The world famous French mime Marcel Marceau died Saturday at the age of 84. In homage to “Mr Mime” we rerun an interview he gave to Molly Grogan and Parisvoice in 1997…
Last year, Marcel Marceau celebrated the 50th anniversary of his internationally known and loved character Bip and this year marks the 20th anniversary of his school, the Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame. On the occasion of these milestones, in an interview with The Voice, Marceau had much to say in fluent English on topics ranging from his training and early years as a mime to the influence of Charlie Chaplin on his work and his 300-performance-a-year schedule (never mind that he is 75 years old), both solo and with his Nouvelle Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau. Continue reading “Marcel Marceau Remembered”
Of all the 8 new arrondissements incorporated into Paris in January 1860 (13th to 20th), the 17th is Baron Haussmann’s creation par excellence; for, despite the ‘deep chasm’ that seprated north from west, no arrodissement was as true to the new middle-class spirit of the Second Empire (and later the Third Republic) or promoted the values it stood for to the same degree. 
A tiny patch of Africa transplanted to Paris, the Goutte-d’Or is one of the last remnants of genuine working-class village life in Paris. Despite desperate struggles by local associations to rescue it from the hands of technocrats determined to “clean up” the area, demolition has already begun and the usual characterless buildings of our times are cropping up, notably the new police station, easily distinguishable by its tricolored flag.