That's all she wrote antedatings

[Michael Quinion]

Last week in World Wide Words I discussed "that's all she wrote". A
reader, Michael Templeton, has found two citations that appear to antedate
it to 1942. Might somebody with better research facilities be able to
confirm or deny these or provide more information?

The first, via Google Books, is this

  "That's all she wrote!" gleefully called out a fan, before
  crossing the pit to collect a fifty-dollar bet.
  [American Mercury, Vol 54, p425, 1942. Snippet view only. In
  a story about a cockfight. The year seems to check out from
  internal date searches but confirmation and issue date needed.
  See http://bit.ly/g77q1a]

The other is the title of a song. In a post back in 2004 Ben Zimmer quoted
one said to be by Jerry Fuller in 1950, an attribution which is widely
given online.

  Now I woke up this morning a quarter past three
  I just couldn't realize this could happen to me
  That's all she wrote...

As Jerry Fuller was 12 in 1950, his authorship seems improbable. Michael
Templeton points out that this is also widely attributed to the Texas
Troubadour, Ernest Tubb.

A song of this title appeared in Ernest Tubb Favorites: Radio Songbook No.
3. (WSM Grand Ole Opry Edition). Ernest Tubb Publications. Nashville,
Tenn. 1943. [Southern Folklife Collection catalogue http://bit.ly/eAeukJ]

A song of the same title, presumably the same one, appeared in The Ernest
Tubb Song Folio of Sensational Successes. No.2, Hollywood, CA: American
Music Inc., 1942. An image of the cover is available via Amazon.com
(http://amzn.to/giIekA) which has the song title in the middle of the
right-hand side of the page. Its presence, and the date, is supported by a
catalogue reference here: http://bit.ly/cZnmpH

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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