Marceau (1923 – 2007) “Mangel” originally belonged to a Jewish family who lived in Strasbourg, then moved to Limoges for the Nazi occupation. He began to aspire to the art of mimicry when he was just six years old, after having seen a film by Charlot. Once he became a boy he decided to spend all his savings to go to the cinema and watch silent actors like Chaplin e Buster Keaton. While to study he went to the countryside, where he could browse nature and then imitate it, trees, animals or flowers moved by the morning breeze. Then he improvised pantomime shows with his neighborhood friends. But the war came, and for a time she had to give up his passion... her father died and her mother took refuge in Limoges where Marceau studied first at the art school and then acting. He engaged in French resistanceduring the German occupation. Many Jewish children were saved as closed in an orphanage and Marceau led them safely to Switzerland thanks also to his ability to amaze with mimicry, used to keep the little ones calm. Marceau personally devised pantomimes that served to “keep the kids quiet as they ran away. She had nothing to do with the show. She was miming to (save) his life”.
If we can enjoy the ancient art of pantomime we certainly owe it to Marceau, who with a serious air – even off stage – gave us interesting answers speaking four languages correctly
"The world – he said – he wants more than ever some form of communication common to all. Pantomime is a universal art that breaks down language barriers and speaks to people of any age and from any part of the world”. “So how can we not define it as a moment that mirrors our dreams and our disappointments?! In fact, its source is the most interesting subject in the world, namely ourselves".
When Marceau appeared on the scene completely naked, only make-up and costume assisted his art. He was wearing tight white slacks and a black and gray striped sweater, a variation on the classic clown costume, while the white make-up gave full prominence to his features, so that every expression was clearly visible. He loved to slowly draw his audience into a fantasy world, trying to show them how it is possible to create the illusion of space, depth, and distance. In one of his famous numbers "Walk against the wind”, he fights this invisible force of nature, and his way of entering the created space involves so much that the audience gasps from the effort that the mime makes. Without ever using any object, Marceau rides a bicycle, climbs very steep stairs or pulls the rope, it all seems so real to the point of seeing the dimensions of the rope and feeling the breath of the effort experienced on the bicycle.
He created the “Public Garden” with 15 different characters, from the ball seller, a man walking his dog, a wet nurse, and among others, old ladies gossiping and children playing…
Once Marceau conquered the spectators he presented his alter ego, Beep the clown
Beep, and here he appears on the scene in an awkward way with a rather battered top hat, but where does a red flower seem to have been born… a cheeky poppy that constantly swings? Marceau doesn't hold back from giving battle to objects and situations that line up against man, such as icy roads, drawers and windows that don't want to open, gloves that are too tight or the tram door that closes. But he also knows how to tame lions, catch butterflies and escape from a swarm of wasps: all in divine silence. With Marceau the illusion is perfect. One evening during the show "Bip and the butterfly" a sob came from the audience, it was from a little girl who was crying desperately and said "I can't look, he really killed her". The spectators, in fact, were part of his shows, they actively participated and some intervened personally, they were involved that everything seemed real.
Broadway's top theater agents hadn't wanted to know about this mime before he traveled to the United States in 1955.
Their verdict was – no women, no scenes and he doesn't say a word – how is it ever possible to engage an audience? - It won't make any money -
But a American businessman struck by the particularity of the proposal, he wanted to take the risk and he wrote him al Phoenix Theater. The next day a theater critic writes about him in the New York Herald Tribune – Marceau is one of those gifts of theater that nobody really deserves. To claim such perfection would be presumptuous. You can't do anything but look at it and be grateful -. It was a resounding success and Marceau began touring the United States. He returned to New York to the City Center theater for a three-week tour where 3.000 people awaited him every day. Not happy he wanted to try with the screen, he appeared on television and immediately conquered millions of people. He traveled and performed in all the countries of Europe, in Africa, in the Americas and in the Orient. He said, "They come to see how tall I really am because I look small, but their greatest curiosity is to know if I speak“. In reality there was a big difference between the imposing figure that dominated the stage and the slender young man who could be encountered offstage. Everything in him seemed small, his face, his thin and white hands - almost childish - contrasted his powerful mimicry. His interpretations of him, although they seem effortless, are actually very tiring, and in order not to lose concentration and physical coordination, he adopted a strict diet that included fruit juices and hot tea.
But where was Marceau inspired? From the people!
He loved walking and observing people, their behavior in the restaurant, at the station, in short, in those places where one cannot listen to speeches, but catch the expression on their faces. His life was full of successes, he obtained awards such as honorary degrees from prestigious American universities, the Legion of Honor and the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the French State, received directly from the hands of Jacques Chirac, he was the 1998.
Marceau never worried about the years, he never worried about his age, if one day he ever had to stop he said "Age is more psychological than physical, so a mime can walk the stage until he dies“. He was convinced that audiences liked a drama starring mimes more.
Isn't it true that life's moving moments find us speechless?
Each of our silences is a gesture of respect, while the heart listens and the soul observes. Those who know how to use silence can be able to hear what will never be said, because in a beating of wings there are a thousand sounds that reach the heart.
In 2001 he was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal, Marceau had never spoken of his past in the Resistance: “People who came back from concentration camps have never been able to talk about it… My name is Mangel. I am Jewish. Maybe this, unconsciously, contributed to my choice of silence"
