The Right Time, the Right Place

Wohlstetter started his financial career as a runner for a Wall Street firm in 1929 and quickly exhibited his financial acumen by predicting the stock market crash, though few listened. He then became a successful broker, helping J. Paul Getty, Bernard Baruch and Billy Rose make their fortunes. Leaving Wall Street in 1938, he tried his hand at screenwriting in Hollywood but soon found movie people boring and returned to the financial world of New York City. In his long career, he founded Atlas Aircraft (later Cyclohm Motor Corporation) and Continental Telephone, became a real-estate mogul and bought the Racquet Club in Palm Springs, Calif., and a large vineyard, complete with chateau and 600,000 bottles of vintage wine, in France. His chatty, entertaining autobiography is replete with anecdotes about famous people he has known--presidents, financiers and major figures in show biz and the arts--including Carl Sandburg, George Gershwin, Dorothy Parker and Milton Berle. Except for references to common sense and luck, however, he reveals no secrets of his phenomenal financial success. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)