[1] He is credited with popularizing the pole-sitting fad after sitting atop a flagpole in 1924, either in response to a dare from a friend[7] or as a publicity stunt to draw customers to a Philadelphia department store.

[1] In 1930, he set a world record by sitting on a flagpole on top of the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, 225 feet (69 m) high, for 49 days and one hour.

[11][12] At the height of his fame as a latter-day stylite, he toured 28 cities, charging admission to people who wanted to stand on roofs to see his performance stunts.

[3][11] In one 1927 stunt, he climbed on a pole on a speeding biplane, sitting on a twelve-inch (30 cm) iron crossbar as the plane flew 500 feet (150 m) high.

Journalist Jay Maeder wrote that "The newspapers were regularly full of pictures of Shipwreck Kelly, matter-of-factly brushing his teeth and shaving his face, hundreds of feet in the air.

Journalist H. Allen Smith found him "wearing a tail coat and silk hat, sitting on a plush divan."

In 1935, he attempted to break his Atlantic City record by sitting on a pole in the Bronx, but was aloft for less than a day before he was arrested as a public nuisance.

"[17] Kelly's last flagpole-sitting appearance was at an Orange, Texas event sponsored by the Lions Club on October 4, 1952, one week before his death.

"[18][19] Kelly married an elevator operator, Frances Vivian Steele of Dallas, Texas,[3] whom he met while pole sitting.

A female Asiatic elephant lifted him in the air and then put him down and stepped on his chest, crushing him to death before a horrified crowd.

[3][5] Kelly died on October 11, 1952, when he was struck by a car while walking on Manhattan's West 51st Street,[3] near the rooming house where he lived and not far from his birthplace.

[2] Belongings found in Kelly's room included a duffel bag still packed with ropes and flagpole-sitting gear, "in case any fresh jobs came along.