[[WMG:[[center:[-'''TheOldestOnesInTheBook'''\\
OlderThanTheNES | Before 1985\\
OlderThanCableTV | 1939 -- 1980\\
'''Older Than Television''' | 1890 -- 1939\\
OlderThanRadio | 1698 -- 1890\\
OlderThanSteam | 1439 -- 1698\\
OlderThanPrint | 476 -- 1439\\
OlderThanFeudalism | ~800 BC -- 476 AD\\
OlderThanDirt | Before ~800 BC-]]]]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pkimizqn_7428.jpg]]
%%Image originally from http://www.flickr.com/photos/10335565@N03/2980377875

Tropes first documented between the invention of radio (1890) and the emergence of television as a mass medium of entertainment (1939).

[[RadioDrama Radio]] and [[EarlyFilms Cinema]] provided two entirely new media, for the first time in millennia, and originated many tropes. This is also the time of the first {{Super Hero}}es, and the majority of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories[[note]](though the first novel is OlderThanRadio)[[/note]].

TV, as we generally know it, was invented in 1928, but regular broadcasts didn't start until 1936 in the U.K. and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and 1939 in the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

----
!!Tropes:
[[index]]

* AbandonedMascot -- WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse replaced WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit with ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'', 1928
* TheAbridgedHistory: ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings, and 2 Genuine Dates'', 1930
* AccidentalAimingSkills -- ''Film/TheGoldRush'', 1925.
* AcmeProducts -- ''Film/NeverWeaken'', 1921.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild -- Creator/EdogawaRampo's [1894-1965] detective novels.
* AdventuresInComaland -- ''Film/ThePoorLittleRichGirl'', 1917
* AIIsACrapshoot -- ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'', 1920. Also coined the word "robot."
* AlertnessBlink -- Pick an early-20th Century cartoon. ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' (1928) is a good starting point.
* AlienInvasion -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', by Creator/HGWells, 1898, and ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets") by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* AliensAreBastards -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds 1898''
* AllPartOfTheShow -- ''Theatre/{{Pagliacci}}'' by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, 1892
* AncientAstronauts -- ''[[Literature/EdisonsConquestOfMars Edison's Conquest of Mars]]'', 1898
* AnimalTalk -- ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', 1894
* AnimatedAdaptation -- ''WesternAnimation/LittleNemo'', 1911
* AnimatedMusical -- ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', 1937
* AnthologyFilm -- ''Film/{{Intolerance}}'', 1916
* AntiquatedLinguistics -- Creator/HPLovecraft, 1890-1937
* ArtificialGravity -- ''Auf zwei Planeten'' by Kurd Lasswitz, 1897, and ''Literature/TheFirstMenInTheMoon'' by Creator/HGWells, 1901
* ArtsyBeret -- while the UrExample may be Creator/{{Rembrandt|VanRijn}}'s 17th century self portrait, this was first popularized by artists in 1920's Paris, such as Creator/PabloPicasso.
* AsideGlance -- silent comedy films. Used in ''Film/LesVampires'', 1915.
* AspectRatioSwitch -- ''Film/Napoleon1927'', used 4:3 for most of the film, but the climax switches on two projectors on either side of the main one, showing off the Polyvision system with a ridiculously wide 4:1 ratio. This remains the widest AspectRatio in cinematic history. This three projector system would be imitated 25 years later with the Cinerama system.
* AssemblyLineFastForward -- ''Film/ModernTimes'', 1936
* AsteroidMiners -- ''Edison's Conquest of Mars'', Garrett P. Serviss, 1898
* AuthorVocabularyCalendar -- Bram Stoker uses the word "voluptuous" a lot in ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', 1897.
* AwardShow -- The 2nd UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, 1930
* AxeBeforeEntering -- ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'', 1919
* BananaRepublic -- [[TropeNamer Named]] and used in O. Henry's 1904 novel ''Literature/CabbagesAndKings'', and the concept also shows up in Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/{{Nostromo}}'' from the same year.
* BarBrawl -- ''Film/TheStrongMan'', 1926
* BehindAStick -- ''[[WesternAnimation/ReynaudFilms Pauvre Pierrot]]'', 1892
* BenevolentAlienInvasion -- ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets") by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* BigGame -- ''Film/{{The Freshman|1925}}'', 1925
* BigManOnCampus -- ''Film/{{The Freshman|1925}}'', 1925
* TheBigRottenApple -- ''Film/TheMusketeersOfPigAlley'' and ''Film/TheLandBeyondTheSunset'', 1912
* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord -- 1930s Hollywood
* BladeBrake -- ''Film/TheBlackPirate'', 1926
* BlamingTheMan -- ''Literature/OneOfOurs'', 1922
* TheBookCipher -- Literature/SherlockHolmes novel ''Literature/TheValleyOfFear'', 1915
* BreakupBreakout -- Music/BingCrosby after The Rhythm Boys split up in 1931.
* BridgeLogic -- ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', 1900
* BroadcastLive -- The first entertainment-oriented radio transmission was Reginald Fessenden's Christmas Eve 1906 broadcast from Massachusetts, which was also the UrExample of a ChristmasSpecial ("O Holy Night" has the distinction of being the first Christmas carol played on the air). Charles Herrold's ''San Jose Calling'', beginning in 1909, was the first regularly-scheduled entertainment program.
* BrokeEpisode -- A ''lot'' of films and literature made during the Great Depression featured impoverished protagonists.
* BronsonCanyonAndCaves -- First used as a shooting location in ''Lightning Bryce'' (1919)
* BusmansHoliday -- ''Sherlock Holmes'', 1893
* CactusCushion -- ''Film/FanchonTheCricket'', 1915
* CarSong -- "In My Merry Oldsmobile", 1905
* CatchingSomeZs -- ''ComicStrip/TheKatzenjammerKids'' used this StockVisualMetaphor before [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles Schulz]] was even born in 1922.
* CausedTheBigBang -- ''The Accursed Galaxy'' by Creator/EdmondHamilton, 1935
* ChalkOutline -- ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheVelvetClaws'', 1933
* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld -- ''Literature/TheWarInTheAir'' by Creator/HGWells, and ''Literature/LordOfTheWorld'' by Robert Hugh Benson, both published 1907-1908.
* {{Chronoscope}} -- The ''Retrospektiv'' in ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets, 1897) by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* CitizenshipMarriage --''Film/TheMatingCall'', 1928
* CliffhangerCopout -- ''Film/UnderseaKingdom'', 1936
* ClimbingClimax -- ''King Kong'', 1933
* ClockworkCreature -- Tiktok in ''Literature/OzmaOfOz'', 1907
* CoatHatMask -- ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', 1897
* ColdEquation -- ''Film/WomanInTheMoon'', 1929[[note]]Unless you count Lawrence Oates's RealLife and ultimately futile example from Robert Scott's Antarctic expedition, 1912[[/note]]
* CompanyCameo -- ''Film/TheNewYorkHat'', 1912
* ConceptVideo -- Popular songwriter Charles K. Harris developed slide shows for his songs in the [=1890s=], with painted photos illustrating the song's lyrics.
* TheConvenientStoreNextDoor -- The ''Sherlock Holmes'' story "Literature/TheRedHeadedLeague", 1891
* ConveyorBeltODoom -- Joseph Arthurs' melodrama ''Theatre/BlueJeans'', 1890
* CookingShow -- ''Cook's Night Out'', 1937
* CorruptCorporateExecutive -- ''Film/ACornerInWheat'', 1909
* CreepyChild -- ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew'', 1898
* CutPhoneLines -- ''Film/{{Suspense}}'', 1913
* CyberPunk -- ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' 1927, by Creator/FritzLang.
* DawsonCasting -- Mary Pickford playing children in several films, such as ''Film/ThePoorLittleRichGirl'' (1917), in which 24-year-old Pickford played an 11-year-old girl.
* TheDayTheMusicLied -- ''Popeye'' cartoon films, 1933-onward.
* DeathInTheClouds -- The TropeNamer is the Creator/AgathaChristie novel ''DeathInTheClouds'' first published in 1935.
* DeathRay -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', by Creator/HGWells, 1898, and ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets") by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* {{Defictionalization}} -- ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInSeventyTwoDays'', 1890
* DesignerBabies -- Creator/AldousHuxley's 1932 novel ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''
* DesiresPrisonLife -- "The Cop and the Anthem" by Creator/OHenry, 1904
* DictionaryOpening -- ''[[Film/Sabotage1936 Sabotage]]'', 1936
* DinosaurDoggieBone -- ''Film/BringingUpBaby'', 1938, and ''[[Recap/TintinKingOttokarsSceptre King Ottokar's Sceptre]]'', 1938[=/=]39
* DisneyVillainDeath -- An old WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse comic had a giant fall to his death.
* DoomsdayDevice -- The "Earth Brake" in ''Auf zwei Planeten'' by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* DramaticHalfHour -- ''Radio/TheLoneRanger'' ran for 30 min per episode.
* {{Dramedy}} -- Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''[[Film/TheKid1921 The Kid]]''. 1921.
* DrillSergeantNasty -- ''Film/TellItToTheMarines'', 1926
* DrunkenMontage -- Hollywood, 1930s or even earlier.
* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason -- ''Film/SonsOfTheDesert'', 1933
* DumbwaiterRide -- Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''The Count'', 1916.
* DyingDream -- Creator/AmbroseBierce's short story "Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge", 1890
* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds 1898'', using the "planet takes care of the invaders by itself" variant.
* EdgyBackwardsChairSitting -- Creator/JoanBlondell publicity photo, early 1930s
* ElaborateUndergroundBase -- ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' by Gaston [=LeRoux=], 1909
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome -- ''Film/TheBarrettsOfWimpoleStreet'', 1934 (predating WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd himself by three years)
* ElvesVersusDwarves -- ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' by H. G. Wells, 1895, with the Eloi and Morlocks. ''Literature/TheHobbit'' by Creator/JRRTolkien, 1937, used it with actual elves and dwarves.
* EpicMovie -- ''Film/{{Cabiria}}'', 1914
* EpicTrackingShot -- ''Film/TheLastLaugh'', 1924
* EpunymousTitle -- ''Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'', 1895
* EveryCarIsAPinto -- ''Film/DrMabuseTheGambler'', 1922
* ExploitationFilm -- ''Film/TrafficInSouls'', 1913
* {{Facecam}} -- ''[[Film/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher1928France The Fall of the House of Usher]]'', 1928
* FairPlayWhodunnit -- The Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Red Headed League", 1891
* FakeShemp -- ''Film/FoolishWives'', 1922
* FanserviceExtra -- ''Film/{{Intolerance}}'', 1916
* FantasticFightingStyle -- Baritsu, from the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Adventure of the Empty House", 1903.
* {{Fanvid}} -- ''Film/RoseHobart'', 1936
* FakeoutEscape -- "[[Literature/ArseneLupinGentlemanBurglar The Escape of Arsene Lupin]]", 1906
* TheFilmOfTheBook -- ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' by George Méliès, 1899 (one of the earliest known, anyway)
* FingertipDrugAnalysis -- ''Film/TheMysteryOfTheLeapingFish'' (1916)
* TheFlapper -- Emerged during TheRoaringTwenties.
* FogOfDoom -- ''Literature/ThePurpleCloud'' by [[Creator/MPShiel M.P. Shiel]], 1901, and the Martians' Black Smoke weapon in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', 1898.
* FollowTheBouncingBall -- "[[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer Come Take a Trip in My Airship]]", 1924
* ForensicDrama -- ''Film/TheyreAlwaysCaught'' (1938)
* FootPopping -- Recommended in UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode (1930) and in "An Outline of Motion Picture Etiquette" in the [[http://www.archive.org/details/ScreenlandOct.1923 October 1923]] issue of ''Screenland''.
* FruitCart -- ''Film/TheCurtainPole'', 1909
* FullConversionCyborg -- ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' (1900): The Tin Woodsman started out as a munchkin whose body parts were gradually chopped off by an enchanted axe and replaced until there was nothing left of him but tin. This notably is adapted out of the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Film Adaptation]].
* GardenHoseSquirtSurprise -- In ''The Sprinkler Sprinkled'' by [[Film/LumiereFilms the Lumière brothers]], 1895
* GayBestFriend: ''Film/{{Millie}}'', 1931
* GayAesop -- In ''Film/DifferentFromTheOthers'', 1919
* GentlemenRankers -- In "Gentlemen-rankers" by Rudyard Kipling (1892).
* GigglingVillain -- Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", 1893
* GirlsBehindBars -- ''Film/DiaryOfALostGirl'', 1929
* TheGlassesGottaGo -- ''Film/FootlightParade'', 1933
* GoingColdTurkey -- ''Film/{{Kongo}}'' and ''Film/ThreeOnAMatch'', 1932
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion -- ''Theatre/TheyKnewWhatTheyWanted'', 1924
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe -- Deja Thoris from Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' ''Literature/APrincessOfMars'', 1912, or the slightly less exotic-looking La from Creator/KurdLasswitz' ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets"), 1897
* GroundhogDayLoop -- ''Radio/TheShadow'' (radio show), 1939
* GunsAkimbo -- ''Film/TheBargain'', 1914
* HalloweenEpisode -- ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', 1938
* HashHouseLingo -- Creator/FattyArbuckle short film ''[[Film/TheWaitersBall The Waiters' Ball]]'', 1916
* HeroicFireRescue -- ''Film/LifeOfAnAmericanFireman'', 1902
* {{Hihiirokane}} -- The Takenouchi Documents, 1935
* HitlerCam -- ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'', 1934, and other Nazi propaganda of the era
* HollywoodGlassCutter -- The Literature/SherlockHolmes short story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", 1904
* HollywoodSatanism -- ''Film/TheBlackCat'', 1934
* HookHand -- ''Theatre/{{Peter Pan|1904}}'', 1904
* HospitalGurneyScene -- ''Theatre/MenInWhite'', 1933
* IgnoreTheDisability -- 1930s, if not earlier.
* IHitYouYouHitTheGround -- ''"There'll be only two blows struck: I'll hit him, and he'll hit the earth."'': ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'', 1909.
* IllTakeTwoBeersToo -- ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' and ''Film/TheFixerUppers'', 1935
* InscrutableAliens -- The Martians in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. Humanity can only speculate on what they want with Earth.
* IntrepidReporter -- ''Film/ThePowerOfThePress'', 1928
* IronicNurseryTune -- Mahler's ''Symphony No. 1'', 1899
* JediMindTrick -- ''Radio/TheShadow'', 1938
* JustForTheHeliOfIt -- ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'', 1934
* {{Kaiju}} -- ''Film/TheLostWorld'', 1925
* KingOfTheHomeless -- At the latest, James Elroy Flecker's ''Hassan'', 1922. You could argue earlier ones, but Rafi in ''Hassan'' fits the trope exactly, whereas, say, Fagin from ''Oliver Twist'' is more of a local crime boss.
* KirksRock -- ''Film/{{Secrets|1933}}'', 1933
* KitschyThemedRestaurant -- ''Film/OurRelations'', 1936
* LectureAsExposition -- ''Film/TheTestamentOfDrMabuse'', 1933
* LeftJustifiedFantasyMap -- ''Literature/TheHobbit'', 1937
* LensmanArmsRace -- ''Lensman'' novels, 1937
* LightGunGame -- ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20100927191850/http://marvin3m.com/arcade/rayolit.htm Ray-O-Lite]]'', 1936 (also found under OlderThanTheNES)
* LikeYouWereDying -- Lucy Maud Montgomery's ''Literature/TheBlueCastle'', 1926
* LiveActionAdaptation -- ''Film/DreamOfARarebitFiend'', 1906 (of comic strip ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend'')
* LostInACrowd -- ''[[Film/The39Steps1935 The 39 Steps]]'', 1935
* LovesMyAlterEgo -- Roxane, Cyrano and Christian in ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'', 1897
* LuridTalesOfDoom -- ''Film/FiveStarFinal'', 1931
* MadScientistLaboratory -- ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', 1927
* TheMafia -- Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Six Napoleons", 1904
* MagicFeather -- ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', 1900
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident -- A primary M.O. of Prof. James Moriarty's organization in the 1893 ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' ShortStory "The Final Problem".
* MarilynManeuver -- Creator/MackSennett short ''Film/TheSurfGirl'', 1916
* MeatOVision -- ''Film/TheGoldRush'', 1925
* MeetCute -- 1930s [[ScrewballComedy screwball comedies]]; also Christine and Raoul in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' by Gaston [=LeRoux=], 1909
* MerchandiseDriven -- The ''ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie'' radio show from TheThirties.
* MirrorRoutine: ''Film/TheFloorwalker'', 1916
* TheMole -- Literature/SherlockHolmes novel ''Literature/TheValleyOfFear'', 1915
* MonumentalBattle -- ''Film/{{King Kong|1933}}'', 1933
* MonumentalDamageResistance -- ''Deluge'', 1933
* MorningSickness -- ''Film/WhereAreMyChildren'', 1916
* MurderByRemoteControlVehicle: ''Radio/TheShadow'' radio show, 1939
* TheMusicalMusical -- ''Film/TheBroadwayMelody'', 1929
* ANaziByAnyOtherName -- ''Film/TheHouseOfRothschild'', 1934
* NecroCam: A FlashbackMontageRealization about how a character died. Present in ''Film/FogOverFrisco'' and ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', 1934.
* NewscasterCameo -- H.V. Kaltenborn in ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington'', 1939
* NoodleIncident -- The ''Sherlock Holmes'' canon, if not earlier.
* {{Novelization}} -- The novelization of ''Film/TrafficInSouls'', 1914
* NudityEqualsHonesty -- A nude woman playing a character called the "Naked Truth" in film ''Film/{{Hypocrites}}'', 1915
* OcularGushers -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aLY99NIsAQ This]] ''Ko-Ko Song Car-Tune'', entitled "Darling Nellie Gray" (1926), has a dog character crying in this manner during the lyric "And I'm weeping all the day."
* OminousLatinChanting -- Justified [as it's set in a church and involves a villain who's a religious hypocrite] in the Act I finale of Puccini's ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}'', 1900; The modern, more random usages of the trope probably date from ''Film/AlexanderNevsky'', 1938.
* OmniscientDatabase -- 1890s and ''Sherlock Holmes''
* OneLetterName -- K of ''Literature/TheCastle'', Creator/FranzKafka, 1926
* TheOner -- ''Film/ATripDownMarketStreet'', 1906
* OurAlebrijesAreDifferent -- Creator/PedroLinaresLopez had fever dreams of Alebrijes in 1936
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame -- ''Literature/TheHobbit'', 1937
* PaddleballShot -- ''Film/{{Audioscopiks}}'', 1935
* PardonMyKlingon -- ''Utopia, Limited'', Creator/GilbertAndSullivan, 1893. Lalabalele talala! Callabale lalabalica falahle!
* PeterPanParody - ''The Little White Bird'', 1902
* PhoneaholicTeenager -- Likely became common as soon as a telephone in every home became common, which happened during this era.
* PhonyNewscast -- ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' (radio version), 1938
* PlanetLooters -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/HGWells, 1898
* PoliceProcedural -- ''Film/{{M}}'', 1931
* ProductPlacement -- Sweet Corporal tobacco, ''Film/PrincessNicotine'', 1909
* PutMeInCoach -- ''Film/{{The Freshman|1925}}'', 1925
* PuttingOnTheReich -- ''Film/AlexanderNevsky'', 1938 (UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights with swastikas) and ''[[Literature/ItCantHappenHere It Can't Happen Here]]'' by Sinclair Lewis, 1939.
* RaceForYourLove -- ''Film/MatrimonysSpeedLimit'', 1913
* RainOfBlood -- Thomas Hardy's ''Literature/TessOfTheDUrbervilles'', 1891
* RakeTake -- ''[[Film/GrandmasBoy1922 Grandma's Boy]]'', 1922
* {{Retirony}} -- ''Film/{{Central Park|1932}}'', 1932
* RevivalByCommercialization -- The 1931 hit "As Time Goes By" getting new life from ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', 1942. It even led to a sheet music reissue prominently touting the film on the cover, complete with pics of Creator/HumphreyBogart, Creator/IngridBergman and Creator/PaulHenreid.
* RightHandCat -- ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|1921}}'', 1921
* TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', 1898.
* RipTailoring -- Creator/ClaraBow in ''Film/{{It|1927}}'', 1927.
* RobotWar -- ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'', 1920
* RockersSmashGuitars -- ''WesternAnimation/TheOldMillPond'', 1936
* RogerRabbitEffect -- ''WesternAnimation/GertieTheDinosaur'', 1914
* RuleThirtyFour -- The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tijuana_bible Tijuana Bible]].
* SafeDrivingAesop -- ''Film/DrunkDriving'', 1939
* ScammingTheBereaved -- ''Film/BlondeCrazy'', 1931
* ScoobyStack -- ''[[Film/GrandmasBoy1922 Grandma's Boy]]'', 1922
* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou -- ''Film/{{The Great Train Robbery|1903}}'', 1903
* SexyFigureGesture -- ''Film/ThatLittleBandOfGold'', 1915
* TheShangriLa -- 1933 novel ''Literature/LostHorizon'' by James Hilton
* ShiksaGoddess -- ''Literature/{{Trilby}}'', 1894
* SkinnyDipping -- ''Film/{{Mickey}}'', 1918
* SkyFace -- ''Film/TraderHorn'', 1931
* SoapOpera -- On radio, ''Painted Dreams'', 1930. On television, ''These Are My Children'', 1949 (the first daily daytime TV drama). Both shows were created by Irna Phillips (who also created ''Series/GuidingLight'', ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'' and ''Series/AnotherWorld'').
* SpaceOpera -- ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'', 1937
* SpaceStation -- ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets") by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1897
* SpitTake -- ''Film/TheKnockout'', 1914
* SplitScreen -- ''Film/{{Suspense}}'', 1913
* SplitScreenPhoneCall -- ''Canned Harmony'', 1912
* StartsWithTheirFuneral -- ''Film/ThePowerAndTheGlory'', 1933
* StopTrick -- J. Stuart Blackton's ''Enchanted Drawing'', 1900; and George Méliès' ''Film/ATripToTheMoon'', 1902.
* StripPoker -- ''Film/TheDarkHorse'', 1932
* SummationGathering -- ''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'', 1920
* {{Superhero}} -- ''Theatre/GoldenBat'' paper theatre (1930), ''Literature/TheShadow'' magazine (1931), ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'' (1934), ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' (1936), and ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' (1938)
* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: Romanian folk tale [[https://www.publicmedievalist.com/tg-fairy-tale/ "The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy"]], 1894
* SyntheticPlague - ''Radio/TheShadow'', 1938
* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath -- Any hard-boiled radio drama.
* TakeTheWheel -- ''Film/SherlockJr'', 1924
* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat -- ''Film/TheGreeksHadAWordForThem'', 1932
* TarzanBoy -- ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', 1894
* TeleFrag -- Magazine/AmazingStories, {{Discussed}} in "The Machine Man of Ardathia", 1927, invoked in "Anachronism", 1930
* TheTelevisionTalksBack -- ''Film/{{Stage Struck|1936}}'', 1936
* TerminallyDependentSociety -- E.M. Forster's "Literature/TheMachineStops", 1909
* TerroristsWithoutACause -- ''Literature/TheSecretAgent'', 1907
* ThatWasObjectionable -- The Creator/MarxBrothers' ''Film/DuckSoup'', 1933.
* TimeStandsStill -- "Literature/TheNewAccelerator" by Creator/HGWells, 1901
* TitledAfterTheSong -- ''Film/LittleAnnieRooney'', 1925
* ToplessnessFromTheBack -- ''Film/FoolishWives'', 1922
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs -- ''Film/TheCameraman'', 1928
* TrickAndFollowPloy -- Performed by Literature/SherlockHolmes in "A Scandal in Bohemia", 1891.
* TripodTerror -- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/HGWells, 1898
* TropeyComeHome -- "Franchise/{{Lassie}} Come Home" (original short story), 1938
* TwilightOfTheOldWest -- Officially began with the declaration of the closure of the American frontier, incidentally also in 1890
* TunnelOfLove -- ''Film/TheCrowd'', 1928
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters -- The robots do it in ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'', 1920
* UterineReplicator -- Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''
* VarietyShow -- ''Blue Monday Jamboree'', 1927 (a local UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco radio show that later went nationwide).
* VicePresidentWho -- ''His Royal Slyness'', 1920
* VideoPhone -- ''Die Fernschule'' ("The Long-Distance School") by Creator/KurdLasswitz, 1902, ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', 1927.
* VideoWills -- ''Film/TheGreeksHadAWordForThem'', 1932, using a phonograph.
* VirtualCelebrity -- Charlie [=McCarthy=], a character created by Creator/EdgarBergen, gained mass popularity in 1937.
* TheVoiceless -- [[Creator/MarxBrothers Harpo Marx]], who debuted with his brothers in ''Film/TheCocoanuts'' in 1929. (If you count their prior stage career, Harpo was doing TheVoiceless by the mid-1910s.)
* WartimeCartoon -- "WesternAnimation/TheSinkingOfTheLusitania", 1918
* WatchingTheReflectionUndress: ''Film/FoolishWives'', 1922
* WaxOnWaxOff: ''Film/OneNightOfLove'', 1934
* WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk: ''Film/TheLivesOfABengalLancer'', 1935[[note]]Although the line in the movie is actually "We have ways to make men talk."[[/note]]
* WeInterruptThisProgram -- ''Film/DeathOnTheDiamond'', 1934
* WidescreenShot -- OlderThanTheyThink; ''The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight'', 1897, shot in 1.65:1 aspect ratio; if you stretch the definition to include paintings, goes as far back as OlderThanPrint or even farther to accommodate any low but considerably wide painting, relief or artwork
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity -- ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', 1897. While there may have been earlier versions, this is notably the first time ''man-made'' technology grants the powers that drive the gifted insane.
* WorkingTheSameCase -- ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'', 1927, if not earlier
* WrongInsultOffence -- The title character in ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'', 1897.
* TheWrongWayOnTheEscalator -- ''Film/TheFloorwalker'', 1916.
* XtremeKoolLetterz -- Creator/AleisterCrowley popularized the "Magick" spelling for "magic" in the modern western world.
* {{Yakuza}} -- ''Film/WalkCheerfully'', 1930

[[/index]]
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