The World’s Oldest Mime

(mumbling)

Right there.

The silence is what makes it what we call mime.

(piano music)

Hands, face and body.

Telling stories.

Creating environments.

(phone ringing)

I was just miming a phone call

and the camera was rolling

and here you are.

At 87 years old I am the world's oldest mime.

Went to Paris in 1946, played around with Marcel Marceau,

and I began to get television work.

I was on TV commercials.

Many talk shows.

With such a novelty, I got a lot of jobs.

But now nobody is interested in mime, they think of mime

as a pest on the street.

Making a wall and asking for money.

I'll tell you the story of how I got my very first laugh.

I was about nine or 10, I was in a school play.

I'm in the wings and I'm about to go on to say my line

and I saw a vase of daffodils.

Put my nose into the yellow flower,

and made an entrance.

I got a laugh.

I took it away from my nose, said my line,

put my nose back into it.

(bright suspenseful piano keys)

Took my nose out, said my last line,

(suspenseful keys and audience laughter)

and I got a big laugh and some applause.

That's what ruined my life, you gotta be careful,

you get responses like that,

you're going to have a laugh on your back.

You get addicted to it.

Every woman who has been significant in my life,

I met in a public place.

Two of my wives on subway platforms,

one on a path towards the theatre, one at a coffee shop,

one in an elevator.

The mime mating dance.

It's totally mine, it's totally a communication,

emotionally and physically without speaking.

One minute romances with a stranger.

A passing moment in a subway.

We catch each other's eye and there's a gesture

of something physical that goes on between the two of us.

It's like a quick love affair.

(trumpet playing)

If you get a smile and that look,

it's a similar feeling to getting applause.

Very old people, like me,

often nod to each other on the street.

I didn't know that until I got old.

There is a silent communication.

Hey look at us, we got here this far, good luck.

(chuckling)

I'm enjoying and taking in the spectacle

that's around me all the time on the street.

People in different costumes,

with different walks,

with different attitudes:

the theatre of the street.

A lot of communication can happen in silence,

but you have to listen.

(street sounds)