British born and NYC-raised, J. Stuart Blackton has been called the “Father of American Animation”. As a reporter in 1896, he was fortunate enough to be assigned an interview with Thomas Edison. The two men hit it off and that meeting inspired Blackton to become expert at stop-motion animation, and combine that skill with his vaudevillian talent of lightning sketches.
His oldest surviving animation is from 1899 and copyrighted in 1900. It’s called THE ENCHANTED DRAWING
Blackton’s most famous animation is from 1906 and is entitled HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES
Blackton enjoyed a long and prolific career as a film director; however, it’s his pioneering of animation for which he is best remembered. His early stop-motion work continues to influence animators more than a hundred years later.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 