curses: AttributeError: initscr

[Cesar]

I'm running python 1.5/2.2.1 under redhat linux 7.2.

I'm trying to use the curses module like this :

1: import curses
2: 
3: screen = curses.initscr()
4:

and I get this error msg:

Traceback (innermost last):
  File "./curses_test.py", line 6, in ?
    screen = curses.initscr()
AttributeError: initscr

any idea ??