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What is the justification for calling The Great Train Robbery the first movie ever made? The article doesn't make this claim. Unclebanglin ( talk) 18:34, 26 January 2010 (UTC) reply

An IP user added this to the article, but didn't use it to cite anything particularly. I'm putting here for future review:

• Silent Films! the Performers by Paul Rothwell-Smith. (Cordelia Books) 2011. ISBN: 978-1-907540-32-5

Cheers, AstroCog ( talk) 17:59, 8 November 2012 (UTC) reply

I just found this source, from a non-profit org that preserves Thanhauser info: Barnes biography. The website certainly appears reliable. Will follow up at a later date. Cheers, AstroCog ( talk) 18:40, 30 September 2014 (UTC) reply

Quote: "Thousands packed the streets to see his cortege drive by. The official eulogies were given by his close friends John Wayne, then a young actor, and Charlie Chaplin who like him appeared in many silent movies."

This is unsourced and should probably be removed. Here's why:

Barnes received no screen credit for "The Great Train Robbery". He was a busy character actor for the Thanhouser studio in the 1910s, but he was never a star. He made no films after 1917 and ended up, according to the 1930 Census, working as a milkman in the village of Weedsport, NY. His grave at Weedsport Cemetery is that of a poorer person. Now let's add a little context. Edwin S. Porter, the man who wrote, directed, photographed and edited "The Great Train Robbery", died a few years before Barnes - and no one in Hollywood gave a rat's patoot. And he was much more famous in his day than Barnes ever was.

I've found no connection between Barnes, Wayne and/or Chaplin. The implication that he and Chaplin were "close friends" just because they both worked in silent films is lame. And John Wayne was not a "young actor" in 1946. He was a 39 year-old star with nearly 20 years' experience in front of the cameras. There are additional logical holes in this little piece of the Wiki article, but I think you get the point. TheBawbb ( talk) 14:45, 13 November 2013 (UTC) reply

I think I added the only referenced material to this article, but it's been a few years since I've looked at the subject. There just isn't much to go on. The material you discuss above does look like somebody's WP:OR, so it can be safely deleted without losing much in the article. If a reliable source supporting the information is found, it can be added later. Cheers, AstroCog ( talk) 00:26, 14 November 2013 (UTC) reply