Marcel Marceau was a giant of an underappreciated art form
Born 100 years ago, the mime artist understood the eloquence of silence
Say “mime” and the name that comes to mind is Marcel Marceau. Despite a long history that embraces Greek tragedy and Roman farce, it is a much-derided form of art. Its silent exponents, clowns you can’t hear coming, are the butt of a memorably dismissive sketch by Gary Larson, an American cartoonist: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around, and it hits a mime, does anyone care?”
Marceau, who was born 100 years ago in March 1923, is an outlier, admired for a rare ability to transform his body. Yet he, too, is underappreciated—today synonymous with his most famous creation, a chalk-faced clown called Bip who sported a striped jumper and a crumpled stovepipe hat topped with a limp red flower. First presented in 1947, Bip was part harlequin, part homage to Charlie Chaplin’s melancholy bumbler, the Little Tramp. His sad looks and elastic gestures would become a cliché, aped by every street performer who has wrestled with the wind or opened an imaginary door.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Speaking silence"
Culture March 4th 2023
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