Talk:Justus D. Barnes

First movie?
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)

Possible source for into on Barnes
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)

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)

Citation Needed
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)


 * 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)