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Still Natty at 60

Though some call it NAY-die

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It was a case of bad timing, conceived in the shadow of the “day that will live in infamy.” (And it celebrates its anniversary in the shadow of another day of infamy.)

In December 1941, any headline would have gotten lost beneath THE headline: JAPAN ATTACKS PEARL HARBOR.

But the headline on page 35 of Display World's December 1941 issue was: FORM NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DISPLAY INDUSTRIES. Leaders of about 125 New York-area companies, dismayed because the International Association of Display Men (IADM) had chosen to hold its 1942 convention in St. Louis rather than on the East Coast, met at the Hotel Pennsylvania on the evening of Nov. 27, 1941. There, still groggy from their Thanksgiving L-tryptophan, they voted to make history.

The initial impetus, involving a geographical East-West dispute, sounds familiar. But so does the early NADI agenda. Some of the industry's leading innovators – George Silvestri, Al Bliss, Larry Charrot, Ralph Adler – were talking in 1941 about industry research; about fortifying the argument that good display leads to stronger sales; about volume purchasing to keep prices down; about educating and training the next generation of display personnel.

The industry responded to the new association's leadership and forward thinking, to its two strong market weeks and to the supply of innovations in both design and technology.

Today, the industry is fighting other battles: shrinking visual budgets and staffs, retail consolidations, the globalization of the supply community, a tough economy and, now, national insecurity. NADI is in the competent hands of the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers, yet another nod to the shifting sands of what used to be called “display.” Yesterday's headlines, issues and concerns seem quaint.

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What shouts out from the yellowing pages of Display World (and its successor, Visual Merchandising) in the 1940s, 50s and 60s is a commonality of purpose. The window was king and display was regarded as the community of sorcerors that performed magic, every Christmas, Halloween, Mothers Day and Fourth of July. (Display World published a list of upcoming holidays so its readers could prepare.)

But even then, the display industry was fighting for its stingy slice of the budget, and life was tenuous. A list of showrooms open for the December 1947 market week is a banquet of ghosts: Bliss Display, Bonafide Display, L.J. Charrot, Frankel Display, Victor Haida, David Hamberger, Nat Siegel, Taffel Bros., Jas. B. Williams.

Of course, any discussion of industry “ghosts” would have to include all the retailers mentioned in that same issue: Franklin Simon, Arnold Constable and Bonwit Teller (New York), Rhodes Department Store (Seattle), Goldblatt's, Weiboldt's and Mandel Brothers (Chicago), Rathbun's, Desmond's and The Broadway (Los Angeles), Godchaux's and Beekman's (New Orleans), The White House (San Francisco), Lit Brothers and Gimbel's (Philadelphia), Kleinhan's and Hengerer's (Buffalo), Hochschild, Kohn (Baltimore), Pogue's and Shillito's (Cincinnati), Halle Brothers (Cleveland), Herpolsheimer's (Grand Rapids, Mich.). And that barely scratches the surface.

But NADI survives, having endured a world war, other wars, Dallas, other assassinations, the 60s, Watergate, inflations, recessions, hippies, yuppies, suburbanization, runaway technology and disco.

One thing a 60-year retrospective confirms: Times change. And 1941 was a long time ago, indeed!

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