Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Womanica. This month, we're talking about movers and shakers, dancers,
Speaker 1: stunt women, martial artists, and other pioneering women who've used
Speaker 1: their physical prowess to shake things up. Come one, Come all,
Speaker 1: We're talking about the Titan of the tight rope, the
Speaker 1: fearless flyer of the high wire. Her journey across Niagara
Speaker 1: Gorge made her the first and only woman to ever
Speaker 1: complete the stunt, and then she retraced her steps just
Speaker 1: for good measure. Please welcome Maria Spelterini. Maria was born
Speaker 1: on July seventh, eighteen fifty three, in Levorno, Italy. We
Speaker 1: don't know much about her early life other than the
Speaker 1: stories she later told the press. According to Maria, she
Speaker 1: performed in diapers, making her first big top appearance in
Speaker 1: her father's troop at the age of three. Later, Maria
Speaker 1: made a splash in papers across Europe as a teenage
Speaker 1: tight ropewalker on all high flying fronts. Maria was a
Speaker 1: skilled acrobat. She bounded along the slack wire and did
Speaker 1: balancing tricks on the rolling globe. But she found her
Speaker 1: greatest love suspended one hundred feet in the air, with
Speaker 1: nothing between her and the ground save for a taut,
Speaker 1: thin wire under her feet. Interviewers and ringleaders alike lauded
Speaker 1: her death defying acts, marveling at Maria's graceful figure bounding
Speaker 1: against gravity. Maria moved from one end of her rope
Speaker 1: to the other with ease, punctuating her performance with daring
Speaker 1: flourishes and flamboyant costumes. She never backed down from a
Speaker 1: challenge once. Maria had planned to carry a young boy
Speaker 1: on her back during her act to demonstrate her strength.
Speaker 1: When the boy dropped out of the last second, she
Speaker 1: shifted gears and carried her one hundred and seventy pound
Speaker 1: brother instead. And Maria never lost her nerve, not even
Speaker 1: when a thunderstorm collected around her mid performance. She finished
Speaker 1: out her routine to a backdrop of lightning strikes and
Speaker 1: a soundtrack of thunderous applause. As Maria outgrew the big top,
Speaker 1: she turned her site toward outdoor stunts. She began crossing
Speaker 1: the rivers of Europe, the Moskva River in Moscow, the
Speaker 1: Neva in Saint Petersburg, and the Saint Auban in France.
Speaker 1: By eighteen seventy six, Maria knew she wanted to take
Speaker 1: on her biggest challenge yet, and she knew just where
Speaker 1: to find it. So she packed her bags and sailed
Speaker 1: the Atlantic. She was going to cross Niagara Falls. Maria
Speaker 1: wouldn't be the first person to tight rope across Niagara,
Speaker 1: but she would be the first woman, and for added emphasis,
Speaker 1: she'd do it the very week of the US Centennial celebration,
Speaker 1: when Niagara would be full of excited onlookers. The rope
Speaker 1: she'd use was specifically made for her crossing. It measured
Speaker 1: a thousand feet across Niagara Gorge, weighed seventeen hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: and required another one thousand pounds of weights to keep
Speaker 1: it anchored at both ends. On July eighth, eighteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: Maria appeared on the US end of Niagara Gorge. The
Speaker 1: day was stiflingly hot, but the twenty three year old
Speaker 1: stood tall in a green bodice and scarlet tunic. In
Speaker 1: front of her, a two and a quarter inch thick
Speaker 1: rope spanned the thousand feet between her and Canada below.
Speaker 1: Churned the whirlpool rapids, a sured disaster for anyone who
Speaker 1: fell into them, but Of course, Maria had no intention
Speaker 1: of slipping. She placed one foot in front of the other,
Speaker 1: and soon Maria Spelterini had become the only woman in
Speaker 1: history to tight rope across Niagara Gorge. In the days
Speaker 1: that followed, Maria completed her walk three more times, first
Speaker 1: with peach basket strapped to her feet, second blindfolded, and
Speaker 1: third with her wrists and ankles chained in manacles. Maria
Speaker 1: made a particular impression on the women attending the centennial.
Speaker 1: Before she left, Maria was called to attend a party
Speaker 1: at the International Hotel as a guest of honor. There,
Speaker 1: the ladies of the Centennial presented her with a golden
Speaker 1: locket to celebrate her achievement. Maria, they said, bore all
Speaker 1: the virtues of womanhood and artistry, and should venture forth
Speaker 1: confident in her future success. Maria contin pined her high
Speaker 1: flying acts for the rest of her life. She made
Speaker 1: headlines one more time in eighteen seventy seven, after surviving
Speaker 1: a fall caused by a malfunctioning bicycle in Rosario, Argentina.
Speaker 1: She died on October nineteenth, nineteen twelve. To this day,
Speaker 1: Maria is the only woman who have crossed the Niagara
Speaker 1: Gorge on a tight robe. While it's possible someone might
Speaker 1: someday join her ranks, it's unlikely. There's now a ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars fine for anyone attempting to perform a stunt
Speaker 1: in Niagara Gorge. All month, we're talking about movers and shakers.
Speaker 1: For more information, check us out on Facebook and Instagram
Speaker 1: at Womanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplin, my favorite
Speaker 1: sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.