ACTORS AND CUE CARDS

MOST PEOPLE WATCHING ACTORS PERFORM IN MOVIES OR TV SHOWS NATURALLY ASSUME THE ACTORS ARE RECITING LINES THEY HAVE MEMORIZED.

AND, OF COURSE- YES, THIS IS USUALLY THE CASE.

BUT MORE OFTEN THAN IS WELL-KNOWN, THE PERFORMERS ON SCREEN OR TV ARE ACTUALLY READING THEIR LINES FROM "CUE CARDS".

THE FIRST TELEVISION PERFORMER TO USE CUE CARDS?

THE FIRST TELEVISION PERFORMER TO USE CUE CARDS WAS ED WYNN ON THE ED WYNN SHOW IN THE 1950s.

WYNN WAS QUITE ILL ONE WEEK AND WAS BEING GIVEN MEDICATION.

IT WAS FEARED THE MEDS WOULD THROW OFF WYNN'S PERFORMANCE AND HURT HIS CONCENTRATION, SO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TV HISTORY, WYNN READ HIS LINES IN THE SHOW FROM CUE CARDS BEING HELD OFFSTAGE.

THIS WAS THE TV FIRST, BUT APPARENTLY, THE LEGENDARY ACTOR (AND HEAVY DRINKER) JOHN BARRYMORE, WAS THE FIRST STAGE ACTOR TO USE THEM. (AS BARRYMORE'S ALCOHOLIC BINGES ARE LEGENDARY IN SHOW BUSINESS ANNALS, IT IS OBVIOUS WHY CUE CARDS WERE NEEDED SO OFTEN WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE.)

GROUCHO MARX WAS LEGENDARY AS A GREAT AD-LIBBER ON HIS CLASSIC GAME SHOW YOU BET YOUR LIFE IN THE 50s.

OFTEN, WHILE A LAUGH WAS GOING UP FROM THE AUDIENCE, YOU COULD CLEARLY SEE GROUCHO LOOKING UPWARDS. IT WAS REVEALED YEARS LATER THAT THE GREAT GROUCHO WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING AT CUE CARDS OFF-STAGE, TO SEE HIS NEXT "AD-LIBBED" LINE.

CUE CARDS WERE USED ON THE PILOT FOR I LOVE LUCY.

JACK WEBB, ON HIS CLASSIC SERIES DRAGNET WOULD ACTUALLY INSIST ON HIS ACTORS USING CUE CARDS, HE LIKED THE "READING-TYPE" DELIVERY IT GAVE THEM.

MANY PEOPLE ASSUMED THAT MUCH OF THE WITTY DIALOG DURING THE EARLY, MAGICAL DAYS OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE IN THE MID TO LATE 70s.WAS "AD-LIBBED".

BUT NO, EVERY SINGLE LINE SPOKEN ON THE LEGENDARY SHOW WAS WRITTEN ON CUE CARDS AND READ BY THE BRILLIANT CAST.

EVEN THE GREAT ORSON WELLES USED CUE CARDS FOR HIS FINAL ACTING PERFORMANCE ON THE SHOW MOONLIGHTING WITH BRUCE WILLIS AND CYBILL SHEPHERD.

MARILYN MONROE WAS SO FILLED WITH DRUGS AND ALCOHOL DURING THE FILMING OF HER CLASSIC MOVIE SOME LIKE IT HOT, SHE KEPT FORGETTING A LINE SHE NEEDED TO SAY IN ONE SCENE.

DIRECTOR BILLY WILDER ACTUALLY HAD THE LINE WRITTEN DOWN INSIDE A DRESSER DRAWER SHE OPENED IN THE SCENE. MARILYN KEPT SCREWING UP AND FLUBBING THE LINE IN TAKE AFTER TAKE, MUCH TO THE FRUSTRATION OF THE CAST AND CREW.

THE FLUBBED LINE SHE KEPT FUMBLING?

"WHERE'S THE BOURBON?"

MARLON BRANDO IS PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS CUE CARD USER IN MOVIE HISTORY.

BRANDO CLAIMED HE USED TO "WRITE MY LINES ON ACTOR'S FACES OR PINNED CUE CARDS ON THEIR COSTUMES." MARLON REFUSED TO MEMORIZE HIS LINES, CLAIMING IT WAS MORE NATURAL THAT WAY, AND THAT PEOPLE SELDOM MEMORIZE THE LINES THEY SAY FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT.

HE ACTUALLY CLAIMED HE AD-LIBBED THE FAMOUS "I COULD HAVE BEEN A CONTENDER" SCENE IN "ON THE WATERFRONT"(!!!!!)

WHEN BRANDO FILMED HIS ROLE IN THE MOVIE SUPERMAN, HE ACTUALLY HAD HIS LINES WRITTEN ON THE DIAPER OF THE BABY KAL-EL.

NOT ONLY CUE CARDS, BUT BRANDO POPULARIZED THE USE OF THE EARPIECE TO GET LINES FED TO HIM OFFSTAGE, SO HE COULD RECITE THEM IN MOVIE SCENES.

BOB HOPE NEVER WORKED WITHOUT CUE CARDS ON HIS TV SHOWS, AND HIS FAVORITE CUE CARD HOLDER WAS A MAN NAMED BARNEY McNULTY. McNULTY BECAME A LEGEND AS A "CUE CARD HOLDER". HE HELD CUE CARDS FOR EVERYONE FROM FRANK SINATRA TO MILTON BERLE TO LUCILLE BALL TO HUBERT HUMPHREY.

BARNEY ACTUALLY STARTED A VERY SUCCESSFUL CUE CARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY CALLED "AD-LIBS".

ONCE, HE HELD THE CUE CARDS OF POET CARL SANDBURG AT A POLITICAL GATHERING. SANDBURG ASKED TO KEEP THE CARDS AS A MEMENTO.

BOB HOPE LOVED BARNEY AND USED HIM AS HIS PERSONAL CUE CARD HOLDER FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
AS A PRESENT, HOPE ONCE GAVE HIM A GOLD WATCH INSCRIBED, "TO BARNEY, FROM THE IDIOT".

MAYBE THE FUNNIEST USE OF CUE CARDS IN TV HISTORY WAS AN INCIDENT INVOLVING BASEBALL LEGEND JOE DiMAGGIO. IN THE EARLY 1950s, DiMAGGIO HOSTED A LITTLE BASEBALL TALK SHOW, WHERE HE WOULD DISCUSS BASEBALL WITH VARIOUS GUESTS. DiMAGGIO, A VERY TACITURN AND RETICENT MAN, RELIED HEAVILY ON HIS CUE CARDS TO GET HIM THROUGH THE SHOW.

ONE DAY, RIGHT BEFORE FILMING, THE CUE CARDS FOR DiMAGGIO TO USE FOR THE SHOW'S OPENING WERE MISSING. DiMAGGIO BECAME ALMOST HYSTERICAL, CALLING FRANTICALLY FOR HIS OPENING CUE CARDS. NO ONE HAD EVER SEEN THE NORMALLY STOIC DiMAGGIO SO FRIGHTENED.

A TERRIFIED DiMAGGIO WAS ALMOST READY TO THROW A FIT, WHEN, RIGHT AT THE LAST MOMENT, THE "NEEDED" CUE CARDS WERE FOUND. THANK GOD, NOW DiMAGGIO COULD RECITE HIS FIRST LINES!!! THE CUE CARD MAN, RELIEVED, ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE CREW, HELD UP THE CUE CARDS.

DiMAGGIO READ HIS LINES:

"HI, I'M JOE DiMAGGIO. WELCOME TO THE JOE DIMAGGIO SHOW."

Comments

[Liz Forsyth]

What a fun site! I've been cue carding since 1977,starting in L.A. and then moving back to NYC in 1980, where I carded for SNL for the next 6 years. Check out my site, and you'll see that cue cards are STILL a very present force, and a wonderful alternative to the expense and trouble of renting and mounting teleprompting equipment. What first brought you to your interest in cue cards?