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In 1949, McNulty was an usher at NBC for The Ed Wynn Show. When Wynn was stricken with a cold, he was worried his medicine would make him flub his lines, so McNulty wrote the show's entire script out on cardboard sheets so Wynn wouldn't miss a word -- and the cue card was born. McNulty went on to become Hollywood's best known cue card man, providing the right line at the right time for Bob Hope, George Burns, Lucy Ball, Groucho Marx and Jimmy Durante. But not just comedians: he also cued John Wayne, Orson Welles, Fred Astaire, even vice president Hubert Humphrey and poet Carl Sandburg. He considered Hope, Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle his three most important clients, but "I hated it when they all wanted me on the same day." Amazingly, he kept more than 100,000 of the used cards "because it's a continuing history of show business." McNulty died December 17 at home in Studio City, California. He was 77. From This is True for 17 December 2000 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Joanna Cole List Price: $3.50 Amazon Price: $3.50  By: H.A. and Margret Rey List Price: $3.99 Amazon Price: $3.99 Editorial Review: When his friend Bill asks George to mind his model boat, George accidentally sinks the boat right before a model boat competition. Experimenting with the buoyancy of his toys, though, George is able to construct another boat that floats. Level one in Houghton's new reader line means that text is minimal and simple, perfect for readers learning to sound out words and looking at art for visual clues. Activities include making a paper boat and experimenting with buoyancy.  By: Kelly Asbury List Price: $30.00 Amazon Price: $23.40 Editorial Review: Bringing back the best of the Golden Age of ventriloquism, Dummy Days profiles the five consummate performers who turned a vaudevillian gimmick into an American art form: the legendary Edgar Bergen, the surreal Senor Wences, the innovative Paul Winchell, the versatile Jimmy Nelson and the invincible Shari Lewis. Also featured in Dummy Days: Broadcasting the Local News: The Early Years of Pittsburgh's Kdka-TV By: Lynn Boyd Hinds List Price: $23.95 Amazon Price: $23.95  By: Martin Large List Price: $22.00 Amazon Price: $17.16 Editorial Review: Do electronic media demands conflict with the real needs of children? Children today watch TV and use computers for five hours daily on average. They are also exhibiting record levels of learning difficulties, obesity, eating disorders, sleep problems, language delay and aggressive behavior. This book shows you how to counter the TV and computer screen culture and create a calmer, more enjoyable family life. Set Free Childhood presents convincing research on how the TV "tunes out" the brain, relates why doctors and educators say "the later the better" for electronic media use and provides successful media coping strategies for families to prevent electronic addiction. |
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