Linda Lusardi's Very Special Birthday Present

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“But Philip already told it on your This is Your Life,” says Sam. “Oh, yes. I suppose that's all right then. “Well, Philip had just come from doing some really heavy Shakespearean play, and at the first day of rehearsal for Pygmalion he knew every single line. I was worried, and I said to the director, 'But I don't know it yet'. He told me that was all right, and that I shouldn't know it because he wanted to work through it with me. He told me not to worry, but I sat at home really concerned that Philip knew it and I didn't. “I found out later that most people don't know their full part at the first day of rehearsal. They have an idea of it, but they mostly learn as they work through the two weeks of rehearsal.

“Anyway, we opened, and I was sure that the press were coming along to rip me to pieces as it was the first time I'd done any serious acting. Well, in the second half there's a scene after Eliza has run away from the ball. Higgins goes to his mother to tell her that Eliza bolted, and she tells him that she's not surprised considering how he spoke to Eliza.

waiting in the wings

“Well, I was waiting in the wings watching, even though I wasn't due back on for a few minutes. Anyway, when Philip said that Eliza had bolted, his mother delivered the line about not being surprised and then he just stood there. He saw me and rushed over to the wing saying, 'What's my next line?', so I told him. He went back on and said the line, then she said her next line - and then Philip ran over again and said 'What's my next line?'. I told him what I thought it was, and he said, 'That's not right. That's not this play. Get my script'. So I ran to the dressing room and got his script, and when I got back he was standing at the side of the stage.

The lady playing his mother was sitting at the writing desk on the stage waiting and the director was calling to her, asking if she was all right, and she was saying, 'I'm perfectly all right, just carry on'. Well, I gave Philip his script and then he was going, 'My glasses, my glasses!' “ Linda laughs. “I went and got his glasses, and for a while it was as if he'd never seen the play before in his life. He read the rest of the play from the script with his glasses on.

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