I saw it in a cinema in the early 1980s sometime between 1981-84. I remember the date because I was working at the local newspaper at the time. It was probably earlier rather than later.
Quoted from a 2013 source - ''The film is considered to be the longest -running release in film history. It has never been pulled by 20th Century Fox from its original 1975 release, and it continues to play in cinemas.
It does say above never pulled from it's original release.
The poster merely may have been not cut, taken off the press before it hit the guillotine.
If this was the case and all the b & w style daybills were the smaller, or should have been that size, then surely this supports the possibility of a 1980s printing. I am not saying the B & W style was not printed for the first release along with the colour versions but another thing is if this was the case why wasn't the same printer used to complete the two designs ? I believe there is not enough proof to definitely make the call the black and white versions were printed at the same time as the original colour versions.
It's not what I meant - you only referred to ONE poster that was an unusual length (compared to the other ones of the same design). It is not unheard of for the odd poster to be pulled off the line and not trimmed.
If this is the case then the argument for a 1980s printing in the smaller size looks reinforced then..
Another thought on the subject has come to mind. What if the design in black and white was originally printed in full colour as a limited second style and when supplies run low it was reprinted in black and white in the smaller size in the 1980s and the reason a copy of the colour version hasn't surfaced is that copies of this design are in the hands of serious The Rocky Horror Picture Show collectors of material from this now cult film. A long shot but nevertheless a possibility.
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If this is the case then the argument for a 1980s printing in the smaller size looks reinforced then..
Its still all guesswork.
Waaaaaait a minute... :punch: