Fifty years ago this week, French high-wire artist Philippe Petit committed what is widely regarded as the “artistic crime of the century.” After years of studying the towers and planning what he called “le coup,” Petit and his collaborators set up a thin steel cable, roughly the diameter of two pencils, between the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center at a height of 1,350 feet (411.5 m). The top floors of the buildings were still under construction at the time, allowing Petit and his friends to easily disguise themselves as deliverymen, construction workers, and businessmen.
Dressed in black, wearing wire-walking slippers, and carrying his balancing pole, Petit set off on his 131-foot (40-m) walk around 8 am on August 7, 1974. With no safety net, Petit performed on the wire for around 45 minutes, a quarter of a mile above the streets of Manhattan, with onlookers watching transfixed. Besides making eight passes on the wire, he also ran, danced, sat, lay down, kneeled, bowed, and saluted on the wire. When he returned to the South Tower, he was arrested by the waiting police and held for a few hours on charges of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. These were eventually dropped on the condition that he perform a free show in Central Park for children, a punishment he gladly accepted. He was later given a lifetime pass to the towers’ Observation Deck by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Now nearly 75, Petit's incredible high-wire career has seen him perform on a tightrope at some of the world’s most iconic locations, including the Eiffel Tower, Grand Central Terminal, the Lincoln Center, the Louisiana Superdome, and across city streets in Jerusalem, Tokyo, Vienna, and Frankfurt, among many others.
For over 40 years, Petit has been an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City and has performed numerous times for the benefit of the cathedral. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of his World Trade Center walk, Petit is performing two shows at the cathedral, entitled TOWERING!! Unlike his walk in the sky half a century ago, Petit’s performances this week will take place at a height of 20 feet (6.1 m) across the cathedral’s nave, allowing audience members to witness his artistry up close. The musician Sting, a longtime friend of Petit, will be among the other performers, debuting a brand-new song in honor of the high-wire walker.
Man on wire:
- Most of Petit’s high-wire walks have been legal, with a few notable exceptions, including the Twin Towers walk. He had already walked (without permission) between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sydney Harbour Bridge before his World Trade Center walk.
- When asked by reporters why he had walked between the Twin Towers, Petit simply answered, “When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk.”
- Among the many other skills in Petit’s repertoire, he is an accomplished magician, juggler, unicyclist, fencer, carpenter, rock-climber, bullfighter, equestrian, and street performer.
