Where the Internet truism is that information wants to be free, Prince’s corollary is that music wants to be heard. How much he makes from his various efforts is a closely guarded secret.
– The Once and Future Prince By JON PARELES New York Times, July 22, 2007

What is the title of this article? It is staring you right in the face, and yet, that is where most information lies and it runs right over you like water over a pebble. Need help? I’ll tell you this: I won’t tell you; that should help.

Now that we have our territory defined; let me give you an answer you did not ask for. Secrets are a paradox.

We live in a time of secrets of all cultures intermingling. Recently, the 15th century (B.C.) Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut’s materials was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I’ll bet this Queen could have never imagined, in all her deity, that private artifacts from her bedroom chamber would one day be on display, across an ocean, in a city of 8 million, viewed by races (much less “commoners”) from all over the world!  Were such artifacts “secret” in their time? I’d say so. The world was controlled by the few who proclaimed consort with the Divine, and the masses followed until conditions paved way for revolution. I’d make the leap that secrets propel revolution. At the very least, secrecy is a highly important element of any type of revolution. Once those types of secrets are known, it’s anybody’s guess where the next cultural shift will come from.

As a legerdermainist I’ve learned my secrets from three sources: books, private lessons, and my own creativity. The esteemed composer, Steven Schwartz, of the 26th longest-running Broadway musical hit, The Magic Show (1,920 performances over four and half years, ranked just behind South Pacific and ahead of Disney’s Aida) has discussed the wellspring of creativity he and all artists tap into when they need to create something. I believe the wellspring Schwartz speaks about is a “secret place” that is known about by people who create. Architectural plans or football plays, they each have an element of not letting the other guy know.

I have my own methodology of how I get to that creative, secret, place. Sometimes it involves trusting in things I can’t see, hear or touch. But having been down this road many times before – I know where to go to find the well. Once I was rehearsing a show and running a film of a comedian I like in another room. An assistant came by, noticed no one watching the film, and turned it off. She came in and said, “Hey, no one was watching that thing in the other room, so I turned it off, saving electricity and all that.” We asked her to turn it back on – theatre folks are often superstitious and we wanted the vibe of the artist from long ago to inspire us. Now, you may think, “Ach, that magician and his crew, so silly – why if you could not even see the film, why would that affect your work?” Therein lies the secret – the first law of illusion: “Just because you don’t see something doesn’t means it is not there.” Sure, we could not see the film, but it did affect our work, and our reviews noted the film’s direct influence. We wanted that particular artist’s work in our general consciousness. I liken this to the dancers that play the god Shiva in the Indian festival of Mahashivaratri (“the Great Night of Shiva”). During this festival, the dancer playing the celebrated Lord Shiva wears many layers of clothing, one corset being made of real golden threads. It is never seen, but extremely important that this corset is worn. It is never seen, but present, and has considerable weight. Just like a secret.

My mother used to write TV commercials. She’d provide copy that ultimately sold billions of Oreo cookies, and, in fact, set forth the entire Mr. Bubble line of bath soap. And how did those products come to be? I’ll let you know another secret – it came from her dreams. She let her subconscious do the driving and, yes, cliché though it is, dreams became reality.

Now, today, living in the US, as I do, we are confronted by a government obsessed with secrecy, who defies subpoenas, commutes the sentences of convicted felons, and yes, and enacts a so-called “pre-emptive war.” Journalist Bob Woodward shows us that the road to Iraq was well-paved as the voting chads in 2000 were being counted. And did the masses have any idea of the man who walked into the White House (dare I say elected) being surrounded by “secrecy mongers?” Yup. President Bush, and I have something in common: we both have secrets. But then we’re not alone. I think everyone has secrets. It is almost a part of being alive. The gardener’s secret mulch, the chef’s hint of a spice. I once knew a brilliant chef who noted that the mint leaves in the trout almondine we were enjoying was “witty.” One chef sussed out the other’s secret.

I have largely taught myself an art form through trial and a lot of errors. And, I am well read enough to know that lesser read types simply think nothing about tearing down an easy target like the precious art of illusion. It has to do with the times in which we live. Mediocrity has taken hold. There are ten-thousand amateur magicians who post what they think magic is all about on You Tube and it’s all about their “skill level,” but that doesn’t take into account what it is to be an entertainer. You can practice legerdemain, and expose secrets, but you’ll never be a jongleur. You’ll never hold a crowd. A typical attention span by a You Tuber is about 4-seconds and boredom seems to be the only thing that prevents one from actually finding out the inner secrets of others’ hard won work. Cynicism cloaked as “cool” in the late 80’s was the precursor to this deflation of the “secret art.” Which is cooler: owning a secret and therefore having its power, or, puncturing someone’s balloon? Guess which way I vote – but then again, I make wonder acceptable. I sell dreams. Creating art is the work of poets; the rest is merely cheap excuse, destructive devilry.

Secrets have always been intrinsic to wonder-working. Whether it is the material Mr. Punch is made out of looking large and sounding hard, but is really very lightweight and hollow, is a secret of the puppeteer, and not very interesting, until you need the secret. Then, it is most interesting. But only a few world-class puppeteers who make their own puppets, would divulge how, and this is, as it should be, in my opinion. The nature of the transcendental is something that takes long, hard work; determining broad differences like how infinity differs from eternity. You can’t have wonder without the unknown. When you have the unknown you primarily have the journey, usually not the destination and this brings us back to the beginning of our discussion.

Now you’ve learned the nature of secrets; not necessarily a bad thing. A “trade secret” is a private notion, process or element that is proprietary to a trade. Apparently, one business myth contends, those who have the ingredients of Coca-cola never travel together, and certainly never aboard the same air flight. Can this really be true? If computer hackers can steal credit card numbers with seeming impunity, then how come someone has not reverse-engineered the famous drink? Or have they, and we just don’t know it, and that fact is, therefore, a secret.

What was the secret of the Beatles? Why has not the music industry been able to create another U2?  Ah, these entities, like great clowns, have secrets. These are not the secrets of creating wealth. John Lennon never set out to create a global phenomenon. He set out to create a rock ‘n roll band. Perhaps the secret to the Beatles was a man named Brian Epstein. Don’t know him? Look him up. Do the work. Secrets are not just handed to the uninitiated – you have to show prowess to be admitted to others’ prowess. Learning secrets, for me, was like getting into college. You had to have what they were looking for to gain entry into their world. Similarly with secrets, you don’t get them unless you have what the holder wants. At least that has been my experience.

In 2007 we live in an age where form over rides content, where steroid-injected athletes break past records, and, this secret out, does this diminish the achievement? In one way, it is cheap thievery of another’s achievement. In my field, when someone stole a theme of one of my shows – in my case the dedication of my performance to my grandfather and celebrating his life on stage – the thief is just that, and not a creator…and never will be. Yet, a component was also stolen, and while I know the thief may have my form, they will never have my content – just another person’s work. They don’t really have anything, certainly not the true secret of that success.

If this appears oblique, it is meant to be. I have won what I have by thousands of hours of thought and experimentation. Those who attempt to  steal intellectual property will always be shown to be exactly what they really are because the alarms of modernity sound too loud.  As Mark Twain wrote, the pilferers are “hoisted by their own p’tar.”  Intelligence, it is said, is the act of keeping secrets. Counter intelligence, I am told, is the practice, or tradecraft of preventing secrets from being gained. Sometimes the secret holders have a tough time figuring out who they work for. Another nature of secrets: who rightfully get the information?

In an age where creative thievery is practiced*, is our society doomed to also have no more secrets? Can it all be on the table to be found at will, if you know where to look? I don’t think that is possible, no matter how many computers are read by remote. Despite what the futurists say, there is still more communication outside of the billions of terabytes of stored information, and that is where the juice really lies. That’s another secret. A friend of mine once joked, “Hey I found this information on the Internet, and so it must be true.” Beware familiar spirits, beware of easy access.

Food, friendship, talent, inspiration, family connections (save “leverage”) surprise and the caress of a child’s smile on his immediate environment are the elements of “secrets.”  You have to figure out where your strength lies. Whether it is knowledge, sex appeal or wealth – once you figure out what fuels the “secret of your success” then, and only then, will you have leverage for what you seek.

The good news of this world is that secrets can launch inspiration can come from apparently anywhere. A company the size of Google can launch world maps to the poor and organize seemingly limitless information. What’s their secret people ask. The event of You Tube lets Warhol’s edict ride, and it is said that Google has seals that only an algorithm can unlock. Such are the prized secrets of that Internet giant and the secret ways in which websites are rated. I was lucky with Google. I registered with them when they were not even in the top twenty search engines and was called once by their offices. They wanted to now what drove my simple philosophy, and we compared notes.

Again, the secret is not what I know, or whom I talk to, but the creativity that drives me which elicits response. A few people have asked over the years how I have come to know people of certain accomplishment. I believe that you have to accomplish something to meet others of meritorious accomplishment. You know, birds of a feather…

Yet, secrets cannot really be stolen, that is the secret part, because once a secret is replicated, it is therefore, not a secret anymore. Secrets are precious. Something only a few, if that many, genuinely know about.

If you can create secrets, you can foster surprises. With surprises you have power, and with power you can achieve what you desire because your knowledge will have had you ahead of others…however temporarily.  This is why a few magicians have been important in the last few years in the fight against global terrorism. It is unpleasant work to anticipate murderers because they live with a no rules approach to the living. As we found out with the recent attempts in London, it was surprise that trounced the plotters and saved lives. Timing is everything in life, and even the discovery of pernicious planning cannot elude the advent of accurate or, fortuitous, timing.

Everyone has secrets. A child has their hiding place for their favorite toys. A woman hides the pages of her old lover from her husband and business contacts often play many sides of the same deal helping multiple parties. The world is full of secrets. My job as a magician is to make you understand that in this Information Age, secrets are not to be taken lightly. In fact, give that some thought, and then get back to me. Who am I speaking to? Ah…that’s a secret. But, you know who you are.

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*One Los Angeles attorney consulted for this article cried that he guessed that professional secrets or copyright was violated every ten seconds in Hollywood!