On this day, the first short silent animated cartoon film, “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces”, by James Stuart Blackton was released in the United States. The film starts with the cartoonist’s hand drawing the face of a man on a blackboard. Next a woman’s face appears, this time without the cartoonist’s hand. The stop-motion technique is then used to animate the two faces. The scene ends when the smoke from the man’s cigar covers the woman, and the cartoonist’s hand comes back to erase the drawing. Blackton also uses the cut-out technique, particularly in the last shot, that of a clown, playing with his hat, a hoop and a poodle. The film ends with the cartoonist’s hand once again erasing the scene. The whole experience lasts less than three minutes.
