here is an example that works:

change screen color for a script, then change it back when script exits:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

# change bgcolor and text
system("echo -e '\e[44m'");
system("clear");
print "interactive script with blue background...\n\n";
print "press return to exit script:\n\n";

<STDIN>;

# revert to original color
system("echo -e '\e[0m'");
system("clear");
[download]

Anyway, thanks for getting my brain going.