Mirror columnist Lee Mortimer had a feature in the Sunday magazine about the trend of passing off All American beauties as foreign exotics. One recent case was Singapore Sal, the hostess of the new Singapore Restaurant at 50th and Broadway. The owner had come to Mortimer to say he was looking for "slant-eyed dolls" for his place. A short while later he introduced Mortimer to a tall, curvy brunette with a "Chinee" accent who was the restaurant's new hostess. Despite her glib chatter about Singapore and the Raffles Hotel, Mortimer was not taken in. However, he didn't see it as his business to write an expose- the gal had to make a living. Other, unnamed writers identified her as photographer's model Jane Bishop, who soon exited the joint. Now the restaurateur Carl Erbe had said he was looking for another Chinese girl from Singapore. In an aside, Mortimer wrote that someone should whisper to Erbe that Singapore wasn't in China.
Mortimer notes this was not a first time that an American has assumed an exotic identity . "Hindu" dancer Beatrice Kraft was from New Jersey. La Meri, who performed both Hindu and Spanish dances, was a Texan and American from way back. Then there was "Scandinavian" movie actress Sigrid Gurie, actually born in Brooklyn (although to be fair she grew up in Norway). Opera singers routinely adopted Italian names. There were Christians, Muslims and even an Indian from Oklahoma performing in Yiddish theater. The "Egyptian" dancer Tamaris was Helen Becker from the Lower East Side. in 1946 she was now known as Helen Tamiris, the choreographer of the current revival of "Show Boat," the recent hit "Up in Central Park" and the upcoming "Annie Get Your Gun." Mortimer doesn't mention it but several well-known Russian ballet dancers of the day were not Russians, like Alicia Markova (nee Lilian Marks).