Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly
Why He's Interesting:
You may have heard of flagpole sitting from the hit Harvey Danger song "Flagpole Sitta," but did you know it referenced a real fad of the 1920's where stuntmen and entertainers would sit atop a single pole, sometimes hundred of feet high, for days or weeks? In fact, the band got the name from a 1930s Marx Brothers movie with a line of dialogue mentioned fad.
In the strange yet jubilant 1920's, flagpole sitting might have been the strangest trend of them all, and the best in the world? One Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly. He died with a scrapbook under his arm titled "The Luckiest Fool on Earth" after getting hit by a car in Manhattan at the age of 59.
Sorting through the scrapbook would tell the whirlwind story of how Kelly rose to fame in such an unusual way. Alvin first sat on atop a pole in 1924 for 13 hours to advertise a movie, and it said to have started the movement. Up until his death he would perform anywhere viewers would have him, at one point touring 28 cities and charging admission. Constantly breaking his own record from a 7 day stint, to a 23 day stint, to his longest - a 49 day stint 225 feet in the air.
Alvin would stay atop the pole the entire time and taught himself how to sleep sitting up. He would affix his thumbs through holes in the pole and use them for balance as he slept. Using no more than one foot harness, Alvin claimed to "not take as many chances as a window cleaner" by performing his stunts. He would fuel his ventures with coffee and cigarettes hoisted up the pole by a rope from colleagues or onlookers. He would turn away from crowds and use a long tube dropping down into a hole in the ground to use the bathroom.
The nickname shipwreck is said to have come from his fighting days as "Sailor Kelly." Other fighters viewed him as "adrift" in the ring and claimed him to be a shipwreck. Kelly claims to have survived five shipwrecks in his lifetime with his wife once telling reporters he was on the Titanic, but that claim appears to have been unfounded. He died in 1952 penniless and with his scrapbook under his arm. The duffel bag he was carrying had everything necessary for flagpole sitting even though the fad died out in the early 1930s.
Books Featuring Alvin:
Storied & Scandalous Kansas City - Karla Deel