True Origins of the Credit Card, As Told by Nathanael West

There are many urban myths surrounding the origins of the modern-day credit card, but, like many others, I had always believed the much-vaunted assertion that the origin of the credit card lay in the 1950s, with the advent of Diner’s Club.  The internet abounds with articles describing how Frank McNamara was embarrassed to find, when trying to pay his restaurant bill, that he had left his wallet at home.  Luckily his wife was able to pay the bill for him, but he determined never to be embarrassed in a restaurant again, and was inspired to originate the concept of the Diner’s Club Card, the first widely-accepted payment card.

Then, late last night, as Better Half and I were companionably sitting up in bed reading before settling down for the night, as is our wont (I’m currently reading Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines, BH is on Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West), he interrupted my concentration by blurting out ‘Hey, this book talks about a hotel visitor using a credit card’.  On the surface, not the most amazing turn of events, but think about it: Day of the Locust was first published in 1939, way before Frank McNamara came up with the idea for Diner’s Club.

Day of the Locust is set in Hollywood during the Great Depression.  It follows the fortunes of young artist Tod Hackett, working as a costume designer and set painter for the movie studios, who falls in love with aspiring starlet Faye Greener.  In search of the American Dream, the protagonists become embittered and disappointed, and the novel ends with a riot at a movie premiere. Weirdly, one of the characters is called Homer Simpson; Donald Sutherland played him in the 1975 film adaptation of the novel.

So what is the truth of the matter?  Were credit cards really around in the 1930s, or even earlier?  Was Nathanael West talking about a credit card as we understand it today, or did it have a different meaning?  Are there any other early literary references to credit cards?

One day I hope to have read every interesting novel that has ever been written, but that is going to take some time.  Until then, I will have to rely on a combination serendipitous happenstance, as with stumbling upon the reference in Day of the Locust, and good old Wikipedia.  And OK, I must admit that Better Half is a veritable gold-mine of interesting (but useless) information.  As far as I am aware, there are absolutely NO references to the use of credit cards in Dickens, Tolstoy, Hardy, Proust or  DH Lawrence.  Middlemarch’s Dorothea Brooke was a woman of considerable financial clout and influence, but I believe she favoured the good old cheque-book for her major purchases.

Wikipedia cites Looking Backward, a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, which appeared in 1887,  This novel has no less than 11 occurrences of ‘credit card’, but it is unclear what form these cards took.    By the 1920s, however, there was a variety of merchant credit schemes in the US.  Early examples included schemes to sell fuel to automobile owners; by 1938 several companies were beginning to accept each other’s cards.  Early cards were printed on paper card, and were easy to forge.

I am beginning to think that the most likely explanation for the credit card mentioned in Day of the Locust was something called the Charga-Plate.  This predecessor of the modern plastic card was in use in the US in the 1920s and 1930s.  It comprised a 2½" × 1¼" rectangle of sheet metal, similar to a military dog tag, and was embossed with the customer's name, city and state.  According to Wikipedia:-

‘ It held a small paper card for a signature. In recording a purchase, the plate was laid into a recess in the imprinter, with a paper "charge slip" positioned on top of it. The record of the transaction included an impression of the embossed information, made by the imprinter pressing an inked ribbon against the charge slip’

That certainly sounds like a form of credit card to me.

Apparently these Charga-Plates were issued by the bigger merchants to their regular customers – like the modern-day store card – and sometimes the plate was kept by the issuer rather than the customer. If the same practice was adopted by hotels, this could explain Nathanael West writing in Chapter 8 of Day of the Locust:-

Soon afterwards the manager called and asked him to bring in Miss Martin's credit card. When he went into the manager's office, he found Miss Carlisle, the room clerk there. Homer listened to what the manager was saying to her.

"You roomed six-eleven?"

"I did, yes, sir."

"Why? She's obvious enough, isn't she?"

"Not when she's sober."

"Never mind that. We don't want her kind in this hotel."

"I'm sorry."

The manager turned to Homer and took the credit card he was holding.

"She owes thirty-one dollars," Homer said.

"She'll have to pay up and get out. I don't want her kind around here."

He smiled. "Especially when they run up bills. Get her on the phone for

me."

If anyone stumbles upon any more early credit card references during the course of their reading, please let me know; it would be great to hear from you!