{{short description|Cards that help speakers remember what to say}} {{for|the racehorse|Cue Card (horse)}} {{redir|Cue card girl|similar terms|podium girl||ring girl}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2016}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2009}} [[File:The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien cue cards.jpg|thumb|Man holding cue cards during a monologue on a late night TV show]] '''Cue cards''', also known as '''note cards''',<ref>{{cite book |last=Bognár |first=Desi K. |date=2000 |title=The International Dictionary of Broadcasting and Film |location=Boston |publisher=Focal Press |isbn=978-0-585-37622-6}}</ref> are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the audience. Cue cards are being used on many late night talk shows including ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' and ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' as well as variety and sketch comedy shows like ''Saturday Night Live'' due to the practice of last-minute script changes.<ref>{{cite news|title=Team Coco Podcast #25: Cue Card Master Steve Burm!|url=http://teamcoco.com/content/team-coco-podcast-25-cue-card-master-steve-burm|newspaper=Conan (talk show)|date=May 2, 2011|accessdate=May 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505084927/http://teamcoco.com/content/team-coco-podcast-25-cue-card-master-steve-burm|archive-date=May 5, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Many other TV shows, including game and reality shows, use cue cards due to their mobility, as a teleprompter only allows the actor or broadcaster to look directly into the camera.
== History == [[File:Jaguar Yokota cuecards - shimbashi sep 1 2016.jpg|thumb|Two men (right, kneeling) hold cue cards to enable a public speech in Japan, 2016]]
Cue cards were originally used to aid aging actors. One early use was by John Barrymore in the late 1930s.
Cue cards did not become widespread until 1949 when Barney McNulty,<ref>{{cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Orith |date=December 20, 2000 |title=Barney Mcnulty, 77, Cue Card Creator, Dies |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BARNEY+MCNULTY,+77,+CUE+CARD+CREATOR,+DIES-a083412398 |newspaper=Daily News}}</ref> a CBS page and former military pilot, was asked to write ailing actor Ed Wynn's script lines on large sheets of paper to help him remember his script. McNulty volunteered for this duty because his training as a pilot taught him to write very quickly and clearly. McNulty soon saw the necessity of this concept and formed the company "Ad-Libs".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Douglas |title=Barney McNulty Dies at 77; First to Use TV Cue Cards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/26/arts/barney-mcnulty-dies-at-77-first-to-use-tv-cue-cards.html |accessdate=3 July 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=26 December 2000}}</ref> McNulty continued to be Bob Hope's personal cue card man until he stopped performing. McNulty, who died in 2000 at the age of 77, was known in Hollywood as the "Cue-Card King".
Marlon Brando was also a frequent user of cue cards,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brando |first1=Marlon |author-link1=Marlon Brando |last2=Lindsey |first2=Robert |author-link2=Robert Lindsey (journalist) |date=1994 |title=Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me |publisher=Random House |pages=[https://archive.org/details/brandosongsmymot00bran_0/page/414 414–416] |isbn=978-0-679-41013-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/brandosongsmymot00bran_0/page/414 }}</ref> feeling that this helped bring realism and spontaneity to his performances, instead of giving the impression that he was merely reciting a writer's speech.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Larry |first2=Tom |last2=Garrett |date=2013 |title=The Films of John G. Avildsen: Rocky, The Karate Kid and Other Underdogs |publisher=McFarland |page=111 |isbn=978-0-7864-6692-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Rawlings |first=Nate |date=March 14, 2012 |title=40 Things You Didn't Know About ''The Godfather'': Brando and the Cue Cards |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/15/the-anniversary-you-cant-refuse-40-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-godfather/slide/brando-and-the-cue-cards/ |magazine=Time |access-date=December 31, 2014}}</ref> During production of the film ''Last Tango in Paris'', he had cue cards posted about the set, although director Bernardo Bertolucci declined his request to have lines written on actress Maria Schneider's rear end.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=July 1981 |title=Dossier: Marlon Brando |magazine=Esquire |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=74–75}}</ref> Tony Mendez became a minor celebrity for his cue card work on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/09/03/lettermans-letter-man |title = Letterman's Letter Man {{!}} The New Yorker|magazine = The New Yorker}}</ref>thumb|A cue card being prepared with simple one-word prompts
== Cue cards in video art == Occasionally, cue cards are incorporated into music videos as an artistic element themselves, as, for example, by Bob Dylan in his 1965 song "Subterranean Homesick Blues", by the Australian band INXS in their 1987 song "Mediate",<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-Vfnd7Yno INXS (1987) "Mediate"</ref> by "Weird Al" Yankovic in his 2003 song "Bob" or by the German band Wir sind Helden in their 2005 song "{{lang|de|{{ill|Nur ein Wort|de}}}}" (Just one word).<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kmM98iklo Wir sind Helden (2005) "{{ill|Nur ein Wort|de|lt=Nur Ein Wort}}"</ref>
== See also == * Cue (theatrical) * Prompt book * Prompter (opera) and Prompter (theatre) * Subtitle * Wally Feresten – cue card handler and supervisor known for his work on ''Saturday Night Live''
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cue Card}} Category:Television technology Category:Television terminology