“Dean’s hands were the size of ham hocks”

Again, an anecdote from Shirley Maclaine’s My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir [these quotes are from one of her 123 autobiographies, most of which I have read. What can I say. I’m a whore for a good theatrical actor anecdote, and her books are FULL of ’em. They’re full of spirit guides from the planet Vega and Native american wisdom, too – but that’s okay. Shirley’s Shirley. I’m in it for the anecdotes. Here’s more:]

Dean and Jerry were my primary education in spontaneous, Katzenjammer antics to let off steam, avoid ulcers, and touch the muse of comic insanity bubbling in each of us.

I observed the havoc Dean caused, however, by sometimes being funnier than his partner. Dean would come to work throwing away comedy lines that you could barely hear. When someone would say, “Huh?” he’d repeat it. A laugh would come, which he would top, then another laugh, then he’d top that until he was on a roll. Soon the entire set was engulfed in the more sophisticated, quirky, literal humor of Dean’s words, which revealed the peculiar slant he had on any given situation. His humor was not as physical as Jerry’s, although it could be – especially with his hands. Dean’s hands were the size of ham hocks, with fingers that curled inward. He had broken several fingers boxing and they were strong from working in the steel mills. His hands encompassed so much space that it was easy for him to palm cards when he was a blackjack dealer. He could deal from the middle, the bottom, or wherever, and never be detected. He entertained me between setups with sleight-of-hand card tricks. In between the tricks he’d lob in his funny lines as though he was testing new material. People would crowd closer so as not to miss any of his subtleties.