color on B&W tvs?

[Marlin Mackley]

Hey folks, A friend told me something this weekend that rang a bell to me. Anybody remember this add? Know how they did it? :On a B&W tv she said she saw:
"It was around the mid sixties during the Tonight Show and it was a commercial for Sprite. A little multi-colored rotating flower type symbol appeared in the upper left hand corner of the screen for a few seconds(maybe 3-4). It was never shown again. The rest of the screen and ad was in black and white."

She is sure she saw it. I am guessing it would be a combination of pulsing the beam at just the right frequencies to fool the eye into thinking it was seeing color, and possibly add the power of suggestion. Anybody got any memories or ideas?
Marlin

[Rob]

I don't know about that but I'm such a non-hockey fan that while watching a B&W TV and all available channels on the Anik satellite were covering the same fu&*king hockey game and I had no other TV signals available I've clearly seen red.

Rob

[Steve McVoy]

There was a system developed in the 60s that relied on the fact that the brain interprets different flash rates as different colors. I can't remember the name of it now, but it was tried experimentally a few tiimes on broadcast TV.

[Marlin Mackley]

Rob, I have had the same prob the brief time I watched cable. At certain times most of the channels had adds, all the time. I get basic cable with my internet wide band service but refuse to watch it. Besides my old Sky King videos are more fun!
Marlin

[Steve K]

I'm not sure what term was used for that color effect in the television business but in the field of psychology and sensation an perception it is known as "subjective color." In the mid 1800's C.E. Benham invented a top that contained black and white lines. When spun the black and white stimuli produced bands of different colors. This was probably the same effect shown in that commercial. Psychologists are not exactly sure how the brain produces this effect but it is believed that it causes temporal differences in the response rate of the neurons in the color pathways. Sorry, too much detail, but I have to lecture on this very topic on Wednesday!

Steve

[Steve McVoy]

I found the color system. It was developed by James Butterfield of the Electronic Color Co. in Hollywood, CA in 1965. I've added a page on my website: www.earlytelevision.org/butterfield.html

[Charlie]

Marlin,

I don't understand how I would remember this burst of color you are speaking of considering that I wasn't born till 1969, but for some reason, this all sounds very familiar to me... almost like de-ja-vu. In fact, it's kinda kreepy feeling that I recall this.

When I was in grade school, I had a small b&w Sears tube set in my bedroom that made a terrible screaching sound for about 5 seconds every time it was turned on. I remember freaking out my friends with it by turning it on without them knowing, and then leaving the room. Anyway, for some reason, I do recall seeing this burst of color in the corner of the screen at some point, but couldn't figure out why. I had asked my father about it, and of course he told me that wasn't possible on a b&w set. I was somewhat frustrated because I knew I saw it and that it wasn't my imagination. After that, I would always watch TV in my room intead of watching on the color set in the family room... just in case I would be able to see that burst of color again. I only recall it happening that one time. I don't remember what I was watching, but I do remember it being like a flower or a star with a few alternating colors.

This would have taken place somewhere between 1976 to 1979. Your friend says she saw this in the mid-60's... a decade before I would have seen it. Seems weird that we would have seen the same thing 10 years apart, but the way you and your friend describe this is exactly like I remember it. SPOOKY!