Bronze Mold of Phyllis Diller’s Hand: Museum Object and Cultural History
Bronze Mold of Phyllis Diller’s Hand: Object Name: Sculpture. Physical Description: metal (overall material). Physical Description: bronze (overall material).
The object in the museum catalogue
This statue is a bronze mold of Phyllis Diller’s right hand. The hand is outstretched as if to play the piano. Diller, while known for her stand-up comedy, was also an accomplished pianist. After graduating high school, Diller studied piano for three years at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music (at Columbia College Chicago), but eventually decided against a career in music. From 1971 to 1982 Diller performed with over 100 symphony orchestras across the United States and Canada in a show called The Symphonic Phyllis Diller. During these performances she would seriously perform pieces by Beethoven, Bach, and others as a solo pianist with an orchestra while integrating comedic elements.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Object Name: Sculpture
- Physical Description: metal (overall material)
- Physical Description: bronze (overall material)
- Physical Description: acrylic (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 3 1/2 in x 10 in x 7 1/2 in; 8.89 cm x 25.4 cm x 19.05 cm
- Subject: Humor
- Subject: Comedians
- Subject: Music
- ID Number: 2003.0289.17
- accession number: 2003.0289
- catalog number: 2003.0289.17
- Credit Line: Gift of Phyllis Diller
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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