On a misty, overcast morning August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit spent 45 minutes walking, kneeling and even laying on wire strung between the top of the World Trade Center towers. At one point Philipe is laying on his back on the wire and having a conversation with a seagull. Yes, a seagull. It took Phillipe and his motley crew six-months of meticulous planning to get the illegal operation together. Using fake ID’s, disguises, and even getting a couple of ‘inside men’ that worked in the Trade Towers. Even then, ‘Le Coup’ almost didn’t happen. The film Man on Wire takes you step-by-step through the makings of one of the greatest stunts in New York history. Port Authority Policeman Sgt. Charles Daniels had this to say: “I observed the tightrope ‘dancer’—because you couldn’t call him a ‘walker’—approximately halfway between the two towers. And upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started going into a dancing routine on the high wire....And when he got to the building we asked him to get off the high wire but instead he turned around and ran back out into the middle....He was bouncing up and down. His feet were actually leaving the wire and then he would resettle back on the wire again....Unbelievable really....Everybody was spellbound in the watching of it.”
Posted on July 29, 2008 at 10:05 AM | Previous Entry | Next Entry | Entry List | Email Entry | Digg
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There are 4 total comments about this entry. The most recent comment was posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago...
I’m reasonably certain this was front page news in the NY Daily News with the title “THE HUMAN FLY”
I have this newspaper - i’ll dig it up and ifi ts the same story take a photo and send it in.
My bad - i checked my newspapers - “THE HUMAN FLY” (the one i have) is from 5-27-77. George Willig climbed up the south tower of the WTC.
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Here is the web site for the photographer that took all the pictures for Philippe in the preparation
of the WTC walk.
The film contains 40+ pictures and he never is mentioned in the articles and reviews.
He was very instrumental in making this event possible as seen in the film.