The Theater: Old Play in Manhattan, Jan. 7, 1946

Pygmalion (by George Bernard Shaw; produced by Theatre Inc.) still holds up, after 33 years, as one of Shaw’s most actable and entertaining plays. One reason may be that it contains almost nothing to weigh it down. It is Shaw on a holiday. His account of how a phonetics expert transforms a Cockney flower girl into the likes of a duchess is first & foremost good fun. It is a highly satirical, wryly Shavian fairy tale—but a fairy tale for all that.

Only the practical G.B.S. would think of raising an Eliza Doolittle out of the gutter by correcting her gutturals. Only the paradoxical G.B.S. would suggest how much more insecure she is when bediamonded than when she was bedraggled. Only the perverse G.B.S. would select a gruff, self-centered, confirmed-bachelor of a phonetics professor for a fairy prince. But even Shaw leaves the door open for a fairy-tale ending.

Shaw having fun means, sooner or later, Shaw having fun at society’s expense. Pygmalion rags aristocratic pretensions by showing how easily aristocrats can be manufactured; it whacks away at middle-class morality, which would forbid all pleasure to the poor. But the satire in Pygmalion has worn less well than the comedy. Much the funniest scene in the play is Eliza’s first appearance in society: with the purest, pear-shaped tones and impeccable enunciation, she recounts the horrendous yarn of how her gin-swilling aunt was “done in.”

The present production is a charming one to look at, a fairly good one to sit through. Raymond Massey is a little too heavy as the professor, Melville Cooper a little too broad as Eliza’s drinking dustman of a father. But Gertrude Lawrence as Eliza, if not quite pathetic enough in her serious scenes, shows enormous vivacity in her comedy ones. Between them, she and Shaw provide a merry evening.

Landing successfully on Broadway with its first try, Theatre Inc. has long-range plans for staying there. These include a nonprofit repertory theater that will stage both new plays and revivals, an experimental theater that will serve as a “showcase” for new talent, and a children’s theater. The repertory theater will have its own acting company, but will hire special guest stars for each production. Managing Director of Theatre Inc. is Actress Lawrence’s husband, Producer Richard Aldrich (Margin for Error, My Dear Children).

When Theatre Inc. decided to lead off with Pygmalion, it sent Shaw a long, frilly, “feminine” cable chirping about its high ideals and asking that Shaw waive royalties because Theatre Inc. was waiving profits. Shaw replied: “Am friendly, but please stop cabling and get some businesslike person to negotiate by letter.”