STINGERS

NOT WITH A BANG...OR A WHIMPER

It was with great sadness that the often maligned and little understood world of professional mime greeted the news of the passing of its most celebrated member, Marcel Marceau in Cahors, France late last month. The acclaimed "master of silence" was widely recognized as not only the leading practitioner of a craft that most find simply annoying, and is actually illegal in some southern states, but as the creator of such now classic routines as "the box is getting smaller", "the hungry pelican" and perhaps his greatest work "the street artiste' gets ridiculed and pummeled".

It was his natural ability that many believe allowed Marceau to survive the Nazi occupation of France in World War II by actually pantomiming being dead already until liberation forces arrived.

In Paris throngs of fellow countrymen turned out to pay respects as the 84 yr old performer was carried to his final resting place in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in that city, as a silent honor guard walked against an imaginary gale force wind to the accompaniment of Mozart's piano concert #21. Many in the crowd with dry eyes chose to salute the master with a single black teardrop painted under the left eye. The eulogy given by Marceau protégé Jacques Lewis was understandably brief and really only understood by those in attendance who were themselves mimes or happened to be deaf.

Meanwhile Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, issued a statement in which he mourned the loss of "a singular talent" and asked all French citizens and fans world wide to join him in an honorary moment of noise.

In a related item, former mime and long time fan of Marceau, pop star David Bowie upon being informed of Marceau’s passing said, "Oh really? I hadn't heard."

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