Philippe Petit Research Paper

674 Words2 Pages

Philippe Petit changed numerous peoples’ thoughts about the Twin Towers when he performed his high wire walk between them in 1974. Before Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers in 1974, people weren’t certain how they felt about the construction of the World Trade Center. After Philippe performed, people began to warm up to the idea of the towers. Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers on August 7, 1974. This event prompted Andrew McMahon to write the song “Platform Fire” about this event for his band, Jack’s Mannequin. This song was not a hit for the band; however, fans of Jack’s Mannequin seem to have a special place in their heart for it.
In Manhattan on August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit walked the …show more content…

Each tower was 1,362 feet tall. When they were new, they were the tallest towers in the world and they held this record for two years (Abbot 1). The Sears Tower surpassed their record of the tallest towers in 1973 (Aderson 757). After his performance, Petit was arrested (Abbot 1). As part of his sentence, Petit was to perform his tightrope act at Central Park. Subsequent to his performance, Petit has done a number of tightrope acts (“Philippe Petit Biography” 1).
Philippe Petit was born on August 13, 1949 in Nemours, France. He started practicing magic at the age of six. At age sixteen Philippe spent a year training on the tightrope. Somewhat of a rebel, Petit was kicked out of five schools by age eighteen. Petit found out about the construction and planned his tightrope walk by sneaking into the buildings with various disguises (“Philippe Petit Biography” …show more content…

3, 1982 in Concord, Massachusetts (“Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness” 1). He graduated from Dana Hills High School (“Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness” 1). Jack’s Mannequin formed in 2004 in Orange County, California (Manger 1). The current members include Andrew McMahon, Bobby Anderson, Mikey Wagner, and Jay McMillan (Manger 1). Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia when he was in his early 20’s (Sun 1). He overcame his illness within six months (Sun 1). Andrew’s cancer made it more difficult for him to write music in coming years, “And having a crisis of confidence when you're trying to write music or when you're trying to create art, period, is a really, really difficult thing to weigh” (Haupt 1).
Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the Twin Towers helped people warm up to the idea of these new structures (“Philippe Petit Biography” 1). Petit became famous for the walk in August 1974 (“Philippe Petit Biography” 1). Andrew McMahon’s song, “Platform Fire”, talks about this event. The song was released through Sire Records with the album, People and Things on October 4, 2011 (“People and Things” 1). The song and album had good reviews. The album debuted at number one on Billboard Magazine’s alternative rock albums chart (“People and Things”

Open Document