I'm running within GNU screen. I have a script that uses tput smcup and tput rmcup to save and then restore the screen. The script runs fine when I run it locally in a non-GNU screen environment. When I try to run it from within screen, the commands do nothing. Even when entered manually they do nothing, so it does not appear to be a problem with the script itself.
I have verified in infocmp that entries exist for the commands. It also seems that the functionality should exist since I can run VIM and other alternate screen programs from within GNU screen without any trouble.