learned over the weekend that an icon from the 1970s, evel knievel, died on friday, nov. 30 at age 69. as famous for his spectacular crashes as the successes of his stunts, knievel was a fixture of pop culture with his trademark cane and red, white and blue jumpsuit and helmet. as i boy i even had the evel knievel action figure with wind-up cycle and the tin lunch box. there was even a film starring knievel as evel knievel, viva knievel!
his type of showmanship is not too popular now, i think. i recall watching his stunts on abc's wide world of sports and on primetime. at any rate, knievel was a rare example of success thru failure. his stunts often ended badly. it was reported that he had broken every bone his his body at least twice.
below is a video of one of knievel's more famous successful failures: the leap across the snake river in his custom-made skycycle. i remember the lunch box - a sure sign of success at least in the world of kiddom during the '70s - embossed with the skycycle as it leapt over the snake river, and the toy skycycle that soon was on the market.
mr evel knievel, may you rest in peace.
2 Comments:
wow - i have never seen that - i missed it as a kid - we were on vacation at the time - i was pissed off –remember when every street had that kid doing jumps on their bike over all sorts of stupid things garbage cans little brothers mostly it ended badly- so the actually jump was kinda a let down - as people told me back in the 70's - but - wow that crazy monologue is fuck wack - thanks for mining this out of you tube
daniel: i think evel was reciting a poem. shit, i remember watching this on tv way back. i think i watched most if not all of his stunts. and this one was his most famous act of stupidity and it was a let-down. but he gave such a show. i recall one jump where he crashed. his body flopped like a soft doll. after about 1/2 hr to 45 minutes he got up and in agonizing pain took the mic and announced on live tv that he was giving up his crazy stunts for good. i think he announced his retirement everytime he wrecked in a rather florid style only to announce the plans for another stunt once his bones healed and the bandages came off.
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