A young talented actor was told that to make his way in Hollywood he would need to get himself an agent. He sought the advice of the acting schools staff and they told him that Moshe Zimmerman was an excellent agent and told him to try to get Moshe to represent him.

He duly wrote to Moshe asking him to be his agent. In reply Moshe sent by mail a scene from a stage play, told him to learn the lines and be prepared to audition in seven days time. The audition was not for an actual part but for Moshe to assess his talent and to decide whether he would agree to be the young actors’ agent.

The young actor duly, memorised the script and turned up on time and performed his audition. Moshe was extremely impressed and agreed to act as his agent. The first question to the young actor was, “What is your name”, the young actor replied, “My name is Penis Van Lesbian”. Moshe held back a smile but said, “Well the first thing we must do is change your name”. The young actor refused saying,”I was born Penis Van Lesbian and I will die Penis Van Lesbian”. Moshe was stunned, he tried to reason with the actor saying, “I realise that you must be of Dutch extraction and I am sure that in Holland Penis and Lesbian do not have the same meaning as they do in an English speaking Nation, I am afraid that Producers and directors will not hire you as they will not show such a name on their screen credits or advertising posters”.

The young actor still insisted he would not allow his name to be changed and he left Moshe’s office without an agent, saying, “I will find an agent who will represent me without me having to change my name”. As he was leaving Moshe said, "I will give you a piece of free advice, change your name and you will do very well".

Time passed and 3 years later a letter arrived addressed to Moshe Zimmerman, It was a letter from the young actor he had turned down those three long years ago.

This is a copy of that letter

Dear Moshe

Three years ago you refused to act as my agent and you cited the reason to be that I would not change the name that I was born with. Well for almost two years I tried and tried to find an agent and work without success. I then remembered your advice which was to change my name. The purpose of this letter is to thank you from the bottom of my heart because having decided to change my name from Penis Van Lesbian, work began to roll in for me and all the critics say that I will soon be a big, big star and all thanks to you.
Once again thank you very much for your advice

Yours Sincerely
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Dick Van Dyke