After the loss of his elder brother to cancer and then his mother, he became agnostic. ???The House of God never had much appeal for me???, he stated. ???Anyhow, I found a substitute temple???the theater.??? The young Harburg scraped together his dimes and quarters to watch performers such as Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Ed Wynn and Bert Lahr (who later rose to fame by singing Harburg???s lyrics to ???