It’s been noted that today is the 100th Birthday of Marcel Marceau.
First issued by Caedmon Records in 1971, this conversation on mime, recorded by Marcel Marceau and the American writer William Fifield, is an in-depth look at Marceau’s art.
In this recording Marcel Marceau traces the history of mime and discusses his own role in its renewed popularity. Calling mime the art of “making the invisible visible,” he shares how he developed his signature character, Bip, and began performing all around the world, a tour de force career that has lasted for more than 50 years. He speaks with eloquence about the purpose of his art, which, he says, is to show how life is. And branching off to his interests and experiences off the stage, he talks about his paintings, his belief in the universality of man, and his life during World War II, when he took part in the French Resistance and also had to hide from the Gestapo because his father was Jewish.