They managed to coax him in with a box of donuts!

He had strong arms and no fear of heights. Willing to take a risk, however what if he needed to pull a gun?
Norm

Wow. I hope his life insurance premiums were paid up.

Cop or some kind of Military Service uniform?

I'll go with military. I'll also go with the photo having a superimposed background.

A good friend of my fathers was arrested in NY city in the late thirties for doing a handstand and walking on his hands around the ledge of the hotel he was staying in. His wife refused to bail him out and left NY that night to return home to Pennsylvania and when my father ask her "How is Eddie going to get home?" her reply was "If he likes to walk on his hands so much, let him walk home on them!"

Notice the dirt under the vertical beam, something one usually doesn't see on highrise building construction. I'd say Hollywood set.

Harold Lloyd must know this guy.

Charlie, I think you are correct. I see what looks like a pair of wings (probably air force) on the flap of his left shirt pocket.

Happy motoring,

Warren

Real or fake, just looking at the picture gives me the willies !

Dick

"Real or fake, just looking at the picture gives me the willies!"

Says the man who likes to fly around in cloth covered Aeroplanes!

I keep thinking British. Can't put my finger on it though. The back round is quite dicey in both photo's but I know the Harold Lloyd shot is real as in actually photographed/filmed without a fake back drop. The camera angle hides the roof which is just below his feet. He's off the ground but only has a few feet to fall. Come to think of it I believe it was here on the Forum that the "whole" shot of Lloyd was posted.

The background is Times square in New York City, looking north.

It's fake...the skyscraper beam is set in dirt...the clue is the tarp and how it's been feathered.

Looks like a German army uniform to me.
See the wings.
Did the U.S. service men every wear boots like that?
The traffic is driving on the right side of the streets so it's not filmed in England

I think it's a British WW1 uniform. Picture below is the guy who shot down the Red Baron. Uniform seems like an exact match. What this guy's doing making believe he's hanging out over Times Square in NY, I have no idea!