The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
The Man Who Walked Between The Towers follows the French street performer Philippe Petit in an illustrated children's book made by author Mordicai Gerstein. Philippe Petit had an idea to walk a wire between the twin towers and acted upon it with much planning and setting up. He had once walked a wire on the Notre Dame where he lived in Paris, France. Early on an August morning, since the towers were not quite finished, Philippe Petit and his friend dressed up as a construction worker and went up the south tower. They got a 440 lbs of cable into the elevator. Took it to the top 10 floors and waited until nightfall. Then they carried everything up 180 stairs into the roof. At midnight, two more friends came to help and tied a line through an arrow and shot it across to Philippe 140 feet away. It missed and landed on a ledge who crawled down the ledge of the tower to get the arrow. To the line he attached a stronger line, whom his friends pulled back and he tied it to a cable that was 5/8 of an inch thick. The cable was so heavy that it took them 3 hours to secure the line from across the two towers. By past dawn of August 7, 1974, they had tightened it between the towers. Philippe then put on his black shirt and tights and picked up his 28-foot balancing pole and started walking on the wire. He felt, "Alone and absolutely free", as author Mordecai Gerstein writes. The bystanders notice someone walking between the two towers and quickly notify the police. Officers rushed to the roof of the towers and yelled to Philippe, "You're under arrest!" For almost an hour Philippe walked, danced, and leaped back and forth between the wire. He even laid down to rest. When he felt completely satisfied, he walked towards the tower and held out his wrists towards the handcuffs. They brought Philippe to court and the judge sentenced him to perform in the park for the children of the city. This he did happily. Though during his performance some kids jerked his wire and Philippe fell but caught himself. Now the towers are gone but the memory remains of August 7, 1974 when a man walked between the towers.
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