Remember Arlene Francis?
She's best known as a regular panelist on the 1950s and '60s game show "What's My Line." But her career also included being an actress and New York City radio talk show host.
When Francis was on New York's WOR-AM, she worked on the same floor I did when I was in my first full-time job as a research assistant in the television research department. I couldn't find a job after college graduation where I grew up, so I decided to try New York City while staying with a relative. After pounding the pavement for a month, I got the job.
I often saw famous people on the 23rd floor lobby of my Broadway office building. Most were waiting to be interviewed by Francis. My colleagues in the research department rarely spoke of the celebrities. I didn't know if it was because they had become so used to seeing them, or if I just happened to walk through the lobby at the right time.
Well, one day a senior staffer came rushing in and said "Frank Sinatra is here!" She quickly motioned for me and another colleague to go see. By this time, Sinatra had made his way to the radio studios.
During my time working there, I had never walked back there. I can't remember if someone told me not to, or if it just felt like "the forbidden zone." But with a senior person leading the way, we three made our way down a long hallway, turned the corner and there he was: Frank Sinatra -- with his back turned to us.
Sinatra and Francis had not gone on the air yet. Francis was facing us. She motioned to Sinatra to let him know we were there.
He turned around and briefly looked at us; then gave us a wave as he turned back around.
That was in 1981 when Sinatra was 66 years old. Around the same time, the Dow Industrials were launching a long bull market. Sinatra's fortunes coincided with the Dow's ups and downs:
In an echo of the Sinatra mania that accompanied the lift-off in 1942, Sinatra scored his last solo hit, "Theme from New York, New York," a month later. It rose to No. 32 on the Billboard charts. In 1980, he also completed his conversion to conservative politics, just in time to bask in the glow of Ronald Reagan’s election and to organize another inaugural gala (followed by a second for Reagan in 1984). In February 1981, he testified before another government commission and again "denied ever associating with members of organized crime," even though the same board had revoked his license for his having such contacts in 1963. With the help of a character reference from the new president, the five-member Nevada Gaming Control Commission granted Sinatra a license. After a few perfunctory questions, the chairman of the commission turned the hearing into a testimonial in which "the commissioners rushed to vindicate Frank."
In August 1984, he recorded his last solo album, L.A. Is My Lady, as the Dow left the 1100 level behind for good. His final recording effort came midway through a fifth of a fifth wave, as Primary wave 5 of Cycle V approached the climactic final years of the bull market for stocks.
The Elliott Wave Theorist, December 2011
Read the entire fascinating story of how Frank Sinatra's life and career aligned closely with the bull and bear periods of the stock market.