Mimes don’t get a lot of play in today’s culture. Maybe they don’t deserve it and have thusly been relegated to being street performers or oddball attractions at fairs and the like. It is, though, possible that mime is just another lost art. But the classic conception of mime – in my mind at least – traces its way back to France and the Monsieur Hulot films by Jaques Tati.

In each of his films as Hulot, Tati wondered through a modern world, at odds with its perceived civilities and niceties. Struggles with elevators, revolving doors, modern families and woman pervaded each one of the three Hulot films.

Prior to this Frenchman working it out, an American best represents the art form (is that an appropriate way in which to refer to mime?). Harpo Marx isn’t anyone’s favorite Marx Brother – except for me. But regardless of that, Harpo affected his mime act as a result of having a supposedly odd voice and being uncomfortable relaying lines in front of an audience or even on camera. I guess he can’t be blamed for shyness, but this all resulted in Harpo needing to incorporate as many different ideas into his character as possible. He played various instruments, danced endlessly and was a pretty touchy feely guy for his time. It can’t be said that Harpo or Tati drastically changed the way that mime functioned on screen, but in watching The Bellboy – Jerry Lewis’ 1960 film – it’s easy to see a through-line.

Tati’s Les Vacances de M. Hulot and Mon Oncle debuted prior to Lewis’ work in The Bellboy and it should be obvious to most that the Marx Brothers movies predated all of that. Each actor or troupe was physical, but beyond reproach for it. Surely all involved were criticized for engaging in nonsensical slapstick theatrics for cheap laughs, but those laughs are fulfilling. Without the physicality of Tati, Harpo or Lewis, the resultant body of work that each created would be less entertaining and moreover, probably a bit flat.

Anyway, as Lewis portrays himself as well as a bellboy in the 1960 film, it’d be simplistic to figure the feature as a heedless self aggrandizement. There’s substance there even alongside the scenes in which Lewis gets to levy his stardom on the camera as he’s mobbed by fans and surrounded by various famous movie star types.

But as the bellboy, Lewis was able to alternate between the sweet, moron character that he cultivated over time and the out of control spastic that unintentionally wrecks anything within reach. And as the concierge asks the Lewis character to man the front desk for a moment, viewers should be prepared for the resulting chaos. Attempting to answer a phone here is rendered a medium for comedy. And while there are handsets flying around and Lewis’ face contorts with anticipation, doubt and confusion, it seems that the mime still had its place in American culture. Too bad by the end of the flick the character gets a line out.