Re: ChromaKey (Was WBZ Archives)

["'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On Fri, 13 Mar 1998, TVHD wrote:

>    Locally, perhaps. But Ernie Kovacs was doing chromakey 
> effects back in the mid-fifties. One of the first matting 
> amplifiers, which produced a luminence key effect (which is 
> like a chromakey, only adds signals via b&w blanking [or 
> matting] signals) that inspired Kovacs was actually built back 
> in the late 'forties at WPTZ in Philadelphia, the station where 
> Kovacs stared out.

Howdy Doody was using chromakey around 1955-56.  They were one of the
first shows to be colorcast regularly, and I remember they used those
effects for various purposes.

I remember one scene when one of the human (i.e. non-puppet) characters
was putting on his invisibility suit.  It was pretty obvious that he
wasn't actually on the set that appeared behind him.  I suppose he was in
front of a blue background, and his invisibility suit was actually a blue
suit.  Looked good, too. 

===========================================================================
 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                         617.367.0468
 15 Court Square                                      lawyer@world.std.com
 Boston, MA 02108-2503                       http://world.std.com/~lawyer/
===========================================================================

------------------------------