AND IT WASN'T KANSAS, TOTO

My eldest daughter, Alison, and the younger of her two daughters, Lindy, will spend Easter with us, which is always a delight. Alison loves to go to the theatre and particularly wants to see "Wicked", a highly successful theatrical musical twist on "The Wizard of Oz" story, recounting how the Wicked Witch of the West and her sister, later the Good Witch of the east, got that way.

"The Wizard of Oz" has always been a family favorite and it is truly one of the most innovative films every made, still in everybody's top ten of great films. Alison's two daughters, Ashlee and Lindy, always loved it. I remember, when Ashlee was six, sitting next to her on the couch watching one of the many TV revivals of the film and being amazed as she mouthed every word of dialogue by Dorothy. At six, mind you!

I secured the undying awe of my two granddaughters as little ones when I informed them that I once had lunch with The Wicked Witch of the West. Both sets of eyes got huge, and they looked at me in amazement. "Wow, Googoo (that's my grandfather name!), was she really mean? How did you meet her?"

My stepmother had a sister named Zamah Cunningham who was an actress in New York. She appeared, probably most successfully in a play called "Watch on the Rhine" starring Paul Lukas, who later won an Oscar in the movie version. Zamah was probably most recognized for frequently being on the Jackie Gleason show where she, as a fat lady, was the butt of many of his zany antics. I was in New York on business, and I liked Zamah and called her to have lunch. As it turned out, she was planning to have lunch with an old friend and actress named Maggie Hamilton and asked me to join them. Get the picture?

Maggie Hamilton played The wicked Witch of the west and achieved theatrical immortality. She also did other films and was frequently seen in Maxwell coffee commercials. She was a charming lady and the three of us had a wonderful lunch.

I scored a ton of Brownie points with my granddaughters in that little adventure!