# How long before majority of people forget that Paul Newman was an actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234 "2015-09-22T20:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/141 "2015-09-24T15:07:17Z")
…which, incidentally, is very nice when grilled after an hour marinating in Newman’s Own olive oil vinaigrette. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/142 "2015-09-24T15:08:21Z")
But stay away from his salsa. Vile stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/143 "2015-09-24T15:09:54Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > NO! It’s a secret club! Our password is “swordfish.” Paul Newman’s legacy is dying a slow, painful death because of you. I hope you’re happy. I told my dad about this thread, and he said that at work the other day, he told a 30 something employee that what they had there was failure to communicate. Joke didn’t scan. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/144 "2015-09-24T15:13:14Z")
I know a few people who only know George Foreman as a manufacturer of quality grills. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/145 "2015-09-24T15:15:29Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Is the movie “Butch Cassidy” or is it “The Sting?” Because I’ve seen Butch Cassidy, and it wasn’t a joke that jumped out at me. If it’s “The Sting,” I’ve got that one lined up next to watch. I was going to watch it last night, but my sister and I decided to finish another Robert Redford classic, “All the President’s Men.” > > All I’m saying is, if you all think it’s important to keep the legacy of Paul Newman alive, perhaps you should be a little less smug and exclusive about it? Smug? Absolutely. Exclusive? No. The only barrier to entry is whether you choose to watch older movies or not. We encourage you to watch them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/146 "2015-09-24T15:28:05Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Paul Newman’s legacy is dying a slow, painful death because of you. I hope you’re happy. > > I told my dad about this thread, and he said that at work the other day, he told a 30 something employee that what they had there was failure to communicate. Joke didn’t scan. But did he say it with the proper accent? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/147 "2015-09-24T15:34:45Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > It occurred to me last night that I’ve never seen a Rudolph Valentino movie. > > I’ve seen parodies, reenactments, other actors PLAYING Valentino, and old clips from Valentino’s movies… but I have never seen a Valentino movie, despite knowing perfectly well who he is. > The same would be true of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle, and a variety of other silent comedians, if not for a film festival in college, and some extremely cheap videotapes. I know who all these guys WERE, of course, but you seldom see their movies broadcast any more, except on old film channels, and usually only late at night. > > Food for thought. Tons of silent stuff available on the Internet Archives as well as the aforementioned Roku and Apple TV channels. The curated channels are my pick because they make an effort to choose files with better video quality and such. [Pub-D-Hub](http://pubdhub.info/) has a pretty good selection of silent films…comedies…dramas…horror…science fiction. Not too many musicals, though. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/148 "2015-09-24T15:38:12Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Smug? Absolutely. Exclusive? No. The only barrier to entry is whether you choose to watch older movies or not. We encourage you to watch them. If you don’t tell people what movie you’re referencing, laugh at them for not being in the know, then refuse to tell them, saying that they need to go watch it (how?), then you’re being exclusive. And smug. It’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, by the way, for anyone else who didn’t know. I didn’t recognize it, because “Who are those guys?” isn’t nearly so memorable or funny as “You crazy? The fall will probably kill ya!” ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/149 "2015-09-24T15:41:22Z")
See? You’re growing already. Sometimes growth is painful. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/150 "2015-09-24T15:56:14Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > See? You’re growing already. Sometimes growth is painful. Are you quoting something, or are you just insufferable? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/151 "2015-09-24T16:07:39Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Are you quoting something, or are you just insufferable? Why can’t it be both? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/152 "2015-09-24T16:22:56Z")
\ ***Professor Snape:** That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Tell me, are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all? **Ron:** He’s got a point, you know. \* 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/153 "2015-09-24T17:01:37Z")
**small hen** – you asked a very interesting question. Too bad the thread has descended into–something else. The tone of some of these responses is really astonishing. xkcd gives another possible way of reacting: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a8/ten\_thousand.png](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a8/ten_thousand.png). To the question. As a data point, I’m in my fifties, and if you asked me what word or words I associated first with Paul Newman, I would not answer “movie star” or “Cool Hand Luke” or any word(s) dealing with his other acting credentials. I would answer “salad dressing” without hesitation. I’m pretty sure the same would be true of my wife. I mean, I know about Newman as an actor. But I am not a film buff, and he really doesn’t register on my radar screen. He’s in a jumble with Lee Marvin and Jack Lemmon and Steve McQueen and others from that era–“people who used to be in movies when I was younger.” What sets \*Newman \*apart, what makes his name familiar to me where Marvin’s and McQueen’s and Lemmon’s are not so much, is…well, salad dressing. So to answer **small hen** ’s question–I’d say it’s already happened. [Duncan Hines was a famous restaurant reviewer who wrote syndicated newspaper columns and popular travel books that outsold Michelin Guides. He was extremely famous in the forties and fifties. Now he’s a cake mix, and his prior career–his prior existence–has been largely forgotten. Not to say that Hines was as famous or influential as Newman before becoming a culinary item–but it shows what can happen as the generations fly by.] ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/154 "2015-09-24T18:06:24Z")
Shia WHO? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/155 "2015-09-24T18:18:47Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > I’ll bet if I went out and asked 50 people who Caravaggio was, or Rene Magritte, most people wouldn’t know. Doesn’t make those artists unimportant. One thing to remember is that for a rather large segment of the population, pop culture is the only sort of culture that they have, or are even exposed to. I mean, if someone has any knowledge of Renaissance artists beyond the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they’ve probably heard of Caravaggio, Botticelli, Titian and Brunelleschi. But if not, then they probably know of the big 4, primarily because of the kids’ show. Magritte… most people have probably seen “Son of Man”, even if they didn’t know that’s Magritte’s work, but knowing anything about his other work or other surrealists is more of an art buff kind of thing. Movies, music, etc… once a particular work goes beyond some kind of popular event horizon that seems to be defined by its relative popularity, it’s not necessarily forgotten, but goes more into the province of enthusiasts, and not the general public. Some art forms start out beyond that event horizon, and are never anything other than things for enthusiasts to enjoy. A LOT of musical and artistic genres are this way, as are quite a few indie films. Artists like Paul Newman are sort of approaching this event horizon, as a lot of their “primary” fans are getting on in years, and the next generation may be aware of him, but view him as an actor of films that their parents (or grandparents) watched. In another 20 years, Clooney and Pitt will be in the same boat, with most of their fans in their 60s and older. Film buffs will still watch their movies, and they’ll be historical actors whose stuff gets played on A&E and AMC. But the general public will be all worked up about whatever of today’s 20-something actors ends up filling their shoes in 2035. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/156 "2015-09-24T18:24:10Z")
I am also thinking that although I am aware of a HUGE number of classic novels, books, reference works, and classic, powerful, ICONIC films… …that when some people get home from work, they don’t WANT to do a research project to dig up classic entertainment. They wanna flip on the screen and maybe surf a menu. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/157 "2015-09-24T18:27:40Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Shia WHO? He’s just to the left of Cindy Lou during the serving of the roast beest scene. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/158 "2015-09-24T18:29:58Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I am also thinking that although I am aware of a HUGE number of classic novels, books, reference works, and classic, powerful, ICONIC films… > > …that when some people get home from work, they don’t WANT to do a research project to dig up classic entertainment. They wanna flip on the screen and maybe surf a menu. [Surf’s up!](https://pubdhub.info/mobile/#basiccats) ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/159 "2015-09-24T19:42:28Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > **small hen** – you asked a very interesting question. Too bad the thread has descended into–something else. The tone of some of these responses is really astonishing. xkcd gives another possible way of reacting: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a8/ten\_thousand.png](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a8/ten_thousand.png). > > To the question. As a data point, I’m in my fifties, and if you asked me what word or words I associated first with Paul Newman, I would not answer “movie star” or “Cool Hand Luke” or any word(s) dealing with his other acting credentials. I would answer “salad dressing” without hesitation. I’m pretty sure the same would be true of my wife. > > I mean, I know about Newman as an actor. But I am not a film buff, and he really doesn’t register on my radar screen. He’s in a jumble with Lee Marvin and Jack Lemmon and Steve McQueen and others from that era–“people who used to be in movies when I was younger.” What sets \*Newman \*apart, what makes his name familiar to me where Marvin’s and McQueen’s and Lemmon’s are not so much, is…well, salad dressing. > > So to answer **small hen** ’s question–I’d say it’s already happened. > > [Duncan Hines was a famous restaurant reviewer who wrote syndicated newspaper columns and popular travel books that outsold Michelin Guides. He was extremely famous in the forties and fifties. Now he’s a cake mix, and his prior career–his prior existence–has been largely forgotten. Not to say that Hines was as famous or influential as Newman before becoming a culinary item–but it shows what can happen as the generations fly by.] Thank you for a straight response. Funny that you already associate him with food, since you’d have been right about in the correct age group to be a fan when he was really popular - I still think of him as a movie star, but my father was always a fan of his. Strange enough, I don’t think I saw any of his movies growing up, though. Did not know that about Duncan Hines. It’s actually kinda weird when you think about it - I tend to forget that most “logo people” were probably real guys. Lee Marvin’s another guy I don’t know. IIRC, he’s always drunk and violent, but that’s all I know about him. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234/160 "2015-09-24T21:15:59Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Smug? Absolutely. Exclusive? No. The only barrier to entry is whether you choose to watch older movies or not. We encourage you to watch them. What baffles me is that **Small Hen** started the thread with “The other day, I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…”. Was the other day a few decades ago? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-majority-of-people-forget-that-paul-newman-was-an-actor/732234.md?page=9)