Pygmalion (play) Pygmalion (play) Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological figure. It was first presented on stage to the public in 1913. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era English playwrights, including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story called "Pygmalion and Galatea" that was first presented in 1871. Shaw would also have been familiar with the burlesque version, "Galatea, or Pygmalion
Pygmalion and Galatea (1898 film) Galatea to bewilder a drawing instructor; and "Ten Ladies in One Umbrella" (1903), in which a Pygmalion-like Méliès conjures up women in front of a sign labeled "Galathea Theater". The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 156 in its catalogues. It was presumed lost until 1993, when a print was found in an attic in Barcelona. François de la Bretèque described the film as "a metaphor on the image-maker, in other words the film-maker: the one who tries to give life to the simulacra engendered by his imagination". Allison de Fren highlighted the implicit drama