Well, that's the claim. But I figured the first would have been made well before 1908. Early film was not as primitive as people think. It's just the poor condition of many surviving films make them look that way.



For more information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000682/combined

From imdb.com:
To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings. In 1908, chalkboard caricaturists were common vaudeville attractions and the characters in the film look as though they've been drawn on a chalkboard, but it's an illusion. By filming black lines on paper and then printing in negative Cohl makes his animations appear to be chalk drawings.
If anyone knows of any earlier animated film, I would like to know about it.

---------- Post added at 06:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 PM ----------

That didn't take long. I ran across this:



It too is mentioned in imdb.com. But this YouTube print is in too pristine condition for a film that old. Even a digitally restored restoration from the original negative would not look this clean. I question if this is the actual film or a modern rendition of what the film may have looked like. The color is also suspect. Color films back then were hand painted, and the dyes never looked this vivid.

---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

Then there is this, just found:



That's all for now. Must run.