Vaudeville comedian Bert Lahr devoted most of his six decade career to portraying hapless, reckless, and uproariously funny characters who came to life through the contortions of his "India rubber face" and his exaggerated pantomime. The undisputed "King of Burlesque" transformed quizzical mimicry to an art form; he preferred the vaudeville stage to both the cinema and serious theater. It is therefore one of the great ironies of American entertainment that Lahr is best remembered for two roles outside his preferred medium. As The Cowardly Lion in the musical film The Wizard of Oz (1939), he has captivated generations with his humble search to become the courageous "King of the Forest." In Samuel Beckett's enigmatic drama Waiting for Godot (1956), Lahr, as the tatterdemalion Estragon—in the words of theater critic Brooks Atkinson—seemed "to stand for all the stumbling, bewildered people of the earth who...