# 1950s TV Show Device: cheap Hotel Rooms With Blinking Signs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999 "2013-11-28T13:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/1 "2013-11-28T13:37:04Z")
I have been watching the old "Perry Mason"TV show on ME TV. One thing that always comes up-when you see a character living in a cheap hotel room, the room invariably faces the street, and the windows admit the flashing light from the neon sign. This seems to be a common device in 1950s TV-who invented the genre? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/2 "2013-11-28T13:44:26Z")
I think it was real. In some places in my lifetime, it still was (I was born in 1980). I certainly remember little hotels in the Ozarks having flashing signs like that. Color TV! Cable! Vacancy! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/3 "2013-11-28T13:52:30Z")
You bet it’s real, and plenty still exist today, in run-down little towns, & bad neighborhoods in bigger ones. The rooms closest to the signs are the cheapest. Invariably, the blinds are busted, and won’t close right. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/4 "2013-11-28T15:17:17Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I think it was real. In some places in my lifetime, it still was (I was born in 1980). I certainly remember little hotels in the Ozarks having flashing signs like that. Color TV! Cable! Vacancy! Those signs were cutting edge technology at the time. Neon was the plasma of the day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/5 "2013-11-28T15:37:25Z")
Just like the Seinfeld episode with the Kenney Rogers Chicken restaurant! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/6 "2013-11-28T16:12:50Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Color TV! Cable! Vacancy! Magic Fingers! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/7 "2013-11-28T17:39:16Z")
BTW, how did the do the nigh scenes in these old B&W TV shows? Perry mason looks like they just put a filter over the lens, and filmed in daytime. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/8 "2013-11-28T17:43:16Z")
In a Mad Magazine catalog of movie props, one was a hotel with a different blinking sign outside each window. Maybe that’s the explanation… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/9 "2013-11-28T17:44:55Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > BTW, how did the do the nigh scenes in these old B&W TV shows? Perry mason looks like they just put a filter over the lens, and filmed in daytime. Exactly. Google “shooting day for night.” A good sample scene is the one from American Graffitti where they are walking along the dirt river road. I believe you can find short documentaries/features that show them shooting the scene in daylight and then the processed final “nighttime” scene. It can be well done or utterly cheesy. Things like sunlight through branches and glittering off shiny surfaces often gives it away. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/10 "2013-11-28T18:33:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It can be well done or utterly cheesy. Things like sunlight through branches and glittering off shiny surfaces often gives it away. Hey, the moonlight is always \*\*REALLY BRIGHT \*\*on TV and in films. Just like daylight only with a gray or bluish tint. And they are often filmed on another planet with multiple bright moons. You can see shadows falling in different directions. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/11 "2013-11-28T19:37:01Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Hey, the moonlight is always \*\*REALLY BRIGHT \*\*on TV and in films. Just like daylight only with a gray or bluish tint. What’s even better is the light-to-dark transition in older TV shows, mostly 1970s-80s. The character flips off a bedside light, for example, only to have the room immediately light up in blue. Sometimes it’s well-timed and believable, other times it’s like they flipped a blue-filter switch… or there’s a noticeable delay between the light going out and “blue darkness” coming up. I don’t know if it’s changed, but up until quite recently at least, actors were not allowed to flip a real switch. By union rules, an electrician had to do it. So you often see a significant time discontinuity between, say, Archie Bunker flipping a switch and the light going on or off. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/12 "2013-11-28T22:38:00Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > In a Mad Magazine catalog of movie props, one was a hotel with a different blinking sign outside each window. Maybe that’s the explanation… What different blinking signs? They always said either HOTEL or HOT L. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/13 "2013-11-29T00:27:54Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Hey, the moonlight is always \*\*REALLY BRIGHT \*\*on TV and in films. Just like daylight only with a gray or bluish tint. > > And they are often filmed on another planet with multiple bright moons. You can see shadows falling in different directions. And the campfires in Westerns neither burn brightly nor cast shadows. And you can see everything around you perfectly, without having your night vision ruined. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/14 "2013-11-29T01:33:23Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > In a Mad Magazine catalog of movie props, one was a hotel with a different blinking sign outside each window. Maybe that’s the explanation… > [@kunilou](#): > > What different blinking signs? They always said either HOTEL or HOT L. I remember that one. The lettering is the same but the shapes are different: some horizontal, some vertical, some with arrows, some without, etc. The same catalog contains various guns, such as the ones of Navarone (shipping not included). ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/15 "2013-11-29T01:53:12Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > In a Mad Magazine catalog of movie props, one was a hotel with a different blinking sign outside each window. Maybe that’s the explanation… Imagine being ninja’d with that one. IIRC, the caption included “. . . an irritating neon flashing light outside the window.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/16 "2013-11-29T02:18:22Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Exactly. Google “shooting day for night.” > > A good sample scene is the one from American Graffitti where they are walking along the dirt river road. I believe you can find short documentaries/features that show them shooting the scene in daylight and then the processed final “nighttime” scene. > > It can be well done or utterly cheesy. Things like sunlight through branches and glittering off shiny surfaces often gives it away. For cheesy see Plan. 9 from Outer Space ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/17 "2013-11-29T02:29:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > What’s even better is the light-to-dark transition in older TV shows, mostly 1970s-80s. The character flips off a bedside light, for example, only to have the room immediately light up in blue. Sometimes it’s well-timed and believable, other times it’s like they flipped a blue-filter switch… or there’s a noticeable delay between the light going out and “blue darkness” coming up. Which is exactly the way automatic exposure circuits work today with video cameras, including the change in color temperature until the compensation kicks in. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/18 "2013-11-29T21:47:24Z")
A blinking neon sign outside a cheap hotel room’s window is a key plot point in Hitchcock’s _Vertigo_. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/19 "2013-11-29T22:50:11Z")
John Ford would film his (B&W) landscape shots through a colored filter, not to pass off day as night, but because it brought out the contrasting shades in the clouds. In the Gary Cooper **Beau Geste** it’s obvious that they shot day for night through a blue filter. The dark uniforms turn a lighter gray. And even though all the Frankenstein Halloween masks are green, that was selected by [Jack Pierce](http://wodumedia.com/hollywood-rare-photos/the-whole-process-of-film-making-was-recorded-in-exquisite-black-and-white-make-up-artist-jack-p-pierce-transforms-boris-karloff-into-the-monster-for-bride-of-frankenstein/) because it filmed corpse gray. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999/20 "2013-11-30T01:06:12Z")
Day for night _should_ be easy to do convincingly. The main rule is Don’t Show the Sky, which photographs light even with a dfn filter in both color and b&w. Surprisingly few film makers seem to have figured this out. Some instances are so obviously day shots that the only way to tell it is supposed to be night is the cricket chirping that the sound guy laid in there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-tv-show-device-cheap-hotel-rooms-with-blinking-signs/674999.md?page=2)