Send Out The Clown

The folks over at Mental Floss have a compendium of odd facts about the recently late Marcel Marceau. Interesting little guy. Among the tidbits:

-- He cracked weird jokes about magicians. “Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards,” Marceau once said, “for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”
-- He survived the Holocaust, was active in the French Resistance, saved Jewish children’s lives, and worked with Patton’s army. “With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance. Marceau altered children’s identity cards, changing their birth dates to trick the Germans into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton’s army.”
-- He was famously chatty. “Never get a mime talking. He won’t stop,” he once said.”

Mime is a kind of litmus test for audiences. It drives a lot of people up the (invisible) wall, along with Improv comedy and children's choirs. But even people who would normally eschew mime could put up with Marcel Marceau. Adieu, mon ami. May you walk WITH the wind. May you not wake up in the box.