Tony Micocci

Marcel Marceau was born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France to a Jewish family, on March 22, 1923. Marcel and his older brother adopted the last name Marceau during the German occupation of France. the two brothers joined the French Resistance in Limoges, where they saved numerous children from the race laws and concentration camps, and after the liberation of Paris, joined the French army. Marceau was demobilized in 1946 and enrolled as a student in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt theatre in Paris, where he studied with teachers like Joshua Smith, Étienne Decroux, who also taught Jean Louis-Barrault.

Marcel Marceau joined Jean Louis Barrault's company and was soon cast in the role of Arlequin in the pantomime Baptiste. Marceau's performance won him such acclaim that he was encouraged to present his first mimodrama Praxiteles and the Golden fish, at the Bernhardt theatre that same year. the acclaim was unanimous and Marceau's career as a mime was firmly established. In 1947 Marcel Marceau created "Bip the clown" which was first played at the théâtre de Poche in Paris. Bip's misadventures, with everything from butterflies to lions, ships to trains, dance halls to restaurants, were limitless. His silent mimed exercises, which included the Cage, Walking Against the Wind, the Mask Maker, and In the Park, became classic displays. Satires of everything from sculptors to matadors were described as works of genius.

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