Hollywood Deep

Marcel Marceau, who did much to revive the art of pantomime, died Saturday in France. He was 84. The renowned mime died in the southwestern French town of Cahors, where he had moved after retiring from the stage in 2005. Marceau, the man who taught Michael Jackson how to moonwalk, began his silent career in 1964 and performed an average of 200 shows a year. His performances changed little over the years, but he played to full houses in the United States, Germany and other European countries, also in Australia and Japan, where he was deemed “a national treasure.”

“At a time when two generations of younger mime artists have rebelled against his brand of classical mime,” Anna Kisselgoff wrote in The New York Times in 1999, “Mr. Marceau remains a model, not a fossil. Anyone who has never seen the staples of the repertory with which Mr. Marceau has toured the United States since 1955 should beat a path” to his performances.

I guess I thought he was already dead, who ever hears about mime shows anymore. To be honest, I always thought mimes were pretty creepy. They are probably the next level of creepiness in the entertainment world, after clowns. Mimes always seem sad because they can’t speak. They try to tell you a story by acting it out, but it becomes frustrating because they can’t say anything. You just want tell yell at them “…just say it already!” A form of performance art that can be entertaining and interesting for some, I suppose. I do find it frustrating, I never really got the whole miming routine. Marcel Marceau is mega famous however, everyone has heard of him, even here in West Hollywood. His name is synonymous with miming the world over. A master mime, if you will.

Who knew two generations of younger mime artists have rebelled against Marceau’s brand of classical mime. A whole mime conflict has been going on for two generations of mimes, and nobody told us! They are so quiet, those mimes. I would love to see the two factions of mimes in a mime battle. A tooth and nail mime battle, now I think that would be entertaining.

All I have to say to all you young mimes out there, Marcel Marceau is the only mime anyone ever heard of. Most people think he invented miming, he must have done something right.
…DEEP!

Technorati Tags: Marcel Marceau, the art of pantomime, France, Cahors, Marceau, Michael Jackson, moonwalk, United States, Germany, European, Australia, Japan, Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times, West Hollywood, master mime