My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady (1964)

4 corrected entries

(2 votes)

Corrected entry: Prof. Higgins, a world-renowned expert on the English language, makes three grammar/usage errors that would flunk him out of any 9th-grade English class. First: The song "Why Can't the English" contains the line, "By rights they should be taken out and hung . . . " (Pictures are hung; people are hanged.) Second: In "Let a Woman in Your Life," he sings, "I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling than to ever let a woman in my life." ("Equally as" is redundant, "to ever let" is a split infinitive and "than" should be "as." ) Shudder.

Correction: These "errors" are in songs. Allowances are made in the English language for the demands of verse.

J I Cohen

Correction: Audrey Hepburn's voice was not dubbed 100% by Marni Nixon. Apparently, Hepburn sang the recitatives (that is, the 'half-spoken'stuff), most of 'Just you wait, 'enri Higgins, just you wait', and the beginnings of most - if not all - the songs. A close listen to the movie on screen and the movie soundtrack itself, should reveal most of the above.

Corrected entry: The lines "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" do not rhyme as "Z" is only called "zee" in the U.S. (Alan Jay Lerner, the lyricist, was of course American.)

CC

Correction: The line about the French is an observational aside, completely out of the rhythm of the song, as such it doesn't matter whether it rhymes or not (since it doesn't scan anyway).

The lyric is "knows his language from A to Zed."

Corrected entry: When Professor Higgins has turned on three of his recordings to a speed that makes them sound like the chipmunks, it takes three separate switches - one on each - to turn them on, but he only flicks the third switch a second time to stop them all. (The other two aren't anywhere in reach at the time.).

Correction: Ever heard of a master-switch?

Deliberate mistake: When Eliza is about to be bathed, the mirror keeps turning around between shots to avoid reflecting the filming crew.

Sacha

More mistakes in My Fair Lady

Eliza Doolittle: I ain't dirty! I washed my face and hands before I come, I did.

More quotes from My Fair Lady

Trivia: In the 40th anniversary re-mastered edition they have used Audrey Hepburn's original singing track for the "Wouldn't it be lovely" song.

More trivia for My Fair Lady

Question: Higgins presumably knows about the ball's high standards of dress for men and women. Why then is he the only man there who is not wearing white gloves (which are routine for such occasions)?

Answer: Higgins is eccentric and a bit anti-social. He does not always follow social norms and protocol. He somewhat enjoys upsetting his snobbish peers, as well as his mother. He's also highly focused in the moment on passing off Eliza as a high-society lady.

raywest

More questions & answers from My Fair Lady

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