Precursors

You knew the elongated cat meme wasn't new, right?  From the Fort Wayne Sentinel, 1911.

Before Why Paint Cats?, there was the painting of roosters.  From the Fort Wayne Sentinel, 1914.

Here's a precursor to wearing a designer label (or company logo) on the outside.  From Flora Macdonald College's 1928 yearbook. 

Here's a precursor to premarket distressed clothing.  From Life, 1927.

Here's a precursor to Twin Peaks' Dr. Jacoby.  From Watts Hospital School of Nursing's 1980 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to The Flying Nun, from Fate in Arcadia, written and illustrated by Edwin John Ellis, 1892.

We spotted Princess Leia from The Empire Strikes Back, back in 1922.  From The Children's Newspaper, 1922.

Before The Stuff, there was the Brothers Grimm's "The Porridge."  From Elson-Gray Basic Readers, Book One, 1937.

QR codes may have been invented in 1994, but they have decorated clothing long before.  From Applied Drawing by Harold Haven Brown, 1928.

Here's a precursor to David Lynch's brilliant series On the Air, in which a character can't remember her mother's first name, which turns out to be Mary.  In the Duluth Herald of 1912, a man forgets his mother's first name, which turns out to be Mary.  His excuse was that he hadn't seen her in several years.

Before The Exorcist, there was the possession of Esther Cox.  From Fate Magazine, 1952.

Here's a precursor to silent / headphone parties.  From Punch, 1923.

A century before the annoying airbnb signs saying "Relax" and the like, there were those annoying signs.  From Punch, 1923.

"Waiting for cars often precedes a cough."  From Collier's, 1915.

Before Wendy Carlos' synthesizer album Switched-On Bach (1968) and the disco of Hooked on Classics (1981), there was Jean Casadesus' versatility with boogie and Bach.  From The Current Sauce, 1950.

The answer is supposed to be "They sell rabbits here," not "They sell cake here," but of course in The Wicker Man, it can be both.  (Though, as Summerisle shopkeeper May Morrison says, ""Those are hares, not silly old rabbits. Lovely March hares.")  From My Do and Learn Book to Accompany On Cherry Street by Russell & Ousley, 1948.

Before Maj. Ed Dames' promotion of remote viewing, there were Maj. McCrary's visions of the future.  From Strange Stories, 1939.

Two decades before Maxwell Smart talked into a shoe in Get Smart, this guy sang into his.  The biggest difference is that this guy is actually singing about sanitary napkins.  From The Ladies' Home Journal, 1945.