Word: marceau
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Celebrated French mime Marcel Marceau left his mark on the world through silence, but his earthly belongings are generating a great deal of noise these days. On Wednesday, Parisian auction house Drouot began the second and final day of bidding on artwork, books, manuscripts and costumes Marceau left behind when he died at the age of 87 in September 2007. "We have 4,200 over here - certainly an original Marceau merits another bid!" prodded auctioneer Rodolphe Tessier as he stoked the bidding on Marceau's painting The Audience Observing from a reserve price of €800 ($1,080) toward...
...Critics say the bazaar-like atmosphere is hardly fitting. They note that the auction was court-ordered with the limited objective of reimbursing $405,000 in debt Marceau racked up at the end of his life to finance his shows. To ensure that sum is obtained, the auctioneers have set astonishingly low opening prices so everything will find a taker. (See pictures of Marceau...
...This is reducing the artistic legacy of a man to a fixed sum to be paid off," says Stephan Martell, who worked as Marceau's musical director. "For those of us who knew Marcel and how he lived his life and art as one, this random dispersal of his possessions is very painful...
...mitigate their anguish, Martell and longtime Marceau assistant Valérie Bochenek formed the association "A Museum for Bip" - a reference to the mime's famous sailor-suited character. Its initial aim was to raise $135,000 and buy as many of Marceau's most artistically significant relics as possible - including Bip's trademark costume (for which bids opened on Wednesday at a mere $1,350). Despite their collecting more than 3,000 signatures of support in less than two weeks, Martell acknowledges that they got significantly less money than hoped for. Still, during Tuesday's auctioning, Bochenek made...
...That, however, was a mere drop in Bip's trademark flower-sprouting hat. The 400 objects auctioned on Tuesday generated $342,000. Wednesday's docket of 500 items is expected to generate even more, as the majority of Marceau's costumes and stage props...