Glorious Technicolor, Breathtaking Cinemascope, and Stereophonic Sound.
by Cole Porter
 

Stereophonic Sound (from Silk Stockings)
              by Cole Porter
Performed by Janis Page and Fred Astaire

Today to get the public to attend the picture show,
It's not enough to advertise a famous star they know,
If you want to get the crowds to come around,
You've got to have: glorious Technicolor,
Breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.

If folks today could witness Valenteno in the sheik,
They never would appreaciate this lover boys technique,
If you want to hear appluding hands resound,
You've got to have: glorious Technicolor,
Breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.

The customers don't like to see the groom embrace the bride,
Unless her lips are scarlet and her mouth is 5 feet wide,
In: glorious Technicolor, breathtaking Cinemascope or Cinerama,
VistaVision or Superscope or Todd-AO or
Stereophonic sound or stereophonic sound.

You all remember Lassie,
That beloved caine star,
To see her wag her tail the crowds would come from near and far,
But at present she'd be just another hound,
Unless she had: glorious Technicolor,
Breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.

I lately did a picture at the bottom of the sea,
I wrestled with an octopus and licked an ancovey,
But the public wouldn't care if she had drowned,
Unless she had: glorious Technicolor,
Breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.

If Ava Gardner played Godiva ridding on a mare,
The people wouldn't pay a cent,
They wouldn't even care,
Unless she had: glorious Technicolor or Cinecolor or Warnercolor or
Metrocolor or Eastmancolor or Kodacolor and any
Color and stereophonic sound and stereophonic sound.

There was a time when dancing was so intimate and sleek,
A fellow hugged his partner as they cuddled cheek-to-cheek,
Now he doesn't even know if she's around,
Because they're in: glorious Technicolor,
Breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound.

It's not enough today to see a dancer at his ease,
He's got to throw his back out and come sliding on his knees,
He's got to have: glorious Russian belly or Modern belly or English
Belly or Chinese belly or Hindu belly or belly belly
Or any belly and stereophonic sound and stereophic sound.

Stereophonic sound and stereophonic,
Has an extra tonic,
Stereophonic sound

 
 

As documented by Cole Porter in Silk Stocking, fads in motion picture production resulted in a technical standard of Technicolor, CinemaScope, and Stereophonic Sound. The following chart shows selected examples of actual technology used by various motion pictures.

Three-strip process IV Technicolor is a system of color cinematography using three synchronized monochrome negative films for the primary colors red, green, and blue. A Technicolor camera had a single lens in front a a beam-splitter which directed the separated colors to their appropriate negative. In post-processing, the three monochrome negatives were combined, using color filters, into a single full color negative. Because the three strips were carefully isolated single colors, the final result contained hyper-realistic, saturated levels of color. In common usage Technicolor often means colors which are bright, showy, garish or excessively vividly.

CinemaScope is an anamorphic process that compresses an image during filming onto a standard 35mm frame and uncompresses it when projected. The compressed anamorphic image fits on a standard 35mm frame with an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The uncompressed CinemaScope image has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

Despite the Cole Porter song to the contrary, CinemaScope and Technicolor never existed simultaneously in the same motion picture. Both processes seized control of the original negative in way incompatible with the other process. It is theoretically possible to design a combined CinemaScope-Technicolor camera and process, but the result would be between four and nine times more complex, and hence more expensive, than either process alone. Because of technical complexity and cost, there was never a commercially successful execution of a combined CinemaScope-Technicolor.

 

All written content of this web site is solely the editorial opinion of Jeffrey Sward. All images, graphics, and written content of this web site, including the html files, are creative products covered by copyright law. All content copyright Jeffrey Sward 1975-2016. All rights reserved. No portion of this web site or its constituent elements may be reproduced in any form, by any means, without prior written permission. So there.

 
 
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