Color!

[Thunder]

I just got done watching 007 You Only Live Twice and I was impressed that it was in color. According to Netflix, the film was made in 1967. That is very surprising for a 60s film to be in color.

When was the first time television became available in color? What film was the first ever to be in color? What sitcom was the first ever to be in color? What production company was the first ever to produce in color?

And for ya'all old people, what film or tv show was the first time you ever seen color?

[Jim Kyle]

Color TV became available about 1961. WKY-TV, now KFOR, was the first local station in the country to originate its own color broadcasts.

The first of the 007 movies, Dr. No, was released in early 1963, and like all of the 007 films, was in full color.

As for the first color movie, it was probably well before my time -- and I was born in 1931. The first technicolor movie that I remember, however, was "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" which hit theaters about 1935 or so. By the end of WW2, many films were in color. By the 1950s, almost all of them were.

[kevinpate]

silly. color was around decades before the 60's for movies, and 50's for telly.

[Thunder]

Jim, are you saying that the 1935 film was produced in color, but shown to everyone in black/white until color television became available?

[Thunder]

silly. color was around decades before the 60's for movies, and 50's for telly.

Then explain why I Love Lucy was in black/white until near the end?

[Tydude]

i thought the first color movie was Wizard of Oz

[Jim Kyle]

Jim, are you saying that the 1935 film was produced in color, but shown to everyone in black/white until color television became available?

In movie theaters, it was shown in color. In the early days of TV, very few movies were shown at all on TV. The movie studios simply refused to permit it. Not until most of the studios went belly-up and people like Ted Turner bought their libraries did the old-movie channels become popular.

Incidentally, Turner's VP in charge of old-movie restoration was from OKC and was a classmate of mine at Classen in 1947-48.

[Jim Kyle]

i thought the first color movie was Wizard of Oz

Nope; that was in 1939 -- and I saw it at the Tower on its first run here. "Lonesome Pine" with Henry Fonda was several years before that and was billed as the first Technicolor movie -- but even before Technicolor came about, other processes had been used to create a few short subjects. There was one back around 1900 or so that was hand-colored!

[kevinpate]

laddie, I dinna say everything was done in color from the first ability to do so. I said it had been around in the 50's, a tad longer than you realized, as well as a tad loner than I've been around myself.

[Larry OKC]

Right, just because they were capable of doing color didn't mean they were shot in color (more expensive at the time), and even if shot in color, most stations didn't broadcast in color. So shows like I Love Lucy, were shot and produced for the medium standards at the time. Later as color became cheaper, shows and networks made the switch. At least the first seasons of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island etc were shot in B&W, then went to color. If a series is split, not uncommon for the B&W episodes to not be included when sold into syndication. The Wizard of Oz starts and ends in B&W, it is only in the land of Oz that color is used. But if not broadcast or received in color, even those parts shot in color won't appear that way. This very effectively showed the contrast between Dorthy's rather mundane existence. Emphasizing how exciting and stimulating Oz was. On the other side, it is now more expensive to shoot in B&W than in color.

[RadicalModerate]

Remember the old joke about how Ted Turner was going to "Colorize" the first few minutes of "The Wizard of Oz"...?

In any case, as a child of the 50's I don't remember even seeing too many movies in theaters that were not in color. (And cartoons/animated features by that time were always in color.)

As far as TV goes . . . A neighbor down the street--who spawned some of my playmates--was the first in our neighborhood to get a color TV. I remember watching "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and other shows (mostly on NBC, with that peacock icon) were broadcast in color. This would have been the very late 50's or early 60's.

[Martin]

remember the old joke about how ted turner was going to "colorize" the first few minutes of "the wizard of oz"...?

can't remember for sure what movie it was (scrooged?) that had a scene in a bar where "it's a wonderful life" is on television. the barman looks at the tv, mutters to himself and bangs on it till the picture goes to color. -M

[ctchandler]

First, my uncle bought my aunt a color TV (RCA had the patent and was the only brand available at that time) in 1954 when they thought she was going to die from cancer. The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, 1939 are the most well known color movies, but The Jazz Singer, 1927 was fairly big. But the actually winner is Cupid Angling, 1918. I grew up watching color movies from as early as I can remember and I was born in 1943. I walked to the Redskin every Saturday and watched movies, most of them in color. I knew WKY was the first color station East of the Mississippi but I was also fairly they were the first station to originate color broadcasts East of the Mississippi, not the first station ever to originate color. That doesn't make sense because the network color transmissions out of New York were feeds from the NYC stations and they were originating them and feeding their network parent as well. The happy ending here is my terminal aunt became a textbook case, surviving kidney cancer in 1954 and living till 1977.
C. T.

[Martin]

I knew WKY was the first color station East of the Mississippi but I was also fairly they were the first station to originate color broadcasts East of the Mississippi, not the first station ever to originate color. That doesn't make sense because the network color transmissions out of New York were feeds from the NYC stations and they were originating them and feeding their network parent as well.

wky was west of the mississippi. : ) -M

[ctchandler]

mmm,
Oops, I do know my directions but I blew it.
C. T.

wky was west of the mississippi. : ) -M

[Martin]

no big deal... i just figured that little detail would fix the confusion as to the first station originating a color broadcast. besides, most call signs beginning with 'w' are east of the mississippi.

-M

[TaoMaas]

I was just talking to the folks at the Okla. History Center about this last week. From what I understand, RCA was NBC's parent company at the beginning of color television and they made a decision not to sell their color equipment to any of their local affiliates until all the network O&O's (Owned & Operated) were switched over. WKY was the first of the local affiliates to receive color gear after the network owned stations were converted. As far as the first tv shows I can remember in color...it would be Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza.

[MadMonk]

Color movie trivia: The 1974 release of The Godfather, Part II was the last movie printed in the US using the old dye-transfer Technicolor process. The 1977 release of Star Wars (printed in England) was the last film to be printed anywhere with that process.

That is all.

[ctchandler]

Here is a pretty good article about the development of Color TV. I should have said that RCA had the patent on the picture tube and no one else made the round tube. Other TV manufacturers bought the tube from RCA to put in their sets. When the square tube was developed, many of the manufacturers made it.
C. T.

http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/20031...ortv1231p3.asp

[RadicalModerate]

. . . As far as the first tv shows I can remember in color...it would be Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza.

Right. "Bonanza". (How could I forget that one?)
I gotta tell ya' though . . .
Even as a child, I had doubts about the historical authenticity of the green vest that Ben Cartwright wore. (Or was that Hoss?)

Ever watch reruns of The Lawrence Welk show?
Can you even begin to imagine how mundane it must have been in black and white?
(And all the wasted effort of the costume designers . . . )

If you are ever tempted to watch "Andy Griffith" and/or anything with the word "Lucy" in the title--and either of them are in color when you surf onto them--continue changing channels.

[kevinpate]

Not remembering a green vest, though lil' joe often wore a green jacket

[ctchandler]

Growing up, we couldn't afford a TV. I bought my first one in September, 1966. I invited a bunch of guys over to watch the Green Bay Packers vs. the Baltimore Colts on my new "color" TV. Big Oops, not all games were broadcast in color, and this one wasn't. OH well, the beer and snacks were good and so was the game.
C. T.

[RadicalModerate]

I guess the jacket wore out and he converted it to a vest.
"Paw . . . I'm a-goin' into town. T' look for Adam. Where's my colors?"

[TaoMaas]

....If you are ever tempted to watch "Andy Griffith" ....

Speaking of The Andy Griffith Show...once upon a time, CBS cancelled all their rural shows almost all at once...Mayberry RFD, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Hee-Haw, Lassie...even The Jim Nabors Show and Glen Campbell's Goodtime Hour. How'd you like to be known as the guy who killed off that many classic shows? LOL

[Jim Kyle]

I knew WKY was the first color station East of the Mississippi but I was also fairly they were the first station to originate color broadcasts East of the Mississippi, not the first station ever to originate color. That doesn't make sense because the network color transmissions out of New York were feeds from the NYC stations and they were originating them and feeding their network parent as well.

Actually I meant local stations as distinct from network origination stations. I'll have to check this with Johnny Shannon, who was their chief photographer for many years including those very early years. I do know that the control console used for color production at that time was designed and built by WKY-TV staff, and later copied by the networks.