Little Bonaparte.
Fun Fact: Wilder wanted Edward G Robinson for the role, but he refused. He had worked with George Raft on another movie (I don’t remember which), and the two men hated each other’s guts. (This is according to Tony Curtis’s autobiography.)
Persoff also played Jake Guzik in The Untouchables. He made a great, great gangster!
Interesting!
That was some great casting for that movie. How about Spats’ henchman and his “mashie” line. Another good one.
Mike Mazurki. Another guy born to play a gangster.
I saw this movie (a rather odd Cold War thriller) on late-night TV not too long ago. It must be the picture Curtis was referring to:
Mazurki has been in a lot of movies, hasn’t he? I recognized him right away, but I don’t know which movies he was in. Did he ever play anything but gangsters or bad guys?
Tony Curtis? Did he say something in SLIH or in real life?
I remember him fer sure from the Bowery Boys.
The reference to Raft and Robinson is in Tony’s autobiography:
Oh geez! Was it Mazurki who said the “mashie” line in SLIH? The mashie guy seemed heavier set than Mazurki.
You’re right; he was standing next to Mazurki.
Okay.
It was this guy:
Yes, that’s the mashie guy.
Here is my favorite Mazurki line from SLIH.
Spats’ Henchman : Excuse me, ain’t I had the pleasure of meetin’ you two broads before? Jerry : Oh, no. You must be thinking of two other broads.
I must have gotten my henchmen mixed up.
Somehow or other the connotations of this line went over my head when I was four: 
Oddly enough, it goes all the way back to 1860, but in a completely different context:
I guess my mind is dirtier than Lincoln’s was. 
Yeah, that happens to me all the time. 
Funny 
I’ve worked at many bars and restaurants, even a bowling alley in my town. I’ve also frequented many bars and restaurants in my town with family and friends. Guys were always coming up to me asking where they knew me from. We would start naming bars and restaurants until we figured it out. I’m sure some guys just wanted to chat me up.
One time my sister and I were at a bar and this guy came up and asked if we worked at or frequented such and such bar. I said no and named a few of the places he might have known me from. We never figured it out and he walked away. After he did, I leaned over and said to my sister, “He must be thinking of two other broads.” A totally different guy who heard our exchange said to me, “You ever been to Chicago?”
Another movie buff, obviously! 
Yes. I was speechless…for a second. My sister and I quote movie stuff all the time, not just from SLIH. I think that was the only time someone else chimed in with the perfect quote at the perfect time.
I’m also a Dick van Dyke fan:
Me too! Watched that show all the time. Loved him in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins. Do you mind if I ask how old you are?
Don’t toy with me you saucy wench. I love it!
I wish I could say I got it from that show.