What’s funny in that scene (and it’s not in the play, but it could be the movie PYGMALION—I can’t recall) is Higgins and Pickering are munching away on the sweets while Eliza looks on hungrily, and Pickering says, “Oh, and have you tried the plain cake?” Only he says “pline,” adopting Eliza’s accent. They all stop, horrified. Then Higgins says, “Now try it again.” to Eliza....only Pickering obediently starts, “Have you tried...” and Higgins roars at him, “Pickering!” Now that’s funnier than Eliza howling over the tarts being fed to the canary.
I’m finding the timing of this thread very interesting, as I’m currently writing a short story in which a certain Irascible Professor of Phonetics and his friend the Colonel are in 1924 London, encountering the Bright Young Things, a cameo appearance of Bertie Wooster (unnamed, but fans of Plum will recognize him and the Green Swizzle), and two odd visitors who claim to be from South Carolina, but whose accent is....troubling.
Laura |
