In uncertain times, any American money manager worth his salt understands that potential clients are comforted by a long-term track-record and patrician solidity. Consider a successful 1990 TV commercial showing grainy black and white footage of Dean Witter sagely advising money managers at his eponymous brokerage firm, presumably around the time of its founding in 1924, to find each client’s comfort level.

The man was an actor, the footage and the crackling audio fake and Dean Witter already a large, impersonal firm owned by retailer Sears. The image of having seen decades of bull and bear markets struck a chord with investors though.