They Call It a Credit Card for a Reason

Abstract

I couldn’t help but think of the actor Karl Malden when I got my first credit card. I remember him as kind of a hard-nose cop on the TV show, The Streets of San Francisco. His co-star was a very young Michael Douglas. I remember watching the show as a teenager. Malden had enough street cred from the series; I can still remember an American Express ad that featured him as their spokesperson. Although Malden was talking about Travelers Checks when he said, “Don’t leave home without them,” the tag line eventually applied to the American Express card too.