“The Winter Vacationists” (Among Us Mortals, 1/24/1954)

“The Winter Vacationists” (Among Us Mortals, 1/24/1954)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page.

From this January 24, 1954 edition, titled “The Winter Vacationists” some quotes:

“Lovely Grade B singer entertaining at a semi-tropical Grade C nitery. (They never showed her the Juilliard what to do with her hands when singing about the doggie in the window!)”

“Meet the couple who can’t resist the lure of Mexican pottery and souvenir nicknacks. They won’t find out till they get home that most of the Inca bowls and vases have “Made in occupied Japan” stamped on the bottoms.”

Not a commonly used word (and I never heard of it) “nitery” is a synonym for a performance nightclub. The word was used rarely, coming into more common use in the early 1930s and through the early 1960s.

I know a bit more about items made in Occupied Japan from my early life as a flea market dweller. During WW2, items manufactured in Japan were shunned, if not destroyed. Stories of my own grandparents smashing items they had brought over from Italy exist in the family. During the reconstruction of Japan, to spur commerce, (mainly porcelain) items imported to the US (cups and saucers, dolls, figurines) were stamped “Made in Occupied Japan” or “Occupied Japan” from 1945-1952. Today these items have a collectable value because they can be dated to this specific period.