Dating the Pinocchio Daybill
Disney’s Pinocchio had its world premiere in New York on Tuesday 12 February 1940, wowing the New York Times critic who would write: "It is as gay, clever and delightful a fantasy as anyone could hope to see."
But in Australia in the early part of 1940, Pinocchio was heard not seen, excerpts from the movie were being played on radio almost in serial fashion, in fact at the time it was very well advertised - Colgate Dental cream jumped on the band wagon and were giving away the Pinocchio book with every tube sold - a bargain!
But in Australia in the early part of 1940, Pinocchio was heard not seen, excerpts from the movie were being played on radio almost in serial fashion, in fact at the time it was very well advertised - Colgate Dental cream jumped on the band wagon and were giving away the Pinocchio book with every tube sold - a bargain!
Pinocchio the movie began its staggered Australian release from April 1940...
Pinocchio continued to enjoy it's first release slowly throughout Australia through to January 1941 (when it was released in Townsville).
So to the Pinocchio Daybill Movie Poster, which is why you are all here...here is the Long Daybill from the 1940/41 release which is modeled on the USA Style B one-sheet:
RKO Radio Pictures A’sia Pty Ltd (A’sia = Australasia i.e Australian & New Zealand) had a different distribution agreement to their USA counterparts and also tended not follow their big brother’s re-release dates. In fact when it came to Disney films it seemed was every man for himself as movies were re-released with almost monotonous regularity. And so, despite only just enjoying its first release in Townsville in January 1941 it actually had a main centre re-release in September that same year (1941), which is school holidays.
Pinocchio was again re-released in 1943 and it should be noted it had a fairly consistent run of re-releases almost every Christmas (the “holiday seasonâ€).
The poster on the left is sometimes called R40s (technically correct), the poster on the right is referred to as R45 but I believe that is wrong.
The reason why the one on the right is called R45 is because that was the re-release year for the movie in the USA. But as we know, back then, the USA release dates had no bearing on Australian release dates. The design itself doesn't not follow the 1945 USA design (except the Jiminy Cricket stance), the tagline is not used on any USA poster that I have found. The Pinocchio (head) design however is exactly the same as the 1940/41 design, so in my mind it would indicate it was simply a mashup of the first.
Given we know there was a re-release in Australia in 1943 at this stage I feel comfortable at calling it an R43.
But wait! Before we lock that down, why does the one on the right have the RKO logo blanked out? Also one has a white border at the top the other trimmed. Was it trimmed at the printer or by the owner? Ahhhh, well let's not go lynching anyone just yet, because without a closer look I think it is reasonable to still call it R43
But wait! Before we lock that down, why does the one on the right have the RKO logo blanked out? Also one has a white border at the top the other trimmed. Was it trimmed at the printer or by the owner? Ahhhh, well let's not go lynching anyone just yet, because without a closer look I think it is reasonable to still call it R43
Which brings us to the next, here’s one that will also cause some collectors much consternation, the following poster – when was it?
1. The RKO logo is still being noted on the poster, so that dates it pre-1960 (because in 1959 BEF became the distributors)
2. The design is not based on any USA that I have seen.
3. The hat is BLUE – with the exception of the 1954 insert all other old designs his hat is mainly yellow (sometimes orange).
4. Pinocchio’s hair is different from all other designs before and since (little curl on over the forehead and squared off to the ear).
5. The tag line “Fun for the young at heart of every age!†- this is the only Pinocchio poster I have seen this on.
6. The ‘whispering’ Jiminy Cricket design was only ever used on the 1940 US 3SH and 40x60 (and this poster)
7. It has a lot of ‘close’ similarities to the Long Daybill design, such as the use of Upper and Lower Case, the font style of Disney...
But wait…I spot the BIGGEST clue: “RKO-SCOPEâ€
Ta-daaa! Well that dates it easily, if my research is correct (and I believe it is) RKO-SCOPE (also known as Superscope 235) was originally developed in 1954 for RKO by the Tushinsky Brothers (who founded Superscope Inc. in 1954). So it 100% cannot be promoting RKO-Scope on a poster before the year it was invented can it?
So that pretty much dates it from 1954 to 1959, unfortunately my brain is dead at the moment I cannot date it any narrower than that...but I might in the future.
2. The design is not based on any USA that I have seen.
3. The hat is BLUE – with the exception of the 1954 insert all other old designs his hat is mainly yellow (sometimes orange).
4. Pinocchio’s hair is different from all other designs before and since (little curl on over the forehead and squared off to the ear).
5. The tag line “Fun for the young at heart of every age!†- this is the only Pinocchio poster I have seen this on.
6. The ‘whispering’ Jiminy Cricket design was only ever used on the 1940 US 3SH and 40x60 (and this poster)
7. It has a lot of ‘close’ similarities to the Long Daybill design, such as the use of Upper and Lower Case, the font style of Disney...
But wait…I spot the BIGGEST clue: “RKO-SCOPEâ€
Ta-daaa! Well that dates it easily, if my research is correct (and I believe it is) RKO-SCOPE (also known as Superscope 235) was originally developed in 1954 for RKO by the Tushinsky Brothers (who founded Superscope Inc. in 1954). So it 100% cannot be promoting RKO-Scope on a poster before the year it was invented can it?
So that pretty much dates it from 1954 to 1959, unfortunately my brain is dead at the moment I cannot date it any narrower than that...but I might in the future.
I have seen these two poster dated R60s, R62, R70s and so on!
The G rating dates it post 1971 – please correct your databases.
Unfortunately I have yet to be able to definitively date these two posters by way of advertising, so I will leave it to the experts
. The designs are effectively the same so it is possible they are from the same re-release but I think not:Red Version
- Distributed by BEF, so that dates it 1973-1975 (which is why I don't think they are from the same re-release date)
- Robert Burton is the printer
- Printed by M.A.P.S. (Mailing and Print Services). Founded in 1967 by David Seton - the son of Babs McDougall, who worked for Robert Burton as their head artist. M.A.P.S stopped printing posters in the mid 80s.
I have seen this poster dated with so many dates that they must have used a dart and blindfold! Unfortunately NONE have actually ever dated it correctly. This poster is actually R85
- It has the Greater Union Film Distributors logo, so that dates it between 1976 and 1987 and it is printed by M.A.P.S so any date after 1987 will be wrong.
- It’s based on the 1978 1SH design.
- Any the winning point: There was a general re-release in 1985, here’s a copy of the write up for it AND the advert under it is the same design
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