The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., has announced an unusual bequest under which it will receive part of the proceeds from the musical and film rights of My Fair Lady, a beloved adaptation of one of Bernard Shaw's plays.

On Monday, the festival announced establishment of the Gabriel Pascal Memorial Fund in honour of the man who convinced Shaw to allow film and musical adaptations of his works.

Gabriel Pascal produced film versions of Shaw's Major Barbara and Pygmalion in 1938 and 1941. He also bought an option for the musical My Fair Lady in 1954. Pascal died that year at age 60, and the option, at that time without value, passed to his wife.

Two years later My Fair Lady opened on Broadway and in 1964 the film rights were sold, increasing the value of his portion to $2 million US.

Valerie Pascal Delacorte, who remarried after Pascal's death, has agreed to pass Pascal's portion of the rights to the Shaw Festival on her death.

The Shaw will receive the net profits of her share of the royalties from the motion picture, the stage play and the sound track of My Fair Lady as well as the films of Devil's Disciple, Major Barbara and Pygmalion, all based on Shaw's works.

Shaw Festival public relations director Odette Yazbeck estimates the bequest could amount to about $100,000 a year, depending on how often My Fair Lady is staged and whether new versions of the films are planned.

Delacorte has also conferred on the Shaw Festival the publication rights to her book, The Disciple and His Devil, which chronicles Pascal's life and his relationship with Shaw.