The first movie Lawrence Wolff remembers seeing was “The Sound of Music.”

It was a class trip from Our Lady of Peace Elementary School to a movie theater in Lynbrook. Wolff was 8 or 9 at the time.

Then Wolff got hooked on comedy teams like Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges. Then he fell in love with gangster movies and horror films.

“They were all in my wheelhouse,” Wolff said.

Fast forward 60 years and a lot of movies later.

Wolff, 68, and retired from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, is one of Long Island’s top experts on film and television history.

The Islip resident lectures regularly at libraries and to private groups across Long Island on topics ranging from “Casablanca” to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

He’s been lecturing about movies and TV for almost 20 years.

At a recent appearance at the Northport Public Library, Wolff spent a fun 90 minutes tracing the history of “The Odd Couple,” from a Broadway play starring Art Carney and Walter Mattheu, to a movie starring Mattheu and Jack Lemmon, to a TV show starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.

Wolff brought along film and TV clips, memorabilia and plenty of backstage stories, including the fact that playwright Neil Simon wanted Mattheu to play sloppy sportswriter Oscar but Mattheu instead wanted to play the fastidious Felix. 

Standing up in front of an audience is second nature to Wolff.

He used to write and perform murder mystery shows and has acted in community theater.

“If you open two slices of bread, I’m the ham in the middle,” he joked.

Wolff has a repertoire of about 60 lecture topics. “Casablanca” and Abbott and Costello are among the most requested.

It takes him several months to develop a new lecture. He added several this year, including talks on “Airplane,” “The Odd Couple” and Jackie Gleason.

“My favorite show is the one where I’m standing in front of people talking,” he said.

When Wolff gives a talk, he dresses the part, complete with a hat—a bowler for his Charlie Chaplin lecture or a short-brimmed trilby for a lecture on Jimmy Cagney—and a tie to fit the occasion.

Wolff has two appearances coming up at Islip-area libraries.

On Thursday, June 20 at 7 p.m., he’ll be speaking about the comedy “Airplane” at the West Islip Public Library. And on Monday, June 24 at 2 p.m., he’ll be talking about the Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman classic “Casablanca” at the East Islip Public Library.