By Norm Oshrin, Columnist
Eighty-four-year-old Bruce Powers spent part of Veterans’ Day entertaining his two great-nieces, Allie and Missy Dreier, and their classmates at Ridgewood Elementary School in Glen Ridge.
It was a unique performance: not a word was spoken.
Bruce Powers is a pantomimist — and has been since age 15 when, after graduating high school in The Bronx, he decided not to go directly to college. Instead — mature beyond his years — he began performing in movie theaters in Washington, D.C.; a night club in Pennsauken; the top Hat Club in Trenton; and clubs in Baltimore — among other venues.
”I really made a lot of money performing,” he said of his pantomiming, defined as the use of gestures and facial expressions to convey meaning without speech.
For Mr. Powers, it all began, he recalled, when “I heard about some guy (Walter Baer, in Germany) doing this thing called pantomime. It sounded fascinating.
”I got phonograph records, looking for things that would be funny and useful,” Mr. Powers said. “I let my elder sister, a genius at writing in shorthand, write down what was on the records and transcribe them for me. I sat down and learned it and practiced, practiced, practiced.”
The records, he said, ranged from arias from the “Barber of Seville,” sung by Lawrence Tibbett; “Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long,” by Ziggy Talent; and “I’m Anatole of Paris,” by Danny Kaye — to “Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny”; by Bonnie Baker and “Serenade to a Maid,” played by the Teddy Powell chorus.
Pantomiming was a talent that served him well in 1943 when he was drafted into the Army. The 18-year-old soldier was assigned to a troupe of 53 performers, which included Mickey Rooney, with whom he bunked for three years — later attending the second of Mickey’s eight weddings: to Betty Jane Rase in 1944, after he divorced from Ava Gardner.
”In the Army, we went from one end of Europe to the other,” recounted Mr. Powers, of his “3 Men in a Jeep’ act. “We had to go out to the frontlines, put on performances, and every six weeks we would all have to be in some big city in Europe.” That included Paris, where he performed in the same theater as the late celebrated pantomimist, Marcel Marceau.
”We would put on shows for platoons on search-and-destroy missions. We saw action and were strafed by German planes — but, fortunately, nobody in the group was killed,” he said.
After the Army, Mr. Powers attended New York University and later Long Island University, majoring in business administration. He spent his professional life — not in show business, but in the textile industry.
However, photos of Mr. Powers’ theatrical exploits — particularly in the Army — are saved in a three-inch album, which he and his wife, Toni, keep in an upstairs closet in his Greenbriar at Whittingham home. They moved there in 1996, from Livingston, where he also entertained in schools.
It was in 1996 that Mr. Powers tapped into his theatrical expertise and experience to produce the first-ever “Lip Synch” show, which has earned the Greenbriar community wide praise. Five more shows followed. “Lip Synch is the most important thing of mime,” he explained.
”I derived great satisfaction from doing my Lip Sync numbers,” he said. “Being a perfectionist, I was very lucky to believe that my coordination and bodily and facial movements produced outstanding results when I performed.”
Everyone has a story to tell about now and then. If you, a neighbor, relative or a friend wants to share a tale, contact [email protected], or 609-409-4384.
