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‘Flying Wallendas’ Times Square High-Wire Walk Evokes Rich History of Death-Defying Stunts in N.Y. ‘Flying Wallendas’ Times Square High-Wire Walk Evokes Rich History of Death-Defying Stunts in N.Y.
(about 1 hour later)
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Ali Ali, 30, looked up from his steaming hot dog cart on West 45th Street on Sunday night and gazed up at a wire rigged along the length of Times Square between two skyscrapers, 25 stories above street level.Ali Ali, 30, looked up from his steaming hot dog cart on West 45th Street on Sunday night and gazed up at a wire rigged along the length of Times Square between two skyscrapers, 25 stories above street level.
“It’s crazy — they are walking through the sky,” said Mr. Ali, who for the moment had no customers.“It’s crazy — they are walking through the sky,” said Mr. Ali, who for the moment had no customers.
They, along with throngs of people — whether tourists or jaded New Yorkers — were staring, necks craned, toward the night sky to watch Nik and Lijana Wallenda walking a wire high above Manhattan. They, along with throngs of onlookers — whether tourists or jaded New Yorkers — were staring, necks craned, toward the night sky to watch Nik and Lijana Wallenda walking a wire high above Manhattan.
The siblings — members of the Flying Wallendas circus family — held balancing poles and started on opposite sides of a 1,300 foot wire, slowly inching their way to the center, where they met. The siblings — members of the Flying Wallendas circus family — held balancing poles and started on opposite sides of a 1,300-foot wire, strung between 1 Times Square at the south end at 42nd Street, and 2 Times Square, just north of the TKTS booth at 47th Street.
Then she sat carefully on the wire. He stepped over her. And they both proceeded on their way to complete the walk. They slowly inched toward the center of the wire, where they met and embarked on the delicate process of passing each other.
“Maybe the biggest surprise was that the wire was as stable as it was,” Mr. Wallenda said afterward. Ms. Wallenda lowered herself and sat carefully on the wire as her brother skillfully stepped over her.
New York City’s love affair with death-defying stunts is well established. Ms. Wallenda said she struggled briefly when standing back up, but added, “I was calm about it — I was like, ‘I got this.’”
Harry Houdini did it more than a century ago when he was shackled inside a packing crate and plunged into the East River. Then they both proceeded on their separate ways to complete the stunt.
The daredevil Evel Knievel, dressed in his trademark red, white and blue leather jumpsuit, managed to do it in 1971 when he jumped his motorcycle over nine cars and a van in Madison Square Garden. “Maybe the biggest surprise was that the wire was as stable as it was,” Mr. Wallenda, 40, said afterward.
Three years later, Philippe Petit aimed for the same effect when he walked a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The wire walk had the feel of an old-time spectacle, and spectators who packed Times Square seemed for the moment immune to the flashy billboards and other distractions.
“That’s the inspiration behind what I do,” Mr. Wallenda, 40, said in an earlier interview. “I pay tribute to my family and to those greats like Harry Houdini and Philippe Petit. I mean, I want to do it my own way, of course.” Mr. Wallenda began slowly from the north end of the wire at roughly 9 p.m.
The family, whose performance history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 1700s, made their American debut in 1928 as part of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the old Madison Square Garden, not far from where the Wallendas executed their stunt on Sunday night. “There he goes,” said Douglas Klein, a landscaper from Corvalis, Ore., who was on vacation in New York, along with his sister Becky Bernosky and her daughters, Laci, 15, and Lindsey, 11.
The Wallendas were following in the footsteps of daredevils like Houdini, who in 1912 escaped from handcuffs, leg-irons and a sealed, weighted crate that was submerged in the East River. “It all seems kind of scary because I don’t want him to fall,” Lindsay said, staring up at Mr. Wallenda.
Mr. Petit, even after being arrested and charged in connection to his World Trade Center feat, was permitted to walk a wire, untethered, over Amsterdam Avenue to St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan in 1982. “I don’t even like heights, so I can feel my heart racing,” said Christina Divne, who was visiting New York from Stockholm with her family.
In 2006, the illusionist and endurance performer David Blaine spent seven days submerged in a water-filled sphere at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. She said the walk might have been more exciting if the Wallendas had not worn safety harnesses, “but it would also be more messy if they fell to their deaths doing this.”
But alas, times are tougher these days for performers seeking city approval for such stunts. Spectators applauded from the street as the Wallendas performed overhead.
In 2013, Mr. Wallenda wanted to walk a wire strung between the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, but was unable to get permission from city officials. After they crossed in the middle of the wire, Mr. Wallenda finished more quickly than his sister. Then the crowd cheered heartily as if to buoy Ms. Wallenda to a safe end.
The Wallendas were able to get approval for Sunday’s walk provided they wear safety harnesses. While removing a certain element of danger, this ruling also made the 20-minute walk more difficult, and there would be no safety net, Mr. Wallenda said.
“It’s like putting handcuffs on somebody and saying, ‘Now walk the wire,’” he said, adding that he would also be wearing cameras and other equipment. “It’s a lot of gear and it adds more and more stress.”
Sunday’s wire walk, which was broadcast live on ABC, would be more challenging than the one he envisioned for 2013, Mr. Wallenda said.
“The other walk, I would have been so high up and out of the mix,” he said. “In Times Square you have these crazy L.E.D. billboards distracting you the entire walk. You have thousands of people below, the city lights, the sirens, the horns. This is the most exciting walk I could do in New York City.”
Mr. Wallenda said he and his crew had had a window of less than six hours to rig the wire while Seventh Avenue was shut down overnight. It was 1,300 feet long and strung between 1 Times Square at the south end of the open area of Times Square at 42nd Street, and 2 Times Square, just north of the TKTS booth at 47th Street.
It was a fraught process that involved avoiding power lines and construction zones, he said.
“It was a massive undertaking, setting a quarter-mile cable that really involves rigging four miles of cable when you include the stabilizing lines,” Mr. Wallenda said.
Mr. Wallenda has been walking tightropes since childhood. In 2012, he walked a wire over Niagara Falls, and in 2013, he traversed the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon.
For Ms. Wallenda, 42, the walk was her first high-wire attempt since a 2017 accident in which she and four other walkers fell 30 feet off a tightrope during a rehearsal and were seriously injured.For Ms. Wallenda, 42, the walk was her first high-wire attempt since a 2017 accident in which she and four other walkers fell 30 feet off a tightrope during a rehearsal and were seriously injured.
“She nearly lost her life; she was in a coma and broke every bone in her face,” Mr. Wallenda said. “So this will be extremely emotional. I’ll be surprised if I’m not shedding tears before I even finish.” In an interview after the walk, Mr. Wallenda said he became emotional when meeting his sister in the middle of the wire.
After the walk, Mr. Wallenda was asked what his next performance would be. “It was hard to hold it together,” he said.
Mr. Wallendas said the blinding billboards were dizzying and difficult to prepare for.
“How do you duplicate Times Square and the distractions?” he said.
However, at least one distraction proved enthralling: the roar of the crowd.
“We’re entertainers — we live for that,” said Mr. Wallenda, who has been walking tightropes since childhood.
In 2012, he walked a wire over Niagara Falls, and in 2013, he traversed the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon.
New York City’s love affair with death-defying stunts is well established, dating at least to Houdini’s 1912 escape from handcuffs, leg-irons and a sealed, weighted crate that was submerged in the East River.
The daredevil Evel Knievel, dressed in his trademark red, white and blue leather jumpsuit, jumped his motorcycle over nine cars and a van in Madison Square Garden in 1971.
Three years later, Philippe Petit walked a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
The Wallenda family’s performance history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 1700s.
What wire walk should Mr. Wallenda tackle next? Mr. Ali, the hot dog vendor, offered his own opinion.
“I’m Egyptian, so of course I think his next trick should be walking between the pyramids,” he said.
The same question was posed to Mr. Wallenda after his walk.
“I really want to want walk over an active volcano,” he said.“I really want to want walk over an active volcano,” he said.