Post by The Collector on Sept 24, 2007 14:00:16 GMT
The French mime Marcel Marceau, who passed away on Saturday, September 22 in Paris. "It was in 1947 that he invented Bip as a tribute to Pip, the young hero of Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations'. With a plaster face, striped top, white trousers, a clown's mouth and eyes, half-Pierrot, half Charlie Chaplin, Bip was to live 60 years of world-wide success. ... Why such enthusiasm around the planet? In Japan, where he was given the status of 'living treasure' he was said to be 'surrounded by ghosts you can see'. Beyond the universal eloquence of silence and body language, Bip's mimed dramas form a catalogue of emotions and situations that function like mirrors. The mime Marceau is one of the top world television stars for a good reason: particularly well adapted to black and white, his character offers an accessible reflection where compassion has the upper hand over cruelty."
