Marvelous Marcel

*photo from amrep.org

Marcel Marceau, the world's best and most famous mime, has died. This is a sad day in my family. Marcel Marceau has been an icon to my parents for decades. As a child I looked at the large poster of Marceau atop a Paris roof and wondered who this clown was. I couldn't really ever "get" why he was such a big deal to my parents, yet somehow I was still at least a little fascinated from an early age. I even drew a picture of him for an art show when I was in primary school.

In adulthood I was granted two wonderful opportunities to see Marcel Marceau perform and even to meet him. After a long hiatus from public performances and traveling, he emerged in 1999 with a world premiere performance of his new show in Munich, Germany. I happened to be living in Munich then and for my birthday my dad came and treated me to seeing the show. There, alongside my dad, I finally got to see for myself why Marcel Marceau was such a big deal. His silent vignettes depicted the most tender moments of every day life so very poignantly. Without words he could tell so much.

A few years later our family had another opportunity to see Marcel Marceau perform in San Francisco. There we also had the special privilege to meet him backstage. My parents, as I recall, were also able to finally share comments of their long admiration for him. They had been to one of his performances in Chicago on one of their first dates. The poster I'd grown up with was their memento of that day (attached to it still are their tickets).

If you go on to read about Marcel Marceau's life, you can glimpse a bit more into the cruelties that life dealt Marceau and how he chose to fight against injustice in sometimes unusual manners. His gentle portrayals of the wonders of life, especially life in the park and the circle of life, will stay with me forever. Bye bye, Bip.