Greetings over your interweb devices
“Listen, do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?”
How the sausage is made.
When I was a young lad growing up, Universal Studios was just beginning to open their studios to the public for touring — a move which would go on to become the huge theme parks now known the world over. A big part of original allure to draw tourists was the chance for an “average person” to have a glimpse behind the curtain – to learn how movies are made. The spokesperson during many of the first commercials they made featured none other than Alfred Hitchcock. I still remember the tagline of one ad (which he delivered in his deliciously deliberate speech), “You DO meet the strangest people on the tour” (referring, of course, to himself).
I spent the summer of 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona with my Pop who had just moved from LA. He’d met a young man at a conference back east named Jay, who was an aspiring magician. Pop being the man who taught me the real meaning of “giving you the shirt right off your back” (I once saw him do that very thing for someone who really admired the shirt he was wearing), he invited the young prestidigitator to come stay part of the summer with us on his way west. I had always been fascinated by magic and particularly sleight of hand and was thrilled when I talked Jay into showing me simple things like how to manipulate coins. Revealing a whole magic trick, however, was something he did not want to do. Just saying that a magician never reveals his or her secrets wasn’t enough so he laid it on the line — unless it is your goal to be a magician yourself, once you know how it’s done, it loses all its luster, you won’t look at magic the same way again.
“But I might want to learn, at least in an amateur sense, and if I didn’t know how it was done, how could I ever decide?“
I would not relent throwing out such nuggets of marginal logic and finally, Jay was worn down and revealed how a few of the tricks were done.
Well, I haven’t looked at tricks the same ever since, nor did I become a magician, amateur or professional. But I DID go on the Universal tour as a kid — and I DID go into film/TV production.
Entertainment Tonight and similar shows have been staples of video fare for years, and behind-the scenes featurettes accompany almost all productions now, so the magic behind that curtain is known to just about everyone. In fact, the “see how movies are made” part of Universal Studios Theme Parks is the barely a part of the tour anymore.
When I was in college I wrote more than a few papers on “Citizen Kane” and would painstakingly pontificate on the technical wizardry of Gregg Toland’s camerawork. On one, I got a note in the margin from the TA grading the paper — basically he wondered if I would ever again to be able to just enjoy a movie. I am lucky that I have, although I can be a very tough audience.
To one and all, Be Safe-Stay Healthy