"The very dress of the picture lady," from St. Nicholas, 1915.  This is a precursor to the finding of a dress pictured in a haunted portrait in Dark Shadows.

Here's a precursor to the great film Earth Girls Are Easy.  From Galaxy Magazine, 1952.

Here's a precursor to Raising Arizona, in which "When there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."  When there was no beer, they drank chalk dust.  From Indiana University's 1951 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live.  From Air War College's 1965 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to Fred Willard's "Hey, wha' happened?"  From Hartnell College's 1952 yearbook.

Before the band A Flock of Seagulls, there was A Flock of Song Birds.  From the University of Toledo's 1922 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine tries to run a clothes store called Putumayo out of business after receiving bad customer service, by shopping at the competing Cinco de Mayo, only to discover that both stores are owned by the same person.  From Tufts University's 1925 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to getting anybody to thumb-up your video on Youtube, when they're seeming all allergic to simply tapping an icon.  From Indiana University's 1924 yearbook.

Before Fastmail there was the "Fast Mail (Male) Trail."  From Tulane University's 1899 yearbook.

Obviously the dream came true -- Big Pharma and its branching machinations are not only televised but are the only news.  From Kirksville College of Osteopathy and Surgery's 1933 yearbook.

Over five decades before James and the Giant Peach.  From John Dough and the Cherub by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by John Neill, 1906.

Here's a better scan of this precursor to Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (1963), fromFrom Poets' Wit and Humor by Wh. H. Wills and illustrated by Charles Bennett and George H. Thomas, 1860. Poets' Wit and Humor by W. H. Wills and illustrated by Charles Bennett and George H. Thomas, 1860.

Here's a better scan of this precursor to The Fly, from Poets' Wit and Humor by W. H. Wills and illustrated by Charles Bennett and George H. Thomas, 1860.

Three cats, three women, and a rifle -- a precursor to Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!  From two decades earlier, in Brevard's 1946 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to the Back to the Future poster.  (Thanks to PleasantScreams for noticing this!)  From Improvement Era, 1944.

Here's a better scan of a precursor to the "Be Our Guest" segment of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, from Poets' Wit and Humor by W. H. Wills and illustrated by Charles Bennett and George H. Thomas, 1860.

Th earliest instances of "Dog is my copilot" we've found in print go back to the mid-1980s.  A decade earlier, we find, "O.k. Duffy ... let's switch to co-pilot."  From the University of Maine at Machias' 1975 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to Disney's "Soarin'" ride.  "The world itself a vast picture below you as you swing back and forth in the heavens."  From Photoplay Magazine, 1920.

Here's a precursor to the film Blade Runner.  "I make friends.  They're toys.  My friends are toys.  I make them."  From Hood College's 1967 yearbook.

Here's a precursor to the line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" (Apocalypse Now).  Charlie Chaplin had a horror of "the smell of gasoline in the forenoon."  From Photoplay Magazine, 1920.