Vintage original 8x10 in. U.S color paper stock publicity photograph of AWF professional wrestler TITO SANTANA. The image features a medium shot of the handsome Latino wrestler wearing a black and gold "matador" style jacket without a shirt beneath it. The AWF logo is featured in the bottom right corner. This photograph was personally inscribed by Tito Santana in black Sharpie to Eric Caidin, the long-time owner of Hollywood Book and Poster Company on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California as follows: "To HBP Co. From Tito Santana [the word beneath it is unclear]. Printed on a thick paper stock with a nice matte finish, this vintage original photograph is in fine- condition with a 1 in. diagonal crease with signs of wear around it on the top left corner that just barely goes through the background area but which does not affect Mr. Santana's inscription; a very light 0.75 in. diagonal crease on the top right corner within the borders only; and light signs of wear on the tip of the bottom right corner.
Provenance: The Eric Caidin Collection. Eric was the son of the famed movie poster collector/Beverly Hills attorney Stanley Caidin, whose world-class collection was sold by Sotheby's in the mid-1990's. In addition to being a movie lover, Eric's passion was horror and slasher films and professional wrestling. Due to his ownership of his store, he was able to meet and befriend many Hollywood celebrities (including those behind as well as in front of the camera) as well as professional wrestlers and musicians. Sadly, Eric died in May of 2015. His personal collection as well as the contents of his store were subsequently sold at auction by Profiles in History (Calabasas, California) at their Hollywood Auction 83 held on June 29 - July 1, 2016. The section related to his estate is in the accompanying auction catalog was featured on pages 43 - 57. Lot #104 ("Collection of 250+ original vintage and contemporary film and television ephemera including many signed pieces c.1940's - 2010") was purchased by our consignor of this item who has subsequently given it to us to sell on their behalf.
Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953) is a Mexican-American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tito Santana. He has stayed a babyface his entire career and he is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation between 1979 and 1993 (missing part of 1980 and returning in 1983), where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship and WWF Tag Team Championship, won the 1989 King of the Ring tournament, and wrestled at all of the first nine WrestleMania events, as well as helping bridge the gap between the 1980s "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" era to the 1990s "New Generation" era. Santana was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. During his time in the WWF, Santana, despite being born and raised in Texas, was billed from "Tocula, Mexico," which may be a misspelled reference to the city of Toluca. Santana still appears on the independent circuit.
The following is Eric Caidin's biography on IMDb: "Eric Caidin was a noted and much beloved member of the Hollywood film fan community. He grew up in Beverly Hills and in 1977 opened the memorabilia store Hollywood Book and Poster Company, which sold everything from film stills and posters to books and magazines to DVDs and t-shirts. In 2001 it was named the best movie poster store by "The Los Angeles New Times." Caidin presented the monthly Grindhouse Film Festival at the New Beverly Cinema along with fellow exploitation feature enthusiast Brian Quinn. He had small roles in several movies and appeared as himself in a few documentaries. Eric and Johnny Legend were featured on the fun, lively, and informative Something Weird DVD commentaries for the documentaries "Mondo Mod," "Mondo Freudo," "Mondo Bizzaro" and "The Hippie Revolt." Caidin often attended various pro wrestling events and could be frequently seen at film conventions held all over the United States. In 2015, he died at age 62 from an aneurysm shortly after attending a Palm Springs film noir festival."