• 09 May 2008 at 10:30 AM

Barbara Walters Has Done 80 Percent Of Wall Street’s Living Dinosaurs

By

Barbara Walters’ book came out this week and it’s not just for those of you interested in a behind the scenes look at the catty infighting over at The View, though rest assured, Julian Robertson, there is plenty of that (as Babs tells it, “Star Jones was so obese she could barely walk onto the…set”). Apparently while Walters was dating Alan Greenspan, she was also seeing former Bear chairman Alan “Ace” Greenberg. (Ironic enough for you? Well try this one for size– though it’s not included in the autobiography, we hear the lady of the night additionally had a standing appointment with Jimmy Cayne ever week, which ultimately resulted in the birth of Ben Bernanke.) Before you go writing BW off as a harlot, keep in mind that the men served two distinct purposes– Greenberg bought her a show dog, and Greenspan doled out terrible investment advice.* It wasn’t all fun and games, however. Babs notes that lots o’ confusion would ensue when her maid would take messages and report that “Alan called.” Since she refused to refer Greenberg by his nickname– like Cayne, she thought the handle “Ace [in the hole]” was stupid and, in her words, “hypocritical, considering the number of times I had to shout, ‘No, Alan, no! You’re not even close!’”)– Walters and the cleaning woman came to differentiate the two as “loud Alan” (Greenberg) and “soft Alan” (Greenspan). Though he rarely identified himself, Walters says it was readily apparent when Cayne was calling, because “you could hear the the announcer’s voice over the loudspeaker at the tracks in the background.”
Barbara Walters On Greenspan [National Economist]
*Such as telling her not to buy a 4-bedroom co-op on Fifth for $250,000 in 1977.

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Comments (12)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 10:53 AM

    What’s the difference between Evil Kneivel’s longest motorcycle jump and Barbara Walters? Evil’s was a cunning stunt…..

  2. 2
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 10:55 AM

    I thought the publication was Nashwonal Ecwonomist?

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 10:59 AM

    Just think of what Barbara knows that she hasn’t told!

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 11:08 AM

    Who knew, I wonder if Alan and Alan knew they were screwing each other by way of a third party?

  5. 5
    Posted by Lowly Assistant | May 9, 2008 at 11:19 AM

    Long past are the days when Cayne was breakin’, droppin’, and rollin’ weed into those romeo & juliets at Belmont. Seems like a coon’s age, really.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 11:25 AM

    A 4-BR on 5th for $250k in 1977? That wouldn’t have mattered to me. I don’t think I even had $2.5k back then.

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 11:26 AM

    @11:25– but walters did. and today that place would be worth 30+ million.

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 11:36 AM

    I wonder what a shit show the Bartiromo book is going to be like, if she ever decides to do one.

  9. 9
    Posted by Capt Obvious | May 9, 2008 at 12:21 PM

    Barbra Walters in ’77 — I would hit that — Barbra Walters in ’08 — same deal

  10. 10
    Posted by guest | May 9, 2008 at 7:44 PM

    Odd details about Alan Greenspan and Alan Greenberg. I know Alan Greenspan was a long-time bachelor before he married Andrea Mitchell, but what was the deal with Alan Greenberg? Was he married before he (just can’t use the word “dated” in connection with Alan Greenberg) knew Barbara Walters? Did he marry since? What I basically want to know — is it just him and his show dog now? That might explain why he recently went out of his head for the benefit of New York Times readers. Being eighty isn’t easy, but being eighty and alone is extra difficult.

  11. 11
    Posted by jerrydill | June 23, 2008 at 10:38 AM

    I can only see Barbara Walter now and it really scares me. If she didn’t want people to know about it she needs to make sure that she didn’t put it in the book in the first place.

  12. 12
    Posted by guest | April 29, 2009 at 4:00 PM

    Why has dealbreaker removed the comment numbers…do we have to do it old school again? I’ll begin….
    @12:21 Could not agree more!!!

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