Hubert J. Schlafly | Teleprompter inventor, 91

Hubert J. Schlafly Jr., 91, who with two colleagues invented the first teleprompter in the late 1940s - a rudimentary device that has since evolved into computerized text scrolling across screens - died April 20 at a hospital near his home in Stamford, Conn.

On Dec. 4, 1950, actors on the CBS soap opera The First Hundred Years turned their attention to a motorized scroll of paper lined with half-inch letters, mounted inside what looked like a suitcase and controlled by a stagehand. That first teleprompter was designed by Mr. Schlafly, an electrical engineer; Irving B. Kahn, a nephew of the composer Irving Berlin; and Fred Barton Jr., an actor who first proposed the idea.

Mr. Schlafly, who would later be credited with significant advances in cable television, was director of television research for 20th Century Fox in 1948 when Barton came up with the concept. Kahn was vice president of radio and television for 20th Century Fox.

When Fox declined to invest in their device, the three started their own company, TelePrompTer Corp., which later became a major cable-TV network with franchises in more than 140 markets. Mr. Schlafly was president until 1972.

The breakthrough for the company came in 1952 when former President Herbert Hoover delivered the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention in Chicago - the first time a politician relied on a teleprompter. It was the first time viewers across the nation became aware of the new invention.

Refining the original design, the company later replaced the suitcase-like unit with glass panels and eventually superimposed words in front of cameras.

"It's one of the inventions, like the remote control, that transformed the way we experience television and politics," said Ron Simon, a curator at the Paley Center for Media. "It made television an intimate medium allowing an actor or politician to look directly at you and deliver well-crafted lines."

Mr. Schlafly received two Emmy Awards for his technical achievements: one in 1992 for his work developing cable systems, the other in 1999 for helping develop the original teleprompter. He was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2008. At the induction ceremony, he revealed to the audience that it was the first time he had ever used a teleprompter to make a speech.

- N.Y. Times News Service