#stage hands

Moving props at Universal Studios

If you wear all black in broad daylight, you stand out a horrorific amount. If you're trying to be sneaky, like a ninja, that's your worst nightmare. Even in the dead of night, all black clothing stands out. For example, when my pitch black dog is outside at nighttime and it's time for her to come inside, I look for the darkest spot. Dark gray or blue blends into the night far better.

Even so, if you want to blend in, wearing average everyday clothing is far less likely to get you noticed. Most ninjas just wore plain clothing. It kept them form standing out, and allowed them to blend into the crowd.

The myth that all ninjas wore black actually only exists because some guy wanted to be clever.

You see, anyone who has ever been in theater knows a thing or two about stage hands. They dress in all black, work the spotlights and curtains, etc. Sometimes they come onto the stage and move props during the show. The audience typically just ignores them. They're just stage hands, why would anyone pay attention to them?

Well, one motherfucker decided his show would be different, so when the stage hands stepped out onto the stage and began moving props, one stage hand joined the show. He stepped forward and assassinated a main character.

The audience fucking LOST IT. They'd never seen a ninja like that before.

He was a ninja, hidden in plain sight, and no one paid him any attention because he was "just a stage hand."

Soon that trope became kinda popular, and almost every show was doing it or something similar, so it lost the shock value... But the ninjas in black myth was born anyway.

So basically what I'm saying is stage hands are ninjas.

(Unrelated note, there is a porn fic on AO3 about this.)

It’s the control board at Radio City Music Hall!

This console controls the main curtain [called, “the contour”], the three 70 feet long stage elevators and the built in turntable!

There are only a select few people who know how to use this old school machine from the same time the theatre was built. That they still use this is proof of the statement, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" 

Even though computers and new technology run most of what we do now backstage, this is a glimpse into the past, mechanics and machines moving huge pieces of scenery!  It’s brilliant engineering and it’s amazing to watch the technicians who can do this work.  And... can you believe it’s run by an electrician, not a carpenter, it’s electrics!