Evening star., 1953-12-22
On the Air
On the Air
/AmoK Even Sounds Better
Before Color 7V Cameras
By Horry Macarthur

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Any hesitancy you may have
about Small-Screen-large-price
color television vanisheS when
you are face-to-face with it.
Color makes a difference you
can't believe without seeing. It
is something other than the diff
ference between black-and-white
and color movies. too.
There is nothing artificial
about the color that glows with
life on the face Of the picture
tube. This is just complete tele-
vision, delivering to you all Of
the picture you would see If you
were standing beside the camera,
and it is exciting stuff
The addition of color to Gian-
Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the
Night Visitors" gave it a whole
new dimension. The perform
ance of the Christmas opera
Sunday on NBC-TV's Hall of
Fame" was. for those who saw it
in color, the most Scintillating
presentation of it yet.
For one viewer. at least, the
new visual dimension had the
somewhat curious effect Of add
ing to the aural one. The atten-
tion-commanding quality Of the
color picture made this seem to
be the best-enunciated "Amahl"
yet done.
Hallmark, incidentally. one of
the more enlightened television
sponsors, let the opera run with
out interruption. It may have
been that the ad agency boys
knew full well how pallid
black and white commercial
would be in the middle of a
color show. The lapse back into
monochrome at the hours end
Sunday evening was almost a
shock, for once your eye is at
tuned to color the normal gray
picture Is a singularly lifeless
one.
Still, this is no season to ques-
tion a sponsors motives, so this
one rates thanks for not inter-
rupting "Amahl." It helped no
little in making the opera more
effective dramatically.
Lighting of Sundays musical
work was in much lower key
than any previous color tests
seen by this viewer. The RCA
cameras were equal to the stu
alton, though. Colors were sub
dued but rich in hue and true.
flesh tones. especially in the
case Of Rosemary Kuflman, had
an exceptionally natural look.
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It might be a good idea, Of
course, to note that some praise
Is also due to the singers and
the composer for making the
1858 "Amahl" such a full delight.
Miss Kuhlman as his mother
and Bill McIver as the crippled
Amahl were wonderfully elo-
quent in singing the Menotti
music and sensitive in interpret
ing his story. This music, by the
way, grows more appealing at
each rehearing. The finest color
in the world is no substitute for
these basic qualities in entertain
ment. but color does make
good TV program a superb one.
Color television sets, you
should be happy to know if
If you're about to shell out 5000
for one producing a 14-inch pic
ture, have by now become fairly
simple to operate. Color adds
only two new controls, both of
the intermediate, behind-the-
panel type. in the front Of
the set.
These compare roughly to the
brightness and contrast controls.
being used to control color in
tensity and shade the hues to
suit personal tastes. On Sunday
afternoon they required only one
adjustment after the WNBW
picture switched from mono
chrome to full spectrum. Once
you get these set. you probably
won't have to bother them very
much. The color sets will switch
automatically from black-and-
white to color and back again,
according to the signal received.
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Color television may. it should
be noted right now, become the
center Of some domestic dishar-
mony. It is best, for instance, to
adjust the color picture so that
it produces the best flesh tints.
The trouble is that it Is more
than merely probable that two
people sitting before a TV set
will not see the same colors. The
color TV cameras see and re-
produce true hues all too well.
A husband. who likes to see
those Jackie Gleason girls hale
and hearty. may come up with
what his wife considers a bright
red picture. She, on the other
hand. adjusting 1t to what she
considers natural tintS. will
throw Q blue fog over the works
for her mate.
Those flesh colors, especially.