Money, Money, Money !
HOW to Make your Fortune on the Stock Ex- rhange. By Vivian Ellis. (Muller, 12s. 6d.) ONE would not wish to revive the ill-omened at- mosphere of 1929 in the United States, when even the elevator-boys exchanged stock market chat with their dark-suited passengers. But it does seem to me that portfolio ups and downs have begun to displace weather, cinema and even television as party topics of conversation be- tween reluctant strangers. Vor all those who cannot resist the schaden- frende of others' financial misfortunes, and who enjoy imparting their own (appreciating the subtleties of inverted boasting), Mr. Ellis Will be a good companion for an hour or two. His little book would make a neat gift for all those who land you with a couple of hundred Whatsits Ltd., when they never got taken over by ICI after all and halved in value in just over three weeks.
Mr. Ellis has a brave turn of humour: 'The one Place in which I have never invested money is the theatre. That is how 1 missed making a fortune out of Bless the Bride.' When C. B. Cochran offered him a share in the show he refused it. Well, so might anybody, but Mr. Ellis had inside knowledge (the ignis fatuus of all punters)—he wrote it.
Underneath the flippancy Mr. Ellis delivers some hard knowledge, if not exactly hard knocks, at, the bull and bear business. instance his aside about the mythical Western Pets., one of the Props in the Stock Exchange's own films about Itself. Having watched a client being hurried to Take up her mind about selling these desirable fictitious securities because 'the House is about to close,' he quips, 'What's the hurry, cock? We 1-an deal after hours.' A point which many new- comers to the City do not appreciate. In the chapter 'Blue Chips on my Shoulder,' ')Be of the most annoying (for company secre- taries) in the book, Mr. Ellis describes how an ordinary (or a Preference) shareholder may make his views felt—but especially the ordinary chap. „ 1, as he says, people arc frightened of attending LI,!rnlianY meetings, they should at least remem- 7r that the Board are at least as frightened that all the ordinary shareholders might turn up. Per- haps one of the main reasons for Britain's back- . ardness in business today is the absentee share- holder, If you and I made more fuss about our hilvivuerld, Shell and ICI would have called in McKinsey and Co. sooner.
ANDREW ROBERTSON
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