Black Friday

Today being the day after Thanksgiving, it's traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year. Lazy bones that I am, I figure it's a good opportunity to think about some of the better classic movies that involve department stores and selling things.

I've recommended The Devil and Miss Jones several times before. Charles Coburn infiltrates his department store in order to find out who's leading a labor dispute, only to discover he likes the workers.

That's probably not as well known as The Shop Around the Corner, however. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play shop assistants who don't get along, but are also unkowing pen pals, having answered anonymous personals ads. It's actually showing this Sunday at 9:45 PM ET on TCM if you want to watch it.

Ginger Rogers plays a shop girl who's mistaken for the mother of a foundling in Bachelor Mother

Moving on to grocery shopping, Sidney Poitier takes blind Elizabeth Hartmann grocery shopping in A Patch of Blue. She, being blind and having been sheltered, doesn't realize that you're supposed to take the oranges from the top of the pile.

And, Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda meet in the PX each dragging cart after cart of groceries, in Yours, Mine, and Ours, which is airing today at 2:00 PM ET on TCM. Despite carrying that many groceries, they pay what seems like a decidedly small amount of money for it all. (Well, it was probably a lot in 1968 dollars.)