solaris 10 cron job won't run but will run fine from command line

Question

#!/bin/sh



#grab oldest file from queue

stuff=\`ls -1 /var/spool/lp/requests/localhost/ | /usr/bin/head -1\`

#pull printer name from lp requests (first line in file)

puff=\`cat $stuff | /usr/bin/head -1 | sed -e 's/-.*//' -e 's/$/ is having issues printing from /'\`



if [ "$(ls -A /var/spool/lp/requests/localhost/)" ]

then

        echo $puff | /usr/ucb/mail foo@bar.com
else

        echo lp queue is empty | /usr/ucb/mail foo@bar.com

fi

Works fine as a shell script; cron cannot cat $stuff

edit2: changed these 2, same result

stuff="(ls -1 /var/spool/lp/requests/localhost/ | /usr/bin/head -1)"
puff="$(cat $stuff | /usr/bin/head -1 | sed -e 's/-.*//' -e 's/$/ is having issues printing from /)"