PLACING TRADES

Recap

Some of you may remember the famous Duke & Duke financial scandal of 1983 when the Philadelphia based commodities brokerage went bust. The two Duke brothers, Randolph and Mortimer, had attempted to steal a top secret government crop report prior to it being officially announced to the public but were scuppered by two of their employees, Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe III, who gave them a false report which they believed to be true.

The elderly Randolph Duke suffered a heart attack almost immediately upon realising the scale of the disaster that had befallen him and his brother while Mortimer desperately tried to salvage what was left of their business empire but to no avail. They were persona non gratis amongst their associates in the business world and Wall Street gave them an 800 metre cold shoulder.

But as in all tragedies, the first signs of the brothers ultimate ruination could be found in youth when they were boys competing to impress their father, Don Duke II.

The Challenge

It was a New Year's Day afternoon in 1923 when Don Duke II set his two young sons a challenge.

"If you two boys can recoup the money we're wasting on this New Year's Day party your mother insisted on having then I will give either one of you, or both of you, a special reward."

His two sons nodded in unison implying that they might work together, but neither of them trusted each other enough to share the reward so went their separate ways.

Randolph snuck off far away from Mortimer to consider his strategy in the garage, sitting in one of his father's many Rolls Royces while Mortimer sat in the library to see if he could find inspiration from the many books of history and business his father had collected.  

And so it began. The race to see who could impress Daddy the most.

The Randolph Strategy

Mortimer's strategy was simple but effective. He would claim to have established a charity for feeding sickly orphans and would ask for a dollar from each guest. As there were more than fifty guests this would easily cover a good deal of the cost of food and drinks for the New Year's Day dinner as way of recompense for his prudent father.

The Mortimer Strategy

Mortimer's strategy was a little more unclear. He would take payment to look after the guests' coats and hats for twenty five cents per man and woman and guarantee each one left with a small gift to take home with them at the end of the evening.

Whatever that gift was he hadn't yet quite hought of it until they were all sat down to dinner.

Then, remembering his brother Randolph had a collection of rare cigarette cards upstairs in his bedroom he'd been collecting, Mortimer figured that he wouldn't miss them too much if he put them into the guests' coat pockets as a way of ensuring he hadn't reneged on his promise to provide gifts for them all.

Execution

Both brothers' plans were executed near perfectly until one disgruntled guest pulled out one of Randolph's cigarette cards from his jacket pocket upon leaving early and snorted in derision at it being the supposed gift that Mortimer had guaranteed.

"Is this the lousy gift you promised us for our twenty five cents?"

Randolph, catching sight of his beloved cigarette card being handed out like free candy by his brother, was incensed and couldn't control his anger.

"That's my card!"

The unimpressed guest handed it back to the clearly upset Randolph but questioned the integrity of Mortimer's pledge.

"Perhaps next time kid, don't make promises you can't deliver on."

Mortimer took the criticism and hoped the rest of the guests wouldn't feel the same way.

Thankfully, they were better humoured about it and held onto their 'gifts'. Meanwhile, Rudolph's anger continued to grow.

"You gave them all my cards, you thieving bastard!"

"What do you care more about Randolph? Your stupid cigarette cards or Daddy's reward he'll give us now we've saved him money for this stupid social?"

Randolph had no sense of what the reward was yet and only the mystery of what it might be surpassed his own fierce attachment to his collection of cigarette cards at this very moment.

Later

After the last of the guests had finally left, the two brothers were summoned to their father's private study where he assessed their profits from the day's unique challenge.

"Well, boys, I'm mightily impressed. You've both found ingenious ways to recoup my losses and so as a reward I'm giving you both a ticket each to see an opera at the Philly Met for the Saturday matinee. How about that?"

The two brothers looked aghast and grim faced as it might just as well have been their father had given them a dose of strychnine poison.

And to add further insult to their dismay, he proffered, "Personally I can't stand all the warbling but maybe you'll both be more cultured than your old man after your excursion to see the old war horse."

Poison

The two Duke brothers went to the opera, more out of morbid curiosity and an excuse to get out of the house. As they sat in their own private box, the red stage curtains were drawn slowly back, the house lights dimmed and the orchestra started up.

Leaning over to his brother, Mortimer whispered to Randolph.

"Next time, Randolph, we work together!"

"It's a deal."

The two young brothers shook hands but still, neither one could be sure to trust the other.