Jimmy Carter meets Marcel June 1977
In June of 1977, President Jimmy Carter met the legendary mime Marcel Marceau backstage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Reportedly, nothing of note was spoken between them.
Categories: Hollywood Meets Washington, Jimmy Carter, Presidents
Tags: Jimmy Carter, Marcel Marceau, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
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I saw Marceau on stage at the University of Arizona in Tucson just over a year earlier, in a performance that was thought to be part of his farewell to audiences tour. Jimmy Carter is always a fan of the arts, both lowbrow and highbrow. No surprise that Carter would have such a big grin at meeting Marceau.
At the time there was a good-selling vinyl disc (CDs hadn’t taken off yet) titled “Marcel Marceau’s Greatest Hits.” It was a comedy album, of course — ten or fifteen minutes of silence with occasional coughs from an audience, followed by thunderous applause.
Sometimes words are not necessary. Among Christians there is that old saw about St. Francis’s saying “Preach the Gospel always; use words when necessary.” Marceau, as his character, Bip, practiced that about all things.