The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-10-04
In-. Nezc York
Br PAUL HARRIsON

0X EEAOA 8N&3E&HNkoOAN
 New York--A pretty good baro- clares "Shipwreck" Kelly, fiagpole sitter, is the stunt business. Thus, when a city finds itself beset by an epidemic of pole perching, marathon kissing, lcng-distance cigar smoking, rocking chair en- durance contests and people jump ing off bridges to advertise movies, it can assume (insists Mir Kelly) that people are turning from drab praeticalities to the more amusing things of life.
 Tn accordance with his convic- ton, MT Kelly is looking for a new stunt to do. Recently he installed a short fiagpole an airplane and sat on the pole while the plane flew around. But that was too ex- pensive, and not enough people saw him Kelly believes he could dive 1000 feet from an airplane into the water, but probably not often enough to make 1t worth while. ...
 The best hunch so far, and one he is seriously consider ing, is climbing Q pole on one of the Broadway hotels and
 saying there until prohibition is repealed. =
 Better stunts to Come.
 The daredevil is 40 years old now, and his hair is getting thin. But he says his health never was better and that he is yet to do his most spectacular stunts. He Is tolerant of imitators, even those who have adopted his name. But he does want his public to know that there is one sure way of iden- tifying the original Afvan ship wreck" Kelly, and that is by a crucifix tattooed on his left fore- arm. When he was e boy, he stole quarter to have the job done. Another way to identify the real Kelly is to watch him cross q street. For although nothing frightens him when he's off the ground, he's terribly afraid of being injured in traffic, and won't budge from curb while there's a moving car in sight. tt S
 Contrary to legend, Kelly did not win his nickname by being in an actual marine mishap, and perching on q IHu8b TUT LHEGC WCGhs Shsh rescue came. He won 1t, par | adoxically, by losing eleven. straight ring engagements while fighting under the name of "Sailor Kelly" "The Sail-
 or's been shipwrecked again." the bored fans would say--so
 they began calling him ship wreck"
 Always a Man High Up. He became. successlvely steel- worker, steeplejack. high diver, air. plane stunt performer and movie double. It was while he was doing some dangerous tricks for a Holly wood company that a theater man. ager got the idea of having him sit on fiagpoie. To taunt the fates, he stayed on the thirteep- inch ball for thirteen hours and thirteen minutes ... That was in l1924. Since then he has occupied some of the very best poles in more than 0 hundred cities, with n total time aloft of 5000 hours. A thousand of those hours were filled with rain, sleet. snow of freezing temperatures.
 s DIV reck admlts ne N
 sometimes lonely at night, but
 he dozes much of the time.
 His secret of sleeping without
 tumblIng on is to lock his feet
 about the pole, plant elbows
 on knees, head fin hands, and .
 little finger in each corner of
 his mouth. Thus braced, when
 he gets on balance he auto.
 n,aticalIy bites q finger and
 wakes up.
 Romance Atop a Pole. Daytimes are easier because he likes to watch goings-on in the streets, and is amused by the peo- pie who play admission to the roof at the base of his pole. He doesn't in the least mind the wise.cracks of these up.lookers, nor their oc- casional efforts to scare him .... once, however, q girl in Dallas, Texas, slapped the face of a man who was directing some remarks at Kelly. Shipwreck heard about 1t and said he'd like to thank her, SO she was hoisted up in a bosun's chair and they shook hands. Right then, they both lost their emo tional equilibrium, and fell fin love. When Kelly descended a few days later they were married.