WILL THE REAL . . .

The man on the left is George Gershwin. The man on the right is . . . Lainie Kazan. She’s made up to look like the composer for the upcoming “Gershwin’s Trunk” episode of Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories.” Kazan plays a psychic through whom Gershwin’s spirit returns to deliver his unpublished songs--in this case they are actually new songs written by composer John Meyer to parody the style of George and (lyricist) Ira Gershwin.

Kazan said it was director Paul Bartel who thought she could pull off the look-alike role. “He called and said he had this great idea. . . .”

Kazan said that makeup artist Michael Westmore (“Mask”) created the effect that was enough to “shock myself while looking in the mirror.”

Daughter Jennifer came on the set once and “nearly freaked” when she could hear her mother’s voice but not find her.

Perhaps the line from the Gershwins’ “Fascinating Rhythm” was more personally prescient than anyone could guess: “Oh, how I long to be the man I used to be. . . .”