Remember, declaring someone to be "the first" when they really aren't erases all the pioneers who came before them.

Like, I love Anna May Wong. Praise her! She deserves the world and more.

But Tsuru Aoki pre-dated her as a name-above-the-title Asian movie star.

We need to stop prizing firsties so much, especially in film history. So much is lost that definitive firsts are almost impossible to pinpoint.

Example: MR. FLIP (1909) is often trotted out as the 1st cinematic pie-in-the-face. But I found evidence of the gag as early as 1900.

A mistake I see again and again:

Stumbles onto a surprisingly early example of something.

Runs around screaming that it must be the first because it is the earliest they have personally seen.

Sigh.

Again, this erases earlier pioneers and it might discourage others from digging back further because they assume there's nothing more to see.

A huge percentage "common knowledge" about the silent era has been disproved over the years.

And much of this debunked material was rooted in accepting claims at face value.

Instead, practice using phrases like "among the first" or "an early example" or " the earliest I have seen"

It's not as flashy but it's more accurate.