Stuart Blackton (left,) was a young English-born adventurer who pioneered American films as one of the founders of Vitagraph in 1899. In 1906 he issued a short film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. A sensation with audiences, the illusion was created by a very simple method.

Comical faces were drawn on a blackboard, then erased. The camera was stopped after each face was photographed. The 'stop-motion' provided a startling effect as the facial expressions changed before the audience's eyes. Blackton also experimented with animation in The Haunted Hotel (1906), The Magic Fountain Pen (1907), and other films.