Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 January 3

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January 3

"Colorizing" a black and white television

I remember a scene in an old sitcom (I thought it might have been The Wonder Years) in which the father, in a attempt at "colorizing" the families black and white television [without paying a forturne (it must have been set at a time in which they were very new and/or very expensive) or maybe even without the technology existing], puts up a color background on the television, consisting of just green grass and a blue sky.

Now, it was clearly done as a joke, although, I'm positive it was set at a time in which color television was either non-existent or at least very new and/or very expensive and not set at a time in which color television was (and still is) the norm and was just making fun of those times.

My two questions are: 1. Does anybody know which old sitcom and maybe which episode this was from? and 2. Did this actually exist in the real world? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pitman6787 (talk • contribs)

It wasn't a joke, such colorizing acetates did exist, and were used until the 1980s. The Vectrex video game system used such acetates (the Wikipedia article doesn't mention it, but I have first-hand knowledge of their existence). This blog post discusses them in use in 1965. --Jayron32 02:08, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

I'll think you'll find it does - "The monochrome Vectrex uses plastic screen overlays to simulate color and various static graphics and decorations." is in the second paragraph old bean. Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 21:55, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Yep, another memory brought back from the past for me too. They did exist, and I could never see the point. HiLo48 (talk) 02:17, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

I've seen them in antique stores. Never understood why anyone would buy one though. When they were new that is... Dismas|^(talk) 02:28, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Although the effect was crude, the acetate was a much cheaper solution for those who wanted to see color television, but couldn't afford to purchase a new color receiver. The advantage was purely the low cost. --Thomprod (talk) 00:01, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

My grandmother had one of those colored acetates on her TV. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 02:43, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Col-R-Tel was actually rather popular. It is a colored wheel that you bolt to the front of your TV. It spins in sync with the signal to ensure that each color is over the screen when that color's B&W image is being shown. The end result is perfectly reasonable color television. -- kainaw™ 22:02, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

I remember this (the sitcom episode that is)! But for the life of me I can't remember the show - might have been Happy Days? I remember that the Dad put the color screen on, and that there were problems with the color - the sky was green, the grass was blue - so Dad turns the screen upside down, with no effect. The consensus was that the color screen was a bit of a worthless gimmick.123.211.122.221 (talk) 08:32, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Guitar effect

hello,

how do you call the effect in Blind Boy Fuller's "Baby You Gotta Change Your Mind", "Big Leg Woman Gets My Pay" or John Fahey's "Desperate Man Blues"? It has similarties with the sound of turned-on motorboat motors or the sound of washboards. Thanks. ♫GoP♫_T^C_N 15:05, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

It's called "muting". I listened to the Blind Boy Fuller song on Youtube, and he's strumming the strings while muted. There are a few different techniques for doing so, but without seeing him doing it, it would be hard to tell exactly how he is doing it. You can mute with the left (fretting) hand by gently laying a finger across all strings, without actually fretting them. See Left-hand muting. Because of string harmonics (see Guitar harmonics) it isn't always possible to mute the strings in this way at all locations, but as long as you avoid the common harmonic intervals, you can produce that washboard sound. You can also mute with the strumming (right) hand using a Palm mute, this tends to still allow the notes or chord to sound slightly, so I don't think he's doing that, but a palm mute has a definite percussive sound. A third option is that he's playing some sort of Prepared guitar which has muted the strings. Johnny Cash used a prepared guitar to produce the "train" sounds (very similar to the sound you note above) in Folsom Prison Blues, among other songs, by jamming a piece of paper under the strings to mute them. --Jayron32 15:21, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Can you tell what is meant with "roll", here? ♫GoP♫_T^C_N 15:43, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

When I have seen that term in reference to stringed instruments, it's a type of fingerpicking pattern, see Banjo roll for an example with the Banjo. I'm not sure why that tab has it, I don't see an obvious roll in the bar underneath that note; however the bar above that note looks like it could be played as a roll. --Jayron32 15:50, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

By the by, that tab you gave shows, instead of a "roll", a style of fingerpicking similar toTravis picking. --Jayron32 15:56, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Sabrina the Teenage Witch turning only one boyfriend into a frog

In the TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch, there is great concern that when she kisses her mortal boyfriend (Harvey), he will turn into a frog. And the plot point of one episode in the first season is that this does happen. But, Sabrina has other mortal boyfriends during the show's run, and there never seems to be any concern that this will happen to them. Why was the frog issue only a concern for Harvey? RudolfRed (talk) 21:40, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

See plot hole, continuity error, etc. --Jayron32 22:14, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

That's probably right. Thanks. RudolfRed (talk) 04:31, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Her aunts also have mortal boyfriends without anything happening to them. As the episode is called "First Kiss" maybe it only happens on the first kiss? --Colapeninsula (talk) 21:43, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Marlboro Man advertising

I was told, many years ago and have always believed, that Charlie Conerly, former NY Giants Quarterback, was one of the original celebs, chosen to portray the Marlboro Man---he certainly had the good looks and rugged reputation. Do you know if Conerly was ever used? Thank you, Walllace E. McMillan, Jackson,MS <email removed for security purposes> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.107.133.34 (talk) 22:44, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

If you read the Wikipedia article Charlie Conerly you will find the answer to your question. Also, I removed you email address as it is a VERY bad idea to publish your email address on a public website. --Jayron32 22:48, 3 January 2012 (UTC)