Here is Cary Grant’s description of what he learned touring the English provinces with the tumbling troupe, when he was 13, 14. He learned lessons that he used in his acting – years later, when he was a huge star.
Touring the English provinces with the troupe, I grew to appreciate the fine art of pantomime. No dialogue was used in our act and each day, on a bare stage, we learned not only dancing, tumbling, and stilt-walking under the expert tuition of Bob Pender, but also how to convey a mood or meaning without words. How to establish communication silently with an audience, using the minimum of movement and expression; how best immediately and precisely to effect an emotional response — a laugh or, sometimes, a tear. The greatest pantomimists of our day have been able to induce both at once. Charles Chaplin, Cantinflas, Marcel Marceau, Jacques Tati, Fernandel, and England’s Richard Herne. And in bygone years, Grock, the Lupino family, Bobby Clark, and the unforgettable tramp cyclist Joe Jackson; and currently Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, Sid Caesar, and even Jack Benny with his slow, calculated reactions.
Surprisingly, Hitchcock is one of the most subtle pantomimists of them all.
Beautiful analysis. And that shows up time and time again in Grant’s acting, which is why I think it is so good. He conveys emotions, effortlessly, with no words. He constantly cut lines out of his scripts, so that he would have less and less to say, knowing that it was all about the eyes, the face. Beautiful.
Don’t scare me like that, Sheila.
Re-think on mimes?.. sheesh.
Did you read the quote, though? Sounds like he sees something I don’t.
Obviously he’s not talking about the jackass out-of-work actor who accosts you in Central Park with his stupid wind tunnel and staircase. He’s talking about being able to convey emotions/story without words. Like Chaplin.
You got me.. I hadn’t read the quote.. it was a knee-jerk reaction to the mention of a re-think.
I can see what he means.. and there’s a valid argument there. In terms of silent movies it was an essential element of any actor’s performance to be able to tell the story in those terms.
But the danger, and this is where the out-of-work actor in the wind tunnel comes in, is that it becomes a mask that veils the actual performance.. the actor concentrating on making a particular gesture but not experiencing – or not revealing to the audience – the emotion.. if that makes sense.
Sure. Totally.
But that’s the difference, pretty much, between talent and no-talent. The no-talent mime is gonna be a jackass. Someone like Chaplin can tell an entire story with his face and body.
Also – pretty much any story about any of the great actors (Cooper, Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Grant) – actually actresses too – let’s not forget them – involves SOME anecdote about them cutting their own lines from the script.
Bogart was ruthless about it, hacking away at his lines. “Nah, I don’t need to say that – I’ll be able to do that with a look or a gesture … no need for words there…”
Less, less, less.
It’s this whole pantomime thing at work there.
and that talent/no-talent divide has always been, and always will be, the difference, Sheila.. ever now and again someone just comes up with a new way to describe what it is they’re doing.
The other factor that comes into play in those anecdotes is that those great actors knew that the camera would capture/magnify that look, that slight gesture or movement.
If you’re interested, peteb, I wrote a long-ass post about this very thing, using as my examples Clark Gable, Robert Duvall, and Gary Cooper.
Here it is.
LESS, do LESS. Pretty cool.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, Sheila.. all the world’s a stage… ;)
peteb:
yes, that is true. But it doesn’t, necessarily, signify NOTHING. If you know what I’m sayin’.
:)
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of sound and fury for it’s own sake, Sheila. :)
Sound and fury are fine, as long as you aren’t sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, ya know what I’m sayin’?
heh heh
I haven’t quite reached that seventh age yet, Sheila..
It’s all *ahem* wise saws and modern instances with an ocassional woeful ballad.
Thankfully, the mewling and puking is, mostly, in the past.
Hopefully all the negative stereotype mimes will get trapped in invisible boxes and suffocate.