Freakmeister Rose reveals ‘Secrets of the Strange’

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

It's about time the theater world started taking Jim Rose seriously.

Give the guy a break, already: He's spent the better part of this decade chewing razor blades and light bulbs, serving as a human dart board and rubbing shards of broken glass in his face for the sake of his art.

And that's nothing compared to what the bug-ingesting, blow torch-licking, torture-bent band of weirdos he's been traversing the globe with, performing in the "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow" and "The New Jim Rose Circus," have endured.

Finally, it seems, Rose is done paying his dues.

His latest touring stage show, "Secrets of the Strange," stops Saturday at the Huntridge Theater for the Performing Arts before heading to New York for a summer season run at the off-Broadway Westbeth Theatre.

Although the "legitimate theater" title has eluded him for years, Rose says it hasn't been all that frustrating -- "because I don't care," he says. "You see, I'm not one of these guys who's just scratching up that ladder. ... I've been really lucky that people have just come out to my shows and supported it, but I come from a background of the psychological and the visual."

"Secrets of the Strange," which Rose created and stars in, features a few "Sideshow" and "Circus" favorites, including the infamous Mr. Lifto, who displays his ... er, talent for hanging heavy objects from his you-know-what, and Bebe the Circus Queen, Rose's wife of 13 years. It's less freak show than psychological thriller, broaching such topics as brainwashing, faith healers, mentalism and mind control.

Despite the aforementioned descriptions, 42-year-old Rose assures that "Secrets of the Strange" is "much more dangerous than any show we've ever done ... because the audience actually walks out knowing how to brainwash and start a cult if they wanted to."

But please, folks, don't try this at home.

The format is a bit of a departure from what made Rose "a brand name, in a weird way." He led his namesake "Sideshow" and "Circus" in various incarnations from 1991-98, gaining a worldwide following and selling thousands of tickets to shows in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe.

Stateside, Rose began gaining prominence in 1992 when he toured as part of the Lollapalooza festival. Two years later he took to the road (as did a then-fledgling freak, Marilyn Manson) with the band Nine Inch Nails, led by his Gothic-rocker buddy Trent Reznor.

Rose, who authored the book "Freak Like Me," has also been featured in roles on "The X-Files" and "The Simpsons." The script for the movie version of "Freak Like Me" was recently completed, and he's currently fielding offers from cable networks for a weekly television series.

"I'm not so certain that I've (made) a change that is as abrupt as it might seem," he says of "Secrets of the Strange's" subject matter, pointing to the evolution of his shows.

From 1991-93, he says, "we were kind of a punk-rock freak show." From '94-'96: "We were more of an adult spook show where we basically turned out the lights and scared the audience with (acts involving) lawnmowers, chain saws, I would ride a motorcycle through the crowd, that type of thing." In '97 and '98: "It was more like P.T. Barnum meets (cult film director) John Waters, with women sumo wrestling and Mexican transvestite wrestling.

"This year, 'Secrets of the Strange' is yet another turn," he says, "but every year, I've gotten away from the freakish. ... This one's probably more dangerous because it's about fears and phobias of the early 21st century. It's like (mentalists) Uri Geller and Kreskin have gotten in bed with the devil's advocate."

So, how is it that Rose came to learn enough about such mind-bending stuff that he's able to explain -- and even debunk -- their theories for audiences?

He began reading books about hypnotism and the like as a child. "I couldn't figure out what they meant," he says. "I ended up learning (through) trial and error, watching others, and after hundreds of hours experimenting in my live shows.

"I realized that a person doesn't walk out of their house one day and say, 'I'm going to join a cult.' A person doesn't walk out of their house one day and say, 'I'm going to be a prostitute.' These people walk out of their homes and run into somebody who knows the two keys of mind control."

Rose later went back and reread those books. "I realized that there was only one paragraph that explained what you needed to know, and the other 200 pages were psychobabble to justify the book."

While he remains tight-lipped about specifics of "Secrets of the Strange," he does explain that "once I prove that hypnotism, mind control and brainwashing are real and they're all the same thing, then every subject we go through after that is presented as though it's real, except that it may not be.

"Psychics, faith healers, black magic, psychic surgery, all of that kind of stuff we're just gonna have to pick and choose through it together, and the audience is just a step behind and that's what makes it a thriller."

In "Secrets of the Strange," which he calls "a warped seminar," Rose insists: "I'm not conning the audience. I'm letting them in on cons and that's what's empowering.

"Along with the stuff that aren't cons, once you know what's really behind it, it's pretty damn empowering as well," he says. "I do it in a semicomical way and not abrasive, a lot of fun."