Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly was one of the country's most popular daredevils in the 1920s and '30s. He was known for climbing tall buildings and sitting atop rooftop flagpoles for hours — and even days — at a time. In 1928, he brought his daredevil show to New Orleans' Jung Hotel.
FILE PHOTO BY THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION
Sharon Coldiron is the kind of reader who is interested in a variety of subjects, so when she came across the name of 1920s entertainer Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly in an old newspaper article, her curiosity got the best of her.
"I know the 1920s are known for early jazz and Vaudeville, but people were really into daredevil stunts at that time, too," Coldiron said. "From what I've read, Shipwreck Kelly was probably the most famous daredevil, and he climbed skyscrapers around the country. Did he ever bring his show to any h cities?"
h definitely had its share of tall buildings, and though they may not always be as tall as some in New York or Chicago, they still met Kelly's criteria.
A 1926 Crescent Theatre advertisement in The Times-Picayune touts a stage appearance by Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelley after he spent 100 hours sitting atop the Roosevelt Hotel's rooftop hotel in New Orleans.
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He brought his antics to the Bayou State, specifically to New Orleans, Opelousas and Alexandria, which should pique Coldiron's interest even more. She lives in the central h community of Deville, meaning Kelly's Alexandria show took place only a few miles from her home.
So, what, exactly, was Kelly's schtick?
"He was known for sitting on flagpoles on top of buildings," Alexandria historian and author Michael Wynne said. "He would sit on some of them for days. He once spent 49 days on top of a flagpole on Atlantic City's Steel Pier, braving rainstorms and high winds."
Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly spent a week making appearances at New Orleans' Crescent Hotel after spending 100 hours sitting atop the Roosevelt Hotel's rooftop flagpole.
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So, how did Kelly achieve his feat?
"He had a thin sliver of a platform that he attached to the top once he got there," Wynne said. "And he would tie his legs to the pole when he slept, which enabled him to stay there for days. He would also attach a tube to himself, so he wouldn't have to take bathroom breaks."
Large crowds would gather as he ate doughnuts, drank milk, read newspapers, slept and performed handstands. This was long before AI could engineer fake videos of daring feats — this was the real thing.
Daredevil flagpole sitting Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly is shown during one of his New Orleans visits in this photo from the files of The Times-Picayune.
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"He was the fourth best-known personality in the United States during this period," Wynne said. "People were fascinated by him."
From WWI to a daredevil career
Kelly was born Aloysius Anthony Kelly on May 11, 1893, in New York's Hell's Kitchen. He ran away from home at age 13, changed his name to Alvin and spent his early years working as a steelworker, high diver, boxer, movie double and licensed pilot who performed aerial stunts.
He was also an ensign in the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Reserve during World War I, serving from May 1918 to September 1921.
After leaving New Orleans in 1926, Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly traveled to Alexandria to climb the Guaranty Bank and Trust Building, which appeared much as it does in this linen postcard. Kelly sat on the building's flagpole for 10 hours. The building now is home to Capitol One.
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Then came Kelly's daredevil career with some writers describing him as a modern-day stylite, comparing him to fifth-century Christian ascetics who gave up everything to sit atop pillars to fast, pray and preach.
While Kelly didn't preach or pray, he did entertain fans while business owners paid him promotional fees. He also made a little extra by selling rooftop seats to fans willing to pay for a closer look.
100 hours atop a New Orleans hotel
Kelly brought his daredevil show throughout the country, beginning in the early 1920s and continuing through the 1930s. Wynne documented Kelly's h visits in his 2023 book, "Hanging by a Thread: Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly, the World's Greatest Flagpole Sitter."
After his flagpole sitting show on the Guaranty Bank building in Alexandria, Alvin 'Shipwreck Kelly' made a stage appearance in the Home Theatre on Third Street, which once was housed in the white building with the 'Koblen' sign pictured in this linen postcard.
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Kelly first shows up in a July 18, 1923, feature article in The Times of Shreveport. He was passing through on a 90-day boxcar ride from New Orleans to San Francisco and said he was considering climbing some of Shreveport's downtown buildings for fun.
But there was no follow-up article documenting it.
Meanwhile, Wynne's dig through old Times-Picayune files turned up stories of Kelly's first New Orleans visit on July 26, 1926, when he spent 100 hours reigning over Canal Street from the Roosevelt Hotel's rooftop flagpole.
In 1928, Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly returned to New Orleans and sat 80 hours on its rooftop flagpole, which is prominently shown in this linen postcard.
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At the same time, splashy newspaper advertisements touted his post-flagpole appearance at New Orleans' Crescent Theatre after a stunt, promising that he would tell audiences "how it's done."
"He appeared at the Crescent Theatre on Aug. 1, 1926," Wynne said. "And he kept appearing there the rest of the week by popular demand."
Kelly stuck around New Orleans a few weeks longer for a September promotional appearance. This time, his stunt took place not on a building but a flagpole attached to the top of an airplane, which flew over the Central Business District advertising a festival at the Fairgrounds.
The Jung Hotel as it appears today in New Orleans. Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly sat atop its rooftop flagpole for 80 hours in 1928.
FILE PHOTO BY KANDACE POWER GRAVES
"After that, he went to Alexandria," Wynne said. "That was in October, but he made a stop in Opelousas on the way as an extra attraction, where he spent 41 minutes standing on top of a water tower. He appeared in a Vaudeville show at the Princess Theatre there afterward."
A sneaky stunt and a police chase
Then came the Alexandria performance on Oct. 27, 1926 — documented by an article in the Alexandria Daily Town Talk — where Kelly climbed to the top of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Building on the corner of Murray and Third streets.
The building now scrapes the Alexandria sky under the Capital One banner.
Olivia Paulos stood atop the Roosevelt Hotel's flagpole with Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly in hopes of launching her own daredevil career in 1926, according to information attached to this Times-Picayune file photo. Organizers asked her to come down after learning she was not insured.
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"He spent 10 hours on the flagpole of the Guaranty Building, but he didn't get permission to do it," Wynne said. "He snuck to the top and climbed the flagpole, and the police eventually had to chase him down, but this got him a lot of publicity and notoriety."
Once again, he made a theater appearance after the stunt, this time in Alexandria's Home Theatre on Third Street, where, The Town Talk noted, he also sold postcards with proceeds going to disabled World War I veterans.
Kelly returned to New Orleans on March 13, 1928, to climb the Jung Hotel at 1500 Canal St., spending 80 hours and 13 minutes atop its flagpole before heavy rains and high winds forced him down.
Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly is shown in one of his New Orleans visits in this file photo from The Times-Picayune.
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The Titanic?
Newspapers labeled Kelly as "The Human Fly" and "Steeplejack" along the way, but his self-given nickname, Shipwreck, was a mainstay.
"He was very much like W.C. Fields in that he never told the truth about his life," Wynne said. "One of the things he pushed through his entire life was that he was on the Titanic in 1912. But he was never on the Titanic."
Yet Kelly told people he was a survivor of 11 shipwrecks, the most notable being the Titanic. So, he adopted the nickname and created the daredevil persona that earned him $500 a day at the height of his popularity.
Kelly died at the age of 59 in 1958.
"He always talked about how automobiles were more dangerous than flagpole sitting," Wynne said. "He died after being struck by a car in New York."