On a high: Philippe Petit during his remarkable walk between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in 1974 Credit: AP
It was six years in the making, and finally, in the early hours of 7 August 1974, Philippe Petit was able to perform his biggest “coup” and walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
Ready for action...
With the help of a clutch of assistants and friends, the Frenchman, then 24, managed to gain access to the 110th storey of the tallest building in the world 41 years ago. The audacious feat would catapult Petit to overnight stardom, as well as arrest. In this image the tightrope walker, who risked certain death with his stunt, looks back at the camera, poised and ready to cross the 200ft (61 metre) gap between the two iconic towers. He would pass along the wire eight times in his 45-minute performance – and felt confident enough to showboat on occasion – before being ordered down by the local police force.
Off he goes...
Petit’s incredible achievement was captured for eternity by his assistants, who had helped him up on to the South Tower and carted the kit – including the 60-metre cable needed to steady the main wire – up the North Tower. This image was taken by Alan “Albert” Welner, one of two young Americans recruited late on. Jean-Louis Blondeau, a friend of Petit’s from childhood, had hidden with Welner and then fired the wire across cleverly using a cross-bow. With it being the dead of night, Petit was forced to remove his clothes so he could feel for it brushing on his skin. Without the support of his crew, the Frenchman would have never been able to pull off the so-called “artistic crime of the century”.
We’ve got a jumper...
Petit began his walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center just after dawn on 7 August 1974. Ideally the Frenchman and his crew would have wanted more time to steady the wire, but when they heard the sound of the elevator shaft, they knew they had to move quickly. The construction workers heading to the top of the world’s tallest building would be about to start their day. It was about 7am, and as people below travelled to their offices they spotted the 24-year-old a quarter of a mile above them. Initially they thought it was a “jumper” – someone attempting suicide. In fact they were witnessing what would become known as the “artistic crime of the century”. Petit embarked on a thrilling aerial display and, showing extreme confidence, began to showboat during his 45-minute walk, which he had been planning since he was 18.
On top of the world...
This iconic image – again captured by Petit’s American assistant Welner – shows the Frenchman’s delight while performing what he called “le coup”. This colour photograph clearly shows the funambulist’s grin; he cannot mask his sheer joy at walking between the twin towers of World Trade Center, then the planet’s tallest building. It may have been six years in the making, but took very little time for the 24-year-old to steady himself when he was actually on the high-wire, despite being 1,350 feet high and having to deal with wind gusts. He performed for three-quarters of an hour, before being ordered down by New York police officers. In total he make eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down and knelt to salute onlookers. Crowds gathered on the streets below, drivers left their cars to witness the amazing feat. Petit said later he could hear their murmuring and cheers.
Mind the gap...
As a passenger aeroplane flies seemingly very close to Petit, and the top of the World Trade Center, in this image taken from the ground – some 1,350 feet below – the enormity of the Frenchman’s achievement is made clear. He was the first and last man to walk between the twin towers. The 24-year-old delighted the financial district morning commuters who noticed the tiny speck in the sky waltzing and lounging on a one-inch-wide wire. He prepared for the stunt by practising tightrope walking, studying the towers – having convinced New York-based photographer friend Jim Moore to take reconnaissance images on a helicopter flight in January 1974 – and illegally reached the roof by posing as a French journalist. Barry Greenhouse, an insurance executive who worked on the 82nd floor in the South Tower, was persuaded to forge security passes for Petit.
High and mighty...
Another famous image of Petit’s walk between the World Trade Center’s twin towers, which dwarfed the Empire State building – formerly the globe’s tallest construction – and can be seen in the background of this photograph. The Frenchman conceived the idea of walking across the 60-metre gap when he was in the dentist’s waiting room, six years before the event. He was 18 at the time, and had only taken up tightrope walking two years before. But upon reading about the construction of the World Trade Center he was hit, thunderbolt-like, with a desire to achieve “le coup”. In fact, he was so struck he departed the dentist without his ailing toothache having been looked at. His obsession absolute, careful practical preparation was soon underway and two smaller “coups”, at Notre Dame and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, came before the main event.
Having a quick lie down...
In the early hours of 7 August 1974, high above the streets of New York, Petit walked the wire between the world’s tallest building’s two towers, and felt so confident that he took to showboating – as evidenced by this extraordinary shot. The Frenchman is shown lying down on the wire while balancing his bar across his chest with his arms well away. At one point the 24-year-old hung by his heels. Petit became a celebrity overnight, with many in awe of his feat, and his “coup” has been referred to in popular culture many times since. For instance, American rock band Incubus used a photo of Petit as the cover art for their album, If Not Now, When?, while Colum McCann's award-winning 2009 novel, Let the Great World Spin, features Petit's twin towers walk as its opening passage and a centrepiece to which numerous characters are connected.
Look, behind my back...
Petit, who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center for approximately 45 minutes, would have continued to showboat had the New York police not threatened him. And even then he needed persuading to halt his performance. The Frenchman, recalling his “coup”, said: “Suddenly the shouting hurled at me reaches my ears, because this time, the words are in French. It is Jean-François [Heckel, one of his assistants on the South Tower of the World Trade Center and a childhood friend], terrified by the threats of the police – they say they're going to loosen the tension on the wire, they say they're going to send a helicopter to snatch me from mid-air – who has agreed to translate their latest message: ‘Stop right now or we'll take you out!’ For a second I despise Jean-François, but then I understand: he believes them.”
Handcuffed...
The local police, taking a somewhat humourless attitude, arrested Petit and two assistants after he eventually was convinced to step off his highwire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Fearing he was insane, they took the Frenchman to Beekman-Downtown Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He was quickly determined perfectly sane and, later on the same day, the charges laid against the 24-year-old by the New York police department were dismissed in exchange for his doing a performance in Central Park for children. When attempting to explain his art, he later would say: “Many people use the words ‘death defying’ or ‘death wishing’ when they talk about wire walking. Many people have asked me: ‘So do you have a death wish?’ After doing a beautiful walk, I feel like punching them in the nose. It's indecent. I have a life wish.”
Oranges and towers...
Having been arrested by New York police, and asked by the press why Petit had risked his life by walking between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, he famously answered: “There is no ‘why’. When I see a beautiful place to put my wire I cannot resist. I see three oranges and I have to juggle. I see two towers and I have to walk.” Here the Frenchman, whose achievement would never be repeated, is shown being interviewed as he is being led away from Beekman-Downtown Hospital following his arrest. He later said: “To me, it’s really so simple: life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion, to refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge. Then you will live your life on the tightrope.”
The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is released in IMAX and selected cinemas on October 2 and nationwide on October 9
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