Marcel & Me: A Memoir of Love, Lust, and Illusion

by Paulette Frankl

A young divorcee, searching for creativity and her true nature, meets the world's greatest mime, Marcel Marceau, backstage after a performance. Attracted to each other, they write and speak on the phone. He invites her on a one-week blind date that develops into a thirty-six-year liaison of love, lust, and illusion. This book is about what happens when the mistress of fantasy meets the master of illusion. Written in the language of the heart, this story has depth of soul. It is funny, erotic, poignant, and filled with wisdom about life, fame, and relationship. It is about the profound longing for union and the ferocious need for independence, being simultaneously vulnerable and daring. Marcel is portrayed onstage and off, as a friend and lover. Frankl unmasks the genius and humanizes the man. Marcel & Me contains original art by both the author and Marceau, as well as photos, along with a richly evocative read that, in the end, is real."

Genres: Memoir

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2014

About the author

In Lust for Justice, Author/artist Paulette Frankl followed J. Tony Serra in and out of the courtroom for more than a decade to capture in words and images this unique legal warrior. "

In Marcel & Me, Paulette Frankl calls to the fore all her life experiences as artist, story teller, wordsmith, mime, magician, musician, farmer, and sensualist to bring to life the magical wonderment of Marcel Marceau. The reader accompanies her as she gets to know the greatest mime of all time onstage and off, as a friend, lover and a legacy.

Paulette’s first public art exhibit was at the age of seven for the sophisticated Los Angeles art world in a joint show with her father, Austrian-born world-renowned Art Deco furniture designer, Paul T. Frankl.

As a photo-journalist in Europe, she was a staff photographer for Gruner & Jahr. Her publication credits include Twen, Eltern and a cover and lead article on the hippie movement in California for France’s Réalités. The magazine Geo profiled her lifestyle in California in the seventies.

As a performance artist in the field of mime and magic, she was featured on Italian television at Carnival in Venice, and appeared in Sunset Magazine. She worked as a professional magician in Las Vegas, Nevada, the magic capital of the world. Her creative association with Marcel Marceau as friend, muse, and lover spanned thirty-six years.

Her courtroom art has been aired on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, WGN-TV and “Talk America,” and has taken her all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Frankl’s fine art combines the visual with the visceral to engender a live force in an original style she calls Perceptualism. Her art was on exhibit at a group show titled XV Santa Fe Artists at the Las Vegas Art Museum in 2005.

Ms. Frankl is a graduate of Stanford University; she holds a BA in art and languages. Born into a world of art and aesthetics, her formal study in art included a one-month summer camp at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine, where her work won honorable mention for originality.

Frankl is a painter with words as well as with pen and brush. Her first book, Lust for Justice, The Radical Life and Law of J. Tony Serra has been on Amazon’s digital bestseller list in its category for more than three years.

Paulette resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she shares her life with a mystical cat and ravens and many beloved friends.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few months ago, I had no knowledge of the mime Marcel Marceau. This book gave an interesting view into his life, as well as the life of the author Paulette, who loved him. This love was unfortunately unrequited, as evidenced by his taking of three wives in a row that weren't her as well as the fact that the two hardly spent any time together. The time that Marcel and Paulette did have seemed, well, awkward. I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was a booty call, but the title does include the word "illusion". I find this to be more descriptive of their love than of his profession, but it was an interesting read nonetheless.
I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads ARC.

[Ietrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm about one third in the book and it's a difficult call. The poetry used is annoying and out of fashion. Than a correct title would have been "Me, the Mid-20th Century America and Marcel". And so far, apart from vague sexual references, there is almost none that could be classified as "Marcel and Me". It is about how she felt. After all it is her biography. It is about what was happening in the society at that time, again though her eyes. And some biographical data about Marcel which isn't in the States or with her. Based on these arguments I would have rated the biography as a one star, maybe two if the poetic part would have been cut off entirely.

Yet among all this seemingly useless data there are some pearls. The most valuable to me comes from one such seemingly useless remark: Marcel's "French nose". And that would be the key of why he kept himself in the States. Because in Europe, even after the war, Marcel's nose would have been "that Jewish nose", yet, by living in the States, he was becoming French. Other valuable elements were more circumstantial, they were valuable to me in the context of the thoughts generated. Starting with the way Jews falsified official papers to escape death though suffering. Today's "freedom loving" governments are spending billions to make sure that at the next Holocaust, the targeted population won't have a chance. That at the time the papers were quite rudimentary and today a brown eyed "darkie" won't be able to use the "arian" papers of a blue eyed person because the central database says blue, even if the paper says brown. It reminded me of the paths discretely marked with a small plaque, through which back in the 1940s Jews were helped get to Switzerland. Today, once someone is marked a terrorist, even if it mistaken identity, Switzerland will have to face an avalanche of threats from governments that bomb Middle Eastern countries for less.

[Val Didonato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paulette Frankl is a wonderful writer who captures you with her illusions of love. She sadly refers to not being a "booty call", but in reality that is exactly what she was. Thinking that Marcel was a force in her life other than just a stop over is her illusion. During the thirty six years the author lived in a fantasy world justifying Marcel's lack of attention to his career. It was frustrating to watch her living off the land , happy and content , only to be waiting for years for a letter or a phone call from him. Marcel's marriages, other affairs and absences are endured with her excuses not his. The newspaper and friends were the sources of his life to her, even the news of his death. Marcel captured a young woman's soul during a performance and she sadly lived out the illusion.

[Lisa Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before getting this book through Goodreads and the author, I had very little knowledge of Marcel Marceau so, I had no clue what to expect. When I received the book itself I started skimming through it and before I knew it I had finished the whole thing! Very vivid, descriptive, almost as if you are standing behind Paulette Frankl as it is happening. Or as if you were having lunch with a friend telling stories of her life.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paulette Frankl adds wit and humor to her charming memoir which is the account of her life and relationship with Marcel Marceau. She delves into the deepest emotions with such humor it is a joy to read. Her artistic flair and expressive writing style make this memoir a true gem!