
And start supporting you
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
They'll work for you
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin' luck
Oh, it's a crime
For man to go philanderin'
And fill his wife's poor heart
With grief and doubt
Oh, it's a crime
For a man to go philanderin' but
With a little bit of luck
With a little bit of luck
You can see
The bloodhound don't find out
With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of luck
She won't find out
- Charlie, over here.
- With a little bit
With a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin' luck
With a little bit of bloomin' luck
The mail, sir.
Pay the bills
and say no to the invitations.
A.
A.
A.
A.
A.
A!
You simply cannot go on
working the girl this way.
Making her say her alphabet
over and over
from sunup to sundown,
even during meals.
You'll exhaust yourself.
When will it stop?
When she does it properly,
of course.
Is that all, Mrs. Pearce?
There's another letter
from that American millionaire,
Ezra D. Wallingford.
He still wants you to lecture
for his Moral Reform League.
Yes, well, throw it away.
It's the third letter
he's written you, sir.
- You should at least answer it.
- All right.
Leave it on the desk, Mrs. Pearce.
I'll try and get to it.
If you please, sir,
there's a dustman downstairs,
Alfred P. Doolittle,
who wants to see you.
He says you have his daughter here.
I say.
Well, send the blackguard up.
He may not be a blackguard, Higgins.
Nonsense. Of course
he's a blackguard, Pickering.
Whether he is or not, I'm afraid
we'll have some trouble with him.
No, I think not.
Any trouble to be had,
he'll have it with me, not I with him.
Doolittle, sir.
Professor Higgins?
Here.
Where?
Oh, good morning, governor.
I come about
a very serious matter, governor.
Brought up in Hounslow.
Mother Welsh, I should think.
What is it you want, Doolittle?
I want my daughter,
that's what I want, you see?
Well, of course you do.
You're her father, aren't you?
I'm glad to see you have
a spark of family feeling left.
She's in there.
Yes, take her away at once.
What?
Take her away.
Do you think I am going
to keep your daughter for you?
Now, is this reasonable, governor?
Is it fairity to take advantage
of a man like that?
The girl belongs to me. You got her.
Where do I come in?
How dare you come here
and attempt to blackmail me.
You sent her here on purpose.
Now, don't take a man
up like that, governor.
The police shall take you up.
This is a plan, a plot
to extort money by threats.
I shall telephone the police.
Have I asked you
for a brass farthing?
I'll leave it to this gentleman here.
Have I said a word about money?
What else did you come for?
Well...
What would a bloke come for?
Be human, governor.
Alfred, you sent her here
on purpose.
So help me, governor, I never did.
Then how did you know
she was here?
I'd tell you, governor,
if you'd only let me get a word in.
I'm willing to tell you.
I'm wanting to tell you.
I'm waiting to tell you.
You know, Pickering,
this chap's got
a certain natural gift of rhetoric.
Observe the rhythm
of his native woodnotes wild.
"I'm willing to tell you.
I'm wanting to tell you.
I'm waiting to tell you."
That's the Welsh strain in him.
How did you know Eliza was here
if you didn't send her?
Well, she sent back for her luggage
and I got to hear about it.
She said she didn't want no clothes.
What was I to think from that,
governor?
I ask you, as a parent,
what was I to think?
So you came here to rescue her
from worse than death, eh?
Just so, governor, that's right.
Yes.
Mrs. Pearce.
Mrs. Pearce, Eliza's father
has come to take her away.
Give her to him, will you?
Now, wait a minute, governor,
wait a minute.
You and me is men of the world,
ain't we?
Oh, men of the world, are we?
- Yes, you better go, Mrs. Pearce.
- I think so indeed, sir.
Here, governor.
I've took a sort of a fancy
to you and--
If you want the girl, well, I ain't so set
on having her back home again,
but what I might be
open to is an arrangement.
All I ask is my rights as a father.
You're the last man alive
to expect me to let her go for nothing.
Oh, I can see you're one
of the straight sort, governor.
So, what's a 5-pound note to you?
And what's Eliza to me?
I think you ought to know, Doolittle,
that Mr. Higgins' intentions
are entirely honorable.
Of course they are, governor.
If I thought they wasn't, I'd ask 50.
Do you mean to say you'd sell
your daughter for 50 pounds?
Have you no morals, man?
No, no,
I can't afford them, governor.
Neither could you
if you was as poor as me.
Not that I mean any harm,
mind you.
But if Eliza is gonna have
a bit out of this,
why not me too, eh?
Why not?
Well, look at it my way.
What am I? I ask you, what am I?
I'm one of the undeserving poor,
that's what I am.
Now, think
what that means to a man.
It means he's up against
middle-class morality for all of time.
If there's anything going
and I puts in for a bit of it,
it's always the same story.
"You're undeserving
so you can't have it."
But my needs is as great
as the most deserving widows
that ever got money out
of six different charities in one week
for the death of the same husband.
I don't need less than
a deserving man, I need more.
I don't eat less hearty than he does.
And I drink, oh, a lot more.
I'm playing straight with you.
I ain't pretending to be deserving.
No, I'm undeserving.
And I mean to go on
being undeserving.
I like it, and that's the truth.
But will you take advantage
of a man's nature
to do him out of the price
of his own daughter,
what he's brought up, fed and clothed
by the sweat of his brow
till she's growed big enough
to be interesting
to you two gentlemen?
Well, is 5 pounds unreasonable?
I put it to you.
And I leave it to you.
You know, Pickering, if we took
this man in hand for three months,
he could choose
between a seat in the cabinet
and a popular pulpit in Wales.
We'd better give him a fiver.
He'll make bad use of it, I'm afraid.
Oh, not me, governor.
So help me, I won't.
Just one good spree
for myself and the missus.
Giving pleasure to ourselves
and employment to others.
And satisfaction to you to know
it ain't been thrown away.
You couldn't spend it better.
Oh, this is irresistible.
Let's give him 10.
No, the missus wouldn't have the heart
to spend 10, governor.
Ten pounds is a lot of money.
Makes a man feel prudent-like,
and then goodbye to happiness.
No, you give me what I ask, governor.
Not a penny less, not a penny more.
I rather draw the line at encouraging
this sort of immorality, Doolittle.
Why don't you marry
that missus of yours, eh?
After all, marriage isn't so frightening.
You married Eliza's mother.
Who told you that, governor?
Well, nobody told me.
I concluded, naturally.
If we listen to this man
for another minute,
we shall have no convictions left.
- Five pounds, I think you said.
- Thank you, governor, thank you.
Are you sure you won't have 10?
- No, no, perhaps another time.
- I won't, I won't, I won't.
I beg your pardon, miss.
I won't say those ruddy vowels
one more time.
Blimey, it's Eliza.
Well, I never thought
she'd clean up so good-looking.
She does me credit,
don't she, governor?
Here, what you doing here?
Now, now, you hold your tongue.
And don't you give these gentlemen
none of your lip.
If you have any trouble
with her, governor,
give her a few licks of the strap.
That's the way to improve her mind.
Well, good morning, gentlemen.
- Cheerio, Eliza.
- Mah!
There's a man for you.
A philosophical genius
of the first water.
Mrs. Pearce,
write to Mr. Ezra Wallingford
and tell him if he wants a lecturer
to get in touch
with Mr. Alfred P. Doolittle,
a common dustman, one of the most
original moralists in England.
Yes, sir.
Here, what did he come for?
Say your vowels.
I know my vowels.
I knew them before I come.
If you know them, say them.
A, E, I, O, U.
Stop.
A, E, I, O, U.
That's what said, A, E, I, O, U.
That's what I been saying
for three days
and I won't say them no more.
I know it's difficult, Miss Doolittle,
but try to understand.
There's no use explaining, Pickering.
As a military man, you know that.
Drilling is what she needs.
Now, leave her alone or she'll be
turning to you for sympathy.
Very well, if you insist, but have
a little patience with her, Higgins.
Of course.
Now say "A."
You ain't got no heart, you ain't.
- A.
- A.
- A.
- A.
- A.
- A.
Eliza.
I promise you, you'll say your vowels
correctly before this day is out
or there'll be no lunch, no dinner
and no chocolates.
Just you wait, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
You'll be sorry
But your tears will be too late
You'll be broke
And I'll have money
Will I help you?
Don't be funny
Just you wait, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
Just you wait, Henry Higgins,
Till you're sick
And you screams
To fetch a doctor double-quick
I'll be off a second later
And go straight to the theater
Ho, ho, ho, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
Ooh, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
Until we're swimmin' in the sea
Ooh, Henry Higgins
And you gets a cramp
A little ways from me
When you yell you're gonna drown
I'll get dressed and go to town
Ho, ho, ho, Henry Higgins
Ho, ho, ho, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
One day I'll be famous
I'll be proper and prim
Go to St. James so often
I will call it St. Jim
One evening the king will say:
"Oh, Liza, old thing
I want all of England
Your praises to sing"
Next week on the 20th of May
I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day
All the people will celebrate
The glory of you
And whatever you wish and want
I gladly will do
"Thanks a lot, king," says I
In a manner well-bred
"But all I want is Henry Higgins' head"
- Done
- Says the king with a stroke
Guard, run and bring in the bloke
Then they'll march you, Henry Higgins
To the wall
- And the king will tell me:
- Liza, sound the call
As they raise their rifles higher
I'll shout, "Ready, aim, fire"
Ho, ho, ho, Henry Higgins
Down you'll go, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
A.
A.
A.
A.
All right, Eliza, say it again.
"The rain
in Spain stays mainly in the plain."
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
Didn't I say that?
No, Eliza, you didn't "say" that.
You didn't even say that.
Every night before you get into bed,
where you used to say your prayers,
I want you to say, "The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain,"
50 times.
You'll get much further with the Lord
if you learn not to offend his ears.
Now for your H's.
Pickering, this is going to be ghastly.
Control yourself, Higgins.
Give the girl a chance.
Oh, well, I suppose you can't
expect her to get it right the first time.
Come here, Eliza, and watch closely.
Now.
You see that flame?
Every time you pronounce
the letter H correctly,
the flame will waver.
And every time you drop your H,
the flame will remain stationary.
That's how you'll know
if you've done it correctly.
In time, your ear will hear
the difference.
See it better in the mirror.
Now, listen carefully.
In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire,
hurricanes hardly ever happen.
Now, repeat that after me.
In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire
hurricanes hardly ever happen.
"In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire,
hurricanes hardly ever happen."
Oh, no, no, no.
Have you no ear at all?
- Should I do it over?
- No, please.
Start from the very beginning.
Just do this.
Go: Ha, ha, ha.
Ha, ha, ha.
Go on, go on, go on.
Ha, ha, ha.
Does the same thing hold true
in India, Pickering?
Is it truly a habit to them,
their dropping a letter like the letter H,
using it where it doesn't belong,
like "hever" instead of "ever"?
Why is it that Slavs,
when they learn English,
have a tendency to do it with G's?
- They say "linger" instead of "linger."
- Ha, ha, ha.
And then they turn right around
and say "singer" instead of "singer."
I've noticed the Slavs using it
where it isn't needed,
they learn English,
they have to do it with their G's.
The girl, Higgins.
Go on, go on, go on.
- Go on.
- Ha, ha, ha.
Poor Professor Higgins
Poor Professor Higgins
Night and day
He slaves away
Oh, poor Professor Higgins
All day long
On his feet
Up and down until he's numb
Doesn't rest
Doesn't eat
Doesn't touch a crumb
Again, Eliza.
How kind of you to let me come.
How kind of you to let me come.
No, kind of you. Kind of you.
Kind.
How kind of you to let me come.
- How kind of you to let me come.
- No, no.
Kind of you. Kind of you.
It's like "cup of tea," kind of you.
Cup of tea. Say "cup of tea."
- Cup of tea.
- No, no.
A cup of tea.
It's awfully good cake, this.
I wonder where Mrs. Pearce gets it.
Mm. First rate.
And those strawberry tarts
are delicious.
Did you try the plain cake?
Try it again.
- Did you try the--?
- Pickering!
Again, Eliza.
Cup of tea.
Oh, no.
Can't you hear the difference?
Look, put your tongue forward
until it squeezes on the top
of your lower teeth.
- And then say "cup."
- Cup.
- Then say "of."
- Of.
Then say, "cup, cup, cup, of, of, of."
- Cup, cup, cup, of, of, of.
- Cup, cup, cup, of, of, of.
Cup, cup-- Of, of--
By Jove, Higgins,
that was a glorious tea.
Why don't you finish
that last strawberry tart?
- I couldn't eat another thing.
- Oh, I couldn't touch it.
- Shame to waste it.
- Oh, it won't be wasted.
I know somebody who's immensely
fond of strawberry tarts.
Ow!
Poor Professor Higgins
Poor Professor Higgins
On he plods
Against all odds
Oh, poor Professor Higgins
Nine p.m.
Ten p.m.
On through midnight every night
One a.m.
Two a.m.
Three
Four.
Five.
Six marbles.
Now, I want you to read this
and I want you to enunciate every word
just as if the marbles
were not in your mouth.
With blackest moss the flower-pots
Were thickly crusted, one and all
Each word clear as a bell.
With blackest moss the flower-pots...
I can't. I can't.
I say, Higgins,
are those pebbles really necessary?
If they were necessary
for Demosthenes,
they are necessary
for Eliza Doolittle.
Go on, Eliza.
With blackest moss the flower-pots
Were thickly crusted, one and all
I can't understand a word,
not a word.
With blackest moss the flower-pots
Were thickly crusted, one and all
Higgins, perhaps that
poem is a little too difficult for the girl.
Why don't you try something simpler,
like "The Owl and the Pussycat?"
Oh, yes, that's a charming one.
Well, Pickering,
I can't hear a word the girl is saying.
What's the matter?
I swallowed one.
Oh, it doesn't matter, I got plenty more.
Open your mouth.
One, two.
Quit, Professor Higgins
Quit, Professor Higgins
Hear our plea
Or payday we will quit
Professor Higgins
"A" not "I"
"O" not "ow"
Pounding, pounding in our brain
"A" not "I"
"O" not "ow"
Don't say "rine," say "rain"
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
I can't. I'm so tired.
I'm so tired.
For God's sake, Higgins,
it must be 3:00 in the morning.
Do be reasonable.
I am always reasonable.
Eliza,
if I can go on
with a blistering headache, you can.
I got a headache too.
Oh, here.
I know your head aches.
I know you're tired.
I know your nerves are as raw
as meat in a butcher's window.
But think what you're trying
to accomplish.
Just think what you're dealing with.
The majesty and grandeur
of the English language,
it's the greatest possession we have.
The noblest thoughts that ever flowed
through the hearts of men
are contained
in its extraordinary, imaginative
and musical mixtures of sounds.
And that's what you've set yourself out
to conquer, Eliza.
And conquer it you will.
Now, try it again.
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
What was that?
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
Again.
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
I think she's got it.
I think she's got it.
The rain in Spain
Stays mainly in the plain
By George, she's got it
By George, she's got it
Now once again
Where does it rain?
On the plain
On the plain
And where's that soggy plain?
In Spain
In Spain
The rain in Spain
Stays mainly in the plain
Bravo!
The rain in Spain
Stays mainly in the plain
In Hartford, Hereford
And Hampshire
Hurricanes hardly happen
How kind of you to let me come
Now, once again
Where does it rain?
On the plain
On the plain
And where's that blasted plain?
In Spain
In Spain
The rain in Spain
Stays mainly in the plain
The rain in Spain
Stays mainly in the plain
Pickering. Pickering. Olé. Olé.
Olé!
Hey, Pickering.
Ho! Hey!
Olé!
Oh, dear.
Oh, dear.
We're making
fine progress, Pickering.
I think the time has come
to try her out.
- Are you feeling all right, Mr. Higgins?
- Yes, I'm feeling fine, Mrs. Pearce.
- How are you?
- Very well, sir, thank you.
Let's test her in public
and see how she fares.
Mr. Higgins, I was awakened
by a dreadful pounding.
Do you know
what it might have been?
Pounding?
I didn't hear any pounding.
- You do, Pickering?
- No.
You know, if this goes on,
Mrs. Pearce, you'd better see a doctor.
- I know. We'll take her to the races.
- The races?
- My mother's box at Ascot.
- You'll consult your mother first?
Oh, yes, of course.
No, I think I should better surprise her.
Now let's go to bed.
First thing in the morning,
we'll go out and we'll buy her a dress.
Now get on with your work, Eliza.
But, Mr. Higgins,
it's early in the morning.
What better time to work
than early in the morning?
- Where does one buy a lady's gown?
- Whitley's, of course.
- How do you know that?
- Common knowledge.
Let's not buy her
anything too flowery.
I despise those gowns with
sort of weeds here and weeds there.
I wanna buy something
sort of simple and modest and elegant,
is what's called for.
Perhaps with a bow.
Yes, I think that's just right.
You've all been working
much too hard.
I think the strain
is beginning to show.
Eliza, I don't care
what Mr. Higgins says,
you must put down your books
and go to bed.
Bed, bed
I couldn't go to bed
My head's too light
To try to set it down
Sleep, sleep
I couldn't sleep tonight
Not for all the jewels in the crown
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once
My heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced
Danced, danced
All night
It's after 3 now
Don't you agree now
- She ought to be in bed
- She ought to be in bed
- I could have danced
- You're tired out
- All night
- You must be dead
- I could have danced
- Your face is drawn
- All night
- Your eyes are red
- And still have
- Now say good night, please
- Begged for more
- Turn out the light, please
It's really time for you to be in bed
- I could have spread
- Do come along
- My wings
- Do as you're told
- And done a thousand things
- Or Mrs. Pearce is apt to scold
- I've never
- You're up too late, miss
- Done before
- And sure as fate, miss
You'll catch a cold
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once
My heart took flight
- I only know
- Put down your book
- When he
- The work will keep
- Began to dance
- Now settle down
- With me
- And go to sleep
I could have danced
Danced, danced
All night
I understand, dear
It's all been grand, dear
But now it's time to sleep
I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once
My heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced
Danced, danced
All night
Every duke and earl
And peer is here
Everyone who should be here
Is here
What a smashing
Positively dashing spectacle
The Ascot opening day
At the gate are all the horses
Waiting for the cue to fly away
What a gripping, absolutely ripping
Moment at the Ascot opening day
Pulses rushing
Faces flushing
Heartbeats speed up
I have never been so keyed up
Any second now
They'll begin to run
Hark, a bell is ringing
They are springing forward
Look!
It has begun
What a frenzied moment that was
Didn't they maintain
An exhausting pace?
'Twas a thrilling, absolutely chilling
Running of the Ascot opening race
Oh, no. No, it's true.
- This is the time.
- Yeah.
Yes.
- Yes.
- My daughter's...
They've had enough time.
What did you think of the race?
Mother.
Henry. What a disagreeable surprise.
Hello, Mother.
- How nice you look.
- What are you doing here?
You promised never to come to Ascot.
Go home at once.
- I can't, I'm here on business.
- No, Henry, you must.
Now, I'm quite serious.
You offend all my friends.
The moment they meet you,
I never see them again.
Besides, you aren't dressed
for Ascot.
I changed my shirt.
Now, listen, Mother,
I've got a job for you, a phonetics job.
- I've picked up a girl.
- Henry.
Oh, no, darling, not a love affair.
She's a flower girl.
I'm taking her
to the annual Embassy Ball.
- But I want to try her out first.
- I beg your pardon?
- Well, you know the Embassy Ball.
- Of course, I know the ball, but--
So I invited her to your box today,
do you understand?
- Common flower girl?
- She'll be all right.
I taught her how to speak properly.
She has strict instructions
as to her behavior.
She is to keep to two subjects.
The weather and everybody's health.
"Fine day" and "How do you do?"
Not to let herself go
on things in general.
Help her along, darling.
You'll be quite safe.
Safe? To talk about one's health
in the middle of a race?
Well, she's got to talk
about something.
- Where is the girl now?
- She's being pinned.
Some of the clothes we bought her
didn't quite fit.
I told Pickering
we should have taken her with us.
Thank goodness you're here.
- Mrs. Eynsford-Hill.
- Good afternoon, Mrs. Higgins.
You know my son, Henry.
Oh, how do you do?
- I've seen you somewhere before.
- I don't know.
Oh, it doesn't matter.
You better sit down.
- Lady Boxington.
- Where the devil can they be?
- Lord Boxington.
- Ha!
Colonel Pickering,
you're just in time for tea.
Thank you, Mrs. Higgins.
May I introduce Miss Eliza Doolittle?
My dear, Miss Doolittle.
How kind of you to let me come.
Delighted, my dear.
Lady Boxington.
- How do you do?
- How do you do?
Lord Boxington.
- How do you do?
- How do you do?
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Miss Doolittle.
- How do you do?
- How do you do?
And Freddy Eynsford-Hill.
How do you do?
How do you do?
Miss Doolittle.
Good afternoon, Professor Higgins.
The first race was very exciting,
Miss Doolittle.
I'm so sorry that you missed it.
Will it rain, do you think?
The rain in Spain
stays mainly in the plain.
But in Hartford, Hereford
and Hampshire,
hurricanes hardly ever happen.
How awfully funny.
What is wrong with that, young man?
I bet I got it right.
Smashing.
Hasn't it suddenly turned chilly?
I do hope we won't have
any unseasonable cold spells.
They bring on so much influenza.
And the whole of our family
is susceptible to it.
My aunt died of influenza.
So they said.
But it's my belief
they done the old woman in.
Done her in?
Yes, Lord love you.
Why should she die of influenza
when she come through diphtheria
right enough the year before?
Fairly blue with it, she was.
They all thought she was dead.
But my father, he kept ladling gin
down her throat.
Then she come to so sudden,
she bit the bowl off the spoon.
Dear me.
Now, what call would a woman
with that strength in her
have to die of influenza?
What become of her new straw hat
that should have come to me?
Somebody pinched it.
And what I say is,
them that's pinched it done her in.
Done her in?
Done her in, did you say?
Whatever does it mean?
Oh, that's the new small talk.
To do somebody in means
to kill them.
But you surely don't believe
your aunt was killed?
Do I not?
Them she lived with would have
killed her for a hatpin, let alone a hat.
But it can't have been right
for your father
to pour spirits down her throat
like that.
It might have killed her.
Not her.
Gin was mother's milk to her.
Besides, he poured so much down
his own throat,
he knew the good of it.
Do you mean that he drank?
Drank, my word, something chronic.
Here, what are you sniggering at?
It's the new small talk.
You do it so awfully well.
Well, if I was doing it proper,
what was you sniggering at?
Have I said anything I oughtn't?
Oh, no.
Not at all, my dear.
Well, lots of mercy, anyhow.
What I always say--
I don't know whether there's time
before the next race to place a bet.
- But come, my dear.
- I don't suppose so.
I have a bet on Number 7.
I should be so happy
if you would take it.
You'll enjoy the race
ever so much more.
That's very kind of you.
- His name is Dover.
- Come along, my dear.
There they are again
Lining up to run
Now they're holding steady
They are ready for it
Look, it has begun
Come on.
Come on, Dover. Come on.
Come on, Dover.
Come on.
Come on, Dover!
Move your blooming ass!
- Don't upset yourself, my dear.
- Please.
Oh, my dear.
You're not serious, Henry.
You don't expect to take her
to the Embassy Ball?
Don't you think she's ready for it?
Dear, Henry,
she's ready for a canal barge.
Well, her language may need
a little refining, but--
Oh, really, Henry.
If you cannot see how impossible
this whole project is,
then you must be absolutely potty
about her.
I advise you to give it up and not put
yourself and this girl through more.
Give it up? It's the most fascinating
venture I've ever undertaken.
Pickering and I are at it from morning
till night. It fills our whole lives.
Teaching Eliza, talking to Eliza,
listening to Eliza, dressing Eliza.
What?
You're a pretty pair of babies
playing with your live doll.
Here's the car.
I say, sir...
Good evening, sir.
Dinner ready? I'm famished.
Immediately, sir.
Good evening, Professor Higgins.
When she mentioned
How her aunt bit off the spoon
She completely done me in
And my heart went on a journey
To the moon
When she told about her father
And the gin
And I never saw
A more enchanting farce
Than the moment when she shouted:
"Move your blooming--"
- Yes, sir?
- Is Miss Doolittle in?
- Whom shall I say is calling?
- Freddy Eynsford-Hill.
Oh, if she doesn't remember
who I am,
tell her I'm the chap
who was sniggering at her.
Yes, sir.
- And will you give her these?
- Yes, sir.
Wouldn't you like to come in?
They're having dinner,
but you may wait.
No. No, thank you. I want to
drink in the street where she lives.
Yes, sir.
I have often walked
Down this street before
But the pavement always stayed
Beneath my feet before
All at once am I
Several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street
Where you live
Are there lilac trees
In the heart of town?
Can you hear a lark
In any other part of town?
Does enchantment pour
Out of every door?
No, it's just on the street
Where you live
And, oh, the towering feeling
Just to know somehow you are near
The overpowering feeling
That any second
You may suddenly appear
People stop and stare
They don't bother me
For there's nowhere else on earth
That I would rather be
Let the time go by
I won't care if I can be here
On the street where you live
Oh, sir.
I'm terribly sorry, sir.
Miss Doolittle says she doesn't
want to see anyone ever again.
- But why? She was unbelievable.
- So I've been told, sir.
Is there any further message?
Yes. Tell her that I'll wait.
Oh, but it might be days, sir,
even weeks.
But don't you see?
I'll be happier here.
People stop and stare
They don't bother me
For there's nowhere else on earth
That I would rather be
Let the time go by
I won't care if I can be here
On the street where you live
It really is, Higgins.
It's inhuman to continue.
You realize what you've got
to teach this poor girl in six weeks?
Teach her to walk, talk,
address a duke, a lord,
a bishop, an ambassador.
It's absolutely impossible.
Higgins, I'm trying to tell you
that I want to call off the bet.
I know you're a stubborn man,
but so am I.
This experiment is over.
And nothing
short of an order from the king
could force me to recant.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
You understand, Higgins, it's over.
Higgins.
Higgins, if there's any mishap
at the embassy tonight,
if Miss Doolittle suffers
any embarrassment whatever,
it'll be on your head alone.
Eliza can do anything.
Suppose she's discovered?
Remember Ascot.
Suppose she makes
another ghastly mistake?
There will be no horses
at the ball, Pickering.
Think how agonizing it would be.
Oh, if anything happened tonight,
I don't know what I'd do.
You could always
rejoin your regiment.
This is no time for flippancy,
Higgins.
The way you've driven the girl
the last six weeks
has exceeded
all bounds of common decency.
For God's sake,
stop pacing up and down.
Can't you settle somewhere?
Have some port.
It'll quieten your nerves.
I'm not nervous.
- Where is it?
- On the piano.
- The car is here, sir.
- Oh, good.
- Tell Miss Doolittle.
- Yes.
Tell Miss Doolittle indeed. I bet you
that damned gown doesn't fit.
I warned you
about these French designers.
We should've gone to an English shop,
everyone would've been on our side.
- Have a glass of port?
- No, thank you.
Are you so sure this girl will retain
everything you've hammered into her?
Well, we shall see.
Suppose she doesn't?
I lose my bet.
Higgins, there's one thing
I can't stand about you,
that's your
confounded complacency.
At a moment like this,
with so much at stake,
it's utterly indecent
that you don't need a glass of port.
And what about the girl? You act
as though she doesn't matter at all.
Oh, rubbish, Pickering.
Of course she matters.
What do you think
I've been doing all these months?
What could possibly matter more
than to take a human being
and change her
into a different human being
by creating a new speech for her?
It's filling up the deepest gap
that separates class from class
and soul from soul.
No, she matters immensely.
Miss Doolittle, you look beautiful.
Thank you, Colonel Pickering.
Don't you think so, Higgins?
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Deuvile.
Major General the right honorable
Sir James Clarence.
Marquis and Marquise of Glenning.
Lady Suzanna De Longly.
Sir Albert and Lady Derring.
Honorable Mr. Archibald
and Lady Catherine Herring.
Maestro. Maestro.
- Don't you remember me?
- No. Who the devil are you?
I'm your pupil.
Your first, your greatest,
your best pupil.
I'm Zoltan Karpathy,
that marvelous boy.
Oh.
I made your name
famous throughout Europe.
You teach me phonetics,
you cannot forget me.
Why don't you have your hair cut?
I don't have
your imposing appearance,
your figure, your brow.
If I had my hair cut,
nobody would notice me.
Where did you get
all these old coins?
These are decorations
for language.
The queen of Transylvania
is here this evening.
I'm indispensable to her
at these official international parties.
I speak 32 languages,
I know everyone in Europe.
No impostor
can escape my detection.
Professor Karpathy.
The Greek ambassador.
Greek my foot.
He pretends not to know any English,
but he cannot deceive me.
He's the son
of a Yorkshire watchmaker.
He speaks English so villainously
that he cannot utter a word
without betraying his origin.
I help him pretend,
but I make him pay through the nose.
I make them all pay.
Excuse me, sir,
you are wanted upstairs.
- Her Excellency asked for you.
- Oh, excuse me.
Viscount and Viscountess Saxon.
Baron and Baroness of Yorkshire.
Sir Guy and Lady Skot Ackland.
The Count and Countess Demerau.
The Viscount
and Viscountess Hillyard.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lanser.
Lord and Lady Clanders.
Miss Eliza Doolittle,
Colonel Pickering.
Miss Eliza Doolittle,
Colonel Pickering.
- Professor Higgins.
- Good evening, Miss Doolittle.
Your Excellency.
- Miss Doolittle.
- How do you do?
- Good evening, colonel.
- Good evening.
- Oh, colonel.
- What?
What an enchanting young
lady you have with you this evening.
Thank you.
- Well, who is she?
Oh, a cousin of mine. And Higgins.
Excuse me.
Professor Higgins.
Such a faraway look
as if she's always lived in a garden.
So she has, a sort of garden.
Is that her son?
I don't believe in...
I shall die.
Henry must take Eliza home at once.
There's a language expert here.
Sort of, you know,
sort of impostorologist.
I beg your pardon.
The young lady
with Colonel Pickering.
Find out who she is.
With pleasure.
The whole situation
is highly explosive.
We heard on the best authority.
Tell me, Zoltan, some more
about the Greek ambassador.
Gladly, but first I would love you
to present me to this glorious creature.
Does he really come
from Yorkshire?
Her Majesty,
the queen of Transylvania
and his Royal Highness,
Prince Gregor.
Charming. Quite charming.
Miss Doolittle, ma'am.
Such a charming girl.
We'll know
when we hear her announced.
That's a beautiful ball gown.
Is that her son?
Miss Doolittle,
my son would like to dance with you.
Eliza?
Absolutely fantastic.
A lot of tomfoolery.
It was an immense achievement.
Well, Mr. Higgins?
A triumph, Mrs. Pearce.
A total triumph.
Higgins, you were superb.
Absolutely superb.
Tell us the truth now, weren't
you a bit nervous once or twice?
- Not for a second.
- Not during the whole evening?
I saw we were gonna win
hands down.
I felt like a bear in a cage
with nothing to do.
It was an immense achievement.
If I hadn't backed myself to do it,
I'd have given it up two months ago.
- Absolutely fantastic.
- A lot of tomfoolery.
Higgins, I salute you.
Oh, silly people don't know
their own silly business.
Tonight, old man, you did it
You did it, you did it
You said that you would do it
And indeed you did
I thought that you would rue it
I doubted you'd do it
But now I must admit it
That succeed you did
You should get a medal
Or be even made a knight
Oh, it was nothing
Really nothing
All alone you hurdled
Every obstacle in sight
Now wait
Now wait
Give credit where it's due
A lot of the glory goes to you
But you're the one who did it
Who did it, who did it
As sturdy as Gibraltar
Not a second did you falter
There's no doubt about it
You did it
I must have aged a year tonight
At times I thought I'd die of fright
Never was there a momentary lull
Shortly after we came in
I saw at once we'd easily win
And after that, I found it deadly dull
You should have heard
The "oohs" and "ahs"
Everyone wondering who she was
You'd think they'd never seen
A lady before
And when the prince of Transylvania
Asked to meet her
And gave his arm
To lead her to the floor
I said to him
You did it, you did it, you did it
They thought she was ecstatic
And so damned aristocratic
And they never knew that you did it
Thank goodness
for Zoltan Karpathy.
If it hadn't been for him,
I would've died of boredom.
Karpathy? That dreadful Hungarian?
Was he there?
Yes, he was there, all right,
and up to his old tricks.
That blackguard
Who uses the science of speech
More to blackmail and swindle
Than teach
He made it
The devilish business of his
To find out who this Miss Doolittle is
Every time we looked around
There he was
That hairy hound from Budapest
Never leaving us alone
Never have I ever known
A ruder pest
Finally I decided it was foolish
Not to let him have
His chance with her
So I stepped aside
And let him dance with her
Oozing charm from every pore
He oiled his way around the floor
Every trick that he could play
He used to strip her mask away
And when at last
The dance was done
He glowed as if he knew he'd won
And with a voice too eager
And a smile too broad
He announced to the hostess
That she was a fraud
No.
"Her English is too good," he said
That clearly indicates
That she is foreign
Whereas others are instructed
In their native language
English people aren't
And although she may have studied
With an expert dialectician
And grammarian
I can tell
That she was a born Hungarian
Not only Hungarian
But of royal blood
She is a princess
"Her blood," he said, "is bluer
Than the Danube is or ever was
Royalty is absolutely written
On her face
She thought that I was taken in
But actually I never was
How could she deceive
Another member of her race?"
"I know each language on the map,"
Said he
"And she's Hungarian
As the first 'Hungarian Rhapsody"'
Bravo
Bravo
Bravo
Congratulations, Professor Higgins
For your glorious victory
Congratulations, Professor Higgins
You'll be mentioned in history
- This evening, sir, you did it
- Congratulations, Professor Higgins
- You said that you would do it
- For your glorious victory
This evening, sir, you did it
You did it, you did it
We know that we have did it
But you did it
And the credit for it
All belongs to you
Well, thank God that's over.
Now I can go to bed
without dreading tomorrow.
- Good night, Mr. Higgins.
- Good night, Mrs. Pearce.
I think I'll turn in too.
Good night, Higgins.
It's been a great occasion.
Good night, Pickering.
Oh, Mrs. Pearce?
Oh, damn.
I meant to ask her to give me coffee
in the morning instead of tea.
Leave a little note for her,
will you, Eliza?
And put out the lights.
Left them downstairs. Oh, darn it.
Leave my head behind
one of these days.
What the devil have I done
with my slippers?
Here are your slippers.
There!
And there!
Take your slippers and may you never
have a day's luck with them.
What on earth?
What's the matter? Is anything wrong?
No, nothing wrong with you.
I won your bet for you, haven't I?
That's enough for you.
I don't matter, I suppose.
You won my bet?
You presumptuous insect.
I won it. What did you throw
those slippers at me for?
Because I wanted to smash your face.
I could kill you, you selfish brute.
Why didn't you leave me
where you picked me up in the gutter?
You thank God it's all over now,
you can throw me back again there.
Oh, so the creature's nervous
after all.
Claws in, you cat. How dare you
show your temper to me.
Sit down and be quiet.
Oh, what's to become of me?
What's to become of me?
How do I know what's to become
of you? What does it matter?
You don't care. I know you don't care.
You wouldn't care if I was dead.
I'm nothing to you.
Not as much as them slippers.
- Those slippers.
- Those slippers.
I didn't think
it meant any difference now.
Why have you suddenly begun
going on like this?
May I ask if you complain
of your treatment here?
No.
Has anybody behaved badly?
Colonel Pickering, Mrs. Pearce?
No.
Well, you don't pretend
that I have treated you badly?
- No.
- No. I'm glad to hear that.
Perhaps you're tired
after the strain of the day.
Would you have a chocolate?
No!
Thank you.
Well, it's only natural
that you should be anxious,
but it's all over now.
Nothing more to worry about.
No, nothing more for you
to worry about.
Oh, God, I wish I was dead.
Why? In heaven's name, why?
Now, listen to me, Eliza.
All this irritation is purely subjective.
I don't understand. I'm too ignorant.
It's just imagination.
Nothing's wrong. Nobody's hurting you.
Now, you go to bed and sleep it off.
Have a little cry and say your prayers
and you'll feel
very much more comfortable.
I heard your prayers,
"Thank God it's all over."
Well, don't you thank God
it's all over
and how you're free
and you can do what you like.
Oh, what am I fit for?
What have you left me fit for?
Where am I to go?
What am I to do?
And what's to become of me?
Oh, that's what's worrying you, is it?
Oh, I wouldn't worry about that
if I were you.
I'm sure you won't have
any difficulty
in settling yourself
somewhere or other.
I didn't quite realize
you were going away.
You might marry, you know.
You see, Eliza, all men
are not confirmed old bachelors
like me and the colonel.
Most men are the marrying sort,
poor devils.
And you're not bad-looking.
You're really quite a pleasure
to look at sometimes.
Well, not now. When you've been
crying you look like the very devil.
But I mean when you're all right
and quite yourself,
you're what I would call attractive.
Now, you go to bed,
have a good night's rest,
then get up
and have a look at yourself.
You won't feel so bad.
I daresay my mother might find some
fellow or other who'd do very well.
We were above that
at Covent Garden.
What do you mean?
I sold flowers, I didn't sell myself.
Now, you've made a lady of me,
I'm not fit to sell anything else.
Oh, tosh, Eliza,
don't insult human relations
by dragging all that cant about buying
and selling into it.
You don't have to marry
if you don't want to.
- What else am I to do?
- Well, there are lots of things.
What about the old idea
of a florist shop?
Pickering would set you up in one.
He's got lots of money.
He paid for all those togs
you're wearing tonight.
And that with the hire of the jewelry
will make a big hole in 200 pounds.
Oh, come on now.
You'll be all right.
Well, I must be off to bed.
I'm really devilish sleepy.
I was looking for something.
What was it?
Your slippers.
Oh, yes, of course.
You shied them at me.
- Before you go, sir,
- Hm?
do my clothes belong to me
or to Colonel Pickering?
What the devil use
would they be to Pickering?
Why do you bother about that
in the night?
I want to know
what I may take away with me.
I don't wanna be
accused of stealing.
Stealing?
You shouldn't have said that, Eliza.
That shows a want of feeling.
I'm sorry. I'm a common ignorant girl.
In my station, I have to be careful.
There can't be any feelings between
the likes of you and the likes of me.
Please, will you tell me
what belongs to me and what doesn't?
Take the whole damned houseful
if you want.
Except the jewelry, that's hired.
Will that satisfy you?
Stop, please.
Will you take these to your room
and keep them safe?
I don't want to run the risk
of them being missed.
Hand them over.
If these belonged to me
and not the jeweler,
I'd ram them
down your ungrateful throat.
The ring isn't the jeweler's.
It's the one you bought me in Brighton.
I don't want it now.
Don't you hit me!
Hit you? You infamous creature,
how dare you suggest such a thing.
It's you who've hit me.
You've wounded me to the heart.
I'm glad.
I've got a little of my own back anyhow.
You've caused me
to lose my temper,
a thing that's hardly
happened to me before.
I don't wish to discuss it
further tonight. I'm going to bed.
You better leave your own note
for Mrs. Pearce about the coffee
for it won't be done by me.
Damn Mrs. Pearce,
damn the coffee and damn you.
And damn my own folly
for having lavished
my hard-earned knowledge
and the treasure of my regard
and intimacy
on a heartless guttersnipe.
Just you wait, Henry Higgins
Just you wait
You'll be sorry
But your tears'll be too late
You will be the one it's done to
And you'll have no one to run to
Just you wait
I have often walked
Down this street before
But the pavement always stayed
Beneath my feet before
All at once am I
Several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street
Where you live
Are there lilac trees
In the heart of town?
Can you hear a lark
In any other part of town?
Does enchantment pour
Out of every door?
No, it's just on the street
Where you live
And, oh, the towering feeling
Just to know somehow you are near
The overpowering feeling
That any second
You may suddenly appear
People stop and stare
They don't...
Darling.
Freddy,
whatever are you doing here?
Nothing.
I spend most of my nights here.
It's the only place where I'm happy.
Don't laugh at me, Miss Doolittle.
Don't you call me Miss Doolittle,
do you hear?
Eliza's good enough for me.
Oh, Freddy, you don't think
I'm a heartless guttersnipe, do you?
Darling, how could you imagine
such a thing? You know how I feel.
I've written two or three times a day
telling you. Sheet and sheets.
Speak
And the world is full of singing
And I am winging
Higher than the birds
Touch
And my heart begins to crumble
The heavens tumble
Darling, and I'm--
Words, words, words
I'm so sick of words
I get words all day through
First from him, now from you
Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars burning above
If you're in love, show me
Tell me no dreams
Filled with desire
If you're on fire, show me
Here we are together
In the middle of the night
Don't talk of spring
Just hold me tight
Anyone who's ever been in love
Will tell you that
This is no time for a chat
Haven't your lips
Longed for my touch?
Don't say how much
Show me, show me
Don't talk of love
Lasting through time
Make me no undying vow
Show me now
Sing me no song
Read me no rhyme
Don't waste my time
Show me
Don't talk of June
Don't talk of fall
Don't talk at all
Show me
Never do I ever
Want to hear another word
There isn't one I haven't heard
Here we are together
In what ought to be a dream
Say one more word and I'll scream
Haven't your arms
Hungered for mine?
Please don't explain
Show me
Show me
Don't wait until
Wrinkles and lines
Pop out all over my brow
Show me now
- Eliza, where are you going?
- To the river.
- What for?
- To make a hole in it.
Eliza, darling, what do you mean?
Taxi.
Taxi.
But I've no money.
I have.
- Where are we going?
- Where I belong.
Darling, shall I come with you?
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of coal making lots of heat
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Oh, so...
Buy a flower, miss?
Yes, please.
I would never budge
Till spring crept over me windowsill
Someone's head
Resting on my knee
Warm and tender as she can be
Who takes good care of me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Oh, good morning, miss.
Can I help you?
Do you mind if I warm my hands?
Go right ahead, miss.
- Yes?
- Oh, excuse me, miss.
For a second I thought
you were somebody else.
Who?
Forgive me, ma'am.
Early morning light playing tricks
with my eyes.
Can I get you a taxi, ma'am?
A lady like you
shouldn't be walking alone
around London
this hour of the morning.
No, thank you.
Someone's head
Resting on my knee
Warm and tender as he can be
Who takes good care of me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Loverly, loverly
Loverly, loverly
Goodbye, Alfie.
- Goodbye.
- I'll call you Mr. Doolittle now.
Do come again, Mr. Doolittle.
We value your patronage always.
Oh, thank you, my good man.
Thank you.
Here. Come here.
Take the missus on a trip to Brighton
with my compliments.
Thank you, Mr. Doolittle.
Charming spot this, Harry.
We must visit it more often.
Father?
Oh, no.
You see, Harry, he has no mercy.
Sent her down to spy on me
in me misery, he did.
Me own flesh and blood.
Well, I'm miserable all right.
You can tell him that straight.
What are you talking about?
What you dressed up for?
As if you didn't know.
Go on back
to that Wimpole Street devil.
Tell him what he's done to me.
What's he done to you?
Ruined me, that's all.
Tied me up and delivered me
into the hands of middle-class morality.
And don't you defend him.
Was it him or was it not him
wrote to an old American blighter
named Wallingford
who was giving 5 millions
to fund moral reform societies
to tell him the most original moralist
in England
was Mr. Alfred P. Doolittle,
a common dustman.
Sounds like one of his jokes.
You may call it a joke.
It's put the lid on me proper.
The old bloke died and left me
4000 pounds a year
in his blooming will.
Who asked him
to make a gentleman out of me?
I was happy, I was free.
I touched pretty nigh everyone
for money when I wanted it,
same as I touched him.
Now I'm tied neck and heels
and everybody touches me.
A year ago,
I hadn't a relation in the world
except one or two
who wouldn't speak to me.
Now I've 50.
Not a decent week's wages
amongst the lot of them.
Oh, I have to live for others now,
not for myself.
Middle-class morality.
Come on, Alfie. Another couple
of hours, we have to be at the church.
- Church?
- Yeah, church.
The deepest cut of all.
Well, why do you think I'm dressed up
like a ruddy pallbearer?
Your stepmother
wants to marry me.
Now I'm respectable,
she wants to be respectable.
Well, if that's the way you feel about it,
why don't you give the money back?
That's the tragedy of it, Eliza.
It's easy to say chuck it,
but I haven't the nerve.
We're all intimidated.
That's what we are, intimidated.
Bought up.
Yeah. That's what I am.
That's what your precious professor's
brought me to.
Not my precious professor.
Oh, sent you back, has he?
First he shoves me
in the middle class,
then he chucks you out
for me to support you.
That's all part of his plan.
But you double-cross him.
Don't you come back home to me.
Don't you take tuppence from me.
You stand on your own two feet.
You're a lady now, and you can do it.
Yeah, that's right, Eliza.
You're a lady now.
Eliza, it's getting awfully cold
in that taxi.
Here, Eliza, would you like to come
and see me turned off this morning?
St. George's Hanover Square,
10:00.
I wouldn't advise it,
but you're welcome.
- No, thank you, Dad.
- No.
Are you all finished here, Eliza?
Yes, Freddy.
I'm all finished here.
Good luck, Dad.
Thank you, Eliza.
- Come along, Alfie.
- How much time have I got left?
There's just a few more hours
That's all the time you've got
A few more hours
Before they tie the knot
There's drinks and girls
All over London
And I gotta track 'em down
In just a few more hours
Set 'em up, me darlin'
I'm gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Pull out the stopper
Let's have a whopper
But get me to the church on time
I gotta be there in the mornin'
Spruced up and lookin' in me prime
Girls, come and kiss me
Show how you'll miss me
But get me to the church on time
If I am dancin'
Roll up the floor
If I am whistlin'
Me out the door
I'm gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Kick up a rumpus
But don't lose the compass
And get me to the church
Get him to the church
For God's sake
Get me to the church on time
I'm gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Some bloke who's able
Lift up the table
And get me to the church on time
If I am flyin'
Then shoot me down
If I am wooin'
Get her out of town
For I'm gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Feather and tar me
Call out the army
But get me to the church
Get me to the church
Oh, for God's sake
Get me to the church on time
He's gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Come on, pull out the stopper
Let's have a whopper
But get me to the church on time
He's got to be there in the mornin'
Spruced up and lookin' in his prime
Girls, come and kiss me
Show how you'll miss me
But get me to the church on time
If I am dancin'
Roll up the floor
If I am whistlin'
Me out the door
For he's gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Drug me or jail me
Stamp me and mail me
But get me to the church
Get him to the church
For God's sake
Get me to the church on time
Come on, Alfie.
Yeah, go on.
Yeah, he's light.
Girls come and kiss him
Show how they miss him
And get him to the church on time
Kick up a rumpus
But don't lose the compass
And get him to the church on time
If I am flyin'
Then shoot me down
If I am wooin'
Get her out of town
Ouch!
He's gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
- Some bloke who's able
- Lift up the table
Get me to the church on time
- It's a nice morning.
- Good morning, Alfie.
Three cheers.
Come back.
Starlight is reelin' home to bed now
Mornin' is smearin' up the sky
London is wakin'
Daylight is breakin'
Good luck, old chum
Good health
Goodbye
I'm gettin' married in the mornin'
Ding dong
The bells are gonna chime
Hail and salute me
Then haul off and boot me
And get him to the church
Get him to the church
For God's sake
Get him to the church
On time
Pickering. Pickering.
Didn't she even say
where to send her clothes?
She took them all with her.
- Pickering.
- What's the matter?
Here's a confounded thing.
Eliza's bolted.
- Bolted?
- Bolted.
Last night, Mrs. Pearce let her go
without telling me.
- Well, I'm dashed.
- What am I to do?
I got tea instead of coffee.
I don't know where anything is.
- I don't know my appointments.
- Eliza would know.
Of course she'd know,
but she's gone.
Did either of you
frighten her last night?
We hardly said a word to her.
You were there.
Did you bully her
after I went to bed?
The other way around.
She threw the slippers at me.
I never gave her
the slightest provocation.
The slippers came, bang, at my head
before I uttered a word.
Used the most disgraceful language.
I was shocked.
- Well, I'm dashed.
- I don't understand.
We've given her every consideration.
- She admitted it herself.
- Well, I'm dashed.
Oh, Pickering, for God's sake,
stop being dashed and do something.
- What?
- Well, phone the police.
What are they
there for in heaven's name?
Mr. Higgins, you can't give
Eliza's name to the police
as if she were a thief
or a lost umbrella.
But why not? I want to find the girl.
She belongs to me.
I paid 5 pounds for her.
Quite right. Hello.
Scotland Yard, please.
Get me some coffee,
would you please?
- Yes, sir.
- Who's there?
Scotland Yard? Yes, of course.
I beg your pardon, yes.
This is Colonel Pickering speaking.
Hugh Pickering.
- 27A Wimpole Street.
- 27A Wimpole Street.
- I want to report a missing person.
- Male or female?
A Miss Eliza Doolittle, yeah.
About 21.
And her height?
- I should say about 5'7".
- What color eyes?
Her eyes? Oh, let me think now.
Her eyes, her eyes.
- Brown.
- Brown, yeah.
No, no, no. Her hair?
Oh, good Lord. Let me...
Well, sort of nondescript
neutral sort of--
Brown, brown, brown.
You heard what he said?
Brown, brown, brown, yes.
No, no, no, this is her residence.
27A-- Yeah.
About between 3 and 4 this morning,
I understand.
Yes. No, no, no.
Rela-- No, she's no relation, no.
What? Well, just let's call her
a good friend, shall we?
I beg your pardon?
Listen to me, my man,
I don't like the tenor of that question.
What the girl does here is our affair.
Your affair is to get her back
so that she can continue doing it.
Well, I'm dashed.
What, in all in heaven,
Can have prompted her to go?
After such a triumph at the ball?
What could have depressed her?
What could have possessed her?
I cannot understand
The wretch at all
Higgins, I have an old school chum
at the Home Office.
Perhaps he can help.
Think I'll give him a ring.
Number, please.
Whitehall 72-double 4, please.
Whitehall 72-double 4.
Women are irrational
That's all there is to that
Their heads are full of cotton
Hay and rags
They're nothing but exasperating
Irritating, vacillating
Calculating, agitating, maddening
And infuriating hags
The Home Office here.
Oh, I want to speak
to Mr. Brewster Budgin, please.
- Would you hold on, sir?
- Brew-- Yes, I'll wait.
Pickering,
why can't a woman
be more like a man?
I beg your pardon?
Yes, why can't a woman
Be more like a man?
Men are so honest
So thoroughly square
Eternally noble, historically fair
Who, when you win
Will always give your back a pat
Well, why can't a woman
Be like that?
Why does everyone
Do what the others do?
Can't a woman learn
To use her head?
Why do they do everything
Their mothers do?
Why don't they grow up
Well, like their father instead?
Why can't a woman
Take after a man?
Men are so pleasant
So easy to please
Whenever you're with them
You're always at ease
Would you be slighted
If I didn't speak for hours?
Of course not.
Would you be livid
If I had a drink or two?
Nonsense.
Would you be wounded
If I never sent you flowers?
Never.
Well, why can't a woman
Be like you?
One man in a million
May shout a bit
Now and then
There's one with slight defects
One, perhaps, whose truthfulness
You doubt a bit
But by and large
We are a marvelous sex
Why can't a woman
Take after a man?
Because men are so friendly
Good-natured and kind
A better companion
You never will find
If I were hours late for dinner
Would you bellow?
Of course not.
If I forgot your silly birthday
Would you fuss?
Nonsense.
Would you complain
If I took out another fellow?
Never.
Well, why can't a woman
Be like us?
Oh, hello.
Mr. Brewster Budgin there?
- Yes, Budgin here.
- Bruzzie.
Oh, Bruzzie, you'll never
never guess who this is.
Oh, don't be silly. It's Pickering.
You're quite right, yes, it is.
Good heavens.
By George, what a memory.
How are you, Bruzzie?
Nice to hear your voice.
What? Oh, don't say that.
Is it already 30 years? Good heavens.
You're quite right.
Yes, oceans of water.
Listen, Bruzzie,
I'll tell you why I rang up.
Something rather unpleasant's
happened. Could I come and see you?
Well, I could.
Yes, now, straight away.
Right-o, good. Thank you, thank you.
Goodbye, Bruzzie.
Thank you very much.
Oh, Mrs. Pearce,
I'm going along to the Home Office.
Oh, I do hope you find her,
Colonel Pickering.
Mr. Higgins will miss her.
Mr. Higgins will miss her, eh?
Blast Mr. Higgins. I'll miss her.
Pickering?
Pickering?
Oh, Mrs. Pearce?
- Yes, sir?
- Where's the colonel?
He's gone to the Home Office, sir.
Oh, there you are.
I'm disturbed and he runs for help.
Now, there's a good fellow.
Mrs. Pearce, you're a woman.
Why can't a woman
Be more like a man?
Men are so decent
Such regular chaps
Ready to help you
Through any mishaps
Ready to buck you up
Whenever you are glum
Why can't a woman be a chum?
Why is thinking
Something women never do?
Why is logic never even tried?
Straightening up their hair
Is all they ever do
Why don't they straighten up
The mess that's inside?
Why can't a woman
Behave like a man?
If I was a woman
Who'd been to a ball
Been hailed as a princess
By one and by all
Would I start weeping
Like a bathtub overflowing?
Or carry on
As if my home were in a tree?
Would I run off
And never tell me where I'm going?
Why can't a woman be like me?
Do you mean to say
that after you'd done
this wonderful thing for them
without making a single mistake,
they just sat there,
never said a word to you?
Never petted you, or admired you,
or told you how splendid you'd been?
Not a word. They just sat there
congratulating each other
on how marvelous they'd been.
How glad they were it was all over
and what a bore it had all been.
This is simply appalling.
I should not have thrown
my slippers at him,
I should've thrown the fire irons.
- Oh, is mother in?
- What's that?
Henry.
I knew it wouldn't be too long.
Now, remember,
you not only danced
with a prince last night,
you behaved like a princess.
Mother, the most confounded thing.
Do you...?
You?
Good afternoon, Professor Higgins.
Are you quite well?
- Am I--?
- Of course you are.
You are never ill.
Would you care for some tea?
Don't you dare try that game on me.
I taught it to you.
Now, get up and come home
and stop being a fool.
You've caused me enough trouble.
Very nicely put indeed, Henry.
No woman could resist
such an invitation.
How did this baggage get here
in the first place?
Eliza came to see me this morning
and I was delighted to have her.
And if you don't promise to behave,
I must ask you to leave.
You mean to say I'm to put on
my Sunday manners
for this thing that I created
out of the squashed cabbage leaves
of Covent Garden?
That's precisely what I mean.
Well, I'll see her damned first.
However did you learn good manners
with my son around?
It was very difficult.
I should never have known
how ladies and gentlemen behave
if it hadn't been
for Colonel Pickering.
He always showed me
that he felt and thought about me
as if I were something better
than a common flower girl.
You see, Mrs. Higgins,
apart from the things one can pick up,
the difference between a lady
and a flower girl
is not how she behaves,
but how she is treated.
I shall always be a flower girl
to Professor Higgins
because he always treats me
as a flower girl and always will.
But I know I shall always be a lady
to Colonel Pickering
because he always treats me
as a lady and always will.
Henry, don't grind your teeth.
The bishop is here, madam.
Shall I show him into the garden?
The bishop and the professor?
Good heavens, no.
I should be excommunicated.
I'll see him in the library.
Eliza, if my son
starts breaking up things,
I give you full permission
to have him evicted.
Henry, dear, I suggest you stick
to two subjects:
The weather and your health.
Well, you've had a bit
of your own back, as you call it.
Have you had enough
and are you going to be reasonable
or do you want any more?
You want me back
only to pick up your slippers
and put up with your tempers
and fetch and carry for you.
- I didn't say I wanted you back at all.
- Oh, indeed?
- Then what are we talking about?
- Well, about you, not about me.
If you come back, you'll be treated
as you've always been treated.
I can't change my nature.
I don't intend to change my manners.
My manners are exactly the same
as Colonel Pickering's.
That's not true.
He treats a flower girl
as if she were a duchess.
Well, I treat a duchess
as if she was a flower girl.
Oh, I see. The same to everybody.
Just so.
You see, the great secret, Eliza,
is not a question of good manners
or bad manners
or any particular sort of manners,
but having the same manner
for all human souls.
The question is not
whether I treat you rudely,
whether you've ever heard me
treat anyone else better.
I don't care how you treat me.
I don't mind your swearing at me.
I shouldn't mind a black eye.
I've had one before this.
But I won't be passed over.
Well, then get out of my way,
for I won't stop for you.
You talk about me
as though I was a motor bus.
So you are a motor bus.
All bounce and go
and no consideration for anybody.
But I can get along without you.
Don't you think I can't.
I know you can. I told you you could.
You've never wondered, I suppose
whether I could get along without you.
Don't you try to get around me.
You'll have to.
So I can, without you
or any soul on earth.
I shall miss you, Eliza.
I've learned something
from your idiotic notions.
I confess that, humbly and gratefully.
Well, you have my voice
on your gramophone.
When you feel lonely without me,
you can turn it on.
It has no feelings to hurt.
Well, I can't turn your soul on.
Ooh. You are a devil.
You can twist the heart in a girl
just as easily
as someone can twist her arms
to hurt her.
What am I to come back for?
For the fun of it.
That's why I took you on.
And you may throw me out tomorrow
if I don't do everything you want me to.
Yes, and you may walk out tomorrow
if I don't do everything you want me to.
And live with my father?
Yes, or sell flowers.
Or would you rather marry Pickering?
I wouldn't marry you
if you asked me,
and you're nearer my age
than what he is.
- Than he is.
- I'll talk as I like.
You're not my teacher now.
That's not what I want,
and you don't think it is.
I've always had chaps enough
wanting me that way.
Freddy Hill writes me twice
and three times a day.
Sheets and sheets.
In short, you want me to be
as infatuated about you as he is.
- Is that it?
- No, I don't.
That's not the sort of feeling
I want from you.
I want a little kindness.
I know I'm a common ignorant girl
and you're a book-learned gentleman.
But I'm not dirt under your feet.
What I done--
What I did
was not for the taxis and the dresses,
but because we were
pleasant together and I've come to--
Came to care for you.
Not to want you to make love to me
and not forgetting
the difference between us,
but more friendly-like.
Well, of course. That's how I feel.
And how Pickering feels.
- Eliza, you're a fool.
- That's not the proper answer.
It's the only answer
till you stop being an idiot.
If you're a lady,
give up feeling neglected
if the men you know
don't spend half their time
sniveling over you and the other half
giving you black eyes.
You find me cold, unfeeling,
selfish, don't you?
Be off with you
to the sort of people you like.
Marry some sentimental hog
with lots of money
and a thick pair of lips to kiss you
and a thick pair of boots to kick you.
If you can't appreciate what you've got,
get what you can appreciate.
Oh, I can't talk to you.
You always turn everything
against me. I'm always in the wrong.
But don't be too sure
that you have me under your feet
to be trampled on and talked down.
I'll marry, Freddy, I will,
soon as I'm able to support him.
Freddy?
That poor devil who couldn't get a job
as an errand boy
even if he had the guts to try for it?
Woman, don't you understand?
I've made you a consort for a king.
Freddy loves me.
That makes him king enough for me.
I don't want him to work.
He wasn't brought up to it as I was.
I'll go and be a teacher.
What will you teach,
in heaven's name?
What you taught me.
I'll teach phonetics.
Ha, ha, ha.
I'll offer myself as an assistant
to that brilliant Hungarian.
What, that impostor? That humbug?
That toadying ignoramus?
Teach him my methods,
my discoveries?
You take one step in that direction
and I'll wring your neck.
Wring away. What do I care?
I knew you'd strike me one day.
That's done you, Henry Higgins,
it has.
Now, I don't care that
for your bullying and your big talk.
What a fool I was
What a dominated fool
To think you were the earth and sky
What a fool I was
What an elevated fool
What a mutton-headed dolt was I
No, my reverberating friend
You are not the beginning
And the end
You impudent hussy.
There's not an idea in your head
or a word in your mouth
that I haven't put there.
There'll be spring every year
Without you
England still will be here
Without you
There'll be fruit on the tree
And a shore by the sea
There'll be crumpets and tea
Without you
Art and music will thrive
Without you
Somehow Keats will survive
Without you
And there still will be rain
On that plain down in Spain
Even that will remain
Without you
I can do
Without you
You, dear friend
Who talk so well
You can go to
Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire
They can still rule the land
Without you
Windsor Castle will stand
Without you
And without much ado
We can all muddle through
Without you
You brazen hussy.
Without your pulling it
The tide comes in
Without your twirling it
The Earth can spin
Without your pushing them
The clouds roll by
If they can do without you
Ducky, so can I
I shall not feel alone
Without you
I can stand on my own
Without you
So go back in your shell
I can do bloody well
- Without--
By George, I really did it
I did it, I did it
I said I'd make a woman
And indeed I did
I knew that I could do it
I knew it, I knew it
I said I'd make a woman
And succeed I did
Eliza, you're magnificent.
Five minutes ago, you were a millstone
around my neck
and now you're a tower of strength.
A consort battleship.
I like you this way.
Goodbye, Professor Higgins.
You shall not be seeing me again.
Mother!
Mother!
What is it, Henry?
What's happened?
She's gone.
Well, of course, dear.
What did you expect?
Well...
- What am I to do?
- Do without, I suppose.
And so I shall.
If the Higgins' oxygen burns up
her little lungs,
let her seek some stuffiness
that suits her.
She's an owl sickened by a few days
of my sunshine.
Very well, let her go.
I can do without her.
I can do without anyone.
I have my own soul.
My own spark of divine fire.
Bravo, Eliza.
Damn, damn, damn, damn
I've grown accustomed to her face
She almost makes the day begin
I've grown accustomed to the tune
That she whistles night and noon
Her smiles, her frowns
Her ups, her downs
Are second nature to me now
Like breathing out and breathing in
I was serenely independent
And content before we met
Surely I could always
Be that way again
And yet I've grown accustomed
To her look
Accustomed to her voice
Accustomed to her face
Marry Freddy.
What an infantile idea.
What a heartless, wicked,
brainless thing to do.
But she'll regret it. She'll regret it.
It's doomed before
they even take the vow.
I can see her now
Mrs. Freddy Eynsford-Hill
In a wretched little flat
Above a store
I can see her now
Not a penny in the till
And a bill collector
Beating at the door
She'll try to teach the things
I taught her
And end up selling flowers instead
Begging for her bread and water
While her husband
Has his breakfast in bed
In a year or so
When she's prematurely gray
And the blossom in her cheek
Has turned to chalk
She'll come home, and lo
He'll have upped and run away
With a social-climbing heiress
From New York
Poor Eliza
How simply frightful
How humiliating
How delightful
How poignant it'll be
On that inevitable night
When she hammers on my door
In tears and rags
Miserable and lonely
Repentant and contrite
Will I take her in
Or hurl her to the wolves?
Give her kindness
Or the treatment she deserves?
Will I take her back
Or throw the baggage out?
Well, I'm a most forgiving man
The sort who never could
Ever would
Take a position
And staunchly never budge
A most forgiving man
But I shall never take her back
If she were crawling on her knees
Let her promise to atone
Let her shiver, let her moan
I'll slam the door
And let the hellcat freeze
Marry Freddy. Ha!
But I'm so used to hear her say
Good morning every day
Her joys, her woes
Her highs, her lows
Are second nature to me now
Like breathing out and breathing in
I'm very grateful she's a woman
And so easy to forget
Rather like a habit
One can always break
And yet I've grown
Accustomed to the trace
Of something in the air
Accustomed to her face
Oh, we are proud.
He ain't above giving lessons, not him.
I heard him say so.
Well, I ain't come here
to ask for any compliment,
and if my money's not good enough,
I can go elsewhere.
Good enough for what?
Good enough for you.
Now you know, don't you?
I'm come to have lessons,
I am, and to pay for them too,
make no mistake.
What is it you want, my girl?
I want to be a lady in a flower shop
instead of selling at the corner
of Tottenham Court Road.
But they won't take me
unless I can talk more genteel.
He said he could teach me.
Well, here I am.
Ready to pay,
not asking any favor.
And he treats me as if I was dirt.
I know what lessons cost as well
as you do, and I'm ready to pay.
I won't give more than a schilling.
Take it or leave it.
It's almost irresistible.
She's so deliciously low.
So horribly dirty.
I'll take it.
I'll make a duchess
of this draggle-tailed guttersnipe.
I washed my face and hands
before I come, I did.
Eliza?
Where the devil are my slippers?