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REWIND: The kinder, softer side of past Black Friday shopping

A day to dust off the holiday decorations, the seasonal music and the Santa costume.

DALLAS — The name and the day of “Black Friday” did not always sound so dark and daunting. The label for the day after Thanksgiving shopping spree is thought to have started in the early 1960s but did not become commonly adopted until decades later. 

In fact, newspaper ads from North Texas newspapers in 1975 labeled deals on items as “Thanksgiving Clearances” and “Christmas Sales” as the shopping experience was more leisurely than chaotic.

A day to dust off the holiday decorations, the seasonal music and the Santa costume.

And where there is Santa, there are toys.

And where there are toys, there is Bill O’Reilly.

The former WFAA reporter was somewhat of a toy expert in old stories from the 1970s archived at the SMU Jones Film Library. He was breaking down the latest in educational toys, Sonny and Cher dolls, and foreign toy competition as the holiday season approached.

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