Episode 214: Ticker Tape Parade

This week Shauna and Dan celebrate life with a ticker tape parade! What is ticker tape? When was the first ticker tape parade? Bonus: Bad budgets and pool parties. 

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 Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 214: Ticker Tape Parade
Record Date: November 19, 2023
Air Date: November 22, 2023

Intro

Shauna:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.

I’m Shauna Harrison

Dan:
And I’m Dan Pugh

Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.


Opening Hook
American’s love parades. You can find them at almost every holiday, celebration, sometimes just because.  Of course, the United States isn’t the only country who loves parades as images of early parades celebrating hunters returning with prey can be found in ancient Spanish cave drawings.
https://historydaily.org/parade-history-when-did-we-start-doing-this-all-the-time/4
But the United States, specifically New York City, did invent the particular kind of parade we are going to talk about today… the ticker tape parade.

Meaning

According to the Merriam-Webster, a ticker tape parade is:

Quote
a parade in which small pieces of paper are thrown into the air to celebrate something or to welcome someone
End Quote
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ticker-tape%20parade

Shauna, I picked this topic because my kid asked me what ticker tape was and I wasn’t sure.

Ticker tape is the tape that runs through a stock ticker. The first patent for such a device was issued to Edward Calahan of Brooklyn, New York. He applied in July 1867 and it was approved in March 1868. In the application, Calahan called his invention:

Quote
A certain new and useful Improvement in Telegraphic Indicators for
the prices of gold, stocks, etc.
End Quote
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/17/47/99/11f2f64b4863a2/US76157.pdf
https://patents.google.com/patent/US76157A

Parades have been around for a long, long time and that’s a whole different topic, one we will look into a bit in the Behind the Scenes available on Patreon.com/bunnytrailspod every Friday. But for now, when and why did the ticker tape parade start?

According to the Downtown Alliance, found at downtownny.com, the unique coalescence of a few different factors created this New York style of parade.

Quote
Invented in 1867, ticker tape was a one-inch-wide ribbon of paper on  which the “ticker” machine recorded telegraphed stock quotes. Brokerage firms using the ticker machine proliferated in Lower Manhattan, then as now the City’s financial district, and provided an abundant supply of scrap paper. In the latter part of the 19th century, skyscrapers replaced low buildings and turned the narrow downtown streets into stone canyons. Office workers quickly discovered that ticker tape sent swirling into the air created a dramatic effect.
End Quote
https://downtownny.com/ticker-tape-parades/

Shauna, any idea what the first ticker tape parade was?

To answer that question, we’ll move to an article from the Library of Congress blog called “Ticker Tapes and Parades; a Match Made in New York” dated November 14, 2022 by Ellen Terrell.

Quote
A busy Wall Street meant a lot of communication, and all of that communication generated a lot of tape, particularly in New York City, the home of Wall Street. In 1886 someone had the idea to use the tape to enhance the dedication parade for the Statue of Liberty.

It is this parade that is commonly considered to be the first ticker tape parade. The parade held in 1899 for Admiral George Dewey, the hero of the battle of Manila Bay, was the first honoring an individual. Since then, there have been many parades celebrating the end of wars, sports team victories, military men, and great feats…
End Quote
https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2022/11/ticker-tapes-parades/

So it didn’t even take 20 years from the invention of the stock ticker until the first unofficial ticker tape parades. I say unofficial, because it wasn’t until the early 1900s that New York City began taking charge of these parades.

Here’s a note from parade.com

Quote
Ticker-tape parades were not "officially sanctioned" until… a parade for Teddy Roosevelt on June 18, 1910. The parade, in all of its grandeur, was declared "a hero's welcome" for the former president's return from an African safari. It's estimated that there were around one million spectators for the event.
End Quote
https://parade.com/living/ticker-tape-parades

But that one was just one supported by the City, not organized or led by them. It was almost another decade before the NYC government decided to take charge. For that, let’s go back to the Downtown Alliance for more.

Quote
From 1919 to the present day, the mayor of New York City has decided who will receive a ticker-tape parade.

The first officially organized ticker-tape parades welcomed home the victorious soldiers of World War I. New York City customarily greeted important foreign visitors with great fanfare. In the 1920s, with ticker tape seen as a modernization of the ancient ritual of strewing flowers before conquerors, it became routine to hail arriving heads-of-state with a paper shower. The city started a tradition of recognizing champion athletes with the ticker-tape parade for the American Olympic team in 1924. The massive reception for pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927 attracted millions of spectators to lower Manhattan, and made the ticker-tape parade famous around the world.
End Quote
https://downtownny.com/ticker-tape-parades/


The route taken by ticker-tape parades goes down what is called the Canyon of Heroes. Here is a little background on the Canyon of Heroes from the Wall Street Experience:

Quote
The Canyon of Heroes is the name for the over 200 black granite plaques that commemorate and list every single ticker tape parade in New York City history.

The plaques are embedded in the sidewalks along Broadway in Lower Manhattan. They run on both sides of the street, from the beginning of Broadway at Battery Place, all the way north to Chambers Street, right next to City Hall.

Each plaque is placed within about 20-25 feet of the other, with some variations. Every single one lists the date of the parade and the event being celebrated.

The pathway of the Canyon of Heroes is the same route taken by ticker tape parades in New York City.
End Quote
https://www.thewallstreetexperience.com/blog/the-canyon-of-heroes-nycs-most-overlooked-monument/

If you are wondering when we stopped using ticker-tape and moved to other things, History.com has us covered.

Quote
The 1-inch strip of paper was used to print stock quotes from the ticker machine, popular in lower Manhattan’s financial district, which became the parade route. As the stock exchange moved to electronic boards in the 1960s, ticker tape was no longer in use, and shredded paper and confetti took its place.
End Quote
https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-ticker-tape-parades

One more fun fact before the break, according to marginalrevolution.com, 

Quote
Jonas Salk famously turned down a ticker tape parade for the creation of the Polio vaccine but there was excitement and celebration around the world. When the time comes, I hope that we will enthusiastically celebrate science and the success of a COVID vaccine.
End Quote
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/where-has-the-ticker-tape-parade-gone.html

Well good news, we sort of did, but not for the creators of the vaccine. Instead, we celebrated the everyday heroes who got us through the pandemic. But we’ll cover that later in the show. For now, a word of thanks to those who help Bunny Trails get through week after week.

A Quick Thank You
This episode is sponsored by our amazing Patrons on Patreon. And the cool thing about Patreon is it is 100% free to join the Bunny Trails community!

We have new things every weekday on the feeds, including a conversation about what everyone is reading, early access to the show, patron’s only polls, and our behind the scenes video which always includes a little about our week before the show and a cool feature after the show.

We’ve got some other pretty cool stuff, too, like Original Digital Artwork once a month, made by Shauna, and awesome name recognition like Pat Rowe gets every episode. And our top spot is currently occupied by the amazing Mary Halsig Lopez.

You can join the Bunny Trails community for free at bunnytrailspod on Patreon.

That’s www.patreon.com/bunnytrailspod


Modern Uses

1978 Made for TV Movie
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid is a comedy western made-for-tv movie starring Suzanne Pleshette, Don Meridith, and Harry Morgan. Here is the synopsis from IMDb.com

Quote
Comedy-Western about a turn-of-the-century lady investigator named Kate Bliss who goes to the wide-open spaces of the wild west to capture a gang of outlaws led by a charming Robin Hood criminal of the plains, leading a band of dispossessed ranchers against a stuffy English land baron who has cheated them out of their property.
End Quote
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077793/

2017 Book
Those Tumultuous Tickertape Tommies: A Junior Novel of Steampunk Intrigue is a novel by William J. Jackson published in 2017. Here’s the synopsis as written on the back of the book.

Quote
1890 is a dangerous year to be young and heroic. Extraordinary humans are on the run from the government. But for the normal information courier called Tommy Nextyear, danger is par for the course. Having taken up a less than savory occupation after the events of the Rail Race Riots, Tommy finds himself on the wrong end of the law, and his own moral compass. Can he perform his mad task, save lives plus his own skin and, perhaps, find himself along the way?
End Quote
https://www.amazon.com/Those-Tumultuous-Tickertape-Tommies-Steampunk/dp/1976395860

2017 Song
Ticker Tape is a 2017 song by Gorillaz. The tune features Carly Simon and Kali Uchis and is found on the deluxe version of the album Humanz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbPRX0-XaU8
Genius.com provides an interpretation of the song:

Quote
“Ticker Tape” is a song about the technological progress of humanity and whether some of this progress is even desirable. The ticker tape represents our contemporary media culture and especially the noise it makes. The question being posed is how often we should reassess the ticker tape. Maybe we need to ask ourselves questions of how fast we’re going and if we’re going in the right direction.
End Quote
https://genius.com/Gorillaz-ticker-tape-lyrics

2021 Book
Ticker Tape is a 2021 novel by Tammy Marshall. Here is the synopsis as written by the author on the back of the book.

Quote
Marvin Wineski is a washed-up Vietnam War veteran who gets a second chance at life. He grudgingly participates in the New York City ticker tape parade in honor of Vietnam vets. This one event is the catalyst for all that follows. With the unexpected support of someone from his past, his journey will take him back to Vietnam to find his true purpose. If you believe in second (and third or even fourth) chances, like I do, then join Marvin on his quest to rebuild a life that was hijacked by war.
End Quote
https://www.amazon.com/Ticker-Tape-Tammy-Marshall/dp/B09BF53TYX

Current Stock Newsletter
The Ticker Tape is a daily online newsletter of TDAmeritrade. I think we are all clear where the name came from, but they tout the newsletter will:

Quote
Kick-start your morning and prep for the rest of the trading day, with the top three things affecting and shaping the market's moves. Stay in the know on corporate earnings, economic trends, and more…

To help you uncover potential emerging trends, The Ticker Tape regularly digs deeper into tools, philosophies, investing and trading strategies, retirement planning, taxes, and more.
End Quote
https://tickertape.tdameritrade.com/about

Examining Ticker Tape History with a Modern Lens
Two more things I want to share.

First I want to bring us back one more time to the Downtown Alliance as they explore the importance of understanding history and how we celebrate people, even though looking back at some of them might cause regret.

Quote
Lindbergh’s parade is in many ways emblematic of the challenges we face in digesting the importance of a historic person and an event once we have benefited by the long lens of history. Lindbergh was unquestionably a brave and pioneering aviator. He was also a figure of epochal nation wide renown who shaped not only aviation history but popular culture as well. That in subsequent years Linbergh led the radically isolationist America First movement, evidenced initial ill founded sympathies with Nazi Germany, embraced eugenics and espoused, both privately and publicly, racist and anti-semitc ideas complicates our consideration of his legacy in its entirety. That is one of the reasons we have partnered with the Museum of the City of New York to provide more robust cultural and historic context about each and every ticker-tape parade that has taken place in Lower Manhattan.
End Quote
https://downtownny.com/ticker-tape-parades/

I’ll link to their pdf of every ticker-tape parade in New York City’s Lower Manhattan area starting with the Dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886 and running through the U.S. Women’s Nation Team World Cup Champions in 2019. That’s 207 parades in 133 years.
https://downtownny.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Downtown_Alliance-Ticker-Tape_Parade-History-2019.pdf

2021 Ticker Tape Parade
Let’s close out with that ticker-tape parade I mentioned just before the break.

On July 7, 2021, NYC held a ticker tape parade of a different sort. According to an NPR article by Karen Yi:

Quote
New York City honored its essential workers today with a ticker tape parade. Doctors, delivery drivers and bodega owners were celebrated in a mile-long parade down Broadway.

Crowds of spectators cheered teachers, park workers… everyday people who during the darkest days of the pandemic provided New York City a lifeline.
End Quote
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/07/1013898745/nyc-honored-essential-workers-with-a-ticker-tape-parade-that-stretched-a-mile

As we learned before, it is the Mayor of NYC who decided who gets ticker-tape parades these days. Here are Mayor Bill De Blasio’s comments from that same story:

Quote
Because before we did anything else in the way of celebrations in this city, we needed to thank the people who saw us through COVID.
End Quote
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/07/1013898745/nyc-honored-essential-workers-with-a-ticker-tape-parade-that-stretched-a-mile


Wrap Up
I love the idea of parades. Seeing people celebrate someone or something is a really cool, communal opportunity. I love celebrating our local kids in the homecoming parade and seeing kids from all the schools in our small-ish town. And I even enjoy spontaneous parades, like the one that woke me up from my sleep in Tamarindo, Costa Rica one night. I remember going outside the hotel on the main drag and seeing confused faces from staff and patrons. You were already there outside cheering and clapping along, probably because you are a night owl and had not yet gone to bed like I had. But everyone got into it and the 30 minute experience was fun and enjoyable. And I love that about parades.

But there are two things I don’t like about parades. I don’t like crowds, which in my small town are not that big, and I don’t like all the trash generated by some parades, with ticker tape parades being the worst offenders. So while I love parades, I’m not enthused about ticker tape parades as a NYC parade would incorporate the extremes of both of the things I don’t love about parades. Still, I’m willing to give it a try if the opportunity comes about. Perhaps I’ll surprise myself and really enjoy it.

Dan:
That’s about all we have for today. If you have any thoughts on the show, or pop culture references we should have included, reach out to us on our Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod or comment on our website bunnytrailspod.com

Shauna:
It’s poll time!

Recently we asked our Patrons, how do you enter the water when swimming?

The two options were:
Walk in slowly, I like to let my body get used to the water
Jump in, I like to get any shock over with quickly

The strong winner among our Patrons was to walk in slowly.

Jan represents the consensus opinion on this one:

Quote
Slow but sure for me. I know it would be quicker the other way, but the shock  keeps me cautious.
End Quote

Dan:
I suppose I’ll represent the opposition. I'm a jump in feet first kind of guy. Some of my favorite memories as a kid were swimming in Lake Texoma. My grandparents would take their camper out to West Burns Run on the Oklahoma side and grandma would sleep in the camper while grandpa would sleep outside in a tent. We grandkids would visit and swim and guzzle orange drinks and generally have a fun time. Since then I've always enjoyed the water. And getting in the water from a boat rarely affords you the opportunity to get in slowly.

Shauna:
My method of entering the water depends entirely on the temperature of the water and the context. My favorite way is with a surfboard in tow, specifically heading into the ocean somewhere in Costa Rica.

JGP might have the best answer to this question:

Quote
I was a lifeguard in high school and college (way, way, WAY back in the day) and worked pools, lakes, bays and sounds- basically everything other than oceans- so I've entered the water every which way possible including slipping on seaweed and falling. No one will believe you if you shout "it's got me! Something's got me!" when that happens, but if you do that at least you can pretend to still have your dignity intact afterwards.
End Quote

As a reminder, our silly polls mean absolutely nothing and are not scientifically valid. But Patrons of all levels get to take part. Head over to patreon.com/bunnytrailspod to take this week’s poll!

Outro

Shauna:
Thanks for joining us. We’ll talk to you again next week. Until then remember,

Together:
Words belong to their users.