# ID the person in this painting, please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508 "2016-01-18T15:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/1 "2016-01-18T15:44:57Z")
We are just back from vacationing in St Martin. A Moroccan restaurant, _Le Marrakech_, in Marigot had paintings on the walls of iconic individuals each wearing a fez. It was fun naming the people. There was Obama, Bob Marley, Che Guevara, Salvador Dali, Julia Roberts, Marilyn Monroe, Gandhi, and a few others. Only one totally stumped us, as well as another American couple seated on cushions near us. [Little help?](http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv174/kayaker01/Le%20Marakesh_zpshjuijoxp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/2 "2016-01-18T16:24:00Z")
[Cantinflas](https://www.google.com/search?q=cantinflas&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicldSn47PKAhUKdD4KHSiACggQ_AUIBygB&biw=1600&bih=775)? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/3 "2016-01-18T16:59:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Cantinflas](https://www.google.com/search?q=cantinflas&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicldSn47PKAhUKdD4KHSiACggQ_AUIBygB&biw=1600&bih=775)? I dunno. All the others were dead-on obvious. Looking through the images I’m not seeing it… ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/4 "2016-01-18T17:19:40Z")
I can’t really tell if the intention was to have facial hair or not. Basquiat? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/5 "2016-01-18T17:30:01Z")
It might be the Moroccan-French actor [Roshdy Zem](http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=roschdy+zem). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/6 "2016-01-18T17:31:32Z")
Little Richard? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/7 "2016-01-18T17:35:57Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > It might be the Moroccan-French actor [Roshdy Zem](http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=roschdy+zem). Whoa. The brows seem to match. Also, we got the impression the dude was French. Our waiter (who spoke very little English) seemed shocked when we asked who it was. He never told us, but did say, “you’d know if you were French”. Never heard of Zem! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/8 "2016-01-18T17:43:33Z")
I don’t know, none of the photos of Zem show pointy eyebrows like that. Also the painting is rather androgynous looking compared to such a masculine face of the original. But I don’t have any other suggestions myself, if it is supposed to be someone famous in France. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/9 "2016-01-18T17:47:35Z")
Prince? ---
**Author:** ![Spiriting\_Lightly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Spiriting\_Lightly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiriting_Lightly)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/10 "2016-01-18T18:12:54Z")
Hi, **kayaker** : It might be [Josephine Baker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker), though I have yet to see pictures of her bedecked in fez and bowtie. In France, she’s an icon. If you go to Google Images and enter her name, you should see the resemblance; I’ve foregone that link because, as you can see if you clicked the one included, pictures of her are likely to walk you right into the NSFW Territories. I hope this gets you closer to an answer. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/11 "2016-01-18T18:21:23Z")
Josephine Baker doesn’t have the eyebrows but [Marcel Marceau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau) does; scroll down to the second picture. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/12 "2016-01-18T18:32:12Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Josephine Baker doesn’t have the eyebrows but [Marcel Marceau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau) does; scroll down to the second picture. Yup. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/13 "2016-01-18T18:38:55Z")
Wow. Each guess makes me say, “yeah, that must be it”. All the others were easy. Salvador Dali wearing a fez. Obama wearing a fez. Bob Marley wearing a fez. Che Guevara wearing a fez. Gandhi took a second, but the glasses gave him away. Their [webpage](https://marrakechsxm.wordpress.com/) has no email address! [I found another picture on Facebook!](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1083718201658920&set=p.1083718201658920&type=3&theater) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/14 "2016-01-18T18:50:05Z")
And I found an email addy. My French is limited to,“Comment allez-vous?” and “plus de vin , s’il vous plaît”, but I tried axing if the pic is Marcel. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/15 "2016-01-18T18:51:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > He never told us, but did say, “you’d know if you were French”. _"So_ not worth it." ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/16 "2016-01-18T19:09:11Z")
From the distance in the bigger picture (with Dali) it looks like Harpo Marx. He’s not French so much as mute! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/17 "2016-01-18T19:12:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Our waiter (who spoke very little English) seemed shocked when we asked who it was. He never told us, but did say, “you’d know if you were French”. So, Jerry Lewis, then. 😛 But seriously, if not for those lines that look like facial hair, I’d definitely say Josephine Baker. The “eyes rolled up” pose was not unusual for her. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/18 "2016-01-18T19:30:42Z")
I vote for Josephine Baker too. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8knjXUsniGI/hqdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8knjXUsniGI/hqdefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/19 "2016-01-18T20:26:16Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I vote for Josephine Baker too. > > [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8knjXUsniGI/hqdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8knjXUsniGI/hqdefault.jpg) I think I agree. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508/20 "2016-01-18T21:10:54Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > But seriously, if not for those lines that look like facial hair, I’d definitely say Josephine Baker. The “eyes rolled up” pose was not unusual for her. I think the lines that look like facial hair are actually facial creases, like on the forehead and neck, more shadow than hair. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-person-in-this-painting-please/743508.md?page=2)