Animation A scene from Stuart Blackton's "The Enchanted Drawing" MPEG Format (12.8 MB) Help With Video Credits Blackton--Father of American Animation American animation owes its beginnings to J. Stuart Blackton, a British filmmaker who created the first animated film in America. Before creating cartoons, Blackton was a vaudeville performer known as "The Komikal Kartoonist." In his act, he drew "lightning sketches" or high-speed drawings. In 1895, he met Thomas Edison. Can you guess what this meeting with the famous inventor inspired him to do? page 1 of 3 Library Of Congress | Legal Notices | Privacy | Site Map | Contact Us VIDEO CREDIT: Blackton, Stuart J. and Smith, Albert E., producers. "The Enchanted Drawing" Thomas A. Edison, Inc. 1900. Origins of American Animation, Library of Congress.