Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 October 14

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October 14

Tombstone and Tom Mix

At the end of the Kurt Russell film Tombstone, the narration says that Earp died in 1929 and etc. It mentions that various film stars were his pall bearers. One that is mentioned is Tom Mix and it specifically points out that Mix wept. Our article points this out too. Is there some reason other than cultural stereotype that tough men don't cry? Did Mix say something in one of his films or some such about men not crying? Dismas|^(talk) 04:58, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

I've always assumed that it was mentioned in order to emphasize the degree of affection Earp engendered in the people he met and to imply that a particular closeness had developed between Mix and Earp. I doubt there are any readily available references for that, but I'll try to find something about it.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 05:27, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Where'd the idea of asking for a cop's badge number come from?

Seems fairly common for "wrongly" (or wrongly) arrested people to demand a cop's badge number, instead of a more naturally memorable name. Any idea where this started? I ask at this desk because I presume it was in some movie, book or TV show. InedibleHulk (talk) 13:29, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

They might lie about their name, but AFAIK all police display their number somewhere on their uniform in plain sight. A plain clothes copper would have it on their badge, which they should show you if requested. --TrogWoolley (talk) 15:00, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Was there a publicized case of a cop giving a false name that may have encouraged this? InedibleHulk (talk) 20:54, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Badge numbers are unique; names are not. - Eron^Talk 21:54, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Not entirely, but pretty close to it, within a department. Anyway, I'm not wondering about why it's done, just when it became the cool thing to demand. Even generally. Prohibition days? Hippie-bashing era? Rodney King? Infowars? InedibleHulk (talk) 22:16, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Not even pretty close to it. How many Officer Smiths are there in the 34,500 (uniformed) officer NYPD, for example? Names far more repeated than numbers. It's complicated because in many (most?) US police departments, lieutenants and above don't have badge numbers. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 22:26, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

I was assuming they'd want a first name, too. In extremely large departments, even that might not be enough. But this goes way further than New York or LA. Seems too large to have grown in a grassroots way. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:45, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

InedibleHulk, I'm surprised you don't remember the case of the G20 riots in Toronto, where there is at least an accusation that an officer gave a fake name: Lawyer sues police for unlawful G20 arrest Adam Bishop (talk) 21:11, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

I remember the riots, but not that part. Thanks. Though that doesn't explain why I'd seen the demands on Cops episodes as a kid. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:32, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

There may also be an element of protecting the cop. I'd imagine that if you were motivated to, it's much easier to track down Officer Val Johnson outside of the police system than Officer #24601 MChesterMC (talk) 08:44, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

Sure was. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:34, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

I was just going for a cheap Les Miserables pun... That's an odd coincidence! MChesterMC (talk) 12:58, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

I see a woman with that name on Twitter who was happy her friend was in town to watch the play, but that's it. Over my head here. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:32, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Similarly, when I was a lad my town's busses displayed the driver's name, and some drivers chose to be known by a number or as "Diane 210". —Tamfang (talk) 19:30, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

Music ID request

[I've moved this here from misc. μηδείς (talk) 20:24, 14 October 2014 (UTC)]

Can anyone tell me what the name of the background music/song is called in this (ignore the voices) ? 197.87.47.84 (talk) 15:31, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

Try playing or humming it into Midomi.com μηδείς (talk) 20:25, 14 October 2014 (UTC)