Mime master Marceau silently returns to steal show

Thursday, February 26, 1998

Thursday, February 26, 1998

Mime master Marceau silently returns to steal show

MIIME: Performer famous for role of BIP, will grace the L.A. stage once again

By Aimee Phan

Daily Bruin Staff

Marcel Marceau once said, "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop." But the world's most famous mime for 50 years is sitting down to talk, to promote his return appearance to Los Angeles this Saturday night and to reflect on his long and incredibly successful career.

Marceau is widely regarded today as the master of modern mime who brought the ancient art into the mainstream consciousness with sold-out performances around the world and frequent television and movie appearances. But after his last performance in Los Angeles in 1989, Marceau's popularity and name diminished a bit in the '90s since the only way for people to appreciate the mime was to see him perform.

Nearly a decade later, Marceau is returning to Los Angeles for a one-night show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his most popular pantomime character, BIP. In this rare appearance, Marceau will perform some of his most classic "mimodramas" from his repertoire. With nearly half a century of performing under his belt, Marceau takes his pioneering role in the world of pantomime very seriously.

"I think I was born to be a mime like one is born to be a painter or musician," Marceau says. "I'm responsible for the renaissance of this art in the 20th century and in two years, I'm going to handle the 21st century and I predict that mime will become a strong force in the theater."

Despite the fact that his name may not be as well known as it used to be, Marceau is very confident that once people see his show, they will be just as enthusiastic and responsive as his audiences have been in the past. He believes that although times have changed since the first time he performed in America in 1955, people are moved and inspired by good performances.

"Man has not changed," Marceau says. "We have changed with technology and communication, but in our real hearts, man has not changed since the Romans. We could always laugh and cry for the same reasons. The emotions are always there. If the show is good, it touches the public."

Born in France, Marceau began his career in 1946 when he joined the Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in Paris and studied under mime master Etienne Decroux. After studying and performing with some of the most influential pantomime artists in France, Marceau emerged into immense popularity after creating his now legendary character, BIP, the silent actor and clown. He named his famous opera hat-wearing character after the main character in Charles Dickens' novel, "Great Expectations."

"When I was 20, I had great expectations so BIP comes from Pip and I changed the 'P' to a 'B,'" Marceau says. "I was a great admirer of Charles Dickens."

After BIP became such a popular character, Marceau started touring worldwide, bringing his mimodramas to many stages, introducing people to a performing art that had little exposure before. His first American tour in 1955 caught the attention of many people in Hollywood, which was a thrill for the artist who grew up idolizing American actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. He explains that although these silent stars were labeled as movie actors, their work is derived from pantomime.

"I was inspired by them when I was a child," Marceau says. "They were mimes. The talkies did not exist, so, it was slapstick and pantomime. Mime was a very strong art form in movies then."

As for his instant success in America, Marceau credits it to the fact that most people had been unfamiliar with pantomime and were fascinated with how different it was from the usual singing and dancing they had seen before on the stage.

"The difference between mime from dance is that in dance, you are bound by music and movement," Marceau says. "Mime is bound by silence. We use music too, but our gestures are not bound by musical form. We express comedy and tragedy of man without words. You have to be an actor to be a mime."

Now Marceau's puts his expertise in modern mime to use in his Paris International School of Mimedrama where students come from over 20 nations to study with the renowned artist. He hopes that with his school, he can turn on future generations to the beauty of silent acting.

"Since I brought mime to America, there have been good mimes and bad mimes," Marceau says. "There are many students who worked with me and it is now a stronger art form. When I started for the first time, it was so new, but now everybody knows Marcel Marceau."

And even though Marceau has been entertaining audiences with the antics of BIP for almost 50 years, he has no plans to stop touring and teaching his craft. And although he is over 70 years old, he proudly boasts that he still maintains the spirit and body of his youth.

"You must understand that you are all obsessed by age," Marceau says. "Everybody's obsessed by age. I have kept the same body of 30 years ago. When you see the show in Los Angeles, you will see that I speak the truth."

Marceau is excited about bringing his unique program to Los Angeles and introducing future generations to this older art of pantomime.

"I'm sure the young people will be moved," Marceau says. "It raises their imagination and it is wonderful. They have discovered exactly why their parents told them they should see Marcel Marceau.

"Have I become a legend? It's possible. The young people who have never seen my work (before) are speechless. It's a discovery for them and there's the same excitement that was there when I first arrived in America. It's a wonderful thrill for me. It's very good to come back."

PANTOMIME: Marcel Marceau performs Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Wiltern Theatre. Tickets are $30 to $50. For more information, call (213) 380-5005.