Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Louis Rukeyser, RIP
Long before there was CNBC, or even cable TV, Lou Rukeyser brought the world of Wall Street into our homes via his weekly half hour TV program Wall Street Week. The program began back in 1972, and for many it was a not-to-be-missed part of their week. Rukeyser would open each program with a short review of how the Dow Jones Industrial Average had performed over the preceding week, built around a witty monologue (including an analysis of how his forecasting "elves" had faired), always finishing it off with a string of clever puns.
He would then solicit the views of his rotating panel of experts, before moving on to an interview with the featured guest, which included successful analysts, stock pickers, strategists, and occasionally experts in alternative assets like commodities, real estate, or collectables.
I was aware of Lou Rukeyser from a very young age. In the seventies, when I spent my Friday nights watching Planet of the Apes movies, Kolchak the Night Stalker, or Donnie and Marie on the big color tv (the one with the legs) my mother would be in the kitchen watching Lou on our portable b/w. My grandmother, who counseled me from a very young age not to spend my allowance on comics and candy but to buy oil stocks, watched Lou religously and I remember on more than one occasion a lively cocktail conversation between my grandparents and two great aunts coming to an abrupt halt to make way for Lou's monologue.
As I got older and developed my own interest in the stock market, I suddenly understood the appeal of this witty, charming man who made stock market investing interesting and fun, without ever suggesting that it was an enterprise to be entered into lightly. The contrast between the steady Lou Rukeyser and some of the rah rah market commentators of the late 90's was quite striking.
I remember feeling sad when Lou was pushed out of WSW back in 2002, and was sympathetic to the howls of outrage from his loyal following, which resulted in a new show in his old format on CNBC, entitled Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street, which ran until he retired at the end of 2004.
Lou Rukeyser - Gone but not forgotten.
UPDATE from TigerHawk: The 'Villain unaccountability fails to mention that neither he nor I would exist were it not for Louis Rukeyser. So our interest in him was greater than mere admiration.
The 'Villain responds: Thanks for the catch. I'd completely forgotten the tenuous Lou connection. I can account for the oversite only by saying that, not being a Princetonian, this story left only the vaguest impression on me when I first heard about it (in your linked post, I think).
14 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed May 03, 12:28:00 PM:
One of the most popular features of Lou Rukeyser's show was the annual black tie event at the end of the year. During the show Lou would open an envelope and take out a list of each of his regular's start of the year predictions of where the Dow would be at the end of the year.
I had known that he was clas of '54. In fact, I'd seen him at reunions several times, but I didn't know he was a Key & Seal'er as was I in '67.
As an off topic note, I believe that I also prepped at the same school as Cardinalpark, very close to where the show was produced. Lou came down on the train most weeks. I mention this because there is another alumnus of that same school who is rtaising hell up in Turtle Bay. If you want to blackmail him, I have a picture of him in his uniform as a freshman menber of the chess club.
By 
Charlottesvillain, at
Wed May 03, 01:02:00 PM:
Yes, the year end black tie editions of WSW were memorable.
Those prep school years do have a way of catching up with us, don't they?
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed May 03, 02:02:00 PM:
Anon - you are good. I think Bolton was '64. Not surprisingly, I am a huge fan.
For the uninitiated, Wall Street Week was produced in Owings Mills Maryland, within close proximity to the 800 acre McDonogh School.
How anon figured me out, I have no idea...
By , at
Wed May 03, 02:42:00 PM:
By Cardinalpark - 6/27/2005:
"I was fortunate to attend a 12 year private school outside of Baltimore Maryland which provided me an exceptional education, reinforced a very strong set of core values which I also experienced at home and launched me in a direction for which I am eternally grateful. It was a stern and disciplined place, once a military school, subsequently demilitarized and transformed into a coed school by my graduation."
As a fellow alumnus of McDonogh where else could it be? There are or were very few 12-year military schools and one of an even lesser number which weren't glorified reform schools for rich brats. I was class of '63 there and the aforementioned John Bolton was '66. He did go on to Yale, but that doesn't seem to have ruined him. Maybe it's only the law school that does that.
Hint back to you. I won a National Merit Scholarship and was one of five members of a class of 98 boys to go to Princeton.
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed May 03, 03:08:00 PM:
ok - I'll work on it. I had forgotten that post. You don't teach (or taught) there do you?
By , at
Wed May 03, 03:25:00 PM:
No, I didn't teach there, but since this was the VietNam era more of my classmates did than might be expected. Until the draft lottery came in you couldn't just keep going to grad school indefinately. Steve Stackhouse and John Veltman taught there for a while and, of course, Laddie Levy and Tom Harper P'67, especially, became McDonogh legends.
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed May 03, 03:41:00 PM:
I wondered whether you were Laddy or Harper. I had them both. Those were the days when the orange and black connection worked well. By the time I rolled around, it was pretty thin. Amherst for me, then Stanford for the MBA. I recall a certain headmaster might have been of that vintage too, no?
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed May 03, 04:21:00 PM:
Anon - do the initials JW mean anything?
By , at
Wed May 03, 05:47:00 PM:
By , at
Wed May 03, 06:16:00 PM:
Oh, I forgot.....
<- Mules Horses ->
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed May 03, 06:41:00 PM:
ok, that solves that mystery...thx...still in Baltimore?
By , at
Thu May 04, 01:01:00 PM:
No, my current address is on the McD website. I spent most of the time since returning from S.E. Asia in NJ partly in Princeton TWP on Mt. Lucas Rd. near Bedens Brook. The rest I lived in Cranbury on Main Street.
If you would like to share further reminiscences, my email address is also on the McD site.
jlw aka ANON
By TigerHawk, at
Thu May 04, 05:09:00 PM:
Cardinalpark has reason to be in the Princeton area from time to time. Just sayin.'
By Charlottesvillain, at
Fri May 05, 03:18:00 PM:
