[Runscott]

Thanks for the responses. This was not a 'gotcha', but I felt that the rest of the piece supported the item's authenticity and might color judgement - I wanted an opinion based on the autograph itself. Here's the rest of it. There are the usual concerns about the 'B' and 'a' connecting (but the end of the 'B' rests on the 'a' and isn't an actual continuation). A bigger concern is that Ruth should have been in Florida over the winter. I know that in 1943 he was doing stuff to support the war effort, but this was a movie theatre in the Bronx, not a major venue. I found the following 'memory' of an old guy who used to go to the Ward Theatre:

"On Saturdays, for 12 cents, later an inflationary 25 cents, we saw a double bill, a Western, a serial, animated cartoons ranging from primitive black and white to sophisticated Disney and Lantz creations, coming attractions, the newsreel and a public service short, in those war days, generally a War Bonds appeal, with the lights going up at the end of the movie and volunteers from the AWVS — the American Womens Volunteer Service— going up and down the aisles trolling for contributions."