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Friday, April 15, 2011

My Fair Lady



A to Z Blogging Challenge: Movie Memories
Blogging about the movies that made an impact on my life


I love to play around with accents. When I was a teen, I adored watching the standup comedians who did impersonations and created funny characters (Rich Little, Jonathan Winters, Frank Gorshin, Lily Tomlin, etc.)

I also have the knack of mimicry and I especially liked impersonating singers: My specialties were Barbra Streisand (all the songs from Hello, Dolly!), Liza Minnelli (Cabaret) Judy Garland (Over the Rainbow) and Doris Day (Que Sera Sera). I still mimic dialects and accents. When I watch TV and movies, I try on the voices. Drives my family nuts.

My British and Cockney accents were inspired by My Fair Lady (1964). "Owww! Buy a flow'r off a poor girl, Cap'n?"

I love this movie. Hepburn was stunning! And the music was fabulous. I was in high school when I bought the album. I memorized every song and put on a one-woman show in the basement.

24 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading your post. I remember Frank Gorshin, he was (is) funny. Thank You.

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  2. Anthony: Gorshin is was hilarious back in the day. Perfect casting as the Riddler in the Batman TV series, too.

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  3. REally good. I love My Fair Lady. Watched it many, many times and went to theatre to see it for real once.

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  4. I've never seen My Fair Lady.
    And when I try to do a French accent, it ends up sounding Spanish! lol

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  5. Mum: My first time seeing it was at the theatre. In those days the screens were HUGE! It was really impressive.

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  6. Rae: LOL...my best accent is Italian. I actually studied French and Italian on my own with tapes and books. Never studied languages in school. As an actor, I enjoy creating characters with accents.

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  7. I love My Fair Lady! Great musical.

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  8. Hi, Marjorie: One of my fave tunes is "Show Me"...Eliza sings it to Freddy when she's running away from Higgins. Gorgeous dress!

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  9. I love the picture you paint! I love movies! Great choices, by the way.
    My daughter is into musicals now, so we are have a grand time~

    I'm a Taurus, too...
    Nice to meet you!

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  10. Now you made me want to see this again. I just love this movie! You always seem to know how to pick them.

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  11. Hi, Ella: YAY, TAURUS! Musicals are so much fun. I've loved them all my life.

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  12. Siv: Ya gotta see it. I'm watching it again, too. Actually, I've been going back and watching a lot of the movies I've blogged about.

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  13. I haven't seen My Fair Lady in ages, but remember enjoying it.

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  14. My Fair Lady is a classic for a reason. It's wonderful.

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  15. Goodness, I'm terrible with accents! Ah, this post brings back memories ;)

    Hugs,

    Rach

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  16. I can't impersonate singers, but I love doing accents. I've been able to use my New Yawk one on stage too. My kids don't seem to appreciate my accents though. I try to use them while reading them stories and my son just looks at me and says, "Mommy, just use your real voice." *sigh*

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  17. Liz: This movie always cheers me up. Thanks for stopping by.

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  18. Lynda: Isn't Audrey Hepburn gorgeous! Of course she didn't actually sing in the movie, but I didn't know that until years later...

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  19. Rachael: I have an actor friend who is amazing with accents! He totally blows me away. Our drama troupe is going to do a workshop soon and accents will be one of the topics.

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  20. Oh I love this movie! I watched it a lot when I was little and then didn't watch it for years. I was very excited recently when I discovered it on dvd :-)

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  21. You've found another I haven't seen! I'm obviously deficient in Movie Musicals! But I'll find some connection! And all I got is I got to meet Frank Gorshin once - he was very cool and signed my VHS of Batman the Movie (1966). Wow that was less than tenuous. So I'll just say I love Wilfred Hyde-White and pack it in! Cheers!

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  22. Alison: Even if your kids don't like your impersonations, do it anyway. It will become a childhood memory that they'll cherish forever. Thanks for stopping by. Happy blogging!

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  23. Rachel M: It's good to get reacquainted with old movies that we've loved. I'm going to watch it again...I still have it on VHS. I think I have one of the last known VHS players in the world.

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  24. Craig: That is so cool you got Frank Gorshin's autograph on your Batman tape. OMG! Speaking of impersonations, I'm currently working on a Joni Mitchell song parody. Trying to sing like Joni Mitchell is a challenge, but at least I can play the guitar. I'm thinking of doing a comedy video.

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