# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 223
**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:** [April 3, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4441 "2026-04-03T13:54:18Z")
Dooley Wilson - Sam in _Casablanca_ - got his stage name because he started out performing an act (in whiteface) as Mr. Dooley, a fictional Irish saloon keeper of 1890s Chicago who was known for his satirical commentary on then-current events. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4442 "2026-04-03T14:02:26Z")
And this is the first I’ve heard of actors performing in whiteface. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4443 "2026-04-03T14:07:56Z")
> **[Arkansas Highway Police Seize $16 Million Worth of Marijuana During Safety...](https://ardot.gov/news/arkansas-highway-police-seize-16-million-worth-of-marijuana-during-safety-inspection/)** > > ALL COUNTIES | February 11, 2025 Officers from the Arkansas Highway Police (AHP) Division of the Arkansas Department of Transportation uncovered a shipment of illegal marijuana in a commercial motor vehicle during a safety inspection along Interstate... With marijuana being [decriminalized](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/metro-atlanta-city-decriminalizes-marijuana-possession-need-to-know/85-e7b288bd-bfd4-4c18-89ae-f03d845c04a0) in [Atlanta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxDC7Rhpphs) maybe it’s time for a _Smokey and the Bandit_ remake with weed instead of beer? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4444 "2026-04-03T18:54:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And this is the first I’ve heard of actors performing in whiteface Never saw **White Chicks?** > **[White Chicks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Chicks)** > > White Chicks is a 2004 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay co-written by Wayans, Andy McElfresh, Michael Anthony Snowden, with additional contributions by and starring Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans. It also stars Jaime King, Frankie Faison, Lochlyn Munro, and John Heard. In the film, two black FBI agent brothers go undercover as white women by using whiteface to protect two hotel heiresses from a kidnapping plot targeting socialites. > Princi... or Eddie Murphy as Saul in **Coming to America** > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3jx4WIUYy4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3jx4WIUYy4) Or Godfrey Cambridge in **Watermelon Man** I could recite those off the top of my head, but Wikipedia has a page on it, that includes Dooley Wilson > **[Whiteface (performance)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteface_(performance))** > > Whiteface is a type of performance in which a person of color uses makeup in order to appear fair-skinned. The term is a reversal of the form of performance known as blackface, in which makeup was used by a performer to make themselves look like a black person, usually to portray a stereotype. Whiteface performances originated in the 19th century, and today still occasionally appear in films. Modern usages of whiteface can be contrasted with blackface in contemporary art. > The earliest use of the... ---
**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:** [April 3, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4445 "2026-04-03T19:14:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And this is the first I’ve heard of actors performing in whiteface. In addition to the examples given, the play _[Day of Absence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Absence)_[by Douglas Turner Ward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Absence) is traditionally played by an all-black cast in whiteface. It’s a scathing satire on racial stereotypes in the US. The original off-Broadway cast included Moses Gunn, Robert Hooks, Billy Dee Williams, and Esther Rolle. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4446 "2026-04-03T19:17:09Z")
In the Our Gang short [Ye Olde Minstrels (1941)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034406/reference/?ref_=fn_t_1), the cast suddenly turns from “normal” to blackface. . . except Buckwheat, who is seen in one quick shot reacting in shock that he’s now White. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4447 "2026-04-03T19:18:50Z")
Eddie Murphy did a whiteface sketch for Saturday Night Live [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/l_LeJfn_qW0/maxresdefault.jpg "White Like Me - SNL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LeJfn_qW0) ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4448 "2026-04-03T19:32:05Z")
While he was a college student actor Chevy Chase played drums in a band called The Leather Canary. The band never recorded anything, but two of its other members, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, went on to form Steely Dan. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4449 "2026-04-03T21:33:29Z")
Jim Bowie’s gun in “The Alamo” (1960) was the seven-barrelled [Nock Volley Gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nock_gun). When fired, all seven barrels shot. Actually used by the British navy, but for most of that movie’s history, who was gonna know? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4450 "2026-04-03T23:28:38Z")
Eddie Murphy’s memorable _White Like Me_ sketch was written by Andy Breckman, who would later create the TV show _Monk_. It is similar to a season 1 sketch, 8 years earlier, in which Richard Pryor plays an author describing his book _White Like Me_ and talks about going undercover as a white man, although I don’t think he actually appears in whiteface in the sketch. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4451 "2026-04-04T00:00:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Never saw **White Chicks?** No, so I may be wrong but I thought they used whole masks rather than makeup. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4452 "2026-04-04T02:03:33Z")
The notorious “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” blackface skit (Australia, 2009), was a whiteface skit – Michael Jackson was played by a light-brown man in whiteface. [Hey Hey red-faced over blackface skit - ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-10-08/hey-hey-red-faced-over-blackface-skit/1094878) That was a bit edgy, but only because you don’t make fun of the dead. The international reaction came as a surprise to Australia - at the time there was a lesser awareness of American shiboleths. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4453 "2026-04-04T18:40:01Z")
in Jean Genet’s play, “The Blacks”, he had Black actors wear white masks; and in Baraka’s play, “A Black Mass”, Black actors did likewise ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4454 "2026-04-05T12:14:41Z")
In the Bible, there is only one Salome mentioned: in Mark 16–she was one of 3 women visiting Jesus tomb; the daughter of Herodias who danced the 7 veils is unnamed, Don’t know who or when she was called that ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4455 "2026-04-05T14:33:28Z")
Of course, there might be other references to a daughter of Herod named Salome. And it’s quite possible there were multiple women named that-- Just how many Marys were there in the New Testament? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4456 "2026-04-05T19:10:40Z")
The historian Josephus names Salome as Herod 's daughter, and briefly notes the execution of John the Baptist. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4457 "2026-04-05T20:40:12Z")
While Harpo Marx never spoke in any of his talking pictures, he did have dialog in an early silent film role in the film _Too Many Kisses._ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l4d2vBhn2Ws/hqdefault.jpg "Harpo Marx in "Too Many Kisses" (1925)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4d2vBhn2Ws) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4458 "2026-04-05T20:48:50Z")
Today I learned that the one-hit wonder band Breakfast Club [(“Right On Track”)](https://youtu.be/1rgDAgh58u0?si=NdAhtwO8EgDoTB_W) had, at one point, a female drummer. She left the band because she wanted to be the frontwoman. According to her, she left the band after being told that she was all flash and no talent. That woman later pursued a solo career, and [seems to have done okay for herself.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna?wprov=sfti1) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4459 "2026-04-05T23:30:11Z")
Her talent was flash. It takes a lot of skill to be as flashy as her. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4460 "2026-04-06T00:29:08Z")
A few recordings of Harpo’s voice do exist. Four are available on this YouTube compilation. He had a nondescript voice and some people have complained that hearing him speak hurts his image in their heads, so click at your own risk. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oiatjttPdwE/hqdefault.jpg "harpo marxs real voice, 4 recordings!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiatjttPdwE) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=222) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=224)