Another early "Black Friday" (day after Thanksgiving)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Several years ago Barry found a piece -- one filed from Philadelphia and
published in *The New York Times* on 29 November 1975 -- that has been cited
as the earliest appearance in print (so far) of "Black Friday" used in
reference to the day after Thanksgiving [1].

On that same Saturday, *The Titusville [Pennsylvania] Herald* printed an
Associated Press report also filed from Philadelphia [2].  Like the piece
from *The Times*, it refers to the preceding day as "Black Friday."

(I might add that although this second piece does dwell on shoppers'
post-Thanksgiving buying sprees, neither it nor the piece from *The Times*
refers to or relies on a usage of "Black Friday" holding that "black" refers
to the day that merchants' ledger books go from red to black.)

-- Bonnie

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[1]

"Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it 'Black Friday' -- that day each
year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army-Navy game.  It is the busiest
shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the
Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears
conclusion."  [Gordon S. White Jr., "Army vs. Navy: A Dimming Splendor," Pg.
21.]

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[2]

FOLKS ON BUYING SPREE DESPITE DOWN ECONOMY [Pg. 1]

Store aisles were jammed.  Escalators were nonstop people.  It was the first
day of the Christmas shopping season and despite the economy, folks here
went on a buying spree.

Tens of thousands in search of Christmas gifts left harried sales clerks in
their wake on the day after Thanksgiving, the starting bell for the holiday
shopping crush.

"I don't intend to gift wrap IOU's," said Fred Leamnan of Philadelphia, who
just this week got back his job as a plumber's helper.  "Sure, money's
tight, but it's Christmastime -- you just have to give gifts."

It didn't matter which of the city's department stores you went in.  Bus
after bus unloaded shoppers who fought their way through sidewalk crowds
moving at a snail's pace.

"Yes, indeed, times are rough for us.  That's why we're shopping down here,"
Elaine Hunt said as she and her three children browsed through the John
Wannamaker's basement budget store.

"My husband's looking for construction work but I'm working part-time, so
there'll be some gifts under the tree somehow," she said.

"Everyone's worried about the economy, but you can't get too uptight about
money at Christmas," said Marvin Weidner, a shopper at Gimbels.  "I want to
enjoy myself like when I was a kid."

>From frivolous to practical, virtually every department was attracting its
share of shoppers.  The jewelry, books and toy counters were surrounded by
shoppers, and as many as 12 persons were lined up at clothing counters,
waiting to make their purchases.

"That's why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today 'Black Friday,'" a
sales manager at Gimbels said as she watched a traffic cop trying to control
a crowd of jaywalkers.  "They think in terms of headaches it gives them."

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