WFUV (Fordham University) just broadcast an episode of the Leo Reisman show. He was a big band leader, and the show (a radio show, of course) was known by its sponsor, Schafer beer. Bert Lahr was the guest. I was amazed. If you're like me, you grew up on the annual TV showings of the WIZARD OF OZ so that you can recite the dialogue by heart. But I never realized that Lahr's performance was a compendium of his comedy skits, his "shtick." In this radio show (which was a transcription from a 1937 show -- two years prior to the WIZARD) there was a skit about a man trying to fall asleep but unable to do so because of ambient noise. The thing about counting sheep, the phrase "ain't it the truth" and come to think of it, nearly half of what he says in the film has a similar sound (if not literal) in this radio show. Even when Lahr was plugging Schafer beer there were all sorts of off-the-cuff remarks that eventually would show up in the WIZARD. Very intersting. Bob Kosovsky Graduate Center -- Ph.D. Program in Music / City University of New York New York Public Library -- Music Division bitnet: [log in to unmask] internet: [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions.