Philippe Petit was the “Man on a Wire.” On August 7, 1974, shortly after 7:15 a.m., without hesitation, Petit stepped off the South Tower and onto his 3/4″ 6×19 IWRC steel cable. The 24-year-old Petit made eight crossings between the still-unfinished towers, a quarter mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan, in an event that lasted about 45 minutes. During that time, in addition to walking, he sat on the wire, gave knee salute and, while lying on the wire, spoke with a gull circling above his head.
He was arrested. The immense news coverage and public appreciation of Petit’s high wire walk resulted in all formal charges relating to his walk being dropped. The court did however “sentence” Petit to perform a show for the children of New York City, which Petit transformed into another high-wire walk, this time above the Belvedere Lake in New York’s Central Park.
James Marsh directed the documentary which was based on the book by Petit himself, “To Reach the Clouds.” It won the World Cinema Jury and Audience awards at Sundance 2008 and it is playing in theaters now.
I bet he really got a rush out of this one. The world trade towers were 1,727 feet high if you count the radio spire at the top, 1,368 feet if you don’t. He walked on a wire about an inch wide at a third of a mile in the sky. He must have made it through many layers of illusion having done that.
tara in the west 