His body dangled between heaven and earth
If you do not guess the right answer, death awaits below
Three years shy of 60, Harry H. Gardiner still had a handful of miraculous feats left. The New York native centered his last few North American climbs around West Virginia, arriving in Logan to a hero’s welcome.
“The boyish-looking man of 57 years, whose death-defying exploits in scaling the walls of the world’s highest buildings have thrilled millions of onlookers, will give an exhibition here Thursday night, under the auspices of McNeely-Gunther-Nowlan post, American Legion,” The Logan Banner breathlessly announced.
Amid the celebration, he issued a dire warning – one designed to hype his harrowing plans. While poetically hyperbolic, it was born of a grim and undeniable truth.
“One hundred and twenty of those who have sought to imitate me in this hazardous profession have fallen to death,” he told the press. “There is no chance of rehearsing your performance. Each new building is an unknown problem. If you do not guess the right answer, death awaits below, with a breath of up-rushing air, and arms of concrete.”
He’d proven himself time and again. A decade prior, some 150,000 spectators gathered mid-day to witness his ascent up the Majestic building, traffic drawing to a standstill along Detroit’s Woodland Avenue. "They dared not cheer," The Detroit News recounted. "Men stood and stared with bulging eyes. Women hugged their babies to their breasts and held their breath."
The report of the climb grew tenser by the paragraph. "His body dangled between heaven and earth,” it explained with suitably dramatic flare “[He] swung back and forth like a pendulum. Once, twice, three times, with ever-quickening sweeps. Then suddenly the heels shot out, reached up to the windowsill and rested there, the hands moving away until the body was almost straight. In that vast crowd, it almost seemed that if a pin dropped it would have sounded like an explosion. Only when he reached the rope waiting for him to be pulled safely over the jutting edge of the top of the building did the really big cheer break. And then it broke in wave after wave."
Former President Grover Cleveland was said to have originated the enduring nickname, “The Human Fly.” Gardiner’s was a long career, with 700 climbs stretching 28 years over two continents. Following a spate of successful West Virginia climbs, he was believed to have taken his act across the Atlantic. Fittingly of a consummate entertainer, Gardiner’s work – and life – culminated in a disappearing act. Despite a lengthy and high-profile career, his trail runs cold in Europe, where far stricter laws barred buildering. Reportedly, the body of a man matching his general description was discovered after being beaten to death at the base of the Eiffel Tower.
“Steeplejack" Charles Miller’s career lasted exactly a decade. Like Gardiner, his climbs were performed without the aid of equipment. In those 10 years, Miller hadn’t managed to amass nearly as large a following as his contemporary. Nevertheless, hundreds gathered to witness his climb up the side of the recently completed Hamburger department store in Downtown Los Angeles. He was on a tear, having climbed several of the city’s buildings in recent weeks. The Hamburger family refused to permit the act, only to be alerted a few minutes later that he had already exited a second-floor window and begun his ascent. By the time the building detective arrived, he had reached the third floor. Heading up to the fourth, he missed a step, lost footing and fell sixty feet to the ground.
Richmond-born George Gibson Polley undertook his first climb the year Steeplejack’s life was cut short by a single missed step. Of the three contemporaneous Human Flies, he was, by far, the youngest at the outset of his career. The early start afforded him the ability to climb more than 2,000 buildings over the course of his life. It began with the encouragement of a local haberdasher, who dared a 12-year-old Polley to climb to the roof of his store. Following the successful climb, the shop owner gifted him with a new suit.
Polley recounted precisely one fall over the course of his climbing career, describing a race up the side of a building in which his opponent was given a five floor head start. In his version of the story, it was the other man who lost his grip, knocking the more experienced climber off the side of the building on his way down. Only Polley made it home alive.
Other obstacles cropped up over the course of his career. He was said to have lost his nerve attempting to scale Winston-Salem’s second oldest skyscraper, the O’Hanlan Building, requiring an occupant to pull him in through the window. He would later finish the climb successfully. A trip up the world’s tallest building, meanwhile, ended prematurely. Having failed to secure permission from the Woolworth Building’s owner, he was arrest around the 30th floor, with 27 left to go.
Polley was a showman, first and foremost. He performed as a magician on the vaudeville circuit, along with his wife, Helen “The Psychic Marvel” Stillman. He soon befriended Harry Houdini, who is said to have helped spice up his acts. Buildering also helped pay the bills. In one story of questionable origin, he found support in the form of a sponsorship from short-lived Detroit automaker, Essex. Reaching the top, he yelled, “Send up the Essex” to the crowd below. Polley would frequently thrill onlookers by pretending to slip and fall during climbs, only to regain his footing on another window.
After serving in the First World War, he found some success as an early film stuntman, appearing in films like Dare-Devil Dan, A Desperate Chance and The Span of Life. His own time on Earth was cut short by a brain tumor at age 29.
Sources:
Human Fly Falls 60 Feet to Death https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19100621.2.86.50&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------
Staunton attracted 'human flies' in early 20th century https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/history/2017/09/20/staunton-attracted-human-flys-early-20th-century/687261001/
Trump Tower Isn’t the Only Building That’s Been Climbed https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/trump-tower-isnt-the-only-building-thats-been-climbed
Winston-Salem's Historic West End By J. Eric Elliott
Remember ‘The Human Fly?” https://www.mcall.com/1985/09/03/remember-the-human-fly/