TREE SITTING

In the summer of 1930, hundreds of boys were perched in trees across the United States; “this mania for endurance sitting” was “ravaging some towns”. At Camden, New Jersey, for example, 104 boys were living in treetops, some declaring their intention not to descend until the winter. A number of boys in various parts of the country had injured themselves falling from boughs, but local authorities had been unable to stamp out the practice by enacting by-laws against it. William Kerney, 10, of Kansas City, had been sitting in a tree for 230 hours. Stuart Brehm, 11, of New Orleans, arranged for a priest to conduct a special tree-sitting Mass for him on Sunday, 20 July, but crashed and was hurt before this could be done. Why this craze had seized boys simultaneously in all parts of the country was a mystery. Daily News, 21 July 1930.

ABOVE: Ed Sullivan and Gordon Todd sit in a tree in W Dayton Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 26 July 1930. They were attempting to beat the tree sitting record set by Jimmie Clemons of Racine, Wisconsin. LEFT: Nine-year-old Warren Jenkins Ferlet introduced the tree sitting craze to El Paso, Texas, that same summer.