Word: wallendas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...could have been a lot worse (one love scene in a purplish rainstorm demonstrated a potential for sappy disaster), and a writer without a Horatio Alger complex could have made the movie better. "We walked in a fine line" between fairy tale and fact, remarks Irving. As Karl Wallenda would say, if he could, that can be dangerous...
...started again, crossed a little more than halfway. The cable began to sway. Wallenda leaned forward to keep his balance. One young member of his troupe, waiting on the roof at the far end of the wire, warned him to crouch down for better balance...
...Wallenda started to crouch. A gust of wind suddenly jarred him. Then, as the horrified crowd watched, he started to fall, very slowly at first. He reached out for the cable with one hand, but he was still holding the balancing bar and could not get a grip on the cable. Down he went, still holding onto the pole. Ten stories below, he landed on the roof of a taxi and bounced off onto the sidewalk. At the hospital, he was pronounced dead of massive internal injuries...
Five hours later, two of the old man's protégés joined Rietta Wallenda in doing the high-wire act under the big top in San Juan. The crowd gave her a standing ovation. She bowed and smiled. Tears streamed down her cheeks...
DIED. Karl Wallenda, 73, spectacular circus aerialist who lost a high-wire gamble after more than 50 years in the business (see NATION...