"Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have
color film back then?"
"Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs ARE in color. It's just the
WORLD was black and white then."
"Really?"
"Yep. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930's, and it was
pretty grainy color for a while, too."
"That's really weird."
"Well, truth is stranger than fiction."
"But then why are old PAINTINGS in color?! If the world was black and
white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way?"
"Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane."
"But... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their
paints have been shades of gray back then?"
"Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the 30's."
"So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too?"
"Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?"
-- Calvin and Dad, "Calvin and Hobbes", 29 October 89
