Sorry, but I really beg to differ. Breaking the 4th wall is not when a character references itself. It’s an instance in which a performance gives away the fact that is, after all, just a movie or a show.
Classic examples:
Anything that reveals that the performance is being filmed, videoed, or performed on a stage (For example, Blazing Saddles-- the scene when the camera suddenly pans out during the showdown at Rock Ridge, to reveal that it’s all on a Hollywood backlot)
Actors breaking character or talking to the audience (as someone else pointed out, the Crosby and Hope movies did this a lot, as did Groucho Marx)
It’s not necessarily characters “referencing themselves” or even acknowledging who they’re being played by; that to me more is like an inside joke.
I couldn’t really tell you which was the first show to actually break the 4th wall, but I do remember that the first TV show that became well known for doing this was **The Garry Shandling Show **back in the '80s. However, I think those who mentioned Jack Benny and The George Burns Show from the '50s are on the mark. Those were probably the 1st.
Well, the ancient Greeks were fond of the chorus, which came out and explained to the audience the prologue or intervening time spans during the play. However, they didn’t recognize the concept of the 4th wall. Neither did Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night’s Dream would probably be the most notable 4th wall breaker if he had the concept.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Be quite honest, though. You were expecting something like St. Elsewhere (which revealed that every major television series since Father Knows Best was in the shared universe of a little boy’s dream, but did not, AFAIK, break the fourth wall), right? Not Burns and Allen and certainly not Aristophanes!
(To be fair, I knew about Burns and Allen, but not Aristophanes!)
Perhaps it would be more to the point to inquire when, exactly, the fourth wall gained something resembling solidity? If anything, breaches in the wall have become less common over the years–for most of the history of acting, no one thought anything of it when an actor directly addressed an audience, or otherwise demonstrated awareness that they were acting. Now, it stands out.
The first example that comes to mind for me is the ending of The Tempest, with Prospero begging the audience to free him with their applause. Of course, that was one of Shakespeare’s last plays, so the other examples (and, of course, the ancient Greek ones) would predate it.
