Have you heard the one about the mimes who got married in Union Square?

If you’re bracing for a groan-inducing punchline, rest easy. This isn’t a joke. It’s a quick retelling of a quaint San Francisco story that was pulled from The Chronicle’s archive along with photos that haven’t been seen in years.

Robert Shields was a mime in the early 1970s who drew crowds of tourists and locals alike when he performed in Union Square. He had studied under perhaps the world’s best-known mime, Marcel Marceau, and has been credited with inventing the “Robot” mime motions while performing in the city.

Shields’ fame spread in San Francisco and beyond. If he missed a few days of performances, fans would contact The Chronicle’s Herb Caen. The columnist, of course, would fastidiously hunt down the story and inform readers what had happened to the street performer.

On Oct. 5, 1972, Caen broke the news of Shields’ impending nuptials to Lorene Yarnell, a talented mime in her own right.

“Robert Shields, the beguiling mime of Union Square, will marry his constant companion, Lorene Yarnell, one day soon, with all the street musicians gathered ’round,” Caen wrote. “The small problem of a park permit is all that’s holding up the event and I say cut the red tape and get on with it.”

A few weeks later, on Oct. 27, the red tape was snipped and Shields, Yarnell and 1,200 onlookers gathered in Union Square for a ceremony like no other in San Francisco history.

The Chronicle described the scene: “Naturally the couple said nothing during the brief noon-hour ceremony. They crossed flowers and at the climatic moment of pantomime, Shields assumed a graceful fencer’s stance and placed the gold band onto the elegantly extended hand of Miss Yarnell. ... They kissed and hugged their way through the crowd to a waiting vintage Rolls-Royce, and departed in silent style.”

The couple worked in San Francisco for a few more years, Shields in Union Square and Yarnell in Ghirardelli Square, before they headed to Hollywood. Soon they were “discovered” and appeared on several TV variety programs before getting their own series on CBS.

Shields and Yarnell became famous without speaking a word, and in addition to their television gigs they appeared on Broadway and had regular Las Vegas shows. The mime marriage, however, was no fairy tale, and the two divorced in 1986.

In 1999, Chronicle writer Ruthe Stein caught up with Shields, and he reflected on his early years. “When I would work in the street, I made sure my makeup was beautiful and my costume was clean. I wasn’t just some sloppy street artist. I had a controlled setting and a lot of discipline.”

But the high times for mimes wouldn’t last forever.

“Mimes fell out of favor,” Shields said. “These bad mimes started popping up everywhere, and people hated them. If you don’t have the right timing and a certain magic about you, you are going to look ridiculous.”

The former mime left Hollywood behind and went on to start a successful jewelry and sculpture business in Arizona. Silent performance art called to him again, however.

Shields and Yarnell put their troubles aside and started touring again in the late 1990s. They performed with symphony pop orchestras across the country, with their silence garnering boisterous applause.

Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicle’s vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay.