Marcel Marceau would have been 100 today. But I’m not going to say anything about it. (He was a mime. Get it?)
Except I will:
In 1970, an album was released by MGM Records called “The Best of Marcel Marceao” [sic]. Whether this was a typo or a legal dodge is anybody’s guess. Both sides of the record consist of 19 minutes of silence followed by audience applause. Here’s my favorite bit:
Michael Jackson, a longtime admirer, acknowledged Marceau as an influence on his own gracefully-executed moves. Would Jackson ever have moonwalked without Marceau? The two had been scheduled to appear together in a concert for HBO, but the event was cancelled after Jackson was hospitalized for exhaustion.
Marceau may have performed in silence, but he was not totally without ears. A number of his routines were executed to music, included “La création du monde,” which he mimed to the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 (not Milhaud). Later, at Morceau’s request, the piece was played at his funeral, along with the Sarabande from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5.
Skating to Emile Waldteufel:
Marceau was a worldwide celebrity, who appeared as a guest on “The Red Skelton Hour,” “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” “Flip” (with Flip Wilson), “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” “The Dick Cavett Show,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Mike Douglas Show,” and many others. One of his most bizarre film appearances was in the cult classic “Barbarella” (in which he does not mime). He also appeared in “Paganini” with Klaus Kinski.
Marceau “walking against the wind” in Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie”:
At five, Marceau’s mother took him to see a Charlie Chaplin film. It determined the course of his life.
At 17, during the Nazi occupation of France, Marceau, who was Jewish (his birth name was Mangel, but he adopted Marceau in tribute to a general in the French Revolution), joined the Resistance and assisted in rescuing thousands. He was unable to save his father, however, who was killed at Auschwitz.
With the liberation of Paris, Marceau joined the French army. Because of his fluency in English and German, he acted as a liaison officer with Patton’s Third Army.
After the war, Marceau pursued a career in theater. In 1947, he created his trademark Bip the Clown.
Marceau was the recipient of many honors in his native land. In the U.S., he was awarded a Primetime Emmy and bestowed with honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning – including Princeton University.
In all, he enthralled audiences for 60 years.
Joyeux 100e anniversaire, Marcel Marceau!
To Bach: “Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death”
PHOTOS: Marceau with Victor Borge in 1963
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