Pole sitting is the practice of sitting on top of a pole (such as a flagpole) as a test of endurance. A small platform is typically placed at the top of the pole for the sitter. Led by the stunt actor and former sailor Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, flagpole sitting was a fad in the mid-to-late 1920s, but mostly died out after the start of the Great Depression.
Pole sitting is predated by the ancient ascetic discipline of stylitism, or column-sitting. St. Simeon Stylites the Elder (c. 388–459) of Antioch (now Turkey) was a column-sitter who sat on a small platform on a column for 36 years. [1]
Flagpole sitting was a fad in the mid-to-late 1920s. The fad was begun by stunt actor and former sailor [2] Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, who sat on a flagpole, either on a dare by a friend [3] or as a publicity stunt. [2] Shipwreck's initial 1924 sit lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes. It soon became a fad with other contestants setting records of 12, 17 and 21 days. In 1929, Shipwreck decided to reclaim the title. He sat on a flagpole for 49 days in Atlantic City, New Jersey, setting a new record. [4] The following year, 1930, his record was broken by Bill Penfield in Strawberry Point, Iowa, who sat on a flagpole for 51 days and 20 hours, until a thunderstorm forced him down.
For the most part, pole sitting was confined to the 1920s, ending with the onset of the Depression. [5]
In a dialog sequence early in the 1932 movie The Most Dangerous Game , the character Zaroff introduces the protagonist Bob to his guests as a celebrity, upon which Martin guesses (incorrectly) that Bob might be a flagpole sitter.
In 2004 Danish film Tid Til Forandring / What's Wrong With This Picture the pole-sitting competition is prominently featured as a part of the film with the main character Inge winning the contest by abandoning the sitting as the sole remaining participant when a dog resembling her own passes by. [14] [15]
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down. Supporters usually provide the tree sitters with food and other supplies.
William Thomas Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early 20th century. While he received star billing in Vaudeville, he was best known for his prolific work in the recording studio, making records for almost every record label of the era. Murray was the best-selling recording artist of the first quarter of the 20th century, selling over 300 million records during the phonograph era.
Terminal Tower is a 52-story, 215.8 m (708 ft), landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in the downtown core of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the second-tallest building in the world when it was completed. Terminal Tower stood as the tallest building in North America outside of New York City from its completion in 1927 until 1964. It was the tallest building in the state of Ohio until the completion of Key Tower in 1991, and remains the second-tallest building in the state. The building is part of the Tower City Center mixed-use development, and its major tenants include Forest City Enterprises, which maintained its corporate headquarters there until 2018, and Riverside Company.
The act of swallowing live goldfish was a fad popularized in American colleges in the late 1930s.
Tony Packo's Cafe is a restaurant that started in the Hungarian neighborhood of Birmingham, on the east side of Toledo, Ohio, at 1902 Front Street.
The 1995 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 1995 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on Sunday, October 8, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. As a result of both leagues realigning into three divisions in 1994, it marked the first time in major league history that a team could qualify for postseason play without finishing in first place in its league or division. The teams were:
Edward Gottlieb was a Jewish-Ukrainian professional basketball coach and executive. Nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" and "The Mogul", he was the first coach and manager of the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and later became the owner of the team from 1951 to 1962. A native of Kiev, Ukraine, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor on April 20, 1972. The NBA Rookie of the Year Award, the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, was formerly named after him.
"Flagpole Sitta" is a song by American rock band Harvey Danger from their 1997 debut album, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? It was released as the band's debut single in April 1998 and was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, number three on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number nine on the Canadian RPM Alternative 30. A music video was produced to promote the single.
The 2000 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees defeating the New York Mets in five games, for their third consecutive World Series title. The 2000 World Series was known as the Subway Series because both fans and the two teams could take the subway to and from every game of the series.
Endurance art is a kind of performance art involving some form of hardship, such as pain, solitude or exhaustion. Performances that focus on the passage of long periods of time are also known as durational art or durational performances.
Lost World Caverns, located just outside Lewisburg, West Virginia, is an underground natural series of caverns. In November 1973, the caverns were registered as a National Natural Landmark as they "feature terraced pedestal-like stalagmites, flowstone, curtains, rimstone, domepits, and waterfalls."
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipodally on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole, at a distance of 20,004 km in all directions. It is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface.
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. The stadium is the home ballpark for Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees as well as the home venue for New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Morgan White was an American radio disc jockey and actor.
The Henry Chisholm was a wooden freighter that sank off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1898 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Middle Georgia Raceway was a raceway located in Byron, Georgia. Nine NASCAR Grand National Series races were held at the track between 1966 and 1971. Richard Petty won four races, Bobby Allison won three, and David Pearson and Bobby Isaac each earned one victory.
Aloysius Anthony Kelly, popularly known as Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, was a pole sitter who achieved fame in the 1920s and 1930s, sitting for days at a time on elevated perches throughout the United States.
A stylite or pillar-saint is a type of Christian ascetic who lives on pillars, preaching, fasting and praying. Stylites believe that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure the salvation of their souls. Stylites were common in the early days of the Byzantine Empire. The first known stylite was Simeon Stylites the Elder who climbed a pillar in Syria in 423 and remained there until his death 37 years later.
The 2017 New York Yankees season was the 115th season for the New York Yankees. It was also the final season with manager Joe Girardi. The Yankees finished the regular season with 91 wins and 71 losses. This season was considered a breakout season for many players, including starting pitcher Luis Severino who emerged as arguably the Yankees' best pitcher as well as rookie outfielder Aaron Judge, who broke the rookie record by passing Mark McGwire for most home runs by a rookie (50) on September 25. Judge ended the season by leading the American League with 52 home runs. The Yankees also clinched a playoff berth after missing the playoffs the previous year and won at least 90 games for the first time since 2012. They struggled to catch up to the defending American League East champions the Boston Red Sox after being in first place for the beginning of the season but managed to clinch their sixth wild card berth, their third in seven seasons. They defeated the Minnesota Twins 8–4 in the Wild Card Game and the Cleveland Indians in five games in the Division Series before losing to the Houston Astros in seven games in the 2017 American League Championship Series. Notably, during the postseason the Yankees were 6–0 at home, yet 1–6 on the road, and played an ALCS series that saw every single game won by the home team. Also, it would be also notable for being the silver jubilee season for the long time Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay and the 15th anniversary season of the team's current cable channel, YES Network.
A human endurance contest is an event in which people complete mentally or physically grueling tasks for an extended period of time. The contests are exploitative entertainment events which began during the Great Depression in the 1920s-1930s as a means to earn income. Examples include dance marathon or walk-a-thons, pole sitting, marathon swimming, ice sitting, burial artists and other forms of early endurance art.