Post #628439 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Mar 11, 2012 9:11 PM

On 2012-02-15 14:09, bigbrotiki wrote:
"Tiki Modern" readers know more! :D

Though admittedly I had been unable to find out any specifics about the screening mentioned on the mug. Since then I have come to the conclusion that "T.O.A." stands for (Movie-) Theater Owners of America, which became the National Association of Theatre Owners in 1965:

"NATO was founded in 1965 by the merger of the largest movie-theater trade organizations, the Theater Owners of America and the Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors."

Would be interesting to find a program for that screening...anybody know any movie theater owner families?

In further efforts to bring some light into the origin of this mug (instead of whining and griping about it's pricing), the most recently sold Elvis Bob had an interesting sticker underneath:

This is what I found (nothing specific to this mug though):

UCAGCO actually means United China and Glass Company. Its offices were based in New Orleans and New York. Ucagco was primarily a distributor of dinnerware and glassware. They were the distributor of many Japanese china patterns during the early 1950s. United China & Glass Co. Inc., better known as UCAGCO, dating back to 1850. Founded by Abe Mayer and originally called Abe Mayer & Co., the importer did business throughout the Southeast U.S. as well as Central and South America. It wasn't until the 30s that the company took on the official trademark of UCAGCO and began expanding overseas. In fact, after the war, the company's agent in Japan, S.A. Stolaroff signed the very first contract allowing imports from Japan. A talented ceramic designer himself, Stolaroff worked alongside many Japanese potteries to lead the company's line of ceramics. In 1956, UCAGCO was sold to Sammons Enterprises and in 1962, Stolaroff, who had become the company's president, retired.<