Vacationers' Use of Cash in 1963

In 1963, the use of credit cards was very new. Ordinary vacationers used only cash, and so stealing wallets from vacationers was a more lucrative crime then than it is now.

The Diners' Club company was established in 1950, but it served business travelers on expense accounts. In 1958 the company began to advertise on television and began arranging for travel agencies to accept the card for sales of airplane tickets. In 1959, about one million people in the world had a Diners' Club card -- when the US population was about 180 million.

Diners' Club card in 1963 

The website Restaurant-ing through history describes the use of so-called travel-and-entertainment cards during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Travel-and-entertainment cards ... required high financial standing, an annual membership fee, and full payment of balances within 30 days. Having one of these cards brought cachet. ... Traveling salesmen and men (rarely women) in industries such as public relations, advertising, publishing, manufacturing, and wholesaling were fans of the convenience of charging business meals. ... in the mid-1950s 50% to 80% of meals in high-priced restaurants were “on the company.”

But not all restaurateurs were enamored of the cards at first. For one thing, Diners’ charged a 7% fee on transactions. Restaurant owners felt that they spent too long waiting for their payments and that they had to raise prices to make up for the fees, thus punishing cash customers. Some restaurants refused Diners’ Club cards or added surcharges for meals paid with them. The Diners’ Club lowered its transaction fees in 1966.

By 1965 the three biggest travel-and-entertainment cards, Diners’ Club, American Express, and Carte Blanche claimed a total of about 3.15 million cardholders

Bank of American began issuing credit cards in 1958, but only in California. The company did not begin issuing credit cards in other states until 1966.

Because of the 7% fee on transactions, Kellerman's Mountain House might not have accepted travel-and-entertainment cards from its guests in 1963.

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During the early 1960s, vacationers' main alternative to cash was travelers checks. Advertisements promoting the use of travelers checks were common in periodical publications.

The following video shows a television advertisement from the early 1960s.

Perhaps most younger people reading my article do not know how travelers checks were used.

A person who intended to go on vacation would go to his bank and buy a set of travelers checks. For example, he might pay $204 and obtain ten $20 checks. The extra $4 was the bank fee, which was about 2%.  As soon as the person received the checks, he would sign each one in the top left corner. Then he would record the check numbers on a separate piece of paper, which he would keep separately from the checks.

Later, while on vacation, he could cash the checks at local banks or other institutions. To cash the check, he would provide personal identification and sign the check in the bottom left corner. The video shows how the checks were signed. The cashing institution might charge a fee.

If the checks were lost or stolen while on vacation, the person could go to a bank, provide the check numbers, fill in some paperwork and get his money back.

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Probably Jake Houseman brought travelers checks on the vacation and cashed them at Kellerman's business office.

When Jake agreed to give Baby $250 in cash, he told her he would have the cash for her before dinner. He obtained the cash for her by cashing some travelers checks.

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Most vacationers, however, simply carried around enough cash to pay all their vacation expenses. Therefore, vacationers were good targets for thieves.

 The movie Dirty Dancing involves wallets being stolen from vacationers at Kellerman's and other summer resorts in the Catskills. The initial suspect is a hotel employee -- Johnny Castle -- but the ultimate culprits are revealed to be a couple of the very vacationers -- the old Schumacher couple.

The following video clip shows a scene that was filmed when the character Marjorie Houseman still was being played by the original actress. The scene suggested that someone had been searching through the drawers in the Houseman family's suite.

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A common method of protecting money while traveling was the money belt, which the traveler would constantly wear -- and normally hidden under the clothing. The following photographs show some vintage money belts.

Closeup

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It's likely that Kellerman's also provided safety deposit boxes for its guests.