These lantern slides on silent movie theatre etiquette from the 1910s show that inconsiderate audience members have existed since the dawn of cinema. They’re collected in Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture.
The glass slides would be put up as reels were changed. Even back then, disarming comedy was seen as the best way to deal with theatre scofflaws. The big concerns were hats and smoking, but remember, please applaud with hands only!
(h/t Old Hollywood)