At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, was adapted by and from the comedy . Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle ( ) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins ( ). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering ( ) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after wisely turned down the movie job, and as Eliza's dustman father. originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by , who also dubbed in (1961). Andrews instead made , for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals.