Well I dont know how I missed this one, but even if I did see it once before, I just saw it "again" and it was actually pretty decent. A short bit of simply drawn animation that is a MUST See for all people.
How nice to see not only the first American animation, but this was supposedly the first bit of animation ever anywhere! And though I find that hard to believe considering all the worlds fairs and inventiveness of even the late 19th century, most seem to agree that this 3 minute film was before all others.. Even proceeding what some claim was the first Japanese "anime" of a 3 second clip from roughly the 1907-1910. But Humorous Phases of Funny Faces beat em all, being made in 1906 by J. Stuart Blackton (1875-1941).
Born in Britain, Blackton first arrived in the US at the age of 10 when his family moved there from Sheffield. After a chance meeting with Thomas Edison, he founded the American Vitagraph Studio with fellow British émigré Albert E. Smith, making comic shorts which the pair utilized as part of their vaudeville stage acts. In this way, Blackton made the 3-minute long Humorous Phases of a Funny Face in 1906 ( from the 2004 article: Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFan - Part 1, found on the website "Midnight Eye.com").
The pioneering animation can be watched simply, easily and for free on the Library of Congresses' youtube page. BE well ^<^
How nice to see not only the first American animation, but this was supposedly the first bit of animation ever anywhere! And though I find that hard to believe considering all the worlds fairs and inventiveness of even the late 19th century, most seem to agree that this 3 minute film was before all others.. Even proceeding what some claim was the first Japanese "anime" of a 3 second clip from roughly the 1907-1910. But Humorous Phases of Funny Faces beat em all, being made in 1906 by J. Stuart Blackton (1875-1941).
Born in Britain, Blackton first arrived in the US at the age of 10 when his family moved there from Sheffield. After a chance meeting with Thomas Edison, he founded the American Vitagraph Studio with fellow British émigré Albert E. Smith, making comic shorts which the pair utilized as part of their vaudeville stage acts. In this way, Blackton made the 3-minute long Humorous Phases of a Funny Face in 1906 ( from the 2004 article: Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFan - Part 1, found on the website "Midnight Eye.com").
The pioneering animation can be watched simply, easily and for free on the Library of Congresses' youtube page. BE well ^<^