utterly typical week: SEC, FGR's January 1969 calendar.
"the grand rabbi": Jeremy Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice," originally published in the January 24, 1983, issue of The New Yorker.
"who came from": Ibid.
"would take to a desert island": FGR interview, WNYC, January 5, 2003.
"rapidly lost": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."
"I mean, the Austrians": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"A very traumatic": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."
"I remember": Ibid.
The story of Felix's escape: Ibid. and FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"the classic route": WSJ, October 10,1975.
"We started driving": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"something I will never": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"And we thought, clearly": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"I have felt": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."
"It was a miracle": NYT, April 11,2005.
"As the Germans": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"There were always": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"Securing these visas": NYT, April 11,2005.
"looked very elegant": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"As a last step": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"There were not that many": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"I think that was": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"We went to": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."
"They thought this": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"I became enamored": FGR interview, WNYC, January 5, 2003, and July 6,2003.
"My most basic feelings": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard," NYT Magazine, March 21, 1976.
"That experience has left me": Bernstein: Allocating Sacrifice."
"because they had": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"to try to talk us out": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"And this guy": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"I just stank": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"It was about": Patrick Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.
Chapter 2. "Tomorrow, the Lazard House Will Go Down"
"Entire business totally": Western Union Telegraph Company cable, April 20, 1906.
"It is hardly": Western Union Telegraph Company cable, April 25, 1906.
Together, on July 12, 1848: Partnership agreement.
"business was so brisk": Lazard Freres & Co.: The First 150 Years (New York: Lazard Freres & Co., 1998), p. 13.
"Gradually, the business": Ibid.
"The intellectual horizon": Lazard Freres & Co., p. 15.
"already learning": NYT, February 25,1898.
"to see what kind of man": FAP.
"There is a very real": FAP, Frank Altschul, Letter to George Blumenthal, October 21, 1918.
"This would involve": FAP, "Exchange Situation," January 24, 1924.
"As we do not desire": Ibid.
"Using a $100 million": Darryl McLeod, "Capital Flight," in David R. Henderson, ed., The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics (New York: Warner Books, 1993).
"Things are looking better": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, February 26, 1924.
"My heartiest congratulations": FAP, Frank Altschul to Christian Lazard, March 13, 1924.
"You can imagine": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, March 19, 1924.
"All the time": Ibid.
"a secret": Ibid.
"sister firms...We have placed": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, March 27, 1924.
"at the disposal of the Trust": FAP, Christian Lazard to Frank Altschul, February 26, 1924.
"13 white, no black": NYSE, December 20, 1923.
"Picasso of banking": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 18.
"weak heart": Ibid., p. 24.
"It called for a quick mind": Ibid., p. 25.
"So it is with a clear head": NYT Magazine, September 21, 1924.
"He just took everybody": Patrick Gerschel interview, January 20, 2005.
"acquire, hold, sell": General American Investors Company Web site and FAP.
"It seems to me": FAP, Albert Forsch to Frank Altschul, August 28, 1929.
"An immediate consequence": R. S. Sayers, The Bank of England, 1891-1944 (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1976), vol. 2, p. 389.
"There'll be a terrible time": Interview with a Lazard partner.
"the irregularities to which": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931, released publicly for the first time in 2005 after my inquiry; Times (London), July 31, 2005.
"another member of the staff": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931.
"Tomorrow, the Lazard House": Interview with a Lazard partner.
"put matters straight": Sayers, Bank of England, p. 530.
"an Accepting House": BOE minutes, July 17, 1931.
"would probably give rise to a state of panic": Ibid.
"the matter should be kept secret": Ibid.
"might unduly weaken": BOE minutes, July 18, 1931.
"to find": Ibid.
"Mr. Pearson feared": Ibid.
"For a long time": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.
"then gave to the other": Bank of England documents, Committee of Treasury, April 27, 1932.
"The most remarkable part": Hugo Kindersley interview, May 4, 2005.
"fair valuation for probate": Deloittes's evaluation of Lazard Brothers for estate of Lord Cowdray II, October 5,1933.
"And the people of New York": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.
cryptic cablegram: FAP, from London to Frank Altschul, August 10, 1931.
"In the development": NYT, September 25, 1934, p. 38.
"While investment bankers": Newsweek, October 6, 1934.
"As you remember": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, July 20, 1936.
"some of the questions": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill, July 29,1936.
"The method was employed": FAP, Albert Forsch to Frank Altschul, August 1936.
two-volume catalog: Gabriel Henriot, Collection David-Weill (Paris, 1926-27).
"In remembrance of our": Ibid., in Avery Library, Columbia University School of Architecture.
"David Weill was": Guy Wildenstein interview, October 28, 2005.
"a large part" and "one of the most important": NYT, February 20, 1937, p. 19.
"He had liberated his walls": Daniel Wildenstein, Marchands d'art (Paris: Plon, 1999), p. 30.
The truth: MDW interview, April 12,2005.
"a logical development": NYT, December 22, 1937, p. 39.
"weighted with four telephones": Newsweek, October 6, 1934.
"We all agreed": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, November 10,1938.
"The object of my trip": Ibid.
Chapter 3. Original Sin
The ostensible reason for the change: MDW interview, April 12, 2005.
"He wanted the power": MDW interview, April 12, 2005.
"I suppose by now": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, August 16,1939.
"I dislike hearing": Ibid.
"I am wondering": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, December 20, 1939.
"friendly cable": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, September 13,1939.
"I therefore turn": Ibid.
"Supplementing my letter": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, September 25, 1939.
"all the matters of common": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, September 27, 1939.
"I cannot tell you": FAP, Frank Altschul to David David-Weill, May 13,1940.
Meyer sent his wife: Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 33.
"Meyer had no illusions": Ibid., p. 33.
"havoc": Philippe Meyer interview, as well as account of family's escape from Paris, February 1, 2005.
"Mr. Harrington": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, June 2
7, 1940.
"It is good to know": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, July 2, 1940.
"There are people": FGR interview.
At the outbreak of the war: MDW interview, April 12, 2005.
"We are very patriotic": Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter," Vanity Fair, March 1997, p. 275.
"When you have the run": Guy Wildenstein interview, October 28, 2005.
"I unfortunately": FAP, David David-Weill to Frank Altschul, August 14, 1940.
October 1940: NYT, October 30, 1940, p. 7.
"Aryan" control: NYT, February 23, 1941, p. 16.
They fled Lyon: MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"When you are so busy": FAP, Frank Altschul to Wallace Phillips, October 6,1941.
"Gordian knot" and "It is not only": FAP, Frank Altschul to Henry Styles Bridges, October 21, 1941.
"may not like his friends": FAP, Frank Altschul to Adolph A. Berle, Sr., October 21, 1941.
"Pierre Weil": FAP, Fletcher Warren to Frank Altschul, October 25, 1941.
"after careful consideration": FAP, A.M. Warren to Frank Altschul, November 1, 1941.
"Awaiting news from you": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, April 6, 1942.
"urgent business trips": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, April 9,1942.
"Distressed at all these delays": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill (date unknown).
"should merely try to": FAP, Frank Altschul to Herbert Lehman, July 23,1942.
"has not resulted": FAP, H. K. Trevers to Pierre David-Weill, August 22, 1942.
Altschul shot off a letter: FAP, Frank Altschul to F. P. Keppel, October 14,1942.
"in a huff": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"I was not completely foolish": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"It was wonderful": MDW interview, September 15, 2004.
"My father told me": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"It was perfectly ordinary": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"It was all a great shock": Reich, Financier, p. 36.
Simone Rosen: Simone Rosen interview, April 27, 2005.
"Getting the RCA account": Patrick Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.
"Dear Friends": FAP, Andre Meyer to Frank Altschul, et al., December 9, 1941.
"On a practiced level": FAP, Andre Meyer to Frank Altschul, January 9,1942.
"I hope that this time": Ibid.
wrote to the State Department: FAP, Frank Altschul to F. P. Keppel, January 29, 1943.
"have been treated": FAP, Robert Kindersley to Frank Altschul, February 13, 1942.
"very appropriate reproof": FAP, Frank Altschul to Robert Kindersley, March 26,1942.
"Pierre used to refer": Reich, Financier, p. 39.
"In one year": Ibid., p. 39.
Altschul would be "retiring": NYT, December 16, 1943.
Altschul was voted out: Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.
"that had become": Lazard Freres & Co.: The First 150 Years (New York: Lazard Freres & Co., 1998), p. 30.
"I don't think the control": Reich, Financier, p. 41.
"He looks at": Robert Agostinelli interview, May 31, 2005.
"Many thanks for": Frank Altschul to Robert Kindersley, December 20, 1943.
"You no doubt": FAP, Frank Altschul to David David-Weill, October 16,1944.
He never received a reply: FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, May 23,1945.
"The trip was abominable": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, May 16,1945.
"deepest sympathy": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill, June 22,1945.
"Berthe deeply touched": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, July 27,1945.
"It is such a long time": FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, July 17,1952.
"What Andre Meyer": Reich, Financier, pp. 41-42.
"He wanted to make this": Ibid., p. 42.
Chapter 4. "You Are Dealing with Greed and Power"
"He wanted to be able": Reich, Financier, p. 21.
lived in hotels, too: Lazard Freres & Co. office directory, November 1,1977.
"Andre was not a rich man": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 33.
"You know, Andre": Ibid., p. 52.
"The Lazard offices": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard," NYT, March 21,1976.
"in some rarefied social circles": Michael Jensen, "The Lazard Freres Style," NYT, May 28, 1972.
"In many ways": Reich, Financier, p. 18.
"He had kind of a crazy": Francois Voss interview, January 31, 2005.
"He works at the top": Anthony Sampson, The Sovereign State: The Secret History of ITT (London: Coronet Books, 1974), p. 72.
"Behind that stern": Reich, Financier, p. 356.
"Andre carried with him": FGR interview, May 25, 2005.
Brooks Brothers shirts: Mel Heineman interview.
"chewed me out": Reich, Financier, p. 186.
"I wasn't dare gonna": Interview with Frank Zarb, April 27, 2005.
"Andre, you are the most": Interview with Zarb; and Ron Chernow, The Warburgs (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 554.
"a dangerous place to work": David Supino interview, June 21, 2004.
"In some sense": Interview with a Lazard partner, although this idea is mentioned in numerous articles about both Felix and Andre.
"the first two are really one": NYT, September 11, 1979, but first in T. A. Wise, "In Trinity There Is Strength," Fortune, August 1968.
"Oh yes, Andre had": Reich, Financier, p. 98.
"very common knowledge": Ibid., p. 100.
"She would get away": Ibid.
"I think my grandfather": Ibid., p. 101.
"It's very possible": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.
"Jackie opened up his life": Reich, Financier, p. 259.
"His name constantly": Ibid.
"These Kennedys": Ibid., p. 258.
"I think he was probably upset": Ibid., p. 262.
"she was very sad": Ibid., p. 356.
"It was a monster": Ibid., p. 58.
20 percent of Les Fils Dreyfus: SEC documents
"I have this stepson": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"I said to myself": Ibid.
"Andre yanked me": Ibid.
"He made it crystal clear": Jeremy Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice," NY, January 24, 1983.
"Andre also had": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.
"Andre said to me": Ibid.
"This was summer": Ibid.
"Well, this was a time": Ibid.
"It was done": Ibid.
"Take the pay cut": Ibid.
"I went to work": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."
"Rohatyn is in total": Sampson, Sovereign State, p. 73.
Chapter 5. Felix the Fixer
"Get in the car": Cary Reich, Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer (New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 109.
"I get a call one day": Ibid., p. 110.
"That is the top salary": Ibid., p. 112.
"These people felt": Ibid., p. 113.
"Townsend would torture Meyer": Ibid., p. 117.
"I'm ahead of your plan": Ibid.
"You insist on this?": Ibid., p. 118.
"I'm terribly allergic": Several press reports, among them Washington Post, September 11, 1979, and NYT, October 28, 1965.
For Felix, the Avis payoff: CC report contains a plethora of documentation about the Lazard-Avis deal produced in connection with the House Antitrust Subcomittee's hearings on conglomerates.
"You have been screwed": Reich, Financier, p. 119.
"Nobody ever got poor": Ibid.
"If you have a good company": Robert Townsend, Up the Organization (New York: Knopf, 1970).
"Even those who hate": Forbes, May 1, 1968.
"Gentlemen, I have been thinking": Jack Anderson, The Anderson Papers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974), p. 48.
ITT acquired 110 companies: CC report.
"pra
ctically an employee": Reich, Financier, p. 233.
"the best man always to placate": SEC files about Lazard's relationship with ITT. The SEC has some thirty-four unindexed, unorganized boxes of documents from its two multiyear investigations. The file, made available under the Freedom of Information Act, is labeled HO-536.
"Geneen is a very difficult": Reich, Financier, p. 232.
"Actually, we were entitled": Ibid., p. 237.
"Apparently Levitt's forte": CC report.
"Mr. Levitt is apparently": Ibid.
"they are already active": Ibid.
"This is an internal": Ibid., FGR's testimony.
"The thing that strikes me": Interview with a Lazard banker.
"Working for Felix was very difficult": Interview with a Lazard banker.
"Working for Felix was a death sentence": Interview with a Lazard banker.
"No, David, you are wrong": Interview with David Supino, October 8, 2006.
"a small list of questions": CC report.
"L. is unique": Ibid.
"The Levitt stock": Ibid.
"This is probably just as well": Ibid.
"It may be that alternatives": Ibid.
"the assistance of a few advisers": Ibid.
"Our corporate clients": Ibid.
"Lazard will, from time to time": Ibid.
"In this connection": Ibid.
"Typically, we are asked": Ibid.
"As I tried to indicate": Ibid.
"I would say that": Ibid.
"No, sir": Ibid.
"We don't view ourselves": Ibid.
"While it is highly technical": Ibid.
"Yes, sir": Ibid.
"You should come": NYT, July 18,2004.
"the worst of the paperwork": NYSE annual report, 1969.
"We were looking at the world": NYT, January 24, 1971.
"a bunch of blue bloods": Monica Langley, Tearing Down the Walls (New York: Free Press, 2003), p. 23.
"never heard of them": Ibid.
"At 9:15 that morning": NYT, January 24, 1971.
"The brokerage firm found": NYT, March 28, 1971.
"If you don't tell me the facts": NYT, March 24, 1971.
"If DuPont had failed": NYT, March 28, 1971.
"I'm sort of going through": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.
"We just threw money in": NYT, March 24, 1971.
"And nobody ever said": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.
"The questions raised": NYT, June 21, 1971; and FGR letter to Robert Haack, June 11, 1971.
"We had a house on fire": FGR congressional testimony, House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance, August 2 and 3, 1971, p. 144.
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