Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
August 10, 1995
Here’s one of the best ideas ever. Bette Midler – back living in New York City where she belongs – is negotiating to make a-movie called “My Fair Larry.” According to a front-page story in the Hollywood Reporter, this will be a comedic update and reversal of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion, ” which became, of course, Broadway’s “My Fair Lady.” In “Larry,” Bette will play a new-style, man-hating version of the Henry Higgins role – following in the woman-hating footsteps of Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison. She’ll be a fashionable Donna Karantype tycoon who makes a bet that she can transform her blue-collar janitor into the ultimate gentleman. Eventually, she succeeds – and naturally, Bette and the janitor fall in love. The screenplay is by Nina Colman. Midler has made a deal with the new Sid Sheinberg company, which includes the former MCA president and his sons, Jon and Bill. Now, I ask you, doesn’t this “My Fair Larry” sound divine? Wait for it. Oh, and since Bette will play a “Donna Karan type,” one wonders why Barbra Streisand didn’t snatch it up. She’s the Donna Karan expert.
