Picture Parade #5…A Tribute To Ernie Kovacs: Hole In The Head Sketch
Picture Parade #5…A Tribute To Ernie Kovacs: Hole In The Head Sketch
As mentioned in the previous post, we lost this television and comedy pioneer 53 years ago today. Here is another legacy he left us.
Before there was chromakey, there was black and white matting which is the process used here for Ernie to peer through a “hole in her head”. Here’s how this was done…first, Ernie places the black patch on the forehead of his assistant, Barbara Loden. Her top is red, white and blue which is important because the matting process used in this instance uses black at the matt.
In the control room, the production switcher uses the special effects module to insert a circle over the black patch in the image from camera 1. Camera 2 on the left is shooting Kovac. Notice her hair is now covered by a white scarf as the switcher is taking in only the white portion of the image from camera 1 and has made it blind to black.
Via the matting process in the production switcher, the images are married in a composite shot and the rest, as they say, is history. Today, you could probably do all this on a smart phone, but back in the early 50s, this was a big deal and Kovacs was a genius at visual gags using the then, state of the art television technology. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Young Barbara Loden went on to bigger and better things as both an actress and independent film director,and wife of Elia Kazan.
Kovac was a television effects genius.
Inspired genius.
…one of my favorites growing up and watching his specials on ABC ! ..it’s sad how the network destroyed many of the video tapes of his old programs ..what an innovator ! !
Imagine what he’d be doing today!
His last special on ABC aired as a tribute about a week or two after his death.
What an amazing talent. I was 7 when he passed, I still remember some of the sketches from his TV shows.
Kovacs was a genius! We lost him too, too soon!