Pygmalion's audiences in 1914 were both enthralled and scandalized by it. In addition to being a razor-sharp critique of the British class system and a declaration of Shaw's feminist beliefs, this fantastically funny retelling of the traditional story of the sculptor who falls in love with his ideal female statue. My Fair Lady, the musical version of one of Bernard Shaw's most well-known plays ''Pygmalion'', was a great sensation both on Broadway and in London and New York. An updated and extensively revised version of the Pygmalion and Galatea myth from ancient Greece, the 20th-century fable pokes fun at the antiquated British class system. In Shaw's skillful adaptation, Professor Henry Higgins, a linguist, accepts a bet that he can transform a clumsy cockney flower seller into an educated young woman by merely teaching her better speech and manners. While convincing society that his construct is a mysterious royal figure, the professor also falls in love with his attractive invention. Pygmalion, one of the most well-known comedies in the English language, blends Shaw's witty dialogue and great playwriting skills with the alluring idea of the developing butterfly. It continues to be regularly performed and forms the basis of college theater programs.
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish literary genius, he earned his name as prestigious dramatist, literary critic, socialist and political spokesman. He was born on 26 July 1856 Dublin, Ireland, youngest child of a middle class family. His father George Carr Shaw was a civil servant and a failed business man and his mother Lucinda Elizabeth Gurley Shaw was a singer. Due to his father's alcoholism family suffered a lot, his mother left the home with his sister and went London. Shaw studied at Wesleyan Connextional School, Dublin's Central Model School and Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. Due to poverty he first worked as a junior clerk, at the 15 years of age. In 1876, he visited London and lived with his mother and sister. He chose journalism and writing as his career. Through his comical and humorous plays, he mostly wrote on existing social issues and exploitation of the working middle class that he faced himself. He wrote 60 plays based on social themes. In 1925, for his work Pygmalion he got Nobel Prize for literature later for it's film adaptation he received Oscar Award. His notable world-class Pygmalion, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Candida, Arms and The Man, Saint Joan, Caesar and Cleopatra etc. At the age of 94, on 2 November 1950, George Bernard Shaw died.
