Swedish Television in Color in 1962
Sweden showed in 1962 that they were not above televised pranks either and they came up with one that had men lining up to buy nylons. On April 1, 1962 Svergies Television (SVT) was the only channel available to people in Sweden. It only broadcast in black and white which was disappointing for many of its viewers. However, the station’s technical expert Kjell Stensson had a solution for that problem that was cheap and easy. The broadcast showed Kjell Stensson sitting in front of television. He said that what he was about do was very technical and it had to do with the “prismatic nature of light” and the phenomenon of “double slit interference.”
He said that all the technical talk wasn’t important but what was important was that researchers recently found that a find mesh screen placed on a black and white television screen would make the image on the television appear to be in color. He said it had to do with bending light and that you did not need the fancy materials the researchers used.
All you needed was a pair of nylon stockings (he went into detail about just what type) and then you could cut them and tape them onto the television screen. Then voila! The image would be in color. He did say that you would need to be just the right distance from the screen and that you might have to turn your head side to side to alight the color spectrum.
The hoax worked so well that thousands lined up to buy nylons. People still talk about the memory of their fathers rushing to buy nylons to stretch over the television set. Unfortunately, it did not work and the Swedes had to wait until 1966 to see the first attempt by SVT to broadcast in color.