Writer of Pop Culture

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The “King of the Wire,” Nik Wallenda, holds several Guinness World Records for various feats but on this day in 2012, he became the first person to walk a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls. That was the final feat. The first feat was winning a two-year battle for approval to do so.

2012: Nik Wallenda Walks a Tightrope Over the Falls

Former acrobat for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily’s circus, Nik Wallenda has done a lot with death-defying stunts often recorded live for TV. In 2008, he rode a bike on a high-wire 135 feet off the ground. Wallenda walked the highwire from the Worlds of Fun theme park to the Carowinds theme park in 2009. In 2010, he took his act to the Bahamas performing at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort. And in 2011, Nik performed twice at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City.

So, what does he do for an encore? On this day in 2012, the “King of the Wire” strolled across a tightrope over Niagara Falls. During the television broadcast of the event, Wallenda wore a microphone so that he could communicate with the TV crew. Short prayers to God were heard as well as he considers what he does is a gift from God. The born-again Christian credits God for his success…and safety. It is estimated that one billion people watched the stunt being performed live.

Nik didn’t stop there. Since his Niagara Falls stunt, he walked across the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon in 2013, walked in the air between the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building in New York City in 2014, walked over Times Square with his sister Lijana in 2019, walked across the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua in 2020 and walked the highwire over D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York in 2021.

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1960: ‘The Apartment’ Opens in Theaters

Billy Wilder’s next directing job after Some Like It Hot was 1960’s The Apartment which starred Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and a cringe-worthy performance by Fred MacMurray.

Opening on this day in 1960, the film was not only a financial success (making $25 million in theaters), but it was also nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Story and Screenplay, Art Direction and Editing.

Not everyone liked the film though. It was quite controversial with its themes of infidelity. Even MacMurray was stopped in the street by women who saw the film and were offended. His role was in stark contrast to the character he had played in numerous Disney films and his future My Three Sons TV show which would begin to air that fall.

The Apartment was later turned into a Broadway musical in 1968 titled Promises, Promises with a book by Neil Simon.

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