Show I IN NEW IN-NEW NEW YORK YORK By Dy PAUL HARRISON NEW YORK Oct 10 10 A pretty good barometer o of general conditions declares de- de dares lares Shipwreck Kelly flagpole sitter itter sitter is the thc stunt business Thus when a city finds itself beset by an epidemic of pole perching marathon kissing issing long distance cigar smoking rocking chair endurance contests and people jumping off bridges to adverse advertise adver advert tise se movies it can assume ume insists Mr Kelly elly that people are arc turning from Irom drab rab practicalities to the more mor amusing amus- amus ing nj things of life In accordance with his conviction Mr Ur Kelly is looking for a new stunt to o do Recently he installed a short flagpole atop an airplane and sat on onic the ic pole while the plane flew around But that was too expensive excusive and not enough nough people saw him hun Kelly believes beeves believes be be- eves he could dive 1000 feet from froman fromn an n airplane Into the water but probably probably ably bly not often enough to make it worth while The best hunch so far and one he hes is s seriously considering Is climbing a aole pole ole on one of the Broadway hotels and nd staying there until prohibition is repealed BETTER STUNTS TO COME COtIC The daredevil is 40 years old now now and his hair is getting thin But he heays says ays his health never was better belter and that hat h he Is yet to do his most spectacular lar ar stunts He is tolerant a of imitators even those who have adopted his name lame But he does want his public publico to o know that there is one sure way of f identifying th the original Alvan Alvar Shipwreck Kelly and that is by a crucifix tattooed on his left forearm When he was a boy he stole a to er-to 10 have havo the job done Another I way vay to identify the real Kelly is to watch vatch him cross a street For although although al- al though hough nothing frightens him when has hos o's os off au the ground hes he's terribly afraid fraid of at being Injured In traffic and wont won't budge from a curb while ther there's theres s 's sa a moving car in sight Contrary to legend Kelly did not win his nickname by being in an actual marine mishap and perching on a n mast for three weeks until rescue came ame He won on it paradoxically by losing osing eleven straight ring engagements engagements engage engage- ments while fighting under the name ot of f Sailor Kelly The Sailors Sailor's been shipwrecked again the bored fans would say say so so they began calling cailing him Shipwreck ALWAYS A MAN l HIGH UP He became successively a steel steelworker steelworker worker steeplejack high diver airlane airplane air air- plane lane stunt performer and movie dou- dou ible ble le It was while he was doing some I dangerous tricks for n a Hollywood company that a theater manager got cot ot the Idea idel of having him sit on a flag lag pole T To taunt the fates he hc st stayed on the Inch 13 ball for 13 hours and 13 minutes That was in 1924 Since 1924 Since then he has occupied some of the very best poles pole's in iii more than a hundred cities with a total time aloft of hours A thousand of at those hours were filled with rain sleet snow or freezing temperatures Shipwreck admits he is sometimes lonely at night but hut he dozes much of the thc time His secret of sleeping without without with with- out tumbling off oft Is to lock his feet about the pole plant elbows on knees head In hands and a little finger In each corner of his mouth Thus braced when he gets off balance he automatically automatically automat automat- cally bites a finger and wakes himself himself him self up ROMANCE ATOP A POLE Daytimes are easier casler because he hc likes to watch goings on n in the streets and is amused by the people who pay admission to the roof at the base of his ils pole in the least mind the wisecracks wisecracks' of these nor their occasional efforts to scare him Once however a girl in Dallas Texas slapped the face ac of a man who was directing some remarks at Kelly Shipwreck heard about it and said hed he'd like to thank her so she was hoisted up in a chair and they shook hands Right then they both lost their emotional equilibrium and fell tell in love When Kelly descended a few days later they were married |