A remarkably gutsy little Frenchman, Phillipe Petit, captured America's admiration, and temporary celebrity, in 1974 when he did an extensive high wire walk between the Twin Towers--the highest wire walk ever done.
Petit had begun his unusual career at age 15 when he ran away from home in France to learn magic, juggling, and rope walking. He came to New York City in the 1970s and worked as a street entertainer. In his home country, he had already achieved celebrity for a high-wire walk between the twin towers of Paris' Cathedral Notre Dame, and he had done a similar walk between the towers of Australia's Sydney Harbour Bridge.
He was still unknown in the United States, however, until he and his helpers smuggled their equipment into the Twin Towers and up to their rooftops. They used a bow and arrow to shoot first a fishing line to the opposite tower, then passed successively larger ropes across the chasm. Finally, they secured a strong steel cable to link the skyscrapers.
Early on the morning of August 7, 1974, Petit, 24, performed on that 140-foot wire for 45 minutes, making eight trips back and forth--a quarter mile above the sidewalks. He left the wire only when rain started to fall, and was immediately arrested.
The charges were soon dropped, and the small, precise Petit was for a while the toast of the town.
He has continued to wire walk and for many years has been one of the artists-in-residence at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
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