SEPTEMBER 22 — MARCEL MARCEAU
Masterful mime, French Resistance fighter.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Wiccan MABON.
Inuit FESTIVAL OF THE SEAGODDESS. Sedna the Shaman goes to her abode at the bottom of the sea and makes a deal for good hunting weather.
ALSO ON SEPTEMBER 22 IN HISTORY…
1692 — Eight “witches” hanged, Salem, Massachusetts.
1792 — New calendar adopted in revolutionary France, with ten-day weeks,
three-week months, and 12-month years, starting at Year One.
1862 — Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abe Lincoln in U.S.
1991 — Huntington Library makes Dead Sea Scrolls public for the first time.
2007 — Famed French mime, Resistance fighter Marcel Marceau dies, Cahors, France.
This piece is entitled “The Maskmaker” and I had the pleasure of seeing it on one of his last world tours. This is one of those pieces in his repertoire that gained additional drama and subtlety as he continued to perform it well into his 80s.
Interesting note is that “Marceau” was a nom-de-guerre that he and his brother adopted to hide from the Nazis and the Vichy French.