the.com/teleprompter
The machine that lets confidence look like memory.
means A device that scrolls a script in front of a speaker, often near the camera lens, so they appear to be speaking from memory rather than reading.
from A trade name built from the Greek 'tele-' (far, at a distance) plus 'prompter,' the old theater term for the person hidden in the wings feeding actors their lines. The device itself was developed for early television in the 1950s, essentially automating that backstage prompter's job — swapping a whispering human for a scrolling drum of text.
- invented by
- an actor, in 1950, hiding his own forgetfulness
- scroll speed
- controlled by a human, secretly, not the speaker
- side effect
- politicians developed a signature thousand-yard stare
- irony
- spontaneity is now the most rehearsed thing on tv