What Bet Put Melvin van Peebles on the Trading Floor?

David Senra, reading a profile of Thomas Peterffy, says a $10,000 bet from film producer Aaron Russo put filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles on the trading floor for a year.

In 1982 Peterffy was out to dinner on the Upper East Side with a friend. Three men who worked in show business invited them over. Peterffy knew none of them. One was Aaron Russo. Another was Melvin Van Peebles. Russo asked what Peterffy did. Peterffy had injured his knee and could not stand on the floor anymore, so he hired attractive women to take instructions over the phone and relay them to specialists. Russo asked whether anybody could do it, then whether Melvin could, and offered $10,000: hire Melvin, and if he lasted a year, Russo would pay. Peterffy agreed. Melvin went through Timber Hill's two-week training course, spent a full year trading for Timber Hill on the American Stock Exchange, quickly gained popularity, and did a fantastic job. Peterffy collected the $10,000.

A year later Russo produced Trading Places, starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, about a wealthy broker and a street hustler whose lives are switched as part of a bet by two rich financiers. The film earned $120 million in its first year.