WILLIAM J. BARNUM

In the late summer of 1961 , when we were performing in "Rashomon" at the Image theater - Harvard SQ. Billy asked me to help him with a little film he wanted to make . He had secured a space in the top turret floor of the building on the SW corner of Mass. ave and Huntington - it´s still there . All I recall is that after placing minimal lighting and a fixed camera , I held a ladder aiming straight for the apex of the room . Billy would climb the ladder - which went nowhere and was secured...

R. I. P., William J. Barnum (May 22, 1925 - July 21, 2019), lifelong mime actor, poet and performing artist

I learned from a friend and fellow poet that Billy Barnum passed away peacefully last year at his assisted living facility in New Hampshire, surrounded by family. Billy was a descendant of P. T. Barnum, his grand uncle.

In 1999, I established a contract with William J. Barnum's trustees to publish his first and only book of poetry. The late David "Doc" Cote, my...

I met Billy in the late 1980s, when I was about 19, either at the New Writers Collective readings in Copley Square, or at one of his performances in Harvard Square. I was immediately drawn to the language of his poems, and astonished at his prodigious memory for verse (both his own and that of others). He had a knowledge of poetry that would rival the knowledge of many Ivy League professors. Many of his wildest poems had an iambic heartbeat. I recall these lines:

Bemused, a cherry...

My name is Peter Gerety and I was friends with Billy back in 1960 . We performed in a production of "Rashomon " at the Image theater near Harvard sq. He played the Priest , or monk , and I played the policeman.
We had a great time and I assisted him in filming a short piece where he was miming while at the top of a ladder in the top floor of an attic space on the corner of Huntington and Mass. ave.
I have had no contact with Billy since then - and I have been an actor ever...