Fans, colleagues upset over auction of mime Marcel Marceau's personal effects

Famed mime Marcel Marceau's worn burlap top hat, striped shirt and white sailor suit are among the late French icon's personal effects set to be auctioned in Paris this week — a sale that's drawn criticism from fans and former colleagues.

A court ordered the auction in order to settle outstanding debts Marceau left behind upon his death in September 2007 at the age of 84.

According to auction house Drouot Richelieu, Marceau — often hailed for reviving the art of mime — had amassed a significant debt in order to finance his shows.

"This auction is a real heartbreaker," Marceau's daughter, Camille, said in an interview. "We tried everything not to have to resort to this, in vain."

The sale takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Paris. In addition to versions of Marceau's signature costumes, the lots also include antique furniture, Jewish religious artifacts, books about mime, his personal art collection, photos of Marceau with fellow celebrities over the years and the many masks he often wore as his most famous character, Bip.

The sale is expected to generate approximately €300,000 (more than $450,000 Cdn).

Marceau's family had initially wanted to turn their father's rural home, located west of Paris, into a sort of museum.

The court-ordered sale has outraged a group of fans and former colleagues — including Marceau's former assistant, Valerie Bochenek — who feel that the items are being offered for inappropriate, bargain prices considering Marceau's contribution to French culture.

"A man who for 60 years carried the French flag out into the world deserves to have his legacy and his archives preserved, and not to be dispersed," Bochenek told Reuters on Sunday.

She is part of a campaign appealing for the state to purchase items as well as for public donations, so as to be able to save as many of the lots as possible and establish a Marceau museum.

The mime, born Marcel Mangel, was a Holocaust survivor who worked with the Resistance protecting Jewish children during the Second World War.

After the war, he began what would eventually be a more than half-century career as a mime performer. After delighting Europe in the latter half of the 1940s, he and his troupe rose to international fame following a massively successful U.S. tour in the 1950s.

He continued performing over the years, travelling around the globe for shows until 2005.

Marceau is buried in the landmark Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.