First time I ever went to see a film, [By myself, I must have been 8 or 9 - small country town] I don't remember the film, but I do remember the serial, 'Deadwood Dick'
Which unfortunately is on YouTube only in single chapters.
Deadwood Dick Chapter 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdYBV0m2PREI love these things! There are quite a lot on YouTube.
Re Serials, John Wayne made serials, here are three.
Three Musketeers (1933) | Complete Serial | All 12 Chaptershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-UCJwQ8pwActually a french foreign legion type story. And this is an excellent print.
Shadow of the Eagle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyaFRxNiRigHurricane Express (1932) | Complete Serial - All 12 Chapters | John Waynehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRomHlBTV7IFrabig, here's one for you.
Whispering Shadow (1933) | Complete Serial - All 12 Chapters | Bela LugosiA mysterious criminal known as The Whispering Shadow commits crimes by means of a gang he controls by television and radio rays. Jack Norton, whose brother was murdered by The Whispering Shadow, suspects that the eerie Professor Strang - whose ghostly wax museum contains figures far too lifelike - may be involved in the crimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1eqNzbcbN4 You can bet that the artists and writers of the Golden Age would have sat in theaters and been influenced by these serials.