Roving security guards caused both teams to hide for hours upon end, but after dark they reached the roofs of the towers. Forty years ago, New York awoke to find Philippe Petit walking on a wire between the 110-story Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit, a French wire walker, juggler, and street performer days shy of his 25th birthday, spent 45 minutes walking, dancing, kneeling, and lying on a wire he and friends strung between the rooftops of the Twin Towers. The Frenchman was happy to do it.Subscribe to The Story Behind https://is.gd/hixAArMusic by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Sami’s review of: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers Author: Mordicai Gerstien Genre: Non-Fiction. He knew they were powerless to do anything until the walk ended—one way or another. Disguised as construction workers and carrying fake identification cards from the faux Fisher Industrial Fence Co., Petit and two cohorts passed through security and transported hundreds of pounds of cable up the freight elevator. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. And part of that memory is the joyful morning, August 7, 1974, when Philippe Petit walked between them in the air. But, actually, it was a stroke of luck - guards helped him during his visits to the towers and didn’t ask for an ID. I’ve created a set of … Petit only had to perform a high-wire walk in Central Park for children. Later, he started to perform on the streets of Paris juggling and doing tricks. Petit under arrest after tightrope walk (Credit: Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images). And Philippe had a burning desire to walk on the wire between them. The walk had to start early in the morning. Both of the walks were illegal. Another problem appeared three weeks before the planned walk. On trips back to France, Petit built wooden models of the World Trade Center and practiced on a wire that corresponded exactly to the distance between the two towers. When Philippe came to New York, he was shocked. Philippe Petit's high-wire walk between the World Trade Center towers earned him a place in history — not to mention an on-screen legacy, thanks to the documentary Man … 3 years ago. A little more than an hour after dawn broke over Manhattan, an elfin man stood precariously on the edge of the south tower of the World Trade Center. The policemen could only lean against the girders and watch with everyone else as the lithe acrobat made eight trips across the wire, even kneeling down at times without losing his balance. When he saw the Twin Towers, he decided to repeat his tightrope act and attempt to walk between the two towers which were still being constructed. And he became famous for walking. Copy link. When Petit finished the performance, police officers arrested him. He took a helicopter ride to view the towers from above and even posed as a journalist from an architecture magazine to interview construction workers on top of the Twin Towers while his friends snapped photographs of the rooftops. 3 years ago. Mesmerizing. When asked why he attempted the walk, he said, “If I see three oranges, I have to juggle. He travelled to New York in 1974 in order to do some street performing. Another pair of accomplices dressed as office workers and entered the north tower with a blueprint tube with a crossbow inside. Philippe Petit's Crazy High-Wire Walk Between The Twin Towers Author Mordicai Gerstein tells the true story of Philippe Petit, a street performer who spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing tricks on a wire suspended between the towers. The hullabaloo was over a Frenchman named Philippe Petit, who was walking on a high wire more than 1,300 feet in the air, suspended between the … Use Post-it notes to mark specific points in the story where the character’s words, actions, thoughts, or feelings might help determine a character trait. A few minutes into the walk, policemen arrived on the rooftop but Petit only laughed and smiled. … Petit crossed the wire between the towers eight times. To fix the wire Philippe used a bow and arrows. He looked at the twin towers and saw an opportunity to satiate his desire for excitement. It almost has an ethereal and fairy tale like quality to it. This nonfiction picture book has beautiful illustrations, a few foldout pages to enhance his "dance" between the towers, and the story itself is exciting to read. A little more than an … We will spend a couple of days just absorbing the book and completing activities with it before we address the page that says, "Now the towers are gone." After surveying the rooftop, a new thought popped to mind: “Impossible, yes, so let’s get to work.”. The Frenchman Philippe Petit performed all his life. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Not only because of the high altitude of the buildings, but also because of the difficulties with the preparation. Petit instantly became a folk hero. He remembers being inspired as a child by images of fine art, which his mother cut out of Life magazine, and by children's books from the library: … Tes classic free licence. A man's daring stunt atop the World Trade Center towers. And two years later, he completed a walk at the Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS (By Mordicai Gerstein, Narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal, Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal) Inspired by the true story of Philippe Petit and his daring 1974 high wire walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. 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