colors aren't working using c++ and ncurses

[korgoth28]

In main I have:

  start_color();
  init_pair(1, COLOR_RED, COLOR_BLACK);

then I call a function which has:

      attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));
      addch(theMap[x][y].getGraphic());
      attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));

It prints, but in the default color, no matter what I set the color pair to. I'm using bash in xubuntu (fully updated), though it doesn't work in ksh or csh (in terminal or xterm) either. All of the colors are correct in emacs (which uses curses, right?). Any ideas?