French performer and mime Marcel Marceau became well-known as “Bip the Clown” on stage. Mime has been referred to as the “art of silence” by Marceau, who has performed professionally for over 60 years.
The French actor Marcel Marceau was born into a Jewish household in Strasbourg. His father, Charles Mangel, worked as a kosher butcher in Bdzin, Poland. Anne Werzberg, his mother, was a native of Yabluniv, Ukraine. His mother’s side of the family was related to the Arazis, who included the famous Israeli vocalist Yardena Arazi.
He has become famous for his ability to engage and captivate audiences all around the world through the art of silence. On March 22, 1923, Marcel Mangel, later Marcel Marceau, was born in France. He changed his surname to Marceau while Germany occupied France to hide the fact that he was Jewish.
The surname “Marceau” was adopted by Marcel and his older brother Alain in honour of François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, a general during the French Revolution, when they fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi occupation of France. Both brothers eventually became active members of the French Resistance in Limoges.
Who Was Marcel Marceau?
Very young, Marcel Marceau saw movies and wanted to act in them. He entertained his travel companions by mimicking famous performers and mimes, and he later used his skill in silent acting to aid in the rescue of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied France.
Marceau used his skills as a pantomime actor to keep the kids quiet as they made their way to the Swiss border. On three separate occasions, he was able to rescue children who were in danger on their way to the Swiss border. He was successful on three separate missions, resulting in the liberation of 70 children during World War II.
Bip the Clown, the theatrical persona of French actor and mime artist Marcel Marceau; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007), died on 22 September 2007. He called mime the “art of silence” and spent over 60 years as a professional performer around the world.
After spending most of World War II in hiding with the French Resistance as a member of the Jewish community, he gave his first major performance to 3,000 Allied troops in August of 1944, shortly after Paris had been liberated.
After World War II, he went to Paris to train as a mime and actor.
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Why Did Marcel Marceau Change His Name?
Marcel Mangel was born Marceau in March 1923 to Jewish parents. To avoid deportation by the Nazis, he changed his name to Marceau and hid the fact that he was Jewish. His older brother Alain also took the surname Marceau in honour of a prominent French Revolutionary general.
He was able to attend school on the outskirts of Paris because of the name Marceau. Eventually, Marceau came out of hiding to play a significant role in the French Resistance.
Marceau claimed that he and Alain faked documents for both Jews and Gentiles while accepting the Raoul Wallenberg Award for Humanitarianism. “It’s true that I brought kids to the Swiss border to safety,” he declared.
Marceau, a member of the Jewish Defense Force, helped evacuate Jewish children to safe shelters and neutral nations. When Marceau performed, his relative Georges Loinger stated, “The youngsters liked Marcel and felt comfortable with him. The children had to pretend they were taking a holiday in a house close to the Swiss border, and Marcel helped them feel at peace.
As many as seventy Jewish children were rescued by Marceau from the Nazis. Phillipe Mora, whose father worked with Marceau, told The Age that Marceau was also driven by a desire to protect his own life. To prevent the youngsters from screaming as they ran away, Marcelau began miming. Nothing about the entertainment industry was related to this. To save his life, he was obviously miming,” Mora stated.
It is unclear what happened exactly, but the Jewish imposter convinced thirty German soldiers to surrender or be killed. He captured them all and brought them back to his base, Loinger claimed. That was, according to Marcel, his proudest military achievement.
Marceau’s father was among the millions who lost their lives in the Holocaust. “I sobbed for my father, but I cried for the millions of people who died,” Marceau remarked. And now we had to build a new universe from the ground up.
Life And Death Of Marcel Marceau
After his first marriage to Huguette Mallet, from which he had two sons, Michel and Baptiste, Marcel Marceau wed twice more, the second time to Ella Jaroszewicz, from whom he had no children. He had Camille and Aurélia with his third wife, Anne Sicco.
Paulette Frankl, a mime artist, wrote a memoir titled Marcel & Me: A Memoir of Love, Passion, and Illusion in August 2014, detailing her decades-long love with Marceau.
Marceau passed away on September 22nd, 2007, at the age of 84, in a retirement home in Cahors, France.
Both the sarabande from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 and the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 (which Marceau used for years as the background music to an excellent mime performance) were performed at his funeral. Marceau’s body was laid to rest in Paris at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Conclusion
Marceau, like many other Holocaust survivors, never discussed how the Nazi era had shaped his life. Those who survived the concentration camps, he said, “never were able to talk about it. I go by the moniker of Mangel. Yes, my religion is Jewish. Maybe that’s what led me to keep quiet in the first place, without even realising it.
Marcel Mangel was his birth name in France, where he would later become known as Marcel Marceau. He changed his surname to Marceau while Germany occupied France to hide the fact that he was Jewish.
