In 1993 I sold a kraftbacked one-sheet for 1934's In Old Santa Fe (Gene Autry's first movie, where he was billed as "The World's Greatest Cowboy Singer") and later that year I auctioned a different linenbacked one-sheet and three years later I re-sold the kraftbacked one-sheet, which had been re-consigned.
That was the last I saw of that poster for 13 years until 2010 and 2011, when I was consigned three more examples, but all of these had many other actors credited above Gene, who is billed as "Radio's Singing Cowboy"!
At that time, it seemed reasonable that one was first release, and the other an early re-release, but there was no absolute way to be certain of which was which, and I posted that information on those three auctions.
Now I have been consigned another example (the "Radio's Singing Cowboy" version) and because I have been amassing a huge database of "litho numbers" from the bottom of posters (NOT the NSS numbers, but separate numbers the litho companies added to most posters from 1900 to 1960), and by comparing the litho numbers from the two different one-sheets, I am able to say for a certainty that the "Radio's Singing Cowboy" version is absolutely from 1934, and that the "The World's Greatest Cowboy Singer" version is absolutely from 1939.
Of course, when you think about it, this makes perfect sense. In 1934 Autry was only known from radio, and by 1939 he WAS a giant star who deserved that new tagline, but it is great to be able to absolutely date both posters. Here are images of the two versions:
Now I have to e-mail the buyers of those six posters, informing them of the new confirmed information (and offering refunds to those who bought the 1939 re-release as an original, even though it has been 17 and 20 years ago that they bought the posters!).
