Jean Lussier balled the Niagara Falls only once, but he made a living off it for over 30 years. As you can see here, he sold pictures of himself as a famous daredevil who defeated the mighty falls as a young man all the way into his old age. He is looking pretty dapper in the last one, having apparently awarded himself some kind of "captainship" or something. Dapper but dry as a bone...and dry a long time.
Lussier was smart enough to figure out a rubber ball was the way to survive the fall. So he created a rubber raft inflated with inner tubes. The round contraption with him inside went over in 1928. The rubber beast is seen here poked with flags behind young Jean in the first photo, and it appears he has already started ripping sections out to sell as souvenirs.
I'm not kidding...Jean DID sell off his rubber, one patch at a time. When he ran out, he sold random chunks of tires he purchased claiming they were historic! He also toured the country giving lectures at special screenings of the film made while he bobbed and dropped.
After living off his 30 minute trip for 30 years, Lussier decided it was time to rekindle interest. He claimed he was planning another ball drop, this one three times as big around (no doubt to provide him with enough historic scraps to last him the rest of his life) but it never happened. He passed away in a beat-up boarding house in Niagara Falls, New York.
COLLECTION OF THREE JEAN LUSSIER AUTOGRAPHED REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS circa 1928-1940 Collection JIM LINDERMAN
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