In The News

The inventor of the teleprompter passes away

The inventor of the teleprompter passes away

Hubert Schlafly, the man who invented the teleprompter machine, has passed away. He was 91.

The invention not only transformed the way television news was delivered, but also improved the performances of politicians and some actors.

He developed the idea after being asked in the 1940s if there was a way of helping actors remember their lines.

At the time he was working for 20th. Century Fox, but he and several colleagues left to form the Teleprompter Corporation when they realised the potential for the device.

The first teleprompter was sold to CBS in 1950 for use on the soap opera The First Hundred Years.

The machines quickly became widely used in the television industry with politicians then embracing the technology for delivering speeches.

The irony was that Mr. Schlafly didn’t use one of his own devices until 2008 when he gave a speech at a ceremony to mark his induction to the Cable Television Hall of Fame.

 

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