No one at the end of 1917 was debating whether the directing debut of John Ford or the first appearance of Vittorio de Sica augured longer
careers to come (in fact, both would be making films for the next five - plus decades) or weighing the industry impact of Mary Pickford's box - office smash Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm or (to the point of my own research)
speculating about the
future of slapstick star Roscoe «Fatty» Arbuckle's new sidekick, a vaudeville refugee named Buster Keaton.