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Karl Wallenda

 

(born 1905, Magdeburg, Ger. — died March 22, 1978, San Juan, P.R.) German-born U.S. circus acrobat. He founded the Great Wallendas acrobatic troupe, which achieved fame in Europe for its four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire without a safety net. His wife, Helen Kreis (1910 – 96), joined the troupe in 1926 and later was balanced at the peak of the seven-person pyramid, the most famous of the Wallendas' acts. The troupe traveled with the U.S. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1928 – 46), then performed as freelancers. Karl's nephew Gunther (1927 – 96) trained on the wire from age five; when a pyramid collapsed in 1962, Gunther was the only member left standing and rescued three who were clinging to the wire; two others were killed and one was paralyzed. Two troupe members died in accidents in 1963 and 1972. Karl died in a fall from a wind-whipped wire 123 ft (37 m) above a street in San Juan.

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Quotes By: Karl Wallenda
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Quotes:

"Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting."

Wikipedia: Karl Wallenda
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Karl Wallenda (January 21, 1905 - March 22, 1978) was the founder of The Flying Wallendas, an internationally known daredevil circus act famous for performing death-defying stunts without a safety net.

Contents

Personal life

Wallenda, born in Magdeburg, Germany in 1905, began performing with his family at age six.[1]

The Great Wallendas

The Great Wallendas were noted throughout Europe for their four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire. The act moved to the United States in 1928 and began an association with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Circus. Later they performed as freelancers. In 1947 they developed the unequaled three-tier 7-Man Pyramid. The Great Wallendas, a 1978 made-for-TV movie starring Lloyd Bridges as Karl Wallenda, depicts the act's comeback after a fatal accident involving several family members during a performance.[2]

Daredevil stunts

Site marker at Tallulah Gorge State Park

On July 18, 1970, a 65-year-old Wallenda performed a high-wire walk across the Tallulah Gorge, a gorge formed by the Tallulah River in Georgia. An estimated 30,000 people watched Wallenda perform two headstands as he crossed the quarter-mile-wide gap.

Death

Despite being involved in several tragedies in his family's acts, Wallenda continued with his stunts. In 1978, at age 73, Wallenda attempted a walk between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a wire stretched 37 metres (121 ft) above the pavement, but fell to his death when winds exceeded 48 kilometres per hour (30 miles per hour). The Wallenda family attributes the tragedy to "several misconnected guide ropes along the wire" and not the windy conditions. A film crew from WAPA-TV in San Juan taped the fall, and the video, featuring anchorman Guillermo Jose Torres' anguished narration of the fall, circled the world. Rick Wallenda went back the following year and completed the walk successfully.[citation needed]

He was quoted as saying, "Life is being on the wire; everything else is just waiting."

Family members

Nik Wallenda, a direct descendant of Karl Wallenda, continues the family tradition of performing stunts on highwire without a safety net. On October 15, 2008, during a live broadcast of Today (NBC program), Nik Wallenda walked and then bicycled across a suspended highwire twelve stories from the ground off the roof of the Prudential Center in Downtown Newark, New Jersey for a Guinness Book of Records World Record for longest and highest bicycle on a highwire.[3]

In popular culture

  • Wallenda's death is mentioned in Stephen King novels The Tommyknockers and Gerald's Game. It is also mentioned in Tom Clancy's novel The Sum of All Fears.
  • Salsa singer Marvin Santiago made constant references to Wallenda's death in a few of his songs, mostly as side comments.
  • Puerto Rican Reggaeton/Rap group Calle 13 make reference to Wallender in their song Cabe-co-co
  • Popular US pop group A Band Called Mithras references Wallenda in their song I am the Great Wallenda '

See also

References

External links


 
 
Learn More
The Flying Wallendas (Circus Performers)
The Great Wallendas (1978 Drama Film)
Biography: The Flying Wallendas - Legends of the High Wire (History Film)

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Karl Wallenda" Read more