Harry Gardiner
Harry H. Gardiner (1871-?), better known as the Human Fly, was an American man famous for climbing buildings. He began climbing in 1905, and successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and used no special equipment.
[edit] Climbs
Some of the famous climbs Gardiner performed:
- October 7, 1916 in Detroit - The Detroit News had hired Gardiner to attract attention to the News' ad-taking office by climbing up the 12 story Majestic Building at 12:15 PM. He wore all white, tennis shoes and rimless spectacles.
- January 30, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama - Gardiner scaled the 16-story "Empire Building" at the so-called Heaviest Corner on Earth.
- November 11, 1918 in Hamilton - Gardiner climbed the Bank of Hamilton building to celebrate the end of World War I. While climbing the side of the building, Gardiner stuck his head into one of the open windows and signed some insurance papers. He also purchased a $1,000 bond. The 47-year-old professional Fly admitted that he had to try for insurance at the Bank of Hamilton because it had so far been impossible for him to gain insurance elsewhere, since he was considered a high risk. This spectacle brought much attention to the Bank of Hamilton.
- 1918 in Vancouver - Gardiner climbed up the outside of the 17 story World Building known today as the Sun Tower. The Vancouver World newspaper was published in this building at the time.
A story which may refer to Gardiner, is told to law students concerning the “Human Fly.” Supposedly a tavern owner known as Jimmy Lake, owned a tavern close to the Washington Monument. Lake told the Fly that if the latter would climb the Washington Monument, then Lake would pay the Fly $1,000. Lake promoted the event, resulting in a large crowd at the tavern. When the Fly was almost to the top, Lake, shouting through a megaphone, told the fly “I revoke my offer,” which he could do because there had been an exchange of a promise to pay in return for full performance, as opposed to a promise to pay in return for a promise to perform. Apparently Lake managed a saloon at 9th Street NW in DC, and a Georgetown Law student, after hearing the story from Prof. Walter Yeager, actually contacted Lake, who was by then elderly, with a white beard and red bow tie, and used him as a witness in a mock trial. see oral history of Patrick Atridge, http://www.dcchs.org/PatrickJAttridge/attridge_transcript.pdf
Gardiner is mentioned in a story of present day skyscraper climber Alain Robert. The New Yorker magazine, April 20, 2009.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
 |
This biographical article relating to the skilled act of climbing or mountaineering is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
