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View Full Version : Zenith porthole "color" old_tv_nut 11-07-2009, 10:01 PM Unbelievable - a porthole with the hokey color overlay filter sheet! http://www.flickr.com/photos/actionlog/3711074074/sizes/o/in/photostream/ In case you haven't seen one (the filter sheet, not the Zenith): http://www.earlytelevision.org/color_filter.html cbenham 11-07-2009, 10:44 PM A downtown St. Pete hotel in the early '50s advertised "Color TV in Every Room..." You guessed it! old_tv_nut 11-07-2009, 10:50 PM A downtown St. Pete hotel in the early '50s advertised "Color TV in Every Room..." You guessed it! Oh, no! old_tv_nut 11-07-2009, 11:22 PM Inspired me to try something with my avatar: David Roper 11-07-2009, 11:27 PM Purity needs some touching up there.... Jeffhs 11-08-2009, 02:50 AM It seems to me that those color filter sheets usually worked well for only one picture on a TV screen. When the scene changes, since the colors in the filter don't, you get all kinds of color distortions, until or unless (!) another scene appears that fits the color bands in the filter. There was an episode of the ABC-TV series "Happy Days" in the '70s in which the Cunninghams tried one of these filters on their old B&W TV; yup, you guessed it, the filter worked after a fashion, but for only one image. The next image to show on their TV was an unholy mess of color, until the filter was inverted; even then the "color" picture didn't look right. The motel another poster mentioned that advertised in the early '50s "color TV in every room" very likely used these filters on their B&W sets as well. This dodge may have kept them out of trouble as far as truth in advertising was concerned, but probably just barely, as the color pictures produced by these filters in front of a B&W screen were terrible--as I mentioned above. However, I guess that was the best these motels could do in those days without charging an arm and a leg for the rooms, as they would have had to do if they had "real" color televisions, probably RCA CTC2s, 3s, 4s or such, in them. The only motels that would have had true electronic color TV in their rooms in the '50s (especially the early part of the decade) would have had to be very upscale ones, with room rates affordable only by oil barons. John Marinello 11-08-2009, 08:34 AM Yea, but look how nicely it matches the drapes... Charlie 11-08-2009, 06:56 PM WOW... that's one hell of a set of drapes! newhallone 11-08-2009, 07:10 PM They would go good in my place. My brother wears glasses just like that! He found them someplace and had lenses made for them. His optometrist tried to buy them off him. ChrisW6ATV 11-09-2009, 07:15 PM My brother had glasses just like those... in 1964 :) kvflyer 11-09-2009, 07:20 PM Sorry, I am telling my age... I remember the color filters. I never thought they looked like much but obviously, they sold... |