Dating to 1957, “Behind the Ticker Tape” is a wonderful film that tells the story of the American Stock Exchange (now NYSE), showing how securities sales have evolved over the years, and giving a profile of the ASE at the height of its activity. NYSE MKT LLC, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), is an American stock exchange situated in New York City, New York. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange.
The film begins with shots of the AMEX floor including the visitor’s gallery, where the public could watch the frenzied exchange of stock. Hand signals are seen at 1:08, resulting in the sale of thousands of dollars of stock. At 1:30, a new broker who has just achieved a seat on the exchange is shown arriving for work. His mentors talk to him about how to handle stock purchasing customers and how to counsel investors. At 4:30, the Gold Rush is shown, and there is a discussion of how the stock market helps American commerce grow and thrive. At 5:00 the so-called “curb market” is re-enacted on the streets of Manhattan. At 6:00, the curb market on Wall Street caused a change of venue, to 44 Broad Street, but the trading posts were still outside. At 7:30, the 1908 meeting of leading brokers to form the “New York Curb Agency”, which was the forerunner of the AMEX. At 9:20, the arrival of the telephone revolutionized stock trading, but also (as the film shows) caused chaos. At 11:45, the development of the use of hand gestures to conduct sales is shown, as well as colorful hats. At 14:00, the modern stock market of the 1920s-1950s is shown. At 14:50, the ticker tape machine is shown and its use explained. The use of teletypes is also shown in the placing of a buy order. At 15:53, an annunciator board is used to get the attention of a broker for the order and an order is placed. The film ends with a discussion of the future, showing the AMEX building at 19:00 and describing its “lightning fast” communications network where the “future is being born”.
The curb exchange began with brokers who often traded stocks that were speculative in nature. With the discovery of oil in the latter half of the 19th century, even oil stocks entered into the curb market. By 1865, following the American Civil War, stocks in small industrial companies, such as iron and steel, textiles and chemicals were first sold by curbstone brokers. Efforts to organize and standardize the market started early in the 20th century under Emanuel S. Mendels and Carl H. Pforzheimer.. In 1908, the New York Curb Market Agency was established, to codify trading practices. In 1911, the curbstone brokers came to be known as the New York Curb Market, which then had a formal constitution with brokerage and listing standards. After several years of outdoor trading, the curbstone brokers moved indoors in 1921 to New York Curb Exchange Building on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan. In 1929, the New York Curb Market changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange. Within no time, the Curb Exchange became the leading international stock market, listing more foreign issues than all other U.S. securities markets combined. In 1953 the Curb Exchange was renamed the American Stock Exchange.
Paul Kolton was named as president of the exchange in 1971, making him the first person to be selected from within the exchange to serve as its leader, succeeding Ralph S. Saul, who announced his resignation in March 1971. In November 1972, Kolton was named as the exchange’s first chief executive officer and its first salaried top executive. Kolton opposed the idea of a merger with the New York Stock Exchange while he headed the exchange saying that “two independent, viable exchanges are much more likely to be responsive to new pressures and public needs than a single institution”. Kolton announced in July 1977 that he would be leaving his position at the American Exchange in November of that year.
The American Stock Exchange merged with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext) on October 1, 2008. Post merger, the Amex equities business was branded “NYSE Alternext US”. As part of the re-branding exercise, NYSE Alternext US was re-branded as NYSE Amex Equities.
On December 1, 2008, the Curb Exchange building at 86 Trinity Place was closed, and the Amex Equities trading floor was moved to the NYSE Trading floor at 11 Wall Street.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
