Jane Randolph, who died on May 4 aged 93, starred in film noir classics of the 1940s, portraying vulnerable women; she appeared in Jealousy (1945), as the sexy beautician Clara Calhoun in Railroaded! (1947), and in atmospheric horror pictures, particularly Cat People (1942) and its sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1944). In Cat People, Jane Randolph played Alice Moore, who is terrorised during a night-time swim by an ominous, feline creature whose supernatural presence is suggested rather than actually seen on screen. Critics hailed it as one of the most suspenseful scenes ever filmed. Fans including Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks later wrote congratulating her on her performance. In 1993 Cat People was chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the US National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Working in Hollywood for over a decade in more than 20 films, Jane Randolph was one of the last contract players in the Warner Bros wartime stable of actresses that included Olivia de Havilland, Jane Bryan and Ann Sheridan. "Warner Bros made films for the real man," she said of her time at the studio. "Whilst MGM was making romantic melodramas and Universal horrors, Warners were making gritty gangster films that still stand today." She was born Jane Roemer on October 30 1915 at Youngstown, Ohio, into a prominent steelmaking family. She grew up in Indiana and studied Medicine at De Paux University before her classic good looks led her to the Max Reinhardt acting school. She made her debut as a hatcheck girl in Manpower (1941) and in the same year appeared in Dive Bomber opposite Errol Flynn, whom she described as "a womaniser", but "terrific" none the less: "Women chased him too and he didn't always say no." A particular admirer was Marlene Dietrich: "There was something absolutely mind-blowing about Marlene's beauty," Jane Randolph remembered. "When she walked on set one could almost hear the intake of breath from cast and crew alike. She always wore men's grey flannels, often with a coquettish hat and slash of red lipstick. She told me over and over once, nestled on a pink sofa in her Winnebago, that she liked my looks. I was honoured – and only decades later realised she was actually hitting on me big time!" During her varied career Jane Randolph was one of two human models used for reference by animators working on the ice-skating sequence with Bambi and Thumper in Walt Disney's feature-length animation. She "was" Bambi. In the same year she posed for the cover of the Army magazine Yank, becoming one of the era's most popular pin-ups. The Hungarian director Gustav Machaty secretly drugged Jane Randolph so that she would achieve a more realistic stupor in Jealousy. From RKO she moved to the low-budget Eagle Lion Pictures for her next three films, in one of which she plays a brunette vixen who toys with a brutal robber. Her last appearance was in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Divorced from the Hollywood agent Bert D'Armand, in 1949 Jane Randolph married Jaime de Amo, who became governor of Madrid. Chic and slim, she remained a prominent figure in Los Angeles and kept homes in California, Spain and Switzerland. Jane Randolph's daughter survives her. Telegraph 28 May 2009

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Since Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday may be as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th of November. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5am) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day (see below), although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit)[citation needed]. The news media frequently refer to Black Friday as the busiest retail shopping day of the year, but this is not always accurate. While it has been one of the busiest days in terms of customer traffic,[1][2] in terms of actual sales volume, from 1993 through 2001 Black Friday was usually the fifth to tenth busiest day.[3] In 2002 and 2004, however, Black Friday ranked second place.[4] The busiest retail shopping day of the year in the United States (in terms of both sales and customer traffic) usually has been the Saturday before Christmas.[5] In 2003 and 2005, however, Black Friday actually did reach first place.[6] In many cities it is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up hours before stores with big sales open. Once inside, the stores shoppers often rush and grab, as many stores have only a few of the big draw items. Electronics and popular toys are often the most sought-after items and may be sharply discounted. Because of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, many choose to stay home and avoid the hectic shopping experience. The local media often will cover the event, mentioning how early the shoppers began lining up at various stores and providing video of the shoppers standing in line and later leaving with their purchased items. Traditionally Black Friday sales were intended for those shopping for Christmas gifts. For some particularly popular items, some people shop at these sales in order to get deep discounts on items they can then resell, typically online.