Marcel Marceau, mime artist

I was not totally surprised but still deeply saddened to learn late yesterday afternoon that the legendary mime Marcel Marceau had passed away. He was 84.

I remember very vaguely watching short black-and-white clips of his performances as Bip on a local channel years and years ago when I was still in grade school. I didn't know who he was then but somehow the image of this funny and melancholy man with the expressive face and hands stuck in my mind. I did eventually learn what his name was but beyond that nothing much.

Then nearly two decades later when I was in Ames, Iowa with my sister pursuing graduate studies at Iowa State University, I learned that Marcel Marceau was to perform at the University's theatre as part of his farewell US tour. I knew by then that he was famous and recalled those short sketches I saw on tv when I was a child. I read that he had frequently toured the US almost always to standing room only. I wanted to see him perform live naturally and persuaded my sister to come watch his show along with me. We got tickets and the perfect seats: we were seated some 13 rows from the front, smack in the middle and practically level with the stage. I was slightly disappointed though that there were several empty seats. But that was forgotten when the performance began. As usual, the program distributed to the audience listed several vignettes from which Marceau would select for the evening. My favorites of course were the Bip sketches particularly the ones of Bip at the circus: his laughable attempts to get a lion to jump through a hoop, at tight-rope walking, at knife-throwing (the audience roared with laughter at Marceau's reaction after he pantomimed removing his blindfold) among others. Another sketch of Bip trying on masks with different expressions was also amazing. What I saw unfold on stage that evening was truly something unique and never to be forgotten. I'm sure the rest of the audience felt the same: we gave him a standing ovation at the end.

Being his farewell tour, I thought that that performance in Ames would be the only and last chance I would have to watch him perform. But by some happy circumstance, it was not so.

Just a few years ago, while I was Singapore (again to pursue graduate studies), I was ecstatic to learn that he was coming to perform at the Victoria Theatre in Singapore as part of his farewell world tour. I of course got tickets right away and watched his show with a friend who had similar interests in the performing arts. Ten years has passed since I saw Marceau perform in Ames but while he was obviously much thinner he was just as eloquent as ever and I enjoyed this latest mesmerizing performance just as much as I did the one in Ames.

It is indeed a lonely thought not to see him perform live again. He was apparently one of those people who refused to let old age stop him from working. And it did seem that he could go on and on, that he would always be there to perform and to create new Bip episodes. Unfortunately, it was simply not to be. But as it is with creative geniuses like Marceau, his memorable wordless portrayals of Bip and the art of mime that he single-handedly restored to the world stage will hopefully always live on.

Still, the death of a legend is always a great loss. This was a man whose silence was louder than spoken words. That silence will be missed.

Graphic: Marcel Marceau, as drawn by another uniquely talented artist, Al Hirschfeld.