It was a fad that became all the rage in 1924: flagpole sitting. It reached new heights when, on a dare, stuntman Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly climbed up a flagpole and sat on the top for 13 hours and 13 minutes. When word of his feat got out people wanted in. It became the new spectator sport as records for flagpole sitting were being broken and set. Cosmopolitan magazine called the fad “competitive imbecility.”