Newsday from New York, New York • 130

LO Among the deeds of derring-do commemorated in the 'New York's Daring' exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, clockwise from above: Houdini about to try to extract himself from a straitjacket on the ledge of a 15-story skyscraper, about 1915; an 1890 board game cover inspired by Nellie Bly's globe-girdling journey; and Adie Walford walking the Williamsburg Bridge cables while the bridge was under construction, 1901. Recalling the feats of urban daredevils Walford came forward to identify herself as the woman from on high. "In 1982, relatives of Adie Walford gave the museum her scrapbook of clippings and correspondence, Kessler-Post said. "I just loved it, and I wanted to do something special with it. Die scrapbook is now part of the show, which dares to be different, "New Yorks Daring runs through Jan.

6. The Museum of the City of New York, Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, is open 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to Sundays. The number is (212) 534-1672. By Paal D. Cwlfwrd HEN NEW YORKERS awakened to radio reports that some guy waa scaling a tower of the World Trade Center, they thrilled to hia daring.

Hundreds gathered to gawk from the streets below and countless others followed the climb through a morning of on-the-scene broadcasts. Do you remember that day in 1977? Do you remember George Willig, "the human In a city numbed by celebrity and calamity of every stripe, daredevils like Willig have always had a way of penetrating the ho-hum and spreading around a little golly. "New Yorks Daring, an exhibition opening today at the Museum of the City of New York, catalogs more than 200 years of such antics. Photos and old illustrations bear witness to escape artist Harry Houdini and Philippe Petit, who tightrope-walked between the Workl Trade Center towers, and respectfully recall the lesser-known daredevils who enlivened days in the life of New York before fading into the annals of obscurity. Like Henri LaMothe.

Now, theres a case. In 1974, on his 70th birthday, he leaped from the top of a 40-foot ladder into a foot-deep pool of water. And survived. Intact It happened at the Flatiron Building. The trick, apparently, is to arch your hips and let your shoulders absorb the impact (In case you have a 40-foot ladder.) And how about Steve Brodie? In 1886, this skinny gent survived a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River.

Or rather, he claimed to have jumped. Someone said that a dummy took the foil while Brodie was already in the water. Still, an estimated 2,000 people followed Brodie as the police hauled him away on a charge of attempted suicide. And Brodie later parlayed his following into a successful tavern on the Bowery. "The city has always been used as a stage, said Nancy Kessler-Post, the curator who assembled the how.

"Originally I wanted to call the exhibition Daring New Yorkers until I realised that some of these people came to New York to be daring. If you want to be seen and get media attention, this is where you come. Kessler-Post cautioned that it is inappropriate to call them all daredevils. A kind of artistry motivat ed Houdini and Petit, and revolutionary fervor propelled the daring New ork mob that invited British reprisals when it overturned King George ins statue in Bowling Green. Invention was the mother of daring in the case of John Fitch, Elisha Otis and Charles Harvey.

Those fellows werent of a Brodie persuasion. Not entirely, anyway. Fitch is recalled in a silk lithograph commemorating his successful testing of the steamboat in 1796, several years before Robert Fultons acclaim. Elisha Otis wowed an exposition crowd in 1854 when he rose in an elevator, cut the support cable and remained suspended by virtue of a safety brake he had devised. Charles Harvey was vice president of the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Co.

and he was also the pioneer who went to Greenwich Street and test-rude the citys first elevated line. In 1868, that was daring stuff! Zeroing in on daring exploits helps give a sense of the citys history, Kessler-Post said. Die deeds reflect the times and the times that were to come. Moreover, in the derring-doers lie more somber realities having to do with instant notoriety and its fleeting rewards. While journalist Nellie Bly enjoyed lasting fame after going around the world in fewer than 80 days (1889-90), Fitch, who saw Fulton capitalise on an idea that he had abandoned, later committed suicide.

Alvin (Shipwreck) Kelly, pictured in 1939, ate 13 doughnuts while standing on his head atop a plank extended from a buildings 50th floor. Years later, a derelict turned up dead in Manhattan between two parked cars. It was Shipwreck Kelly, the one who called himself "the luckiest fool alive, the best of the head-standers. Stuffed in his pockets were yellowing news clippings that told of his stunts. We have Adie Walford to thank for this unusual exhibition.

On a June day in 1901, for no particular reason, the Brooklyn resident walked across the Williamsburg Bridge, then under construction. In becoming the first woman to do so, she had to brave strong winds and manage one stretch without benefit of handrails. Though her daring, certified by the photographs of a bridge engineer, generated excited newspaper coverage, it was two weeks before the modest Miss The Brooklyn Museum adds an extra day to its weekly schedule A significant boost in city funds will enable the Brooklyn Museum to open an extra day each week beginning Oct. 1. The museums sixth day of operation will be Monday, when many artistic institutions around the city are closed.

It will remain closed on Tuesdays. The five-day week dated to spending cuts made in 1968. The museums operating budget for fiscal 1985, however, includes a $788,000 increase from the city. The city's commitment to the museum now represents about half of the museums operating budget. Beginning Friday, visitors to the museums Grand Lobby will encounter "Thunderstruck Landscape by French artists Anne and Patrick Poirier.

It is described as "a haunting, large-scale environmental work, portraying a civilization ravaged by two powerful adversaries. The Brooklyn Museum is on Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue. Hours are 10 to 5 during the week and noon to 5 on Sunday. The number is (718) 638-5000. as a.

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