Precursors

Here's a precursor to William Castle's buzzer-rigged seats for his marvelous film The Tingler (1959).  From The Miscellaneous Reports, Vol. IX, 1894.

We know what you're thinking, but this title isn't referring to how Twitter is mostly populated by bots.  It's actually about Ouija communications, automatic writing, and the like.  By Hester Travers Smith, 1919.

Here's a precursor to the Addams family's Uncle Fester.  The sorcerer's apprentice and the golem, from Die Muskete, 1922.

Here's a precursor to the "Nightmare Before Christmas" holiday overlay at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1875.

Here's a precursor to our weight-obsessed society.  From New Data on the Weight of a Crowd of People by Lewis J. Johnson, 1905.

Willam Burroughs was only 7 years old when his grown-up face appeared in 1921's Die Muskete.

Long before radio stations offered the best of the sixties, seventies, and eighties, novels were doing it.  From The Veiled Hand by Frederick Wicks, 1893.

You may recall that our very own Minimalist Coloring Book (2007) contains 89 images of white things, printed on white paper, inviting one to either fill in these images with a white crayon or let go of the crayon and practice the Taoist concept of wu-wei (actionless action).  Nine years later, hilarious cartoonist Oslo Davis offers an empty ice cube tray to color, part of This Annoying Life, A Mindless Coloring Book for the Highly Stressed (2016).

She's in for a shock.  Plus, this is a precursor to the Gary Numan song "Are Friends Electric?"  From Jugend, 1911.

Here's a precursor to the virtual reality headset, from The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, 1897.

Here's a precursor to the band Sparks (pictured below), from Popular Mechanics, 1933.

A precursor to the medical romance genre was the metrical romance genre.

Here's a precursor to The Cat in the Hat.  From The Harvard Lampoon, 1878.

Forty-two years before Mr. Potato Head's debut, there was Mr. Lemon Head.  From Sunset magazine, 1907.

You've heard of Blink 182, but here's Bling 1892.  From Pick Me Up magazine.

Here's a precursor to the "Ask Alexander" search engine of the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

From The Ghost in the White House: Some Suggestions as to How a Hundred Million People (Who are Supposed in a Vague, Helpless Way to Haunt the White House) Can Make Themselves Felt with a President, How They Can Back Him Up, Express Themselves to Him, be Expressed by Him, and Get What They Want by Gerald Stanley Lee, 1920.

Here's a precursor to Devo's rubber coiffures.  From Popular Mechanics, 1932.

Here's a precursor to the "Abby Normal" brain from Young Frankenstein, courtesy of Cartoons Magazine, 1917.