The 1964 Warner Brothers film My Fair Lady was an Academy Award winning blockbuster. The film’s memorable musical numbers included “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “The Rain in Spain”. Listen in to a few bars.
The musical film was based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. President of Warner Brothers Pictures, Jack Warner, had seen My Fair Lady performed on Broadway. He was so impressed with the stage performance that he insisted on bringing it to the big screen.
Jack Warner, himself, was the producer. He threw the whole of Warner Brothers creative power behind the production. It was a pricey endeavor – with an eye-popping budget of 17 million dollars.
The film starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower seller. Rex Harrison played opposite her as the intellectually snobbish linguistics professor Henry Higgins.
See the Frank McDonald papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.