'WELL, NOBODY'S perfect!" opines Joe E. Brown in the Billy Wilder-I.A.L. Diamond movie "Some Like It Hot," after his "girlfriend," played by Jack Lemmon, advises him that she, Daphne, is a he.

     And now the equally legendary Tony Curtis of the same famous movie will get to say these lines onstage in the coming musical comedy of the same name as he takes over the Joe E. Brown role of Osgood Fielding III.

     If you haven't been under a rock or you didn't utterly fail Celebrity 101, you know Tony Curtis played a younger role in the 1959 hit film. Along with Lemmon, he was a musician who had unwittingly seen the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929 Chicago. These guys fled to Florida to escape the mob's vengeance. Disguised as girls, the rest became history - plus, there was Marilyn Monroe.

     Curtis was already a major movie star when he made the movie. Now he'll star again in the stage property from one of his best films.

     The musical comedy launches its tour of 50 cities June 4 at Houston's new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The show boasts a book by Peter Stone, music and lyrics by the late Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Diane Masters and Jeffrey Spolan are the producers, with James Leonard Joy doing scenery and Suzy Bensinger costumes.

     Naturally, everyone hopes for a big hit this time around. When they tried to launch this show as a musical called "Sugar," back in 1972, it wasn't quite sweet enough. But if this new version makes it to Broadway, we can expect to see the great Billy Wilder in the opening night audience, just as he was for his last movie-turned-musical, "Sunset Boulevard."