Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

WATCH: Marcel Marceau’s Most Eloquent and Powerful Pantomime

Ten years ago, Marcel Marceau — the world’s greatest pantomime — died, and the world of wordless theater has still never really recovered. Here at the Forward, we feel a special affinity for Marceau, a member of the French Resistance during World War II who reportedly used pantomime techniques to help children escape the Holocaust. Marceau, perhaps best known these days for his role in the Mel Brooks film “Silent Movie,” created a wide array of hilarious and heartbreaking pantomimes during his career. But perhaps the one that most profoundly summed up his work was “The Maskmaker,” a seemingly autobiographical work full of both comedy and pathos as it describes the condition of a comedian and artist who must maintain a mask of happiness even in the face of tragedy. Open Culture is paying tribute to Marceau with a 1959 film of “The Maskmaker,” directed surprisingly by cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (“El Topo.”)

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.