What did broadcast color television look like in 1954 through 1957?

[etype2]

I remember seeing the black flare around metal objects and bright objects that reflected into the camera lens on old black and white telecasts in the 50's. I think you could see it in some of the President Kennedy live assasination coverage if I'm not mistaken.

Old tv nut: Very interesting information. Were you in broadcasting or did you work for one of the major television manufactures?

I never saw color full time until it came into my home in 1966. The quality was generally very good, but I liked the Technicolor stuff the best.

You confirmed it, folks really did not see color on their brand new 1950's color sets like we can see it today on the same old restored sets viewing much higher quality color content. This also confirms my very early memories of color TV. I would very much like to see some of the old color content you mentioned.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by etype2

...
Old tv nut: Very interesting information. Were you in broadcasting or did you work for one of the major television manufactures?
...

Nine years with Motorola Consumer Products (until they were sold to Matsushita), and forty years at Zenith.

[jsowers]

If you want to see some good early color content, tune in to the Dinah Shore Chevy Show on the Jewish Life Channel, if you're lucky enough to have that on cable. It's on at 2pm and 4am every day. So far the shows I've seen have been from 1959-1961.

No Chevy commercials, but they do sometimes show the ending where she sings See the USA in Your Chevrolet, doing her trademark "umm-wah" kiss, and they show the latest Impala or Corvair. They're not too strict on timing on this channel, so allow some extra minutes before and after the show to get it all if you're recording it.

I am no expert on early color, having first seen color TV in 1969, but the color reproduction looks very good to my eyes, considering the age of the shows. You can tell they tried to be very colorful in their sets and costumes. The show I saw the other day with Dinah singing Deep Purple would be great for showing off an early color TV. It was the 12-6-59 episode with Carl Reiner, Mary Costa and Mahalia Jackson.

I do notice the black "blooming" areas around reflective things, which may be more a result of early videotape reproduction or it could be coming from the cameras.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by jsowers

If you want to see some good early color content, tune in to the Dinah Shore Chevy Show on the Jewish Life Channel...
I do notice the black "blooming" areas around reflective things, which may be more a result of early videotape reproduction or it could be coming from the cameras.

Thanks for the info. The black halos are definitely a well-known image-orthicon effect.

[etype2]

Originally Posted by jsowers

If you want to see some good early color content, tune in to the Dinah Shore Chevy Show on the Jewish Life Channel, if you're lucky enough to have that on cable. It's on at 2pm and 4am every day. So far the shows I've seen have been from 1959-1961.

No Chevy commercials, but they do sometimes show the ending where she sings See the USA in Your Chevrolet, doing her trademark "umm-wah" kiss, and they show the latest Impala or Corvair. They're not too strict on timing on this channel, so allow some extra minutes before and after the show to get it all if you're recording it.

I am no expert on early color, having first seen color TV in 1969, but the color reproduction looks very good to my eyes, considering the age of the shows. You can tell they tried to be very colorful in their sets and costumes. The show I saw the other day with Dinah singing Deep Purple would be great for showing off an early color TV. It was the 12-6-59 episode with Carl Reiner, Mary Costa and Mahalia Jackson.

I do notice the black "blooming" areas around reflective things, which may be more a result of early videotape reproduction or it could be coming from the cameras.

That channel is not available here. I remember watching the Dinah Shore show but in b&w. I had to go to department stores in the 50's to see color TV.

[holmesuser01]

Mary Costa, mentioned on the about Dinah Shore Show from 12-6-59 is my cousin. She had an incredible voice in her day.