That's all she wrote antedatings

[Garson O'Toole]

Michael, Here are some citations with solid 1942 dates from ProQuest
Historical Newspapers. All three were written by Lucius (Melancholy)
Jones in the Atlanta Daily World. I searched for "that was all she
wrote" in addition to "that's all she wrote".

Cite: 1942 June 29, Atlanta Daily World, Sports Slants by Lucius
(Melancholy) Jones, Page 5, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)

"Coot" inquires about Jimmie and Juanita Perry—and his other numerous
friends and opines that the old "Avenue" (Auburn) must still be going
strong. He asks what of Top Hat and says that, out in Cheyenne, he
gets a chance to take a gander at. some goodlookers of the Mexican and
Japanese variety—but implies that "that's all she wrote," because army
life just about restricts an ambitious young soldier to routine and
maneuvers.


Cite: 1942 August 23, Atlanta Daily World, Sports Slants by Lucius
(Melancholy) Jones, Page 8, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)

But, undisturbed, Smokey Joe Williams reared way back and fired in
that lightning fast ball. Nine straight strikes whistled past the
three dangerous batsmen—and that was "all she wrote."


Cite: 1942 August 23, Atlanta Daily World, Josh Gibson, Sam Bankhead,
Willie Wells, Leon Day Get Pittsburgh Pirates Tryouts by Lucius Jones,
Page 8, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)

Day struck out O'Neill of the Monarchs, Arthur Pennington of the
Chicago American Giants, and Floyd (Bear Man) Davenport of Birmingham.
That was "all she wrote" for the West sluggers.


The libraries I have access to have American Mercury but not in 1942.
Date probes yield the following (you may already know this):

Page 130 approx start for 1942 February issue
Page 258 approx start for 1942 March issue
Page 386 approx start for 1942 April issue

The matching page for the phrase is 425 according to Google Books so
there is a chance the match is in the April 1942 issue and that would
antedate the three citations above.

Garson

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 4:50 AM, Michael Quinion
<wordseditor at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Michael Quinion <wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG>
> Organization: World Wide Words
> Subject:      That's all she wrote antedatings
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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